The first 120 miles was a piece of cake.....

 6:49 am - Sunday - October 3rd - Port Townsend, WA - Point Hudson Marina & RV Park - HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! - 56° F, 75% humidity, wind 8 mph out of the southwest.....overcast today with a forecast high of 56° F.....WOW...that's a first....the morning temperature is the same as the forecast high!  On this date in 2014 I was celebrating my 64th birthday at Redfish Restaurant in Port Orford, OR with TLE and good friends Krash and Karen......↴

After an incredibly quiet night in the Walmart Supercenter parking lot we awoke to partly cloudy skies, and feeling good about our travels so far.  Friday had gone perfectly....actually better than perfect...and we were anticipating another great travel day.....and for the first 120 miles of our 178 mile day it was.  We departed the Walmart parking lot around 9:48 am, and were cruising northbound on I-5 shortly thereafter.  We were even passed on I-5 northbound by a late model Newell......

.....it is extremely rare to spot Newells on the road as there are just not that many.  We exited I-5 in Olympia, WA merging onto US-101 northbound to Port Townsend around 11 am.  Initially US-101 is a divided highway, but after about 20 miles it becomes a narrow, winding two way road.  Just south of Hoodport, WA (Hood Canal area) we spotted another Newell going southbound....we both honked.  It was a 1987 Newell Classic, and we found out later that the owners are members of our Newell user group forum.....Newell Gurus.....two Newells in one day!

Within a few miles we rounded a bend in the road to find traffic completed stopped with people standing outside their cars......okay, this is not good, right?

If one must be stopped on a highway I can't think of a more scenic place to be 'stuck'. I quickly powered down the big Detroit Diesel, and decided to make the most of the the time.....

.....first I checked all the tire temps, took a nap, and then I got out my telescoping ladder and began to clean the Newell windows.....I finished just as traffic began to move again for the first time in 2 hours....yup, two whole hours.  Apparently a power pole had fallen up ahead, and it took the utility cranes about 90 minutes to get there.  Once they were there, the pole was removed quickly.....

....according to our Garmin Trucker GPS we still had 57 miles to travel with an estimated travel time of 90 minutes.  This section of US-101 is extremely narrow with NO shoulders, and big drop offs to the right.  The speed limit varies from 45-50 mph for about 35 of the remaining 57 miles, and it was white knuckle time.  The time did not pass quickly for moi, and it seemed much longer than 90 minutes, but that's all it was.  

We arrived at our destination, Point Hudson Marina & RV Park just before 3 pm, and after some maneuvering in tight space for about 20 minutes I managed to get the coach turned around, and parked in their 'dry camping' space.  TLE did a masterful job of helping make a 9 point turn...the best she has ever done.  How do I know?  It was the least stressful maneuver we have ever completed......

....we are right on Puget Sound, and about .5 miles from the ferry terminal where we will board the 9:30 am ferry to Coupeville later this morning.

Our site is about 70 yards from Doc's Marina Grill, so we decided around 4:30 pm to walk over and have an early dinner on their wonderful alfresco deck.  I had a Port Townsend Stout, which was just as good as I remembered from 8 years ago.  I ordered their Blackened Salmon sandwich, and TLE their Artichoke & Roasted Pasilla Chile Melt, and a side salad..... 

......after dinner we took a long walk around the marina.....

....and found this schooner built in 1907....she looks beautiful for 114 years of age.....

TLE couldn't resist hamming it up a bit

There's the Newell from across the marina

....it was a beautiful Puget Sound evening with spectacular view of the Olympic Mountains in the distance....

....except for the unexpected rest stop north of Hoodport, it was another great travel day.....just 15 miles to go.

So, you might wonder, why not get on the ferry when we got here and get to Coupeville on Saturday afternoon.  Good question.  Because of our size and length reseverations must be made in advance for a specific time slot.  If you miss the appointed time they will try to put you on a later ferry, but there are no guarantees.  We've made this drive before, and barely made our reservation, which added a lot of stress to an already stressful drive up US-101 from Olympia.  If we had made a reservation for Saturday we most likely would have been quite late, so we decided, in advance, to overnight here in Port Townsend.  It's only .5 miles to the ferry, which will take less than 10 minutes from our location.

Thanks for stopping by!

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