Today we did the laundry right here in the Lighthouse RV Park’s great facility. They have high-efficiency modern washers that sound like a turbocharger winding up when they do the spin cycle. The room was air-conditioned and they have a 55 inch UHDTV in there along with cable offering 175 channels. There are recliners to make your TV watching experience wonderful. I might spend the whole stay hanging out in the facility laundromat.

About the only other thing we did was to make a short foray to a local guy who sold us some rhubarb. We have bought from him before and he/she looked pretty old then. He looks extremely frail now, taking steps that are only about 7” long but the rhubarb looks good.

Today our task was to pick up some metal plates to cover a repair we are going to make to our trailer. It seems there was a sneaky leak up near the roof/front cap joint that was allowing rainfall drainage to take a shortcut through a crawlspace. It found its way to the plastic cap around the kingpin assembly and eventually formed a white hematoma about the size of a racketball which finally cracked and put out some former particleboard remains. We think we fixed the roof leak a couple weeks ago in La Conner but soon I must excise the popped zit in the plastic cap. The cap plastic itself cannot be patched with similar plastic so today I picked up some shiny aluminum diamond plate to scab over the zit hole.

I called a place called Carlson Steel in Bellingham and the voice at the other end said they probably didn’t have what I wanted (two 6.5” square plates) but they did have a huge remnant selection and they would be happy to make some $15 cuts for me if I selected the material. Peg and I hopped in the truck and headed down I-5 into town. There was a girl behind the counter that looked like she may have been an ironworker or jail matron who directed me into the shop to speak with the foreman. Soon I was rummaging through a great selection of various types of sheet metal. A relatively new employee took my selection, set his really nice shear and chopped out my stock to the dimensions desired. I took my two plates to the shop foreman, while he was standing under a sign indicating cuts cost $10 a pass. I expected to pay for two cuts and the cost of the metal itself but he asked if $10 for everything sounded fair. I immediately coughed up the cash and left thanking them liberally as I backed out the door. Our chore agenda for the day was complete at that time, so we made a short stop at the Bellingham Trader Joe’s and cruised through some neighborhoods with gorgeous houses before heading over to the coast to eat the lunch Peg had bought.

We ate the salads overlooking the sea, then turned north and west to follow the coastline through the lush Lummi Reservation. The Lummi are apparently doing well because they have nice modern-looking buildings and full service facilities for tribe members, including a college. I think they must have a casino. Their land encompasses some hilly terrain with conifer forests mixed in with ample bottom land bordering the Nooksack River. Everything was quite green except the river.

We then wandered into the dinky seaside town of Birch Bay which I read in the local paper had as many as 8000 residents although it doesn’t look like most of them live in town. They must be talking about the zip code. We left Birch Bay and I was surprised that I had closed today’s driving loop about a half mile after leaving the coast when we turned back into the Lighthouse RV Park. The weather here and the scenery in this part of WA is terrific. Looming just east of us is Mount Baker and its glacier-covered cone. I’m glad it isn’t erupting because we would be screwed with the ocean as our only retreat.

We got a few great wood house pictures you can see if you click the link. https://photos.app.goo.gl/S4u2RTdbF57vKVUq5

Today we reluctantly departed from the La Conner Marina RV Park and headed out on our last northerly segment of travel. We initially took WA-20 to I-5 North. For about 35 miles we passed over small forested ridges and through pastures between them, passing right through the local big town of Bellingham. Very close to the Canadian border, we pulled off at the town of Blaine and wandered around until we found the Lighthouse RV Park.

It’s a pretty nice park. They have adequately-sized spaces, full hookups, cable TV, WiFi and the usual campground amenities like a laundry and a rec room. If we could get clear of the trees, we would be able to look across Semiahmoo (no kidding! – I checked the spelling) Bay into White Rock which is in British Columbia. Peggy has issued a fatwa indicating I’ll soon be accompanying her into B.C. to see the city of Vancouver, the location of her mom’s childhood home and to hear the folks say “aboot” when they mean about.

Today was our last full day in La Conner. Peggy strolled over to the La Conner Quilt Museum while I did the dishes and fiddled around. La Conner is such a tiny town that Peggy legged it to the museum in about 15 minutes. While she was out wandering, I toughed it out in the shade with my Kindle.

Mark and his family, our former neighbors, moved out today. He was a great guy to talk with and I’ll really miss his supply of Whiskey Cream.

Today was a day of leisure. I’m getting quite accustomed to lingering around our wheeled house while reading, jawing with passing folks and sitting in the shade and enjoying the gorgeous weather we have been having.

We met some nice folks from the trailer in space 10 (we are camped in 11). Mark, the neighbor, and his family are from British Columbia and he introduced me to something called Whiskey Cream. It seems pretty close to Irish Cream, which I used every morning to augment my coffee, and is available in Canada. We may have to head into B.C. to investigate this stuff. In exchange for his tasty glass of booze I poured him a couple small glasses of Herradura Blanco tequila which is unavailable to him at home.

Strangely, I ended up taking an early evening nap after the booze sampling.

Whidbey Island is not far from our RV park in La Conner and we took a spin over there today. Peggy’s sister, Tonie, and her husband, George, live on Whidbey and they graciously agreed to meet us in the neutral corner of Coupeville. They may have wanted to meet us halfway because they have been inundated with relatives for the recent past. Tonie and George are a bit older than us but they look a lot younger – the rats. From my view they also seem somewhat sharper, which is disconcerting.They have just finished a trip to Norway, Scotland and the Orkney Islands but show no signs of exhaustion.

We wandered down WA-20, crossing Fidalgo Island. We exited Fidalgo over the very high bridges at Deception Pass which is not a “pass” in the usual sense. Deception Pass is a turbulent waterway with a big rock at the center located in a steep ravine which allows boats to get from Possession Sound, Port Susan and Skagit Bay into the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean without having to make a 100 mile cruise to the south end of Whidbey Island. The Pass has a considerable amount of water zinging through it every time the tide changes. One would be wise to avoid falling in the water anywhere near the Pass.

About 25 miles after crossing the bridges cruising through the city of Oak Harbor and across verdant farmland, we pulled off WA-20 and turned into the tiny town of Coupeville. Most of the metropolitan area of Coupeville is three very busy blocks of tiny businesses nestled right up to Skagit Bay. We met the relatives in a joint called Knead and Feed which is a bakery upstairs. Down the outdoors stairs is a tiny restaurant that, fortunately, has a fair selection of beer although the food was only nominal. Several beers and much hobnobbing later we finally relinquished our seats at a table that offered a fabulous view of the water but scant cushioning. Half of my butt went to sleep for a bit. I think Peg’s relatives thought I was trying out for a circus contortionist spot because I was obliged to rely on only one cheek.

On our way back from Coupeville we took skinny back roads that allowed us to skirt the east coast of Whidbey Island almost all the way from Coupeville to Deception Pass. We made a short visit to Deception Pass State Park at the south end of the bridges. There is a magnificent stand of old-growth timber here. There were Douglas Fir trees here of a magnitude unseen by me since I quit working for Weyerhaeuser 35 years ago. There are also plenty of massive Spruce and Cedar trees that make up a canopy keeping the park’s roads is deep shade around the clock.

There’s a few pix. Click the link. https://photos.app.goo.gl/YGpRDhLRDYBzXLWg7

We took it easy today. Very little got done other than us heading into La Conner to visit Tillinghast Postal which, despite the name is not a post office. It is nearly a post office, though; UPS, the U.S. Post Office and Fed Ex all make visits there to pick up all the stuff the nice ladies inside have collected during the day.

We sent packages home and to relatives. Anything to reduce the weight of our trailer is always welcome from a towing point of view.

Shopping has always been an activity that I truly loathe but traveling without eating is a bummer so we went over to Burlington today. We both went into Costco but quickly split up. Peggy went to fill her voluminous shopping list and I headed to the pharmacy to purchase my geezer meds. Peg is such an efficient shopper that by the time I had lurked around the pick up window, paid for my stuff and had the obligatory chat with the pharmacist, she was right behind me on the way out.

Contrary to my fantasies, we then went to a Fred Meyer store where Peggy went in and acquired another few cubic yards of groceries. The collective loot filled the truck’s back seat on the way home. We should be okee-dokee for food for a while. As a matter of fact, finding anything in the fridge is difficult because it is stuffed as are the food pantries. I’ll be happy if we can still pull the trailer with a mere 325 horsepower.

Today was another day of leisure. Peggy walked into La Conner to check out all the touristy shops and antique stores. I dumped the waste tanks.

We both tried to make my ancient Kindle share books with Peggy’s but found ourselves lacking because we were completely unsuccessful. We need some third graders to get this stuff squared away for us.

Today we were slugs. We did almost no productive labor.

We did hobnob with the folks set up in the space next to us here at La Conner Marina. They have two Saluki dogs. The dogs (not the people) are high-speed runners and look the part. They make greyhounds look tubby. They were also very nice and seemed delighted to let us scratch their backs.

After this strenuous activity, we had some drinks. This retirement can be rugged.