The convenience of having our house with us all the time allows us to live in the forest one day then coexist with the “civilized” in an actual neighborhood the next!

Moochdocking in Port Orchard

A quick 45-minute drive from JBLM over the Narrows Bridge onto the magical Olympic Peninsula finds us camped in the surprisingly snowy front yard of Leslie and Anthony in bustling Port Orchard as we “moochdock.” What is moochdocking? It’s simply camping for free in someone’s driveway or yard! Boondocking with style…Interestingly, we are not the only camper in a front yard on this street, so we don’t feel too much like Eddie from Christmas Vacation…”Shitter was full!”

We are quite cozy while we cat sit Titan and Maui for about a week while their feeders and scoopers are on the east coast visiting family. Maui recently had oral surgery, so she’s not feeling her best. I am also having to manhandle her a bit to administer eye drops. Hopefully, she won’t hate me by the end of the week! Titan must be confused since she used to live in Columbus with us and probably thought she got rid of us forever when she flew here to live with Leslie and Anthony. Surprise, Titan!

Leslie and Anthony have made sure we have everything we need as campers in their driveway…Anthony even installed a 30-amp hookup for us. Moochdocking is luxurious when we have water, electricity and even a place to dump our tank in their septic system. We may never leave!

More Beautiful Places

Wright Park

Downtown Tacoma has a pretty park that feels centralized, similar in idea to Central Park in NYC, but much smaller. There are walking paths, old statues, an actual bowling green and a pretty conservatory. We met a very nice lady who was using a bench inside the conservatory as her workspace so that she could be more available to anyone who needed her services relating to helping seniors.

It was a bit chilly the day we were there, so we decided to get soup at Infinite Soups! This carry out spot only takes cash, which we found out too late. We were prepared to leave soup-less, but they gave us an old-fashioned IOU! Literally wrote on a post-it note, “IOU $18.” It gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling that was reminiscent of dealing with businesses “back in the day.” It only works if people pay it back, but I felt like they would’ve been okay with someone not paying if they really just needed soup that day. (We found an ATM and paid it back within the hour.)

Woodard Bay Conservation Area

Another chilly day found us near Olympia exploring Woodard Bay. After a bit of a hike on a lush trail, we ended up on Woodard Bay (Chapman Bay?) off Henderson Inlet that is off the Puget Sound. The waterfowl are returning for early spring duties and the views are amazing.

Logging trains once used this spot at Woodard Bay to dump logs into the water so that they could be easily transferred to rafts to be floated elsewhere. There is an interesting spot where you can stand and see where the tracks once led to the trestle which has since been partially dismantled.

What remains of the trestle is now inhabited by a large colony of Little Brown Bats and Yuma Bats in the spring and summer. They have tracked the bats on their feeding hunts and have found that they make the longest commute of any bat in North America! They fly from Woodard Bay to Capitol Lake each night, eight miles! And sometimes the nursing mothers return during their hunting to nurse their young at the trestle and then go on to hunt some more. At only three inches long they are the ultimate super heroes!

Logistics and Preparations

Down time is being spent with a mix of exercise, playing online billiards, reading, Greg’s artistic rendering of the cats and trip planning…mostly trip planning. We have a cross-country trip coming up starting in May. We are planning our route around a combination of places we have saved in Google Maps under “Want to Go,” as well as friends and family locations. We essentially have four months to do all that we can before we return to the PNW for annual doctor junk.

Ahead of catching the ferry onto San Juan Island for two months of NPS volunteering, we have logistics and training to complete. One of our goals (of many) with volunteering relates to keeping our skills semi-relevant and our brains and bodies moving. Our brains appreciate the virtual training in Teams with a very professional NPS staff. We still know how to give audio and video permissions, connect to our wifi and choose a background. Geezer label successfully thwarted, for now.

Reservations are required for ferry travel to the touristy areas around here in shoulder and peak seasons, especially for an RV as we take up 40 feet of space on the ferry. I reserved our trip both to San Juan Island and back several months ago. And then I reserved a Boondockers Welcome spot to rest the cats after our return ferry ride in May (since we try to only keep them in their carriers for about four hours each trip}. ‘Long story short, many balls are being juggled? Or I’m juggling lots of balls?? Or there’s a lot going on, yeah…that’s it.

Catio Corner

First of all, we KNOW that Titan is in the house next door. What does a cat have to do to get rid of somebody? We’re insulted. But as cats, we do respect that our people are cat sitting. Cats don’t have thumbs, so we can’t open cans of food. Even Titan deserves food. Maybe.

We are not sure we approve of Greg’s artistic rendering of us on the bucket that protects the tongue jack, but we appreciate the recognition of our greatness. He has thumbs, so we would expect a little more realism. It’ll do.

Finally, we greatly appreciate the camper being out of the trees and in the sunshine for the first time since October. How do you keep cats happy living in an RV? Nap spots, playtime, a catio and sunshine!