It has been eight long months since we left Big Blue behind to start our 2019 sailing season. Eight months is a long time to be out of the van. At least I was so distracted with having a great time on the boat that I didn’t realize how much I missed the van until the final couple weeks. It sure is nice to see the old guy again, though he is begging for some schedule maintenance jobs to be done after such a long sit.
After five days of winterizing the boat and moving into the van, we finally turned the key and hit the interstate to start our 2020 southward trek. We made it only three hours down the road, not far out of Tacoma, where my family (Mother, Sister and Bro-in-law) were waiting for us with a home cooked meal to send us off. A night moochdocking in the driveway with our electric heater keeping us warm ensued. I know… using electricity already? Hey, it is our first night back in the van so cut us some slack man.
It took until afternoon the following day for us to finally get out of Washington state. Instead of traveling the most boring route in the world (I-5) we chose to take Highway 101 all the way down the coast into California. Even though we have been on the sail boat most of the year, we actually hadn’t seen the ocean and Kerri needed her ocean fix. We drove all day to get to Fort Stevens State Park outside of Astoria where we arrived in the dark, found a site, paid up, and backed into our overnight spot. Only after we were in bed and under the blankets did we hear a rap on the door. It was an upset woman holding a green ticket in hand and explaining that this site was theirs. I didn’t even question it. I just apologized and let her know we would move as quickly as possible, which we did – within two minutes Big Blue had been moved to the next site over. When I walked over to explain that we did not see the table cloth they left behind to mark the site as occupied (it was damn-dark, and I did back into the spot) and even apologize again, she just could not be calmed. Upset she was, and nothing was going to bring her down off that high. Her husband was much more understanding and at least he and I parted ways with “have a good night”. After a bit of a chuckle about the whole situation with Kerri, I went back to bed where we heard the sound of slamming car doors from our now-neighbors for the next few hours. There was no calming that one at all. Wow.
