||| FLOTSAM & JETSAM by MAURICE AUSTIN |||

I getcha—hope the break does you good! We’re all dealing with the effects of budget cuts–fewer sailings, larger class sizes. But you’re looking great, despite the paint. Am not so sure I’m far from being taken out of service myself—though perhaps for different reasons. Not capacity, perhaps—optics, I suspect. Or functionality. My paint is much less appealing than yours, after all. You still look Super!

Looks like our keels were set at the same time—in 1967—and if your hull sounds like my knees, we do indeed have some transportation problems statewide! Many would definitely argue you’ve been more functional than I have, over the years, and fairly so. I’ve merely been attempting to transport student intellects into post-secondary pursuits, fickle as they may be, while you’ve been hauling the Hyundais and Hondas and Fords and Chevrolets witch encase their budding minuscule economic potentials. You’ve been Super!

It’s interesting that you have called the San Juan Islands your home route since 1999, when I too started teaching here. I’ve always admired you for your low wake here, and as I’ve sympathized with your peeling paint, I’ve watched myself deteriorate. Hair. Teeth. Propeller synchronicity. Unintentional leakage of circulatory cooling and hydraulic fluids. Hope. And, if memory fails me, low wake.

Alas, you and I still rely on outdated drive motors—yours the mechanical sort, mine the social-equity sort. Just as the 5-bladed propellers have proven themselves a fiasco for your age-class, so has the 5-fingers-off policy regarding student…oh, never mind. Speculation might cause my engines to die and cabin comfort decay into the uncomfortable—without even an expensive cup of concessionaire coffee. Or what such charlatans claim is coffee—sheesh.

Alas.

Hang in there, Yakima. Churn on! Four fingers crossed on each hand for your returned crossings! Which leaves two thumbs up for anything other than the paint-stripper you’ve apparently accidentally loaded into the concessionaire’s coffee containers!

Your service is appreciated!

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