First Officer’s Log: 20-15-06-19

Remember Jabba the Hut?  Well, today I took Maxwell the Smart and drove from Port Townsend to Sequim and Port Angeles in a quest for pressed.  (Pressed pennies that is.)  I collect them everywhere I go and send them to my two east-coast grandkids.  I don’t know if they get them, or if they want them, but I press them and send them anyway.  Believe it or not collecting those silly pressed pennies is quite a big deal.  I use pressed penny apps online to locate the machines along our routes or near our destinations.  I have, on more than one occasion, made 50 mile detours just to destroy a couple of U.S. centavos.  It makes no sense, I know it’s silly, and Cheryl rolls her eyes at me each time I do it, but I enjoys it so I does it.  I put it in the category of, “small pleasures for small minds”.  Some people collect Rembrandts, I destroy pennies.

The first stop was the Olympic Game Farm in Sequim which is pronounced “Squim” for some reason.  This is a great example of building a better mousetrap and then hiding it under a bushel.  It is a huge “drive your own car through” wild game park.  I don’t know how wild the animals really are because I try to not enter the food chain as often as possible, but the warning signs at the entrance were pretty specific and could be summed up as “if you get out of your car you will be eaten.”  As for hiding their mousetrap under a bushel, this is a business that (I don’t think) could exist if not for the invention of the GPS.  I know for sure I couldn’t have found it without the BIB.  But found it I did, and penny I pressed and then I headed for Hurricane Ridge.

Hurricane Ridge is a scary name isn’t it?  I don’t know if the wind up there, seventeen miles up the side of a mountain always blows like it was today, but if it does the name is appropriate.  The road to HR starts right in the middle of Port Angeles.  I wasn’t sure exactly where so I stopped and asked the BIB and she said, “Turn Left.”  I looked up and there was a sign that said, “Hurricane Ridge Turn Left.”  Man, that Garmin Company is incredible!  They taught her to read!

I turned left and started up the mountain.  At the entrance to the Olympic Park the ranger asked for $20.  I asked if the National Parks Senior Pass was good for entry and she said it was.  Then I discovered that I had left my senior pass in the coach.  I grumbled about that and she suggested that it would be cheaper to buy another Senior Pass and save $10.00 than to pay the day rate.  So I did and I did.

The road up the mountain is fantastic!  It is absolutely smooth and curvy as heck.  Maxwell had a good time but I was missing the Norton the whole way up.  On the other hand the temperature was 50 degrees in Port Angeles and about 40 at Hurricane Ridge, so I didn’t miss it too much.  At the top I found the gift shop and destroyed three pennies.  I did three because I accidently chose a wrong design on the second one so I gave it to a Japanese tourist couple who found it fascinating that destroying U.S. currency was an OK thing to do.

On the way down the mountain my phone rang, and I pulled over to answer it.  While telling a guy that I only work on vintage British bikes (not new ones) I looked over and a deer had her head pressed up against the passenger window.  I said, “Do you mind?” and she shrugged and walked away. 

The ride back to PT was anticlimactic.  Smooth, fast, no problems.  When I got to the coach Cheryl was out gallivanting with the puppies someplace so I walked around and found a group of three Class A’s that were travelling together and stopped to say “Hi.”  I didn’t even get the word out when one of the guys saw my shirt and shouted, “Norton!” and that started an hour’s discussion on bikes we have owned and loved.  T’was a fun day!

End First Officer’s Entry.