Leaving Chehalis on Thursday morning we found I-5 and headed north to the Tacoma Elks Lodge where we would meet with Fran’s long lost school chum from Fort Bragg, Louise Johnson and her husband Gordon Ebling, who both worked for the Boeing Aircraft Corp. As we drove into the large parking area we saw them immediately and it was a joyful reunion for the two girls after over 35 years had passed. Interestingly, while Fran and Louise are the same age, Gordon and I are also the same age although a generation older than the girls ----- small world!
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| Louise and Fran |
As we entered the Lodge where we expected to have lunch and chat, we noticed that the usually crowded parking and RV areas were surprisingly empty, it was then that we were told that the Lodge was not serving lunches anymore and in fact had sold the property and the beautiful old building and would move across the street to their golf property by next year. This was quite a shocking revelation as it was only three years ago when George spent a week at the lodge taking advantage of their many facilities, such as the full sized swimming pool, the ten lane bowling alley, the beautiful dining room with bar and dance floor and many other items. The receptionist told us that the membership had fallen to a point where they could not afford to maintain the huge facility any longer, especially as they also had asbestos and other problems inherent in older buildings. Quite a shame and we are really disappointed.
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| Fran, Louise and Gordon |
So we headed to “Dukes Seafood Restaurant” on the Tacoma waterfront with a really spectacular view of the water, boats and surrounding hills. Dukes had photos of all the people they could find with the name of Duke; included were Duke Ellington, John (Duke) Wayne, Duke of Windsor, Doris Duke, many other Dukes and also the owner of the restaurant who was also Duke something or other! We were finally able to spend a few hours trading stories and generally catching up on the intervening years. It was quite an occasion that we all enjoyed. Louise brought pictures of some of their former classmates and, interestingly, a book written by her high school boyfriend, Russell Jewett, called “Letters to Louise,” which detailed his years of military service during the Vietnam War and which included copies of his letters to Louise, who was still in high school at the time. Fran was so blown away by the book that she immediately looked it up on Amazon.com and plans to order it as soon as we know where we can have it sent.
As we returned to our coach we saw the motorhomes of Danny & Marcie Quarisa and Earl & Marie McPeak who had just arrived from where we left them at Vancouver, WA. Fortunately, this time we were able to visit for a while and say our proper goodbyes before heading back toward our destination of TTN La Conner. Although it was only 3 pm on Thursday we ran into a terrible traffic situation on I-5 as we passed northbound through Seattle and even for a good while beyond before we finally got to our destination where we were lucky enough to find a very nice site with good satellite reception. However, from the La Conner Preserve there is no cell-phone service so also no internet air-card capability, bummer. But it is a nice place to spend some time so we can put up with some hardships.
With all that behind us we will have to call it a day and see you later, folks!
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