Follow Up Melita III and George Grech's Snake & Columbia River Trip

I had a nice follow up email from George on his river trip. Boy, he doesn't slow down any. Here is his new video that he put together on his trip Snake and Columbia Rivers. I loved the music he added to it and the photos brought back lots of memories for me.

He planning another trip coming up to the San Juan Islands later this year. I am hoping to meet him.Thanks George, again for creating dreams for people.

Melita III, A C-Dory Takes on the Snake and Columbia Rivers

Today, I was surprised and delighted to hear again from George Grech. We had emailed and spoken on the phone many months ago. He was interested in replicating my Snake River Trip in 2010. Here is a guy who dreams, plans and makes his dreams a reality. Read on....

Hira,
It's George we spoke several months ago about your trip down the Snake and Columbia rivers. You gave me a great deal of information and you E mailed me your pre planning material. On Sept 2, 2014 my friend Steve and I launched my "22' C Dory Cruiser" at Clarkston Washington after towing it 800 miles from Concord CA. Your valuable information was used throughout the trip. The best bit of advice was to go in September. The weather was beautiful  warm breezes and glassy smooth water. Seen only two floating logs on the entire trip. What I didn't know until we got there was they stopped letting out water of all the Dams on Sept 1. So we didn't get the wild rides you had when you exited the locks just more placid water. I had hoped to take a couple of months but unfortunately I could only get away for a month. It took us three weeks to get to Astoria. I rented a car and went back to Clarkston and retrieved my truck and trailer. There were days of gentle Easterly breezes and two days of a 30 knot gusting to 60 knot Easterly blow. Just before the blow started we had pulled into Washougal Washington for lunch there was this floating Tropical cafe  which we tied up to. When the wind picked up the cafe blocked the wind so we stayed put for two days until it died down back to gentle breezes. The entire trip went like that good luck all the time. I often could travel along between 20 and 30 MPH. The Snake's river's beauty and remoteness was more awesome than I had anticipated.

I would like to return to the Snake and just explore. We stopped at most of the places you stopped at. Had a great dinner and spent the night at Clover Island hung out in Hood River and fished for Salmon an Sturgeon. Went up the Willamette past Portland and spent a couple of days in Portland and had Voodoo doughnuts. Hung out in Astoria for a few more days of salmon fishing. I had been preparing for this trip for a year and all my preparations were good, the engine hummed nothing broke or malfunctioned. I'm thinking about going to the San Juan Islands next June and back to Clarkston in September. I like being on my boat going to new places meeting friendly people in Marinas. More fun than staying home. Thank you for your blog and your phone call. I will be checking out your other trips. A few pictures are attached. George

Thank you George, for giving us all a look into your window of opportunity.  I hope this posting will inspire others to dream big and follow their hearts. When you start planning your San Juan Island Trip give me a call. Perhaps we can meet and cruise some together.

Preparation For Another Trip 18 July 2009

My little luggage carrier has served me well over all these hauling years, but there is one troubling characteristic that is disconcerting to me. As I amble up and down the ramp and docks the ice chest tends to slide off the metal frame, especially when I am going over grating or gaps in the docking. This morning I built a platform for the ice chest and screwed it into the frame. Tomorrow I will head south to Shatoosh and see how my new carrier works.

Linda, my newest crew will join me in the evening as she is returning from a Cat Show on the Oregon Coast. She is promoting her new book about her late cat, Regal.(see her website listed below-catacumen.com) She travels in her RV so we can have some time to visit Sunday evening and Monday morning. She just returned from a camping trip where she got a taste of the Snake River below Little Monument Dam. Now, she is really eager to devise a plan where several of us can camp and cruise together as we explore the upper Columbia and Snake River systems. I've been up for it for years so maybe next summer we can pull it off. All I need is one more person to commit.
Any Takers?