Headliner removal on the 63 Owens Classic

All the carpet has been ripped out and I bleached the entire interior :0

Then one thing led to another and down came the headliner!!

Thanks for watching and feel free to comment,

Dean

A look at the wood hull from the inside

This video is a little long but it gives a great look at the belly of the big wood boat.

I threw a bottle overboard

WOW!  Now this is a great story! :)

I got an email the other day, the header said "I found your bottle".

I thought, what? Although those who know me, do know I have thrown bottles overboard with a note in them before.  I opened the mail and this is what it said:

9/10/2012

 Hi
I'm from Portugal, Caldas da Rainha, and last week I went to the island of Azores, Sao Miguel to a little vacations.
I found your bottle in Mosteiros, a seacoast village.
Cynthia Surgy
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That just floored me!!!  Should I believe her?  I must, because she had  my email, and I always put it on the notes.  I google earthed the azores and about freaked out!  Wow !

So I replied back:

WOW ! Are you serious??  If it is the one I am thinking of, I tossed it overboard off the coast of New York City in Oct. of 2010.  If possible could you take a picture of the bottle and the note, so I know it is not a hoax, I guess it's not because you got my email.
More details please, Thanks Dean
ps. I think I have a You Tube of me tossing it overboard, I will look for it.

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Well I didn't take a video of it getting tossed overboard, and I later realized that it was actually tossed over, out off Atlantic City on our offshore run to Cape MayNJ.  I got to thinking back, we were weathered in at AC for 5 days due to wind.

  We made the dash out of there, got to Cape May and the wind blew for another few days, so, we left with the hi-outgoing tide, and with the wind, it just shot out offshore and kept going!
I was soooo anxious to hear back from her, my mind was just racing!

A few hours later I got this email:

Yes, I have pictures and I just put the note on my scan.
I was just looking from some natural pool, of sea in Mosteiros and in a little space where some wood and garbage were, I saw a bottle and I said to my mother: look, a bottle, It would be so cool if it had a message, just like in movies.She just made a joke and when I looked better I saw that the bottle really had a note :)
Really, a youtube? I would like to see that.

Sorry for my english, Cynthia
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These are the photos she sent, you really gotta love the smart phones with cameras nowdays!!  What luck that I get photos of the mariner itself, being rescued from the sea a year and 11 months after being cast away!!

 You can see the note and the tape around the top

Just a few hitchhikers

I wondered how sweaty the note would get riding inside the bottle for so long.  Not bad.


A few years ago I tossed one overboard when we were under the Mackinaw Bridge (Michigan) and it was found about a month later, only 17 miles south east of the bridge, but it was still cool to hear from the people.
While on our trip of a liftime, I also tossed one over in the middle of Lake Huron and Lake Erie, with no response yet.
I don't know where this will go from hear, but I think it tops off our voyage in the best of ways!!!  
Good Karma !!!

blowinganddrifting with Dean Bachelor

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I WALKED THE MACKINAW BRIDGE !!!!

Cross this one off my Bucket List!! 

A cute story here,  this started a couple months ago.  I had been watching some Appalation (sp) Trail videos on you tube, wondering if someday I would attempt something like that.  Well, I got to thinking about the trail that runs through Michigan not far from my house, The North Country Trail.  The NCT runs from Main to Minnesota, 4,600 miles.  I got to thinking maybe I would just start with the Emmet County section, 40 miles, not all at once obvoiusly, just short segments over a long period of time, a long, long period of time :) 

So, I mentioned it to some friends, nothing big, then as Labor Day approached, we got to talking about walking the Mackinaw Bridge.

Chrissy stated, to my complete surprise, I have already walked it !!
I about passed out, after being together for some 30 years I had never known that, and in fact, she has done it TWICE!!

So when I got an offer to go with some friends this year I jumped at the chance.  Laura and Baily Johnson went last year, and invited me this year.
She picked me up at 7:15 am, we drove to Mackinaw and got on the fleet of school buses that haul you up over the bridge to St. Ignace.  The walk starts there on the North side and you walk South. It is about 5.5 miles not counting the 2 miles you walk from the car and back to the car.

It was pretty cool, after driving almost every kind of vehicle over it, and my boat under it, to walk over it!!!

I got sore legs about 3/4's of the way, but made it ok.  The next day I was even more sore!!

Point being, now I have walked the only section of the 4,600 mile NCT that can only be walked once a year (as if I would ever attempt the entire thing) and it marks the first segment of my hike across Emmet County.  I guess I will just keep going southbound too.
Who knows when I will walk again, but you can be sure I will let you know.

Enjoy the video,

Dean

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