Oct 10 - My first Ivanhoe Payday: $41.53

Tuesday, October 10, 1972 - Page 284
LOCATION: Newport Beach, Santa Ana, Anaheim

9:00 PM
Left for work at 7:00 and got there at 8:45. Mark was in today (as usual) and we tore apart three rooms in the upper story and went to work on them. Multi-varied tasks awaited me but they weren't difficult and I soon should be quite efficient at it. Kept busy all day.

This is my sister Laramée's handwriting

Got payed today and Mike & I drove to the bank to cash the check. I paid him $5 I owed, so now I have about -- oh, I dunno. But more money than I've had in awhile. Drove the car back from the gas station, all recharged. Quit at 5:45. Mike & I drove some guests to the Disneyland Hotel, returned and Mike & I rode on his Kawasaki 750 to Grandlydia [nickname for my trailer park home]. He likes to exercise the bike occasionally. I ate a lot of turkey when I got home at about 7:00 P.M. The only thing I'd eaten previously was an instant breakfast. I'm doing alright on one meal a day. One snack, rather.

TOMORROW: Missed the bus, took a cab home

Jun 04 - Doldrums: Catalina Race, Day 2**

Sunday, June 4, 1972 - Page 156
LOCATION: Catalina & Newport Beach, California

(2:52:15 PM Monday 6/5/1972)
This was Sunday. The race was going to start at 11:00, and we got up at 9:30 (later than anyone else). As we were coming into Catalina, the clouds were parting and the sun was beginning to set. In the morning of Sunday, there were low clouds that obscured the top of Catalina (we were around Indian Rock, I think).

There was no wind, and the start of the race wasn't too inspiring. Boats inched along in the doldrums for hours, staying pretty close together. We, alternately, were at second place, catching first, then at second to last place, with last catching us. For a couple hours the sky cleared and we caught some rays (that means -- oh, never mind, you know what it means). But the clouds moved in thickly again, and remained the rest of the day. Murray was usually at the helm, Chunk was up front operating the Chute, and I was sitting on the slide most of the time.

Here is a modern photo of the kind of boat we "raced" to Catalina: A Cal 22 (meaning 22 feet long) Fractional Sloop

I made baloney sandwiches and we ate them and various other stuff on the way. Unlike coming to Catalina Saturday, there were always sailboats in view, and there were usually 2 or 3 behind us. When land came in sight, the doldrums returned and we inched in, excruciatingly slowly (one sailboat gave up with the race and motored in, leaving just one boat behind us).

Eventually got in by 7:00, with Bob Kirkaby waiting (it's his boat, sort of). Mom eventually came to pick us up, and we all came to Grandlydia [goofy nickname for my trailer] to eat and play chess. Chunk beat me in one game, and I beat Murray in one game (he's slooow to move, taking at least five minutes for each -- like Chunk said: "Playing chess with you is like sailing with no wind."). I drove Murray home, then Chunk, then me. The end.

Official Patch of Chuck's Sea Scout Team

May 11 - Training for LA Games canoe races**

Thursday, May 11, 1972 - Page 132
LOCATION: Newport Beach, California

12:00 AM
Goddup at 11:30 A.M. when Chunk came over. He & me walked to the Sea Scout Base, and embarked on a canoe paddling excursion at noon. We paddled and paddled and paddled. And paddled. And paddled some more. He seems to think he's training me for the 2-guy canoe race at Hansen Dam. Good grief. Oh well... I want to have experience at everything, I might as well start with something I don't want to do. So we paddled.

[See May 20 - Competing in LA Games canoe races]

Finished at 2:00, cause Chunk had to get Winnie or something. Ran home and saw Glenn driving out of Winnie's old community, so we chatted with him. As it was, we were blocking traffic, so he drove to the trailer, and I challenged Chunk to a race to Grandlydia (we were at the entrance of Eye Sore Park at the time). So we sprinted, he with the two paddles, me with the bag full of stuff. He won, of course, but it was all worth while when the office blared through the speakers: "The speed limit is 5 miles an hour... slow down!"

I believe, however, the admonishment was for Glenn who was following us in his car. They rapped in the trailer, and I wandered down the beach to swim to the raft and tan m' hide. Came back, and Jordan caught me, and we played a couple of games of chess. Then I got rid of him. Only minutes ago, I finished cutting up and disposing of the bulky comic collection. The work that now remains for me in that department is to organize what remains of it. 'Tis now 12:15:15 A.M.  -- THE END

Mar 24 - 100s of fish attack my kayak

Friday, March 24, 1972 - Page 84
LOCATION: Newport Beach, California

4:30 PM
Went to sleep at about 5:30 or six. Woke up when a persistent ringing in my ear jarred me to consciousness at about 10:00 A.M. It was Chunk calling on the phone. He's heading for the King River today and he was gonna get $20 from mom on her lunch break and he needed me to show him where SMR [Surgical Mechanical Research] was. I took a bath and Dad called, asking me to do some research on Bushmaster Pit vipers (he's designing a shoulder patch with a Bushmaster on it). He was going to come later on his lunch break to get mom her weekly $20, and give us the trailer documents.

I had a chicken sandwich, checked some books for snakes, Chunk & Winnie came over in the Barracuda at quarter to Noon and we went to get mom, went to the bank so she could withdraw Chunk's twenty, and I was dropped off back at Grandlydia 'bout 12:45. Dad turned up, and left at one. He gave me $5, and $20 for mom, along with some mail.

LEFT: At Grandlydia (AKA my trailer) with Chuck at the rear door going to get one of his kayaks hanging on the back fence. RIGHT: A view from the front door showing our storage shed.

It was a warm sunny day so I went kayaking -- talked momentarily with my neighbor -- talked with a guy on the beach who mentioned Art Viterelli (#2 kayaker in the U.S. -- Chunk is #3), and I paddled into back bay into the midst of hundreds of fish, averaging 1 1/2', in the shallow tepid water. They churned the water, rammed the boat, jumped in the air, and a couple of them hit me on their leaps. At four o'clock, after being out 3 hours, I returned to Grandlydia.

11:57:55 PM
L & M [Laramée & Michael] came over t'day 'bout 8:30. M & I will go to L.V. [Las Vegas] soon. 11:58:50, Fini