Starting the serious drive home

Day 35 - Thursday, August 27th

We had to make a slight adjustment in plans to visit some dear friends from back in California who have moved to Washington state. They had an emergency situation come up and so were not available to have us visit. We arranged a “rain check” time with them and, after playing with a couple of ideas, we both agreed it was time to really turn south and head home. It has been a wonderful trip, but home was waiting.

We got up early. There was a beautiful sunrise over Victoria Harbor. Dick went over and to try to get our flat tire patched, but it wasn’t possible before we had to go. So that must be the reason that he had been so insistent on getting a new, standard-size spare tire. That tire will get 1000 miles on it and the flat will be dealt with when we get home.

We then packed up and drove up the coast of Vancouver Island to the town of Sydney to take the ferry over to the state of Washington. Without a reservation, we wanted to make sure we made this ferry. There was a long line of cars and a 2 and 1/2 hour wait, but at last, the US customs team arrived, and we went through the custom’s process and boarded.

Dick totally enjoyed the ferry ride. We went through the San Juan Islands, beautiful islands on a gloriously clear day. For much of the trip we could see Mount Baker, a lovely huge mountain in Washington. There were many boats, both sail and motor. It was a great day to be out on the water. He also was highly entertained watching the jellyfish as our boat zoomed along through the water. There was a lot of camaraderie among those out on deck enjoying the day. Patti was too cold to be out in the wind, but enjoyed the view through the windows.

When we arrive in Anacortes, WA, we disembarked and, after just a few miles, we found ourselves on I-5 headed south. And that is the road we will take for the next 1300 miles until just a few miles from our house.

We came through Seattle at rush hour, riding in traffic for over 100 miles along the eastern side of the Puget Sound and decided that we saw more cars during that stretch than we had on our whole trip together so far. We did have many good views of Mt. Rainier which rises over 14,000 feet just a short distance to the east of the city.

A highlight for today was each of us were in Oregon for the first time. Part of the excitement of this trip for Dick was that he got to add his final two states that he had not yet visited: Alaska and Oregon. He has now been in all of them. We certainly didn’t get to have a full experience of it, mostly driving after dark. We did stop for a pleasant dinner at an Applebees. We plan to come back sometime and fully explore the beauty and history there. We drove completely across the state for 11 hours, but saw only what you can see from the freeway at night.

Patti crashed and fell asleep at about 10 while Dick hung in there until midnight. We then spent the next 5 hours sleeping comfortably in our van at a roadside rest area.