Still Not Quite in Canada Yet [250608]

(Posted 250611) Rather than try to rush to the border when the crossing itself could take an unknown amount of time, we had built an errand and travel day into our schedule.

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With our visiting and reminiscing in the past, it was time to take care of some housekeeping tasks before heading north again.  Our Monday morning included the last running-water-campground-showers for awhile, topping off the air in the tires, lubing the dump port, and then stopping to fill our fresh water tank on the way out of the campground - the latter few activities all under a light sprinkle.  We left the park just after 11 a.m.

We proceeded 22 miles back to the 76 station in Port Orchard to dump our tanks, during which the light sprinkle turned into a light rain.  There was no line for the dump station, but the ground around it was now a mess - as were the threads on the dump hose.  Tom completed the dump anyway without issue, and then opted to hose down their dump station for them in lieu of buying any of their overpriced gas (normally we'll buy gas at the station as a "thank you" for providing the free dump facilities).

With that task taken care of, we continued down around the Sound - paying cash to the human toll taker (how quaint!) to cross back over the Tacoma Narrows Bridge - and stopped at the SeaTac Rest Area 32 miles away to use the restroom . . . to find that the SeaTac Rest Area had free dump stations and water fill, just like Scatter Creek did 🤦.

We passed through Seattle around 1:30 . . .

. . . and then stopped at the Costco in Everett for gas.  The Everett Costco also has an incredibly tight turn to get into its gas station, and Tom ended up popping the curb to make it.  Tom applied the post-dump lube in the Costco parking lot and then headed north another 19 miles, where we stopped for lunch in the Smokey Point Rest Area.  Interestingly, Smokey Point is the current home of a "famous" stump from an ancient giant Western Redcedar tree.

The Smokey Point Rest Area also happens to have a free dump and water station.  🙄

Our next stops were in Burlington, another 22 miles north.  For some unknown reason, Panera seems to like giving Christine free money to spend there (despite the fact that she practically never spends actual money there) so we stopped by there to cash in her latest offer to get a Cinnamon Crunch Bagel and a Dubai Chocolate Cookie.  We also stopped by the Dollar Tree down the street to pick up a few items.

Another 9 miles up the road brought us to our resting place for the night: the Bow Hill Rest Area, where we arrived at 5:15.  Unlike most Rest Areas, the Bow Hill parking spots are sub-divided into designated "8 hour", "4 hour", and "1 hour" sections (although reviewers claim that no one ever checks/enforces the limits); we found ourselves a spot in the "8 hour section" and settled in the for the night.

Dinner for Tom was Chili Crisp rice with the remainder of his turkey lunch meat, since that was on the "disallowed" list for bringing into Canada, and leftover canned peas; Christine had Soupe de Pistou.  We spent the remainder of the evening/night using as much of Tom's remaining RedPocket data as possible, since it wouldn't be useable once we crossed into Canada the next day and would expire before we exited on the far side; Tom worked on completing and publishing the second Alaska blog post while Christine worked on trip planning.

Final bed time was around 12:20.  The plan for the morning was to leave at 10 a.m. and head for the border crossing 40 miles away.