My Trails

Seattle is no fun to drive around. I stayed overnight at a Walmart a few miles north of Everett Friday night, took the tour of the Boeing plant the next day, found a fairground where the guy let camp for $5 Saturday night, and got up early to drive around Seattle on Sunday morning. Now I don’t know where everyone was going on Sunday morning – I can’t believe they were all going to Sunday school or out to get an early parking spot at the Seahawks game – but the traffic was so bad I even ran into a traffic jam! I was never so glad to get by a city.

I really enjoyed the tour of the Boeing plant. The building where they build the airplanes is big. Over 100 feet tall almost 100 acres inside. I forget how many football fields he told us you could fit inside the building but it was a lot. Maybe I will look it up before I post this, or you can. I just remember if you want to buy one of the finished 747s, they are about $400,000,000.

After the Boeing tour I just wanted to find a Walmart where I could get a few hours sleep. I tried three stores on my way down Interstate 5, but they all had no overnight parking signs. After I struck out the third time I noticed a fairground and pulled in to ask if they had overnight parking.

He said. “Yes, and for $25 I could have electricity and water.”

I told him I didn’t need all that so he let me dry camp for $5.

Afterwards, I was wishing I had paid for the electricity and given my batteries a good charge. I still haven’t figured out why my alternator won’t charge, but I put a jumper wire from the solenoid in the battery compartment of the coach, and now get a charge.

Today, I stopped at Lewis and Clark National Park at the mouth of the Columbia river. Most of the park was dedicated to the history of the winter they spent at the coast and interactions with the Indians that lived there. A replica of Fort Clatsop is built on the site.

I drove down the coast a ways but there was nothing to see or do. I could have paid $40 to stay at one of the state parks along the ocean, and then walked out to look for shells or whales, but I wasn’t in the mood so I headed inland. I passed over the coastal mountains and stopped at a rest area in the Clatsop State Forest, about 50 miles west of Portland OR. I will stay here tonight and decide if I want to continue down the coast or explore inland.

Washington State is the location where the books and movies of the Twilight saga are based. The pacific northwest, because of its cloudy and rainy weather, is supposed to be the best place for vampires to live. We all know how vampires hate the sun and I’m getting to understand why they like it here so much.

Even if there was any sun I would not hardly know it. I’m camped in a national forest campground surrounded by towering mountains and tall cedars that blot out every section of sky. This far north and this late in the year means the sun is already low in the southern sky, and if it ever penetrates the clouds, it has to fight through an impenetrable forest canopy to ever reach my solar panels.

North Cascade National Park is very pretty. The Glacier carved valleys are filled with cascading waterfalls and greenery hanging from shear cliff faces.A lot of the park can only be explored on foot. You get a glimpse of the beauty as you drive Route 20 through the park but no roads take you into the wilderness. I learned there are over 300 glaciers in North Cascade compared with 9 in Glacier NP.

The Pacific Crest Trail winds up through the park. I stopped and talked with a couple of thru hikers who told me you have to hike 8 miles into Canada before you come to a back road where someone can pick you up. Hikers that arrive late to the Cascades are faced with the dangers of winter storms and ice.

A lot of the campgrounds are closed because of fires. The campground near the visitors center was in no danger anymore from fire that had passed through, but trees were still burning and the air was filled with the noxious odor of smoke. It is hard to comprehend that the Northwest with all its stigma about rainy weather could be in such dry condition. Washington has had a bad time with fire this summer. My hats off to the firefighters who battle these fires, but when you look at the perpendicular slopes of these mountains, you wonder how they can do anything on the ground to stop the blaze from spreading.

I enjoyed my drive through the park but there is one thing that put me off. A lot of the markers along the road are not information plaques at all; they tell of some poet that stood there and wrote this inspirational poem while gazing across at a mountain. I’ll get my own inspiration, thanks. I don’t want to stop my rig on a winding mountain road to read a poem. Maybe I’m wrong to feel that way.

I’m in Arlington, WA for the night. It continues to rain. Wispy fog banks swirl around the surrounding mountains and the temperature stays in the low 60s. I was thinking of driving around Puget Sound and visiting Olympic National Park but I will probably save that and head down highway 101 into Oregon. It is time to start the southern migration.

State Route 20 is a very scenic drive across northern Washington State. The highway snakes it way over passes and through meadows, meandering only a few miles south of British Columbia. I drove by pristine lakes, wide rivers, and dense forests that stretch for miles and miles on end.

I would have liked to have spent more time in the forests of Washington, but unfortunately, a lot of those forests are on fire. Washington has had its share of wildfires this summer and is only now starting to get most of them under control. Someone told me today that three firefighters from this town had died this summer while fighting the fires.

I spent last night in Coleville, WA and tonight I am at a place called Omak. I looked for a forest road to camp on as I drove through the Coleville National Forest today,but most of them were closed.

The Walmarts up here seem to be pretty welcoming. I don’t set my dish or solar panels out, but there is usually good cell signal and a few over-the-air stations. I have to admit I feel a little nervous about sleeping in the forest with fire in the area. I’m sure they would come and tell me to pack up if the fire came my way…. if they could find me.

I should reach Cascade National Park tomorrow. There is fire there, too. I don’t know what there is to see and it may be too cold to explore much on Honda, so it might be a quick visit.

For a while now I have been wishing for a cup of hot chocolate on these chilly evenings. Every time I get groceries I mean to pick up some of those packets of powdered, instant hot chocolate, but I either forget or rule it out as a snack food that’s unhealthy for me. Then the other night I realized I had all the ingredients to make it myself. It turns out that my recipe made the best hot chocolate I have ever had. Here is my recipe in case you want to make some yourself:

Combine in a large mug:
One cup Half & Half
One cup Hershey Syrup

Nuke for one minute, add 3 large marshmallows. Enjoy.

I didn’t really use a whole cup of chocolate syrup but I added enough to complement any Christmas chocolate pie.

I guess I will head out tomorrow and see if I can make it to a couple more National Parks before the government shutdown. That happened to me once before.

It has been raining a lot. I guess that is good as I head west into Washington where fires still burn. Northern California is still in bad shape and most who live there hope they get some rain soon. Mother Nature surly influences my journey while I try to evade the devastation she is causing with fire and flood in places I’ve passed through.

I have fallen into a creeper mode the last couple of days. Yesterday I drove only 50 miles and today even less. I probably spent more time exploring some forest roads than I did on the highway. Every time I would find a possible camp I would lose cell signal. I finally found a spot two miles from Troy, MT, with cell and sun.

I may not move for a couple days. The border of Idaho is only 10 miles west and Washington state not a great distance further. My plan is to head towards Cascades National Park. I was thinking of exploring up into Canada but that opens up a whole new set of issues. Banff National Park will have to wait.