We
decided to continue west on the North Cascade Highway as we haven’t driven it
for many years. It is a beautiful drive
and I took way too many pictures of mountains.
We stopped in Winthrop and were just in time for breakfast at Three Fingered
Jack’s. Winthrop is a touristy,
cowboy-themed town. We wandered up &
down the main street to settle breakfast before walking back to the RV parking
area and heading out again.
When
we hit I5 we had just a few miles until we arrived at the Tulalip Casino where
we planned to stay the night. We pulled
into one of the two large parking areas specifically for RV’s and happened to
see a security guard right there who could give us a parking permit. We went to the casino and did what we do –
played slots. I was down to very little
when I found a machine that let me win a bit.
Then I played a machine beside Terry and won back everything that we had
started with. We wisely (for once)
cashed out and went back to the rig for dinner.
The
TV in our bedroom runs on DC power so Terry put up the antenna and let the TV
lull him to sleep pretty early.
July 11th – Thurs
We
wanted to wait until rush hour traffic cleared before hitting the road so we
went back to the casino for a while this morning before going to Monroe to
visit Larry & Barb. We knew there
was a WalMart & service station nearby so we headed there for fuel &
groceries. The station didn’t have
diesel so we picked up a few groceries and went south on I5 before going to Hwy
9. We got off for another service station
but couldn’t see an easy exit if we drove in so we took a convoluted way back to
the highway. Just before Monroe, we
tried another service station. We had to
squeeze past a semi parked on the side road and then found the diesel pumps out
of order. There was another station on
the other side of the road where Terry had to turn around (including backing up
a couple of times) to get the pump on the correct side of the truck. Then the credit card reader wasn’t working
and he had to go in to get the pump turned on.
This involved running the credit card for $75 which he knew wasn’t enough
but the clerk said he could pump as much as necessary and come back to pay for
the rest. Of course it shut off at $75
and Terry was so ticked off that we left with half a tank.
We
ended up in the wrong left turn lane in Monroe (which we knew before we turned
but couldn’t get out) and took a detour on a narrow road for a few miles before
Terry found a side road large enough to back into to turn around. Finally we arrived at Larry & Barb’s and
backed into their driveway with no problem.
Barb
made sandwiches for lunch and we had a great time catching up with news on both
sides. Barb called friends Russ &
Judy to come see us and possibly join us for dinner. Before Barb could get hold of them, the guys
picked up 2 large Papa Murphy’s pizzas.
Russ & Judy did come for a nice visit but couldn’t stay for dinner
so we had PLENTY of pizza.
July 12th – Fri
We
took it easy this morning as Larry was out washing windows and Terry thought
Barb had left in the car. Turns out
Larry moved the car in front of our truck and Barb was making the breakfast
that she had scheduled for 9:30. Their
son Jason and his wife Kyle had arrived early from Montana (6:30?), dropped off
food & suitcases and left to run errands.
We
had finished breakfast when Jim & Penny walked the short way from their
house down the street to say hi. Barb
missed an appointment at 9:15 and we had time for another great visit before
her rescheduled appointment at noon. When
she returned, we went for a drive to Fidalgo Bay RV park. We are joining a group that will be camping
there later this month so Larry thought it would be nice if we knew how to get
there and we could check out the site we reserved.
We
stopped on the way back and had huge ice cream cones and then made a couple of
other stops looking for strawberries. Barb
cooked the chicken that she originally planned for yesterday and we added rice
and a salad for a late dinner. Jason & Kyle are here for a high school reunion so were out with friends for the evening.
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