| For two days I looked like an "expectant father", | | | | louder grumblers were now safely tucked away in |
| but I was female. I shuffled from the ferry, the | | | | reserved cabins opened, finally, in the late evening. |
| terminal, and my car, back and forth. On May 6, | | | | It was a long first day.THIRD DECEITI became an |
| 2005 my car sat in line jammed between a new, | | | | island hopper, but where was the island? The next |
| red Mercedes with black convertible top and a | | | | morning, my companion, Mutzi and I headed out |
| 1973 beat-up International, windows curtained with | | | | to Whidbey Island over Deception Pass about |
| personal belongings and a blue healer pup "arf-ing" | | | | forty miles south of the Bellingham ferry terminal. |
| inside. This was surely a sign. I should just turn | | | | I stayed off Highway 5 taking Chuckanut road. |
| around and head back.Like many aboard I was | | | | Just to show how upset I was at Burlington I |
| headed to Juneau, to a "new job" and along with | | | | hopped on Hwy 5 at exit 231 just to go to Exit |
| two hundred others, inconvenienced by the MV | | | | 230 and hit State Road 20. Eighteen miles west |
| Colombia's "new" engine breakdown. A lot of us | | | | from there I saw Deception Pass. It is deceiving. I |
| were having breakdowns on board experiencing | | | | drove right by Deception Park not seeing it and |
| many kinds of fever; "cabin", "ferry", and | | | | continued to the end of Whidbey Island.The islands |
| "terminal" (I mean, ferry terminal.).FIRST | | | | are woven together with bridges and highways, |
| DECEITScuttlebutt started, "We'll get back to you | | | | further hidden by thick Douglas fir terrain causing |
| in four hours." Information bounced from person | | | | part of the deception. If you look you'll find sand |
| to person, by the time I got it, it had really | | | | dunes, shedding madrona trees, eagles overhead, |
| changed. The terminal PA system didn't work and | | | | clumps of kelp in the bay, many trails, and trees, |
| no one had answers as to what was going | | | | trees, and more trees.Even at first discovery in |
| on.During one "false alarm" that we were actually | | | | 1792 Whidbey and Vancouver, master and |
| going to set sail a security officer was attacked | | | | Captain seamen were deceived, so it happens to |
| by his own K-9. The officer found it necessary to | | | | the best and the least of us.FOURTH |
| provoke the animal. The dog had sniffed the | | | | DECEITDon't be fooled by National Parks Lifetime |
| same bags, one too many times and lost his | | | | membership packages. You can't get by the |
| focus. Our ID's were checked at least eight times | | | | Ranger station without paying a $5.00 entry and |
| everywhere we walked. Those most upset | | | | parking fee even if you have one. You might get |
| clamored to discuss the issue with local news | | | | it back if you drive in, use the john, and drive out |
| reporters. The hoopla spanned the news wire, as | | | | again. Keep the car running and be nice to the |
| far as I knew, all the way to Colorado. Could | | | | attendant.There are interpretive trails to explore, |
| have been further, but I have family there, so | | | | an observation deck, and lots of historical |
| that's as far as I really cared.SECOND | | | | information about the Samish Indian Nation, |
| DECEITFour hours after the first announcement | | | | Skagits, Haidah raids, Cranberry Lake, Rosario |
| another one filtered in. "We still have an oil leak in | | | | Beach, and more.The awesome bridge with |
| one of the sixteen pistons. The Coast Guard | | | | eight-knot currents flowing under it is 182 feet |
| won't let us leave." The Colombia did set off, out | | | | high spanning the gulf between Fidalgo and |
| to sea, followed by a Coast Guard cutter, gone | | | | Whidbey. Canoe Island supports the middle. |
| for eight hours, returned, and announced, "We're | | | | Summer time crowds are thick according to Park |
| not going anywhere.""Hoopty", the vehicle behind | | | | statistics with over two million visitors yearly, but |
| my car, I learned was the International's name. | | | | spring is just right. There is parking on the bridge |
| [Naming a car isn't unusual. I had one named | | | | for sightseeing and photos.I learned that around |
| "Betsy" once.] Robert its owner and Zip, the blue | | | | 1848 Isaac Ebey claimed land in present day |
| healer were Oregon mountain folk. A sewing | | | | Coupeville, one of the oldest towns in the State. |
| machine sat in the back of Hoopty. Robert and his | | | | Ebey was killed and beheaded by the Haidah in |
| brother sewed leather duds, so he was expanding | | | | 1857. I wondered if he was an ancestor of our |
| this newly organized business. Although, the job | | | | present day Ebay. That Ebey led early pioneers, |
| he was going to in Juneau was likely to set sail, as | | | | now this Ebay is pioneering. Nebulous, I know, |
| fishing boats do, before he arrived. Robert was | | | | sorry.Mutzi and I shot that day. We weren't |
| worried, if that boat sailed, he'd be out of job and | | | | surprised the MV Colombia still sat at the terminal. |
| have to live inside Hoopty. Well, that's what | | | | Three more times before boarding our ID's came |
| happened. Later he took another ferry to | | | | out. My car again was parked lost between a big, |
| Anchorage and headed to the Yukon with less | | | | honkin' Louisiana truck and a California SUV pulling |
| space in Hoopty, because Zip had grown.We | | | | a U-Haul; half-full. The other half sat on the |
| stayed the first night, housed on the Colombia, | | | | pavement as a hunt for a propane leak continued. |
| offered free meals and bunked wherever. Many | | | | |