On the Road Again, Finishing the L&C Caravan (STR-2022-17)

Friday, 22 July

After a forced vacation of 11 days, Sprinty is back to adventuring.

"And I can't wait to get on the road again

On the road again

Goin' places that I've never been

Seein' things that I may never see again

And I can't wait to get on the road again"

From "On the Road Again" by Willie Nelson

Through some good preparations (i.e. roadside assistance coverage), fortunate sequence of events and amazing efforts, determination and persistence by Showcase Body Shop in Kirkland, WA.

A quick recap of the forced vacation: At 11:38am on 11 July, a deer suddenly darted across US 101, just north of Forks, WA, and hit Sprinty. The resultant collision damaged the radiator enough to render Sprinty immediately inoperable. Through our Escapees Rv Club roadside assistance, we got a tow truck arranged in one phone call to tow Sprinty and his humans to a Mercedes Benz dealer Lynnwood, WA.

The Mercedes dealer in Lynnwood recommended Showcase Body Shop, which we later learned was the only Mercedes-certified body shop in the state of Washington. Ricky (the owner) and his team made Sprinty a priority as we were so far from home, despite an already full backlog of other repairs. The Showcase team overcame shipping delays and uncovering more extensive damage to get Sprinty repaired, pieced back together and on the road in 10 days. 

Note: we certainly appreciate our exceptionally good fortune as we know many people have to wait two weeks or more just to get an appointment for an estimate.

While Sprinty was being cared for, Darrell and Kris played golf a few times, rode bikes, spent a day exploring Whidbey Island, and tried to manage the anxiety and frustration of having our adventures disrupted so far from home.  Sprinty got a new galley sink faucet (his old one broke days before the deer incident) and a few other minor maintenance items as the body shop allowed access every day.  And even provided shore power so we could keep the refrigerated food stuffs.

Progressive Insurance has been superb so far - the original tow bill and some of the emergency expenses (hotel and rental car) have already been paid. The adjuster prioritized Sprinty's file so that Showcase could release Sprinty. The estimate was approved, so we just had to pay the deductible. 

An amazing unplanned adventure, with many more details best shared with appropriate adult beverages around a campfire.

On Friday, 15 July, the owner of Showcase provided his first projection for completing repairs based on parts being available and expected to arrive on Monday or Tuesday. However, as the week went on, they had setback after setback on parts and shipping, each overcome with determination. What an amazing crew.

Photo of Sprinty at 11:35am on Friday, 22 Feb - about 6 hours before released:

The uncertainty of when we would get Sprinty back resulted in our unwillingness to complicate matters by making campground reservations until we were certain on our departure, as cancellation would mean forfeiture of campsite fees. We developed several scenarios, each dependent on when we got Sprinty back.

At 5:45pm, Sprinty was released from Showcase. We headed back to Lynnwood, WA, to get the eBikes and bike rack out of storage, then turned south on I-5 in Friday afternoon rush hour traffic with no campsite reservation for a Friday night. First option was the FamCamp at Joint Base Lewis-McCord on the west side of Tacoma, WA. Inquiring earlier in the week, we learned their dry camping rarely fills up. When we arrived at 8pm, the camp host said they had one dry camping site left. Bingo. (They also had overflow dry camping and said they would have put us in a tent site if necessary)

As nice as a Courtyard by Marriott might be, we greatly prefer to be in our home (Sprinty) with our stuff and the comforts we are used to. And $22/night is also nicer than $250/night at the Marriott.

Saturday, 23 July

As yesterday afternoon wore on, the likelihood of getting back on the road again on Friday became greater. When a cancellation for a campsite at Cape Disappointment State Park for Saturday night popped up, we grabbed it. We then submitted a request for a Harvest Host in Tillimock, OR, for Sunday night. With those two pieces arranged, Sprinty will be able to catch up with the reservations he made over three weeks ago. His modified adventure plan will be able to use the very hard-to-get coastal state parks reservations he had reserved weeks ago.

We made our way towards Cape Disappointment State Park, joining US 101 near Aberdeen where we would have been on Wednesday last week but for the deer issue.

Upon arrival in Long Beach, WA, we stopped at the Visitors Bureau. The staff was helpful in suggesting some things to see and do we did not even know about.

Our first planned stop was at the World Kite Museum & Hall-Fame (worldkitemuseum.com)! the only museum in North America entirely dedicated to art, science, and history of tethered flight. Some of the interesting exhibits were the use of kites by the military. During World War Il, kites were used as training aids for ship-to-air gunnery. With two lines and a rudder, the kite could be steered through loops, dives, figure-eights and recoveries. The kite could perform acrobatics and dodge bullets just as a fighter plane could.

Barrage Kites were flown in World War II to protect unarmed merchant vessels. Barrage wires were suspended from the kites, forming the air equivalent of a minefield. The 2,000 foot long piano wire they were flown from were strong enough to shear the wings off enemy planes attempting to strafe convoys.

Alexander Graham Bell also made kites using tetrahedral cells to make a large compound kite. We learned about Bella's interest in aviation when we visited his museum in Nova Scotia in 2019, and the Glenn Curtiss Museum in New York. 

Kites were also used in bridge construction. A kite was used to get a string across the Niagara River at Whirlpool Rapids. Once the kite was snagged on the Canadian side of the river, the kite line pulled a rope across, which in turn pulled a wire cable to begin the first railroad suspension bridge across the Niagara.

We then went to the Cranberry Museum recommended by the staff at the Visitor Bureau. A very interesting museum with exhibits on how cranberry bogs are constructed, how the cranberries are planted, harvested and sorted for market. We learned from the docent that the cranberry got its name from the Pilgrams as the flower looked like the downturned beak of a crane, hence "crane berry", which evolved into cranberry.

Most commercial production in the United States of the cultivated cranberry occurs in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon (Bandon and Seaside), Washington (Long Beach, Grayland, and Ocean Shores), and Wisconsin. Some bogs planted in Washington and Oregon during the 1880s and early 1900s are still in production. Most of the cultivated production is under contract to supply Ocean Spray. We walked among some of the cultivated bogs eating a small cranberry ice cream.

We then went to the beach as the Visitor Bureau staff had told us that this was the day of "Sandsations", a sand sculpture competition. There were lots of kites flying at the beach.

And lots of competitors sculpting the sand. As the tide had just receded, they were working hard to complete their sculptures by 5pm.

We continued on to the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center at Cape Disappointment State Park. This was one of the caravan activities we missed due to getting COVID last month at the end of the caravan. So we were doing our caravan makeup work.

As we knew from our caravan mates, the Interpretive Center was well done, chronicling the Lewis and Clark Expedition. We enjoyed recounting our caravan adventures with each exhibit.

Our campsite for the night is at Cape Disappointment State Park, close enough to hear the ocean constantly. While we were very grateful to score a site at Cape Disappointment State Park for a Saturday night on Friday afternoon before, it had no cell service on any of the three carriers.

Sunday, 24 July

First up today was to break camp and get cell service. We broke camp early, drive a few miles to Ilwaco, to make breakfast and catch up.

Next up was to finish the Lewis and Clark caravan we started in May. We missed the last activities of the caravan as we got COVID. First stop was the Astoria Column. Arriving early meant no views as the marine layer had not yet burned off.

Darrell climbed the 164 steps to the top. Not much to see because of the fog.

Next stop was Fort Clatsop at the Lewis and Clark National Historic Park.

The expedition built a fort at Fort Clatsop for their stay in the winter of 1805-06. The fort was similar to Fort Mandan, only rectangular in shape.

The fort is a replica based on William Clark's journal descriptions and floor plan.

Next stop was Seaside, OR where we walked to the Lewis & Clark Salt Cairn Historic Monument. During the winter of 1805-06, members of the expedition made salt for preserving meat and improving their bland diet.

The expedition had run out of salt before arrival at their winter camp at Fort Clatsop. It was necessary for curing meat and preparing for the return trip to civilization

We finished by walking to the Lewis and Clark End of Trail Monument at the end of Broadway Street.

And that finished our Lewis and Clark caravan, albeit about 4 weeks later than the original itinerary. With our make-up assignments completed, we headed south to resume our adventuring.