Elkharting on Orcas

We've been on Orcas Island for just over three weeks. It looks like we'll be here four weeks. We found out today (7/22) that the parts are due to ship tomorrow from Elkhart, IN. Standard shipping is 4-6 business days. I've asked them if there is any way I can pay for expedited shipping; we'll see.

We've been having a great time here, but REALLY need to get moving. Heather is due on the 27th. It's just over 1,000 miles from Ellensburg, where the trailer is, to SoCal. All things considered, though, being stranded on Orcas Island in July is WAY better than being stranded in Elkhart, Indiana in October.

Despite being mid-July which is mid-summer just about anywhere else, it looks like springtime here. Everything is in bloom. In our sightseeing jaunts around the island, we've stumbled across a couple of absolutely, world-class, stunning gardens. They are riotously abloom with color and fragrance.

We visited a "farm" (for lack of a better name; it sort of defies description) called Orcasong. It had one of the most spectacular flower gardens that either of us had ever seen. Here's a few shots.

See the butterfly?

See Cathy in the background? 

The next day, the four of us drove to Doe Bay Resort, on the southeast coast of Orcas. (Nothing is more than 10-15 miles away on Orcas; it's not that big an island.) While we were driving over there, Scott shared with us a story about when Sherry was visiting and they all saw a piebald deer. Well, not 30 minutes later, we spotted this one!...

Doe Bay was a really beautiful and cool place. It had its own spectacular flower garden:

Orcas Island

UPDATE: As I write this (Friday evening, 7/12) we are hopeful to be back in our home by the end of next week. The RV place has diagnosed the problem and ordered parts. I expect to have firm timing on parts delivery early next week. They have committed to making the repairs ASAP after receipt of the parts.

As I reported in my last post, we are currently staying at Scott and Sara's cabin on Orcas Island. Orcas is the largest and second-most populous of the San Juan Islands, which sit in the Strait of Juan de Fuca between Washington state and Canada, an hour or so north of Seattle.

I also mentioned that we were headed here, anyhow, to spend the Fourth of July week here. Scott wanted to build a deck on his cabin and I, in a weak moment, agreed to do so. Actually, I'd never built a deck, although I've put up a couple of patio covers with very similar construction, and I was looking forward to taking this on.

We spent the better part of the week putting on a very nice deck that's about 10' x 30' in the main section; it also wraps around and connects to the front porch of the house. It offers both sun and shade and, with the porch, cover from the elements. We had a lot of fun building it. Unfortunately, I don't have a great picture of the whole deck...

Sara and Cathy hanging joists; we're just about ready to put the decking on.

Scott and Sara have been really busy in the first half of this year. Scott spent several months in Buffalo, NY, for work. On top of that, they just moved from San Francisco to Seattle. They are now just a couple of hours from the cabin.

We knew we had a lot of time on your hands, so we "volunteered" to take on odd jobs around the cabin. We've spent at least a couple of hours every day cleaning, weeding, making minor repairs, and doing the myriad things that any house needs constantly.

Their cabin is less than a half-mile from the little unincorporated village of Eastsound, which is the only real citified area on Orcas. Eastsound has a very nice, but small, supermarket, a hardware store, a pharmacy, a post office, and any number of bars, restaurants and tourist shops. It's also got an airport where one can catch flights to Seattle.

On the Fourth, we watched a charming little parade through the heart of town. I love small-town events like this; it looked like there were a thousand people or more, lining the four-block-long heart of town.

Look at the banner: ALL of the mayoral candidates were dogs!

This is the coolest car I have ever seen!

Despite their proximity to Eastsound, they are really out in the woods. We can't even hear any traffic noises at all from Eastsound. When I walk the dogs before bedtime, I have to check around that there aren't any deer grazing that the dogs can spot; chasing two golden retrievers through the woods at 10PM is not my idea of fun!

Orcas is beautiful. One can see the ocean from just about anywhere. The whole island is full of cedar, fir and other assorted evergreen trees. Everything is in bloom here; it must still be late spring this far north.

This is on Madrona Point, maybe 1/4 mile from the cabin

Obstruction Pass State Park; the boys enjoying a swim in Puget Sound

Happy Anniversary to Us

Today (July 1) marks our one-year anniversary of full-time RVing. It is rather bittersweet, since we are not technically full-time RVing right now. As explained in the previous post, our home is in the shop, in Ellensburg, WA. We are some 180 miles away, on Orcas Island, staying at our son and daughter-in-law's cabin.

We've put just over 30,000 miles on The Beast, our 2017 Ford F-350 truck, in the past year; not all of that mileage is towing our home, of course. We didn't track miles under tow, but I'd estimate something like 15,000 of those miles are pulling our home around.

Counting our former home state of Ohio, we've visited 20 states in the past year. As best we can figure out we've visited 14 National Parks in that time span, plus any number of state and local parks, National Monuments and National Historic Parks.

Was there any single best moment? Nothing comes immediately to mind... there are too many great memories throughout the year. Some things that come to mind are:

• Saguaro National Park - we spent two months staying five miles from here. This close proximity allowed us to visit this spectacular park a number of times.
• Grand Canyon National Park - breathtaking. 
• Great Basin National Park - hiking up to see the bristlecone pines was unforgettable.
• Golden Spike National Historic Monument - the demonstration of two working steam engines.
• The state of Montana - the whole state; so much so that I wrote a separate post on the beauty of the state.
• The Mighty 5 Utah National Parks - individually and as a whole, there are no words to adequately describe their spectacularness.
• Christmastime in California with family - being on the road makes us appreciate family and friends all the more.
• Running into the Johnsons - our schedule and that of our roadtripping friends Rich and Lynn Johnson allowed us to have lunch with them in Monticello, UT. Then, bad weather forced both of us to change our plans and we all ended up for the weekend together in Grand Junction, CO. 

Less than great memories can be boiled down to a single reason: equipment breakdowns have been the bane of our existence. In twelve months, we've spent over 40 days without the use of either our trailer home or our truck. That doesn't count either our current situation or when we've been in our home, but waiting in one spot for service to be completed. The latter situation, in Elkhart, IN, cost us nearly a month all by itself. 

However, as I said in a previous post, we are trying to keep this in perspective. We are safe and sound, staying in Scott and Sara's cabin. This is a beautiful little place, on a beautiful island. We feel like we are in an isolated forest, just steps from the ocean, yet we are only two blocks from the quaint little village of Eastsound, which has a market, hardware store and numerous bars and restaurants. The whole island deserves National Park status; it is that spectacular. We have been, and will continue to, enjoy our stay here... but it's not home. 

Cathy and the Boys at Crescent Beach. The cabin is behind the trees on the left side of the photo.

Cascade Falls, in Moran State Park