Hey Rice,
Glad to hear all is going well. It's funny, I thought about this thread just the other day but haven't had much time lately for personal "internetting." We are stationary back in SC looking after my dad. I have returned to school--thinking about getting an RN. Up to my eyeballs in those nasty science courses I so ardently avoided when getting my liberal arts degrees.
We did get out to Hatteras for a few days in early May. Got to catch up with all my canuck buddies down at Canadian Hole. Several Key Westers showed up as well. Even had the opportunity to break out the 4.5 one afternoon. Trying to find the time to go again, but alas, here I sit studying.
We're headed for Denver. Pleasing the entire population of the motorhome, there's an Yves Saint Laurent retrospective ending at the Denver Art Museum on July 8, which is also the day of the Pikes Peak Hill Climb car race. So we're treating this as a definite deadline and being happy fulltiming lets us incorporate things like this into our everyday life.
And speaking of, I'm sure you know of the fabulous opportunities available in travel nursing. That is actually one regret I have--that I don't have what it takes to be a nurse because it would be so great to live like this AND make a (good) living AND have a little bit of an outside influence on where I go. I have an old friend who did travel nursing while living on a boat and then in an RV, and even before I ever thought about owning an RV myself, I thought it was an outstanding lifestyle.
So an in-demand profession that you can do in one place, or while traveling all over the country. What a deal.
For all the complaining I do about Corpus Christi, if I were being PAID to live there for a few months, it would be a different story. The wind is so consistent there that it's not hard at all to have a job and still be able to windsurf a LOT.
Oh tres shiek! That does sound like fun for all. Let me know if you guys think about heading to Lake Hattie. I'll tell my buddy in Lafayette who helped me learn to sail-he loves Hattie too. Great guy--one of those "older" sailors like you were talking about earlier. Every time I fell, he would blast by asking me if I was alright or needed help. He just got back from Aruba the lucky stiff.
Yes, I agree about the nursing profession. I must confess, I do miss teaching, however, classical scholars just aren't in demand. On the bright side, I find even the basic A&P courses (anatomy and physiology) fascinating. And the potential to travel or relocate to some place like umm . . .Key West is very alluring.
Wow, just like Jeremy I was thinking about you guys and what was happening. We are still at it full timing and after Oregon, sailed a nice little lake in Calif.; Lake Lopez.
Life is always changing and I think that's great that you are going for your RN Jeremy. It's never too late to learn.
We are now in Kansas picking up a bigger rig then on our way to Ohio for our daughters college graduation; a BS in Materials Engineering.
Hey Wind Surfer,
Glad to hear you're still at it and doing well. Congrats to your daughter! Materials Engineering . . . I'm not quite sure what that is, but it sounds like a degree traditionally held by men? I have a niece studying architecture--I love how the new generation of women are busting into non-traditional careers.
Getting a bigger Rig too, wow I'm envious! More room for windsurfing equipment?
Thanks for the encouragement about getting the RN. I tell you I feel kind of old walking around that school--one of my fellow students told me I remind her of Jimmy Buffet--I laughed and asked her if she knew how old Buffet was.
Have a safe trip to Ohio, and I'd love to hear how you're enjoying your new home,
Jeremy
It's never to late nor is anyone to old to learn. I went back and took financial and accounting classes at a local college just a couple of years ago in my 50's. It worked out very well as all the young adults were very polite; probably thought I was a professor!
My wife is a (retired) architect and yes it is a very male dominated profession. But hey, she's married to me so she can handle anything.
Our plans are to finish up here in Ohio, go and check the house in Vermont, then travel down the east coast surfing and sailing the first half of the summer. Then who knows? Maybe swing thru Utah and hike the parks in late summer early fall.
Let me know if your east coast tour reaches as far south as North Carolina. Perhaps I could arrange a few days off and meet you up at Hatteras? The winds are bit more fickle this time of year, but there is good sailing still to be had at the OBX (outer banks).
I found another place where you can sail from your RV: Floras Lake on the coast in southern Oregon. This is definitely not a destination for windsurfing, but if you're traveling along the Oregon coast, you'll go right by it. That's what we were doing, and good wind was predicted, so we stopped there.
It's kind of a cool little (and I mean little) lake--on the far side of the lake, you can walk over the dunes to the ocean. Some of the kiters were over on the ocean side; we went and stood in the water over there just to say we did, and it had those scary sneaker waves so we scurried back to the lake.
There's a state park on the southern side of the lake, but the windsurfing takes place on the northern side; the prevailing winds are northwest. And these winds make it kind of chilly even in June--a full wetsuit was definitely the call. We coped by telling ourselves it was the nicest winter sailing day ever, and were easily fooled because we hadn't seen even 80 degrees since last October.
After the sun got low, it got downright cold--people sitting around outside were wearing jackets.
There's a windsurfing/kiting concession there. It's adjacent to Boice Cope County Park, which is where we stayed--a no hookup campground with a dump station, for $16/night. Pay showers. Almost everybody there was either kiting or windsurfing.
To get to the water from the campground, you go down a path through the trees. I think it could be tricky to carry rigged equipment down there, but there's room to rig at the bottom and several people left their rigged sails down there overnight.
It's allegedly a shallow lake, but of course I found all kinds of deep spots. It also allegedly has relatively smooth water, but I don't know because the wind never picked up like predicted. It turned into a day to putt around, with a couple of decent rides--mainly a good reminder that we still know how to do this after a year off, and a nice break from the constant touristing over the previous week.
If there were real wind, it would be an excellent place to practice one's jibes because the reach is so short. This is almost the whole lake:
The ocean is on the other side of the dunes:
I don't think anybody would ever plan a trip here (one guy asked how I even knew it existed), but if you tour the Oregon coast, it's less than a 3-mile detour off Highway 101.
If you have a hankering for waves, south of there, in Gold Beach, is where they have the Pistol River Wave Bash (which we missed by just a few days).
That is the most awesome sport! I would love to take this up....I am mesmerized everytime I see people do it. Just don't know if I have the money and time commitment needed to get set up and then learn...
Very nice pictures Rice and great write-up. Looks like a pleasant, low-key spot to relax. Finding all those deep spots still? I do the same thing at Hatteras--wherever I hit the water, rest assured it's over-head. Are you still panning to head east Denver-way?
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