OK – Linda arrives later this afternoon, but first I need to get the bus ready for the next part of the journey.  Gotta find a mechanic that knows air cooled vehicles for an oil change and valve adjustment, pick up special oil (Castrol GTX 20-50), fix that shelf that fell off the door and of course, get to the truck wash.  Check.  Check.  Check.  Do some laundry, shower and get cleaned up and head to the airport.

Linda arrived early from Minneapolis and we immediately headed to the Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle to connect with my cousin Keith and David, his husband of 26 years.  Then we got Lenny, Keith’s mom and had a wonderful dinner in the Ballard neighborhood at Staple & Fancy.  Dandy dinner and the whole place / city oozes hipness.  Not that I would really know, but it certainly felt that way!  (David took the photo, so you will see him shortly)

Monday morning, we need to be at the mechanic by 8:00 AM so the bus will cool down by 9:30 AM when he opens.  Great gig – work out of your garage and I guess you can call the shots on start time!  9:30 AM – who works a job that starts that late!!!  Anyway, the bus is ready for another 2,000 miles.

Connected with Erin Murphy (formally Dolan) for coffee and visiting for a couple hours.  Erin is a family friend from Minneapolis and her siblings went to school with our kids at Annunciation and Holy Angels.  She moved to Seattle and met her future husband here.  For the past 15 years they’ve owned a restaurant / sports bar in the Ballard neighborhood and also just opened a country bar in the same neighborhood.  Thanks for getting reconnected Erin.  Now get out of the bus J

Met up with our tour guide, David, for the majority of the afternoon.  Linda has never been to Seattle, and thus not the Pike Place Market, so off we went.  Saw all the hot spots and locations for the best photo ops.

And, a Molly Moon ice cream – YUM!!!

Stopped by to see Lenny at her senior living residence.  Loved her front door…didn’t quite understand it, but loved it anyway!

David is a wonderful guide and photographer.  Will post more of his photos once he sends them along.

Before I do that, it is important that you see David’s collection of Godzilla / Japanese Sci-Fi characters.  He has an entire room dedicated to this very serious passion.  He’s even made trips to Japan to document a reunion of actors that participated in the filming of many of these films.  Who would have thought!?!?!

 

Tomorrow, Tuesday, we head south out of Seattle and down the coast for some camping along the ocean.  We’ll be able to test out all the gear we’re schlepping and see if I can make good on my promise to Linda that I can make most any meal we can make in our home kitchen on our Camp Chef stove, griddle and grill!

Livable Wage Observation

Washington has passed a livable wage bill that give workers a $15/hour wage.  Will consumers see the impact?   When I ordered a Subway once into Washington a couple days ago, I was certain there was a mistake on the total.  1 – 6″ sub and a bag of chips.

See photo.  Still in favor if it helps add a few more dollars to their paychecks each month.