By Friday, we had to decide where we would spend the weekend. Because we do our weekly “
What Does This Button Do?” show on Sundays, that can’t be a travel day, and we need to be where there is good Internet.
We started checking RV parks in the Seattle area and found most of them were full – that happens around major metropolitan areas during summertime weekends. We could have extended our stay at Thousand Trails, but we’d have to take all our computer down to the beach in order to get and Internet signal and … there’s no place to plug in down there. Then, we heard (thru Facebook) from our friends
Greg and Marilyn Gundy who we met RVing back in 2006. They recently sold their RV and settled down in Sequim, WA. We looked on the map and saw that it was right where we wanted to be … because we wanted to drive around the Olympic Peninsula when we leave here. They said we were welcomed to stay in their driveway … they even have a 50 amp hookup! Wow, that sounds good. But … we also need a good Verizon signal – I knew that would be too much to ask.
Greg said, “we have line of sight to the Verizon tower from here!”
Say no more – we’re on our way!
First, we had to get the RV on the ferry. Since we had pretty much walked right on earlier in the week, we paid no attention to making reservations. That was a mistake! This was weekend traffic. We watched two Ferries come and go before we got on. But, it was a beautiful day, so we didn’t mind the wait. The cost was just under $70. We unhooked the car and paid 54 for the RV and 14 for the car. It's more if you leave them hooked up.
Greg and Marilyn like to have fun! They have the same zest for welcoming guests to their home and garden as they do for
exploring every inch of Alaska! They even had a custom-drawn park map for us.
The first order of business was to see their incredible garden. Rows of tomatoes outside, and vides of tomatoes inside the greenhouse. Greg points me to the raspberries and I don’t hear any more.
We ended up staying 4 days. I told them they might have a hard time getting rid of us, but Greg said he knew where the power shut off was!
No pesticides in this garden, so I enjoyed picking and eating right off the plants! And, Marilyn made such delicious, healthy things like Kale chips with Kale picked fresh from the garden, I watched and learned. All Greg had to do was point to the raspberry bushes and that kept me busy for a while!
Our weekly show went well. This was
Episode 5 (
http://goo.gl/ykCNDm). We covered how to synchronize your email between computer and smartphone, how to change the battery in a Samsung Galaxy S5, and Jim’s App of the week: Pandora.
We were very glad that the Internet connection worked well, because we had another Hangout on Air scheduled for Monday afternoon. This one was for the Quad-Cities Computer Society’s Digital Photo group. We offered to be at their meeting – remotely via Hangouts – and answer questions about Picasa. We usually stop by the Quad Cities group whenever we’re in the area and present a seminar or two. With this technology, we can present seminars anytime they want! And, using Hangouts on Air, it automatically gets recorded. You can
watch it here if you’re interested. (
http://goo.gl/3KGzuI) You may need to skip over the first few minutes where the sound was bad – but it clears up.
During our 4 days, we did take time for happy hours, and a couple of excursions. The main one being up to Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Park – but I think I’ll cover that in my next post.
We went for a bike ride one day, down to the waterfront in Sequim.
Then Greg and Marilyn showed us the waterfront in Port Angeles one night after we went to a buffet dinner with all you can eat Dungeness Crabs!
Here's the beach area - a place for gathering some art supplies for Marilyn. She makes baskets out of the kelp.
Greg's not writing in his blog anymore ...www.gundyville.blogspot.com. But from the time I first showed him how in 2006, to the time they got off the road this year, he kept one of the most interesting blogs around. Especially if you're interested in Alaska or gold mining. Just some samples:
One month during their first trip to Alaska - July 2007
Work-camping and Gold Prospecting in Chicken, Alaska 2007
Working the Gold Camp at Chicken, Alaska May 2009
What Marilyn does with that Kelp