October ‘96

*Additional notes may appear in italics after my mom’s initial journal entries.
A ladybug means you should check the comments at the bottom of the page to see what Mom has chimed in on after reading these!

October 10, Thursday

Well, it’s been a while..
Last week, Hurricane Hernan went up the Mexican coast, hitting Acapulco, Zihuatanejo and Manzanillo , dying out just below P.V. I faxed a letter to Rosa at Cruise Quarters in La Cruz. She called to say all was well and they only got a little rain. It was great to hear her voice.
On the 5th Angie and Jo picked me up – we drove to Payson. Daddy and Andy drove up and we all spent the day at [Tonto] Natural Bridge. Picnic and hiking down in. Daddy walks about 3 miles every day and he did better than any of us kids!
Danielle came up for the weekend – it was so good to see her. Her knee is still a little swollen and the cut on the front of her ankle is still healing. She is so lucky to be alive.
Janice called again on Tuesday 8th, all is well in Seattle, WA. They will stay there to work on Renegade.
Sheri, Valiant Lady called, Wednesday the 9th, it was good to talk to her. They had spent 18 months straight on the boat, have been in Albuquerque, NM for several months and are going back to Panama in December.
The other day, Samie said she had an empty feeling about 3” above her stomach! I said me too – it’s called homesick! She says she just feels like she doesn’t belong.
Today a boy at school told her ‘life sucks”, Samie replied – “Same here, but only until the 26th, and then I’ll be fine.” – that’s the day we leave for home!

*I love my response to the kid at school - too cute! But sad that I didn’t feel like I belonged - I guess once you find your people, nothing else ever quite does it.
It really is wild how relatively unscathed Danielle was considering the accident she was in.
Below are photos from Mom’s trip to the natural bridge. The last photo is the same spot around 17 years later, when I went with my friends Katie, Chris and Adam in the summer of 2013. Last is some more info on Hurricane Hernan.

October 11, Friday

Happy B-day Goon! Big 18!

October 25, Friday

Last day of work! This last week has turned really COLD – it even snowed today.
John went to lunch with Dave and Buckwheat. Several of the girls took me to lunch – Shine and Goon even came along.
The last couple of days we’ve stayed up at the cabin – much warmer than the trailer now.

October 26, Saturday

The U-Haul is loaded with all Chelle’s stuff, John drove it down to Mesa, Jacque drove me down in the van – Shine rode down with Chelle. Spent the night at Mom’s – Andy, Janet and kids all came over. Cade is a real cutie – Rendy is finally coming around to being my little friend. She talked more tonight than ever. Even had hugs and kisses.

October 27, Sunday

Drove to John and Maryann’s and spent the night.

October 28, Monday

Left the Muir’s at 7 a.m. and safely arrived home at last at 1:30 pm.
We had talked to Jeff and heard that a month ago he was electrocuted while on our boat – but he is ok.
John has checked everything and finds no problems. It’s a mystery.
We got everything out and on deck so we could move back in.

*That’s wild that Jeff was electrocuted on the boat! I wonder if we ever figured out later what happened? I don’t think it ever happened again to anyone. 🐞

October 29, Tuesday

Got the sails back on and the new head in.
Took 2 days just to get Samie’s room cleaned out and put away.

*That’s because so much of the exterior stuff - sails, extra cushions, ropes and other random items were mostly all moved forward into my bunk for storage. It just took some time to reassemble everything. Also, a reminder for those who don’t know the lingo - head = toilet.

October 31, Thursday

Jim and Kitty Summer Wind were in dry dock painting the boat bottom, but are now beside us again.
New tuner on the HAM works great. Even talked to Roxanne on Palio on Southbound net. Lots of familiar voices.
Big Halloween dock party up by the pool. I dressed like a pirate and Samie was a hippy – she went trick-or-treating with Jeff and some other kids.

*HA! Why am I making such an intense face here?! 😂