Peggy and I got up before 8:00 this morning which is pretty early for us retirees. We were taking showers, watching the news and Olympics and rustling up a breakfast when we got an incoming phone call from a number we could not identify. With a bit of apprehension, Peggy answered the call and found it was from National General Insurance Company, the carrier for the Good Sam Club’s RV insurance. She listened for a bit before handing the phone over to me.
Back in early June, 2016, we were visiting Monument Valley. It was over 100 degrees outside during the daylight hours and did not cool down very much at night. The second day we were there, the converter, which runs all things electric in our fifth wheel, sort of blew up. There was much smoke and apprehension but no fire. The failure of the converter eliminated the use of all the 110 volt stuff in our trailer like the microwave, fans, the TV and DVD player, all lighting except the on-board 12 volt lamps and, most importantly, the air conditioning.
I called and filed a claim with our insurance the night it occurred. Not a peep has been heard from the insurance company since that evening. This morning, an agent with a name like Gner or Kzap called us back and that is when Peggy handed the phone to me. I was not really prepared to be nice so when the agent started talking, I interrupted and asked if it was normal policy for National General to wait 10 weeks before responding to insureds’ claims. Gner/Kzap indicated that the claim had been lost in someone’s in box which was a poor selection of possible answers I was prepared to hear at the time. Stupidly, I then informed Gner/Kzap that National General’s treatment of policyholder claims is quite substandard and I was surprised they were still in business. I suggested their service was terrible, their adjusters were possibly mentally retarded, their recent ancestors may have been troglodytes and even relatively low premiums could not justify their miserable and rotten service. My language during these pithy descriptions of the company and its service was a bit more blunt than written here. I promptly hung up after regaling Gner/Kzap with all my observations without giving he/she/it a chance to get a word in edgewise.
Soon thereafter, Peggy brought up the fact that I should have allowed Gner/Kzap to at least tell me whether the bandit insurance company was going to cover my loss before rudely terminating the call. We called the company back and, after only about 15 minutes of waiting and entering numbers signifying what language I spoke and what department I wanted, I was connected to an actual human who told me that the company would not cover our claim so I did not feel so bad about giving Gner/Kzap both barrels during our short conversation. I do not regret even a bit of it although I wish I had been given more time to formulate an even more creative and harsh statement.
I’m not usually in the insurance company rating business but, if I were, I would give National General a grade of D minus for their service. This is the second time we have had to deal with their claims department and both times it took two months or more for them to respond. I am glad I did not need emergency road service since the same carrier also covers that aspect of our risk while travelling. We would still be broiling on the Arizona / Colorado border awaiting their tow truck.
Other than the phone fun this morning, we did the laundry. Peggy takes the lead on this task primarily because I am a pitiful clothes folder but I am good at packing the voluminous gobs of laundry into and out of the laundromat.
We had a bit of time left after our laundry fun so we took another trip around the peninsula in the Strait of Georgia where we are currently camped. We started with the same trip route we took a couple days ago. We went again to Semiahmoo Spit which divides the Strait from Drayton Harbor. The spit was bordered by wide expanses of bay bottom today because the tide was out a long way. We noted that there are no boats moored in most of Drayton Harbor because the bottom is lined with big, hull-ripping boulders that project up from the sandy bottom.
We then took another spin to Birch Bay where we cruised a few days ago. Peggy had me pull over in town for a reward which, in this case, was ice cream and a sizable chocolate and peanut butter cup that were very tasty. There are many distinctive and pretty beachfront homes there and most of them are pretty small although there are also some big McMansions above Birch Bay State Park. A quick internet search indicated that the tiny houses go for about $300,000 and up which would give them a per foot cost of about $750. We won’t be buying here although it would be nice because this part of the world is very pretty. The adjacent state park has a shady, serene campground in the cedar forest just above the beach. There are maybe 120 campsites here and some are big enough to take a fifth wheel trailer the size of ours although there are no hookups of any sort. Water is available in the campground but you will need some kind of container to take it back to your campsite. No electrical or sewer was spotted.
We ended up our day by returning to our trailer at Birch Bay TT and had a rough afternoon reading and sipping craft beer in our chaise lounges in the shade. It was brutal.
We shot a few pix along the way and you can see them if you click here

There is very little to report today. One of the issues encountered while traveling full-time in an RV is restocking the food and liquor cabinets and today was the day for us to address this onerous task.
Fortunately for us, there is both a Costco and a Trader Joe’s in Bellingham which is about 25 miles from our RV park. We got away for less than $400 today which was great. Maybe the food stocks will last for a while but I have little hope that the liquor will have the same fate.
We have a book of Washington maps called a DeLorme Gazetteer which allowed us to travel on skinny back roads all the way to and from Bellingham so the drive was quite pleasant. I can tell you for a fact that there are a couple refineries, a power plant and the Lummi Nation reservation on these back roads. The Lummi Nation also has cheap diesel so we filled up on the way through for about fifty cents less per gallon than you would pay off the rez.

Washington’s Cascade Range of mountains is sprinkled with volcanoes and Mount Baker, a snow-covered 10,781 foot tall cone stands off on our eastern horizon. We chose to go for a spin to this mountain today and, on the map, it looked like it was close to where we have parked ourselves for the next few days.
A few blocks south of our park we turned east on the Birch Bay – Lynden Road and passed over I-5 into the town of Lynden about 10 miles from the freeway. From Lynden we followed a series of Washington roads through Sumas about a half mile from Canada where we turned east again and passed through tiny towns called Kendall, Maple Falls and Glacier. This road skirts the Nooksack River and starts climbing steeply toward Mount Baker above Glacier. We have no idea what a “Nooksack” might be but it sort of sounds like a purse carried by a pimp although it could also be an Indian word for something. The river is gorgeous as it squiggles around through the mountains. The state highway guys were out oiling some of the roads and that led to some delays and black wheel wells but we persevered.
The portion of the road above Glacier is bordered by fantastic stands of old growth cedar, fir and hemlock trees with regular peeks of the river through the wooden columns. About a half hour above Glacier, we pulled over at Nooksack Falls. There are multiple waterfalls here cascading from both the river and some intersecting streams that have slashed through the fascinating andesite formations that fill this area. The rocks here look like big stockpiles of pentagonal and hexagonal columns stored in contact and on end.
We finally climbed through the treeline where we pulled out at a visitor center building built back in the day by the Civilian Conservation Corps and they did a fabulous job. The little building looks on the outside like it should be located in the gorgeous rocky spot it is because it just fits. The interior is all pine siding and framing and it is very attractive, too. They sell books, trinkets and postcards here and that is a bit problematic because they have no electrical power so they use a battery-powered cash register that makes tortured, pitiful sounds when they try to ring up your purchase.
From the parking lot the views are spectacular of the surrounding glacially-formed landscape and the glaciers on the side of enormous Mount Shuksan to the east. However, Mount Baker lies behind some ridges to the west of the parking lot so it is not visible. From the visitor center, another section of road goes up another 1,000 feet to a place called Artist’s Point and, Alakazam and Zowie! there is the giant active volcano. Mount Baker sticks up 5,700 feet above Artist’s Point and the eastern flank is completely buried by glaciers. It is awe-inspiring. To the south we could see Baker Lake down a long valley. Baker Lake’s other end is down by Concrete, a four or more hour drive from here.
We ate a late picnic lunch at the top of the hill before taking a short stroll around the area and then descending back the way we came. The scenery was just as gorgeous going back down. The lack of construction progress road crew was just about done with doing whatever they could do while invisible so we only ran into one short delay. We weren’t going very fast today and you can tell because the round trip took around eight hours despite what our map shows. We enjoyed every minute of it.
We got some pictures as we passed through this spectacular part of the world and you can see some of them if you click here

Today was a travel day. We disconnected all the utilities and hooked up the trailer for the short drive to the dump station at the La Conner Preserve exit. This campground does not have more than a few full hookups so almost everyone ends up making a stop at this facility before departure. We then turned onto Snee Oosh Road, east on WA-20 and north on I-5 headed for a Thousand Trails campground called Birch Bay.
Almost to the Canadian border, we turned west to the campground which is across a beautiful bay from the town of Blaine, WA. The campground has full hookups, satellite TV reception but only a wi-fi hotspot nowhere near where we pulled in to set up our beloved Barbarian Invader fifth wheel trailer. The drive to our new location only took a bit over an hour so we were all set up with little to do by 1:00 PM.
We had lunch, set up the satellite antenna, programmed the switch and were soon watching TV. We watched a bit of the Olympics and checked out the stories about Donald Trump’s political Tourette’s before deciding we really did not want to watch commercials on the tube.
We hopped back into the truck, this time with Peggy driving, and took a spin around the perimeter of the little peninsula where our RV park is lpocated. The peninsula sticks out into the Strait of Georgia. Views to the north are of of water with the Canadian city of White Rock across the water. To the west is Vancouver Island in B.C. and Birch Bay lies to the south. We started out going north to a strand of sand with a golf resort at the end called Semiahmoo Spit. I’m not sure I would want to live anywhere with the word “spit” in its name but this prong sticking out to divide Drayton Harbor from Semiahmoo Bay is just bristling with gorgeous scenery. The waters of the ocean here are beautiful and, surprisingly, quite tranquil.
We continued our counterclockwise circuit of the peninsula, passing by very nice, upscale homes, gated communities for the paranoid, pretty stands of timber and some flat agricultural land. At a tiny town (actually just an intersection with a water slide park) called Cottonwood Beach, we turned south along the coast, passing through the town of Birch Bay on our way to Birch Bay State Park. The park is a nice spot and many Washingtonians were taking advantage of the fabulous weather along the beach. Many dogs were spotted and they were very happy playing in the water. Other than boaters, not too many folks were in the water because it is freezing.
We turned around at the state park and headed back to our RV spot. We have never been to this part of the US but were suitably impressed with this impressive scenery here. The roads are adequate, the views are spectacular, the traffic is very light and the circuit today was great.

More exploring was on the schedule for today. This time, we decided to take a stab at the country south of La Conner. We drove from our campground on Snee Oosh Road into La Conner so Peggy could go to the Quilt & Textile Museum in town before we embarked on any distance driving. I’m almost completely unawares and uninterested in such things so I let her go in alone.
Peggy was out again in a remarkably short amount of time, particularly since all things cloth interest her and the museum is full of them. She returned to the truck with only a very small amount of cloth thingies she uses for something. I was very proud of her.
We then fired up the truck and crept around a few La Conner hillside streets admiring the residential architecture. There are an abundance of gorgeous little houses above the commercial part of town and many of them have a great view of this little seaport. Across a short expanse of water, we could hear the Indians on the rez on the other side that were pounding away on some big drums while having some sort of get together. It looked like everyone there was having a good time. On the La Conner side it was pretty quiet except for tourist noises.
We finally got on the road, heading south about 30 miles to the town of Stanwood. There we turned west on WA-532 for a loop drive of Camano Island, sandwiched between the Washington mainland and Whidbey Island. We were able to find our way around the north half of this beautiful island that has some farmland, great views of the Sound to both the east and the west, large sections of timber and stunning flowers everywhere.
At the south end of our loop, we took a short spin into two separate sections of Camano Island State Park which were very nice with some stands of old growth forest. As you drive the park’s steep and winding roads, you can look through the magnificent stands of trees and out over the blue waters of the Sound.
We then turned up the west coast of Camano Island, passing through not less than 6 places ending in “Beach”: Cama, Indian, Woodland, Rockaway, Sunset and Madrona before turning east across the top of the island and back to WA-532 and the road north toward home.
Peggy had a sudden fit of memory, remembering that our return route took us near a fruit and vegetable stand we had visited two years ago on our first trip to the Pacific Northwest. Amazingly, she was able to find the stand again despite it being on the far side of I-5. She has an uncanny knack for finding her way to such businesses and today was no exception. She supplemented our enormous horde at home such that we will probably have to go vegan to consume the fruits and veggies before they sprout hair.
Just when I thought we were done with today’s excursion, we remembered there was also a really good seafood market near La Conner TT Preserve named Black Rock Seafood we tried two years ago and Peggy hopped on the throttle to get us there before they closed at 6:00 PM. We got in under the wire and it only cost $70 for us to walk away with some sea bass, salmon, clam strips and mussels. Along with some very sweet corn from the veggie stand yesterday, half the clam strips and a pound of mussels were devoured at dinner tonight and they were superb. Black Rock is a place all seafood lovers should visit when passing through this part of the world. It is very close to WA-20 a few miles east of Anacortes.
There are some pix you can see from today’s explorations by clicking here

Exploration by car was the task for today and we started out by driving into the part of the La Conner area called the Indian Reservation. It borders the Sound around the bay from the upscale tourist hell of La Conner. While the houses on the rez are spartan an unremarkable, the houses in La Conner proper are beautiful old Victorian and Craftsman classics located on the steep hills above the commercial district. Many of them have great views but the diesel is much cheaper on the rez so we filled up there. We could see some of the gorgeous houses from the filling station.
Peggy then drove us to a fruit and vegetable stand a few miles west of La Conner where we stocked up on corn, apples, zucchini, tomatoes and, for some reason, beets. There was no attendant at the veggie stand but there was a closed room with a loud TV inside and a box outside indicating that customers are on the honor system and should cram the appropriate amount of money to cover their purchase into a slot in a metal box that appeared to have come from a dismembered grocery store kiddie ride.
Groceries on board, we then drove north a few miles to WA-20. We turned west for a couple miles until we exited the highway for a frontage road running along the shore of Padilla Bay and around the north edge of Anacortes. Anacortes has a pretty substantial waterside industry and also a gorgeous downtown main street. The residences near town are quite attractive and views of the Sound from almost everywhere in town are stunning. Looking east in today’s beautiful weather, we could see an enormous volcano nestled in with many lower but no less attractive mountains across the water.
Anacortes occupies the north part of Fidalgo Island and we took a long leisurely counterclockwise drive around the whole island. There is a nice city park on the west side of town offering great views of the Sound and international shipping plying the waterways. After finishing our circuit of Fidalgo Island, we got back on WA-20 for the short drive to the two gorgeous bridges crossing Deception Pass, the quick way to the Sound from the boatyards and marinas on the east side of Fidalgo and Whidbey Islands.
Once over the two bridges, we were on Whidbey Island which runs almost all the way down the Sound to the Seattle area. You can access Whidbey by the route we took or by ferry. There are ferries to Seattle, Mukilteo and Port Townsend over on the Olympic Peninsula. I suppose you may be able to fly in as well but I’m not sure. I know the Navy guys fly in because there is a naval air station on the Island. We turned east off 20 onto Truxell Road which was a loop giving us great views of the Sound with the Cascades as the backdrop.
We finally turned around and headed back toward La Conner but took a detour around a bunch of refineries and a deep water oil port on the east side of Anacortes. There is no leaving the road but the views along this road are tip-top. We were bad and went to the local casino operated by the Swinomish and had dinner in their restaurant. I also almost instantaneously lost $5 in a slot machine that I had no idea how to operate. The money was gone faster than I could have burned it. The machine is faster than the eye.
We took some photos along the way and you can see them if you click here

Today was a travel day. We have been at Leavenworth Thousand Trails Preserve for nine days, an unusually long stay anywhere for us. We like to move around. I had already taken care of the water and sewer hookups yesterday so we merely had to do some cleanup, retract the slideouts, disconnect power, attach Charlotte to the Barbarian Invader and drive away. We were out of the space about 25 minutes after we went to work.
We turned out of the park onto Chumstick Loop, then WA-207 until we again got onto US-2 westbound over Stevens Pass. A couple thousand feet of climbing and we were over the pass for the 4000 foot descent onto the coastal plain. We went east over this pass back in April and there was lots of snow near the summit. There is no snow there now but the forests alongside the road look very happy and the drive through the pass is astounding. The terrain is extremely rugged.
We bottomed out near Puget Sound where we turned north on I-5. We sort of regret leaving US-2. We have followed it here from Glacier National Park in Montana. Sadly, US-2 just sort of craps out at I-5 near Everett. It has been an amazing road all the way from the Rockies to the west side of the Cascades.
An hour north on I-5 and we turned off at Mount Vernon onto the section of WA-20 which runs west to Anacortes and La Conner. Near La Conner, we turned south onto a back road called Snee Oosh Road and soon arrived at the La Conner Preserve, another Thousand Trails campground where we do not have to pay for camping, other than a $600 yearly fee. I think we have stayed in a Thousand Trails facility more than 500 nights during the last 26 months. Total TT yearly fee outlay has been about $1200 and, assuming a $30 minimum charge in any campground, we have not had to pay $15,000 for the nights we spent at Thousand Trails. It has been a good deal for us west coast full timers. We also belong to Passport America ($44/year) and RPI ($135/year) which also give us substantial camping discounts. We rarely pay full price.

Peggy and I have been married for 37 years today, a astounding testament to her tenacity. If I had been married to me, I would have told myself to go jump in the lake a long time ago.
We weren’t going to do anything productive on our anniversary so we decided to do some exploring by vehicle. We started by driving a bit west on Chumstick Loop until we got to a road that was clearly shown on our Gazetteer as being paved and allegedly circling the north shore of Fish Lake. Initially, the road was paved but soon deteriorated into a single-lane dust and gravel track. Some 5 miles down the bumpy and noisy section, we encountered a sturdy Forest Service gate that sent us back over the same miserable road we had just driven. We were starting to think there may not be any way out of the valley where we were camped except WA-207 which we have already seen.
Foiled in our first foray into the unknown, we then went west a bit further on Chumstick Loop until we got to WA-207. We have seen the part of 207 that runs between this intersection and US-2 so we turned north and started a big counterclockwise circle around Lake Wenatchee. The scenery along this road consists of massive rock outcroppings and mountains, lake and river overlooks along with some sections of old-growth forest right off the edge of the highway. Once past the lake, the road continues alongside the Little Wenatchee River and starts climbing into the Cascades. It is pretty spiffy scenery.
After about 20 miles, we turned around and headed back toward the Chumstick/WA-207 intersection but were waylaid by driving down a skinny local road running alongside the nice houses bordering the lake. Some of the places can hardly be referred to as the “cabin at the lake” because they have layouts of about 4000 square feet and closely resemble wood castles. Their views of the lake and surrounding mountains are spectacular.
We were running out of roads to be flummoxed on and we were saved by a timely call from our daughter, Dana. We were still interested in driving and we felt we needed to be rewarded with dinner out on our anniversary so we agreed to meet her in Wenatchee for dinner at Stone Gastro Pub.
Their porter is okay. The fries that come with their fish and chips were enjoyed by all because there was an ample supply to share. Unfortunately, their fish had a coating that stuck to the paper tray liner and kind of fell apart when irritated in the slightest with a fork. Peggy had the mussels and indicated they were just okay. Dana had a pasta dish but did not voice an opinion. Lightweight dinner and porter here for 3 was $80 with tip. I give them a C on my completely arbitrary scale of restaurant food.
After dinner we drove back to Leavenworth TT, stopping for fuel on the way home. Arriving at the trailer while it was still light, I tackled the waste tank dumping and utility disconnection for the trailer since we will be buggering off from here tomorrow.
We shot a few pictures along the way which you can see if you click here

Today our plan was to go exploring on local highways. We have found in the past that just picking a direction and going that way often results in views of great scenery and architecture along rarely used routes. Today we decided to attempt to go east from our camping spot at Leavenworth Thousand Trails.
We have a DeLorme Gazetteer, a map of Washington that allegedly accurately shows all the roads, parks, boat ramps, campgrounds and other good stuff. We noted that the first road available to us was about 15 miles south down the Chumstick Highway (no kidding) so we set off towards our day of back-country exploration. According to our map, we could take FR 7801 east all the way to the Columbia River which is maybe 30 from the Chumstick. The map also indicated the road was paved. The map was wrong. About five miles up FR 7801, which the locals have mysteriously marked Mary’s Mountain Road, the paving abruptly stops and the dirt began. We returned to the Chumstick, went south a few miles and turned east on Eagle Creek Road which on the map was shown as not being paved. It was paved, at least for the first 5.5 miles. Again, we were turned around and returned to the Chumstick.
Dana, our daughter, then called us and let us know that she was going to be in Cashmere around 3:00 PM and, since we were not having a lot of success going east, we agreed to meet her at a restaurant called Azul Agave. The food was pretty good although I would not order the tortilla soup again. They do make a good mango margarita and their tomatillo sauce is great.
After dining, we resumed our exploration and Dana went home to nap a bit before she had to be back to Badger Mountain Brewery to augment the staff on their extremely busy trivia night. We crossed the Wenatchee River at Cashmere and attempted to take a road that was depicted as paved on our map up Nahahum Canyon and on into the town of Peshastin. Five miles in we encountered the now all too familiar gravel and dirt and once again we turned around and retraced our steps.
The valleys and canyons we drove up today were bordered by beautiful scenery but, since our Gazetteer lies, we got to see ’em all twice.
We took a few pix you can see if you click here

Our daughter, Dana, contacted us this morning and informed us she would be driving through Leavenworth so we hastily arranged to meet her for breakfast at a place called Wild Huckleberries. Peggy and I loaded ourselves into Charlotte and took the gorgeous drive down WA-207 and left on US-2 through Tumwater Canyon and into Leavenworth.
Wild Huckleberries was my choice for breakfast based on my perusal of the internet regarding good chicken fried steak available locally. We all know that everything one reads on the internet is true.
Strangely, it seems the internet may have some defective information about this place. It is located at the edge of a golf course and the view from the table was terrific until some of the golfers came wandering up the fairway swatting awkwardly at their balls which would go off in unintended directions. Much cheating was observed. Some folks would merely get their ball in the proximity of the little hole before picking it up and skulking away. Several individuals were spotted that were crashing around in the brush way off the fairway in vain attempts to find their errant shots.
The dress code appears to be less stringent here because some folks were not wearing the stupid puffy pants and horrible hats usually found in these venues. After watching several groups of golfers swinging their bats and clobbering their balls, the food arrived. My breakfast had the special, manhole-cover sized pancakes, a small chunk of chicken fried steak, hash browns and eggs. The eggs and hash browns were good but the chicken fried steak was only nominal and the enormous pancakes were created in such a way that they absolutely will not absorb any syrup. If you want syrup with your giant pancakes here, drink it directly from the pitcher. My advice is that Wild Huckleberries ain’t great and it ain’t cheap. Dining for 2 was about $40 because Dana and Peggy split a plate.
We finished up at the restaurant. Peggy and Dana then wanted to go clothes shopping, something yours truly refuses to take part in. The girls quickly formulated a plan which was to take me to the Badger Mountain Brewery in Wenatchee and leave me in the care of the brew master who was busy cleaning and sterilizing his fermenter. I tried not to bother the poor guy and was careful to stay out of his way but he was still very nice, giving me a couple beers for QC purposes. The beer was very tasty.
After a couple hours, Dana and Peggy returned and we walked from the brewery to the taproom, a distance of about 150 feet. I ordered a round of porter to keep me from dying of thirst and it was also very good. It was then that Dana took us to her work desk which is above the taproom in a gun store. The gun store was right up my alley and I fantasized about walking out with several of them.
After perusing the guns, we departed for the return drive of about 30 miles back to our RV spot north of Leavenworth. Fortunately, Peggy was available for designated driver status because I was feeling quite happy and unstable.