Happy Halloween!

Yesterday we said goodbye to the Gardners and their hospitality and today we began the next phase of the adventure by leaving northern Whidbey Island where we had a super month and are now headed toward Oregon. We woke up to 39 degrees and today it was about 50 for the high with a solid high overcast.

We went down state highway 20 to a place called Keystone on the southwest side of Whidbey Island. After waiting about 40 minutes for the ferry we drove the Flying (now floating) Scotsman on board for its first boat trip. The fare for the whole works was about $56 and so what if we took up a lane and a half. Actually, due to the off season, the ferry was about half full, giving us a lot of room ... and we need it!

After a 30 minute trip we were in Port Townsend, the little 1800s town we visited and talked about a couple of days ago.

We stopped right in town at the Port Townsend Marina for the night as we wanted to get the boat trip out of the way before hitting the highway for McMinnville. We'll take highway 20 to the south and avoid the Seattle area ... been there, done that. Kinda cold, dark and gloomy tonight (maybe some witches out there) so I'll get some pics tomorrow.

We'll take our time getting away from here in the morning and have settled on a place in Centralia, Washington as our next stop. This should put us into McMinnville on Friday night.

It is dark now and we're looking out the windows across the sound toward Whidbey and watching the boats ... really neat.

If you are ever on the islands and are hungry, this is the place!

Yeah, I know, you are looking at it and saying, "ooooo, I wouldn't stop there on a bet, my health insurance doesn't cover what might happen there."

Well, you would have missed the best food on the islands. The Deception Cafe is just north of Deception Pass that I have talked about, putting it on Fidalgo Island, about 2 miles from our RV park. We have eaten here several times now and the food and selection is outstanding and with a very German heritage. My first experience was a unique item: it was crab cake benedict. On a menu with at least 50 items, it stood out as tempting. The dish looked like normal benedict except that the bottom layer was two potato cakes side by side, then two Dungeness crab cakes, then poached eggs, all covered with a perfect Hollandaise sauce. Served with it was a large portion of German fried potatoes ... the best since Germany.

On later experiences with the place we have had fish and chips, home made pasta, and then the normal eggs benedict ... all way beyond excellent.

This guy just keeps following me around ... maybe it's something I ate ... maybe I'll give up tuna ... better yet, I wonder what seagull tastes like ... chicken?

Anyhow, it's hard to believe that we will be leaving Whidbey Island next week, but our month here is almost up and we'll be moving down to Oregon for the next month.

Friday, though, we spent time going over to the mainland to an RV show where Jo-Anne was heard to say, "When can we upgrade ... there's a few more neat things I want in the RV."

I turned a deaf ear ... huh whadusay ... helicopter ears you know.

We then went and toured the islands a bit more. We went with the Gardners up to Erie State Park, just down the road from our RV park. The State park is a 1300 foot rock escarpment on Fidalgo Island near Anacortes which you ascend by a small winding one car road, but from which you have some pretty awesome views of the surrounding countryside. This one is looking north toward Mt Baker about 150 miles in the distance.

And this one is looking south toward Whidbey Island and our RV park.

Although I just can't figure out why I can't get any good cell phone or computer coverage ....

Buster agrees and is obviously deeply concerned about the same things.

Now that we have spent a couple of weeks on Whidbey Island, here are some notes.

The RV is wonderful. This is not a paid ad but I think both of us could go to work for Forest River with their Georgetown product and do well … we a really happy with the home and the vehicle.

OK enough for the ad.

Yesterday, with our hosts Wanda and Richard Gardner, we took the ferry from Whidbey Island over to Port Townsend on the Olympic peninsula. It was 64 degrees and a clear blue sky … another chamber of commerce day for coastal Washington … gorgeous!

Port Townsend is a neat little tourist town that was built in the late 1800s as a logging town and most of the buildings date from that era. An interesting note is the John Quincy Adams house which is for sale today and that most of the streets are named after former presidents. This is one of the largest collections of 1880 era homes and buildings, in fine condition, that we have seen in our travels. This one is one of a dozen on the main street built within about 15 years in the 1880s.

Just to the north of and part of Port Townsend is Fort Worden, now a state park. This was an important stronghold for the western coast in the 1800s and is now a wonderful piece of real estate. We looked at the restored officers’ quarters and the parade ground and the fort which is typical of those in the 1800s. That’s Mount Baker in the distance with a good coat of snow. There’s actually a nice RV park on the old fort and a potential stop for us on our way south. There is also another nice place for RVs right in Port Townsend at their marina.

After a long day of touring … with our knowledgeable hosts the Gardners, we stopped at their place for a final brew. Here they are in front of their place which overlooks Puget Sound.

And in the back, over a brew of our choice, a calm, 64 degree day looking toward Victoria, Canada, from the bluff behind their house … the only disturbance being the occasional bald eagle snatching rabbits from the hillside.

Here's a couple of more views from the local area because the internet is working especially well tonight. We ate at this quaint restaurant in Langely ... and no, we didn't have hot dogs ... actually the chili was very good.

A sculpture and the real thing at a local winery.

... and just pretty scenes ...

And oyster beds near here ... this place is a photographer's dream.

Be patient today as the computer link is painfully slow so our last weekend might appear disjointed. Saturday we went to Leavenworth, stayed the night and then came back on Sunday to our place here on Whidbey Island. Totally fun and enjoyable weekend. So in reverse order ...

On Sunday, after our trip to Leavenworth, Washington, we came home via the town of Chelan and Highway 20 back to Whidbey Island. This picture is on the Methow River and more orange display. I think we hit the fall display at its peak and it was overwhelming.

All the way across Canada we thought we had seen "Fall" but this route was the most intense ... we went about 5 hours through the most solid "orange" display I have ever seen. Wow!

And about 50 miles east of Burlington for the alpine view we stopped at Ross lake for this one. As we went through the pass just after this, there was snow on the ground next to the road.

Not too many words to describe this 200+ year old oak on the main street of Leavenworth ... Awesome and Orange! I think the poor camera was overpowered by the image.

The hotel just to the left and under the Awesome Orange Oak!

And I turned around under the oak for this street image. Deutschland, eh?

I'm having one of those frustrating computer nights ... too many others blogging or something so the entries may appear sporadically ... every 15 minutes or so.

Is this Germany, or what? Didn't we just leave that country?

No, not really. This is Leavenworth, Washington, but they have done a really good job of replicating the original. Unlike New Braunfels, Texas, which started as a German community over a hundred years ago and slowly has been Anglified since, Leavenworth up until the 1980s was a dying small village on the road to nowhere. In the 80s the town decided to adopt the German theme and has done an impressive overhaul in architecture and feel.

This bridge is typical of many and is on the Skykomish River about 45 miles west of Leavenworth, Washington.

And the same river right outside the little town of Skykomish.

Today was a chamber of commerce day and gorgeous. Obviously we had to hit the local winery (one of many) for some wine tasting. This one is in Greenbank on the eastern coast of Whidbey Island about midway down the island. Tasted some nice local wines, but didn't buy ... maybe later.

We actually got to see Harry Potter of book and movie fame ... no, wait, Hairy Potter ... maybe I need to check the spellchecker ... maybe this guy's sombody different, eh? The wine was really good though.

And to close out today. This was taken at 7pm today at the Deception Pass State park as Buster and I were out walking. This view is about 500 feet from our RV ... and it doesn't get much better than this!

Here's a shot of the Flying Scotsman in its current home. This is a first class park with paved roads, really nice hookups, good laundry facility, and a good clear south exposure for the sat TV. There's probably 150 sites here and it is designed particularly for the larger RVs whether that's motorhomes or trailers. I'd say the park is about a third full at any given time as we are now in the off season. It was about 55 today and the sun came through.



A couple of days ago we went over onto the mainland to a little town called La Conner literally across the Skagit River bridge from our island to the east. It’s a small quaint touristy place with many shops and restaurants right on the river. And it is about 5 miles from Burlington where we were for the first couple of nights at the RV dealership. For that trip, even though I took a bunch of pictures of our exploration to include Oak Harbor, La Conner, and most recently Anacortes which is at the north tip of the Whidbey/Fidalgo island combo and where we took the ferry to Victoria a couple of years ago, none came out because my batteries were low ... mine or the camera's ... senior moment for one of us. I'll just have to go back and redo the pix ... no problem. On the south end of the island there is no bridge, but there is the ferry to the Seattle area.

I'm sorry Richard and Wanda but it is cool and rainy here ... that's a quote from Buster ...

Because of the constant 52 degree rain, poor Buster has had the shivers and told us he needed some functional fashion. After a trip to the doggy boutique he was sufficiently outfitted for Washington weather … the jacket was an instant hit with him, but the boots did take a bit of getting used to though. As I'm putting Buster's boots on, you can see that the cat, Bandit, is thinking, "I'm glad I'm on a higher evolutionary plane than the stupid dog who has to be dressed to urinate in the trees ... how crude."

But after a bit, ol Buster thanked me for his new winter outfit and we were off.

After a week now on Whidbey Island we are really settling in. We’ve had time to do most of the home improvement stuff we have ignored for the last six months and yet explore a bit. It’s also been a relief with the price of gas … never thought I’d say that, but after the high price for the Canadian stuff a measly 2.79 here is chicken feed.

No, this isn't an ad for Fed Ex ... didn't even see em til I looked at the pictures.


This is Deception Pass, about 2 miles north of our RV park (to the left is Whidbey and to the right is Fidalgo Island) and a spectacular cut through the rocks and was named by Captain Vancouver in the 1800’s because it wasn’t the easy passage to an inland waterway that he thought. This island was named after his navigator, Whidbey, who was able finally able to navigate through the dangerous pass and its rough currents.

While I'm composing the pictures for the next blog, I thought I'd share some math with you. For the Great Cross-Canada run we traveled about 2,900 miles from Meaford, Ontario to Vancouver, BC. On that run, the gas averaged $4.18 per US gallon and the RV got an average of 8.75 miles per gallon. Crunching that, it works out to about $0.48 per mile or $1,392 for gas for the run across the north. Our nightly rent worked out to about $28 per night, times the 35 days or so that we paid rental or about $980 for the trip, making an average of $68 a day for the fun and experience; excluding all the other living and playing costs ... let's see # of wine bottles littered along the way ... nah.

Yes it is October and finally we have come to rest for a month in the wonderful state of Washington.

After the stay in the KOA in Burlington, WA, we worked with the recommended RV dealer there to look at about 20 items that needed service; nothing serious though, which says a lot for the Forest River Georgetown unit. Some of the items would take time, as expected, so the dealer said we could live in his lot for last Thursday and Friday nights (Sep 27 & 28) as they would work on the Flying Scotsman on Friday and Saturday. Sounded like a good idea.

The lot was great and the service at Camping World was superb. I can’t say enough good about their attitude and work schedule … good company. We probably should have stayed at a local motel though. Saving a couple of bucks by staying in the RV lot didn’t get us much sleep. Between the train which ran about 100 feet behind the RV every hour all night long and the coyote howling which kept Buster howling and the rain, we did not sleep much for those two nights. Then we had to be out of the bus by 8am so the techs could move the RV into the service bay and do the work, so we had to roam about Burlington for the day, eh. Yes, that is the train just behind the RV .... I'll take the other Hooter any time of day!!! The coyote is hiding somewhere, just waiting for midnight ...




Anyhow, by about 1pm on Saturday, we finished what service work could be done by the weekend and moved over to the Gardner’s driveway which is midway down the western coast of Whidbey Island. Their house is awesome and sits on a bluff overlooking the Puget Sound and literally you can see all the way to Victoria, BC. Here's the Flying Scotsman blocking a nice view of their home with 20,000 pounds of plastic.



However, as soon as we got there, the winds picked up and for Saturday night we were pounded with a 40-50 mile per hour wind and again no sleep for the weary Gunns. This is the most wind the bus has had to put up with and even though we were tucked in close to Richard and Wanda’s garage, it was rockin’ and rollin’ all night. We pulled the slides in and that calmed it a bit, but the winds continued through the next day. Finally after about 24 hours, the wind subsided and Sunday turned into a really beautiful day with the pic above … highs about 64 and low about 45. Sunday night was calm and we finally got some well deserved sleep.

On Monday we pulled the jacks up and headed for the Deception Pass area on the north part of Whidbey Island and the North Whidbey Island RV Park.

We have put down a month’s rent ($405 plus elec) on the place here so we should be fairly stable until 1 November. While the cell coverage is mid to poor as is the wi-fi, the sat TV is good. And the price isn’t too bad even though because we are here for the month we now have an electric meter.