The Highs And Lows Of Travel Day One

Day one started with heavy rain overnight but mild.It stopped long enough for me to do the final loading and closing down of my little park house.Out the gate at 9:50am and at the border by 10:35.Only 2 vehicles in front of me that were quick to go through.Just the basic questions of which I didn't answer to his satisfaction, as his re-asking hinted of just a tiny bit of frustration,eg,What kind of food do you have…..my answer….just the stuff out of my fridge….dumb!I finally smartened up and came back with some almost intelligent answers and he waved me on.This is the first time in a long time that I didn't have to go through the agri-inspection,where they wandered through the trailer,and tore the seats out of the truck. 

Tulalip Casino RV parking

The next stop was 2 blocks down the street,at the Bank of America,where Karen the nice lady who set up my account last week,issued me with my new bank card.It was a bit of a process because she knew I was travelling with it and she phoned the head office to set up the next 90 days,so that the bank knew I was travelling and using it at fuel stops,I had to list all the states I was planning on travelling through,so that the bank knew it wasn’t someone on the run with a stolen card.

I have to phone every 90 days and check in with the bank,so that they know all state to state travel is normal.So out the door to the ATM and I activate it by checking the account balance.Karen suggested that I make a purchase somewhere close before leaving the state just to make sure its working at places other than bank ATM’s,so off I go to the Camping World at Burlington,a few miles south.

Tulalip Casino

As luck would have it,I still had 2 days on my Presidents card,so didn't have to buy another as I only usually visit CW once a year.There wasn’t anything I was really interested in buying this year,but I picked up a few inexpensive items and trundled off to the checkout to try my card….Strange,…With their setup I didn't even have to enter my pin #,and the main thing…..It worked.By now the sun was even breaking out a bit and with a mild flow of pacific air coming in,it got up to 62 degrees at one point as I passed through Bellingham.

Back on the road and down to the Casino,but first a stop at the gas station near the entrance(some weird independent company)Guess what?The card didn't work,it wanted a zip# instead of a pin.The nice young lady even left the kiosk to try and help me,we tried entering the zip from the issuing bank and that didn't work either.She was as baffled as me so handed her 50 bucks since I wasn’t standing in a line up anyway.So now I wait until today to try this again.

The gas station was on the edge of the Wal-mart parking lot,so I selected a spot near by and headed off to buy my new “Tracfone”and some prepaid minutes.Sheeesh!The phone cost 15 bucks and they got it locked up,and I stand in a line up for 20 minutes at the desk waiting just so the guy can unlock it and give it to me.Geez, Its only a 15 dollar item!The 20 dollar card wasn't locked up. I picked up some groceries and when I went through the checkout,she couldn’t get the phone to read out on the scanner and had to get some help,while a frustrated line up grew,and with that frustration I forgot to grab the last grocery bag off the carousel, and didn't realize that I was missing some items until I got back to the trailer.Back in I go figuring the person that was behind me probably got my groceries.But to my surprise,the cashier had my bag.

I found the quite large RV parking area at the casino,fairly quiet,so lots of selection.I picked a nice corner where I could set up my dish as you can see above.At least that went smoothly, and it sure was nice to automatically have my TV at the same time on the same dish.I should have done this a long time ago.

So here it is 4 am Saturday and I couldn't sleep past 2 as I was asleep by 8:30.Lots of people heading back to the car parking lot even at this hour.

I just finished going on-line and activating my new phone,so am good to go…I think?So tonight I should be at the casino near Pendleton Oregon,(The good lord willing and the creek don't rise).And that was my highs and lows of day one.