So your Humble No Fenders Scribe has just returned (Sunday afternoon) from a very enjoyable weekend’s outing at the lady originally known as Mount Tahoma, aka Mt Rainier - with Mary Ellen and the ‘Hoonds, and NO! These FEARLESS lap ‘Hoonds weren’t in search of the Indianapolis Colts Offense which is reputedly MIA?
As once again Mary Ellen picked perfect weather for our ‘Walkabout at Paradise this past Friday - before typical Pacific Northwest weather rolled-in and put the Kybosh upon the Postcard idyllic clear blue cloudless skies we’d enjoyed. As we’ve now been back to duh WET stuff the past 3-days, having arrived BLOODY early Sunday morning...
We set off once again in our ‘Feurd Herc U LeeYun RV-mobile Friday morning, in duh BEAST that gets a whopping 8.5-10mpg with the higher end of the range definitely going downhill in cruise mode! But Hey! The bright side to this 24-foot beast is that now having gone 3-for-3 outings in precipitation - we’ve managed to stay dry all three times!
And as mentioned, the weather was ideal Friday when I was led upon a glorious trek up the paved trails of Mt Rainier’s National Park - the farthest I’ve been upon the trails in years; since we broke from tradition - when I routinely push “Auntie” Harriet up the paved trail in wheelchair every year... But ‘Aunty was busy as it was her 92nd Birthday and she was delightfully oblivious in her quest towards devouring as much Ice Cream as she wanted instead...
And the flowers were Uh-bloomin’ (As I think Ron white would say?) Yet they were truly abloom - as summer up here in the Northwest is at least one month behind and I was treated to endless amounts of flowers along the crooked steps up the Mountainside; OOH! What’s ‘dat ‘Juan Mary Ellen? While joking with some other Trailblazers I’d forgotten my SLOW vehicle sign; Hya! As the Lupin was truly out in-force, not to mention the Arnica, Gens in, Shooting Stars, etc.
And although we weren’t close enough and I couldn’t personally see it; Mary Ellen told me of a young boy off of the pathway chasing a Marmot in the meadow and throwing pebbles at it; SHEISA! As Mary Ellen mused where’s a Park Ranger when you need one? As the kid was clearly ignoring ALL of the posted signage...
But it was neat to hear said Marmot’s talking to each other on our way back down the trail along with Mary Ellen pointing out a Pica to me later - which makes an entirely different sound...
And then upon our return back down the Mountain to our Campsite we had an interesting predicament - as Mary Ellen said the headlights were barely visible, the turn signals didn’t work and she had NO idea if the brake lights were functioning? As she’d report to Mwah the following morning that she’d discovered that the alternator belt was missing; CRIKEYS!
And what are truly Good Friends for? As Super Dave, Err Dave’s NOT here... NO! NOT that Super Dave, but nonetheless Dave drove 2hrs from Tacoma to bring us a new alternator belt + spare battery and then proceeded to install the new belt for us, where he’d discover that the old belt had been installed upon the wrong pulley! WTF?
With the repairs made and the battery having been checked several times to monitor its charging capacity, Dave left us on our own and we decided that everything seemingly was working properly once again and thus decided to go check out Reflection Lake, albeit the skies had gotten cloudy and therefore NO reflection of Mt Rainier could be obtained... Thus taking a short ‘Walkabout on the nearby trails - Mary Ellen inquired if I could make out the scarlet rosso flower? Which she said was the same shade as the Scuderia Ferrari’s... But alas I couldn’t make it out due to the colour being to similar to the ground cover; Aye Karumba! As she’d later inform me that it was Indian paintbrush.
And if you’re still reading this riveting story - all I can think ‘bout it is Townsend Bell’s comment on Speed Freaks Sunday evening when he asked Duh Freaks; isn’t this supposed to be a Motorsports show? As they were digressing ‘bout Townsend’s past days as the Water-ski Team Captain...
Then on our way home we drove thru Elbe, WA - past the Caboose Restaurant Carz, whale at least I think they were Caboose’s, as I just barely saw the railroad cars on the side of the road; and I was totally unaware that Elbe has a Historic, Err Scenic Rail Road which you can check out by clicking here. As I’ve also discovered that there’s appropriately a Hobo Inn in Elbe , perhaps even situated nearby said railroad cars?
Next whilst sipping petrol mightily in our ‘Feurd we zoomed thru Ashford , WA
Weather Forecast:
Mon 40/29 (High/Low) - SNOW
But Sunday’s forecast of 44deg-f High was completely askew when it was noted to be 57deg-f Sunday afternoon when I checked; so NOT too sure ‘bout my Genralmatic Weather Forecasting system via le Telephone, eh?
Elevation: 537m (1,762-feet)
Population: 2,000
And I was also told it’s the Whittaker Bros Hometown? Whale actually not, but it is indeed the home of somewhat lesser-known brother Lou, who is the identical twin brother of Jim, the first American climber to summit Mount Everest ... With the Brothers Whittaker having been born on February 10, 1929 in Seattle; while Lou and his wife built a nearly 2,000sq ft house into the side of a hill on their 20-acre Ashford estate which serves also as the base camp for his climbing guides of his successful Rainier Mountaineering Inc company - where guides live in the six Communal style dwellings. And Ashford’s also the home for Lou’s Bunkhouse Hotel and Mountain Sundries store; which I discovered in a 12yr old story in a local Newspaper affectionately known to ‘Aunty Harriet as the TNT. (Tacoma
And thanxs to ‘CARPETS who told Mwah ‘bout an article written by ‘R, aka Robin Miller ‘bout the late winning Chief Mechanic of Tom Sneva’s 1983 Indy 500 winner named Mark Bridges who just passed away - while I was tryin' to scan around for the Auto Racing tab on SPEED.com my FRILLIN' Screen-reader "Lucy" somehow magically gave away the winner of the F1 race I hadn't watched at that moment; SHEISA! When without command ‘Lucy read out Seb - OH SHIT! SHUT-UP ‘LUCY!!! As I CANNOT blame ‘Dat ‘Juan on anybody but myself - beside ‘Lucy; Hya!
Of course this was after the 3hr (Cruise) bus ride home... As WTF? Really Presiden O’Bama - you’re gonna schedule fund Raising activities in Downtown Seattle the same day as the Seattle Seahawks Home Opener? You really are a ‘Card... As I’d call him a Clown but apparently Y’all can get FINED for ‘Dat, eh? Oh Never Mind!
As after he’d ‘Schmoozed 100 paying clientele at John Shirley’s Medina Portland
Next; The ‘Prez had the entire city shutdown - closing off Freeway’s, Bus Stops, Elevators, etc so he could go milk another 400 paying customers $7k apiece at the Paramont Theatre during game time...
Oh Whale, at least I didn’t haveda Duck, Roll ‘N Take Cover this time as NO F-15 fighters were scrambled before unleashing two sonic booms heard over the entire Puget Sound region as some hapless Seaplane pilot had veered into ‘VERBOTTEN (RESTRICTED) Airspace... Which symbiotically I scribbled ‘bout in Crampon-Crampon just over one year ago; Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? That was after my last outing to Thee Mountain, so what’s the dealio? Is this guy followin’ Mwah or What?
And that concludes this wacky portion of Gardening with Tomaso... Or perhaps I need to take some further Gardening leave?