June 10, 2010

From the Trailer Inn, Bellevue, WA N47º34.603 W122º8.034


It rained more during the night. I did clean the Jeep windows but didn’t bother with the rest of the car or the motorhome. I still don’t understand why the rain puts dirt on the car instead of washing it off.

I called my cousin, Florence, and set up a time to meet her and visit with my aunt Marcella. She is in a care facility in Seattle. This is my mother’s next youngest sister, of course my mom went with me. Marcella looks good but is confined to a wheelchair after her last hip operation. Marcella knew us and engaged in some conversation but her short term memory isn’t good. I don’t know what the prognosis is but it seems doubtful to me that she will be able to go home under Florence’s care. Florence is a trooper but like many people caring for aging loved ones she has her own heath issues.

Gerri’s mother, Neva, flew from Las Vegas to Seattle for Kayla’s graduation. She was scheduled to arrive at 5:05 PM. The airport is about 20 miles from the RV Park. At about 3:40 I stopped by the office and ask if there was anything special I should know about getting there and picking someone up. They said leave now because of rush hour traffic. We left immediately. The traffic on I-90 was moderately heavy and then backed up on the exit to I-405. My GPS was directing us to I-5 anyway so I didn’t get in that line. Traffic then rest of the way, on both I-90 and I-5 was light and we got to the airport 45 minutes early. After we started seeing signs to the airport I followed them instead of the GPS directions. The GPS had the SeaTac airport as a POI but I have no idea where it would have taken us. This airport has an interesting and convenient feature called a Cell Phone Parking Lot. Signs direct you there and the idea is to wait until your party calls you from the arrival area and then you go pick them up. There is no stopping and waiting at the pickup area, only loading and unloading. This would be a good feature at McCarran but I know Randy Walker would charge for the wait.

After picking up Neva we drove her to her hotel about 20 miles north. I only had to circle around downtown Seattle once. The street the GPS directed me to take to get on I-5 was closed, so we went directly through downtown Seattle. Tall buildings with narrow streets create a real challenge to a GPS. The signals bounce around and often the unit doesn’t recalculate quick enough for you to be ready for a turn when the traffic is heavy and you are in the wrong lane. GPS units may be very useful but if you can get local information you are away ahead of the game. Besides the reception problem my unit, a Garmin 7200, will frequently give different directions over what should be the same route to the prior destinations. After getting out of the downtown area we found the hotel easily. After Neva checked in we had supper at the Saffron Grill on the same grounds as the hotel.

The 13 mile trip back to the RV bark was uneventful except for rain and traffic. This was an example of the GPS giving different instructions for the same destination. The last part of the drive was on I-90 east and the exit directions should have been the same as when my mom and I came back from the care facility. They weren’t. I suspect this was the same problem when we first tried to get to the RV Park in the motorhome. The difference was I now new better and took the right turns.

More rain during the night. We don’t know exact plans for the next couple of days. Plans all depend upon different family members arriving at different times. We will see how things unfold.