Washington

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Something I Miss

There’s a hobby I used to spend a lot of time on back in my fixed life that I really miss on the road: doing jigsaw puzzles. I tried doing some on the dinette, but the cats were allowed on the table to get to the loft, so that didn’t work out.

This week, I took some measurements and went to Walmart to look for puzzles that would fit on my new kitchen counter. Found a box with three small puzzles (100, 300, and 500 pieces) that would work, and by an artist I love (Thomas Kincaid). I spent this rainy, icky afternoon working on them and just started the bigger one:

Imagine, no renos to do, no deadlines to meet, and a newly configured rig just itching to be broken in. I love my home.

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Beer Buying Adventure

Washington is such a civilized state. Like in Quebec, you can buy beer at the grocery or convenience store! And it’s super cheap, too, as low as a dollar a beer for some brands! I went out to get some fresh seafood for dinner tonight and was lured into the ‘beer cave’ (which appears to be Washington parlance).

Mesmerized by the selection and low prices, I barely took notice of someone entering the beer cave hot on my heels. It was a store employee.

“Miss! You need to be 21 to be in here!”

“I’m well over 21!” (I’ll be 32 next month!)

“Let me see some ID, please.” I pulled out my driver’s license and she squinted at it. “This won’t work; I need government issued ID.”

“It’s my Yukon, um Canadian, driver’s license.” (No one here seems to know what the Yukon is. I’ve been describing it as ‘between BC and Alaska’ (‘There’s something between BC and Alaska?’).)

“That’s a driver’s license?!” The Yukon license is a piece of cardboard with your information typewritten on it and a Polaroid of you glued to it, with the whole thing laminated. I could understand the reaction.

“Yes. That’s what five bucks a year will get you!”

Must have been a good answer since she just shook her head and left me to choose my beer in peace. I ended up going with a locally brewed pale ale.

Must have made quite an impression since I wasn’t carded a second time at the cash.

BTW, you can buy a salmon fillet and five prawns for $4 in Washington. I won’t even get into the price of produce!

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On a Distant Shore

I have a standing contract with a UK company. I triple verified that because this contract was set up in Canada and is with a non-US client, it’s okay for me to continue with it during my stay in the States. It’s not steady income. Some days I make nothing, other days I cover rent for the day. I usually check out the task list first thing in the morning, while I have my coffee, and work at it steadily until I either run out of work or need to get started on more pressing projects.

I’ve been on an early schedule since I left Osoyoos last Monday, something that is likely going to keep up so long as it’s sunny out. So, I was in the office at 8 this morning and was able to put in two hours of work before running out of tasks.

Due for a break, I headed down the hill to the beach and discovered a little café that’s open in the winter! Most of the other business are shut tight, so this gem was a sight to behold! The owner and I had a good gab about the weather while he prepared me a mocha (a real treat since otherwise I never have sugary coffee drinks). I wouldn’t want to get in the habit of going there for a mid-morning coffee every day ($$$), but a few times a week when it’s so nice out will be great. They also make sandwiches and sell ice cream, so the café offers me a place that’s super close by to duck to when I need to get out of the rig. If I have to drive to go somewhere, I’m more likely to stay shut in when I’m in the groove of my day.

Standing on the beach, looking at White Rock in the distance, I had to laugh, remembering standing on its beach and looking out towards what I now know is Birch Bay, Washington. You really never know where your life is going to take you. And now that I realise just how close I am to the Canadian border, having seen it, I can understand better the US customs officials’ bewilderment that I wasn’t go very far into their country!

White Rock, BC, in the distance

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Journey to the Mothership

This morning, I awoke with a shock around 4, the enormity of yesterday’s events and the gamble I took finally making a full impact.

If I’d been turned away at the border yesterday, that would have been it for me regarding the US. Good luck ever coming in again, even for a day trip. But I did make it in for an extended period of time, with my rig, and as a pre-retirement age full-time RVer with no stable source of income. I set one hell of a precedent. Next time I want to go in under similar circumstances I can say that the folks in Sumas, WA, felt that I posed no threat and also proffer the paperwork yesterday’s agents told me to have on hand for future crossings. I opened the gateway to future American adventures and suddenly started a new chapter in my full-timing life. I expect that border crossings will always be difficult, at least until I retire, but this precedent is an excellent step for me and a good note on my file.

So, I awoke to the smell of the sea, bright blue skies, and a radiant sun.

I’ll pause here to say that I’m within Blaine city limits, about fifteen minutes from Pacific Border RV Park. I spent four months living on the border with Blaine and never once set foot in the town! Kind of funny in a way.

For the first time in months, I bounced out of bed. I hadn’t realised how much my fear of crossing the border with the rig had been weighing me down. I spent the morning puttering around, walked to beach, and fiddled with my fresh water hook ups; not managing to get a leak-free set up.

Being forty-five minutes away from Camping World and having never been there, I decided it was time to go!!! I hit the road around two, enjoying the drive down I-5. It reminded me of being in coastal Maine, except that the ocean was on the wrong side.

Camping World was awesome!!! Sure, it has a lot of the crappy products you can find at Canadian Tire and Walmart, but they also had better quality options, plus tons of gadgets. I found a much higher grade of water hose, but, like all water hoses, it had crappy fittings. I ended up stopping at True Value on the way home and getting better fittings, which were easy to install. I also found the fluorescent bulbs that I needed for the light fixture under my sink, something I have been hunting for for months. I’ve missed it so much!

I got in and installed my new water system: house-grade pressure regulator, brass quick connect, new hose, and a new high-grade washer at the city water intake on the rig. For the first time in two and a half years I hooked up my water and did not have to swear! Hooking up fresh water has always been the most onerous part of RVing and it is now much easier.

Tomorrow, I will make it a point to go for a long walk with my camera. I picked a great spot to hole up for a month!

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Feeling ‘Off’

Once I got settled in with groceries and started on dinner, I realised that I was feeling really unsettled. I couldn’t figure out why because the feeling didn’t have anything to do with being in the States. And then it hit me.

This is the first time since landing in Dawson in June of ’09 that I don’t know what my next step is going to be. Once I got settled in Dawson, I knew what was next: a Vancouver Island winter then a second Klondike summer; the fall in Osoyoos then the RV show. I didn’t want to make any plans for after because I didn’t know what doors, if any, the show would open for me. The only certainty for me right now is that I have guaranteed jobs in the Yukon this summer if I need them. I’m sitting where I was at the end of April ’09, staring at a gaping unknown, only this time I don’t have anywhere near the financial safety net I had back then. I put everything I had into getting the seminar and book ready and there really is very little left with which to pick up the pieces. I have no regrets. I finally made my mark on the world, and is that not what we all want, to leave something meaningful behind?

Being in the States for a couple of months is going to stop the financial bleed and give me time to focus on something other than sheer survival. I’m at a lovely park that is costing me a third of what I was paying in Osoyoos. Plus, all the parks in Vancouver said that a ‘month’ is from the 1st to the 31st, so I would have paid for 30 days and only gotten 21 (still cheaper than daily or weekly rate) while the folks here assumed that wanting to stay ‘a month’ meant staying till the morning of March 8th. Groceries are also much, much cheaper. Gas prices are a joke. Even though I can’t technically work in the US, the laws are clear that I can continue with my existing contracts with non-US clients and I’m pretty sure it would be okay to work on another book so long as I don’t market it until I get back to Canada. So, I’m really in a good place to pause for a bit and figure out the next stage of this wondrous, crazy life of mine.

As I said in my seminar, I started from scratch when I hit the road and I have to be patient as I figure out how I’m going to make it. I remain committed to the open road and know that many fantastic adventures lie ahead. I’m just a little discombobulated right now from the adrenaline of the last week. Settling back into a semblance of a routine is going to help. So is knowing that I’m going to Seattle this weekend to meet up with a longtime blog reader/friend and that I won’t have to factor an hour’s wait at the border both ways ‘just in case’ in my schedule!

I’ll finish off with a few random pictures:

Miranda parked in Tradex overflow at sunset

Nee this morning, enjoying some rare sunshine

Washington sunset

Washington sunset, redux