Ran outta land...

We were up and ready to roll bright and early.  Well, 2 time zones further west than our internal clocks are used to, but it wasn't that bright... gray and a low overcast.

We took the bypass before Portland and missed most of the traffic.  The forecast is showing sunshine for our arrival time in Anacortes... hard to imagine that with the gray sky above us.  Still, it is lush...

The traffic started in earnest just before Olympia, and continued to get more congested as we traveled north.  By the time we neared Seattle, we were down to about 30 mph on the Interstate...

We had intentionally timed our Seattle passage around 11:00 am, thinking we would be between rush hours... yeah, we were wrong.  On the bright side, traffic never came to a complete stop.  On the not so bright side, the Interstate south and north of Seattle is lousy - I could swear someone stole our round tires and replaced them with squares.

As we continued north, the overcast ceiling began to raise.  The temp still hovered in the low 50s.  Joan said she wanted to pick up the last of "the stuff" at a Wal-Mart, and told me to plan to exit the freeway at MM200.  Ah, that's the same exit for my favorite store...

This Cabela's had the onboard battery charger I was looking for.  We have been getting by with batteries off during our traveling, and an automotive charger if/when necessary.  Frankly, that has worked well.  Back to Wally World; I checked off a few more "bingo" squares while Joan shopped.

Back in the truck, only 30 more miles of Interstate before we make our turn to Anacortes.  We did see some "interesting" drivers during today's drive, but they wouldn't last 10 minutes with the aggressive Texas drivers... these folks actually use turn signals and mostly make lane changes one lane at a time.

Off I-5, 16 miles to Anacortes.  We decided to do one last night on land to get the boat ready to be back in the water.  The road to the Fidalgo Bay RV Park is a narrow 2 lane...

Good thing we didn't meet any traffic coming at us.  When I went inside to check in, there was a new girl at the counter... "A boat?  I don't think we allow people to stay in boats here."

The other lady at the counter said, "I've got this.  These folks have been here before..."  We put Wild Blue and Big Red into a spot, in the sunshine...

We unhooked, plugged in (electric and cable), got Izzy settled in, then went to the marina to get a couple nights in a slip.

Another new girl at the counter at the marina, but this one was sharp.  Oh, and they allow boats in the marina.  ;-)  A guy who was doing business at the other side of the counter said, "Can you use an inflatable PFD?"

"Sure!"  It was the belt pack type (I don't have one of those) and may need a new charging kit, but the price was right: free!  Good timing.  We also got a fortune cookie and a tote bag from the nice young lady at the marina office.

We walked down to the sling launch to visit with Brad (operations manager) to make sure nothing had changed in their procedures.  Then, went around to check out where they put us...

Cap Sante is a very nice facility.  Everything you might need in town is an easy walk away.  And if you need to drive anywhere, well, you don't have to take an hour and 10 minute ferry ride first.  ;-)

Plus, they have a great dorsal fin statue...

One of us is younger and has more energy than the other.  One of us just finished driving nearly 3,000 miles.  I am hoping that both of us have a sense of humor. ;-)

A quick stop at West Marine and Radio Shak, then back to the RV park to get the boat stuff out of the truck and ready to go into the water tomorrow.

It has been a long drive getting here, and we are delighted to be done with the land portion.  In a couple days, we'll shove off for Friday Harbor.

Little Izzy is ready to be out and about, too...