Busy April

Suddenly, all the things on your to-do list are lined off and it’s time to start thinking about a new list. But you want to take a pause and not add anything right away so that you can relax in the lull.  That’s where we are just now.

Except for a small chip in the left-hand glass panel the shower is completed.  Without Joe’s help I’d still be in there laying tile.  Replacement glass will take another couple of weeks, but at least we can enjoy the shower now.

Five days of April were reserved for a Canyonland’s hike with UltraLIght friend Will and his Montana friends. The Utah desert is a place that you’d want to visit only a couple times in a year and April is one of them.  Day temps in the 70’s and nighttime in the mid-30’s made for a 50-mile exploration of some of the park’s hinterlands. Discovering new routes to link up trails is one of Will’s passions and we lucked out this time with two new routes confirmed.

Easter week is the busiest time of the year in this National Park with backcountry permits reserved months in advance.  However if you’re lucky enough to get one, the crowds completely disappear once you get beyond the day-hiking range.  We spent four days without seeing a soul, and only a two sets of footprints. Water is the big concern, and we were fortunate to have Will’s experience to tell us where to find those water holes.

The day after our return from the desert, I was scheduled to give a talk on GaiaGPS for the San Juan Mountain Association.  Gaia is a smartphone GPS mapping application that I’ve been using for four years, most recently on this Utah desert trip.

Will typically doesn’t need a map to orient himself in the backcountry, but confirming his location sure saves some misadventures into unknown side canyons.

Just like our UltraLIght talk a month earlier, we’d underestimated the attendance by 200%.  The Ultralight talk was standing room only and the Gaia talk had 60 people if you include me and the director.  As with all technical presentations, even though all the folks had the app in the class, they still needed practical experience.  So Saturday morning we took 20 of them on a “hands-on” hike to hone their skills.  One fact I brought out in the talk was that of the hikers our Search and Rescue group has searched for in the last two years, 9 of the 12 were day-hikers from Durango. Even locals get lost, and one testimony from a county native was that he got disoriented this winter only a mile from the road in the snowy hills near Andrews Lake at Molas Pass.  He wanted to have Gaia so that didn’t happen again.

GaiaGPS works everywhere, you might consider adding that app to your smartphone if you’re apt to venture away from the highway.

Still almost 10 days left in April and summer hasn’t even begun.

 

Cruiser Reunion

Really fortunate to have so many folks who were involved come to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Paradox’s loss and the rescue of the crew. Deja Vu came into town first, followed by Dragonfly, then Marion D and finally Kira (formerly Neaptide, and before that Galadriel).

It was such a popular event that we’re trying to plan a winter meet-up in Mexico next season, albeit on the hard. Finding a place that sleeps 10 shouldn’t be too hard down there.

Joe spearheaded a shower remodel while waiting for the crews to show up.  He’s probably the only land cruiser to travel with all his tools. We were almost finished by the time Al & Jill showed up so the only thing Al got to help with was discovering why we couldn’t get any water out of the shower once it was hooked up.

 

We had plenty of time for eating, catching up, eating, and hiking. Everyone brought or cooked a favorite dinner and dessert so the meals were outstanding.

Helen, Joe and Al joined us at the Durango Rec Center for several days of spinning and pickle ball.  Jill walked the river trail multiple times.

 

Finding a hiking spot when the local area is still covered with snow was no problem.  Stanna chose Bisti Wilderness area south of Farmington where all 10 of us hiked thru the Cracked Eggs, hoodoos and giant petrified logs.

 

 

Most interesting was the night we each recalled our roles in helping the Paradox crew get back to land. We played the short video of the rescue, which several had never seen.  Stanna and I remain grateful to all the cruisers, various ham radio nets, and the US Coast Guard men and women who were involved in our rescue.

Thanks to all who came.

 

Shower Time


Postponed for over 5 years, the condo shower is finally getting the attention it needed.  It must run in the family, because an Aunt let her shower go for so long we had to rebuild the sub-floor and replace the entire shower pan.  Ours could have been that bad, and I was expecting the worst, but it turns out the tile issues were only grout deep.

However, that wasn’t determined until the entire shower door was removed and the first floor tiles lifted.  At this point we’d already ordered all new tiles, plumbing fixtures and fancied a new glass door, so there was no going back.

Originally we’d planned to do the demolition and install after our Cruiser Reunion and our out-of-town friends had departed, but an email from Joe & Helen saying they’d like to arrive early from California spurred other thoughts.  Joe’s speciality, among many other talents and professions, is remodeling kitchens and bathrooms. And best of all he, like most our friends, would rather work on a project than sit around jawing about old times or, in this day, Trump.

The shower stall was totally demolished before Joe arrived and in two days we were ready for tile.  I’d envisioned a much more complicated shower pan, however Joe determined that our curb-less shower stall wouldn’t need floor surgery, because the gipcrete floor (part of in-floor heating was removed to expose the subfloor) provided enough depth for our new design.

New plumbing was a snap with the deployment of Shark Bite connectors and PEX tubbing, so that Stanna will have that extra hand-held shower she’s envied every time we visit a Swiss hotel.  We even remembered to place nailer blocks in the studs for that grab rail we will soon be needing.

Insulation and vapor barrier went in before the vinyl pan liner and the DuraBoard walls.

 

The bench and wall niche rounded out the pre-tile chores so that all remaining was the sloped cement shower pan.  Joe decided we should knock the pan out, allowing it to dry overnight so in the advent of the tile arriving on-time on Monday  we could carry on this rapid remodel. Two days in, we’re ready for tile and the reunion.