To Our Family and Friends,

We know you are still out there!  Holiday greetings to you all.  We hope you are healthy, happy and staying hunkered down.  

This blog entry is coming from San Diego. We got down here first week of November to celebrate Sasha's birthday. Weather has been great. Sunny and comfortable upper 60's to 70's. We are glad to be here with Sasha. Having some good time with her. Doing lots of walking, biking, kayaking and card playing.

Ada is spending her private time learning about predicting earthquakes, tarot cards and Uluru prophecy (check it out if you are brave!).  And she is reading and playing music.  Her last book that she recommends is Deacon King Kong by James Mcbride. 

Rick continues to spend time with music and reading. Ada leads a yoga session every other day or so that Rick tries to keep up with.  We are quite a show doing the Eagle pose on the shore of Mission Bay in front of all the birds.

We have been able to get out on San Diego Bay sailing a few times on are friend Marvin's boat. We have had great sails. What a treat for us. Sasha joined us for one sail and had a good time.

We took one trip to Torney Pines State Park north of San Diego for a nice hike. A few pictures are included from that trip.

Like all of you, we were very relieved by the change of leadership in our country.  It has been so challenging to watch and see the distress so many are experiencing.  We are working to try not to be sunk by the anxiety and uncertainty of the times. Working to stay hopeful, positive and caring of others.  We have so much to be grateful for!!

Our best for a bright New Year- filled with peace, unity and love. And many grins!!

Ada and Rick 

To Our Family and Friends, It is now Nov. 2, a day before election. Yahoo!! We are ready for a change of focus. We are writing this entry from Grass Valley visiting my brothers and sister-in- law's farm.  Fall is well underway. We are on our migration down to the sunshine of southern Calif.  You will see a picture of a visit at a hemp farm that was very interesting in Jacksonville, Or. And we stayed at Emigrant Lake for a few nights.

In mid Sept. we were sheltered on our boat from a storm in Bellingham Bay at the public marina. The storm was a major gale with 40 knot winds at the dock. It was quite an experience and fortunately we were safe at harbor. Since our last blog entry we have at Prevost Harbor on Stewart Island hiking and enjoying the beauty. We also spent time at Shoal Bay on Lopez Island. That bay we entered in dense fog having come from Bellingham Harbor. It was quite an experience to be in such thick fog. Our radar was invaluable!! We have also spent time at Sucia Island during the intense smoke from all of the terrible fires. A few days we had to stay in the boat given the smoke, as many other had to do. We then headed back to Sucia during the last few weeks of our water time. We had a great visit with our friends Kristen and Matt over labor day. During that visit we went to South Lopez and and anchored in MacKaye Harbor. One day of the visit we had very strong winds. That is the way of boating. It was a great visit!! We have a picture of Matt talking with Jose, our friendly parrot. It was quite a conversation!!! Our pictures share some of the smoke, travel in fog and alot of the beauty. We continue to feel blessed with having so much water time during the pandemic. The next phase of our mystic journey will took us back to Sucia and Stewart Island. We also spent a few days at James Island enjoying beautiful sun and hiking.

We then went to Anacortes to prepare the boat for hauling out. Had a great few days with Amanda prior to us all heading to Olympia for a week or so. Then back to Anacortes to put the boat to bed for the winter. We felt very fortunate to have spent the summer on the Salish Sea. Especially during this pandemic! 

We have also included a little bit of music from the pilot house (http://youtu.be/3LfAt1Pzel0). We hope you enjoy. Our best to all. We hope you are safe and gearing up for active voting!!!! If the current character in the White House stays, my hair is going to get too long!!!!! Ada May and Ricky Ray

Mid Summer Blog Entry

Family and Friends,

Well, it has been awhile since our last blog entry. It is now mid August and the summer has been flying by.  We got on our new boat, the Island Spirit, in early June and brought it down to Olympia to settle into the boat and see friends. It certainly took us awhile to understand the different systems on the boat and get comfortable with it.  We needed to put a new windlass on the boat which was accomplished during the month. It was a productive month and it was good to be back in Oly.

Since then we have been bobbing around the sound, spending a number of days in certain less traveled bays.  With the virus in full swing many boaters were out and about. So we wanted to hang in places that were less crowded.  Mystery Bay near Port Townsend, Sequim Bay west of Port Townsend, Alec Bay on the south side of Lopez to name a couple.  It has been  wonderful being on the boat and living in these gorgeous bays. One of the pictures is from the Dungeness Spit, the nations largest natural spit. A beautiful setting there.  And the boat has performed well.

We even had a very challenging crossing of the Straits of Juan de Fuca with 8-12 ft seas. It really tested the boat and crew. But we made it safely into a very mellow bay on Lopez Island.  Hopefully we learned some lessons from that crossing and will avoid that level of sea in the future!!!  The first mate (Ada) did a great job hanging in there. Couldn't have done it without her.

We are now back in Olympia for some personal commitments and then we will be heading back north for the rest of the summer and early fall.  We feel very fortunate to be out enjoying the outdoors during this difficult time in the world.

Our best to all! Stay healthy and Rock On! (as Ada would say)

Family and Friends,
Well, it has been awhile since we have contributed to our blog. Since mid-May we have been very busy.  We arrived at Anacortes via trailer in May 15. Stayed at a nice park in Anacortes while we worked on our new boat that was sitting on land in a boat yard.

Had two weeks of hard work preparing the boat for the water. Working on key systems, cleaning, waxing, and buying key items needed for the boat to make it safe and livable.  It was fun outfitting a boat. It's been awhile!  This work was interrupted by a potential buyer on our old boat.  We had to go down to Olympia, clean that boat, and make sure it was ready for a sea trial. Then did the sea trail the next day with the haul out for survey. Unfortunately the deal fell thru at the last minute given a loss of job by one of the parties. So Clara June is back on the market.

So at the end of May the boat was put in the water. John Wingfield was with us for the launching. John helped me bring the boat down from Anacortes to Olympia while Ada brought our truck to Olympia so we would have assess to it for the month of June. Our plan was to stay tied up to the dock all June getting to know the boat and settled in. And most importantly, having time with our good friends in Olympia who we hadn't seen for months.  The month has served us well. Learned a lot, had some challenges: like our windlass failing, steering failing, needing to get the out board serviced, propane system malfunctioning, radar and auto pilot misbehaving. Yahoo!! Owning a boat. Most of these things are getting sorted.

One of the best aspects of being home is getting back with the Ray Band. Both Ada and I enjoy playing music with our buddies big time. It's a good time to be making tunes given the state of the world. A time for healing and making sweet noise- with folks you love.  We feel very fortunate to have music buddies.  I also had some time with Mark Robinson playing tunes. I think music is keeping many of us sane!! At least somewhat!

In two days we will be off the dock floating around the South Sound.  We are planning on staying in the south sound for a while then heading north.  No rush and no clear plans.  We will be taking it a day and week at a time.

We hope all are doing well. We hope you are having some fun every day and being thankful for health, home, family and friends!!
Our best!
Ada and Rick

Great To Be Back in the Northwest

Well, the Kramberries bus is rolling. Ada and I made it from San Diego to the Dalles in Oregon in 2 days.  Then on to Spokane to hang with Kristen and Matt. We wanted to power thru given the virus situation. Had a great time on their ranch playing and working, helping them with a few projects.  Then we went to Walla Walla to see Kelsey and Sheri for Mothers Day and had a great visit. A few pics from that visit is included.

We then headed from Spokane to Winthrop WA were I am composing this blog entry. Beautiful territory. Ada and I was last here when we came to cross country ski after we first met years ago. It's great to be back, seeing family that we hadn't seen for a long time. The mountains are beautiful here and we had a great hike.

Tomorrow we are heading to Anacortes, earlier than we had planned because we have a buyer for our sailboat. Yahoo!! We need to get the boat ready for a sea trial on Thursday. Timing couldn't have been better!!

Packing up and Heading North!!

Greetings All!  We hope this blog offering is finding you well and safe in the midst of our storm!!
We are heading north on I-5 April 27th. Hope to go straight up the west coast to Spokane and be there by Friday. We are planning to stay with our friends Kristen and Matt on their wonderful ranch on the outskirts of Spokane.

As our time in San Diego is coming to a close, our feelings are mixed. We have enjoyed the time here getting to know the city, spending time with Sasha, with much time for walks, bikes, kayaks and all. Certainly the virus has impacted our style but no complaints here.

We took some pictures of our favorites scenes. And some pics of our new friends Marvin's boat- a classy day sailor that is for sale.  It is a real head turner.  It was hard not to be able to get out for a sail. Definitely making us ready to get on the water!!!  Until we see your smiling faces- signing out from California.