It’s still razor clam season, and we need to get to San Francisco to present documents to the Chinese Embassy there for our China tourist visa applications, which we will need in the fall. So, we packed up the RV, hitched up the Bronco, and headed down to the coast. We got underway at 12:15 p.m. The local weather had been reporting warnings of severe weather that was supposed to arrive yesterday and today, so we weren’t sure we were going to push ahead with this trip, but we really must get these China visas before we can do any other serious travel since they will have our passports while they process our applications. They say the normal turn-around is 4 business days, but you can’t make appointments and have to pick up the visas and passports in person when they are ready. This means we’ll have to stick around the Bay Area for at least 4 days.
We were pleasantly surprised that the weather was actually very nice for most of the drive. We did stop at the Angel of the Winds Casino to fuel up the RV and Bronco. Traffic got bad around Marysville and remained pretty much stop-and-go until we got to Federal Way. It’s a good thing there are HOV lanes in stretches, which probably saved us a half an hour. Our next stop was at the Lacey Costco to top up the RV’s diesel tank and to pick up a pizza for dinner. Janet also wanted to price liquors for Ciara’s fall nuptials. We plan on checking prices in Oregon and California as well.
Traffic got jammed up a bit at Joint Base Lewis-McChord but lightened up as we took the turnoff to the Pacific Coast. Up until that point, the sky was blue, but as we approached the coast, ominous clouds were pushing in from the coast. We then got into the rain and wind as we approached Aberdeen.
We got to the Twin Harbors Campground near Westport at 6:15 p.m. It was still daylight, but it was raining, and the winds were gusting to 25 or 30 mph. We did unhitch the Bronco and set up camp with the RV, and then donned our waders to check out the beach.
The low tide was 0’ at 5:08 p.m. We arrived on the beach at 7 p.m. The waves were pushing up the beach, and the winds made it rain sideways. Janet had a hard time getting her car door open against the wind. We walked down to the waterline but didn’t see a single clam show. We also didn’t see another soul clamming on the beach, so most people probably gave up at least an hour earlier and left.
When we got back to the RV, we realized that the fresh water tank had been drained and not refilled. That saved on weight while driving, but the first thing we need to do tomorrow is fill up the fresh water tank. We plan on breaking camp early and relocating further south to Cape Disappointment as we continue our way south. If we don’t find any clams there tomorrow evening, we’ll just head south to California since the wind and weather are forecast to be unfavorable for the next couple of days.
Our batteries started the night at over 90% since the RV was plugged in up until we started the trip. It also helped that the sun was out while we were driving, but we may have to run the generator tomorrow morning. We did bring an auxiliary 20#LP tank which Ben hooked up to use overnight and to run the generator on in the morning if necessary. We just have to remember to disconnect and stow it when we break camp.
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