Our ancestors, mine and Carries both, went on difficult adventures. Far enough back, mine were Vikings facing the fearsome north Atlantic to venture to far off lands. They colonized, traded, invaded... they ventured out into the unknown with no modern instruments. More recently, my Great Grandfather came to America from Norway to homestead near Canton, SD. Other ancestors of mine came even earlier from Norway to Wisconsin, one fought for the North in the Civil War.
Back a few generations, Carries ancestors traveled from Germany to America, losing a child somewhere in New York. (He found his way to southern Minnesota at some point.) The rest, having no choice, continued west and eventually homesteaded the farm that Carrie grew up on between Avon and Tyndall, South Dakota... well Dakota Territory at the time. Like my Viking and more recent ancestors, Carrie's traveled thousands of miles across the Atlantic by ship and thousands more across land by wagon pulled by animals, horses, oxen, or some such.
Our ancestors were courageous, strong people. The distances they traveled with what we would consider primitive methods would terrify most of us today, myself included. So, when people seem amazed at the journey we have undertaken, we look at it through the lens of our brave ancestors. We don't feel all that courageous. Yet, an adventure it is from our cushy, first world perspective.
The reasons for our journey were likely similar to those of our ancestors, opportunity, better environment, and maybe just the need to see what's on the other side of that next hill. We'll talk about that more in another post. Our problems though, were likely quite different and far less dangerous. Some of our problems were already staring us in the face, some would come soon. Others, well, there were other problems bubbling under the surface that would rise up much later.
We had made it across the state of South Dakota, only 350 miles of travel into a 1,500 mile journey. The Phoenix, our RV, was not going to make it the rest of the trip. We were traveling by caravan, the RV pulling the Jeep and Carrie following in her Dodge Dakota pulling a 12 foot long cargo trailer. The last time we had taken the Phoenix over the Rocky Mountains we had to unhitch the Jeep and have Carrie drive it until we reached flat land again. We had forgotten that, hadn't planned for that. We had to make a decision.
Turning back just wasn't an option. We had worked too hard for too long to get to this point. We loved Sioux Falls and South Dakota, but there just wasn't opportunity for us there anymore. We'd spent half a lifetime trying to make our home state work for us, trying to fit in. At some point you have to realize that doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is a definition of insanity.
So, we could sell the RV and cut our losses... but what would we live in once we got there? We could try and drive it anyway and hope that it made it. Improbable. Finally, we could have it transported. Yes, we give our ride a ride.
After a degree of research by the lovely Carrie, she reserved a trucking company to pick the RV up and drive it all the way to Whidbey Island. I would drive the now well repaired Jeep and she would drive the now well repaired Dodge that decided to nearly catastrophically lose it's entire breaking system the day before we were planning to leave. On a side note, dying, grinding brakes combined with the speeds and steep slopes of the scenic Black Hillls of South Dakota highways make for some... unique... aroma's. Brake pads certainly have a smell all their own.
With heavy hearts and lighter wallets, on April 3rd, 2016 we set off into the west. There's a sadness in leaving behind South Dakota, but a joy in beginning a new adventure.
We blazed across the seemingly endless Wyoming. I swear that state is larger on the inside than it is on the outside. Borders made by the Sleestack. Then there's Montana. Montana is just plain big, but once you get past the part that looks just like the scrub lands of Wyoming and dry grasslands of western South Dakota, you do finally get to some impressive scenery.
After a couple of days travel we crossed the border of our new home state, Washington! We spent the night in Spokane at the Best Western Peppertree Airport Inn. This is the same hotel that Carrie and I stayed at on our first exploration of Whidbey Island. It's a very nice place with a 24 hour swimming pool and hot tub. In typical fashion of our trip so far, the hot tub was down for repairs! However, they also have a great continental breakfast! We're all about the food. When you figure the cost of three people going to breakfast at even the Denny's across the parking lot, the price of the hotel room is suddenly more affordable.
Once again we did not spend any time exploring Spokane. Someday we will remedy that as it seems like a very nice city. Instead we plowed ahead into the morning light, leaving the pines of the Rocky Mountain foothills to emerge into the rather arid farm and ranch country of central Washington.
It only takes about four hours to drive across most of Washington, until you reach the Cascade Mountains. The Cascades are known as the Alps of America to some. It's understandable as this is a beautiful mountain range. Rocky, snow capped peaks rise like frozen titans all around. Interstate 90 cuts through them only by permission. Still, we have little time to linger here and continued our pace all the way through them.
It's an odd and sudden transition to descend from the majestic Cascades straight into the urban sprawl of the Seattle Tacoma Metro area. With my Jeep in the lead and Carrie following close behind with the pickup and 12 feet of cargo trailer, we entered the big city traffic... right at 5:15pm. Yes, every car in the Pacific Northwest had just left work parking lots and entered traffic. Apparently all 4 million area residents wanted to be on the same 30 feet of interstate highway that we were on. It was quite a welcome.
Now, I should back up a minute... well, not in traffic... but I should point out that Carrie has never driven in a very big city. She has driven Sioux Falls plenty. She has driven city buses and tractors. She is an experienced driver in general, but had never been presented with the "opportunity" to drive in major urban traffic. So, of course, why not try it for the first time at rush hour and with nearly 25 feet of vehicle trying to follow a Jeep Wrangler.
I will say that the drivers of the Seattle metro make things a little easier. I've driven a lot of this country at one time or another. I've been in the traffic of Orlando, Kansas City, St. Louis, Chicago, Minneapolis, Phoenix, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. I've seen some crazy drivers, I've seen some rude drivers. Minneapolis drivers are fast but fairly organized, I like driving there. Illinois drivers don't seem to understand that the gas pedal provides a variable rate of travel and seem to have cars that are permanently locked on Hyper Space. The drivers in San Fran are pretty courteous, the drivers of LA are just plain mean. Seattle drivers remind me of San Francisco drivers. It's a fast pace of 6 or more lanes of traffic speeding through the city, but if you hold pace with everyone else, they open spaces for you and don't crowd you out. There's a "in it together" kind of feel. As long as your mannered enough to signal your intentions, you do ok. I like driving there. Carrie, not so much.
Deep grooves in the Dodge steering wheel not withstanding, I focused on finding holes in traffic large enough for our mini convoy and Carrie did a great job of staying with me. It was crazy at times, it was a complete standstill at times, but we made it through the worst of it and arrived at the end of the road, Mukilteo, Washington.
There is this moment, as you leave the hustle of the interstate and enter the more residential area going into Mukilteo, when you come out of the houses and trees and suddenly see it. Cody's jaw dropped as we started down the hill. He stared out the window to the left of the Jeep. "I get it now," he said to me, eyes wide in awe. The trees parted to reveal an expansive view of Puget Sound and the tree covered islands that seem to float in the distance. Majestic is an understatement, particularly when one has lived their entire life surrounded by flat land and farm fields.
Mukilteo is home to the historic Mukilteo light house, an Ivars Restaurant location, the Silver Cloud Inn, and most significantly the ferry dock. On the other side of the water, not that far to tell the truth, sat the ferry dock at Clinton Washington on the Island known as Whidbey.
We checked into the Silver Cloud Inn where Carrie had found us a beautiful room with a view of the ferry dock and the sound. We settled in briefly, then headed to the Ferry to check out the island! It was a short visit but a joyous one and Cody's first time on a ferry and first time on an island! Having arrived a bit too late for most of the restaurants on the island, and being very hungry, we left Whidbey behind for the night to go eat at Ivars next to our hotel.
We had beat the RV by only one day. The next morning I to had rise early, miss the wonderful continental breakfast they have, and drive to Fort Casey on Whidbey Island to meet the truck driver. It was a beautiful, sunny morning and I didn't mind the drive itself. The ferry ride over was refreshing, I love riding the ferry! The drive on the beautiful, winding highway 525 that runs the middle of the island was wonderful. At the end of my trip, in a large parking lot next to the Port Townsend ferry dock, sat the Phoenix.
I thanked the driver, signed some papers, parked the RV in a safe spot and went back for Carrie and Cody. They had kindly gathered some breakfast for me, a welcome sight in a long morning. Packing our things, we left the hotel, boarded the ferry yet again, and set off to start our new life.
On April 6, 2016, we set foot as a family on Whidbey Island, Washington. That morning we officially became the Anderson's on Whidbey Island, determined to have a constant presence, determined to buy our new homestead.
Of course, nothing ever goes that easy for us....
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