Launch

Ron’s Circle Tour

March 4, 2008 Monday
The Launch
Days before leaving for eight months I had pretty much resolved that I was not going to have someone stay in my little downstairs apartment. An email from Don changed that mindset. Rather than packing to leave for a long period of time and now had to move out for Don. So those last few days were packed with tight schedules and check off lists. (This a “Ron trait”.)

Fortunately for me the Skagit Bay Search and Rescue trip to visiting the US Coast Guard Station/ Bellingham the day before my leaving was canceled thus giving me another day to finish things off.

Under pressure from my circle of friends I threw a “going away/ see the RV” party in the local marina parking lot. Over three hours good friends from thirty years of living in the valley stopped by to linger, share stories and to wish me luck. The record was nine people in the 29-foot RV at one time; only two of us were standing and the rest were comfortably seated.

Monday was a typical northwest marine day, overcast and drizzle. But before leaving somehow my sister from Taos persuaded Hannah to meet her at the Seattle airport and drive her to Vancouver, BC to spend the weekend at Rebecca’ daughter’s house. Hannah jumped at the chance to visit her cousin so on Monday on their way back both of them detoured off of Interstate 5 to La Conner for a quick visit over breakfast. Joan joined us to participate in the two-generation banter of growing up. There were laughter and tears.

Right at departure time Bob and Martha showed up with all of Bob’s gear for his two weeks of being my indispensable road buddy. But wait – we had a stowaway. Patsy’s daughter had driven up from Portland for a visit and her car had broken down. She stashed her gear and came aboard, too. To top off our leaving the Skagit my friend Melanie drove down from Bellingham for hugs and goodbyes. Time to cut the docking lines and shove off.


Roslynn’s job is working for a large progressive company that does college coaching for freshman for universities. It requires her to be on a computer all day. Pesto out came my new laptop with headphones and a wireless broadband connection. It was such delight to look up in the rearview mirror and seeing Roslynn being gainfully employed. She was thrilled that she didn’t miss a day “at work.” Bob and I could see the wheels turning inside her head “I could do road trips and still do work. Wow!!”
At lunch time we pulled off the interstate at the Nisqually Delta Wildlife Refuge and spent the meal watching ducks on a swamp.

Portland appeared on the banks of the Columbia/Willamette Rivers at rush hour but since we were heading into the city there was no problem. I called Caitlin’s partner Will to clear a landing stripe for our forty foot RV /Jetta .
After Will took Roslynn home and Caitlin appeared on her bicycle, we sat down to a superb meal created by Will.

Our first night out on The Trip was spent tied up to the street curb. I didn’t realized the body stress of driving the RV. I felt it in my arms as I burrowed into the blankets in the queen size bed (which is bigger than my bed at home) and Bob set up his domain in the “crew’s quarters” in the cab over.


March 4, Tuesday
After a lazy breakfast and a walk of the neighborhood, we hit the road again after putting $125 into the monster’s belly. Ouch. And many, many more to come.
I-5 is a moving community. You setup an identity with the truckers around you and they become your de-facto road buddies too.
We took an hour break in Eugene to see my old friend from Concrete days, Greg Estes, and then back out into the metal vehicle stream of I-5 South.
We try to halt our travels around 4 o’clock so about 3 we start looking at the map to see what’s ahead. Sometimes it’s zero like this afternoon so we’re in a small interstate rest area just north of Roseburg. It was a right pick because of parking layout. Rather than parallel parking lanes as found on most rest areas, it’s all of us lined up along a long curb bumper to bumper so that we don’t have a refer truck to our right or left. It wasn’t much of a long day on the road. (I can't get the photo to appear at the bottom.)