I drove about 20 miles to Camping World in Wilsonville (which is located about 20 miles south of Portland) at about 10am for a 2pm appointment. I figured that the 2 o'clock appointment would get me back on the road about 3, just in time for the Portland rush hour, so I decided to come in early to see if they could get me in and out by noon or so. Not only did they promptly take care of me, I was also able to talk the manager into giving me a $6.50 quart of generator oil for free. Larry would have been proud.
I got through Portland without a hitch (unless you count the one on the rig) and I suddenly got the urge for a Nachos Supreme. I got this thing about eating nachos in the rain, anyhoo, Daisy guided me to the nearest Taco Bell which just happened to be right next to the Longview mall. So, I did my walking and I got my nachos, I was in heaven.
After walking, eating, and snoozing a bit, I made my way to the RV friendly Quinault Beach Resort & Casino in Ocean Shores for the night, where I am sitting on the edge of the Pacific Ocean. It’s too dark to see anything but I can hear frogs (ribbit-ribbit) and the waves crashing onto the shores in the background. Now how cool is that?
About noon I took off on a stroll along the water front and discovered that the casino property is adjacent to the Ocean City State Park. I explored many of the roads and trails in the park and returned to my RV via the beach. It was a perfect walk on a perfect day.
At around 3ish, I moved up the road about 2 miles to the Ocean Shores RV Resort. This is a huge park with only a handful of RVs parked here. I’ve been here before and really liked it.
I bought a ticket for the Illusions of Elvis Revisited Concert tonight at the casino. I’ll let you know in the morning how it went. I’m wearing my blue suede shoes and cape and slickin‘ back my hair.
I did my first of 6 AVA walks for the week this morning through the streets of Ocean Shores. We had a little bit of rain and even a little bit of snow and a whole lot of wind but it was a good walk and I enjoyed it. I plan on doing one a day until I leave on Friday. There are 2 additional YREs in Ocean Shores so I may move back to the casino on Friday for another couple of nights and do them too. That would make 8 walks in 8 days consisting of five 10ks, an 11k, an 18k, and a 25k. I did the 11k today.
I am joining a group of about 25 fellow walkers tonight for dinner in town. That should be interesting. Tonight I’ll be doing the screaming and bloviating.
The dinner went well and was lots of fun. I met lots of new people, some of which know some of the same folks I know from California. It was a very enjoyable and interesting evening.
I have requested an additional week here to enjoy the beauty of this amazing place and to complete more walks. I now have 9 walks on tap (I completed the 2nd one today). Some of the members of the Capitol Volkssport Club of Olympia have convinced me to partake in the Olympia Capitol/Downtown Walk on Tuesday, followed by dinner at 6 and the club’s monthly business meeting at 7. I am not too keen on the meeting but it will give me a chance to present our upcoming 20 walks in 16 days in May series to the staff, that I have been promoting to various members throughout the weekend.
9 March - I challenged old man winter to a walk off today and he almost won with bone-chilling below-freezing wind-chill temperatures and sleet. But I hung in there and he finally conceded and showed good sportsmanship by eventually providing sunshine and blue skies. It was another great walk through the nearly empty streets and abandoned summer cottages of the Ocean Shores Jetty Community. I saw more deer along the way than I did cars and people combined.
10 March - I did a little walking and jogging this morning before heading to Olympia around noon to do the Olympia Capitol/Capitol Lake Walk. It took me nearly 2 hours to maneuver the narrow, hilly, and winding 60 mile road to the State Capital but it was a beautiful scenic drive. Daisy took me right to the starting point at the Bayview Deli and Market. What a neat place. I wanted to just hang out there to enjoy the view and eat all day, but I didn‘t.
This was one of the most interesting and enjoyable walks I’ve ever done. First of all, the weather was perfect for walking, sunny but slightly cool and the walk itself was fabulous. It looped the Capitol Lake, went along/over the Deschutes River, passed the old Olympia Brewery, and went through various parks, a National Historic Neighborhood, and the Capitol Building/Grounds. Very coolage.
After the walk I partook in the Bayview’s wonderful creamy tomato and cheese with basil soup and a delightful Mexican wrap while enjoying a magnificent view of Budd Inlet of Puget Sound and the Deschutes. Awesome!
The only not-so-great thing that I did today was attend the Capitol Volkssport Club business meeting. It was OK as far as meetings go, but I don’t do meetings well. The next time I resolve to go to one, stop me, please! One good thing they discussed however, was doing a walk in Aderdeen (about 20 miles from here) on Aug 1st. I plan on coming back up here for that, if it happens.
On my way home at about 8:30 I passed the Shoppingtown Capitol Mall and had to go check it out. Most of the stores were closed or closing but I did manage to make one complete round before they kicked me out. That was my 8th mall walk since I left Yuba City on 2 March.
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12 March - I tackled the 25k bike route today, on foot. 34,000 steps (roughly 17 miles) later I finished it. I was on the trail about 6 hours and covered most of the entire perimeter of the Ocean Shores Peninsula. My dogs were howling and my calves were mooing but I loved every step of it. Can’t wait for the 18k tomorrow.
13 March - Friday the 13th! The host here told me I should stay inside and be careful today but I didn’t. I went for another long walk and added an additional 27,000 steps to my total for the week. Tomorrow I should be back to under 20k a day. The forecast says rain for the next few days so I may drive to Olympia to mall walk. I can actually hear the raindrops on my roof as we speak.
14/15 March - I spent both of these days in the RV park. I got soaked walking around it but it was fun and I managed to do 7 miles on Saturday and 8 on Sunday. The perimeter of this park is 30 minutes long (at my pace) and when you throw in all the side roads it’s easy to come up with a 3 to 4 mile loop. I spent the rest of the time snuggled up with myself.
16 March - I missed getting my 8th and 9th consecutive AVA walks accomplished over the weekend due to heavy rains, and weather.com predicts rain here for the next 10 days. However, it looked like this afternoon might be OK so I headed down to Damon Point State Park about noon and enjoyed another great 10k walk along the coastline. The walk started on the ocean side of the park and returned on the bayside. It was interesting to observe the crashing waves slowly transition into calm bay waters as I made my way around the peninsula. And as for the weatherman, he lied. I got rained on and pelted on by pea sized hail but I quickly found shelter and survived the short lived outbursts. It was actually exciting and fun.
