Back To The Airport
Awake at 8.20 am – a decent sleep at last – and after breakfast in-room, I’m packed and ready to check-out. I leave the hotel to go back to the airport for my car rental pickup. There is poor signage at the airport as to how to get the rental shuttle. From the multi-storey parking garage I see the shuttle parked on a roadway below and eventually make my way to it. There is a large queue. There is a bus filling up, which I don’t get on, nor the next one. By the time ‘my’ shuttle leaves the terminal there is an even larger queue of people waiting. I am already behind schedule.
But carnage awaits inside the Car Rental building. There are about 10 rental companies and every service desk has extremely large queues. I have never seen so many people trying to rent cars. When I joined the Avis queue there were about 20 people in front of me. By the time I get served the queue has grown to about 40. The queue at the Budget desk is even worse. When I arrived it must have been 60+ people long. It has about doubled by the time I leave to pick up my car.
What’s The Problem?
It took me an hour from arriving to get served. And that took another 10 minutes. I asked what the problem was for the long delays. I’m told by the agent that most people booked small cars – but they’ve run out. Each agent’s system normally allows them to choose and allocate a car on screen. But when they want or need to upgrade a customer, or in this situation allocate a larger car without the customer paying more, then this has to be authorised by a supervisor. Which can only be done manually on the supervisor’s screen! Unbelievable…
So an agent takes your booking details, gets halfway through the check-in, but then has to leave their desk and go to the supervisor where they search for another vehicle. My agent tells me they have plenty of cars, it’s just that each booking has to be processed manually. Which takes time.
In my case I’d booked an intermediate size car, between medium and large. But small ‘bookers’ were being given mediums, mediums given intermediate – and I ended up with a large. A Chevrolet Malibu again as it happens.
“Too much pressure” *
Eventually it gets sorted out and I leave the rental building to head to the garage. Having learnt from previous experiences, I now check not only the bodywork but also the engine and tire details. And guess what? All my tire pressure are incorrect – all different and some clearly way too high. I flag this to an Avis lady and she tells me to exit as normal but then to re-enter the garage via Rental Return. Then to explain the problem to the Arrivals Team, who will sort it out. More delay.
I drive out and back into Rental Return. Problem explained to an Avis chap, the car soon gets driven off somewhere. It comes back about 10 minutes later. I check the pressures. They might all be the same now but I am convinced they are way too high. The guy won’t have it: “The team fixed the pressures, they are as they should be.” I don’t believe him but there’s clearly no point in arguing further, he’s adamant they are correct.
“Rollin’ down the highway” **
So I exit the garage again and finally begin my road trip proper just after 1 pm. First stop on the way north is a detour off I-5 N to the statue of Jimi Hendrix in the Capitol Hill neighbourhood. On arrival I’m a bit under whelmed to be honest. It’s only about three feet high – not life size – and is sat on a rock plinth which is ‘dumped’ outside a row of shops under some trees. Couldn’t they afford a life-size statue and then find some prominent palace to put it, rather than a sidewalk? Obviously not.
Jimi Hendrix statue
The Boeing Future of Flight
Back on I-5 N I’m driving towards Everett for the Boeing Future of Flight exhibit. Unfortunately tours of the Boeing factory were suspended because of COVID and have not yet re-started. (Sod’s Law – they re-started the week after my visit!)
Everett however is on the Cascade Loop so I was passing anyway, so thought I may as well pay a visit. In reality the FoF itself is not a decent attraction. If I’d gone out of my to visit, I’d have been disappointed. There’s just not that much to it. With a factory tour as well, then OK. As I said, I was driving past the place anyway.
I do catch up some time there because I thought there’d be more to see and planned to stay longer. So when I arrive at the Mukilteo Ferry Terminals, about 10 minutes drive from the FoF, I’m just about on the schedule I thought I’d be. You can book a ticket in advance but not a ferry time: it’s turn up and get on. Unfortunately the next ferry that departs in 10 minutes is full, so I have to wait for the one 30 minutes after that. But that arrives at the dockside late and we leave 15 minutes behind schedule to sail across Possession Sound.
To Anacortes
I alight at Clinton on Whidbey Island on WA-525 N. I actually drove onto the Cascade Loop soon after I left the FoF and turned right onto WA-525 N, the Mukilteo Speedway, the road to the ferry. The drive up to Anacortes is OK. There are places where the road skirts the sea of Skagit Bay – Penn Cove for instance – but the road is mostly inland, straight and feature-less. It’s just a tree-lined road going up the island. About halfway up the island the road changes to State Rte 20 E.
Just getting back into the groove of non-Interstate driving, I was concentrating that much on that that I forgot to take any photos on the drive up. Road speed was good and thankfully everyone was driving around 60 mph. The weather all day has been nice and sunny with temperatures around a pleasant 70 degrees.
I stop at a Safeway in Anacortes for tomorrow’s breakfast. Unbelievably they are out of small sized juices so I have to divert to a 7-11 before finally arriving at the Majestic Inn & Spa.
My room is good quality, as it should be for the price! I re-establish my road trip routine to make the next day’s departure and time on the road as smooth as possible. I seem to have remembered my many learning points over the past years, despite the pandemic’s unfortunate interruption.
Dinner At The Ale House
My chosen bar is literally directly across the street. After a first day back on the road for four years, I’m happy to walk 50 yards to a bar. The Brown Lantern Ale House in Anacortes turns out to be a good bar. I sit at the bar and watch the 4th quarter of the 49ers beating the Giants 30-12 on TNF. I was concerned beforehand that I might be in Seahawks territory and might have to watch my behaviour. A comment to a local elicits the statement that folks around here are mostly not interested in sports. That said, I resolve to keep my 49ers allegiances toned down to avoid potential conflict.
My stomach is still struggling to adjust to the different time zone. Despite no lunch and just a cereal bar from a vending machine at the ferry terminal, I’m not that hungry. When I ask the barman he tells me the entrees are “fucking huge” and “I keep telling them they are way too large”. I’m not going to waste half a meal, and money, one of those then. Even the starters I see coming out of the kitchen look big.
Then a lady sitting next to me points out a blackboard – way high up above the bar – with specials on it. There’s a half a BLT on offer. So I choose that. Then Dave the barman says it comes with a cup of soup or chowder… I choose the crab chowder.
When it arrived the portion size was just right. And it was damned tasty too! There is little sustained chatter at the bar. The lady to my left became engrossed with her husband but left shortly after anyway. The bar staff appear rushed off their feet. Dave is aware of me though and keeps me topped with beer all evening. He has good awareness and is a good barman.
It’s also open mic night. A succession of guitar-playing singers appear. Nobody is terrible, they can all play and sing. Just not my thing really but it’s a nice bit of background music.
Later a group of about 10 or so folks arrive. I can’t tell if they are friends or business colleagues but they set themselves up standing right by my bar stool, and they are talking very loudly. It’s a bit intrusive. But it’s probably time for bed anyway as I’m still adjusting to the time zone. I pay my check and walk back to the hotel at just gone 10 pm.
After a bit of diary writing, I hit the sack. It was a bizarre day in many respects: rental car chaos, an airfield, a disappointing statue of a musical legend, a ferry, a drive in the country and sitting on a stool in an American bar. Actually, not bizarre. Just a good day on a road trip. It’s good to be back on the road in Anacortes.
* Too Much Pressure by The Selector
** Highway Chile by Jimi Hendrix
Leave a Reply
Want to join the discussion?Feel free to contribute!