This morning, we cleaned up the Indianola house and headed out for Seattle by way of the Seattle-Bainbridge Island ferry. I haven’t been on a ferry since Mimi and Doc (my dad’s folks) would take my brother and I on the Port Bolivar-Galveston route. It was great fun, with a beautiful view of a very busy shipping channel.
They cram an impressive number of cars onto this boat. Once we parked, we headed upstairs.
It was slim pickin’s in the galley for breakfast. The passenger deck was full of thoroughly unimpressed people, likely because there was a lot of commuter traffic. But we three and children under the age of eight were exhilarated.
The ferry lands straight into Downtown Seattle.
An announcement sounded for all drivers to return to their vehicles, so we did, and prepared for what would ultimately be the most stressful ten minutes of the entire journey. Would the Bumblebee start? Would we make it through Seattle traffic?
The gates opened and they started waving traffic along. Our lane didn’t move. A vehicle had failed to start.
But it was not the Bumblebee! A Tahoe a few cars up was dead, so they backed our line up and routed us around the terribly mortified motorist.
As we were deposited on the shore, we were immediately pulled apart by traffic and turn-only lanes we didn’t expect. That’s for the best, because my next display was not for my friends to see, and I’m told, the same was true for each of their paths out of downtown.
I ended up northbound under the Viaduct and made a right onto a street with the tallest hill I’ve seen on this adventure. With stoplights. And heavy traffic. And pedestrians. And a tailgating Infinity. The scene that followed weighs heavy on my soul and the clutch and my formerly new tires. No further details shall be added to this written record.
We arrived at our hosts’ home and spent the afternoon working on making arrangements to dispatch our automotive friends, having a nice dinner at Coastal Kitchen with George’s cousin and his partner, and toasting our many accomplishments.
In preparation for upcoming vehiclelessness, we acquired another Rental Chariot from Hertz. It is thoroughly unfun to drive. And that continuously variable transmissions is abysmal. Our three noble beasts can run circles around this tremendously mediocre set of wheels. But the Rental Chariot does have one thing that the others do not: cup holders.
Here’s to a great weekend in Seattle.
