September 15 – 25, 2014

Our ferry from Vancouver Island did not depart until 7:30 pm which meant we would arrive to our next campsite after dark but we hopefully it would still be open. Unfortunately they really did not want after hours visitors given that it was closed, gated AND locked so we continued our search in the dark. Our F350 diesel makes an awful racket so entering campgrounds after hours makes us pretty unpopular neighbors. We finally found a campground near Sequim, Washington and set up for the night.

Sequim is on our list of potential new places to call home. It seemed like fate was telling us we need to seriously consider Sequim since we continually ran into travelers from the small town who told us stories of the town’s beauty. Although in Washington, Sequim sits in its own climate vortex the repels the constant rains that plague the rest of the state; even pilots call it the blue hole because of the phenomenon. We spent a couple of hours driving around Sequim the next morning but in the end, we determined that our future home sweet home was not to be in Sequim. It’s a little too small for our taste although it is a beautiful area.

We continued toward Seattle where we would spend the night then fly to Pennsylvania in the morning. About 10 miles out of town we had our first mechanical issue with the truck. I was driving when the truck pulled hard to the right, really hard! I pulled over immediately and we could see smoke coming from the front passenger side. Darryl got out and saw that it was coming from the wheel and that our trip to Seattle was at an end. AAA arrived an hour later tow us back to Port Angeles and we had to quickly work on our back-up plan to make our flight.

While at Ford, we booked a 5:30 AM flight out of Port Angeles. The Port Angeles Ford service was exceptional. While I was booking the flight they were booking our hotel room in Port Angeles for the night and arranging for the hotel owner to drive over to pick us up!

Our upcoming week would be a short vacation from our trip visiting family and celebrating the wedding of Darryl’s sister. It was a busy time in Pennsylvania with wonderful home cooked meals prepared by Darryl’s mom and late nights catching up with family. I was able to contribute in a small way to the festivities assisting with the flower arrangements. One of the highlights for me was spending an afternoon in a family friend’s flower garden picking flowers for the bouquets. Vicky is the master gardener and also very talented at flower arrangements. Darryl’s Aunt Joan, and I followed Vicky’s guidance making the flower arrangements for the wedding. It was a busy time full of laughter and in the end we created some beautiful arrangements.

It was a wonderful wedding surrounded by family and friends and full of love. We stayed until the last guests left the reception then the party continued the next day as family and friends dropped by Darryl’s parents’ home and we enjoyed more great food and company. Our time in Pennsylvania quickly came to an end and off to Iowa to visit my family before returning to our trip.

Our time in Iowa was a much quieter time even with visits from the majority of my family. My nephew brought my dog Jhango over along with the rest of his pack and a short period of chaos ensued as Kota, Kira and Jhango stormed into the house. He is so happy with his new posse it eases the guilt of leaving him behind. Jhango actually seemed excited to see me but once it was time to leave he was up and running with the rest of the pack to the car. He knows where his next meal is coming from these days!

There is a whole new generation of youngsters in the family, most of them of the toddler and younger age group. They are lots of fun but can wear you out! We made it to a volleyball game and watched my niece’s team destroy the competition! Ok, maybe not destroy but from the viewpoint of a proud Aunt it certainly seemed like it!

We were able to get in a few runs at the local parks which felt great but I quickly realized that my fitness level has taken a serious hit during our travels! i pulled out a deck of cards for a low cardio competition with my dad and we had a running series of gin rummy games going for the week. I even managed to beat him a couple times!

It was great to take a break from our travels to see our families. One thing that we learned from this trip is that it is important to not get so caught up in work and chores that you miss out on time with family and friends. Time will tell if I actually put this into practice once I return to work after our travels. I certainly hope the lessons of the road will infiltrate my daily life.