Thurs. 10-31-02

Well, I haven't written for a while (strange...the date doesn't suggest this!). It's late, it's probably close to midnight & I'm actually laying on our bed in the boat! The last day I wrote, Hans did get us back in time. We started watching Don like hawks when he came w/the U-Haul. He had to hire two men to help him. We overheard him say he'd be gone in about 2 hours. Our eyes lit up & we got huge smiles on our faces. We thought he was there for another night! We could start on the boat that day! & it was still early afternoon! Brett ended up finding the anchor rope Don said we could have, in his car. So Brett took that out & sneaked it over to Louie's boat & Brett also found that the spice rack was missin'. The one that was part of the boat, but that Don said he made, & then said was from a 40 foot powerboat. Don tried to take it! But Brett ran over to the U-Haul & found it on the bottom of some box & sneaked that back too! Anyway, everyone was happy when Don finally left. & we cleaned the boat. This morning, while I was dreaming about eating these delicious pecan pie/brownie things-free samples- at Ralph's Grocery, & just about to go buy some coffee, I awoke to someone saying,"Excuse me?" I peep my eyes from out from my sleeping bag & see the small man that has a boat across from Louie, & like an angel, he asks, "Do you two need an out board motor?" It 's like 5-5:30 in the morning (he was goin' to work) & all we could say was, "Yeah! Yeah, thank you!" But we couldn't fall back to sleep, so we got up & Brett started on the boat as I went to buy coffee! We're cleanin' & later Hans shows up (he's been a lot of help!!) & drives us to get some stuff. I buy an outboard motor mount & some other stuff & he drives us back. Soon, Keith, from across us, is helping us mount it on the boat & he loans us his motor, 'cause the other guys' has a small problem. Once it's on (after Brett havin' to leave twice for a new bolt & nut) he motors us around, & back, then he talks us into just goin' over to the park today, instead of waitin' for the mornin'. We pack up & head out & Keith pays for our first day here. & we've been cleanin' all day of course!- Oh, once we got to the park, we had to walk all the way back to get our rope outta' Louie's boat & return his key & get our bikes, & we're about to (somehow) bike back w/all this heavy rope, & Hans & Louie show up! They were lookin' for us. Just like angels they're there right on time. Hans drives out rope back & we bike back. But anyway, we're extremely tired, 5 hrs short of bein' up 24 hrs. Goodnight! (-Augustino cooked lamb for us, -whoops! Haha...)