8 July - Hello Ft Lewis Travel Camp Near Tacoma & Reconnect With Cousin Jim Linch

8 July
We departed the Silver Spur RV Park in Silverton OR this morning about 0841 hrs and drove about 185 miles to our 15th destination, the Fort Lewis (Army) Travel Camp near Tacoma WA.  We will be here 8-16 July before we move down to the Spokane WA area.

The entrance to the Ft Lewis Travel Camp, managed by Northwest Adventures

We had made plans to arrive here, set up the RV and then head back south about 40 miles to have dinner with another long lost cousin Jim Linch, his wife Michele and his son Tyler who was playing in a baseball tournament in Centralia WA.  As we drove northbound we received word they had lost their first game and therefore had no more games for the day.  We contacted Michele and decided to meet for lunch saving us 80 miles of driving and freeing up the rest of their day also.  Soon we crossed over the border and entered Washington State.

Northbound we drove parallel to the Columbia River for quite a few miles and saw some large ships navigating the route.

So we arrived at Centralia WA and found space at a Denny's Restaurant to park the condo on wheels, right across the street from Jim's hotel.  We were greeted by Jim who I recognized right away, even though I had not seen him since the 60's.  We joined up with Michele, his wife and Tyler his son, and headed to a local pizza place for lunch.  We left Liberty in their hotel room in her kennel where she surely had a nice nap.  I had ordered a couple items on the Internet (replacement LED tail light assembly for the RV, and an Amazon FireTV Stick), and had them delivered out ahead of us at Jim's house.  They brought the boxes them with and that was greatly appreciated!

We talked over lunch and got up to speed on what each of us had been up to since we had last seen each other.  It was great to meet Michele and Tyler and was interesting to hear him talk about his passion for baseball as he graduated high school this summer and will be playing college ball this fall.

Tyler, Ed, Jim, Michele

After lunch we returned to the hotel, took a couple pictures, said our farewells and headed northbound for Tacoma.  As we neared Tacoma the southbound traffic ground to a dead stop for miles.  We put two and two together and then passed  what appeared to be some sort of crime scene on the Interstate.  Indeed a Soldier from Ft Lewis tragically attacked a State Trooper with a knife and was shot dead.  So the whole area was cordoned off while they investigated what was being described as an "officer-assisted suicide".  Tragic either way.

We arrived at Ft Lewis Travel Camp and checked in at the office.  They were expecting us and we quickly found our pull-through camping spot, right by the lake.

Looking out our dining room window!

Looking out the front screen door at the holly and blackberry bushes.

Holly plants

Thought these might be raspberries, but they are still red and not that sweet so assuming they are blackberries not quite ripe yet.

Our pull-through spot, one of only a few pull-through's here at the park.  Full hook-up is welcome!

A view down the road at other RV's.  This is a quaint, beautiful park.

We are all settled in and are looking forward to visiting MLB's northern-most stadium and attending the Seattle Mariner's vs Oakland A's baseball game tomorrow at 1310 hrs.  If you tune it in on TV we will wave at you :-).