Morning all. I arose early this morning to get a good start on my plan for making money at the art festival today. I drove off nice and early and parked as close as I could to the road the festival was on. It was already 8.30 and it was supposed to start at 8 but I couldn't see a soul around. So I set to work. The large piece of wood was for a sign I was going to make. I decided being at an art festival and all it might not be a bad idea to offer up my van for people to draw on. After all it is what it was for and I could of course charge a small fee for those who wanted to draw on it. So I drew in large black font "draw on me for a $." It looked ok and I was satisfied so I hung it on the front of my van ready for some custom.
As it seemed pretty dead I decided to take a walk around and see all the stalls people had put up. It was all very traditional. I saw the dutch oven cooking contest was under way. And there was a guy manipulating leather to make pictures. And plenty of water colour stands. There was a little show set up with fake gun fights going on. And a pony for the kids to ride. And even a stage for a band to play. It was all very quaint but you could also see that all the stops had been pulled out for today. It was a big event for the village. Bless them!
I decided to go into the cool art shop again and see if the artist was in for a chat. I tried to get him talking about arty stuff, I asked him questions about the inks he uses and I was met with an unfriendly one word answer each time. I got the picture after a while and decided he was a grumpy dick for what ever reason. However the woman I had talked to yesterday was lovely and really pleasant. I think she was his wife. I cant be sure though. If she was he had done very well!
Any way after hanging around a bit more and looking at the people who had turned up. No more than 100. But everyone was saying how busy it was and how hectic everything is. Its all relative I suppose. A woman even looked at my camera as I was filming the band and said. "I seen one like that on the television!" I didn't think they were quite that out of touch but I guess so.
Any way after a while of hanging about the van and getting nothing more than some amused looks I decided this wasn't the crowd for my van drawing business. Fortunately I have just received some birthday money in the bank from my good friend Barbara one of many financial lifelines she has thrown me over time. So I decided to use that to put a bit more in the van and move on out. Time to leave this one horse town. I want to see the ocean! I need to swim!
So just before I left I decided that I would take one last walk down the festivities. Lucky I did as it was the end of the big dutch oven cook off. The judges were being fed and the food was being cut up into what looked suspiciously like sample serving sizes. So in a very unsubtle way I hung around until the ok was given and I loaded up a paper plate. No shame no hesitation. There was a fantastic spread. It was amazing. Lamb, pork chicken, rhubarb cobbler, stuffed onions, tomato bread, it was a feast! And although I hadn't eaten anything other than cold beans and dry cereal for a while I could tell the taste of this food was incredible! The stuffed onions were possibly the best thing I had ever tasted! And don't worry mum I got the recipe and even the chefs tips on how to make it perfect. I expect you to get to work on it right away for my return! Along with my usual….. a full plate of broccoli and Spaghetti Bolognese.
After shamelessly stuffing my face even when everyone else had left it alone I decided it was time to move on. With a full stomach and some protein in me finally I set off. I went straight to the petrol station and checked my balance online. As I said I had the money from Barbara and it seemed a bit more. There had been a chunk that hadn't come out so I decided to get it all out and deal with the consequences later. So I had 120 bucks! It looked cool! American money is awesome. I put 60 bucks in which took me to just over 3/4 of a tank. I set off feeling cheery and ready for a new adventure.
Driving became dull quite quickly. It was still nice scenery but not as spectacular. It was more like a really nice bit of Scotland or Wales. For a while it was tiring and boring. Also I was reminded every single mile how far I had to go! 199 miles- 198 miles. It was tedious and made it take longer. Once It got to 99 though it started to feel good and also the scenery improved. I was greeted again by mountains. It was a nice feeling. It almost felt like a home comfort. The view rapidly turned stunning again and there were beautiful waterfalls and trees everywhere. Not to mention some cracking tunes came on the ipod. I have put it on shuffle all songs which is a risky game but it throws some gems at you once in a while. My spirit was high and I was bellowing tunes out at the top of my voice. "Will Young Evergreen" was one of my favorites! I actually thought of my cousins Si and Jonny and how they love gay music like that. I could imagine them singing along to this kind of stuff! And the steering wheel is the best thing to drum on while your driving! You can hit it as hard as you like. I got quite a few looks as people already stared at the van because of all the doodles. And when they realised the van was carrying a bopping, singing at the top of his voice looney it was really something to behold. The rest of the drive went quickly and I was feeling good. The petrol a was a bit low so I decided to pull over at the next gas station about 20 miles out and put 19 bucks in. This is because I wanted the 1 dollar to see what it was like and I thought I deserved a sweetie or chocolate treat for getting so far. I will spend the buck later. I also checked my email to see that my mate Sam from Snowskool still wanted me to design him a tattoo. Awesome so flattered by the prospect and its a great something to do when I'm bored and alone in the van.
I drove on into the city center. It was breathtaking. Everything was huge! It made London look like it was made out of Lego. I loved the streets and the buildings. The architecture was beautiful. And not to mention the bridges over vast areas of water. I loved it. My ore at the views quickly turned to panic. I had no idea where I was going and what I was doing! Its a huge city! You ever tried to park a van in London for the night for free! Not possible! Neither was it here! Lucky I had put the extra 19 bucks in the van. I nearly used it all up city driving. Eventually I found a more residential place up the hill on Main street. (Main street, love that!) And it was Saturday night so free parking tomorrow. Then I started walking down into town. I suddenly became aware of the size of this busy city. I was such a tiny fish in a massive pond! I was walking around with all my valuables in my bag. It was a little daunting! Big cities are not friendly places especially when your coming from a little western country village with about 10 people as the population! I walked around looking for somewhere to use the internet. People in shops and bars were friendly enough but no one was very sure about WiFi. Turned out the city just supplies it for free. They have hot spots all over the place and are even looking into putting it all over city wide. On the other hand finding a spot that I felt safe to whip out my laptop or ipad was a different matter. I settled on the doorway of a closed Starbucks. I didn't look so different from a few of the homeless people wandering around so I didn't look out of place. I sat down and set on getting myself some info. I decided to look up the directions to Abbeys families house and save them for when I was going to head there. They weren't back from their trip on a boat some where till tomorrow so I didn't want to just head over there with out letting them no ahead of time I was coming. I also looked up some touristy things to do tomorrow. I needed to do a bit of touristing. I don't want to get home and have people say. "Oh Seattle its lovely isn't it, did you go see this?" "errm no, err what?" Always a danger! It was getting dark and I decided to retreat to the safety of the van. I walked cautiously back to the van still dwarfed by the hugeness of everything. When I got back to the van and into bed I realized I had parked it on a massive slope and I kept slipping down the mattress. Not the comfiest place I have slept but it will do. See you in the morning.
Kilometers Traveled Today:354
Kilometers Traveled Total: 1236
Funds: $41U.S
Petrol: 1/2 Tank
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