I left off as we headed north towards Olympia, WA. We left OR, but I can't actually recall where we stayed. Seems maybe some pass or something like that. We were sneaking the dogs in and out of rooms to avoid the $10. - $25.00 cleaning fee for each dog. We were tight on money since A's money wasn't coming in as she stated. I was overdrawn in my checking account by this time. There was little cash on hand for food or gas.
We got stuck in traffic outside of Portland, OR for several hours, even tough we drove the bypass highway around the city. It was a beautiful day and we reached Olympia after dark (again). We had reservations at a Super8 close to campus, but the motel didn't seem to have our reservations. I sat out in the car while A got the situation straightened out. Seems the motel had put us up on the third floor and there was no elevator. Bookings.com screwed up yet again. As our custom (since we had gotten a couple of really crappy rooms), I checked the room out before we took the dogs in and unloaded our car. The first impression I had of this place was there was no light at the entrance down the steps to the door to the motel. The interior hall floor, right inside the entrance door, was covered with some kind of sticky stuff in a puddle that was pretty hard to avoid. The carpet leading down to the room was stained and very dirty. There was a toilet plunger outside one room door. When I went into the room, the odor was pretty bad, an odor that reminded me of pesticides. I turned on the AC, an old wall unit, it hummed loudly and put out a small stream of tepid air. But at least the windows would open. opened them to allow the outside cooler air into the hot room. The fridge was OK, if soiled.
I went out to the car, we brought the dogs into the room. Both dogs were very interested in the smells on everything. This was the first time the dogs had acted like this, sniffing their way around the room. I wondered if someone had been killed in the room and became aware that motels don't change the bedspreads between customers.
Once again, unloading the car was a challenge. After all was in the room, I went scouting for the ice machine. We did keep one cooler in the car all the time and ice needed to be replenished daily. There was only one working ice machine in this area and it was a hike to the machine. I collected ice for the car cooler and went outside to fill the cooler.
The motel room was dark and dingy. That is the best I can say about it. Out by the dumpster, there loomed a huge pile of box springs and mattresses. A mountain! I started thinking about the odor in the room, the discarded box springs and mattresses and thought about bedbugs. I was just waiting to awake in the night covered with bites. But morning came and I was unscathed.
We went off to find a park for the dogs. Close to the motel, we discovered a water reclamation project. It had nice paths around a large pond, many different trees growing there. In that part of WA, holly trees bear blue berries instead of red. There were many sparrows there, none were English and I took some good bread loaf ends to feed them. There were stands with doggie poop bags and disposal places for the bags. It was a wonderful find for the dogs. A, however, didn't want to walk with me since I told her that she couldn't take Angel off leash when she was with me. So, A avoided me and let A off the leash anyway.
After we walked the dogs, we headed to find where A's son Rob & his wife, Rebecca live. Their house is on a hill, overlooking part of Puget Sound. It is a lovely place, a lot of glass in the kitchen, dining and living areas. Almost like being outside! The yard was outstanding, seems Rebecca had moved tons of overgrown soil & brambles to create her place of peace. There was a play house for their grand-daughter, Ava, who is just five years old. She is a very interesting child, having been brought up by her grandparents and her mother. I think there was a great-grandmother who had since died. Anyway, Rebecca took us on a walk through a temperate rain forest close to her house. It was something surreal to walk in. The trees were covered with green mosses and it was cool and in some places, dark. We came to a place by the river and sat on the bench. Rebecca told us that Great Blue Herons had a rockery across the river in the old-growth forest. As we sat and listened, we could hear the ruckus from the young herons as their parents approached the rockery with food. We watched the adult birds flying around the tops of the trees, landing on branches to feed their young. It was a spectacular sight. And noisy! How could juvenile birds make such a noise!!!??
Later that afternoon, we went to dinner. We left our dogs at Rob & Rebecca's house, their three labs secured in the bedroom, a good gate at the end of the hall and our dogs in the living room. A was paying for dinner for four adults tonight and she chose a fairly upscale restaurant in Olympia. She just needs to impress! Once again, A ordered much more food than she could finish. I cleaned my plate, it was very good! After the meal, we walked down to Puget Sound and the docks. It was quite interesting to see how large Puget Sound is. It travels inland for many miles on many routes. A was tired and Rob went for his truck and picked us up at the curbside. We headed back to Rob & Rebecca's, took the dogs for a walk and back to the motel with the dogs. I had left the AC on and put out a Air Wick air freshener to help with the smell in the room.
I found another exit from the motel that would help us keep the dogs secret and we started using that exit rather than the unlit exit. The trash piled up at the unlit exit showed the lack of maintenance at this motel. This other exit was easier to get in and out of since it had a ramp and cars couldn't park right up to the door, blocking ease of entrance.
One afternoon, Rob took us to the military base close to Olympia (or maybe in Olympia?) Since Rob worked for the government and the university, he had passes to gain entrance to both places. Rob had put his dogs in the back of the truck (with a cab cover) and we headed to a place to hike. There was a pond there and his labs chased a stick into the pond, all three hanging on to the stick, swimming for shore. There were places for helicopter training and a tower with a ladder to the top. Ava climbed the ladder, Rob right behind her. They reached the top and climbed down again. It was touching to see how protective Rob is with his wife's granddaughter. Rob and Rebecca had been together for many years and Rob had helped Rebecca raise her own daughter (mother of Ava). Ava stayed with Rob & Rebecca over night often, sometimes for the weekend. Rebecca told me Rob had been in the birthing room when Ava was born and cut her umbilical cord.
A had a hard time keeping up with us, so Rob cut the hike short. Ava couldn't understand why A couldn't keep up, but did say something about fat people can't walk as fast as thin people, Rob corrected her...but she was right. A was grossly out of shape, overweight and couldn't walk more than 15 feet without breaking into a sweat. And the climate was so lovely! Temps were in the 70's & low 80's and the humidity was non-existent. Nothing like Memphis, TN.
During our visit to Rob & Rebecca's, Rebecca took the opportunity to speak with A about her entire life-style. I was outside in the yard with Ava, rob and the dogs, but did hear some of the conversation. I believe Rebecca raked A over the coals about borrowing money, taking advantage of friends (me), endangering the lives of passengers in her vehicle (Rebecca told me A had almost killed her while driving badly), and that she needed to straighten out her thinking about those who she wanted to keep close to her in her life.
Rebecca did tell me that A told her she had just come into $4,000.00 in school wages, etc. When we left Rob & Rebecca's house that evening, A went to the bank and paid me $150.00 cash to make up for all the ready cash I had spent. At least I had money to spend when we went to Trader Joe's the next day. Beforehand, I had been buying all the food at markets. When we went to Trader Joe's, I took my own cart and bought only my own food. A did the same. I was guessing that Rebecca's talk with A was making some impact.
The last day we were at Rob & Rebecca's, we washed clothes in their washing machine. Before I put my clothes in the washer, I took them outside and shook my pockets, clothes outdoors. I had to tell A to do the same! Since she kept her dirty clothes in the car, they could be carrying little critters that would come out on the floor as she unloaded them into the washer. I kept my dirty clothes in a double plastic bag inside my backpack. She kept her dirty clothes in one of her tote bags, no security to keep any of the roaches out of the clothing. After she shook her clothes outside, she actually put the dirty clothes on the kitchen counter! I suggested it might not be such a good idea to put dirty clothing on the same surface where food was prepared. She has no common sense at all !! Once again, A washed all her clothes together, darks & whites...and overloaded the washer, using too much soap. Someone needs to show this woman how to sort her laundry and use less soap!!! Rebecca & I cleaned up the mess in the washer while A watched.
I fashioned a clothes line outside and hung my clothes out in the sun to dry. A used the dryer. By the end of the good drying time outside, I did have to put some of the heavier clothes into the dryer, but not many and not for long. I took the time while clothes were drying to reorganize the car. Rob put ice into the cooler for us, he had some ice blocks in his freezer. I filled our traveling water jugs with water from Rob's well. At least I didn't have to buy drinking water for a few days. I washed the car windows...and A couldn't understand why I was doing this. I aired out the bedding that the dogs had in the back seat, A couldn't understand why.
Our clean laundry and dogs packed up into the car, we headed to the motel for one last night in the room from hell. I packed my clean clothes into my suitcase, took out enough clothes for two days. We were heading for the Cascades in the morning.
Again, I faced packing up the car. By the time I finish, I am in a fit to be tied up! After I had all into the car except for the two chairs we never used, A decided she could leave one of them behind. I was silently cheering!
BTW, she never used the Cribbage board she packed, nor did she look at the files she had in the file box packed behind the passenger seat. She used her laptop twice. I don't think she wore the 40 tee shirts,four blazers or six pairs of slacks she brought. I, however, wore almost everything I brought at least once.
Before we headed out for our day, we took the dogs for a walk at the water reclamation park. I headed down the path with BB. A headed through a path into the woods. BB and I walked for about 20+ minutes, then headed back to the car. I saw A with Angel by the car...A was wiping Angel with a towel. Seems A let Angel off leash and Angel decided to take a swim in the pond. The reclamation pond. The pond covered with duck weed and probably contained sewage. And A used the water Rob gave us (for drinking) to clean Angel with. I was incensed! Angel really stunk badly, she was wet with nasty water and now she was going into the back seat! The odor permeated the interior of the car. A has little sense of smell, so she was oblivious.
As we traveled east, we came to a river. I said we needed to rinse Angel off in the water. A and I had a "discussion" about this...she was against the idea. My nose told me Angel needed a dip, so I pulled off at a place where we could walk the river's edge. Angel was less than cooperative and wouldn't go into the water. I picked her up and threw her as far as I could...she got wet enough to get rid of some of the duck weed that remained in her fur. We toweled Angel off and put a clean towel over the (now soiled) cover on the car seat and piled into the car which had an odor but not as bad as before Angel's dip.
We headed east on a secondary highway that Rob had suggested. We would travel only 250 miles that day, but we were going through the foothills of the Cascade Mountains and would see Mt. Rainier close up. As we ascended the foothills, the climate changed from summer into spring. There were Lupines blooming along the highway. We saw glacier ice hiding in the shadows. Mt. Rainier rose up to greet us, covered with glacial ice, moving down towards the bottom.
I stopped frequently (I was driving) and took photos. A wasn't interested in getting out of the car. I think she had done too much walking while we visited. She asked me to take some pix with her iPhone and I did.
When we finished crossing the Cascades, we stayed in a small town motel for the night. Sneaking the dogs in and out, we avoided paying the cleaning fee. I feel strongly the cleaning fee is overinflated and unrealistic. Since BB the dog doesn't shed, had wonderful indoor manners and his own bed to sleep in, he doesn't cost anything to keep overnight. Angel is a larger dog, but we cover the bed (first thing, before we bring her into the room) with a large sheet to protect the bedding from any of her hair or dirt she might shed. BTW, Angel is a great dog. Her owner needs some training.
I was stunned to see all the apple orchards and (possibly) almond groves living in the desert on the east side of the Cascades. Orchards spread as far as you could see. All irrigated, since the green of the orchards were a strong contrast to the brown of the brown grass & sand.
We headed east out of WA and into Idaho.
More later...