Well, I thought I could finish the staining today but I ran out of energy, stain (twice), sunlight and WIM.
It is really slow going because of the deck (plank) sides. Both sides of each board need to be stained and it's really difficult to get a brush in there. It takes just the right angle and holding your mouth right. Really slows down the process. I thought maybe I could get away with not messing with the sides but it is really noticeable if you don't get it covered.
After about 2 hours I realized I wasn't getting it all done at the pace I was going. I was also running out of stain. So I ran to Lowe's to get a sprayer. The sprayer really wasted stain but I could live with that if it got things done a lot faster. It didn't. About 5 minutes in the nozzle stopped up and it quit spraying. So, I cleared it and in about a minute it clogged again. So, back to the brush.
By the end of the day I had a method. Go over one side of the board with a small brush. Do this on a larger area. Then turn around and get the other side and the top with 2 brushes. Really tedious but it got it done.
I got a little more than half done but tomorrow should go faster.
I'm really pleased with how it turned out so far, though. I like the color.
Here's a pic.
Now, off to Lowe's to get more stain. I think by the time I'm done I'll go through about 8 gallons.