Click on a photo to enlarge it.
On Monday morning we got a rude awakening at 7am with a loud shout of "Oh Sh----t". It had rained continually
overnight and our alcove window was letting in a waterfall!! We had to use bowls to catch all the drips. Wonderful!
We already have some sealant for it but we need dry weather to be able to fix it - we could be waiting a very long
time at this rate! The rest of the day was spent shopping, on the internet and driving north whilst keeping an eye on
the bowls under the alcove window.
On Tuesday we gave up with sightseeing and spent two nights at a campground trying to catch up with our website. It
rained the whole time we were there.
On Thursday we went to Burger King and won a free apple pie and a drink! Then we went to the cinema to get out of the
rain to watch "Crash" with Sandra Bullock. We thought it would be a comedy, it normally is with Sandra Bullock in it,
and needed a laugh.
Unfortunately it was a really depressing, true life film and you come out thinking there is no hope for humanity!!
AND it was still raining. AND we had to mop up when we got back to Winnie. Then we had to move from the Wal-mart car
park because they didn't allow overnight parking!!! (But at least they gave us directions to another Wal-mart where
we could park up).
On Friday, after another night of torrential rain, we knew we had 2 choices. Either we stay on this Wal-mart car park
for the summer(!!!) or we try and fix the alcove window in the rain. Well, we didn't really have a choice because we
couldn't drive. We were having to empty the bowls every 20 minutes!
So we rolled up our sleeves and set to work. We took off the inside frame, dried it off as best we could and then
used our sealant to try and seal inside the frame. It took us three hours and it actually stopped raining long enough
for us to do the outside aswell. We only just had enough sealant but we knew it wouldn't be long before our work
would be tested!
We gave up on the idea of driving up to Mount Hood and doing the Columbia River Gorge scenic drive with all the
waterfalls - we'd had our own waterfall to deal with! So we drove out of Oregon and into Washington State. We drove
to Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument and went to one of the visitor centres to watch a film and look at various
exhibits. Then we parked up along the road for the night.
For the moment our alcove window was dry. But we also know from experience that it takes a while for the water to
find its course, so we would have to wait a few days.
On Saturday the temperature took a nose dive, but when we got up we were awarded with a wonderful clear view of Mount
St Helens, covered in snow and smoking!! It was the first time we had seen it as it had been too cloudy and raining
too much yesterday.
We drove to Johnston Ridge visitor centre - an excellent place, with a great film and lots of interesting exhibits.
We watched as the seismometer showed a small earthquake and looked out the large windows to see the plumes of dark
grey smoke billowing out of the crater. The mountain is definitely active. They had to close the centre on September
23rd last year because of all the activity.
Mount St. Helens.
No wonder the visitor centre was so packed, despite the fact that it was bitterly cold and very windy outside. We
decided we would come back in October and do some of the walks here. The ranger warned us that it was too dangerous today,
due to the strong winds - parts of the trails are narrow ledges!
On Sunday, we continued the drive north to Mount Olympic National Park. It's still raining but our alcove is dry. Our
air conditioner is now leaking though!! So we still need to use bowls!
We parked up on the side of the road and walked a few steps to see the raging pacific. The weather meant there were
no views of Mount Olympus. But at least we found a nice National Forest campground where we could stay for free.
