CHEHALIS, WASHINGTON

Yesterday Denis got the roof rack installed and the bikes on the roof.  With that accomplished and all the needed paperwork supplied, signed and faxed to Chevy corporate headquarters, the registry of motor vehicles and to the insurance company, we are free to leave (without the car, of course).  But where to go for a week?

We stopped at Walmart because Denis needed to buy oil and a filter for the coach.  The Walmart in Renton was interesting, maybe that's not the correct word, amazing might be better or even jaw dropping.  Now, I know it was Labor Day weekend but the cashier said it's like this all the time.  My recommendation to anyone wanting to shop at the Walmart in Renton is, don't.  The store was disorganized, dirty, had narrow aisles and the people, OMG, let me tell you about the people.  It was a freak show (now remember this is just my opinion).  We saw more tattooed people than you would in a tattoo parlor, guys wore those huge shorts that hang by some miracle on their hips while the gals wear tight, revealing clothes, bright pink hair and high heels.  It is an ethnically diverse area with a high population of Muslim and Asian.  We also saw pimped out cars, which surprised us because Washington has legalized marijuana (maybe they deal with the drugs that are still illegal, I don't know). We were going to spend the night there and some people did, including the homeless man in the bushes, even though signs were posted for no overnight parking. We decided to move a mile or two down the road to St. Anthony's Church and stay there for the night since we were going to their 7:30 mass in the morning.  I think we made a good choice.

We were up and dressed when there was a knock at the door asking us to move the coach to another area in the parking lot because this mass and the four other masses that day are filled to capacity. Isn't that nice?  We find that to be true with most catholic churches with a school attached, as this one has.

After church we drove a couple of hours to a TT in Chehalis.  We were told that they were filled over the Labor Day weekend but we were able to make reservations through Thousand Trails.  When we got here, of course, the 33 full hookup sites were taken but we did find a spot with water and electricity out of the 290 other sites.  However, we are limited in our electrical use because of some problem or other.  We're planning on moving once all the weekend campers leave on Monday. Incredibly, with all the trees, we still get 4G and high speed internet.... yeah!

This is the first preserve in the TT system and has spectacular views of Mount Rainier and Mount St. Helens.  Without a car or bike, I'm not sure how much we're going to get to see but it is a lovely campground in a forest of maple, alder and Douglas fir trees.  We'll go exploring tomorrow.

That's all folks!  Thanks for stopping in!  Time to chill ....