The Challenge

We hopped in the Jeep and drove to Tacoma this morning. At 8:45am we were parked in the lot at 4 Wheel Parts waiting for them to open. They took the Jeep right away and started installing the rack. While we waiting we walked down the street to explore. We visited a Pawn Shop (we'd never been in one before) but didn't find anything exciting. The rack was ready about noon and it looks really nice. Now we have to see if the cartop will fit on it....

Arriving back at camp and ready to load... here comes the rain! So we donned our new rain jackets and headed for the storage shed. This is the challenge. We emptied the contents of the carrier and were about to try and hoist it onto the top of the rack (I'm now standing on a step stool ) when one of the men in the park stopped by and helped Ken lift the carrier onto the rack (whew). Ok we got it positioned, but the rack rails are a 'little' fat and the closures don't go all the way around! Ken says they are just fine....ok....

Next was the biggy! With the RV spare tire positioned in the middle of the back we lifted, twisted, and pushed the boat into the back along with it's accessory bag. They now sit on top of the tire (I don't know if we'll ever get them out!). We 'high fived' to celebrate!

We spent the rest of the day getting ready to move out tomorrow finally! We stayed in and watched TV. Thank goodness we were able to pack things, now lets hope the top stays on the Jeep! Ken says it's just fine ....

History At The Rusty Tractor

Breakfast today at the Rusty Tractor - the hot local spot! We learned at breakfast that Elma's claim to fame is a 1914 bank robbery. The robbers took $2,300, but left $7500 on the cashiers desk.... they were captured and not a shot was fired!

With our history lesson over for the day there were more backroads calling so down Main St we went (Rte 108). The little towns here have great names. We turned onto Monte-Elma Rd and rolled through the town of Satsop. Fishing opened yesterday but we haven't seen anyone in the rivers yet. We pass lots of nurseries and bulb farms.

Winding along the Satsop River on Middle Satsop Road we turn left onto W Boundary Rd. The landscape is turning to a mix of forest and then pastures as we reach Cougar Smith Road which was paved but soon turns into a gravel logging road. Fortunately there are no logging trucks or traffic because it's Sunday. The forest gets thicker as we cross the bridge over the Wynoochee River. The gravel road now becomes National Forest Road #22 and we followed it to the Wynoochee Dam and then into the Olympic National Forest with openings that give us great mountain views.

To our left was a dirt path so we took it deeper into the forest. Heavy logging is going on in this area. There wasn't much to see so we retraced our route back to the main road. Soon we came to the Wynoochee Lake area with lush ground cover that looks like carpet under the Douglas Fir & Spruce. Unfortunately we came to a gate. The rest of the road was closed for wildlife habitat enhancement until May 1. We sat on the side of the road by the gate listening to the sounds of nature when a high pitch sound came from the woods like a sharp whistle. We listened for a few minutes, to try and figure out what it was. The call came one more time, but we couldn't see anything. Down the road we parked in a pull off next to the river and followed a path for a way. There were lots of big tracks that were fairly recent - we weren't sure what they were. The sound and the prints could have been Elk. After a while we returned along the river to the car.

We turned back and took a road we had seen on the right which led towards the dam. The dam is a very old metal dam which is badly rusted. Continuing up the road we came to another "closed" gate so we decided to pull over for a snack. We are in the rainforest part of the Olympic National Forest now. The temperature and air has changed since we left the dam. This area looks like it constantly rains.

We turned onto Forest Rd #2220 and followed it back to Rte 101 and then followed backroads home through the Wenatchee Valley with towns like Brady and Montesano. Montesano is a charming 150 year old town which became the county seat for Grays County in 1860. It lines it's Main St with Japanese Cherry trees and as we drive through they are all in bloom. It was beautiful. We've put on over 1000 miles since we got the Jeep 9 days ago.

Joseppi's Pizza was our dinner stop tonight. We watched TV and called it a day.

Tomorrow we have to deal with the rack and pack the Jeep. The boat will fit even if I have to buy a Sawzall!

Pictures: (right to left) The Rusty Tractor, Forest Road 22, Wynoochee River (2)

Getting Ready To Go

Today was a mixed bag, sun, showers, sun, heavy rain...etc. It was a good day to stay in camp and get things ready for the next leg of the trip. Later in the afternoon and in between showers Ken went for a walk and came back about 2ish.

About dinner time we noticed a faint rainbow over the campground. It's the first one this trip. We had planned to go to the auto races tonight, but they had to cancel because of the rain. Believe it or not Elma offers many tpes of recreation and it is the home of Grays Harbor County Fairgrounds which brings auto racing to town every year. We took the rainbow as a good omen and decided to check out the Lucky Eagle Casino to replace the races. The eagle wasn't so lucky and we headed home.

We watched TV and went to bed.



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Entertaining Our Neighbors

Off to Centralia this morning to do "problem resolution". It's a pretty day and we had breakfast outside while we decided what problem to resolve today! We measured the Jeep's back seat and then went to find a box we can pack it in to ship home. Ken found a Uhaul office and they have a large wardrobe box that we think will fit the seat. Getting the box was no big deal - getting it into the back of the Jeep was interesting.... We shoved it through the back and up over our heads and off we went back to camp.

People have been really helpful here and we learned the US Post Office would ship our box if it was 70 lbs and 108 inches in girth and length. Ok, now it's time to do some packaging... Getting the seat out of the Jeep was easy. Now we had to figure out how much it weighed. Ken had noticed a bathroom scale in the club house so we drove over and he brought the scale out to the parking lot. We balanced the seat on the scale (oh ya the scale was missing a foot) so we thought the seat weighed 70 lbs. Hmm how much over will the box make us?
Oh by the way, everyone in the park is wondering what in the world these wacky people from New Hampshire are doing.... Back at the picnic table we slid the seat into the box and proceeded to cut and tape the box like patch work to make it fit the post office demensions. We hoped by cutting the box down we had trimmed the weight enough... Off to the post office and put it on the scale - yep a whopping 73 lbs. Nope they couldn't ship it... so we put it back in the Jeep. The guy in the post office told us where the UPS office was so off we went. Ken put the box on a dolly and took it in (I locked the doors, that box was not coming back!). Yea they took it and for less than the post office.

We went back to camp, celebrated, watched TV and then went to bed.

Stalled In Elma

While we waited to hear news on the rack we decided to run some errands as we are stuck here! We drove to Chehalis and found a shopping mall. Then we got the call….

The manufacturer says they can’t get the rack to us until 4/28 because they need to build it and then ship it by truck from Canada…Wrong, Ken told them they needed to find one and send it overnight.

Now we are in negotiations - Ken asked them if they had ever heard of DHL????
To make a long story short they baulked at the overnight delivery, but in the long run they said they would look into it.

Another day to wait…..

Jeep Saga

This will be short…. We spent the day at Brazel Precision to get the base plate installed on the Jeep. We had to be there at 8am and we spent the whole day in the waiting room. The base plate allows us to connect the car to the coach so we can tow it.

While we were there it was time for Ken to follow up on the rack for the Jeep….. and soon the day went to ... oh well...

• First the shop installing the rack said it was in the distribution center in California - Ken said why, you have a center in Washington - they didn’t know why and said they would check and call back…
• No news at 2pm so we called - the order in CA wasn’t ours and come to find out ours was never ordered!
• Today is the 19th and we were promised it would be installed on the 21st…

Seeing we bought the Jeep based on their promise we were not happy - they knew about our time deadlines and had agreed to get us the rack. Now they want to cancel the order, Ken said no …. so we got - we’ll see what we can do and call you back.

Needless to say we are nervous as we need to be on the ferry to Alaska on 4/30 and have to have the rack on by 4/27 at the latest…

We are trying to stay positive.

Taking A Break

Just a day at camp. The weather today was great and in the 60’s. We hung out at camp today - laundry, packed small things into the Jeep. I worked on the blog, Ken read and we sat outside for a while.

Later we went to the Lucky Creek Casino for the buffet. They had a lot of really good seafood. Ken had several plates of ‘steamed clams’ and said they were good. We tried fresh fried oysters for the first time and they weren’t bad either. We played for a while and then drove home….

We needed a relaxing day like this.

Jeep-saw Puzzle

Today our plan was to arrange the Jeep. All of the “stuff” that was in the HHR is now in the front cab of the RV. The boat, boat accessory bag, spare RV tire and car top carrier is still in the storage shed they loaned us. During a let up in the rain we planned, measured, and tried several options to see how we might get the boat in. I think we found a way - hmmmm. However, now we have to figure out whether we take the back seat out of the Jeep
　
We went to pick up supplies and had lunch in Elma. This is a really friendly community, which was established in the 1860’s as a trading center for settlers in the Chehalis River Valley. Downtown, two-dozen historic murals bring buildings to life. They depict the colorful history of the community and its logging heritage. One of the best murals portrays Main Street in 1900.

Tonight is Meatloaf Dinner night at the park for $5 so of course we’re going (I love meatloaf). Around 5pm we mosey’d over to the club house. It’s a cozy redwood building with fieldstone fireplace, nice kitchen, big screen TV, and comfy chairs. They have games and a lending/exchange library. We picked a table and joined another couple. Come to find out their daughter lives in Goffstown, NH - not far from us. it’s a small world! Dinner was great and had all the fixing’s including desert.

Later we watched TV. It was a busy day….

Meet The Jeep

Today is a big day - we say goodbye to the HHR and hello to our new Jeep! To bring you quickly up to date we legally bought the Jeep on March 27, but didn’t take possession until today for several reasons…try buying a vehicle from across the country! To make this a short story -

• the car was in Salem, Oregon and needed to be brought to our dealer in Coos Bay


• We had to get the title sent from home to us - thanks to our son Mike for getting this and having it sent to our dealer who acted as our post office


• We had to register the new vehicle in NH and roll over the license plates - thanks to our friend Bob for taking our paperwork to the town office and mailing back the new paperwork


• The dealer prepared the Jeep so we could tow it behind the RV


• Ken had to find a rack that would fit the Jeep and hold the car top carrier - took him a week but found one - but they were back ordered and they promised us they could get it for us in 3 weeks…. Close but doable


• Needed a base plate for the Jeep so we can tow the vehicle

Meanwhile we were continuing our trip during all this time and had to find a place where we could do the car exchange… With all the paperwork in hand and the car ready our salesman (Mike Johnson) agreed to meet us half way between Elma, WA and Coos Bay, Oregon - so we agreed on a truck stop off I5 in Salem, Oregon….

You probably all think we are crazy by now. We had a great car and everything fit in it nicely - now we’ll have a Jeep that still needs a rack to put the car top carrier on and we’re not sure the boat will fit….Ken assures me it will work… ok…

Down Rte 12 passing through woods and farmlands on our way to Salem, Oregon 3 hours away. We connected to I5S in Centralia, Washington and followed it all the way. We saw Mt Rainier in the distance covered in snow and clouds. It was very majestic. We’ll be visiting the National Park later in our trip. We also caught a glimpse of Mt. St. Helens which looked peaceful… at the moment! The highway winds along the Columbia River through Washington to Oregon. Around the Kalama, WA area we saw pilings initially used to tie up rafts of logs and barge boats during the timber boom. Now the pilings act as nesting places and we saw several Osprey in the nests. We didn’t realize there was a bypass around Portland and Vancouver until it was too late so we ended up going through both cities - Yuk - we crossed a huge bridge taking us over the Columbia River and into Oregon and the traffic was awful. We found our way to the truck stop and waited for Mike to arrive.

We made the switch easily and immediately headed back to Elma. The Jeep is nice, we’ll miss the HHR, and it will be fun. I just hope everything fits! Well this is one thing off Ken’s Bucket List - I didn’t know he always wanted a Jeep.

Back in Elma at 10:30 - we’re tired so off to bed.

Grays Harbor History

Today we'll do a loop around the south side of Gray's Harbor. We did the North loop a week or so ago when we were in Copalis Beach. Rte 12 W took us through woods and small communities. There are many interesting communities forming this coastal area. The first residents were the Chehalis and Chinook Indians.

We turned onto Rte 107 which ambles along the Chehalis River. The river is fairly high and we haven't seen anyone fishing. Ken saw a little place called Clarks so we stopped for a late breakfast. It was a cozy little log cabin type building with old pictures of the area on the walls and run by a family. After breakfast we continued down Rte 107 to Rte 101 S and rolled through the town of Raymond and turn onto Rte 105W toward Tokeland Peninsula.

Our Washington Planner Book (these are fantastic) told us not to miss the historic Tokeland Hotel, the oldest resort hotel in Washington. We drove out to the end of the road where there was a fish processing building and then stopped at the hotel. It's a lovely old style farmhouse with a very homey feel and was built in 1885 as the home of William S. Kindred and the daughter of the homesteader, Elizabeth Brown. Five years later they expanded their farmhouse and opened the Kindred Inn. Two steamers, Shamrock and Reliable, made trips from South Bend to Tokeland. Mr. Kindred used to meet the boats with a big, horse-drawn carriage. Tokeland soon gained a reputation as a fine beach resort, attracting guests from as far away as Idaho and southern California. Today the hosts are keeping the same tradition by offering comfy rooms and good home style food.

There isn't much else in Tokeland, so back up Rte 105 W through little beach villages. North Cove and Grayland had many accesses to the beach, so we drove the car onto the beach, but it was a little mucky after the rain so we left.

Up the road to Westport at the end of another peninsula which sticks out into Grays Harbor. There is a summer ferry that takes you across to Ocean Shores where we were a few days ago. We followed the signs for Grays Harbor Lighthouse which is still an active aid to navigation today. Up the road from the lighthouse we found a 1.5 mile paved trail along the the dunes. We walked the trail which we found to be a memorial to people lost at sea and others who loved the ocean. We sat on one of the benches and just appreciated what was around us. At the end of the trail was a jetty where we saw guys surfing and we watched for a while. Following a path down the dunes we walked back on the beach looking for sand dollars and agates. Ken loves roaming the beaches. The tide was starting to come in so we decided to climb up the embankment and sat on the edge of a dune watching people on the beach. Then we took the trail back to the car.

Driving around the rest of Westport we saw fishing shacks and a little marina with lots of boats that look like they've had a hard life. We liked the one that was named - "HARD WORK"!

Following Rte 105 along the harbor and onto Rte 12E we headed back to Elma. It was a nice day. We had grilled hot dogs and hamburger outside tonight and enjoyed the warmer weather. It was in the 60's today.

Pictures: Westport beach, Westport walking trail

Gems Along the Canal

A perfect Sequim day, sunny with big puffy clouds. Down 101 and soon we entered the Hood Canal Watershed. This whole area is loaded with recreation opportunities beaches, boating, fishing, hiking - definitely something for everyone. Passing through Quilcene a gas station, oyster store and liquor store makes up the hamlet. We stopped for breakfast at Loggers Landing and sat right next to the window with hummingbird feeders where we watched the Anna come and go. Continuing on, the clouds have risen above the mountains and we can see the snow in the Olympic National Forest as we climb over hills and pass Mt Walker. Rolling down a grade we round a curve to an "Ah" view - our first of the Hood Canal.

The Hood Canal is not really a canal but a 63 mile long, 600-foot deep body of calm water that is a saltwater fjord carved by glaciers. This region is well known for it's clams and oysters. We crossed the sparkly Dosewallips River with summer homes and docks lining the water way and watched people clamming in the mud flats. We passed through little villages with great names like Duckbush, Hamma Hamma, Lillawarp, and Hoodsport. This is a place where even the old time drive-in movie theatres are still alive on weekends!

We turned onto State Route 108 leading through the lush Chehalis River Valley and then turned onto Rte 8W heading back towards Aberdeen. We just completed the whole Olympic loop and it was fabulous!

We arrived in Elma, Washington and found the Travel Inn Park. This is a great little park and has fairly new facilities. This is our staging point to get ready for the ferry and heading to Alaska. The owner gave us storage space and we unpacked the car and took off the cartop carrier. Thank goodness for the storage now we don't have to leave our stuff outdoors.

We went to check out downtown Elma. First impression is a nice little town with cute older homes, great gardens and a new high school. They've refurbished a lot of the older stores and it offers all the necessary basics - groceries, coffee shop, and pizza. Naturally there's a chineese restaurant and we had dinner there. The other thing we noticed is there are a lot of churches. We came to one intersection where there was a church on each corner.

Back at camp we watched TV and called it a day.