2011-09-10 Saturday

I was up early, and drove to Bob's Beach in Stevenson for the early morning easterly that had been forecast.  I arrived at 7:15am.  I got the best parking spot at the Beach ... but the river was like glass.  Blaine, Brad and Harold A and Harold W arrived about 1/2 an hour later.  We all sat and watched the water for a few hours.  The Easterly winds did finally pick up, but only to about 10mph.  We finally gave up and headed back to Hood River about 11:00am.

Bob's Beach - Brad and Harold waving!

The Paddle Wheeler went by while we waited.

Stevenson

Ross showed up sometime in the middle of the night and slept in the living room.  He was some pissed that people (who were hoping to sail) had to go to the adjacent kitchen in the morning to get their stuff.

Ross, Harold W, and Kent went Biking.  Word has it they had a great time, and saw an amazing waterfall.  Harold is hurting as he tried to keep up with "Kamikaze and Gung Ho"  (Ross and Kent).  A very fun ride.  Shuttled (took the car), up so it was a rolling climb for 4 miles and then 11 miles of rolling down hill.   What a blast. Then 2.2 miles up to the falls and finally a dip in the swimming hole.  Harold only hurt on the uphill..

Biking at wind river - All Downhill!  Get out of the way Kent!

Harold insisted that they ride up to the falls creek.  He ran out of steam, and had to walk his bike the last mile...

Mike, Harold A, Rene, Brad, and Blaine went golfing.  It was an endurance test in the 37c temperatures. Blaine was very happy that he beat Mike.

Tough golfing when you need a wedge to dislodge your ball from the green...

Handre and Lazelle stayed around town and then went for a SUP ride on the river.  They went out under the bridge and somehow got between two boats with crazy fishermen who were shouting at each other and casting their lines into each other.  As Lazelle pasted by, she got caught in their lines had snagged together, and were being pulled at both ends.  She had to jump over the line as it passed from the front to the back of her board!!

I toured around down town, to look around and have lunch.  I ran into Bart, who is now working full time in a sports shop that specializes in shoes - not even a windsurfer in the store!  Then I headed to the British Pub for lunch.  On the way I passed a dog who was tied up to a light pole outside a business.  The dog was barking, but I like dogs, so on the way past I started talking to it, then held out my hand for him to sniff. At the last minute, he lunged at me and tried to bite me.  He didn't get his teeth around my fingers, but they brushed the back of my fingers as they closed.  Oh well - not a very friendly dog - but I didn't think much more of it...  While I was sitting on the Patio of the British Pub having lunch, some police cars pulled up - they loaded the dog into the back of the car - and took him away....  I hope they got the owner as well.

It was very hot downtown, so I headed back to the condo to do some work, and maybe take a nap. On the way, I saw a bunch of sports cars parked down town.  This Ford GT is apparently worth about 1/2 million dollars according to Rene.

Ford GT - worth a cool half million.

When the guy's got back from Golf, Blaine, Brad and I went for a SUP ride on the river, and then a swim.  We paddled until dark.  We literally sailed into the sunset, which was spectacular with the smoke from all the wildfires in the area.  When the sun disappeared behind the mountain, we turned to head back.  As we were packing up in the fading light, we had fun taking turns "holding the moon"..

No sailing, but all in all a great day.  Some of the guy's went to White Salmon for supper, we went to 6th Bistro.

We ended the night watching a Windsurfing Jibing Video.  The gang is trying to get Handre to buy a new hull.  Lots of advice, I am not sure if any of it is any good - everyone has a different opinion...The frenzy may be on again....