Lake Washington, Seattle, WA

One who does nothing
but wait for his ship
to come in
has already missed the boat.

I am under the I-90 bridge right now, on the shores of Lake Washington. Just did a little beachcombing. I love beachcombing.

Looking for the spot where Dan Tracy(above) and I will launch to go kitesailing with our kayaks. See his video. Overcast today and enough wind, but not going out today... but looking for the spot and exploring the area.

The name of my son’s new home Ridiculust, a 5,000 sq. foot place, hard to imagine when you live in a box (but shared with another couple with baby due)..

For three years my son has set up a bee hive and the bees all left home, so this year he didn’t set it up again, and now bees are coming to the hive.  I thought, well maybe if they choose to live in this hive, they will stay!!!   Either that, or they are robbing the honey still in the hive.  Will be interesting to watch what happens.

Also met a nice duck family and had a change to get some wonderful photos, until other people showed up and drove the mom away.  Too bad too, as she had an injured leg, even once she got into the water, she used it very little to swim.  But all in all a beautiful experience for me.

I just saw a sign asking for volunteer kayakers to help with a SWIM club swim in the lake on the 8/18... and I signed up. Should be fun.  That will loosen me up for my Alaska paddle on 8/20.

Now, I’m having breakfast on the waterfront… cereal with the beautiful blackberries I picked yesterday.

Have found the Western Shore of Lake Washington where Dan Tracy will be taking me kitesailing by kayak in a few days.   Nice area… sun has come out, there is wind and sailboats are on the lake, and speed boats, and kayaks.  I’m spending the time catching up with things.

Later I will be having dinner with my son Richard, who I haven’t seen in three years.  I swear, the boy’s life is just one big party.

The first party… great big round bed/swing/chair thing in the back yard that could hold half a dozen people.  Two on there in this photo.  My son, Rich, and his very nice friends… taken at the first party.

The next night was a sit-down dinner party, and I baked a red velvet pecan cake in my Sun Oven, while parked along the lakeshore, for the occasion (heard hikers going by… exclaiming “Look, a Sun Oven!”).

Rich’s friend, introducing him to chocolate-covered potato chips.  OK, I got to get some of these things.

Our hostess… wrapping a big hoola-hoop… the whole group of friends have dozens of hoola-hoops, sometimes jumping out of airplanes and then flying through the hoops… or just playing with when on terra-firma.

This friend arrived and I just had to take a photo of her awesome hair… brighter red than in this photo.  The table is set, very nice to sit down to dinner and actually converse and be able to tell stories on my son… and have people thoroughly enjoy them… they all love him so much – and he can laugh at himself.  Conversation drifted off into places I never dreamed I’d be going with folks a generation younger then me (i.e. The Harrad Experiment by Robert Rimmer which I read in the late 1960 and which was the catalyst for breaking up my marriage).  Well, that’s probably too much information for my followers!

Anyway, it was an awesome evening.

A vandweller/kayaker is arriving in Seattle today and we are trying for a connection.  She is also on her way to Alaska, but today is the only time our paths will cross.

This weekend, my son is taking me to the Renaissance Festival and I will camp there overnight in my van.  My son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter and many of their friends are performers, and have been for years. King Richard and his Queen.  I told you this boy’s life was just one continuous party.

I commented to my son that he seems to like me better now… and he said, well, this was the happiest he has ever seen me.  He does like me more… and that’s an awesome “answered prayer” for me.  Life is good.

Getting in Shape for the Arizona Trail 2015

7/21/13: This morning I headed up the mountain from Alpine Lakes Wilderness Trailhead where I have been boondocking a couple of days. Planned on a 1-3 hr. hike.  In the words of C.W. McCall… the trail was a bunch of Zs and Ws all strung together.  Geez!  And a great gain in altitude in a very short distance.

Location : Alpine Lakes Wilderness Trailhead

First thing that occurred to me was that my lungs were congested.  Second thing that I noticed were giant heat-seeking mosquitos.  The trail was much steeper than I realized and after 45 minutes going uphill, I realized I was very out of shape and ill-prepared…. i.e. no mosquito repellent.  I had not seen ONE mosquito in my camp in two days, so I assumed there weren’t any.  I know my limits, and as soon as I came into contact with something that will make me itch, some internal panic alarm goes off… so I decided to turn back.

I ran into one gal coming down the mountain, who had just hiked 9 miles from Lake Augusta… with her dog.  I ran into an elderly couple heading up the trail… who looked to be older than me… judging from their sunken eye sockets… but were lean and moving pretty fast. They were heading out for a could days of backpacking and headed toward Lake Augusta and Big Jim Mountain.  Looked very experienced and I envied them their fitness level.  They said that gal must have left Augusta at 4am to get this far this fast.  She was flying.  Will I  need to be able to go that fast to hike the Arizona Trail???  Can I hike that fast?

Poison Oak… I don’t know?

The trail was steep… with a number of downed trees to climb over.  In places the underbrush was so thick it covered the trail… and was taller than me (5’7”).  There was a 3-leafed plant with some white berries on I, and some turned bright red… and I wondered if that was Poison Oak???  I checked at the trailhead and there were no warnings or photos posted.  I’ll have to check online.  Took some photos.  Just in case, I returned to the van, removed all my clothes and bagged them up.  And then scrubbed all my exposed skin.

Other thing I was unprepared for… wearing cotton.  While it is cooling, it holds the water… and I was surprised how much I sweated and how much humidity was in the air.  In just 1 hr. and 15 minutes, my cotton items were soaking wet.  I did have fleece pants on… so they were dry, but if I had been a long way from safety and weather had turned or it had gotten cold… I would have gotten chilled to the bone very fast.  So, even in good warm hiking weather, I need to take this “cotton” lesson seriously. 

Roots forming steps on the trail.

Final item/lesson… feet.  I’ve been sitting in a boat, kayaking all over the place and by back and shoulders are in good shape….however, the ol’ doggies aren’t in very good shape.  The balls of both of my feet were really hurting before I got back down the trail.  On a longer hike, I’d have gotten blisters for sure.  I need to ALWAYS carry either duck tape or mole skin.  I should also see a podiatrist about the left foot as I think there could be a bone spur that is causing a problem.  It’s been a chronic issue for a long time… but facing an 820 mile hike, I need to pay more attention to this and resolve it if possible.  I need to toughen up these feet.

And bug repellent… being a person very sensitive to insect bites, I MUST ALWAYS have repellent and a head net.  ALWAYS.

Nothing to do but return to camp and eat banana bread and a banana.

I left Hatchery Creek and pushed on in search of a trash can.  Finally found one at the restrooms at Stevens Pass.  Then driving a short way I took another side road… a dead end.

It went right past the Cascade Railroad Tunnel entry.  Neat-o!  Going up the Old Cascade Highway to the end and a turn around, I found a bike bridge crossing the Tye River?  I’m parking there tonight, maybe a few days if there isn’t any traffic.  Very peaceful.

Escape to the Wilderness (?)

…or What a difference a day makes…

I use that term lightly – escape to the wilderness.  I left Wenatchee, WA early this morning (7/19)… and thru Leavenworth, WA. 

Finally found a closed trailhead where I decided to try to spend the night, just to decompress.  I can hear road traffic, but there won’t be any sounds close around me.  I can see Rt. 2 just a few yards away.  I have a 3G signal (varying from 0-2 bars).  Soon that spot got too hot… 94 degrees inside the van.

In Leavenworth, I explored a little… bad memories there for me… as that’s where David Swankie and I had planned our wedding in June 2001, but he died June 4, and we were married in May in the hospital instead.  I found the B&B my son used to manage, I found the KOA (hell on earth) campground were our families met (David’s and mine) after his death, on the date that was suppose to be our wedding date. 

What a horrible place – the KOA.  I can’t see why anyone would want to camp there.  People are bumper to bumper, not to mention dozens of vehicles… like being in a very crowded city parking lot.  I made a loop through there and could not get out fast enough.  So, I left Leavenworth and found the below spot.

		Flora west of Leavenworth, WA VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

So this little snippet of road at a closed trailhead seems like heaven to this boondocker and I enjoyed walking around looking at all the plants, especially after urban-vandwelling for over a month.  I sent a SPOT signal out from here (https://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=47.64968,-120.72269&ll=47.64968,-120.72269&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1) and may just hole up and watch movies or take a hike.  Warning signs everywhere of Poison Oak… so I may not???  And I am in the shade which means my batteries will not be getting a solar charge today, but they are at 12.5 right now, but this spot soon became an oven with temps reaching 94 degrees in the van, no air flow… and so I moved on thinking driving with A/C on was better than baking in the van… even if it meant I had to drive all the way to the Ocean.

July 20 - What a difference a day makes... only 63 degrees in the van at 7:45am and I'm high in the mountains and have an internet signal. And I hear water running nearby. Will have to hike to the water today – Hatchery Creek. Slept well last night for the first time in weeks. 47.67081,-120.75569 https://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode&q=47.67081%2C-120.75569&ll=47.67081%2C-120.75569&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1 . And at 11am it’s only 80 in the van… so the rest of the day should be comfortable.  At 3pm it was 89 in the van and beginning to cool off.  The sun has already gone behind the trees… and shade is now hitting the van.

Night before last I had to sleep with the sounds of the city, sirens, trains, cars, doors opening and closing, cars driving across manhole covers, people talking, kids screaming, dogs barking.

Last night all I could hear was the sounds of the breeze blowing through the treetops, the babbling brook not far away…and a few birds.  That’s all, not another sound (except my fridge kicking on once in while).  So very relaxing and air so clean and fresh, unlike the pollution layer that settles into Wenatchee each evening with the Columbia River Valley inversion effect and burned my throat.  Ick.  Oh, I enjoyed my sleep last night.

Three cars were parked in at the Trailhead yesterday, two more just arrived, but I have the best spot… and checked the water out awhile ago, fresh clean water coming down out of some rocks…. and a nice level spot to stand.  I’m going to have a little bath today… no place to sit in the water and it is way too cold to sit in, but I can sure splash it all over myself.

The solar oven is set up and I’m fixing to bake the rest of the cookies I didn’t have time to finish with my grandkids.  Yum. 

Life is good, and truly, it can’t get any better than this… no, wait, let me go check on the cookies.  Whoops, I almost burnt them.  So,then I mixed up some banana raisin bread and baked it.  It will be nice for breakfast tomorrow. 

Today, for breakfast I had Fritos and Rainier Cherries.  Oddly delicious.  It was handy.  What can I say?  I have decided to try and live off what food I have on hand, until after I return from Alaska.  I can do it.  I can do it.

Here I sit near the top of a mountain in the wilderness and still find a way to "do genealogy."  Have I died and gone to heaven?

http://story.sharing.ancestry.com/people/637770?h=20468c

By 3:30pm I am in full shade so the evening should cool off nicely.  I haven’t really walked yet, but think I will hike the trail tomorrow and check it out.  I am so relaxed… am off the extra meds I had to take while I was urban-vandwelling.  Yeahhhhh!

On The Road Again… hard to leave the grandbabies.

I've had a great visit getting to know my grandkids and I think it was positive for them too. I'm so happy my daughter-in-law was able to make the kids available to me. She is a gem. Wish I had had even more time with all of them... but ...they have very busy lives. As a school teacher, when Jenelle is off work, she likes to spend lots of quality time with her kids.

She said, “Look, it’s a little van just like Grandma’s home.”

But I told them I was headed to Alaska and would be kayaking with the Whales and Icebergs. Now Zoey wants me to carve her a polka-dotted pink Whale and a polka-dotted yellow Whale for Will. Carved like I carved the little yellow kayaks. That's just the coolest.

It was great, but now I’m headed up into the mountains to look for a little fresh air and solitude, if such a thing is available between here and Seattle.  My flight to Alaska isn’t until about 8/18-19… so I have some time to kill but need to do it where air is cleaner, fresher and hopefully a little cooler.