Another hot day.

Location, Lynden, WA

It is HOT, HOT, HOT!!!!!

Yesterday set a record for high temperatures in Seattle of 103. In Lynden it was 100.
Way to hot for this country.

Not much going on but I did get some work done around the RV in the morning. I washed the front and rear of the rig, defrosted the refer, and got the oil changed in the truck. So, we are set to hit the road on Sunday morning, early I hope.

I still haven’t picked our daily stopping places for sure but have some in mind. I do need to call two of the RV parks as they usually fill up because of their close proximity to Portland, OR. From then on we will take potluck each day and hope to find a place for the night.

HOT and getting HOTTER!!!

Location, Lynden, WA

Not much happening here this week. Candi is doing better each day and we have been spending most afternoons with her. The weather has been HOT and HUMID!!!! We spend part of the day in the basement where it is cool and the humidifier is going. Clyda has been doing laundry and ironing. She also has been doing some work on the quilt for Candi as well as yard work

Saturday evening I drove Michael down to Mount Vernon to a friends house. They drove to Wenatchee, WA the next morning for a few days of R&R. I think there was a girl involved some where in that.

On Sunday evening Dawn invited us, Mark and Candi, and Matt, her boyfriend for dinner. She did a really good job of it. We had spaghetti , Caesar salad and garlic bread. Clyda made a cobbler with raspberries, blue berries, and black berries. It was really good. Quit different than just the boysenberries we are used to in our cobblers.

The cook in her kitchen.


Tomorrow I have an appointment to get the oil changed in the truck. I picked up oil at the auto parts store on Monday. The DELO 400 was on sale so I got buy two gallons, get one free. Heck of a deal! None of the truck dealers carry DELO so I always buy it before the appointment.

I have been working on our trip south to Walnut Creek and have the route fixed but not the stops each day. I like to travel about 200 miles a day. I am not looking forward to traveling I-5 but time dictates that as the route. We have friends along the way and may stop if time and schedules permit. We will park the trailer while in Walnut Creek as we are staying with friends for 5 days. The weather will be hot all the way so we are not looking forward to that.

Moving to Lynden, WA

Location, Lynden, WA

This morning I stowed all the extra outdoor gear in the truck and trailer and unhooked all the hoses, cables, etc, in preparation for moving north. I returned the cable box to the office along with a thank you card for all their help in finding us a parking place for the 6 weeks we were there. It may have been close quarters but the park is well kept and the managers were helpful and friendly. We had good TV coverage with the cable box and fairly good Wifi for internet coverage most of the time. Can’t ask for more than that.

I left the park at 10:05 and arrived in Lynden at Hidden Village RV Park at 11:45. The park had assigned me a spot a few weeks ago when we stopped by so all I had to do was pay for the next 8 days. Our spot is under a tree which meant the roots caused one side to be high so I had to block up the other side to get level. I moved the rig forward so the solar panels would be mostly in the sun. The tree will provide shade for the back of the rig which should really help over the next week as the temperatures are supposed to be high.

After I got everything connected I ate lunch then tackled a job I have been putting off. The vanes on the back of the roof air conditioner were all smashed flat. It took me a long time to figure out how they got that way but I think it happened when we had the rig washed in Yuma in March. They used a high pressure wand to clean the roof and also swiped it across the AC unit. The solution is to use a kitchen butter knife to straighten the tabs as they are very flimsy aluminum. So far today I have about 1/3 opened up. If I don’t do this and run the AC it could over heat the compressor. We have a lot of hot weather coming up and need to run the AC.

Pike Place Market

Location, Everett, WA

Yesterday was another wonderful day in Seattle. Although a little on the warm side by late afternoon, it was really nice for walking around Pike Place Market downtown. Clyda and I drove in with Mark and Candi for Candi’s last Chemo session. More on that later.

Clyda and I walked down to the bus stop and rode the number 70 line to Pine and 3rd Ave where we got off and walked 2 blocks downhill to Pike Place Market. It is really a steep downhill from 2nd to 1st Ave. We walked through the market place looking at flowers, fruits, and vegetables as well as meats and lots of fresh fish. This is the place where they throw the fish when you buy it. Of course that gathers lots of tourists and even a few folks from PETA protesting the “abuse of fish”.

Pike Place Market.


Clyda with flowers.


Flowers.


And more flowers.


Fresh fish.


Salmon.


Lobster.


About 11:30 we decided to get a bowl of clam chowder for lunch. It was a big bowl and along with a “chowder roll”, hit the spot.

Our next stop was the Seattle Art Museum. Candi had gotten tickets through the Cancer Center so we walked the few blocks down to it. The museum was featuring a display of 10 Andrew Wyeth paintings from his Helga series.


The entrance lobby featured 5 white well used Ford Taurus bodies suspended from the ceiling by cables with rods sticking out from the bodies in all directions, like a porcupine. Each rod had LED lights on it which flashed off and on in different colors. There were clusters of Led lights on the ends of each rod also. A very striking display.

The museum covers 3 floors with most of the rooms dedicated to modern art while the Wyeth display occupied one room. The striking feature of Wyeth’s paintings is the really fine detail. In the Helga paintings, the strands of hair look so real. The old trees and grass look more like a photo than a painting. Very impressive.

There was also a large area of African art. Two hours of looking at some of this stuff would make a grown man cry. Painting drop cloths hanging from a wall or a room covered in painted papers. A room with 1000 pieces of porcelain dinner ware. One display which was very striking was a cape made of thousands of stainless steel dog tags which flowed onto the floor in a perfect almost closed circle.

The Wyeth display was worth the price of admission , the rest, I could do without. Having gotten in for free, it was a bargain.

After leaving the museum we walked to a Starbucks for refreshments. I had an orange, mango, banana smoothie and Clyda had a Mocha latte. We believe this was the original Starbucks in Seattle.

Starbuck's and Nordstom's.


We walked up the street to Nordstrom’s Rack, Macy’s, and Nordstrom’s. These are really large multi story stores and there were lots of shoppers. The women’s shoe section at Nordstrom’s was mobbed for their mid-season sale. We walked across the street to Coldwater Creek, again a multi story store. They have a stream running through the store under plexiglass so you can walk on it and large fake boulder walls with water running down to the stream. From anywhere in the store all you hear is water running. I was wondering how often the store staff went to the bathroom.

Finally decided we had walked enough for on day we caught the number 70 bus back to the Cancer Center. Candi’s last chemo session was delayed 2 hours because of a change in clinic procedures. Instead of ordering the chemo as Candi checked in they now wait until a bed is assigned and then the chemo is ordered from the pharmacy by computer. The chemo is delivered to the proper bed by this procedure but causes a long delay. I think they need to work out some bugs in this system. Thank goodness it was her last day.

By now it was after 7 PM so we decided to stop at The Spaghetti Factory for dinner on the way back to the RV park. By the time we finished dinner and drove to the RV park, it was almost 9 PM before Mark got to leave. As soon as he got on I-5 north, the traffic slowed for construction. I have no idea what time he got home.

Boeing tour.

Location, Everett, WA

This morning I did something I have wanted to do for several years and that was to tour the Boeing wide body assembly plant in Everett, WA. This plant builds the 757, 767, 777, and the new 787 which has yet to make its first flight.

Taking a chance on getting a ticket without a reservation in hand I went to the Future of Flight building near the plant. Here all tours start and end and a large display area and store show new features being used in the 787 Dreamliner. There were few people around at 8:30 AM so I had no problem getting a ticket for the 9 AM tour.

The tour begins with a video about Boeing and then we were ushered to a tour bus which took us around the end of the Paine Field runway and to the paint buildings and fuel test areas east of the runways. We actually had to wait for a short period while one of the Dream Lifter planes taxied out to the runway. The Dream Lifter is a very large plane built on a 747-400 body which is used to transport parts from around the world to Everett. It is big enough to carry body sections within the airframe. It is the biggest by volume aircraft in the world according to Wikipedia. Boeing has 3 of these planes in use with a fourth being built.

From the paint area we drove to the main assembly building and left the bus and went under ground to one of eight tunnels running under the building. These tunnels carry all utilities for the plant and are 1/3 of a mile long. We took a large freight elevator up to the 3rd floor so we could overlook the assembly area for the 747. Over night last night they had put the new 747-frieghter into the bay in preparation for final assembly.

We got back on the bus and drove to a newer section of the building and again went under ground and again up an elevator to see the 777 assembly line and the new 787 assembly line. The 4th 787 is almost complete.

It was a very neat tour and I would have loved to spend more time looking around but the tour lasts 90 minutes and our time was up so we were taken back to the Future of Flight building where I spent another hour looking at the displays. All in all, a very nice tour. I recommend it to everyone if you are ever in Everett with time on your hands.

No cameras are allowed on the tour but I did get a few pictures before I left.

Entrance sign.


The Future of Flight building.


Main assembly building. Actually, only part of it.


More of the assembly building.


Oh, I forgot to mention, the assembly building covers an area of more than 98 acres. It is the largest building by volume in the world.

Sailing, Sailing, over the bounding Main!

Location, Everett, WA

Yesterday was a perfect weather day. A perfect day for sailing. That’s right, sailing! Candi signed up for 2 tickets for a day cruise on Lake Union through the Cancer Center. So, yesterday we drove back down to a parking lot across from the Cancer Center, $5 for parking, Thank You, and walked out to the Mallory Todd a classic 65 foot, 2 masted sailing ship. The cruise is sponsored by the Sailing Heritage Society and cancer patients and their families and care takers are treated to a 2 hour cruise around Lake Union.

We signed on to the ships manifest along with 16 other people and a crew of 5. We motored away from the dock and the crew raised the main sail as we cruised up the west side of the lake. The owner and captain is and old timer who built the boat mostly by himself in the 1980’s. The hull was built in Sacramento, CA. After installing the engine, the boat was motored to Seattle where the remainder of the boat was completed.

The Mallory Todd at her dock.

The boat is now mainly used for charters I suspect because of the captains age. Yesterday a young man was being trained as a new captain and did a very nice job of docking us at the end of the cruise.

Captain at the helm.

We did a lazy sail to the north end of the lake mostly using the motor because of the fickle winds and the huge amount of lake traffic. There were paddle boards, kayaks, pleasure craft, tour boats, amphibious ducks, and float planes. A very busy Saturday on the lake.

Float plane headed for its dock.


House boat used in the movie "Sleepless in Seattle".

Amphiboius Duck giving tourists a view of the lake, close up.

Looking south over Lake Union towards the Seattle skyline.


We visited the Wooden Sailing Boat docks after the cruise. There was a large amount of wooden boats on display and several in various stages of rework in progress. We ate a picnic lunch at a table in the Wooden Boat public area before driving around the north end of Lake Union. We stopped at Gas Plant Park on the north end of the lake. This is a nice park with all the old gas plant machinery still in place.

Gas Plant Park from the lake.


We continued under the I-5 bridge onto the campus of The University of Washington. Unfortunately I was in the wrong lane to go through the university center so we ended up on I-5 northbound headed back to the RV park.

Last evening we were invited to visit old friends form our early Santa Barbara days. We had not seen Donna and Ron for many years so it was good to catch up on our lives. Ron and Donna treated us to a nice Mexican dinner out and a great piece of pie later at their home. Thanks Ron and Donna for a great visit.

Chittenden Locks

Location, Everett, WA

Finally,,,,,,the weather has cooperated for us to go to the Chittenden Locks. Every other time we wanted to go, the weather has been rainy or cold. Clyda and I were here years ago with son Tim. Today was perfect. I did the driving into the Cancer center today and waited in the lobby reading my book while Candi had her treatment. Clyda went with her to the treatment room. Afterwards we drove to the locks. As with most public places in Seattle, we had to pay for parking at a pay kiosk. The fee was $2.00 per hour. Ouch!! Quarters or credit cards only please! We were there for 3 hours total.

Entrance sign.


Boats coming in.


Full lock.


Boats going down as the lock empties.


Boats leaving the lock.


Boats in large lock.


Railroad bridge which must open for tall sail boats.

We watched lots of boats going out from Lake Union to Puget Sound but few coming back. The middle of three locks was in use and could handle several boats at a time but not the larger ones. Eventually the numbers of boats going out backed up so the large lock was put into use. This lock could accommodate up to 70 boats of various sizes. Today only about 17 or 18 at a time were locked through. Some were quite large and expensive. Using the large lock takes a longer transit time as each boat is individually handled and tied off before the next boat is let in. It was a very interesting few hours and there were lots of tourists watching.

Next to the locks is the English Garden with all of its blooming flowers. We didn’t get any photos but walked through the edge of it. Lots of grassy areas for a picnic lunch. This is one of the must do spots for every visitor.