October, 2017
Homeward bound.
Not that I wanted to, but it was time to leave Deception Pass State Park. I’d seen so much on this trip, not the least of which was my childhood home.
Now it was time to head home to my “adulthood” home and make plans for my next camping trip. It was tough to leave Deception Pass, that’s for sure. I will definitely make plans for a return trip.
With trailer in tow, before leaving Deception Pass State Park, I drove first to Cranberry Lake and savored the beauty there one last time. I think I’ll be back (I hope!) but one never knows.
A neighbor camper told me early this morning that she had seen a beaver in these grasses very much earlier this morning on her daily walk. No beaver in sight when I was here, but it did seem as though “someone” had been bivouacked here in the recent past … or maybe had been harvesting insulation for their home for the upcoming winter?
I then drove out to West Beach for one last look there too. The water and the islands were so beautiful. Seagulls were calling. There was only one other vehicle in the entire enormous parking lot … the people from that car were down on the beach having fun exploring with a child who kept splashing in the water in her big yellow boots.
The land out on the horizon in the distance to the right of the trailer is Lopez Island, one of the San Juan Islands. The foggy, misty, light blue land on the horizon in the far left of the photo is the Olympic Peninsula, likely from Dungeness to Port Angeles. And straight out from the center of the photo through the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and then straight across the Pacific Ocean is Japan.
The route I used to get to Whidbey six days ago was northbound on busy Interstate 5 up to the north end of Whidbey and then south across the Deception Pass bridge.
To leave the island, I decided to take the alternate route and drive down the entire length of Whidbey Island, then take the ferry from the south end of the island over to the mainland. This worked particularly well because there was a nice high tide early this afternoon so the ramp between the dock and the deck of the ferry would be almost perfectly level … no danger of scraping the trailer hitch or the back/bottom end of the trailer on the ramp.
I had a pleasant drive south down Whidbey Island. Having been raised here, I could almost drive it with my eyes closed, but I kept my eyes open and didn’t tempt fate. 🙂
The video below is just the last few blocks before the ferry terminal at the south end of Whidbey. All ferry traffic is directed to the right hand lane. You’ll see a traffic light and you’ll notice that the left hand lane is actually a RIGHT turn lane, all perfectly legal, and it works nicely.
And again, listen to the truck and trailer … or not, since you can’t hear a thing. Driving this truck and towing this trailer is so extraordinarily pleasant!
NOTE: For those of you who are familiar with this ferry or others like it, you can sure skip these videos. But for readers who aren’t familiar with this stuff, it might be interesting to see a bit of how all of this works. The State of Washington has several different ferries on several different runs to populated islands, all part of the highway system here although there is a fee to use the ferries in most cases.
After I paid my fee and assured the man in the kiosk that my propane system was turned off, I drove out onto the dock to my designated lane (9) and waited. I felt a little silly about this, but it made me feel good to see those two huge Coca-Cola trucks in line, knowing they would load before I did. I have been across this ferry and others a bazillion times, but still I was a little nervous with the trailer in tow.
The short video below is a composite of three very brief videos … the first bit is video of cars as they are coming off of the ferry (there were MANY more cars than this, this simply shows how fast people drive when leaving the ferry) … second snippet is a few trucks being called to load onto the ferry … the last snippet is the two huge Coca-Cola trucks loading onto the ferry (loading vehicles onto the ferry is, perforce, much slower than off-loading). Of course lots of cars loaded too, not just the trucks in those snippets. I’d guess about 100 cars and trucks loaded. Capacity on this particular ferry is 124 vehicles.
You may have noticed my little moan at the end of the video above. I’d been here long enough that I was no longer nervous, just tired of waiting!
Finally! the man directing traffic waived me ahead. There was a large semi-truck behind me in Lane 9. You’ll hear that truck start up (and you’ll hear the diesel pickup truck on the left as I pass it), and then you’ll see the large truck that was behind me pull onto the ferry beside me and park right behind the other Coca-Cola truck. They load big, heavy trucks in the center of the ferry to allow room for their height and to keep the weight in the center of the boat.
My big white truck and trailer tucked neatly on board the ferry.
M. V. (motor vessel) Kittitas. Every double-ended ferry gets each end designated as No. 1 or No. 2 for maintenance, emergency, and other sorts of communication.
The word “kittitas” is reported to come from the Yakama Nation (in what is now eastern Washington State). Different meanings are attributed to the word on different websites; the Yakama Nation makes no mention of the word on their website.
And then the ferry left the Whidbey dock. Funny mechanic in the video below drops something into the hatch. Interesting (and probably a big rule) that someone must stand guard over an open hatch at all times when the ferry is in operation with any “public” on board.
[A side note, in real time right now in March, 2018 … recently, the usual annual notice was posted about new apprentice ferry mechanics hired this year by the state ferry system … both this year are women. Way to go! (says me who is a retired diesel truck mechanic)]
After a peaceful, 20-minute ferry-boat ride across Puget Sound from south Whidbey Island to Mukilteo on the mainland, the ferry docked and all the vehicles drove off.
From Mukilteo, I made my way over to Interstate 5 and then headed south through Seattle and then down to the trailer’s storage near Puyallup.
With the trailer washed off and parked in its home under the roof, Little Towhee (don’t forget Little Towhee!) … Little Towhee and I drove to our home too. There’s laundry to do and photos to sort and memories to share.
Thanks for coming along everyone!