From One Extreme to Another

Last Night's Sunset

NAS Whidbey Island, WA - 65 and sunshine this morning.  Figures, doesn't it?  The first day we wake to sun and warmth in 12 days is the day we leave. 

Moses Lake, WA - 95 and sunshine.  Wow, what a change, and yes, we're whining already about the heat!  No happy medium???  

As I mentioned yesterday, our plans to cross the Cascades and stay in a cooler climate for a couple of days got sacked when we discovered that the road was closed due to mudslides.  So, we had to fall back and regroup and ended up deciding to go south on I-5 to Bellevue, WA and head east on I-90.  The trip around the Seattle metropolitan area wasn't as bad as anticipated and it only took 2.5 hours to get down to I-90.  (We did have a 20 minute stop.)  Traffic on I-90 was good and we only had road construction for 50 miles - over Snoqualime Pass!  Not bad, eh?  

The scenery changed, obviously, from dense forests on Whidbey to a metropolitan area, to pine forests in the mountains, to farm lands, to lava rock, to farm land again, and then to desert.  All in one day!  

Hay Storage with Japanese writing.

In the valley that Ellensburg is in, the fields are all planted with timothy grass for hay and a little alfalfa.  All big business.  Didn't see many cattle, so where is this hay going?
It was piled up every where and at one point we noticed the Japanese writing on one of the tarps.  Are we shipping it there?  Have they bought up all the land and businesses? 

Something that always bugs me is that all over the country one drives past a farm or orchard and unless you're a farmer or botanist, who have to guess at the crop.  Well, today, for about 50 miles, the farmers posted signs telling you what they were raising!  It was nice, even though, it was only alfalfa, timothy grass, and corn.  Somewhere I saw a sign saying the area was big into producing potatoes, but I didn't recognize any potato plants along the highway.  

Stopped at a rest area - grass for people, desert scrub for dogs.  Well, that's understandable because if you have a dog you can't have a nice lawn.  Well, what really bugged me is that to get to the post that had the doggie bags for your use and signs to pick up after your pet everywhere, you had to tiptoe through dog poo.  What is wrong with people? 

We drove through George, Washington where the streets are named for presidents and there is a huge fruit warehouse called Valley Forge Fruits.  Cool, huh?

Our park tonight is OK - nice grassy areas around the RVs but the attitude of the staff is less than welcoming.  I called yesterday evening after we had to change plans, to reserve a site.   The office was closed, so I left my name and number and indicated what kind of site we needed and asked them to call back in the morning to let me know if they had anything available. No response from them. So, I called again around 10am and went through the same information drill. Still no response!  At about 1pm I called again and got a human being who was non-apologetic and really quite officious.  But they did have a site for us and I booked it.  Now, my two loyal readers will tell you that I have issues with answering machines but I'm sure the RV park staff got messages.  When we arrived the lady was busy helping some kids - making them smoothies.  She was the only one in the office.  She did not acknowledge me at all.  When she had finished with the kids she did thank me for waiting.  When I told her I had called several times, her response, was "I'm sorry, how do you want to pay?" 

Maggie's adventures - well, the first 1.5 hours were her usual hyperness.  We stopped for a break and she calmed down afterward, but not so much that she relaxed enough to sleep.  She ended up sitting on my lap the last hour or so with her eyes closed, but refusing to lie down.  And, brother-in-law, I did try your advice and not hook her to the seat belt.  It made a slight difference but I did notice today that when she finally relaxes and then the road surface changes, she gets all "worried" again.   She collapsed when we got her set up in her pen - which is the first thing we do when we pull into an RV site.  Then, we left her to go get fuel - she was crashed out on the kitchen floor and looked like we would face some serious resistance if tried to get her back into the truck. So, Rog says "let her stay - she's really tired." We came home to no screen in the front door - totally ripped out.  She has been so good, something got her going tonight, apparently.  The bright side - it's too hot to have the door open to use the screen door anyway, so there is no big hurry to fix it.  How's that for the glass being half-full rather than half-empty?  (Rog says that I just can't help my optimism - which he does not always share.)

We are going to take a side trip tomorrow and go up to see the Grand Coulee Dam.  It's about 70 miles north and we found an RV park so we can leave Maggs in the RV air conditioning while we tour the dam.  Who knows what we will come home to.  

So Much for Plan A

Well, we are having to change plans a bit.  Discovered this evening that the route we planned across the Cascades is shut down due to 8 landslides across the highway! No expected date of reopening. They had massive thunderstorms there yesterday and today, I guess.  So, Rog is currently looking at the map and I'm studying the RV directory so we can figure out where we are going tomorrow.  We've already given away our site, so we have to move on.  Just to where we don't know.  Stay tuned...........

OK, We've Had Enough.....

I took this photo last year when
we were here - see the sunshine!
The Ladybugs are still here and make
me smile every day when we walk by.

....rain, fog, overcast skies, and 60 degree temperatures.  We are ready to move on.  We decided today that we would forfeit a couple of nights and leave early, so the plan is to take off Tuesday morning and head due east.  We really are fair weather RVers. 

Tomorrow we will make groceries, do laundry, and clean house in readiness for the next leg of our journey.  We really are ready to move on and I think we would be even if the weather had been a little more cooperative.  Two weeks is too long in one place (except when we "winter") and we will think twice about planning that again - anywhere.  We have 14 days from when we leave until we are due in Denver to visit a good friend from our Navy days (and the best man at our wedding ceremony - 45.5 years ago) and there's lots of territory to see and explore between here and there! In a few days you'll probably find us whining about the heat again - but not for a few days!  

Roger has decided that he doesn't want to drive I-5 around Seattle before going east, so we will point the truck due east from the island on WA20 (The Cascade Highway).  We've been told that even though it is two lanes and crosses the mountains that it isn't a bad drive for an RV.  Now, let's hope this guy wasn't joshing us.  He did have a large motor home and says he takes this route often because it is so beautiful.  So, off we go!  

We probably won't check in with you again until we reach our next destination on Tuesday - Winthrop, Washington just east of the Cascade range.    Until then......

It rained during the night, but this morning it is only overcast, which is better than fog!  Yesterday the fog was so dense and so wet (100% humidity) that when I took Maggie out for her morning walk I felt as if it were raining.  If you got under a tree the moisture dripped like rain.  SO strange!!!

We packed a lunch yesterday, put Maggie in the truck and took off looking for sunshine.  We went south on Whidbey Island and ran into sun almost immediately after leaving the base.  We found our way to a small touristy type town, Langley, on the southern, leeward side of the island. It was about 40 miles away. It was sunny and 80 degrees.  The town was about 4 blocks square and was comprised of little boutique stores, restaurants, book stores, and one or two souvenir shops.  We found a small park, ate our lunch and then walked back to "downtown."  Vendors were setting up for a street market so we found a used book store/coffee shop with outdoor seating and sat there with Maggie until the vendors were "open." Couldn't resist buying a book along with my tea!   I also got some most delicious locally grown strawberries, blackberries, and peaches from the local farmers.  

Maggie was very good in this new, for her, environment.  We kept the leash short so she wouldn't trip anyone up and she stayed at heel position most of the time.  The only time we had any issue was when I stepped on her foot and she squealed.  At that point, everyone within ear shot turned to look at me as if I had been beating her.  Very embarrassing!!  She and Roger found a bench outside a shop I went into where the owner had put out a bowl of water and a container of dog treats.  They made themselves comfortable on the "MAN BENCH - give your wife your wallet and be comfortable while she's inside" and apparently Maggie attracted a lot of attention and made new friends.  She did very well! The road trip part was still a little nerve wracking for her, but she had a good time otherwise.  

After lunch today we are going to an art and craft fair south of us in Coupeville which is only about 10 miles. Coupeville is another seaside town with little boutique shops and restaurants so if the fair is a dud we still can do some browsing. Should be a nice outing.  

******************

It WAS a nice outing!!   Sunshine and 70 degrees, lots of vendors/artists and lots of people to watch!  The fair attracted good artisans and a good variety of art work to look at.  I spent a good deal of my allowance on myself and had a super time despite not buying any jewelry or yard art which are my usual purchases at these types of venues!   We stopped on the way back and had frozen yogurt, so the afternoon was very, very pleasant.

Another first for Maggie and us - when we got home she met us at the door with her ball, went running outside with it when we opened the door and then did her "crazy eights" (when she is excited she runs at top speed through the house making figure eights for about 10 minutes until she wears out).  She brought us the ball, we tossed it and she brought it back!!  She does that in the house but we have never tried it when she was loose.  She was great.  When she was done she took her ball and went into her pen and just looked at us as if this behavior were perfectly normal.  What a good dog!!!  She has really come a long way since the first traumatic-for us-all month!

Have no idea what tomorrow will bring but hope it is another lovely day!

Just in the Nick of Time....

On a clear day you can see forever!
Mt. Baker in the Cascades

We awoke to sunshine today!  It's a good thing because yesterday we were plotting on how we could leave a week early and not lose our money or stay the next week and not lose our minds!  The all-day fog was getting to us, for sure! (A neighbor is committed to a month and is also wondering what they were thinking when they booked it!)  We did come here for cooler weather, and last year when we were here this time of year the weather was perfect.  So much for that logic.  I know our daughter and son-in-law are laughing at us because they used to live here and were wondering why we were coming up here in the first place.  Oh well.  Live and learn. 

I was craving chips today so Roger took me into town for a sandwich and a bag of chips at lunch time.  We can't keep them in the house because we would be in them all the time. Every once in a while, though, I have to have some - french fries are the same way.  When I need them, I need them - in a portion controlled size.  We are both doing well, though, at maintaining our goal weights.  It's a little harder when we are on the road as the mindset often wanders to "vacation" and isn't that part of going on a trip - eating stuff you don't get at home?

You can see the fog in the background on the water.  

We did have some fog today - it rolled onto the beach but didn't come inland, and the after a couple of hours it rolled out again.  Perfect.  It was 70 degrees and sunny in town and we watched the temperature drop on the truck thermometer as we came back to the base.  At the RV park it was a sunny 62!!  It was windy and the surf was up a bit.  Boats were out tending their crab pots and we even saw some sail boats today.  What a vast improvement over the last few days!

We took the opportunity this afternoon in the relative warmth and sunshine to empty our "basement" and reorganize it so we could find stuff.  When we left home we just kinda tossed things in.  Maggie stayed outside with us and we let her off the leash with her pen door open.  She wandered around the site but never went very far.  We were so glad to see that, as we now know she won't bolt.  There is a leash requirement. We just have to be careful not to get caught!  Now, we just have to work on the off leash thing when we go for a walk - she tries to dive into the bushes after rabbits and other critters she thinks she hears.  We can't afford to have her go into the brambles because we can't go in after her.  I told her they were for Br'er Rabbits and not Br'er Dogs but I don't think she believed me.    

Less Fog and More Joggers and Airplanes

Short entry tonight as there is absolutely nothing happening.  The fog lifted earlier today than it has been - around 3pm.  The sailors are still out jogging and the pilots are still practicing their landings - only it's a different squadron with different aircraft.  We stuck around here today.  Did some laundry, worked on the banking, started looking at maps for when we leave here, started a good book and took a long walk along the beach.  How exciting, huh?  

Here are the driftwood "sculptures" for today:

Touch and Gos

Yesterday was jogging day for the folks on the base.  Today is flying airplanes day!  The fighter jets are doing their "touch and gos" - practice landings. They fly in circles around the air base and come in, touch the runway, throttle up, circle around and do it all again.  It's 8pm and they have been at it since about 4pm when the fog finally lifted!   Noisy, but we know they will be ready if/when the time comes.  The sound of "freedom."  We didn't want to watch TV anyway!

Watching airplanes
 and trying to stay warm.

Again today we woke to heavy fog but instead of the usual breeze off the water we had wind.  It was 51 degrees.  It was a bit nippy when I took Maggie out to do her business this morning.  Thankfully she didn't waste any time and headed home the minute she was done.  

We packed a lunch and headed inland and over to the "mainland" this morning.  We found sunshine and 80 degrees.  There was a Camping World (RVer's Toy Store) near the intersection with I-5 and, as always, we found something to buy.  There was a nice little park along the Skagit River in Mt. Vernon and we stopped to eat our lunch. Rog found a place to get his hair cut far enough away from the base that he wouldn't get the buzz cut automatically!  We still had fog when we returned, so we all had a nap - until the airplanes started. 

We took Maggie with us today.  She wanted to go, jumped in the truck and the minute Rog started it she went into her hyper mode.  She stopped a few minutes later when we got fuel, then started again.  After going shopping in the Camping World (pets are welcome) and lunch she was so much better on the way back.  A little heavy breathing, but nothing like before.  We wonder how she/we are going to handle the rest of the trip.

There are two young men who have been on the beach right in front of our spot since early this morning.  They have dug a hole about waist deep and it looks like 15 feet long.  They've been lining it with driftwood.  It's still just a hole tonight, but we are anxious to see what it turns into.