08 Outback - new photos from vacation!

[voutback]

Nice photos Ryan. Makes me miss Ontario summers. Grew up in Chelsea but visited a lot of lakes within a few hours of Ottawa. Ontario lakes are awesome in the summer once they have warmed up. It's gonna break your heart to put it into winter storage!

Now I have a longer boating season down in Texas but the summers are pretty darn hot! Live on a small lake down here so every weekend is a quick getaway. Some larger lakes closeby but they are kinda busy.

Cheers,

Voutback

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2008 Outback V

[Odie]

VOutback,

very true, the lakes are gorgeous, however slow to come up to temp. this year we've reached 75 for maybe a week, right now we're hovering around 70 again. cold, but totally worth it when you can see the bottom at 30 feet. crystal clear, and clean water. and yes, im sure it will hurt when the boat goes to storage... we're hoping to drag it out this year until almost November (dedication!) in cold Canadian water!

howd you get down south to Texas?

R

[voutback]

hey Ryan,

You are really dedicated! I remember the "shock" of swimming in Ontario lakes in the Spring - even with a wetsuit. I used to throw my sports car into winter storage typically well before November rolled around. I have heard that this summer has been somewhat wet up there.

In terms of getting down to Texas, here is the short version:
Ottawa->Phoenix->San Diego->San Francisco->Houston. Should have stopped at San Diego - really sweet weather there when you're close to the coastline. I have 3 small kids now so family activities dominate. Fortunately boating is one of them.

Voutback

[Odie]

V,

'somewhat wet up there' ---> UNDERSTATEMENT!
i travel as a salesman for a living, and i kid you not, the rain i have seen in the past three weeks has been just mental... it can go from beautiful and sunny to absolutely pouring in a blink. just two days ago, where i live, we got the entire monthly rainfall for August in 2 hrs! 2hrs!!!

the cottage is doing better, however it seems even on sunny days we're getting rain! i was chatting with a lady in the cottage supermarket from town and she remarked that she thought there had been less than a handful of days this summer where it HADN'T rained at least once in a 24 hr period.

bizarre weather. id love to move south, am always watching for job opps in the US, know of any?

R

[voutback]

R,

We have the reverse problem in Houston. The summer is too hot so you cannot go out on the lake the whole day. Rarely are there any days that the rain prevents you from getting out. We usually head out for a while then stop and cool down with a swim. If you are out for the whole day you had better pack the 50 spf or just hang in the shade. Lots of refreshments required...

I am looking forward to later September and October. Should be ideal weather for heading out on the water.

Lots of tech jobs in the SF bay area - high cost of living though. Houston is growing quite a bit and the cost of living here is quite reasonable. Of course you don't have the California beaches right closeby... There is the Gulf of Mexico however. Corpus Christi, Padre Island,...., so still places to go.

I originally got head hunted down to Arizona and then decided to do my own job searching from then onwards.

Voutback