And we're off!

Mike with rangers.Empty host siteour long caravan!We aren't even gone before we are replaced!

      We left Bowman Bay today, and really began our adventure.  We said goodbye to the rangers, and while we were talking with them, our replacements (from Montana) called to say they were ariving a day early, was their spot ready.  We hooked up the car and motorhome and vacated the site almost a complete 5 minutes before they arrived.  And then we hit the road.
      We quickly noticed an engine noise and had to pull over to check it out about five miles down the road.  Mike unscrewed the engine cover and found a mouse nest clogging a pipe.  I hope that all of our mechanical problems along the way are as easily repaired!  When we were almost to the border, we heard a huge crash and looked down to see the refrigerator door resting between our chairs on the floor.  Food was flying everywhere!  Again we stopped.  Mike was able to reinstall the door and found that some of the screws had come loose and we suspect that we had put too much weight in the door shelves.  A lesson we won't soon forget.  We were lucky that nothing spilled out of containers.  We cleaned up and set off again.
      Crossing the border was no problem and we didn't have to wait at all.  The customs official didn't even ask if we had produce.  I did not need to give away that bag of food!  (Much of which we got from Canadians returning home and not trying to take their produce with them.)
      We drove through beautiful farm country on a secondary highway.  Lots of dairy cattle and green fields and large mountains in the background with various clouds and rain covering them.  Rain was pouring on us at times with rain drops the size of cherries.  When we had traveled about three hours we began looking for a place to stay.  We didn't make it as far as we thought we would, but it doesn't matter.  We have no time schedule.  We are at a small RV park in Agassiz, BC.
      It feels very strange to have no schedule.  Not only do we not have to set an alarm, etc., but unlike any trip I have ever taken, we don't have to end our vacation in a week or two.  We don't have the tension that comes with worrying about vacation time passing too quickly.  We are blessed beyond belief!

Not just another rainy day!

       Today it has rained and rained and then rained some more.  It was also our last day to babysit Noah and Luke on the regular basis we have been doing since Amie went back to work after Noah's birth.  I have truly felt like the lukiest grandmother in the solar system (all forms of life included) because I have been able to really get to know my grandsons and develop a wonderful relationship with them both.  When we get back from our wanderings, Noah will be in school and the logistics of regular care will be too difficult for all.  I am reminding myself that it doesn't mean that we won't be caring for them.  There will be lots of weekends that their parents would like a break.  There will, there will, there will . . . .
        I didn't plan anything big today, but instead thought we would enjoy some of our regular activities.  But I really didn't count on rain and a three year old and five year old boy in the motorhome all day.  So we got creative.  We played "clam pizza" in the picnic shelter ( a game of chase in which the chasee is a clam pizza), an imaginative form of soccor in which team members change sides at will and the boys still win regardless of which team they are on last, pine cone hide and seek, and just enjoyed general silliness with each other.  Grandpa built a fire in the fireplace and we roasted hot dogs and made banana boats.  At nap time, Noah, Luke AND Grandma all snuggled in the bed, and truthfully, Luke was the only one who slept.  When I was driving the boys back to meet Amie, Noah fell asleep.  I heard Luke in the back seat saying, "Noah, it isn't time to sleep, it is awake time".   "Noah, listen to my words!"  "Noah, baby butt germs"  and he continued along the same vein for most of the ride.  Noah didn't notice and slept the sleep of an exhuasted clam pizza. The hardest part of leaving on our exciting adventure is saying goodbye to family.  I will be back for a visit in early July, and I can come back often, but it isn't the same.
      Tonight I went to a weekly gathering of friends and said goodbye.  I will miss them all and our weekly discussions of life's struggles and gifts.  I am hoping to stay connected through this blog, facebook, email and telephone and of course I will carry each and every one of the friends and their wisdom in my heart.  It has been a day of counting my blessings and finding many more to count that I expected.  I have faith that our journey will bring even more to count.  (Noah can help me - he says that he can count to the end of numbers!)
      During the day we had 45 head start students come for a barbeque.  They all crowded into the other picnic shelter and seemed to have fun, but I felt bad that they couldn't enjoy the beach and play in the fields of grass and flowers.  Later in the afternoon approximately 50 highschool students from Garfield High in Seattle arrived to work on an evironmental project until Friday.  They are hunkered down in tents listening to the drip, drip, drip, I am sure.  I think I will probably sleep more than they do tonight.

Who IS Michael "G", and why is he writing on this blog

Well I'm not Michael "J", he is better looking and has a lot more money. Of course I am the Mike part of the "Mike and Chris Wandering RVers.  I am not replacing Chris as the primary writer. I truly LOVE her narrations and stories.  At times I may repeat something that she has all ready recorded so bare with us. I may as well tell you up front I probably won't write every day. As always I will do the best I can. On occasion I get a twitchy fer and everything disappears. Yes sometimes frustrating. I will also be sharing with you some anecdote from past 10 or so years.  Don't worry,  I will change the names to protect the insane.
Well? here we are, been on the road living in the RV for about 7 weeks enjoying beautiful day after day, and we have traveled about 30 miles.  So far the RV has operating like a fine Timex, "takes a licking and keeps on ticken. By for now. 

Old growth nettles.

As we were walking in the forest today, I was thinking about how I would describe the various environments we see as we travel about.  It occured to me that I was walking in exquisite beauty but not giving it credit because it is the environment with which I am most familar.  I hadn't planned to describe the moist loam trail we tred upon spotted with horse droppings and banana slugs.  Did you know that the slugs like to eat the droppings?  (TMI)  The forest was a mix of old growth douglas fir and younger fir, hemlock and cedar.  The warm sun massaged a sweet honey and fir smell that floated through the forest intoxicating birds and mosquitoes. Sun rays filtered through the needled branches illuminating spider webs and flying insects.   Squirrels scolded Mike, Bernie and I as we sauntered down the trail.  When we drove away from the trailhead, we passed two wonderful horse properties with access to miles and miles of trails.  It made me dream of having horses again and spending hours picking up horse poop.

Delicious day!

Today has been the warm beautiful day for which we have spent the last 6 weeks waiting.  We spent the morning cleaning up after the middle school group and then decided to reward ourselves with a ride on the jet boat that offers tours of the Deception Pass area.  It was gloriously sunny and a perfect day for a boat ride.  I have posted pictures above. 

When we got back, I set up my easel and paints and painted a picture of the bay and one of the old rock buildings built by the CCCs.  A woman came by very interested in the painting and asked if I would sell it and how much I would charge.  I offered it to her for $75 because it was still wet, and would need to be varnished later. She sat with me and talked for a bit while I painted.  She  wanted to buy the painting, but called her 85 year old father to discuss whether this was a want or a need, and then declined, stating that she was disabled and had limited income.  She was visiting another couple that is staying in the campground, and she was leaving around dusk.  After dinner, she came over to invite me for smores.  She told the rest of the group how much she liked my painting as we set around the fire.  She struck me as being very vulnerable and kind, and on the spur of the moment when she was leaving, I gave her the painting.  She seemed very pleased.  After she left, I learned from the people that she was visiting that she had been violently assaulted a year ago, and that she had been on the island for the sentencing of the man that had assaulted her.  I am so grateful that I can give offer something to another person.  When I give something it seems that I get back more in love than whatever I gave!  ( The smore was delicious too!)

Campground breakout

We have 142 middle schoolers plus teachers and chaparones staying at the campground this week.  There are so many tents, it looks like the campground has chicken pox.    The group is from Kirkland and come to Deception Pass every year.  They do some park improvement building projects, environmental study, team building exercises and I don't know what else but they are very busy.  At night they have a big campfire with singing.  Meals are very popular and when the bell (yes, they brought one) rings bodies come running from every direction to the meal tent set up next to us.  Of course there are the furtive hugs and kisses behind the tents and buildings.  I am amazed by the planning that has gone into this event and the number of adults that it takes to keep it running smoothly.  It really is fun to watch the energy that the kids have and their enthusiasm for the different activites.

What a difference a day makes!

We woke up in the middle of the night to the motor home rocking and rolling like a boat in ferocious winds.  Mike was up early helping campers pack up and moving large branches out of the road so that people could leave.  Tents were flapping and bending in the wind and sleepless looking campers were bundled up and still looking cold.   I went into town, and while I was gone, Mike moved the motor home to the parking lot where there weren't so many threatening trees and branches.  He made a wise move, as later a large branch fell right where the motor home had been.  Waves were whipping through the dock and up on the beach.  Gusts were up to 60 or 70 miles per hour.  The rangers closed the campground so we're the only ones here tonight.  It is still windy, but seems to be slowing a bit.  I took some pictures, but they just don't do justice to the rip roaring gusts.

Anything for the prom!

This afternoon it has gotten increasingly windy here. With wind-chill factored in, it can't be any warmer than 40 degrees.  We walked out by the pier at 5:30, and saw three couples posing for pictures on the pier in full prom regality .   The three young women were all in sleeeveless and backless gowns and stood on the dock for pictures at least twenty minutes.  They young men of course had tuxes, and the adults, presumably parents, all were wearing coats and hats.  What we will do for the perfect pictures!  (I remember posing in the living room when I went to the prom.  It was much warmer!)