SATURDAY 15 AUGUST 2020; GIG HARBOR TO BEND, OR

 Saturday, 15 August, moving on

I am ready to move on.  As I said earlier I feel like we have done all we want to do here.  I have heard really good things about Bend and am ready to experience them.

We pack things up and were on the road by 9:30.  We have a 6 hour drive which will put us there about 3:30.  Not bad.

The drive started out smoothly enough.  I needed fuel so I left the park and filled up then caught up with Rob on the freeway somewhere in Tacoma.  We continued on, stopping at a rest stop or two.  At the last rest stop we decided I should go on ahead so that I could be there to check us in before the office closed.  The two rest stops were putting us there closer to 4:30 rather than 3:30.

Well things went south, as they say, about 33 miles from Bend.  Traffic came to a stop.  I could see Rob in my rear view mirror about a half mile behind me.  The front of the RV sticks out like a beacon.  Anyway, we were sitting and creeping an sitting and creeping.  Cars in front of me were turning around to go a different route.  All of a sudden there was a Ka bam!!! I looked in my side mirror and a car three back from me decided to turn around rather than wait.  It got nailed by an oncoming pick-up and literally cut in two.  I was like holly shit.  Should I pull over, go help, what should I do.  Other cars in front and behind did pull over, but I could tell, there was nothing anyone would be able to do.  I called 911 

Rob is now caught behind the accident and I am creeping on ahead.  All the while trying to get oncoming cars to slow down so they don’t cause another accident.

It turned out that the slow down in the first place was because a truck carrying hay caught on fire.  The fire department was there trying to put it out.  One lane was closed and they had to direct cars from each direction around it.  It took me an hour to go the two miles to where they hay was burning.

They were just getting it cleaned up enough to open our lane when I went by.  Mean while, Rob was still back behind the accident which was horrible.  They had to use the Jaws of Life to extract the person from the car.

Rob didn’t think the person was alive as the ambulance didn’t leave right away.  Perhaps they were working on the persons in it.

I continued on down the highway.  I went another 20 miles; 8.8 miles away from the park.  I was seeing a big fire off in the distance ahead of me and was wondering what it was.

Another accident had caused a big brush fire.  They shut down the freeway so the fire department, forest service, and aerial drops could work the fire.

We, traffic was diverted onto another highway.  Meanwhile, I’m calling Rob to find out what his status was.  He had called ahead to the RV park to let them know we would not get there before they closed their office.  

As it turned out, we actually left Gig Harbor a day early.  We had paid through tonight and weren’t supposed to leave until tomorrow.  Bend had us coming in tomorrow night and our spot was already in use, but they did have a spot for us tonight in overflow.  

I got there at about 7pm.  I found our packet taped to the office door and then scouted out where our spot was.  I called Rob to let him know.  He was moving, finally, but was about 30 min away.

Bella and I sat in the shade on a patio waiting for Rob.  He finally arrived and got situated into our spot. It was tight.  We only set up minimally since we were only here for the one night. We did not unhook and were by no means level.  But, for one night it was fine.

We grilled some stakes, split the salad from the night before and some broccoli and had a nice dinner.  It was already late, so we just read before retiring for the night.  What a sad and crazy day.  Once again, someone’s impatience cost them dearly.