For Want of a Camp Site

Have you ever had one of those trips that you can’t quite categorize? You know the ones — inclement weather for most of the trip, temporary quarters from the twilight zone, little to do but a study of the local wildlife, and wonder when you’ll be able to move on?

Yep, that’s how I’d describe the first three days of this last trip of ours. Traveling in the autumn can exhilarate or exhaust and bring about a bad case of the crankies. Sister and I love to travel and discover new places. Her car knows this and begins a contented purr as soon as we pull out of the carport.

We’re also travelers that brave many weather conditions during those travels. October has found us on the road for different reasons two years in a row. This year wasn’t as dramatic nor dangerous as the last one, nor as speedy, but it did have its periods of discontent.

We went to central Washington so that sister could visit with her eldest son. They hadn’t seen each other for a long while. I went along to ride shotgun and provide comic relief in the car. I also needed to get out of the house and see something new. I took enough work with me to keep me occupied during those hours she was occupied elsewhere.

Our intent had centered on camping in the area so that we could investigate those areas adjacent. Incessant rain took that intention, threw it to the ground and stomped it flat. Saturated ground doesn’t hold tent stakes, and being in bear country precluded keeping food and whatnot in the tent, which meant anything that didn’t smell like wet cloth had to stay in the vehicle.

You see the problem. As a result, we took a room in the only motel we could find on our way into this small town just north of the Tri-Cities. Time had done few favors for the motel. It was dry, and warm, and close to the street. The room was huge as rooms go, though the bath could have done with expansion. I’d never seen a sink that tiny.

I can’t say for certain how large the town’s population was. They had enough people to have a high school with football field, a large middle school, and one large elementary. They did have a library on the main drag. And geez, wouldn’t you know it? The really nice motel was at the other end of town, right next to the only restaurant in town.

One main street dissected the town. We found excitement in the knowledge that these people enjoyed their children enough to build a huge park for them complete with skateboard arena, water park, playground equipment for the youngest kids, and bandstand.

There you have it. Three days of interesting wildlife in their natural habitat. If everyone’s good I might reveal other attractions along the way to and from that motel.

A bientot,

Claudsy