Warm and cozy, we sit here in the Turtle in a place called Sutherlin, Oregon. We decided to stay here because we had heard dire weather forecasts for the road ahead. When Robin registered at the Hi-Way Haven office, he heard that the pass just ahead had in fact been closed, so it's just as well we decided to stay here. We've put this park on our "favourites" list on our fancy new GPS device, so that we can be sure to find it again.

Last night we went to Duke Point to catch a ferry to Tsawwassen on the mainland. It was about 4:20 in the afternoon. The attendant told us that the 6:15 boat had been canceled due to high winds on the other side, and that the 8:15 might or might not go. However, she said, the 5:00 Departure Bay ferry to Horseshoe Bay was leaving on time, and it had room for overheight vehicles. Off we went, back into Nanaimo, and we got to the boat on time. The result of all this to-ing and fro-ing was that about the time we would have reached Tsawwassen if we had taken the 8:15 Duke Point (presuming it sailed), we were already across the border and making our way to Seattle.

The border crossing was just plain weird. There was no queue, and nobody inspected the vehicle. We gave up our orange peels and went on our way. I kept thinking we must have missed something, but there were no lights and sirens, so I guess not.

We (Robin) drove until 10 o'clock. We slept at a rest stop 20 miles north of Seattle, then got up at 5:30 this morning to beat the Seattle rush hour. Pfffft. Fat chance. Anyway, we tried to beat the rush hour, and we drove until 4:00 this afternoon, stopping along the way for a truck stop breakfast and fuel, and then to do some grocery shopping at a very pricey store called the Market of Choice. We did get a lovely chicken and salad makings for tonight's supper, along with some odds and ends, all for the bargain price of $67 and change. Okay, that did include a couple of hunks of cheese and a package of coffee, but somehow I think we found the local equivalent of Whole Foods, with comparable prices.

Then we fueled up again.

And here we are, snug in our little nest. Good-night.