Lyn's Log, 15th October 2007
Crossing the Rockies

By Chicago we had reached the end of line in the Great Lakes, as far as we could reach by sailing. It would have been possible to continue down the Mississippi from here, but instead we decided to have Sentinel transported 1,700 miles across the USA so that we could visit the north-west coast. A sparkling sail 30 miles back north took us to Winthrop Harbour, where the yacht was lifted out on 1st October. The hull was covered with small barnacles which were not readily dislodged by the high pressure hose but we helped by scraping them off with a shovel. Oddly, there was a large patch where the paint had peeled right off back to bare metal.

The mast was removed and laid on three supports by the yacht, where we stripped off all the rigging. The fragile furling gear with the forestay inside was laid on the ground beside the mast. In the middle of the night, a gale blew up and the wind was so strong that the mast and supports were blown over with a mighty crash. Sentinel shook but fortunately stayed upright, though it might have been different had the mast still been up. In the pelting rain we inspected the damage and considered we were very lucky. The mast had blown right over the furling gear, missing it. Just one upper mast step was broken where it hit the ground and hopefully it can be welded back together.

The truck turned up two days late, just as were wondering if it would ever show, It took all afternoon on Friday 5th October to load Sentinel and strap her down for her trip over the Rockies to the little fishing port of Anacortes, mid way between Seattle and Vancouver. But what about us? We would have liked to travel with Sentinel, but that isn't permitted.

It seemed like an opportunity to see something of the country, so we were reluctant to fly. We were discussing our dilemma with a taxi-driver in Winthrop Harbour when he mentioned that there was a good train between Chicago and Seattle. So the next day saw us returning to Chicago, from where we caught the Empire Builder Express for the two day trip to Seattle. We had a tiny but very comfortable two-seater cabin to ourselves that converted to two bunks at night. The food was thrown in, and remarkably good. It was an empty, open landscape through the American West of North Dakota and Montana with the famous 'big skies' caused by the clarity of light in the high plains. We just reached the Rockies by the second night on board and marvelled at the snow covered mountain scenery.

A surprising number of the people we talked to were making a holiday of the trip and would be going back on the train in a few days time. That way they would see the things we had missed at night on the westward journey. The question to us seems inevitable. We are going to have lapel buttons made: "We may be English but we neither know nor care about the private lives of the Royal Family."

There had been a heatwave in Chicago, with a temperature on 32°C on the day we left, way above normal. As we left the train, Seattle was a mere 10°C and overcast. So finally, after nearly three years, we have returned to the cold.