The days in Mesa, however, were filled with company and other events. Horst & Bea Eberspaecher, and Will & Joann Gallant came
up for the Christmas Light Parade on Saguaro Lake, which the Desert Belle always leads. And it is normally a company party with invited friends. Other friends that came for a complimentary trip this season included Bud & Lisa Root, and their friends Mike & Terry, <Nada & Dorsey Hensley, John & Barb Wilde, Earl & Marta Encell, Cathy Fleming, and Pat & Susan Caniff. 
Some of the other events we took these guests to included the Arizona Opry, Organ Stop Pizza, drive up the Apache Trail, Olive Mill, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West, our favorite restaurant Café Roma>, and the Broadway Palm dinner theater to see Hello Dolly.
<Cathy came from Elkhart, Indiana for a few days and then her, Bea, and Molly took off for L. A., California for Joann Gallant’s daughter Kristen's wedding in the Wayfarers Chapel. They were busy doing a lot of the busy work during the wedding and had a great time calling it this year’s "hen fest". Molly & I also were busy going to several plays and concerts including "Jersey Boys" at the
ASU Gammage Auditorium, "SWING" and "Buddy" at the Broadway Palm dinner theater, Smothers Brothers, Bobby Rydell & Lesley Gore at several CalAm RV parks, and Wyatt Earp by Wyatt Earp (a grand nephew of THE Wyatt Earp) at the Palace 
Saloon>, one of the original saloons on Whiskey Row in Prescott, Arizona. We also made a trip up to Globe, AZ to tour the <Besh-Ba-Gowah Pueblo. It was a fascinating site that has done some reconstructing of some of the ancient indian pueblo buildings so you can go inside and climb around seeing what they were like when in use.
At the end of March, we went to Sunsites, Arizona to stay with Horst & Bea, and were also joined by Will & Joann. We made a trip through <Bisbee viewing the "hole" left from copper mining, and then spent the better part of a day in Tombstone. David Smith (Desert Belle owner) sponsored the Tombstone portion of the trip for extra work I had 
performed. He told us to have a time fun on him and recommended several sights not to miss. And it was a blast, eating in Big Nose Kate’s Saloon and sitting at the <same table that Wyatt Earp had sat at during his time there. We sent an email postcard back to David thanking him for the trip. But as 
always, the girls got a little rowdy>!
We spend the next day touring the <Chiricahua N.M. on the East side of the valley from where Horst & Bea live. The rock formations there are something to behold. The next day we made a short trip up in back of Horst & Bea’s home to the Cochise Stronghold, where the great Apache chief was able 
to avoid discovery and capture. He is buried up there somewhere but the only white man that know where is his friend Tom Jeffords. We hiked around some the short trails and identified some of the plants>. Again, a great time with great friends.
After the Desert Belle peak season ended on May 1st, we headed down to San Carlos and Albion. In March I had gone down and put her in a slip at Marina Real, just north of San Carlos. We put Albion up for sale with the idea of buying a park-model in Apache Wells RV Resort since our Mesa location looked like it was going to be a long-term opportunity on the Desert Belle and we weren’t getting down to the boat during the winter anymore. If the boat didn’t sell by the next Spring we would consider taking it back to the Northwest for periodic summer cruising. The plan was to spend the month of May working on the boat making it pretty and then cruising the Sea of Cortez for a few weeks. However, the following is an email we wrote back to fellow cruisers about what happened during that month.5/14/08
Albion's near disaster
Howdy fellow cruisers;
Albion is safe in the work yard at Marina Real and Molly & I are back in Tucson to pick up a boat part for Albion.
It all started Saturday. I had spent the day polishing the stainless stanchions, bow pulpit, and lifelines and decided that was enough for the day in the 100 degree heat. While we were sitting in the cockpit relaxing I decided to start the engine and make sure it started and operated properly. We had been on the boat now for a week cleaning and getting things fixed. And Albion had been at the dock in Marina Real> for a month and a half. So it was time to make sure it still ran. It started fine, shifted into forward and reverse just fine, and then I shut it off. As usual, I check the normally dry engine "room" for any leaks. IT WAS FULL OF WATER!!!! And I heard water gushing in from the rear. I tore the bed apart to check the drip-less packing gland under it and the water was running in as though there was no packing gland there. The bellows had torn.
I spent the next hour and a half trying to get enough of the lip on the back portion of the bellows to clamp back onto the shaft boot. I could make the water slow down, but then it would spring eternal. While Molly watched the water run in and the bilge-pump pump it out, I ran over to San Carlos to see if I could get a replacement hose for the bellows. NO! I stopped at the work yard/dry storage at Marina Real to let them know I had an emergency and would have to have the boat hauled immediately. They said to check with the office. Ran to the office, made sure they knew it was an emergency....."the boat is sinking!!!", and they radioed the boys at the yard to get over here ASAP. As I got to the boat, two other dock guys were already there, helped me throw the lines loose and headed over to the ramp. By the time we motored over to the ramp.....bilge running the entire time....the trailer was there, and luckily for us it was near high tide....Albion needs more water for it's winged keel. The movers worked efficiently and in no time Albion was heading down the road to the dry work yard leaving a trail of water from the still running bilge pump!
Mi Casa (Mel & Sherry) graciously loaned us their RV to stay in until Albion is back in the water. The next day, a referred mechanic came by to help remove the shaft and get the drip-less packing gland and torn bellows off the shaft. To get the packing gland off, you first have to remove the coupler that holds the shaft to the transmission. It wouldn't move. He got a unique piece of equipment, something like a wheel puller, but try try try as we might.....it wouldn't come off. After discussing our options, the mechanic said he has never seen a coupler come off a shaft after it had been on as long as ours...about 9 years. He suggested cutting the shaft $$, pulling it out, having a new coupler and shaft made $$$$, and cutting a notch in the rudder $$$ to put the new shaft back in (rather than taking the rudder off). I eventually bowed to his expertise and he gave me the cutting grinder to cut the shaft and said he'd be back in an hour or so. I took the grinder up and took a big swallow....maybe I'll try ONE MORE TIME. I had put a scratch in the shaft when we started working with the puller to see if we were making any progress. As I took a second look, I thought maybe while we were doing all our discussing, the pressure MAY HAVE MOVED the coupler a fraction. I put another block on the propeller so it wouldn't turn, and tried with all my Swedish stubbornness one more time. IT SEEMED TO MOVE!!!! I tried it again, and again, and in about 20 minutes I had the coupler, the packing gland, and bellows off the shaft. YAHOO!!! The mechanic was very surprised when he returned and I was feeling like I won the lottery.
Back to the marine mart to order a new bellows, but they said I would have to order the entire packing gland $$$ and it would take two weeks. Not good enough! I called the manufacturer, PYI Inc., in Bellingham WA, ordered just the bellows $, and had it shipped on two day delivery to friends Nada and Dorsey's in Tucson while we went up there and waited. The part just arrived and is the correct part. Tomorrow we will be heading back to the boat in San Carlos, re-install the gland with the new bellows, put Albion back in the water to finish our work, take it for a sea trial, and put it up for sale (not sail).Just thought I would give our cruising friends a little update. Albion is scheduled for haul-out on May 28 after which we will drive back to Mesa to get the RV and head back to the Northwest for the summer.
[Update after we got back to San Carlos] The bellows went on, no problem and we launched the next day. But there was still a lot of work to do on the boat and by the time we got it pretty well complete, the nice cruising weather ended. We decided to run the boat back to San Carlos, haul out early, and put it back in dry storage in Marina Secca until sold or next Spring.
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