Olympic Peninsula and Damon Point- March 28-April 2, 2021

 Sunday, March 28, 2021

9526 miles trip start.

Left home at 9am. Took 10:15am Coupeville to Port Townsend Ferry with reservation made prior night.  Drove to Sequim Costco- shopped for food.  No diesel there.  Filled up at QFC diesel 13.470 gal @3.199.  Stopped at Saar’s grocery in Port Angeles to buy lettuce for sandwiches and green curry paste.  Stopped for 30 minute nap along shore of Lake Crescent at 3:30 pm.  Passed a gas station in Forks on the Quillayuet Indian reservation that had diesel for $3.159.  Arrived at Mora Campground around 4:30pm and picked campsite 38, one of two sites with partial utilities, although there is no power at the site.  Water is present.  

Walked the beach for a bit, but very windy and uncomfortable, so we returned to the RV.  The sun had come out for the first time as it had been rainy and stormy most of the day.  

Coach batteries were charging at 50% as the sun was setting.  Ran generator starting at 13.6hrs to run microwave to cook rice from scratch and Costco Tikka Masala pouch.  2/3C rice with 1-1/3C water in Corelle bowl microwaved 3:30 hi, 2:00@30%, 2:00@30%, 2:00@30%, 2:00@40%, 2:00@40%. Fluffed with fork, covered with plastic, 30 sec@40% Tikka masala heated 2 minutes full power, stirred, then 1` minute full power.  Generator stopped @14.2hrs.  Took some photos of sunset but the wind was still blasting away.  Drove back to campsite.  Fee is usually $24 per day, but with Janet’s Senior America the Beautiful pass, it is $12/day.  We booked 2 nights to begin with.  Ben made new “THIS SITE IS OCCUPIED” signs that worked to keep people from squatting on our site.  We returned after sunset and it was dark.  Could use some additional perimeter lighting for backing into sites after dark.  Can wire these to the undercarriage curb lighting and mount these under the rear storage lockers.

9662 miles at end of trip.

Monday, March 29, 2021

9662 miles start

Awoke and broke camp, driving to Rialto Beach RV parking lot at 8am.  Parked in sun to charge batteries.  Walked the beach from the boulder field to the left of the parking area down to the creek, but didn’t find any agates.  We did find a plastic fishing float about 12” in diameter with two “ears” for lines at the top.  Still moderately windy, but not a bad as yesterday. Made coffee and tea for breakfast in the RV parking lot and had zucchini bread, left over pizza and bananas for breakfast.  We decided to try to go to LaPush and check out those beaches (First, Second and Third beaches), but the LaPush Indian reservation as closed so we had to turn around at the reservation.  Fortunately, the trailhead to 3rd beach is just outside the reservation, so we hiked that.  It was 1.4 miles each way with 270 ft elevation.  The last part of the trail was muddy and moderately steep.  There was a pile of flotsam gathered by beach hikers at the trail head including many plastic Asian fishing floats.  We walked a bit on the sandy beach.  There was not gravel to find any agates in so we took some photos of the sea spires and then picked a couple of fishing floats to hike back with.  

Janet picked two Taiwanese floats about 12” in diameter with eyes on either end, and Ben picked a 24” float with eyes on both ends to use with shrimping gear.  After returning to the RV, we decided to try to drive to the Cape Flattery Light house, the western most point of the continental US.  The drive was very scenic, but we discovered that Neah Bay Indian reservation was closed and you had to drive through the reservation to get to the light house.  The Indian guard was polite and nice, but unyielding.  Ironic that the borders to our Indian reservations are more secure than the US/Mexico border.  

On the return drive, we stopped outside Forks at a location with cell phone coverage and uploaded our email.  Janet tried to download some books on tape, but apparently didn’t download enough to actually listen to them off line.  Ben downloaded a few podcasts. We also stopped to take some pictures at the store at the 3 Rivers resort with Twilight related humor including a “Vampire Threat” dial indicating “High”, modeled after the usual “Wildfire Threat” signage, and a No Vampires Beyond This Point Treaty Line.   

We drove by the Mora ranger station, but it was closed, so we got back to our campsite during daylight hours and had Mac & Cheese with Costco roasted chicken breast and canned green bean casserole for dinner.  We used the 10” pot, which had more room in it than the saucepan, and that worked out well.  We were in bed by 8:30pm since it was dark and there wasn’t much else to do without internet access or OTA broadcast signals.  Since we found no agates at Rialto Beach, tomorrow, we will leave and head south to visit the Hoh rain forest if open, and if not, continue down to Ocean Shores to hunt on Damon Point again.  If we can get a hookup site at Ocean City State Park again, we’ll be able to take care of all our tanks and get in some nice hot showers.  

Tuesday, March 30, 2021

9791 Miles Start

Broke camp and left Mora Campground at 8:30am.  Drove into Forks and refueled RV @ 9806 miles with diesel at Shell, 16.157gal @$3.249/gal.  Also topped off LP at True Value Hardware 1.8gal @ $2.89/gal.  

Drove to Hoh Rain Forest in Olympic National Park, using Janet’s Senior pass for free entry.  9838 miles in parking lot of visitor center. Hiked Spruce Nature trail 1.2 miles and Hall of Mosses trail 0.8 miles.  

Then drove to Ruby Beach and hiked to the beach.  Then drove briefly around the Kalaloch campground which had small crowded sites with mostly back in sites with no utilities.

Drove on to Ocean City State Park outside Ocean Shores and registered in site 172, a first come first served site with full utilities.  There were at least 5 sites available so we drove around and picked it, which had a back in site near the exit of the campground and no neighbor in the adjacent site.  The back of the site was a little swampy, but the site was level, and the utilities worked.  We topped off fresh water, put up our This Site Occupied signs, and paid registration by check- $70 for two nights.  

Drove to Damon Point and walked the point hunting agates at sunset and came back with a small pile of nice agates.  

We returned to the Ocean City campground after dark and hooked up power and water.  Odometer read 9976 back at campsite. Took hot showers and cooked Costco roasted chicken parts, broccoli, and rice for dinner.  Cooked the rice on the induction, but even on shore power, it is not possible to run the microwave and induction together.  When the microwave starts, the induction top cuts out, restarting about 30 seconds after the microwave is done.  I had brought the rice to boil at heat=8, then reduced heat to 2 and simmered until most of the water was absorbed.  Then the microwave was used to heat frozen broccoli and then the chicken pieces while the rice was left covered.  Then the teapot was used to boil water for tea on the induction after it had come back on.  The rice needed just a little more cooking, so it was returned to the induction @ heat=4 until the last of the water had been absorbed, then off.  

Went to bed at 10:45pm.  Will hit Damon Point again in the early morning for agate hunting.

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

9976 miles start at Ocean City Campground

Broke camp and drove to Damon Point, arriving at 7:23am.  Tide near zero.  Lot’s of agate  hunters but we managed to do OK.  Returned to RV at 11:15am and had coffee, tea, Zucchini bread.  

Cooked hot dogs on induction boiling in covered 10” skillet.  Then used convection and grill to melt Dubliner cheddar cheese and toast buns for lunch.  Watched 3/30/2021 CBS Evening News broadcast via streaming on AppleTV.  Took naps in the RV at the Damon Point parking area.  Temperature got up to 78 degrees in the sun with all the windows closed up.  

Went for second walk as the tide peaked at 9ft at 4pm, and receded to 3.6ft at 7:45pm sunset.  Found a few more agates, although not as large or numerous as the low tide hunt this morning. 

Returned to Ocean City State Park campground site 172 and connected water, power and sewer.  We need to rig up some sort of strap or belt system that can secure the sewer elbow adapter to the state park styled elevated sewer inlet so that it won’t shoot off when the gate valves are opened and the effluent gushes towards the connection.  That could result in an unpleasant spill.  I used some rope we found on the beach to temporarily secure this, although duct tape could work in a pinch.  

Dinner was spaghetti with marinara sauce from a jar bought at Costco.  Used a half jar (3 servings).  Also Costco meatballs, frozen green beans and artisan sandwich rolls toasted with Boursin spread cheese.  Cooked green beans first on induction top, kept covered while spaghetti was cooked on induction top.  Then sauce was added after draining the spaghetti, and heated on induction.  This was left covered after turning the induction off.  The microwave as then used to heat the meatballs, which were then added to the spaghetti and sauce.  Then the rolls were toasted convection 355˚F x 4 minutes.  The green beans were then briefly reheated on the LP burner.  

In bed by 10:15pm.  Will check out tomorrow, possibly visiting Jack and Sharon in Onalaska tomorrow vs heading back home directly.  Will walk the beach one more time after check-out in the morning.  Will dump and flush the tanks.  9991 miles on the odometer back in campsite.

Thursday, April 1, 2021

9991 miles at start from Ocean City State Park campsite 172.

Broke camp after topping off fresh water, draining and flushing black and grey tanks and disconnecting power.  Drove to Damon Point.  Overcast morning.  9999 miles at Damon Point parking lot.  Hiked to point as tide was bottoming out at -0.9ft.  Got a few decent agates. Made coffee and used the porta-potties at Damon Point. 

Drove to Onalaska Jack City. 10102miles odometer.  Spent night with Jack and Sharon. Watched Resident Alien episodes streaming over AT&T. Left speaker came loose from bottom of TV.  Will need a more permanent mount for the TV speakers.  Will manufacture adapter that can screw to the bottom of the flat TV “feet” to provide a solid adhesion surface for the sides of the speakers. 

Friday, April 2, 2021

10102 miles start from Jack City

Had breakfast with Jack and Sharon, sharing zucchini cake and bananas.  Stopped at Centralia Staples store and had Covid-19 vaccination cards laminated for free.

Stopped at Millersylvania State Park for lunch at noon 10142 miles on odometer.  Campsites very small and tight maneuvering in a few places through the campground.  Not nearly as nice as Fort Ebey for RV camping.  Most sites are for small cars and tents.  Lobster bisque, artisan roll chicken sandwiches and remaining chicken wings, potato chips for lunch.

Drove to Chiang’s Gourmet on Lake City Way arriving 4:30pm. Placed orders and received food at 5pm.  Met Ciara at Northgate Mall parking lot where she had an eye appointment at the Target store.  

Dumped and flushed tanks at Smokey Point rest area and topped off fresh water tank.  The black flush hose on the inside lane had some weird fitting swaged on that made it impossible to try to fit a hose adapter, but the middle lane had a plain cut end.  Unfortunately, it was a 1/2” ID hose, and the hose adapter we had was a 5/8” barb, so it leaked a lot and had to be held manually in position for each 40 second burst of water.  We’ll need to purchase a 1/2” barb x 3/4” MHT adapter for future use. We should also create an adapter that will allow us to connect the outside shower hose to the black tank flush in case we run into this situation again where the provided black hose flush line can’t be fitted with a hose adapter.  Then we could be self contained for flushing out the black tank using the external shower, so long as there is some fresh water left.  The external shower already is fitted with a vacuum breaker/check valve to protect the potable water systems.  A 1/2” MPT x 3/4” MHT adapter should allow the end of the shower hose to be attached to a female hose fitting, either the black tank flush flange, dual flush collar, or even a conventional garden hose with pistol sprayer.

The dual flush adapter also has developed multiple cracks that leak at the valve assembly and will have to be replaced.  

Refueled diesel at the Swinomish Casino 10290 Odo, taking 8.454 gal @ $2.959/gal.  15.3mpg since last fill up. Parked RV by side of house and unloaded perishables from fridge and laundry.  Odometer 10315 at end of trip.