I didn’t post to the blog yesterday. We broke camp in the morning and had a long day planned. Before I get ahead of myself, I’ll tell you about our Labor Day.

Our grandchildren, Lainey and Gabi, stayed overnight with us Sunday night. Monday morning I was up around 7:20am.  I tried to wake the kids up. They need to get in the habit of getting out of bed early since they start school this week. They didn’t get out of bed, but they were semi-awake.

We took our time and cooked up a big breakfast. Donna made huckleberry pancakes and eggs while I cooked bacon on the grill. It was another sunny day. We really lucked out on the weather.

Most of the other campers in the RV park were pulling out. I guess their long weekend was coming to a close and it was time to get home and back to work. As the park quieted down, we took advantage of the indoor heated pool and hot tubi.

The hot tub was the deepest I’ve ever been in. It had to be at least four feet deep! It was also very hot. I got out of it after about five minutes and felt a little dizzy. I think the temperature was too high. I swam with the kids for about 20 minutes and that was it for me.

My daughter, Alana, joined us before we went to the pool. After the girls were done swimming, they took Donna shopping. They found a western wear shop in Mt. Vernon called “The Bony Pony.” While they shopped, I re-organized the trailer and loaded the scooter.

When they returned, Donna had a new pair of cowboy boots. They’re quite fashionable and the price was within reason, especially when taken in context of the prices at the boutique in Kalispell, Montana.

After shopping, the girls all played a round of miniature golf. Donna was the clear winner. She even made a hole-in-one!

 

Alana’s mother, LuAnn (my former wife), invited us to join her and her husband,  Jerry, for dinner. We left a little after 5pm and arrived at their house in Arlington about half an hour later.

We enjoyed a cocktail and hor d’oeuvres at a picnic table in the backyard. LuAnn and Jerry love gardening. In addition to the nice landscape, they also grow herbs and vegetables. Our snack and dinner included many garden fresh veggies.

Later we all sat together at the dinner table. The food was excellent and we talked for a couple of hours. The conversation was great and it was a very enjoyable evening.

Alana took us on a tour of Arlington before she drove us back to the campground. I lived here from 2001 to 2005. The old downtown doesn’t look too much different, but the development on the south and west parts of town is surprising.

After we returned to our motorhome, Alana sat and talked with us for about an hour. We’ll come back this way again, but we’re not exactly sure when that will happen.

Yesterday I woke to the sound of rain falling on the roof top. I wished I’d put up the awning the night before, but I didn’t. The rain was intermittent showers, but it came down hard at times. I really don’t like breaking camp in the rain, but I didn’t have any choice.

We drove away at 10am. We exited I-5 at Highway 20 and headed west to Fidalgo Island. We crossed Deception Pass which brought us to Whidbey Island. The Deception Pass bridge is narrow and the road bends to the right when driving on to the island. My timing was all wrong. Just as we entered the curve, a big semi tractor trailer rig came around in the oncoming lane. He crowded us as his trailer crossed over the center line. I braked and moved over to right as far as I dared. I heard a light scraping sound just as I cleared his trailer.

We continued on down the island through Oak Harbor and Coupeville to the Keystone – Port Townsend ferry. There were signs advising reservations for the ferry. I’ve been on this ferry many times and never heard of making reservations for it.

There are 22 ferries on Puget Sound operated by the Washington State Department of Transportation. The ferries serve walk-on passengers and vehicle traffic. This provides a way to cross the sound to the Olympic Peninsula without driving all the way around. They also travel to and from many islands, including the San Juan Islands. It’s the largest ferry fleet in the USA and third largest in the world.

We made it to the ferry at 11:40 and there was very little traffic. I paid $68.10 for our 50-foot rig with two people on board. Before the ferry sailed form the dock at 12:30, I inspected the coach. I found a light scrape in the paint at the bottom of the front basement compartment. I think I can rub it out. Halfway across the sound, the ferry slowed. This was unusual. The captain announced why were we slowing. There was a big freighter crossing the channel in the fog right in front of us. It was a large ship, but difficult to make out in the fog.

 

We each had a cup of clam chowder from the ship’s galley. A few minutes before we docked at Port Townsend, we returned to our coach. I was surprised to see our Rand McNally GPS indicating our position on the ferry. It showed our speed at 14mph.

We left Port Townsend and followed Highway 20 to Shelton. From there, we made our way west until we found Highway 101. This brought us to our present position on the Long Beach Peninsula. They claim it’s the longest beach in the world. We’ll explore the area on the scooter today.