July 21: There is something about Mary

July 21:  There is something about Mary

 I am a giver.  This morning, Thunder Paws - King of the Morning - will share my odor with my captors.  Deposit my load, then run back and forth for all to enjoy!  How can they not love me?

 We were successful in our squatting on private property last night.  This morning, we decided to walk the Cushman Trail.  This trail is for hikers and bikers and has hills and flowers and berries.  It goes for miles.  I left Slow and Slower at the big cedar tree where they turned around.  I went about one more mile up.  Nobody else was on this beautiful trail so it was a peaceful power walk.

We then cleaned up and readied Hannah for departure.  Today, we were going to visit my friend Mary Thompson.  We worked together many years ago and have maintained contact.  Her husband Mike is a retired navy seal and has some good stories.

 First, we wanted to see if we could find a site for Hannah.  The RV guide listed Manchester Park in Port Orchard.  The phone number went to a reservation recording, so we thought we would take our chances.  Turn left here for 2.5 miles.  Turn right here for 2.3 miles.  Turn left here for... and so on.   Finally, we found it and we found one spot that would fit Hannah that had not been reserved.   We jumped on it, backing her in.  The site had no hookups and was very woodsy.  It almost felt like night with such a dense canopy.  So now, we could detach and head to Mary's. 

Heading north, we took the road into Bremerton.  Wait, this does not look right.  But try to find a street sign.  Wait.  Do we go up that one?  Why does that not look right?  We call Mary.  She knows how to get there but does not know the names of the highways or roads.  Just look for signs for the town Poulsbo.  Dumb name...  I thought I saw such a sign before we hit Bremerton, so we headed back in that direction.  Coming from the north, the signs did not say the same thing so we had to drive all the way back south until we could turn around and read the street signs.  Once we found them, we were on our way.  What I thought would be about a 15 minute drive was over an hour!  But we finally arrived.

 We visited, ate fresh pizzas, chips and salads.  We laughed and had a generally good time.  I always feel good after a visit with Mary.  She is near and dear to my heart.  And Crew likes hearing navy seal stories so everyone is happy.

Coming home from the north, the street signs are not the same as coming from the south.  So we ended up getting off one off ramp sooner.  It was a good thing as this was a road that went all along the water inlet.  It was a very pretty drive that we were not expecting.  And what was even better, it ended practically in our park.  The beach is about 100 yards from the road in the park.   Great location.

We had a fire pit, and Mary and Mike gave us some firewood.  It was a great night!