We'd remarked on the way down to Blackhawk that we needed to be sure to stop at the one gas station between there and Ned when we headed back. Well, we forgot. I freaked out, to put it mildly, at the prospect of having my wife, daughters, and dog stuck on the side of the road after dark with the temperature at 24 degrees and falling, while I hiked for gas. In fact it was all a breeze. We stopped in front of Help Towing, and when we called the number, the guy said he'd be there in five minutes and had a few gallons he could sell us, which all worked out perfectly.
The big lesson for me, going over the episode today, is to handle things more calmly. As the skipper of a vessel, at least as important as expert seamanship is inspiring confidence in the crew and facilitating their optimal performance. This is obviously incompatible with freaking out. So, another thing to work on. Another area in which the time is upon me now to get around to a little overdue growing-up.
On a different note, we'd gone down to Blackhawk to horse around in the Gilpin pool, and I'm just blown away and thrilled with the confidence and skill that our girls are building in the water. Audrey was going to the bottom for sunken rings and even did the water slide by herself for the first time, twice. And that's a pretty big water slide. And Lorelei is completely fearless. She'll just walk straight in to water up to her chin. She could maybe use a little more fear, but I'm so proud of her.
-19.7 @ 251.5
