A Not so Simple Transition to Port Townsend, WA

We spent several nights on the outskirts of Seattle, vising with family, taking care of some business and dealing with the insane amount of traffic that that city generates. Auburn, just SE of Seattle, has a campground in the Game Farm Wilderness Park that allowed us reasonable access to Seattle without pulling the fifth wheel through the inner city.

On Tuesday we were off to the Olympic Peninsula. Unfortunately our transition from Seattle to Port Townsend was not so smooth. About halfway into our two hour drive I heard a strange noise and looked back to see smoke and small bits of tire flying...we had a blowout. Hans pulled over immediately, thankfully the shoulder was just wide enough to accommodate us. The right front trailer tire had blown, it was only two years old and Hans had checked the tire pressure so all should have been well.

Fortunately only minor damage to some underskirting on the trailer.

Fortunately the blowout was on the shoulder side of the highway, not the highway side! Vehicles were whizzing past us at 60 mph with no room to spare on the highway side. We were grateful to have the automatic leveling system on the trailer...we unhooked the truck and proceeded to raise the trailer up on its levelers so we could change the tire. We were back on the road within 45 minutes. Scary doesn't even begin to describe those 45 minutes!

No damage to the rim, thanks to quick understanding of the situation and being able to pull over immediately.

We're staying in Port Townsend, at Fort Worden Sate Park. Fort construction began in 1897 and it was active in one form or another until 1953, and became a state park in 1955. Its 434 acres include historical fort buildings, museums, a conference center, two campgrounds, water sports and beach access, hiking trails, all within minutes of downtown Port Townsend. There are 12 batteries left standing on Fort grounds and you can hike to and explore inside most of them. Here's a few photos from our hikes around the Fort:

Point Wilson lighthouse, activated 1879, automated 1976, closed to the public.

Battery Kinzie.
We were fortunate to happen upon this battery when a group of women were singing inside,
the acoustics were incredible!

A 60 inch carbon-arc light was housed in the building at the end of the tracks and rolled out
to light up targets up to 4.5 miles away. Circa 1911.

Battery Tolles.

Port Townsend is a Victorian waterfront town with an artistic vibe. Once a bustling port and fort town, today cute shops and restaurants invite visitors to stroll and spend their money. Thanks to a tip from the helpful staff at the local visitor center, we enjoyed some tasty fish and chips at Silverwater Cafe.

Several docks allow us to get out on the water and to appreciate the town from another vantage point.

Must be a fried egg jellyfish!

Fort Worden State Park is so popular that when we made reservations last October we could not get an entire week in one spot. We spent the first three nights at the full hookup beach campground, with nice large well separated sites; then moved to the upper forest campground with water/electric hookups for four nights, where the sites are much closer together.

On our campsite transition day (today) we took the trailer in to the local Les Schwab tire store to get four new tires on the trailer. We were happy to learn that, as Oregon residents, Les Schwab was able to sell us the tires with no sales tax, it seems merchants have an agreement with the state of Oregon to encourage Oregon residents to shop in Washington...sweet! Port Townsend Les Schwab did a fine job, very friendly, professional and efficient.

Now that business is taken care of we can really relax and enjoy the rest of our week in Port Townsend!

Repairs, Meet Ups and a Beary Good Welcome to Glacier

On Monday we moved from Bigfork to Columbia Falls, MT; a short drive that takes you through the largest town in the Flathead Valley, Kalispell.

Since we were having a problem with our hydraulic slide and leveling system we had an appointment at Gardner's RV in Kalispell to have it checked out on the way to our new location. BUT, as we pulled out of Bigfork the truck dash lit up with warning signs! Turns out a repair we had done at Eisinger Motors on our truck the previous week might be faulty.

So...drop the trailer at Gardner's and head down the road to Eisinger Motors, the local Chevy dealer. They were able to check the truck out right away, but now we were stranded and Rosie was with us. Luckily, Eisinger welcomed her in the customer waiting area:

We have one amazing kitty!

We were back on the road, with the trailer...by noon! Eisinger fixed the issue immediately and even gave us a half price oil change and tire rotation for our hassle, and Gardner's found and fixed our trailer problem, under warranty, in no time at all. Good service all around.

That night we were treated to a wonderful dinner at the home of friends we met last October in Page, AZ. Dennis and Sheryl Hester have a lovely custom built home on several acres overlooking Kalispell and the Flathead Valley that is for sale.

After dinner the four of us took a short drive to the overlook at Lone Pine State Park and caught the almost full moon rising over the valley:

Thanks to tips from Dennis and Sheryl we knew we needed to head in to Glacier National Park early the next morning if we wanted to get parking at any trailhead along Going to the Sun Road. These days, we rarely get out of the RV before 9am, but in order to beat the crowds we were out the door by 7:30am.

Glacier is about 15 miles NE of Columbia Falls. It's a beautiful drive, and just keeps getting prettier once you enter the park. Our destination was Avalanche Lake, about 15 miles into Glacier. Arriving at the trailhead about 45 minutes later, we were happy to find parking spaces available...though there were plenty of cars ahead of us.

Avalanche Lake trail is only about 2 miles one way and not too strenuous, which makes it a very popular
trail...something we've come to expect with National Parks. Luckily, starting fairly early in the day, the trail was pretty quiet on the way to the lake...and heavily populated on our return.

Avalanche Creek flows through some cool slot sections.

The highlight of our hike: a BEAR!
It was about 30 feet away and paid us no mind at all. 

Avalanche Lake sits in a gorgeous basin.
There was some seriously moody lighting going on at the lake,
making photos a little difficult!

Avalanche Creek tumbles into the slot canyon.

After our hike we checked out the Apgar visitor center, then stopped by the Apgar Campground to visit Rick and JoAnne who are hosting for a couple of months. This lovely couple has been part timing since 1997 and we met them in Patagonia State Park last February. It was great seeing them again and learning more about volunteering on the road, something we talk about possibly doing in the future.

Lake McDonald view into Glacier National Park from Apgar Village.

We've got another meetup planned tonight with fellow fulltimers and hikers we met in Nevada last year. Columbia Falls is turning out to be a social mecca!

San Diego is a Really Nice Place to be in January

We've had some cold mornings lately. After she eats breakfast, Rosie heads back to bed...

We really like walking the coast line in La Jolla. Crystal clear water, beautiful white sand and lots of rocks to poke around.

Spectacular colors!

Hot Kohls!

Aloes are in fine form all over San Diego right now

An early morning walk in nearby Rose Canyon:

Walking into the mists...

There is still some color in the coastal canyons.

Crazy stream crossing!

We've been getting all sorts of little projects done around the RV because we have tools available to us (Thanks Dad!). One fun thing is giving our new home some character. RV decor is pretty boring from the factory and you have to be careful about adding too much weight and how you hang anything because you don't really know what is behind the "curtain" so to speak.

Those who know us from our "sticks and bricks" days know we had a thing for tiki-style decor, it has such a fun, exotic vibe! We are slowly bringing in a little funky tiki flair into the RV. Hans found tiki carving artist Buzzy Meeker through the tiki forums and we had a wood plank carving done to cover up some ornamental metal trim that came with the rig:

Today we head to my parents house to assist my mom (the sewing expert) in creating some fun tiki-themed pillows for our recliners.

And so it goes...We've got one last week in San Diego before we head for the desert and new horizons once again. This next week is shaping up to be a blur of get-togethers with family, old friends and new friends.

San Diego really is a great place to be in January!

A Small Hiccup, Quickly Fixed

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Wishing everyone a healthy, happy and peaceful year ahead.

We are looking forward to continuing our travels in 2013 and to do that we must have a healthy RV! On New Years Eve we were relaxing after dinner and when I got up to do the dishes I saw smoke coming from under the sink and it smelled funny, kind of electrical...NOT GOOD!

It had to be the water heater so we shut it off and explored the area but could not see anything out of the ordinary. Next morning we allowed the electric water heater to heat up, it seemed fine, but about 45 minutes later it started smoking again.

We had to wait to call Keystone (the RV manufacturer) and Suburban (the water heater manufacturer) on the 2nd. We had narrowed the problem down to the water heaters electric system, the propane side was working fine (YAY!).

Yesterday we took her in to the local Keystone authorized repair center (RV Solutions) and they were able to find the melted wires and fix the problem in a few short hours. We think the problem was caused when the water heater was installed at the Keystone factory and the installers didn't properly tighten the wiring nuts, where the 120 volt power connects to the water heater. This is our second time having service at RV Solutions and they were quick and professional both times.

Now we are reluctant to leave the water heater on when we are not in the rig. I shudder to think what could have happened had we been out the night of the problem. Luckily these small water heaters heat quickly, so we will get in the habit of turning it on only when we need it, just to be safe.

After having this Montana for almost 4 months now, we feel we've had a fairly trouble free start to RVing. This last hiccup was certainly the worst problem we have experienced, and with a little luck and lot of good sense monitoring and maintenance we hope to keep the problems to a minimum and our travels safe and enjoyable!

Only two weeks left in San Diego, then we're off to wild Arizona! In the meantime we're meeting lots of great folks here at the park. We've got open invitations to visit Ware and Becky in Boulder City, NV and Chris and Anita in Victoria, BC and chances are good that we will visit those places in the future. Paul and Nina of Wheeling It had a happy hour at their rig where we discovered that Dave and Sue (who we met at Santee Lakes) will be at Catalina State Park at the same time we'll be there.

Despite this little hiccup, 2013 is shaping up to be a very good year!