20230418 Tuesday, April 18, 2023; Return to the coast for razor clams

20230418 Tuesday, April 18, 2023

The WDFW (Wa Dept of Fisheries and Wildlife) just approved another week of razor clam digs. These had been quite limited earlier due to persistent red tides, but now all the major razor clam beaches have been cleared for harvest. Not only that, but the WDFW has increased the catch limit from 15 to 20 clams each.  

We left home and ran some errands around town, including topping off the LP tank in the RV, which had been reading 1/2.  Surprisingly, it took 9.17gal @ $3.16/gal. We ended up hitting the road in earnest around 10:30am.  The weather was overcast and breezy.  We stopped by Chiang’s Gourmet at 1:45pm, but it was closed on Tuesdays.  So we simply got on I-5 and made our customary Lacey Costco fuel and lunch stop. Diesel was $4.699/gal.  We picked up some snacks and a Costco pizza, as well as cashing in our Costco Executive rewards check.  The weather had deteriorated to intermittent rain.

The next stop was Dennis Company Ace Hardware in Montesano, where Janet had her eyes on a SMI Clam Gun Pro, which is the Mercedes Benz of clam guns.  We were pleasantly surprised when the clerk rung up the sale and it was for less than the sticker price because he gave us a 10% Senior discount (Yipee!).  

We arrived at the Copalis RV resort about 4:45pm, but nobody was to be found at the desk or clubhouse to check in with.  The park also appeared almost deserted with only about a dozen rigs scattered about.  So we picked out a spot and assumed that we could register in the morning.  Ben then noticed that there was a small piece of paper taped to the sewer hook up on the site saying “NO SEWER”.  Looking around, it appeared that almost all of the sites had the same thing, although a few of the larger RV’s, which appeared to be long term residents, still had their sewer hoses hooked up.  Even the designated trailer dump site had “NO SEWER” taped over the hook up.  It looks like that sewer back up we noticed last time may have gotten worse.  We’ll have to see if they offer a discounted rate since there is no sewer hook up, although the location, water and electric are all we really need.  We should be able to make it through the week and dump at the rest stop in Montesano on the way home.

The evening was notable for pretty hard rain, and winds enough to rock the RV a bit.  We’re hoping it plays out overnight because the forecast is for a less than 30% chance of precipitation at 6:21’s sunrise.  The low tide is -0.4’ @6:44 so we’ll have to set our alarm clock early. We’ll be driving up to Mocrocks for tomorrow’s opening.