May 29, 2010

Tonight we are at the Cougar Rock Campground in Mt. Rainier National Park. It is cold, it is cloudy and it is drizzly. But we have a camp site for the next 3 nights. That will give us two days to explore before we head on. We are dry camping again, which means no electricity. As long as the battery holds out we will have heat. The only thing we use the battery for under theses conditions is to run the blower on the furnace. We use a small propane lantern for light and it also gives off some heat. Additionally we both have headlamps that we use for reading or other things where the lantern will not suffice.

We did see a real pretty patch of Skunk Cabbage that was blooming nicely. We are high enough and far enough north that we are in early spring. Highs here will be in the 50's and lows in the 30's. Long john weather. We are looking forward to exploring tomorrow. As usual, I have been here before and do remember some of the landmarks, but I have forgotten a lot also.

We hope the weather will improve tomorrow, but I am not counting on it. Hopefully we will get to see Rainier. Tho it may be like Mt. St. Helen's and hide behind clouds and fog.

May 30, 2010

Well, the weather did not improve. But we did not let that ruin our day. We spent the day driving around seeing what sights we could. Drove up to Paradise where it had snowed during the night. Lots of people up there snowshoeing and cross country skiing. Drove to Packwood, Wa where there was a huge flea market. The whole town was lined with booths, vendors and food sellers. We bought 6 books and shared a nice Strawberry Shortcake. Then back to camp to listen to the rain falling on top of the camper.

May 31, 2010

It was raining when we got up this morning, so we did as much prep work as we could. The rain showed no sign of stopping so we took a wet camper down. We had decided to stay in a motel tonight(which is where I am writing this from).

As we checked our lights this morning we found that one of our tail lights was not working. On the way out of the park I pulled into a viewing area and went to check to see if the bulb had come loose. It had not. Blown big time. Then I decided to take it out so that I could hopefully buy a new one and reinstall it. A lesson I learned the hard way. Do not grab these bulbs by the glass and try to pull them out. I did, broke the glass and ended up with a deep cut in my thumb. Joyce patched me up and we went on. Stopped in Elk Prairie and purchased a new bulb(spare also), replaced the blown one and felt safe making right turns after that.

We got here to Centrailia, checked into our motel. I took a much needed shower and when we changed the dressing I was still bleeding profusely. Decided a visit to the ER was in order. They glued the cut, put some steri-strips on it with a splint and sent me out the door. So I am patched up, clean, Joyce and I have clean clothes and are ready to hit the road tomorrow. We plan to head to Forks, WA.