Migrating geese.....

 8:23 am - Thursday - October 7th - Coupeville, WA - 49° F, 90% humidity, wind - 5 mph out of the south.....partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 54° F.  On this date in 2018 TLE and I were dining at One Dine Restaurant on the 101st floor of the World Trade Center.....↴

.....our views this morning.......↴

We awoke to partly cloudy skies Wednesday, and much dryer conditions than Tuesday, but there was also a definite autumn chill in the the air.  The sun is now rising around 7:20 am, and setting around 6:40 pm as we edge slowly to the shortest daylight stretch of the year.  We see geese beginning their southward migration, and in about a week we, too, will answer the call of the warmer southern latitudes to begin our trek back to SoCal and family.

I spent about 6 more hours working on Bob's John Deere loader/backhoe removing all the fuel lines, and blowing them out with compressed air to be sure there were no blockages, and then reassembling them.  We hope to re-prime the fuel system on Thursday, and move her up the hill to the area behind the barn where it will be closer to tools, and electrical power if needed.  Some of the fuel line connections were difficult to reconnect resulting in a lot of frustration, but we were victorious in the end.  Bob came down the hill to help me with the reassembly, and by the time we were finished it was pushing 4 pm.  You could feel the temporary warmth in the air dissipating quickly, and with 90 minutes it began to rain.....completely unexpected.  It continued raining on and off all night long.

TLE and I continue to be asymptomatic to the Wuhan Flu.  We continue to be grateful we can travel, and live in rural areas where there is little risk of catching flu bugs of any kind.  We've been able to take long walks daily, and while I've been working on the John Deere I find myself walking up and down the long, steep concrete driveway 4, or 5 times per day fetching additional tools, whilst getting additional exercise.  As I write I can see the sun edging ever upward over the hill to the east, and casting its warming rays across the grassy landscape....time to begin another day.

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Weather interruptus.....

 8:20 am - Wednesday - October 6th - Coupeville, WA - 50° F, 80% humidity, wind 11 mph out of the south by southeast.....sunny skies today with a forecast high of 57° F.  On this date in 2018 we arrived in Jersey City, NJ at Liberty Harbor RV Park just across the Hudson River from NYC, and in sight of the Statue of Liberty.......↴

The rain came down pretty much all night Monday, and into Tuesday morning before abating, but the damage was done.  It was too wet, and windy to work on the John Deere loader/backhoe.  Bob and I had big plans to move forward on getting the John Deere running again Tuesday, but the weather had other ideas.

Instead TLE and I drove into Oak Harbor to do a big shopping involving forays into both the local Walmart and Safeway stores to acquire all of the necessary foodstuffs TLE had on her extensive shopping list.  People are pretty much in full mask mode here on the north end of Whidbey Island, but no one is enforcing the rule.  We saw maybe 10 people in Walmart not wearing masks, but zero in Safeway.  

We were home by 1 pm at which time I spent some time in the trailer moving things around so I could set up my tool bag table (I hate having to bend over to find a tool....lol), and fold down the work bench table.  Around 3 pm TLE and I took a long walk out to the Harrington Lagoon point, and back.  In all Tuesday was a nice lazy day doing mostly nothing, and we both enjoyed it.  Hopefully Wednesday's weather will be more conducive to working on the John Deere.

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Oh Deere......

 8:03 am - Tuesday - October 5th - Coupeville, WA - 57° F, 83% humidity, wind 29 mph out of the southeast......overcast, drizzly today with a forecast high of 59° F.  On this date in 2017 TLE and I were boarding a flight out of Denver to SoCal for our son's (Tim) wedding to Laila....↴

When we were in Coupeville a little over a year ago Bob's John Deer loader/backhoe had developed a fuel deprivation issue right in the middle some work he was doing on his property.  He tried to fix it, but gave up.  I promised him when we returned that I would help him get it going again.  It's been sitting here for 18 months without moving......

.....when he left off trying to fix it he forgot to put the fuel cap back in place, so rain water got into the diesel tank, so there were two things we had to do before we could troubleshoot the fuel starvation issue.....drain the diesel tank of the contaminated fuel, and charge up the 6 volt batteries......

.....since there are no electrical outlets near the loader, and the two 6 volt batteries (hooked up in series to equal 12 volts) are quite large, and difficult to move I drove Karen's Infinity SUV down to the tractor, hooked up jumper cables to the batteries while I worked at draining the tank.

I had to remove the front steel plate to get at the underside of the diesel tank (eight 3/4" bolts affix it to the loader).....I had to use my breaker bar on 4 of them.....

....the petcock valve used to drain the tank is located under the tank, and just above the 300 lb. counter balance weight, and very difficult to reach.  I was able to open it up, but it wouldn't drain, so figuring it was clogged I proceeded to unscrew it from the fuel line.  Due to the cramped quarters it took me the better part of an hour to get it out, but get it out I did.  In all we drained 13 gallons of contaminated diesel of the tank.....

.....the petcock valve was attached to the right side of that brass 'T' in the picture below...the fuel line is attached to the left side of the 'T'.....

The petcock drain valve I removed

There should be a hole there to allow the fuel to drain out, but it appears the hole was brazed shut....why?

Here is what is should look like

.....after examining the petcock valve it became obvious that someone had closed the hole by brazing it.....why I have no idea.  At any rate we'll have to get a new one when we put things back together.

Once the fuel was drained from the diesel tank Bob and I decided the next step would be to remove all the fuel lines from the tank to the injector pump to be sure they are not clogged, or cracked, then reassemble everything.  We know the injector pump is good because it was rebuilt about 18 months ago, and was working when the fuel issue developed, plus the fuel pump is also new, and was working when the loader last ran.

By the time I hauled my tools back up to the trailer it was almost 4 pm.....wow....5 hours just flew by!

The sun is now setting at 6:41 pm, and rising at 7:15 am.....the temps here in Coupeville are running about 10° F cooler than in Seal Rock, and there can be no doubt that Fall has arrived.

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Easy as pie.....

 8:07 am - Monday - October 4th - Coupeville, WA - 49° F, 93% humidity, wind - CALM....partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 57° F.  On this date in 2018 we had just arrived at Bishop's Orchards in Guilford, Connecticut....Bishop's Orchards is a Harvest Hosts location where you stay for free one, or two nights......↴

Sunday was the last day of our 3 day journey to Coupeville, WA and as things would have it I was up early thinking about the .5 mile drive over to the Port Townsend/Coupeville Ferry terminal.  Over the course of 10 years we have traveled on ferries many times with the Newell and trailer, so its kind of old hat for us, but still my mind thinks about what can go wrong.  For instance, many times when the overnight low is below 50° F I need to use the block heater to warm up the coolant in the big Detroit Diesel sufficiently to get her to fire when I turn her over.  Since we were dry camping the only alternative was to fire up our Kohler generator to power the block heater, but as luck would have it generators are not allowed at any time at Point Hudson Marina & RV Park.  Obviously, if she didn't start I would have turned on the generator and risked a reprimand in order to get her started, but I didn't want it to come to that, so that was on my mind.  Another issue was that since we had parked Saturday afternoon one of the tenants in the full hookup sites in front of us had parked their pickup truck in such a way as to restrict the size of my egress point making it more difficult for us to exit without undo maneuvering, so that was on my mind.

To solve the first dilemma I determined to attempt to start the 6v92 around 7:45 am to see if it would start, and thereby negate my need for the generator.  If it didn't start, then I would turn on the generator so we could depart at the chosen time of 8:15 am for our short drive to the ferry terminal.  As it turned out the big Detroit Diesel fired right up without a hiccup, so one dilemma solved.  The second dilemma resolved itself shortly thereafter when the owner of the pickup came out of his RV to get something out his truck, so TLE walked over and explained our situation.  He immediately agreed to move his truck.....another problem solved, and we were able to depart right on time.

We arrived at the ferry terminal just before 8:30 am (one hour in advance), paid our $97 fare, and proceeded to the front of lane #1.......

.....more often than not we are the first one on the ferry, and the first one off due to our size, plus that gives us a front row seat to the water crossing......

....our Garmin Trucker thinks nothing of a water crossing....the ferry route is just another road....

....I was actually pretty sanguine about how well things had gone so far, so I'm not sure how TLE caught me with a frown upon my face.....lol......

....soon the disembodied voice of Miss Garmin was advising me to exit the ferry and turn to the right.....

....and we were on our way to cover the final 8 miles to Bob and Karen's home where we arrived just before 10:30 am without incident.  Moving our gear down to Bob's property is a multi stage event.  First we remove the Beetle from the trailer, then drop the trailer from the hitch, and drive the Newell down a short gravel road to the upper barn, which is where we park when we are here.  Then TLE drives the VW down and parks it out of the way.  Finally, using Bob's Ford Dually, we haul the trailer down to park it next to the barn, and this is what it looked like 90 minutes later.....

....the short gravel road we traveled down is just to the right in the picture above, and this is our view to the left in the picture below.....

....and this is the commercial pressure washer I will use to steam clean our radiator in a couple of days......

.....it's been just over a year since we were last here, but it seems like yesterday.  We spent the afternoon catching up, and talking about a couple of projects for which Bob needs my assistance.  Life is good.....

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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.

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Better than planned......

 7:40 am - Saturday - October 2nd, Longview, WA - Walmart Super Center - 42° F, 96% humidity, wind - CALM.....partly cloudy skies today with a forecast high of 66° F, but we will not bear witness to that high as we will be somewhere else this afternoon....Port Townsend, WA were the high will be just 59° F.  On this date in 2016 it was snowing at Tahoe Valley Campground......↴

There are plans, and then there are times when what happens is even better than the plan, and Friday was just such a day.  Our plan was to be on the road rolling our wheels north to Washington State between 11 am, and 12 pm.  Our original plans had us dropping the trailer on the hitch, dragging the artificial turf into the trailer, dumping our tanks, and disconnecting the water and sewer lines Thursday afternoon, but it rained all the day long changing the 'Plan'.

I was awake early Friday morning thinking about all of the deferred tasks awaiting my attention, and finally got up around 6:30 am to type my latest missive so I could begin my work.  It was still quite wet outside from the rain on Thursday, and I was not looking forward to walking around in the wet grass taking care of everything which must be done before we coasted down NW Cross street to US-101, so I didn't begin to do any of that until after 8:30 am. Delaying the inevitable did not help, as the grass was just as wet at 8:30 am as it was at 6:30 am, nevertheless, I forged ahead.

Amazingly, by 10 am we were ready to drop the trailer on the Newell receiver hitch, and within 30 minutes I was coasting down NW Cross Street with TLE trailing behind in the VW.  There is no room in site A-2 to  insert the VW into the trailer, and it is impossible for me to turn into SRRVC's entrance with my length going down NW Cross Street as the turn is too sharp going that direction.  Knowing this we planned to head north on US-101 to the Ona Beach parking lot which is usually not too full in the morning, and insert the VW there.

We arrived there within 10 minutes, and within another 10 minutes had the VW secured inside the trailer.  By 11 am we were leaving US-101 and merging onto US-20 to I-5.  It's been 6 months since we topped off our 60 gallon propane tank, and we had used less than 30 gallons as of Friday, but wanted top it off again as we begin our winter travels.  There is an ARCO fuel station right near the entrance to I-5 north, so we stopped there and took on 24 gallons at $1.99/gallon....that is the best price we have seen in years!  Normally you have to go inside the store and get someone to come out and pump the propane, but as our perfect day would have it he was already there....lol!

Traffic on I-5 northbound was heavy, but as we passed through Salem it began to lighten quite a bit.  Our next planned stop was the Travel Centers of America truck stop in Aurora, OR where we scored another great diesel price using our TSD card.  We took on 54 gallons of diesel at $2.92/gallon....not the best we have paid, but way below the current going rate of about $3.68/gallon in Oregon.  This is the best price we will see for a long time to come.

The traffic through Portland at 2 pm was the terrible 'stop and go' variety......

....but at last we saw the 'Oregon Thanks You' sign meaning the border crossing was just a short distance ahead.....

.....and then the sign in the middle of the bridge spanning the Columbia River welcoming us to Washington State for the first time in a year....

....our destination for the day was the Walmart Supercenter in Longview, WA (a 190 mile driving day for us), and we arrived there without incident at 3:40 pm.  After leveling the coach, and then relaxing for a while I took a quick shower, and then we walked into Walmart to buy a 'footlong' All American Club  sandwich from Subway for dinner.....

....and so came to a close the perfect, uneventful travel day.  Everything went better than we planned, and what a quiet Walmart parking lot we found.....so, so quiet!  In a couple of hours we'll continue our trek northward to Port Townsend, WA where we will spend the night before driving onto the Port Townsend/Coupeville Ferry on Sunday for the last leg of our drive to our friend's home near Coupeville.

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Yes it was.....

 6:50 am - Friday - October 1st - Seal Rock, OR - 45° F, 100% humidity, wind 7 mph out of the east by northeast....clear today with a forecast high of 61° F, but we will not bear witness to that high as we will be somewhere near Vancouver, WA by that time.  Today is liftoff....our view will change without going through escrow, and just around the corner new adventures await.

On this date in 2017 we worked our last shift at the General Store in Mammoth Hot Springs, WY (Yellowstone NP), and celebrated with good friends at the Rusty Nail in Gardner, MT......↴

.....met these folks in mid June, and became fast friends within weeks.  They will forever have a piece of my heart!

The title for my post yesterday asked if Wednesday was my last work day, and the answer is 'YES!'......we awoke to drizzle Thursday morning, and it continued on and off for the rest of the day.  By 9 am I had a text from Terry that there would be no working that day.  In spite of the drizzle, there were a few periods during the day when it stopped and I made the most of the time by removing all the tire covers from the Newell and trailer, and the jack stands under the trailer.  I also moved everything from the rear of the trailer to the front, then moved the suitcases and beach chairs to the hatch of the VW, and removed the mirror and windshield wiper covers.  Last, but not least, I rolled up the last three strands of rope lights, and thus the 'lido deck' just became a gravel patio someone else will enjoy in the future.  On the other hand, TLE did work her 3 hour morning shift, but was excused from the afternoon shift by Michele so she (TLE) could finish putting things away in the Newell.  To avoid any surprises with our turn signals, and brake lights I plugged the trailer into the Newell for the first time in 54 weeks, and sent TLE outside to make sure both turn signals worked on the Newell, and the trailer.....yes they do....CHECK!! Do the brake lights work on the Newell and trailer?? CHECK!!  When we left Ramona Oaks after 9 months we didn't check them until we were ready to exit the park, and found that the brake lights were not working, but the turn signals, and flashers were.  By the time we reached our destination for the day the brake lights began to work once again.  At least this time we know they are working ahead of time.....lol.

As I write this current installment my mind is a blur of memories and emotions as we prepare to roll our wheels in just a few hours from now. When you reside in one place for a year you cannot help but become attached to many things......the view, the people, the weather, the restaurants (I will miss the Camarones Monterey at Fresh Mexican.....OMG!).  While we are both excited to be moving once again, when you sit in one place for a year you become settled, and comfortable.  Today we exchange comfortable for uncertainty, and anticipation.  Will the Newell perform with no issues?  Will our travels today be uneventful, or will Mr. Jello wink at us?

As always on departure days I was awake before the dawn thinking about what needs to be done this morning before we roll down NW Cross Street and turn north on US-101 for the last time this year.  I was going to dump our tanks, and disconnect the water and sewer Thursday afternoon, but it was drizzling, so I will take care of that this morning.  Other than that everything else has been done except inserting the Beetle into the trailer for the first time in 54 weeks.

Thanks to all those who continued to follow our daily lives this past year even though they did become a little too routine and predictable.  Now that we are free to roam once again we hope you will continue to follow along.

Thanks for stopping by!

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