Big Trip coming Up Soon

[rfrance0718]

I'm leaving Tuesday on a 4000 plus mile trip, in my camper, with Thistle in tow, to Montana and back.  The first leg is a 12.5 hour  jog from Columbus to Bayfield Wisconsin, to pick up my middle crew. His Creelock 37 is in the water and hopefully we'll get a day of cruising the Apostles in. (Maybe I'll run into Noel H). Then, early Friday morning we'll take off for the 20 hour drive to Flathead Lake. The goal is to arrive there by Saturday at noon, so we should get about 8 hours of rest along the way. 
My forward crew flies in on Saturday and then the regatta is a marathon. On Saturday there is measuring, meetings, and getting the boat put together. There is practice on Sunday, and then 5 days of racing. There are parties most nights, and many old friends to gather with on the other evenings.

There is a banquet Friday night, and on Saturday I'll leave my middle crew off at the airport in Kalispell, and pick up Tami. My forward crew is staying on for one day of touring in Glacier, and then we'll get him to the airport on Sunday. That leaves a week for Tami and I to explore Glacier, drive to Colorado for a couple of days at Estes Park and Boulder, and then take the 1000 mile trek back to Columbus.

Getting ready has been exhausting.

Today I started with an extensive list and as the day went on I added more than I checked off. I've got to get the Thistle ready for a National Championship Regatta, get the trailer ready for a 400o mile tow, get the camper ready for a 3 week stay, and make sure the truck is tip top. 

It was hot today and I started to stress out a bit as all seemed to be going slowly. By 8:00 PM tonight, however, I had posted checks to over half of the items, and the rest seem very doable. Tami has been working hard on planning our Montana to Colorado tour and it all looks great.

My only regret about the trip is missing out on 3 weeks of Lake Erie cruising, and missing the junior regatta at Put in Bay, that I've coached at for 25 years running. I really feel like this summer will be exceptionally short.

This is a good problem, I guess.

[Spot]

Sounds like a great adventure! Safe travels, bountiful sailing winds, and take pictures for the trip report...