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The "Dew Drop Inn" Chronicles

Welcome home! We had somewhat parallel maiden voyages: winter delivery in Necedah, then head to FL. It would be nice to compare notes sometime. We just returned to Santa Fe a few days ago, with an incentive to clean out the garage. Stella is in the barn, but not for long.

Thanks for all of your posts. It was nice to follow your journey, as we were not far behind you.

We'll be heading to Seattle in late May, with the intention of tear-dropping on the Olympic Peninsula (and around the Northwest) this summer. Maybe we can meetup. You may not remember us, but we met briefly last summer at the NW Camp-Inn Rally. We were the ones who stopped in to see some CIs in the wild. What a great group of people. We placed our order soon thereafter. BTW, we're sailors, too. We belong to the Seattle Sailing Club. Port Townsend by boat is on our radar!

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Pat, that's a kind compliment, thanks for the warm regards, more than happy to share

Jim and Ani, looking forward to seeing you in the PNW this summer, this means you will be at the round up, yes it'll be great to compare notes. By my count, 4 new Camp-Inns at the event, fun times ahead!

Thanks Mike, glad you enjoyed our posts, these pics are for you...

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Talelayo in the Bahamas winter of 2012

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Wing n wing in Exuma Sound

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Sister Ships "Talelayo" and "Tally Ho" 2 Cape George 31s at Stuart Island WA

A rare sighting in the campground tonight, (yes we're still camping, getting the boat ready to move back aboard) an honest to gosh darn it Bentley in the campground! Now that's GLAMPING!!!!! Nice folks from north of the border.

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See little Dewey in the background, now this would make a great TV, eh.

Michael
 
OK, Michael. ENOUGH!!! At first I was a little jealous and living vicariously. Now, it feels a lot more like BITTERNESS.

;-)
 
Hey, that's not our Bentley and I did say we live on a very small boat... I mean we're camping in a teardrop trailer here...retired life on a nice spread in the Smokys sounds mighty fine.

Michael
 
Our octopuses or is it octopi if our octopus is a portable cup holder? Anyway we love em, they have prevented many a spill on land and on sea.

Here they are in action.

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Their close ups.

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They stow great too.

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We got them from the automotive department at Target.

Michael
 
We started having trouble with the valve on the steel propane bottle that came with Dewey, sometimes the gas would flow and sometimes it wouldn't, way frustrating, enter this little number!

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It's a 10.6 lb. capacity fiberglass tank that weighs next to nothing, every little bit counts. Another feature is that the fiberglass is translucent so you can see how much gas is left.

I think it looks pretty spiffy.

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We got it at West Marine.

Michael
 
Nice, I like the valve protector too...

a little pricey but in the long run, probably worth it.

I wonder how it holds up in the colder weather...

Always something new eh???
 
Actually that is supposed to be one of the design features, doesn't freeze up as fast as the metal tanks. That is a nice price, hard to shop on line when you're on the road though, you just want to solve the problem at any price

Michael
 
Dewey and crew traveled 7000 miles through 15 states over 4 and a half months with just the Camp-Inn license plate, no issues, didn't get stopped, of course we weren't exactly speeding, haha. But if you're worried about getting pulled over for lack of a plate just leave the CI one on, it worked for us and heh maybe CI got some more traffic on their web site, we did notice people making notes after seeing the website info.

We got Dewey legal at the Jefferson County Courthouse in Port Townsend WA...

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...a rather grand edifice for a county with a population of 30, 000.
It speaks to Port Townsend's moniker, "The City of Dreams". During the age of sail when ships could not easily make their way into Puget Sound they would off load goods in PT. It was assumed that the terminus of the the transcontinental railway would be PT so the economy boomed and the grand Victorian houses and buildings built in this period reflected this optimism. When steam ships replaced sail in the late 1800s and ships could now enter Puget Sound with ease the railroads terminated on the east side of the sound at Seattle and Tacoma and Port Townsend was left out in the cold, the boom was over and the dream was dead. PT languished, however because there was no money to tear down and build anew like other locals the beautiful structures from that era were saved.
In the 60s and 70s when the value of this built environment was again realized they were restored and repurposed.

Port Townsend is not just another waterfront tourist trap, yes there are teeshirt and ice cream shops on Water Street but there is so much more to PT than that. There is a thriving visual and performing arts community. A lot of the Alaskan fishing fleet is dry docked at the ship yard, there's a good number of boat builders here, (our boat was built at Cape George Marine in Port Townsend) there are world recognized marine trade craftspeople here, sailmakers, spar makers, riggers, shipwrights...

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...it has it's own brewery, paper mill, bronze foundry and all those pay checks (as well as the tourist dollars and pension checks from the large number of retired folks) help support the many fine eateries, pubs and coffee shops.

Did I mention how beautiful it is here...

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...but there I go gushing again.

There is a festival for every occasion or interest on each weekend in the summer so plan your trip accordingly (for us it's the wooden boat festival, 1st weekend after Labor Day) so when you find yourself on the Olympic Peninsula a visit to PT is a must. There are a lot of campgrounds nearby so no excuses...

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...dream a little.

Michael
 
That boat looks like the Boy Scouts (Odysea?). They ran aground 2 years ago but managed to avoid major damage. We bumped into them on one of our boat trips. Their boat was originally owned by the Rockafellers and is beautiful. They gave us a tour. I can't imagine what it must of been like back in their day.

We used to do lots of stops in PT when mom and dad had their boat in Elliott Bay (they have it on the hard in Anacortes now...another neat town). We had our worst crossing ever leaving PT for San Juan Island (Friday Harbor). Everyone coming in after us were just as soaked through and green as we. The Straights were really angry that day and with the way the wind was blowing and the tides were flowing and currents ripping, it was awful. But it gave us a strong appreciation for our vessel and my dad. The Lad was 9 months old at the time and I was terrified. We had swells up to 12' that day. Most were closer to 7-8', and it was the very first time I have gotten sea sick ever after a life time on boats. I will never forget it, and have my own name for the Straights these days!

PT is s wonderful town. Thank you for sharing your pictures and welcome home!

May you have good wind and calm seas!
 
Thanks Sarah, good to be back. That's Adventuress on Port Townsend Bay during the wooden boat festival last year. Yes the Strait can really kick up a fuss, glad to hear all arrived safely.

Michael
 
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