Harley ride for my sweet Dad
Yesterday my Dad’s friends and fellow riders went for a Harley ride in honor of my Dad. He was the president of the Idaho HOG Association and he is well respected in the Harley world. A couple years ago he rode solo from Idaho Falls, all the way down to the Florida Keys and back – through hail and crazy storms, and the Harley store kept track and posted his progress every day. At the end they presented him with a beautiful framed map with photos and updates from every days progress.
The impressive thing about about yesterdays ride is that my father joined them. He is so sick and riddled with cancer, in constant pain that leaves him weak and unable to stand up straight, and he mounted his HOG and rode with his brothers.
My Mom and their poodle, Teddy, rode part of the way too.
They rode all the way to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, with a few rest stops along the way. When they reached Jackson my Dad was so exhausted, but didn’t want to let his brothers down and rode back with them.
Here in Panama we had a productive day.
Jude, Mycah, Jonathan and the twins spent a ton of time scrubbing decks. They did a fantastic job.
Afterward to cool off they jumped off the boat and swam around.
Later they went on an adventure with the dinghy. They rode out to some mangroves and snorkeled, and saw lots of baby reef fish, a blue shrimp and beautiful sponges and bi-valves.
When they returned to Tanda Malaika they came in under the boat and I took this shot of them in their little hideaway. Funny creatures.
While they were doing all that, Danny and I worked hard on installing the radar system. We had to feed thick cables through impossibly small openings up and down the mast. Danny went up in the bosuns chair while I pulled from down below.
He’s become quite the ninja up the mast, having to drill and set rivets without being able to get leverage to push against the mast. Genius he is!
At one point I looked down on the dock and saw the creatures in a circle, taking turns with the machete and splitting coconuts.
The protective mama bear in me wanted to give them the safety lecture, but I could see they were being very careful. They did a great job and husked coconuts beautifully.
I attempted to cook with a new vegetable. Yucca. Danny introduced me to yucca a while ago and I love it!! The kids think it looks like a giant turd – which is an accurate description.
On the inside they look a lot like a potato, but they feel like a hard sticky potato covered in mucus. By the time you’re done peeling them, your hands are a slimy gooey mess. I cut them up and boiled them till tender, then coated them in butter and salt and pepper. They were SO delicious!
At the end of the day when Aidan had showered up, he came dancing through our hull and had all sorts of disco moves to show me. He’s so funny.
I took this crazy shot a couple nights ago when the creatures were on Danny’s and my bed. That’s a lot of legs attached to a lot of bodies, all gathered for family prayer. I love my family so much.
Adventures of a Tribe 