Day 46 Seattle, WA

Hi, Everyone. Sorry for the long lapse in communication.

I arrived at Jon and Beth's last Monday, kind of surprised myself that I actually had arrived here. My anxiety over driving again in Seattle traffic was assuaged entirely by the GPS, which performed beautifully.

On Tuesday, I spent the morning cleaning out the car (!), sunbathing on their patio and walking to the Post Office and Bank with Beth (good for your calves walking on all these hills).

Wednesday I drove a few miles east to Bellevue to an Archive there. This is one of those archives where you have to use white gloves to handle the old books. I managed to find one marriage record I wanted and to narrow down the years that a family lived in Tacoma by using the Polk Directories.

Thursday I drove to Vancouver, Canada, to use their public library where I had stopped briefly three years ago when Barry, Amy and I visited there. Since Beth warned that the wait at the Border could go more than an hour I called to make a reservation for overnight at a hostel not far from the library. The wait at the Border was only 35 minutes and all went well until I left the library about 6 to find the hostel. My GPS and I went around and around in a circle. Finally I saw a parking place and pulled in, got out and walked until I found the hostel, and checked in. (I was assigned a top bunk in the female dorm. The clerk kind of timidly asked if that was all right. I said just as long as there's a ladder. He grinned and assured me there was.)

Then the REAL problem arose. I could not find a place to park for the night. The hostel staff made several suggestions of places one could park for overnite for $6, but when I went there that option was no longer available, maximum time allowed was 3 hours. All street parking in the area was by Permit Only. The traffic, both car and foot, was so congested in the area of the hostel, that after driving around for an hour (by this time it was dark) I went back to the hostel to tell them and ask if I bought the 3-hours-max allowed, what were the chances the car would get towed. They said it likely would be. So at that point I gave up and set my GPS to get away from the downtown area, which was just brimming with people and traffic and music and lights and found a place to park in a residential area and slept in my car again.

I got back to Jon and Beth's about 5:45 Friday. I would have made it before the rush hour except there was an accident and that backed up the freeway for more than a half hour. Beth was having some friends who had gone on last year's Bhutan trip here for the weekend, so we all had a good time chatting, sipping wine and eating Beth's signature MacBeth recipe.

Today we roamed around Ballard, a neighborhood in Seattle, where we had breakfast and then visited REI, that terrific outdoor and sports outfitter. Goodness! They have absolutely anything and everything you can imagine for traveling or outdoor activities. I bought some poison ivy soap. I saw a neat little twisted cord clothesline for campers that does not require clothespins, lots of backpacks, laptop sleeves, hats, warm skiing duds, tents, on and on and on.

I'll be here through Sunday, then heading south. I am hoping to hook up with Amanda Schottelkorb and get a helicopter ride next week sometime.

Day 40 Yakima, WA

Almost all the little libraries I have visited in the last six weeks have had Wi-fi (even if I could not always get connected). So I called from Ellenburg last night to be sure the Yakima Library would be open this afternoon and it never occurred to me to ask if they had Wi-fi, since Yakima is a fair sized city - and they don't. They have computers, a few, and they have a waiting list of people to use them. The nearest Wi-fi is a block down the street at a little bakery they tell me, so I will see if I can find it.

I'm thinking I'll take in a movie this evening. I forgot to tell you that all the little towns in Iowa and some in South Dakota had movie houses, usually with one film showing on Friday and Saturday nights only. Here there is a slightly better selection. The Art Museum is also open to 5:30 so I'll give that a try, too.

I tried out The Stone Church this morning at 11. There was no UU church in town and the info on this church did not give clue one to what denomination, but I thought I'd go. The first 20 minutes were all music, with video screens giving you the words so you could clap and sing along. There was a good sized band, two guitars, a keyboard, drum set, coronet and four singers. The congregation, 250+, stood during all of this and raised their arms and generally expressed a feel-good sentiment. The theology was God-centered, upbeat, and expressing the need to do more in "this city". After the music stopped, though, it became definitely a Jesus-died-so-we-could-be-saved evangelistic message. I left about half-way through, too much evangelistic fervor for me.

It is hard to believe that I am within one day of Seattle, after all this time. Mostly I have just concentrated on the next place on my itinerary and the next task or visit and tried not to think too much about how much further I have to go. I have once or twice thought I've had about enough of this, but not more often. My usual goal-oriented self just says, okay, what's next? And I keep going. Like the Energizer Bunny.

This is actually being sent on Day 41, on my way back through Ellenburg from Yakima, where it was worth the bother of going there again. More on that later. Today I see Jon and Beth! Wow.