I have come in contact with a Pacific Northwest Vanagon club. The WetWesties. I convince Kim, that's not hard to do, to take a trip to the Seattle area and camp for the weekend with several of them.
She eagerly agrees and the next day we leave for the Puget Sound. Jesse is running great and the weather is near perfect. I'm thinking we'll make record time and have or pick of camping spots when we arrive. NO ! We hit outrageous traffic on the 5 north of Seattle and we'll be late. 2 hours to get through Seattle ( I knew we should have stayed on the local hwys.) and we're at the campground. Everyone is already there and we are sent to the overflow loop. We set up camp . I finagle electricity from our new friend and neighbor....hehe.
We wake the next day and meet the awesome people from the WetWesties ! These folks are amazing !
We have two completely fun filled days meeting and telling stories. I've found a new club of friends. I was and still am a member of Der Busbesitzer Gruppe. A crazy great VW bus club headquartered out of SE Wisconsin. These folks remind me so much of my friends back east. I've read and heard about this crew for years and years, but to finally camp with them and share a few beers was tremendous. The camaraderie is one of reasons that makes driving these old vehicles worth while Here's a photo of all who attended.
Sunday arrives and Kim and I slowly start to tear down camp. As we are leaving the campsite, I mention to Kim that we need to hustle... she replies " why do we need to hurry?"
I sat and thought about it for a second and realized she was absolutely right. We have no reason to be anywhere at anytime. The dogs are with us and we are together. She states " let's go down the Pacific coast like we did 25 years ago". I reply. "Absolutely!"
We miss the last ferry to Port Townsend so we camp in Deception Pass for the night on Whidbey Island. We awake the next morning hike the pass for a while and head to cross the ferry. We are first in line for the cruise across the sound.
With a few great tips from our newly acquired friends we camp at the marina. AWESOME !
The harbor with Hurricane Ridge in the distance.
We spend the day walking Port Townsend and falling in love with what a beautiful cool town this is . The weather is very cool and damp. We get lazy and go out to dinner at the restaurant that is 50 feet from our camp site.
We hit the hay after a walk on the shore.
I awake in the middle of night to a cold cold camper. I climb down to the lower bunk to find we have run out of propane. Oh well, break out the down comforter and all is well.
The marina has a propane service, we fill in the morning and head west.
My wife is a wonderfully adventurous woman. I'm so blessed to have her as my companion and best friend. She inspires me everyday. Because of her ,we are on another spontaneous trip.
Port Angeles WA. It's a rain forest.
It's raining cats and dogs so we're just trying to stay dry and stay in Jesse. It's cold and to honest, nasty outside. The view on the other hand is not too bad.
Kalaloch, WA.
We make a quick dinner with a bottle of wine and call it a night.
We wake up early the next day and the weather is even worse, high winds and rain. Everything is soaked.
We decide to hit the highway and drive until the rain stops. We load up Jesse, fire her up, turn on the heat and the radio, and this song came on. We truly felt Kim's sister's presence at this moment ...
we both shed a tear and both knew why without speaking a word. Shivers up our spines.
We continued driving for a hour without saying much, just both thinking about sweet Jolynn.
It's still pouring rain , but we're starving.....
I LOVE shellfish and Washington and Oregon have the best oysters, clam, and mussels.
We retrace our steps from 15 years ago and find Chester's.
A serious dive in South Bend, WA.
We had a phenomenal lunch at Chester's....and try again to out run the rain. :)
We cross the Columbia River into Oregon and the rain stopped.
We pull into Nahalem Bay and we start the drying out process.
What a fantastic place !
We open the pop top , open the windows and hang out our wet gear and hit the beach !
And what a beach it is ! OREGON style ! Big and beautiful !
We love the bay so we decide to stay a couple days.
The next day we hiked the dunes the next day with the dogs and had a tremendously relaxing day.
The weather is clear and warmer. High winds , but it's great to able to dry out. It took two days for are gear to dry. We pack up on the third morning to continue south.
The clouds return, but were dried out now. We stop at Seal Beach to hear their barks and witness the sheer beauty !
We camped the night at
If you get off the road early enough, you can cop a good spot.
THE REDWOODS ! My lifelong dream to camp under these giants !
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| Is that Grimbel ? |
You gotta stop and see Paul Bunyan.
I am sworn to secrecy on where this is, but it's Northern California ! My new favorite place to camp.
It was a pretty bad gravel road coming in, but well well worth it !
The starter seems to be acting up....I never did change out the starter, damn.
We decide to slowly head back home, after all I can always push start Jesse.
We get to Grant's Pass,OR and the starter has failed completely. We camped in a bad campground outside of Portland and I find the only site that has a slight hill. In the morning I push start Jesse, not that easy when she's loaded down to the max, and we drive all the way home without turning her off. Phew, we made it. I'm ordering a new starter now !
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