Day 8: 'Triple A Saves The Day' and Other Assorted Adventures

It was the bridge to. . . . nowhere!
Astoria Bridge driving north into Washington State.

"Let's get an early start so that we can get through Seattle before the rush hour." We had big plans for our long drive back to Vancouver, BC today. 

So happy, so unaware . . . 

We had an early morning plot twist in the form of a very flat tire.  Marianne was in charge of retracting the corner jacks.  I could hear her bellyaching from the other side of the trailer that 'it is stuck!' 

Seriously, how hard is it to crank up those jacks?!

Well, when one of your trusty tires is flat and all of the weight is leaning down on the low corner. . . . .that would explain it.

Hmmm, time to google the nearest Triple A affiliate in Manzanita.  That turned out to be Scovel's Service Centre and Towing.  Small town service at its best.  

One of these things, is not like the other. 

We are sad; however, after years of having BCAA Premier RV coverage, all it took was a phone call and a little time before we were merrily on our way. Thank goodness this trailer has a real spare tire. 

While looks may be deceiving our Service Attendant had everything he needed to get the job done. 

Somewhere on our 25 minute relocation drive a few days ago we collected a big screw and a large slash. 

good.as.new

Time to take advantage of no state sales tax at the Astoria Costco. 

How to shop for your teenager:  Take pictures of the items, text them to your cherub, await their reply.  

That tub of cheese balls from our last USA trip lives large in Dominic's mind. Sadly, it seems like that was a promotion item not available all year long.  

Hmm, text shopping has its limitations. That boy!

Alex, not so interesting in anything other than baseball. 

OK, its time to get some miles behind us so it over the Astoria Bridge and north to Washington State. We felt sorry for the flag person manning the sign on a stick at the top of the bridge.  60 m high in raging wind and rain. Very brave! He was hanging on to that sign for all he was worth.

Lots of dead birds on the side of the road on this bridge. I guess they like to soar up along the rail on the updraft. Unfortunately, many must get hit by high semis. 

A massive Trump sign on an equally massive boat.
No comment. 

The town of Raymond, WA has no big box stores. We met the most friendly staff and had an interesting time snooping around. 

Ah, the lovely bridge near Montasano, WA.
I was ready this time!

A lovely rainbow as we travel east along Highway 8 nearing Olympia, WA. 

We took the 405 east of Seattle so that we could hunt for cheeseballs for Dominic. This road was just as busy and very, very rainy.  Our HOV bliss lasted for a while but then we were too cheap to spring for $7.50 USD to use the express lanes. This meant stop and go for a rather long time.  We felt sorry for this overheated little car pulled over on the side of the road. 

It is now after 7 pm and we have pulled off the I-5 near Arlington with about 1 hour to go before the Peace Arch border crossing back into Canada.  The weather is still very wet, it is now dark, Marianne has no hope of making the last ferry to Vancouver Island so we might as well take a break at Denny's. Marianne's Yelping skills on the fly need a little work; however, this proved to be a very entertaining and filling stop. 

$9.00 - best 'breakfast for supper' ever.
By 10:30 pm the Gypsy Wagon was in for the night in Richmond at Mom and Dad's.