Aug 27-28, 2016
After nothing but blue skies in Oregon, we encountered our first inclement weather on the way up to Olympic NP. Surprise, right? I had planned to drive around the peninsula on the west side but Carol was having none of it since the eastern route was shorter. Apparently I greatly underestimate how long our drives will be – so the eastern route it was.
We arrived late afternoon, set up camp, then headed into Port Angeles for something to eat and an adult beverage. Port Angels has a popular ferry service that links Victoria on Vancouver Island. When the skies cleared in the afternoon, you could just make out. Left side, use your imagination 🙂
Have you ever been into a Walmart Supercenter? I hadn’t but wow what an eye opener. From reading the Airstream blogs, it was clear that Walmarts are popular with the RV and I can see why. They have everything. And I mean everything. Here’s Carol holding some lithium grease that we’ll use to kill the squeak in our sway control hitch.
Next day plan was to drive into the park and do a little hiking, but dogs aren’t allowed on the trails so hiking would be limited to parking lot pictures. We chose an access road (Deer Park) since it’s close to our camp and headed out.
One thing everyone should know is that Carol doesn’t like my driving because she thinks it’s too fast and dangerous. The reality is that if she drove as I did, it would be dangerous.
So anytime we are in a situation where my driving will get her stressed out, I give her the keys. The road up to the viewpoint is 9 miles of blacktop and another 9 miles of gravel. Carol took the upper half at a good 6-9 miles an hour. Now I’m dying hoping no one’s going to catch us from behind and honk like crazy. Luckily, that didn’t happen and it took every inch of my patience to sit tight while she tackled the road. And no, she isn’t a fan of FIA World Rally Championship racing, doesn’t even know it exists.
The weather was far from clear but here’s what it looks like from the lookout.
Riding shotgun on the way down, I thought I play with my camera to see if I could make it look like Carol was zooming down the hill. Surprisingly, that’s exactly what it looks like. but trust me, Carol never went over 12 mph LOL.
Then back to our KOA for some R & R.
TiVo almost got me in trouble. He usually stays close by but for some reason, he ran into the adjacent private property that looks like something out of a Stephen King novel. There was dilapidated toys and equipment everywhere and believe me, I was looking over my shoulder when I retrieved him as I was sure that I was going to see a shotgun aimed my way.
Last night, the weather cleared and we had our first clear view of the Mountains in Olympic NP. Now it’s off on our two day drive to Glacier NP.
DC Airstream 