On Monday, August 27th, I packed up the motor home and left my sister's driveway and crossed over the Astoria bridge into Washington.  I got on US Highway 101  and headed north on this two-lane road which meanders along the edge of the Olympic National Forest.  I was headed for Grayland and an RV Park by the name of Kenanna, right on the ocean a little south of Westport, Washington.  When I made the reservation I asked, "Are you right on the ocean?" The response was, "We are adjacent to the beach but it's a little bit of a walk." The 'little bit of a walk' turned out to be almost half a mile before you actually could touch water as the beach was the widest, flattest beach I've ever seen.  The flip side, though, meant that it was a great beach for flying my kite AND for bike riding.  It was also a very long beach and I never did get to the north end after riding for more than an hour.

   When I asked the lady in the office what the origin of the name, "Kenanna" (which I was pronouncing, 'Key-na!-na') she told me, "Oh, no.  It's just the names of the original owners, Ken and Anna!  So much for creativity and I was reminded of the place we had at Thousand Oaks which was originally called, "Comancias." We all tried to give it an authentic, Spanish slant but were told it was really pronounced, "Come and see us!" Still, Kenanna was another lovely RV site with an enjoyable beach and I wish I had stayed for more than two nights.

I left Grayland on Wednesday morning under overcast skies and again headed north, still on US 101, winding along the edge of the forest and the edge of the sea.  It was a spectacular drive and it wasn't long before the clouds lifted to make it a sunny, warm day. There were surprisingly few other cars taking this drive.  I was treated over and over again to wonderful sights and stopped at Crescent Lake where I dipped my feet into the water which was not as cold as I had expected.

    Continuing on, I crossed over the bridge at Deception Pass - almost 200 feet above the water - and stopped to take this picture.  Even I was a little 'off-put' walking across this span.  The walkway is narrow and at one point, as I was squeezing by some other people, a passing car backfired with a loud bang!  I think the women that I grabbed onto thought I had shot her and was about to push her over the edge.  Looking down didn't do anything to calm our fears.

    As if the fear of heights wasn't enough to scare me I was treated to yet another 'crisis.' Several times during the afternoon drive I kept hearing "thumping sounds." I stopped several times to check out.  First all my cabinets, then things outside (the little storage compartments and the awning supports) then, finally after a loud "thump" I pulled right over to the shoulder of the road and went all around the outside of the motor home even looking underneath.  As a last resort I climbed up the ladder to the roof and, low and be told, there was the TV antenna, broken off from its bracket, flopping around and only being held on by the cord!

    Afterwards, when I got to thinking about it, I trembled as I thought, "If that had flown off while I was cruising down the highway and smashed into someone's car I probably wouldn't have even been aware that I might have caused a serious accident. I said a quick prayer, thanking God for sending his angels to help me along the way.

    I got to Port Townsand late in the afternoon and got right on the ferry to Whidbey Island.  I made a few wrong turns so didn't get to Anacortes until after seven.  My hosts, John and Kathy DeMan (brother of our Fr. Thom DeMan) moved to this island community, which is part of the San Juan Island Chain, about five years ago but this was my first visit since they moved here. On Thursday, John drove me (with my bike) down to the ferry dock and I made the 40 min. trip to Lopez Island where I biked around for the day.

The island was OK, not too many hills, but, once again, the highlight of the trip was the people I met and talked with.  At a little museum I met a volunteer who was doing her best to organize hordes of artifacts from the history of this small island, which at one time had three schools.  She pointed out some of the sights that I should see and even suggested where I could get a good lunch.While other bikers (there were probably about 30 that got off the ferry with me) ate at little 'fast food stands' I was directed to "Vita's," a small gourmet deli that, not only had good food, but great people running it.  I sat at a picnic table outside and enjoyed my 'chicken with green chilies, jack cheese and black beans.' A bottle of red wine and a little loaf of freshly baked bread along with the company of the owner and some of her workers made this stop one of my favorites. Later, I stopped and picked a bag of wild blackberries before making my trip back to the ferry dock for my ride home.  I made a blackberry cobbler for our dessert that night.

    The next day, John drove me around Anacortes and we went way up to the top of Mount Erie (1,270') where we could take in a view of many of the islands that dominate this area.

    On Saturday (9/1/01) I drove to Seattle and entered into the final days of the first part of my sabbatical. During the Labor Day Weekend I took in the annual Seattle event called  "Bumbershoot" (a word that means umbrella) where I got to be part of a great parade of drummers and huge people-powered puppets.

Next Sunday I will attend the dedication of the Newman Center at UW which Fr. Thom DeMan has been working on for the last ten years. In about a week I will take off for London and then "On To Africa" for Phase II.