Road Trip!

From Seattle to Marysville to Bellingham to Bothell to Tent City to Comic Shop in Kenmore to Seattle again...

Well, I told you that my little sister got sick, an ear infection we think. She had vertigo. Anyway, she doesn't feel safe enough to drive, but since she lives in Renton and goes to school at Western Washington University in Bellingham (almost 90 miles away), that is a big problem. Luckily, she only has two days of classes each week (Monday and Wednesday).

I was asked last last week if I would be willing to drive Lisa up to school. I was a little hesitant, since I *am* supposed to be watching the house and the grandparents. However, the grandparents were all for it, and so I went ahead and agreed to take her one way. So Monday evening I picked her up from her classes.

By Tuesday she still wasn't feeling well, so I agreed to take her up to school Wednesday morning. And I've just returned from that trip.

We got started a bit early so we could walk up to the fruit stand so Lisa could get some Grape Nehi to try. Luckily, they were open. It was pouring rain, so we both got rather damp. Regardless, we decided to set out early to make sure we got there in time. So after saying good-bye to the grandparents, we were off!

The trip to Bellingham is a fairly easy one. It's a straight shot up Interstate 5 toward the Canadian border. From Seattle, it's only about 75 miles. I'm not real happy about making the trip twice in one week, but that's what Lisa's been doing this last quarter as she finishes up school.

We stopped in Marysville to get gas, as we figured it would be cheaper than in Seattle (it was). Lisa was curious to see where my hubby-Eric works. Since it's not far from the freeway I drove up to the school. We turned around in their parking lot, and headed back to I-5. (Hey, Eric, you never told me that they'd ripped up State Street that much, did you? It looks completely different.)

Anyway, we went back to the freeway and the rest of the trip to B'ham was mostly uneventful. Well, except for the stretch of road when the rain came down so hard I couldn't see the highway, only the lights of the car in front of me, and that barely. Luckily, that lasted less than a minute, and then it eased up enough for safe driving.

Once in B'ham, we stopped at the main grocery store to pick up "supplies". Since Lisa doesn't have a car, she wanted to make sure she had lunch and dinner. I also wanted to grab something to take to the folks at Tent City. I bought a couple of boxes of granola bars, and Lisa pitched in with a box of Rice Krispies Treats. I'm wearing my "I'm blogging this." T-shirt, and the checker at the grocery store asked what it meant. Heh. Now she's been blogged.

I then drove her up to her first class, then waited until she was done, then dropped her off at her second class across campus at Fairhaven College. The rest of her classes are also at Fairhaven, so she doesn't have to walk long distances while she's still sick.

Bidding her good-bye, I headed off to my own little adventure. As I drove down out of Bellingham, I noticed the clouds were moving rapidly through the hills. It looked like the trees were on fire, as the clouds moved through, trailing like smoke. It was a compelling scene, but I had to keep my eyes on the road.

There were LOTS of trucks, and the road was very wet, so visibility was poor. Add in the crazy Canadian drivers (I swear, all Canadians lose their minds once they cross the border into the United States) and it was a bit of a gripping ride. The worst Canadian drivers are ones that drive white vans. I don't know what it is about white mini-vans, but if you see one with Canadian plates, steer well clear. Back when I was still attending WWU, there were several trips that nearly ended when a white van with Canadian plates swerved without warning at the car I was riding in. It happened once again. I didn't notice the Canadian plates until after the guy almost ran me down. Luckily there was a hard shoulder at that point on the road, or I would've ended up crashed somewhere between Everett and B'ham.

Once I got home, shaken and stirred, I calmed down for a bit at my own house in Bothell. Then I went up to the Tent City for another short visit.

It had stopped raining when I went up. I didn't see any police cars or officers at all this time. I brought my poor donations up to them, and checked out the differences in the camp from last week.

There are a lot more tents, and they've filled in the inner chain link fence with slats, and added another wall, this one of canvas, to block the view from the road. The kitchen was set up and has power. It's in a large canopy, the kind that people get to protect their mobile homes. They have a microwave and coffee makers, but no refrigerator. They are using lots of ice to keep food fresh. Like last time, everything was clean. I should have asked if they have a litter patrol going yet, but I didn't have the nerve.

I asked what they needed, and they handed me a printout of this webpage. The woman I was talking with also said they have a serious shortage of nice work clothes for men. From what she said, their needs change quickly as the community finds out about one need and fills it. A man at the donation tent said sticking with the list is safest. They still need water, but there are several businesses that have been doing an excellent job of providing enough clean water for drinking. Again they had a pile as big as a car of bottled water.

I think for next week's visit (and yes, I think I'm going to visit weekly and donate something, even if it's only granola bars) I'm going to try to borrow a camera from someone and ask if I can take pictures. One thing I'd like to do is take a few pictures of the whole area, and then take some more pictures after the Tent City leaves in August to show what kind of land they were living on. It really is miserable bumpy land that no one would want to camp on if they had a choice.

After chatting for a bit, I headed off toward the pugless house again.

I stopped at the comic shop on the way back and got this week's haul. I took the extra copy of Demo #6 that resulted from Larry Young's generousity and after some discussion we put it in another customer's box, paid for, as a gift. I wrote a little note. I hope I'll get some feedback. By the way, Larry: The shop owner, Paige, says that Diamond actually shorted us. She'd got the order in on time, they just didn't give us all the copies. Carol, the employee, says it happens frequently to our shop. They have the copies, they just don't send them out for whatever reason. It's annoying. It's one of the pitfalls of working with a monopoly like Diamond.

In any case, I safelly arrived back at the pugless house of not-so-many horrors, said hello to the grandparents, and headed upstairs to my computer, where I sat down and started to type about my road trip. So you're all caught up, or at least as caught up as you want to be, and I'm going to take a nap. Driving all those miles is tough when you aren't used to it.