Short and Cranky

2019-09-26 (Thursday)

Today was a strange day from beginning until the end. And it won't make for a long blog, either. We first got ready to leave our gorgeous campsite on time--only to get hung up at the dump site. It seemed a guy two RVs ahead of us was filling some kind of enormous water tank that would last him 8 days in the desert. He and the people between us got into a shmooze fest and in the end it was almost 30 minutes until they moved on and we could dump and fill our own tanks. It was about 11:30 when we left.

We drove down US 101, stopping only once, in a small "town" with a one-stop spot which included a post office, where I bought a few more stamps and dropped off some postcards. I also chatted with the postmistress (isn't that an old-fashioned word?) who seemed kind of "eh" on the subject of Mt. Ranier, but loved Mount St Helens. This became more info for me to cogitate... I had thought we'd head next to Mt. Ranier, but for several reasons, I was having second thoughts. I was thinking of skipping Mt. Ranier NP and go straight to Mount St. Helens instead.

Meanwhile, we arrived in Aberdeen, the largest town we'd been in for several weeks. I saw a Safeway was coming up on our route, and I wanted time to think. We also needed a grocery stop. So we stopped there, and I went inside to shop. I was delayed a couple of times in the store (couldn't reach the Half & Half, and then trying to get a store rewards card, because it would save me 10% of my somewhat hefty bill.) The end was that it was after 2:00 when I got finished.

Considering the time etc., and other factors, I decided we should go to Mount St. Helens today, find a campground, and tomorrow we'd explore the mountain. Then we'd have to figure out where to go for some decent wifi or TV reception for the MSU game at 12:30 local time on Saturday.

And that's how we ended up at yet another KOA. I am feeling kind of disappointed about it-- after such gorgeous national park campgrounds for the past 3 nights, this is crowded, unappealing, and there seems to be a crowd trying to use the laundry room, which was one reason I wanted to be here. I think we will leave tomorrow, laundry or not, and look for a nicer spot. There is a state park campground only a few miles from here, and I would have gone there first if I'd known the laundry was not going to happen. The good news is, Joe had a great shower, and I'm going to take one next.

I hope tomorrow seems more fun. I'm disappointed by today. It was just one of those days when nothing went smoothly.