The day after December 7th

Not sure what this post will be about but.....

As I was typing the title of the post I thought about the historical value of yesterday. It's not really a day to be celebrated in my opinion. It brought about a lot of trouble for a lot of people. The end result of handling the situation really gave benefit to eradicating some really evil ideas being implemented around the world. It provided some extra incentive to bring people around the globe together at a level that may never have been seen before. I'll let you go study some history and discover the historical information about World War II if you don't already know it.

This is really kind of a blank page blog today. I have no intentional direction or intent. I just feel like writing something.

I am almost finished with the restoration of a Catalina 22 I bought a couple of years ago. It had some hull damage which I have now repaired. I repainted the hull and am working on restoring the paint on the deck. I've replaced all the running rigging and made some upgrades found on several web sights from the Internet. One of the best is called The Stingy Sailor. Great website with tons of information and videos. I still have a little electrical work to do then I'll get the interior polished up. Not sure what my intentions are with this boat but I'll end up selling it or giving it to one of my daughters. I have been looking at cruising sailboats built to travel the high seas but I have no idea how to pull it off yet. It would make a great adventure so I'm not sure when but I do want to pursue it. I thought about trying to complete the great loop in a Catalina 22 but it's really small. The ideal thing about it is the draft with the keel up is about 18" so shallow anchorages should not be a problem at all. The mast is set up to be raised and lowered single handed which is a necessity on parts of the great loop. If you've never looked at the great loop see what you can find out, it's on the Internet. My variance for the trip is my start and stop point. I can put the boat in just below Oologah dam on the Verdigris river which becomes the Navigation channel. the Tulsa Port of Catoosa is one of the largest points in the US for shipping grain. The Verdigris/Navigation Channell becomes the Arkansas River and journeys through more than a dozen lock and dams before hitting the Mississippi River. Once on the Mississippi River I plan on heading south to the Gulf of Mexico. Depending on weather, I'll sail the open waters of the gulf as long as the weather is not overwhelming for a 22' sailboat. If things are hectic on the Gulf I'll duck into the Inter coastal Waterway making my way to Florida. Once I sail down the west coast of Florida I might make a run for the Dry Tortuga's for a little break. Eventually heading up the east coast of the US utilizing a lot of the Inter coastal Waterway. I would really like to explore as much as I can on this trip. I would like to spend some time around Chesapeake Bay then head for New York and the Hudson River. Taking the Hudson River inland eventually moving into the Erie Canal heading towards the Great Lakes. There are tons of historical sights to see on this trip. Once moving into the Great Lakes weather will be the deciding factor to traverse the Great Lakes safely. Heading for Chicago where we head up the "Chicago Trash Channel" or so it's called. This waterway dumps me back on the Mississippi with the opportunity to turn south towards St Louis or North for a run up to the Minneapolis St Paul area. Not sure I'll turn north so if heading south there is a choice to make. If I want to get home quickly I would need to stay on the Mississippi back to the mouth of the Arkansas River for the sail back to Oklahoma or take the Tom Bigby Waterway back to the Gulf then west to the Mississippi and North to the Arkansas River. Eventually loading the boat back on the trailer just below Oologah Dam and the short 4 miles to the house. The whole trip takes about six months to complete but the way I like to explore I could see it taking longer. I'm amazed you can traverse waterways and circle a huge portion of the Eastern US. you can do the trip in a larger boat but you lose the convenience of being able to raise and lower the mast without assistance and the draft on larger boats is significantly deeper so shallow anchorages are not an option. This would be a good warm up to see if a future on the high seas is a pursuable interest. That will be a different story.

There are many things that could change the whole plan and I would gladly pursue those as intently as anything I've ever pursued in my life. Again a story for another time.

It's Sunday morning. There is a light but very cool breeze blowing so a coat is a necessity today.

Guitar lessons are going very well and I've been taking them for almost 18 months now. The only issue I've had with the guitar pursuit is I've got a few too many guitars at the moment. Without details I have an Alvarez classical acoustic given to me by my uncle in the early 1970's.  I have another acoustic given to me by another uncle. Then the electrics are a 1960 Fender Jazzmaster, a custom Stratocaster, and an Epiphone 335 semi-acoustic. I really enjoy playing all of them. I took classical guitar lessons when I was in junior high school from a man named Jim Matthews at Shields Music and leaned a lot from him. I currently am taking lessons from Dick Gordon Jr. for jazz guitar and I am having a fantastic time. I guess the point of this is to encourage anyone who reads this to pursue a dream. Pick one. Then pursue it with all of your heart. I'd love to hear about your dream and how you pursue it.

It's time to start my day. Hope you all enjoy yours to its fullest.