Bohemian Mermaid Palace

Olympic National Forest WA Originally uploaded by *TheMermaid* Finally found my beautiful camping spot on the water... so many mossy roots.

After the Gig Harbor show and my visit in Portland, I was way past ready to be away from cities. And people. After one luxurious night at the Super 8 in Bremerton (oh yeah, where I got busted by cameras running a red light, heh, my first ticket in like 15 yrs) I headed north toward my wonderful highway 101. In case you aren't looking at a map, Gig Harbor and all those other fake small towns are on a bunch of peninsulas and islands west of Seattle in the puget sound and various canals. It's like the SF bay area on crack. And there are only so many ways to get to these towns. Still, I was surprised at the amount of traffic on these smaller forest highways. Weird.  I drove on and on and thought 'where are all these people going?!' Until I turned off on the 101 to go back south... and I was all alone. Aaaaaaah. It was like home. REAL small towns, not even towns really. A store and a gas station and that was it. I was in heaven again. I was almost to Canada at that point,

After Portland, it was time to move up to the Seattle area... Gig Harbor. Sigh. I have mixed feelings about this place. First a little background... Back in June, when I had first decided to do this trip, I was vending at the much loved Mateel Arts & Music festival in southern humboldt county. Coincidentally, my booth neighbors were from Gig Harbor, which I had never even heard of before. They told me how hard it would be for me to simply hide out camping in my van as I normally do during a show. I fussed and fretted over that quite a bit... but I had a plan. I knew there were big box stores nearby who are known to be ok with overnight parking guests. So I figured, if I didn't find anything close that would be my last ditch plan.  Well, I came to town and right away hated it. I've since learned that there are many such fake small towns in the area... maybe once it had been a quaint seaside town (sound side?), but now packed full of shiny car drivers who commute to one of

Camping in Mt. Hood OR Originally uploaded by *TheMermaid*

Ok, now all my pics are on my phone, so I'll add a couple after... right now I'm at an actual computer. woot.  So after Turkey Rama, I headed east toward Mt. Hood for a couple nights of camping. The rhythm of this trip has been lovely. Work in town and get up to my eyeballs in people contact, then go to the middle of nowhere for quiet time alone camping. Really perfect. By the time I'm getting bored it's time for the next show. The Portland area had been so hot, I was ready to chill... and that's what I did. Since I chose a camp spot near the pass, it was actually cold. Ha. The better to build campfires. I do so enjoy campfire cooking.  A couple nights in a beautiful campground, then back to the actual city of Portland for a visit with my friend Margaret. This was a nice surprise, as I had figured we would only have lunch or something brief. But, she invited me to stay a couple nights in her house, with the ok of her housemates. They live next to a cool neighborho

Turkey Rama Originally uploaded by *TheMermaid* I'm a bit behind on my blogging duties here, where does the time go? Well, after the van adventure I went on to McMinnville, just south of Portland. I was lucky to be able to visit with family there which was great... hadn't seen them for oh 30 yrs. Very fun. And my aunt volunteered to be my booth helper, though I'm not sure she knew what she was getting into. Ha. Still it was fun to hang out. And hot! I didn't know it could reach 95 in that area! That along with the ridiculously long hours made turkey rama a bit painful to do. My uncle & aunt were nice enough to let me han out and recover an extra day... and I was off again.

Van Recovery Originally uploaded by *TheMermaid* We were determined to have our camping night...and were rewarded with a beautiful secluded spot.

Van waiting ... Originally uploaded by *TheMermaid* Waiting next to the river. Also next to the highway, but hidden from view. All in all, not so bad.

Well, I knew it was inevitable... can't take a trip this long and not have SOME kind of vehicle issues. Still, I was unhappy to say the least when I was in the Willamette National Forest, stopped at the ranger station for a map, and the van wouldn't start. Fuel pump. Great.  However, as far as breakdowns go, it couldn't have been much smoother really. So far, my phone works everywhere... I was able to get AAA right away for a tow. Of course, in the middle of nowhere, I wasn't sure what would come next. A tow the 40 miles back to Eugene? A crappy mechanic who'd screw me over or do a crap job? argh.  Well, the guy who towed me turned out to be something alright. (can you tell I'm at a real computer right now? probably the longest post you'll see in a while. ha.)  On the way back to the tow place, I learned quite a bit about him.... first, that he 'feeds' a homeless guy out back who he lets live in an old RV. We stopped for water, beer, smokes and

New Message Originally uploaded by *TheMermaid* Yes, those are rubber chickens in the wagon...