Well I was super excited to finally meet you all and have a blast but I'm now having to back out of coming down.
I just got back out to work in PA after a month off to due my father passing away. I took off for what we had hoped was just a week or so to be home when he had open heart surgery on March 30th and till I knew he was good and just waiting to come home for recovery. The surgery was supposed to be 1 valve repair and turned into 2 repaired and 1 replaced. Surgeon was confident all went well and then 10-12 hrs later he started kidney and liver failure signs. It was 1 step forward and 2 back for couple weeks. About 2 weeks later he was alert enough to recognize us, smile, wink and mouth to Mom and I that he loved us and understand I believe that we were telling him how much we loved him and it was ok. The next day wasn't as good but close for 1 of my 2 brothers and my 1 sister to share with him a similar exchange. His liver numbers and bilirubin started improving and they still were confident My youngest brother had a tough situation and they kept telling us till the last evening he was going to make it so with his job and 900 miles and such he was hoping on that and waiting to come when Dad was alert more and recovering. He never made it, On the 18th of April he passed away at 1:23am. So I am now missing my best friend, father, and best man I ever knew. I just don't have it right now to think about vacation. I work for and with a awesome bunch and they carried my work load and never asked for loss of vacation days or PTO days per se' but still I can't right now be thinking of vacation in 6 weeks or so.
I had my powerhead down at Jay Smith for his magic and he was great working with me through this time and I finally got it back but still have several hours to get the boat finished before I can even head to water for the initial breakin. I ordered a bunch of goodies from Bill -new 2nd seat for back center , 2 new matching covers, misc parts and such to finish my refresh. Dad was really proud all the years of anything I did but he was looking forward to a ride in this one for sure. He will always ride with me just not the way I had hoped. One time years back I took him 100 MPH in my STV Sprint and he loved that but knew that was tame compared to a Allison ride. He was only in my XB03 2x's to about 75 and loved it more than any ride he ever had in a motor vehicle.
I have a trailer #10 I believe it is with a deposit at Sam's Boat Dock for the whole week reserved so if someone needs a place it will be available. I will be calling them in next day or so to release it.
Skewby, I again really appreciate your boat storage offer from earlier. I still haven't made it to Texas to get it or put wife's pontoon up for sale. This year was all about being home as much as possible with Dad and running to TX was not in the cards yet. So next year it is on for sure, I will have the Ally all dressed and ready and this way I'm not tempted by any of you to break protocol on engine breakin Jay has lined out. And who knows , we may later in year run down for a few days and if we do I will let you locals know and we can maybe meet up. So until later, you all be safe and enjoy!
