So long, Washington

About a month split between the Olympic Peninsula and Vancouver Island felt like enough time in the same general area. Besides, the National Weather Service was laying odds for a streak of wet, gloomy weather. Time to move on. Or, more accurately, to backtrack.

I left Port Townsend this morning, took a break in Shelton, and now I’m in Astoria, Oregon. Again. I was so ready to get south that I took the shorter, faster route on the east side of the peninsula rather than the longer slower, more famously beautiful west side. (It’s unusual and sometimes confusing that US-101 is on the west, north and east sides of Olympic Peninsula.)

My tenuous plan is to spend the next two months s-l-o-w-l-y making my way back down the Coast, avoiding hot weather and even hotter wildfires.

Tomorrow’s agenda is to get past the popular Oregon costal towns. The stretch between Astoria and Tillamook is particularly vexatious to me, even when it’s not packed with weekenders.

In other news, the Rolling Steel Tent’s registration renewal arrived. The sticker is in place (after washing the van), the document is stowed, and now I’m legal for a couple more years. Wander on!