ANACORTES, WASHINGTON (THE SAN JUANS)
August 7, 2000, Monday- on schedule, at 8, we were rolling to the northwest. Instead of taking the interstate, we decided to do the local state highway and tour the top half of the Cascade Loop. It was sensational crossing the cascade and coastal ranges. Similar to many of the Colorado roads, with tons of pine trees, the highway had long grades, up and down, and a few switchbacks. Technical driving but very worthwhile.
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We arrived in Anacortes, WA, and pulled into one of the few sites that had a phone line right to the site. Lucky! And, for a change, the temps aren't in the 90's. Very civilized in the 70's with evening temps forecast for the 50's. Yeah!
August 8, 2000, Tuesday- a cleanup morning on the coach and car, but what a pleasure to be working in temps in the 60's and not the 90's. We went downtown for lunch with fresh muscles and steamers for lunch. Heavenly!
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We did a few walks through the Fidalgo Bay RV park today and met lots of good folks. One, interesting lady had a pet rabbit in her RV. It was a beautiful chinchilla lop ear rabbit with fur that felt soft and cuddly. Definitely one of the stranger travelers.
August 9, 2000, Wednesday- after we waited two extra hours for the Novus windshield man to come and repair a few rock chips on the coach, we got the bikes out of the car to do a test. The experiment was to see if we remembered how to ride a bike, it's been so long. I had noticed a small cut in the rear side-wall of my tire, so we rode to a bike shop a mile away. He inspected all of our tires and said we could put a duct tape patch that would work for a while. I said, how about a new tire. Since he only had black walls, and our other ones were white walls, it would look funny. So, two please, and we'll pick them up after our ride, on the way back to the motor home. Off we pedaled to the other side of the island, by the San Juan Island ferry slip, about seven miles away, when we got a call from P&K that they were 15 minutes from the RV park. So, back we peddled to the bike shop, picked up the tires and returned to Fidalgo Bay RV as they were checking in. Phil took Susan's bike to check out the site options and asked why was the front wheel so wobbly. An inspection showed a four-inch rip in the sidewall, with the tube almost coming through. A few more high-speed revolutions, and she may have been over the handlebars. We were fortunate in avoiding a serious accident. So much for a bike store checking out the tire an hour prior.
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We hosted a wonderful dinner at the coach for P&K with fresh salmon on our new grill. Superb new cooking recipe in a tin pouch with portabello mushrooms and onions and other top secret ingredients!
August 10, 2000, Thursday- this morning we toured three different boat charter operation where P&K were looking at the boat types and sizes to rent for next year's 3 month trip to Alaska and back, via the inland passage. For us it was quite an education to see the various configurations and levels of sophistication.
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In the afternoon Phil and I went to the Anacortes airport to wait the arrival of his plane. It had been left in June 60 air miles to the south for it's annual inspection and a new windshield. It was like reuniting a father with his child, a joy to see. We flew the mechanic back to Bremerton and after he worked on some small additional tweaks, we returned to Anacortes after 8, fighting the last of daylight. It was a long but fun day. While we were flying, the girls went to play 9 holes of golf, and they to had a great afternoon.
August 11, 2000, Friday- at 9 AM we headed towards Everett, Washington, for our Boeing Plant Tour. Superlatives just don't do the tour justice. At this facility they assemble 747, 777 and 767 aircraft. In the visitor's center were photos of the various achievements accomplished by Boeing over the years. One interesting photo showed an assembly facility during World War II that covered several acres. To make it difficult to spot by enemy aircraft, the entire roof was made to look like a suburban residential area with fake houses, streets, trees, cars, etc. During the high point of war production 16 B17 bombers were finished each day.
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Our tour started with a PTQ film on the assembly of the 747 jumbo jet. PTQ stands for "Put Together Quickly". In 7 minutes you see an entire aircraft created before your eyes. The actual tour covered the 747 assembly line. Between three shifts from Monday through Friday, 21,000 people work at this location. 77,000 in the State of Washington, and 200,000 worldwide. The paint booth was open today, and we could see the hydraulic lift for the workers to paint, with hand sprayers, these giant aircraft. Depending on the airlines logos and paint schemes, the paint alone will weight from 400 to 1200 pounds.
The engine nacelles of the 777 aircraft are so large, that their diameter is larger then the diameter of a 737 fuselage. Now that's big. The engines, depending on which manufacturer fabricates the engine, cost from $11 to $15 million each.
Each aircraft has about 6,000,000 parts. 3,000,000 are nuts and rivets. The balance of 3,000,000 pieces are specialty pieces, many of which are made specifically for that aircraft. The big 747's weigh 400,000 pounds empty, and 875,000 pounds at full gross. The largest internal configurations are for the Japanese Airlines short-haul planes. With a 45 minute to one hour flight, they have no food preparation areas, and reduced rest rooms. Smaller seats now permit 600 plus seats. These planes have 175 miles of wires onboard.
The assembly building is the largest cubic foot building in the world. It's perimeter is 2.2 miles long. Inside are 472,000,000 cubic feet, more then twice the size of the next building, the vehicle assembly building at the NASA facility at the Kennedy Space Center. It's interesting that this Boeing facility has no heating or air conditioning equipment. Since the temperatures don't vary that much in the area, the equipment, lights and 6000 workers on each shift heat the facility. If it starts to get too hot, just open the big doors and let the breeze cool everything down. On the main work floor the temperatures only vary from 68 to 72 degrees. It saves over a million dollars of utility costs over traditional methods.
Prices….basic, without interiors or paint, and nicely equipped:
767 $84 to $127 million
777 $134 to $85 million
747 $165 to $200 million
Where do we send our checks? Mayby Visa and get miles?
After this great morning, we headed back to Anacortes and toured some more ships for that potential trip next summer to Alaska for K&P.
For dinner we flew from Anacortes to Friday Harbor, had a wonder harbor-side meal, then flew back just before dark. It doesn't get much better.
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August 12, 2000, Saturday- more boats to look at. Some north in Bellingham and some back in Anacortes. The last boat that we looked at, Three Buoys Toy, looked like the best for the bucks with two full staterooms (as opposed to some that had a v-twin in the bow or a bunk arrangement. It also had a fully enclosed rear deck and flying bridge, covered with canvas and plastic all that could be unzipped and rolled back as the weather permitted. Inside a full domestic sized refrigerator and complete kitchen and dinning area completed a good 1991 42' motor yacht. We shall see what type of quote would appear for a 12 week charter.
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As we returned to our coach, Britt and Keefer, our next door neighbors, invited us to join them for some homemade chioppino for dinner. We brought out all of our shellfish hardware, fresh flowers, fruit salad, and liquid refreshment to dig into the fresh clams, mussels, crabs and shrimp. A gourmet feast!
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August 13, 2000, Sunday- heard from Stephen that he and Becky, despite being sick with the flu, raised over $300 on his charity hike to the top of Grays Peak, over 14,000 feet. Well done!
After the low fog lifted to a safe level, we departed Anacortes with P&K in the Cessna, and flew to Everett. A gorgeous view above the clouds, and then it cleared as we approached Everett. Howie, Phil's brother, picked us up and we toured some of the motor homes available at Paulsboro RV. They had a fairly good lineup from Bounders to Expositions, Discoveries, Alpines, and the full American Coach Division Tradition, Dream and Eagle. A patio Mexican lunch, and then back into the plane. By now, the clouds had fully disappeared, and we did the scenic tourist flying over all of the San Juan Islands. Magnificent seeing it all from 3000 feet. Lots of boat activity as well as air traffic. Everyone had to constantly scan the horizon.
August 14, 2000, Monday- Phil and I fly back to Bremerton to get a few tweaks repaired on the plane. My first IFR flight into actual clouds in a long time. All went well on a beautiful flight, and after a while, all the little things were fixed, and back we flew on another scenic flight. What a great area to see from the air.
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One of the areas we flew over had four aircraft carriers in slips. We were wondering if we should make an offer on all four. Can you tow an aircraft carrier behind the motorhome? Another area provided a look at some Trident nuclear submarines.
Susan and Karen, meanwhile, had a wonderful walk on Whidbey Island and checked out some sea kayak rentals for the next day or two.
August 15, 2000, Tuesday- a relaxing day. Off to Costco then we did something that we haven't done in a hundred years. Surrounding the park are thousands of blackberry bushes, with the fruit at or near perfection. So, we picked a few buckets full wearing full body armor. Jeans and a jean jacket, hat and glasses helped, but we still got scratched up picking the perfect berries. It was easy to tell the perfect ones. They were the ones that came off the bush with just a touch. Then a bike ride around town, past lots of marinas and private homes with magnificent views.
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Dinner, at our home, for the four of us, with some Costco sirloin steaks and Karen's secret receipt for portabello mushrooms. Yum! The cat's meow were the blackberries with fresh whipped cream. Double Yum!
August 16, 2000, Wednesday- day number 17 in Seattle without measurable rainfall. Another sunny day in the northwest! So, let's get into the plane and head to Canada, to Vancouver Island, and specifically, Campbell River. Here is where Freddie and Geoff, friends of P&K from Mesa, AZ, spend their summers. So, after a picture perfect flight, they did some fresh sockeye salmon on the grill. Perfectly done! A tour around the town showed nice homes, parks, and water views from everywhere.
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Turnaround back to the US, cleared customs in Bellingham, and then back to Anacortes. Thanks to Phil, I got almost 10 hours of flying this week. It sure felt great to get behind the yoke!
But, it was our last day with P&K for a while, as we head south in the morning, and they get ready for their trawler trip starting on Saturday.
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