Next to Last Leg

This is day 47 of my cross country trip and I have been in Bothell WA since June 9th. My youngest daughter lives here with her husband. They have a very deep backyard which has plenty of land to park a trailer, if you can avoid the gopher softened spots. I’m parked on the path to the back yard, about as close to the house as I could get. This will help when it’s time to leave later this week since it is a straight shot to the road and freeway.

I lived in Bothell for a while before leaving the state after 23 years as a resident. I was reminded on the way here how much I do not miss the crowded roads. There are a lot more toll lanes now than in 2005, when I left. Had to pay attention to relearning the best lanes for this leg of the trip. You don’t make quick moves while pulling a trailer (or at least you should not) so I just picked my lanes and stayed in them, regardless how fast/slow they were moving. Being retired means you aren’t usually in a hurry so maintaining a leisurely pace was easy.

While my daughter was busy with work I had time to re-explore the places I enjoyed when I lived here. As mentioned earlier, I don’t like traffic so limited exploration to those places that were easy to get to from Bothell. One such place was the Mukilteo Lighthouse Park. One thing I have missed since leaving Washington is Ivar’s Clam Chowder. Just happens to be an Ivar’s restaurant near the park. The chowder was as good as I remembered.

The Mukilteo Lighthouse…

Panorama of the Sound from the beach behind the lighthouse…

My travels, so far, are highlighted below. The GPS tracks alternate between red and blue to make it easier to see each leg’s endpoints. 47 days ago the trip started in Redding CA and will end there later this week.