Adventures

Last week of June, 2022

Amy and I spent the week in San Francisco. I have some pictures below. One of the pictures is of a 1926 sailing yacht named the Vadura. The Vadura has been sitting in the bay adjacent to Sausalito for many years. I saw a man get off the boat and use a kayak to get to shore. I assumed he was the boat's current owner. I walked down the beach to meet him and ask him about the boat. He told me the name of the boat and said that the boat's history is online. He agreed that the boat was special but did not tell me much. After I researched the boat I'm guessing he was overwhelmed and facing a daunting task. The Vadura is a gorgeous sailboat with a rich history and I don't think she'll sail again. I also have a picture of what it looked like in 1934.

Weekend of June 6, 2022

I bought a Subaru Forester on Thursday this last week. I bought it knowing I would need to do the typical Subaru head gasket and catalytic converter work. I started pulling the heads on Saturday morining. I have one out and ready to go back in. I am hoping to have them both done by the end of next weekend. My Fel-pro gaskets and Gates timing belt kit have already arrived.

Weekend of June 4, 2022

The picture below is of Matt and his "Uncle Eddie" We took a trip to the land Memorial Day weekend to check out the new driveway and check on Uncle Eddie's shack in the woods. Last Sunday I made my first HF contact on ham radio. I was so excited. It was a 1260 mile contact to John in Long Island. He made time for me even though he was contesting. I made the contact with 25 watts on 20 meters at about 8:30 pm. I wrote him a hand written letter thanking him for the contact and explaining that it was my first HF contact. I don't know if people do that..but I do. I know they sometimes use QSL cards like business cards for important contacts. I made two more contacts today (One to Kentucky and one to Pennsylvania). Both of these contacts were just shy of 1000 miles. My contacts seem to be about one skip (1000 miles) and to the east coast. I did pick up a German station today that was 4,400 miles away but I was not able to contact him. Every time he called for CQ there was a major pile up of people that wanted the contact. It was almost comical. I checked him out online. His antenna was amazing so I doubt I would have been able to reach him anyway.