September 10 through September 17, 2005

Saturday September 10:

This morning started EARLY for me…I was up at 1:30 AM to download email and financial data, and did not return to bed until 6:30, after uploading the web page.  Predictably I was tired all day, but we had to vacate the Yellowstone National Park campground by 10AM.  It was cloudy and showery today, and although the scenery was grand, pictures from the RV were mostly bad. We did see this velvet antlered buck  lying by the road, apparently hit by a vehicle.  :-(  

We continued on to the Missoula Montana Walmart, and despite the "No Overnight Parking" signs, were welcomed by the store manager to stay one night.  It was interesting that apparently folks were living in their cars in the Walmart lot, and one who occupied a table near where we first parked had a noisy dog.  We opted to move to the other side of the lot and avoid that problem!  

Sunday September 11:

In the morning we were not quick to move out, as it was a net day on the cellphone, and we did not have TOO far to go.  The lot looked like RV campground west...  :-)  When we left, we were amazed to see this industrial complex belching exhaust among the hayfields.  

We had thought the haze here resembled smog.  I guess our nose really knows....  Our destination today was Flying J in Post Falls ID near the WA border.  Gas appears to be cheaper in ID than in MT or WA.  On the way we passed through Coeur d'Alene, a vacation and resort town on the shores of a beautiful lake.

We looked down on the lake from I-90 and could see why the shoreline was filled with houses.  We arrived and filled gas for $2.869/g, but the dump station out back was in TIGHT quarters, and there was not really enough room to park our RV overnight without depriving too many other cars of parking...so we opted to dump & fill water, park a short time and shower, then dump again and refill water, before moving on to a Super Walmart 8 miles west in east Spokane WA.  For the first time I can recall, there was a sign inviting us to park overnight for one night only.  :-)  We did not even have to ASK!!!  :-))  This was a quiet place and I'm sure our sleep was better than in Flying J with the truck noise.  It rained in the evening, but I finished with the net and went to bed.

Monday September 12:

This was an EARLY get up and get away, but we had passed into Pacific time and naturally arose early.  We had 280 miles planned to drive, to the Seattle area today, and decided an early start was good.  We were under way in light rain by 7:40 AM.  We forgot about rush hour, but on I-90 it was not that bad and we were happy we did it that way. The mighty Columbia River was a pretty sight from the viewpoint we stopped at where I-90 crosses it north of DOE's Hanford Nuclear Processing plant.

The river is splendid, but the Hanford site has had enough environmental issues to cause us to avoid it.... We crossed through the Cascade Mountains (I will not say "over" as the pass we went through topped out about 3000 feet, not far from 14,000 foot MT Rainier which we saw snow covered and probing up into the clouds....

Perhaps the only time we CAN see it?  We shall find out....  (an advantage of being far behind doing these pages is we can confirm that this is the only glimpse we got of this mountain.  Other times we just saw the clouds shrouding it.)  The pass through the rugged Cascades was indeed beautiful.  

We're happy we are not trying to negotiate this in snow, though.....  We were approaching our destination Walmart in Renton WA when we saw a large Sam's from the highway, WITH GAS!.  We decided to pass the Walmart and try to find that Sam's, which was unlisted in our documentation. A half mile away it showed up, and gas $2.799...WOW!  That is the cheapest we've seen since Gillette Wyoming.  We quickly filled, then shopped Sam's and received permission to stay overnight.  We decided a Sam's Pizza would be a good dinner too, as our day had started so early and we'd driven long miles.  I caught up on the trip log which had been neglected over the weekend with net access, phone calls, and web page uploading.

Tuesday September 13:

It was much warmer overnight, 54 degrees under the RV at 7AM, but we are at 41 feet elevation…QUITE a change!  Today we will try to see some sights in Seattle….which ones depend a bit on finding a parking place for the RV. We parked on city lot, $6 per slot and we needed two, but it was close to the action and the Space Needle.

.We took the monorail to Pike Street, and enjoyed the Farmers Market, especially the seafood on display.

This crawfish was about to make the BIG BREAK....

We did not stick around to be called as witnesses....  :-))  It is plain why the emphasis here is on seafood...even if we did not always like the prices.  Seattle is right on Puget Sound, and we caught a good day to see it at its best.

We walked around, bought some fresh bunches of vegetables in the farmers market...they were much better priced than the fish...and had lunch at the Brooklyn Seafood, Oyster and Steak House.  The raw oyster sampler we split was nice, but some of the gourmet oysters were tiny, if tasty.  The New England clam chowder was quite good, and the waitresses brought enough bread and basil olive oil mixed with balsamic vinegar to make a bowl of it a stuffing meal.  When we tried to take the monorail back, it was out of service for the rest of the day, and we HAD to take the bus.  We were glad we had not bought a round trip ticket on the monorail!  :-)  This is a pretty city, with nice parks and public gardens, and we made the most of them.

Even we must take time out to smell the roses! :-)  I decided to fix the windshield ding we had noticed that morning using the kit I'd bought at Walmart last trip.  The parking lot was clear of other vehicles, so we did it there.  The process worked per instruction, but I applied heat to the inside with a gas lighter instead of heat gun.  I could see the ends of the star crack fill with resin as I played the flame across the break.  Then we turned the vehicle into the sun and waited 15 minutes for the resin to UV cure...it was almost invisible when I scraped the excess resin off!   We headed north to Sam's in northern Seattle and received permission to park overnight.  We were way in back, and noticed a lot of graffiti on the adjoining concrete walls, along with concertina wire on the adjoining construction business fence.  The customer service rep told us this was a BAD neighborhood, full of prostitution and drugs, and we should park out front after the shoppers thinned out.  We did, and found a bonus...STRONG fast WiFi in front (from Best Western hotel) that had not been reachable from the rear.  :-)  We were not disturbed all night...restful sleep!

Wednesday September 14:

In the morning we stopped at the locks on the Lake Washington ship canal.  It was hard to find parking for the RV but eventually we decided to park on street in a residential area several blocks up hill.  Our walk back to the locks took us past this pair, where kitty was actively rubbing the big golden retriever....

As soon as kitty noticed us, it assumed a more dignified pose...  :-))  This lock park is a flagship Corps of Engineers facility, with the visitors center and park operated by contractors.  The locks are operating, passing ship traffic in and out of the large fresh water lake where much of the fishing fleet and pleasure boats berth, away from the barnacles and worms that would plague them in salt water.  The canal was started in 1911, finished a few years later, and is currently one of the busiest locks in the country.  We watched one lock through of 4 vessels together.....

The gray haired lady on the pleasure boat "Chambers" next to the wall was REALLY working on the lines to control her boat's position as the water rose...while the commercial fishermen tied next to her got a free ride. : -)  I feel for her...it is only two of them on that boat, and the captain must spend most of his time at the wheel.  I know I would not enjoy the brute work required to boat now...been there, done that!   When the boats are safely on their way, and we've congratulated the lady for a job well done, we cross the footbridge on top of the lock gates to visit the salmon fish ladder, with viewing windows....

This is an amazing place, and well worth the visit.  The fish suddenly appear in the tunnel leading down to the next lower tank, where they swim in the current looking foolish, getting their bearings,  before moving up current through the tank, to the next "jump" up.  The fish do not seem to clear the water often, just swim in the 8 inch deep overflow from the higher tank to enter it.  In this manner the fish climb up the "steps" through the varying height tanks against the strong water flow, then keep going to reach their original hatching stream in the lake, where they spawn and then die there.  The salmon runs are disappointingly low this year, much behind last years numbers (Yes, PEOPLE sit and watch and count the salmon passing up the fish ladder....not the job for me, fer sure!!)  The attractive gardens were something we WANTED to see here, but just did not have much time or energy after all the other things were visited. This seaplane was operating frequently from somewhere on local waters...

it flew low over us several times.  It is time to leave...I get one shot of a really pretty flower, and that must do for the gardens, however unjust it is to slight them....

We stopped at Walmart in Renton WA, intending to buy gas at nearby Sam's for $2.79, but the WiFi had revealed that Flying J in Tacoma had it for $2.75.  We decided to wait to buy gas there, and just shopped Walmart for a few essentials.

Thursday September 15:

The drive around Puget Sound to the Olympic Peninsula seemed cheaper than the $53 ferry fare for us and the motorhome.  The drive was more interesting than yet another ferry trip.  As might be expected in an area with so much protected deep water for harbors, the naval presence in Bremerton is obvious from the highway.

We found a free RV dump at the Bremerton wastewater treatment plant too (luckily we got there shortly before the 2PM closing for RV dumping).   We were surprised to find a major highway  crossing Hood Canal on a floating bridge.

The floating portion was supported by HUGE pontoons apparently made of concrete...??  The area did seem to change to rural and sparsely populated once we reached the Olympic Peninsula. These colorful totem poles decorated a cultural center.

The major industry in the area other than tourism was ever present...

The heavy log trucks drove the speed limit when we did not dare to...   :-)  We stopped to shop in Safeway in Port Angeles, and asked if we might stay overnight in their lot…they said yes.  It turned out we had driven past the Walmart sign on US101 (with no store visible) and MISSED the Walmart store.  The friendly Safeway checkout lady told us the local Eagles lodge would let anyone use their electric and water sites for a nominal fee ($7?).  That could be useful if the Olympic National Park campgrounds are not able to take us.  

Friday September 16:

We started the day with a HUGE three week laundry, then went to the Olympic National Park visitors center.  Here we got info on all the campgrounds that were said to take "21 foot" RVs.  The ranger said this late in the season we could get our 33 footer into some larger space in all the campgrounds.  He said they discourage large RVs from going there in peak season because thee are not enough spaces that will take them.  The displays here are quite interesting.  The large trees that grow in the park live a VERY long time...

This slice from one shows rings covering over 600 years of history, from it's sprouting in 1349 to more recently than the 1938 founding of the Olympic park.  This is really awesome to think about........  We went to Altaire CG, nearest to Olympic Hot Springs, found plenty of sites that would take us, and were content to laze around before tomorrow's Olympic IHS hike.  The Elwha River passing near our campsite babbled happily....

I had to check, as the river originates on the glaciered slopes of the Olympic mountains....

This is NOT swimming water!  My fingers did not come out blue, and I notice people with waders fly fishing in it, but it is a bit cool for me!  This is a very nice campground.  We even have a good 3 bar digital cellphone signal for free minutes tomorrow!  :-))

Saturday September 17:

We left our aloe plant, Kermit on the campsite picnic table when we drove to the hot springs parking lot.  This was a much longer drive than we expected, and with much more hill climbing on a narrow road, but it was almost all hard surfaced, and there was little traffic so we could use most of the road, which we needed sometimes.  We were able to find a place where we could park with the rear overhanging a drop off, yet front end clear of the road, so we took only one parking space.  The usual Park Service cautions about natural hot springs were posted on the bulletin board, with some additions we had not seen before.....

We decided to look, then decide.  The three mile hike into the spring was mostly old hard surfaced road that has been closed to vehicles.  It is washed out in places....

There are walk arounds for all the washouts....

There were a lot of people here...it is a weekend. Most pools were occupied.   There were both suited and nude soakers visible in various pools. We climbed up to the top pool at N47.97641 W123.68619, which we'd read was the best and cleanest.  It was clean, with wilting flowers left by a local resident known as "Bigfoot", who has come weekly to clean and maintain this pool for years, and a large selection of candles on the top side of the pool, left by night time users.  When we arrived at the pool, a couple who had hiked in ahead of us said they were just leaving.  We waited until they did, then quickly occupied the pool.  This is .....just unbelievable!

Someone has left rugs on part of the bottom, and they definitely improve sitting comfort.  It felt hotter than 105 degrees, very nice indeed!  Soon four more people arrived, a young couple with a little girl, and a man whojust happened to get here at the same time.  They looked uncertain whether to come in at first, but I said the water was GREAT, and we had no objection to clothing optional if that was their preference, and they immediately joined us. The man turned out to be a still working engineer on a several week long driving tour around the northwest. The lady was Hawaiian, very attractive, with her "good looking" (Claire's term) boyfriend and his daughter. They were quite friendly and conversational. The guy was a commercial fish diver, harvesting sea urchins from 100' depths for the Japanese market.  The nice lady, who will always be remembered by her Claire assigned pseudonym, "Miss Moos", was vacationing from Hawaii.   I'll say no more.... and of course we took no more pictures in that hot tub, so there is nothing remaining but memories.    :-)  Claire left the pool first, having had enough heat, and by the time the four departed, another set of people had joined; soon it was time for me to leave, or we'd drive that narrow road back to the campground in the dark.  I had forgotten to bring my towel, so hiked back in my wet bathing suit rather than change into jeans and wet clothes that would not dry in this damp climate.  The suit dried on the way, and despite the "jackets and jeans" weather, I was not cooled off from the hot spring until just before I arrived back.  Claire snapped my picture when I arrived....

I was wondering at all the smiles I'd gotten on the way back.....  I wonder no more, just thank my hat for creating face hiding shadow..  :-)))   When we returned to the campsite, NO KERMIT!  Our campsite occupied sign was still there, but no sign of Kermit's clay pot, or any residue in the trash dumpsters.  A passing ranger said nobody on the staff would throw him out.... We are sad, as he traveled four years with us.  We hope the person who took him needs a plant very much.  :-(   We were able to use cellphone for email., but after that, BEDTIME!

PLANS:  This is written on Monday 10/3/05, in Crescent City CA, on the northern edge of Redwood National Park.  We hiked in the park in rain the last two days, and now that it might be clearing we'll head to the southern part of the park, then on down the coast and try to spend a day in San Francisco.  The desert is still in the high 90's, a bit hot for us, so we must not move too fast.  Our cellphone has gotten sick, and we must take it to a Verizon store, the nearest being about 50 miles north of San Francisco, 300 miles away.  The coverage we've experienced since entering Oregon has been abominable, analog only, and not much of that.  Verizon blames it on an old roaming list, which cannot be updated without digital service...which we cannot get with the old roaming list.  Anyhow, a store is said to be able to update it, so we'll see.  Email is the best way to reach us now, as we get WiFi service at least several times a week.

Until next time, ENJOY!  We are!