Today we completed the final stretch of our planned retirement trip. This doesn’t mean that we are done traveling, just that we are slowing down and won’t be moving through places as fast.
We left the cute little town of Cle Elum, Washington (burial place of Douglas Monroe for you Coastie trivia/history fans) and headed to Whidbey Island.
Our planned stop was Ariel and Kristen Piedmont’s house and Ariel suggested that we should take the ferry as a way of saving 3 hours of driving.
We looked into the ferry and while it seemed like a good option, there were a few things to overcome first. Primarily there was the concern about the angle between the dock and the boat being too steep for the RV. You definitely don’t want to scrape the bottom of your RV on things – that is how you lose plumbing!
Check! High tide for the majority of the daylight hours make for almost no angle between the boat and the dock.
Next concern was height of the ferry and length concerns. We are just shy of 70’ long with the front storage basket on the truck and the bikes on the rear.
Check! We might have to wait for the next ferry, but they are plenty high and long to fit us. No worries, you just pay a price per foot!
Final concern involved our propane. We carry two – 30 gallon propane tanks aboard. They fuel my stove and oven, heater, and are a secondary source of fuel for the refrigerator and hot water tank.
Check! Turn off the canisters and they can travel.
We made it through Seattle traffic and to the Mukilteo ferry terminal where the ticket person told us that we were not allowed to board the ferry with our gasoline canisters, even though they were empty.
I quickly jumped out of the truck, climbed into the bed, took out the two canisters and ran down the street to find someone to gift them to. A man working nearby with a truck was happy to take them off my hands after I explained how we couldn’t board the ferry with them.
Unplanned hiccup managed! On the ferry and ready to relax for a few weeks on Whidbey. I can’t believe our first four months are done!
Yay! You made it! Hi to the Piedmonts for us!