Hi, All--

We came back a couple of days early, but had a wonderful time while we were at Lake Powell this week! The weather was cooler than usual for July--mostly below 100 degrees during the day, cooling to upper 60s at night. Monsoon season seems to be upon us, and we did have a wild and crazy thunderstorm one night. The other days, we could see clouds building with some storm activity but, other than some wind, the storms passed us by.

We brought a couple of eye-bolts as George requested last week. However, we could not install them as we brought 5/16 inch bolts, which were a bit too big for the holes already there. We would suggest that the next person bring a drill to widen the holes a bit--the bolts we brought would be much stronger than the ones that were there previously. We left the eye-bolts in the kitchen drawer to the left of the stove. If you prefer, you can bring smaller ones to fit the holes--I am guessing 1/4" would work.

Also, we noticed that the cable was attached to the other eye bolt in such a way that you would need another piece to make the repair. The cable is attached like this:



So, you would need a piece like a chain link to attach it to the new eye-bolt, kind of like this (although this is a fancier connection than you would need, I would think):

 

Sorry we were unable to make the needed repair, and we hope someone else will be able to attach it with this information. As far as other maintenance issues, we did notice that the A/C was not up to par, as others have mentioned. Also, as we were leaving, we noticed that the back sliding glass door is not locking properly due to a missing piece that should be attached to the door frame.

One other noteworthy incident that happened on our trip--this morning, we got swarmed by newly hatched queen red aunts that were ready to start their own colonies! They decided that the upstairs canopy would be a great place to congregate. Luckily, we did have a couple of outdoor insect foggers and were able to take care of the problem. So, just an observation that nature happens sometimes, and a can of bug spray can come in handy.

Lastly--and this has nothing to do with maintenance, but we thought it was kind of entertaining--on our way to the lake, we started noticing (after Kanab) that some road workers had some fun applying tar to the cracks in the road. They made several pictures with the tar in both lanes and sometimes on the road shoulder. We saw paw prints, snakes, ducks, and other designs as we were driving. You can see them on your way beginning around mile 38 and ending about at the Paria River around mile 20 or so. 

Happy boating to you all!

Kathie and Jim Ott