POST 1218; JANUARY 20, 2014; MONTESANO, WASHINGTON

It has turned really cold...seems almost like snow in the offing.  At least I am toasty warm sleeping in SPIA-2 and had a 0200 (2:00am) visit from the local police..."just checking, says the spotlight yielding visitor, to see that you are OK...we'll keep a eye on you..."   Oh, yes, officer, thank you very much...luckily, in 10 seconds I again found asleep.

Please say HELLO to ALEX.  BECCA, manager of the Elma's EVERYBODYS  Supermarket, called Alex, living in nearby town of SHELTON,  that I was in town.  Alex e-mailed me that he would like to chat because he and his friend DAN, are preparing to embark on a 4-month national tour to interview churches.

At noon 1000 hours (10:00 am)  yesterday, Alex showed up at EVERYBODYS.  We talked continuously until 1530 hours (3:30pm)...when the SEAHAWKS football game with the 49rs began.

Today from Alex comes another e-mail asking that tomorrow we meet again to continue our conversation ... this time with Dan.  Seems Alex was somewhat impressed with details of my walk as they could apply to the trek he and Dan are about to undertake.  Of course, I said OK...now just to select the meeting place, which looks to be the town of  RAYMOND.

The Elma Supermarket EVERYBODYS.  I have one serious omission:  I failed to take a photograph of BECCA, manager and Alex's friend.  I am so sorry, Becca...please send me a pic so I can include you in my next blog update.

I first visited Elma in the year 1962..some 50 + years ago, when I took as my second wife, Sharon Fortman, from the town of ELMA / SATSOP.  The area of Grays Harbor was at that time in full swing to become a vacation destination to rival that of Florida.  Unfortunately, it fizzled out.  Changes did, however, come to the area.  A 4-lane divided highway was built from the city of OLYMPIA all the way to HOQUIAM to support development of the new playground of OCEAN SHORES...where one finds today, upscale hotel resorts and endless sandy beaches on which it is still permitted to drive vehicles.

The downside came to the small towns between Olympia and Hoquiam:  The new highway bypassed the thriving towns of McCLEARY, ELMA, and SATSOP, setting in a decline of half-a-century.  These towns I have walked the past two days.  The struggle to survive continues.

The near deserted main street of ELMA, Washington

An ELMA church.

The SATSOP Grade School...certain to become a national treasure.

Please say HELLO to l. to r.:  TRACYLEE and DAVID ANDERSON, ALATZ CORDAVA...the Second Grader at ELMA Elementary School, and LULA MATTHYNSSERS...all relatives...all struggling to bring success to the ELMA "Convenience Store" named SCHOUWEILLER GAS and GROCERY.

This business has been in the family for some 25 or so years...having been sold - and taken back- three times.  The transitions resulted in progressively larger losses until today finds Trascylee and David totally consumed in turning SCHOUWEILLER back into a successful profitable business.

LULA, realizing she could not join my in my walk, settled for a photograph together, plus a historical "note" together with my signature, which is to be framed and posted in an appropriate spot.  

Deserving or not, I appreciate the pleasures sent down when meeting such wonderful people...making it, for me, quite difficult to continue to move on.  My first choice would be to park, stay a bit, and work my tush to help if I could.

Not the first time facing such decision(s)...my destination has become incidental...the trip is everything.

The shelves, in Trascylee's words, are for the moment, quite bare...but a whole lot better than a few months ago.  

SCHOUWEILLER GAS and GROCERY, ELMA, WASHINGTON

Local residents found living in nearly every lawn:  MOLES...tunnels of the blind rodents are cleared by pushing dirt into piles...to be certain, each dirt mound is connected by series of tunnels...from which the little guys eat the tender roots of the grasses hanging down into their tunnels.

History's possibly most ancient and wide ranging "brotherhood" reaching into pre-history and very active world wide to this day.  My Dad was a 32nd Degree Mason.  I was a DeMolay (young men's associated organization).

Included this image of a modern Water Hydrant because of the large number of them found on Highway 12, which connects the towns I am currently walking...so interesting because this area has never fully developed, yet fire fighting water hydrants are found close together...waiting for the people to arrive.

Between ELMA and SATSOP is a very carefully groomed golf course...lots of folks out golfing today in spite of the cold windy day.

This wood tower has been a fixture on farms in the ELMA / SATSOP townships since I first visited back in 1962.  Inside the tower is a large water tank...such structures - of modern steel construction - are found in nearly every decent size town throughout America.  

The home of Sharon's family when she and I married, had a nearly identical water tower.

The countryside looking North toward the nearby Olympic Mountains.

Visible from Highway 12 are the two distant "cooling towers" of a failed nuclear power plant...killed by the State of Washington in the 1950's...today a reminder of the failed dreams of developers of Grays Harbor over a half century ago.

Not a single business has survived in the once thriving village of SATSOP...a ghost town which, like so many towns in the South East of America, progress has passed by...I am reminded of the many towns I have walked in the South East...similar modern highways passing them by...beautiful 150 year old townships with still magnificent multi-story brick buildings...paved streets...modern in every way...with residents found sitting on the paved sidewalks, feet resting in the street gutters...and not a single business in a single building...the residents with no hope of finding work in the otherwise empty ghost town...waiting for society to come rescue them or at least open up a bakery so a loaf of bread can be purchased.

In our growing "social" society, where "overlords" make the decisions, hope for many is a forlorn dream.

This is some of what SAM and ME have discovered walking America.

This field of grass was once part of the homestead of my Wife Sharon's family.  On this field, I joined in with my new family to play baseball.  At the far end stood the wood tower with the water tank inside.  I could not pass this spot by without walking it one more time...

Please say HELLO to DAVID SULLIVAN.  David, I found removing broken fir branches from the old baseball field...now his...which he purchased some years ago...just to give him something to do during his retirement.  David and I chatted for a good long time...recounting old times ... how it is no longer allowed to take drinking water directly from the creek at the bottom of the hill - which Sharon's father did...how Mrs. Conover still lives in the house across the fenceline (I knew Mrs. Conover back in the 1960's and knocked on her door to say hello...alas, no answer)...

and also how, after the 1964 earthquake, Mrs. Conover's drilled well of 150 foot depth, suddenly pumped RED water.  She still uses her RED water for irrigation, but using a backhoe, dug a new drinking water well some half way down the steep slope to the e-coli filled stream...contaminated from the addition of a new development upstream.

The "Fortman" home...just it looked back in 1962.

Please say HELLO to KATHERINE.  Katherine is receptionist - and perhaps more - for the MONTESANO, Washington town of some 4,000 residcents...the firm of LINDLEY FINANCIAL, owned by recent graduates of WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY (of Bellingham).

I received an e-mail from Alex on my new "DROID" super duper phone...which is so complex that I still do not know how to make it work.  I queried some dozen folks in the town of MONTESANO, asking for guidance...all without success as no one owned such a "computer".  In desperation, I went knocking on business doors, finally reaching Katherine, who took the next hour or so instructing me in the mysteries of DROID.

I think we have a new follower.  Thank you Katherine...and welcome.

I walked three sessions today, essentially covering from McCleary to and beyond Montesano.  The above image is Washington Highway 107 which heads south to RAYMOND...and continues some 80 miles to the Columbia River and the city of ASTORIA on the Oregon side.  Third walk of the day was on Hwy 107 for about 10 miles...is another 17 miles to Raymond, where I propose to meet with Alex and Dan tomorrow.

The Chehalis River...known for it's Salmon and Sturgeon.

We are back in the land of horses.

* * * * * * * * * *

Am once again fortunate to be invited by Montesano SUBWAY to use their tables and electricity to create today's blog.  The local Chevron Gas Station / Convenience Store has invited me to park overnight.

Is now 1935 hours (7:35pm).

I am in awe as to the immediate return of new "friends" 

How can it be that I be so fortunate to find such a treasure in this new endeavor of an old man...and I only set out to take a walk...

Soon, I will be increasingly bringing the LYMPHATIC SYSTEM into this blog.  I have come to accept that the Lymphatic System is truly the - at least - third most important organ of any living man or animal...an organ without which we simply would not exist...an organ dependent 100 % on the physical activity of each of us...and all AT NO COST !

L A T E R..........

POST 1217; JANUARY 18, 2014; ELMA, WASHINGTON

This day has not worked out at all as I envisioned.

First of all, thank you, Lacy, for your e-mail. 

Because of kind donation(s), I have left Bellingham.  Am now in the Grays Harbor town of Elma...about 75 miles south of Kalaloch, from which I cut short the walk of two days ago.  It appears that I will be able to continue uninterrupted on our walk.

Will stay overnight in Elma...the home town of my wife # 2...Sharon.  No, Sharon no longer lives here, and we were married for 15 years and remain friends.

The above image is the Washington State Ferry Boat, KENNEWICK, leaving the
Coupville (Fort Casey State Park)...which deserves a comment or two for historical memories.
During World War I and II, Fort Casey, together with the United States Philippines Bastion, mounted the largest artillery guns to defend both countries from invasion.  Fort Casey's guns are no longer in place, but the waters lying in front of the Fort Casey Ferry Landing has the notoriety to be the location of the discovery of (one of the) largest Octopus on record anywhere in the world...as I recall, that critter measured 32 feet in diameter.

The largest Octopus I personally saw captured completely by hand from a depth of 100 feet under the Tacoma Narrows Bridge...by a "free diving" (no breathing air) competitor.
... measured 19 feet in diameter.  The competitor free dived to the bottom, lured the octopus from their rocky lair, putting a strangle hold around the monster's neck, causing it to go limp for the swim back to the surface, where it was stuffed into the "hold" of the diver's kyak which was anchored to the bottom.

The octopi were all returned to the salty waters after the contest.

The above image is of the new design of ferry boat "bumpers" which guide the boat during
docking maneuvers.

Tomorrow morning I continue walking south on US 101 from Elma.

POST 1216; JANUARY 17, 2014; BELLINGHAM, WASHINGTON

The word has come in...no credit line at the moment.

Seems one of my ER visits during recent walks has been referred to collection, giving a less than satisfactory credit report; i.e., no temporary bank support to continue my walk.  Ample funds will be available on February 02. when SS $$ reach the bank account.

Really did not expect any different.

Learning to adjust standard of living is an interesting study in restraint.

There is no need for concern.  I now have full medical insurance, a healthy body, a good functioning vehicle, and a mission to keep me challenged...and as of February 02, ample resources to walk my walk...AND...talk my talk...with more sensational photographs and new friends.

As for the next two weeks, I will do just fine...may need to adjust the walking route just a bit, but will continue to share new sights and new friends on daily blogs.

Will now retire to SPIA-2 for one more overnight at WAL-MART.  Will then continue south - albeit on a different (temporary) route, meeting our original plan somewhere near ASTORIA, Oregon by February 02 "Social Security Payday".

Then, its full steam ahead ... back on track.

Chin Up ... Around the next bend...over the next hill...awaits something / someone sensational !!!

POST 1215; JANUARY 15, 2015, KALALOCH, WASHINGTON

Once again, we have skipped one day of blogging.  The following images were taken during my walk from Forks to the village of Kalaloch, which is located directly on the shore of the Pacific Ocean.

Please say HELLO to HEIDI.  Heidi has the early morning shift at the Forks Thriftway Supermarket drinks department...my first port of call after twisting myself out of the back of the van.  A Ham and Egg sandwich chased with one of Heidi's hot Mocca keeps me going well into the afternoon.

We had a nearly full moon last night...making it very cold in the morning...just the thing for a nice hot chocolate coffee drink.

A Thriftway wall mural.  A couple different specie of salmon are depicted in this school.

There is a river near my 10 acre farm which is a salmon spawning river to rival any spawning river I have ever seen.  Flowing through the town of Maple Valley, the river is the final resting place for literally thousands of fish; I have seen that river - about 100 feet wide - packed so tight with fish struggling to jump over a man-made dam about 8 feet high, that no water was to be seen...solid fish...I mean chock full was that river of fish, leaping Salmon falling back onto a solid mass of fish below also trying to leap through the air to reach the water above the dam.

Pacific Ocean Beach with a tiny flow of fresh water reaching out into the rising tide.  Daily tides in this part of the world can change height up to 12 feet twice a day, following the moon as it circles Earth.  The tidal flow on the above beach may well find the beach void of any water - twice a day - for as far away from the beach as 1/4 mile or more...not a place to be caught when the tide water starts flowing back up the beach...one must plan ahead or be possibly caught in deepening waters.  In some places on Earth, the tidal flow is so severe that a running horse cannot out run the oncoming waters...France, for example.

In the above image, tidal flow is away from the beach; i.e., the water is receding away from land...noticeable by the water still lying on the recently exposed beach sands.

Roadway crossing over a narrow bridge.  Not a place to be caught with two logging trucks pass over the bridge at the same moment as a walker...no berm at all !

This forested region is in the midst of the Rain Forest.  Many plants, such as the fern imaged above, reach incredible size.  Some local Cedar trees are still available to visit in the Olympic National Forest...so large, it takes many full grown men to hold hands while reaching the circumference around them.

A hundred or so miles off shore lies the "Ring Of  Fire"...the earthquake prone region that circles the entire Pacific - and part of the Indian - Ocean.  Large sea-bottom quakes can...and have...caused Tidal Waves of enormous height....note recent such waves destroying cities and people miles inland from a quake generated Tsunami - Japan, Indonesia, and South America.

This interesting image is a Pacific Ocean Beach Scene of a rather large fresh water stream crossing the expanse of a rather FLAT beach.  The Ocean Waves reach all the way to the shoreline , flooding the fresh water stream;...as the wave recedes, it leaves ripples along the stream bed...looking much like the washboard Grammy used to wash my clothes way back when.

Many folks wonder why these short white painted lines are seen crossing the continuous roadside lines.

Unlike most states, Washington State Roadways paint that short white line to depict where, some many feet below the roadway, is found a water pipe to control the flow of a mountain stream as it crosses under the roadway.  The angle of the short white line gives the exact location and direction the stream flows as it makes it way to the sea.

The Kalaloch River as it enters the Pacific Ocean.

At the peak of the upward tidal flow, the salt water is strong enough to actually reverse the flow of the river water, sending really big logs flowing UPSTREAM on the ocean tidal flow.

The large knot is a BURL - or sometimes referred to as CANCER - which afflicts the huge trees which grow along the shore of the Pacific Ocean.  Cut from the tree, the Burl growth rings can form exotic patterns which wood carvers find excellent material for their creations.  It is said that human Kidney Stones nearly replicate the grain structure of Burl.

Burls are rather common.  Today I walked past a number of standing growing live trees with rather large burls.

Common to the Pacific Northwest is the above plant:  SALAL.  Often harvested for the flower industry, Salal adds a pleasant embellishment to any bouquet. 

Attempting to create this blog last night in the meeting room upstairs in the Kalaloch Lodge, this poor tired old laptop computer gave up the ghost.  Upon selecting various programs, the computer took on a life of it's own...giving out with crazy and incomprehensible jumble.  I was tired; I was cold; I was hungry; and not prepared to fight the computer too.  So, I shut it down and climbed into the covers in the back of SPIA-2, where I instantly went to sleep.

At 0200 hours (2:00 am - midnight), I awoke knowing I could not fritter away my night...so, lying under my toasty covers, I decided I had to get the computer fixed...and could do that only in Bellingham, some 200 miles away.  It was around 0300 hours that I twisted my way out of the bed, slipped into my shoes (always sleep in my clothes in this cold and damp place), slid into the driver's seat, and 6 hours later, pulled into my computer guru's office.  Took him 15 minutes to identify the problem...a new camera CD download maxed out my tiny laptop computer memory bank, designed by Panasonic to run 7 / 24, leaving no memory for the job I had to perform with the other 4 or 5 programs to produce this blog.

So, I spent the last of my precious $$ to return to Bellingham to fix something which a knowledgeable computer operator - which I am not - should have identified and repaired in 30 minutes.

I am pleased my tiny computer once again performs like new.  I also took the opportunity to do something I may come to regret...I put SAM - my cart - into the storage unit.  I now have lots of room in the Mazda MPV..., but the SAM of SAM and ME is no longer for this walk.

I also stopped in at my bank of many years, begging for a small (a couple hundred $$) line of credit to help me through the present and yet to come spots of dirth.  By noon tomorrow, I should have the bank's answer as to whether they feel I am trustworthy ... an old man with no job and only $1,175.00 per month total income to find my way into even older age...

We shall see...in any event, I will find a way to return to Kalaloch and continue with our walk and our daily blog(s).   (KALALOCH = Ka-lay-lock).

Tonight I am at WAL MART, Bellingham, where they kindly have computer stations for customer use and welcome travelers to park the night - without getting hassled by local police...a VERY serious element challenging travelers in such as California or Florida.

...and, "Tomorrow is another day". = Gone With The Wind !