Drip-Drip

We had been living in our new rig for a couple of months before our first exposure to precipitation occurred while we were on the Oregon coast and we learned, to our dismay, that the roof leaked.  Not a lot.  Just a slow drip-drip that started coming off the ceiling decoration about a half hour after the rain started and continued for about a half hour after the rain stopped.  I'm not sure I trust an RV roof to hold my weight, so we called an RV repair guy who came out to our campground and re-caulked some of the fixtures up there and said to call him again if the leak didn't stop.

Well, the leak did stop, but it was because that was the last rain we saw until we had been in Chimacum a few weeks.  Then we got another few showers and, sure enough, the drip-drip came back.  Now we weren't sure what to do, so we made an appointment to take it to an RV repair place in Sequim, about 40 minutes away.  There, a guy climbed up and looked around and said the caulking job looked fine and there were no obvious cracks in the fiberglass, but he could see where water was collecting a little around the front air conditioner and there was probably a leaky gasket up there.  If we left the coach with him for the day, he could replace that.  So, we found ourselves with some time to kill in Sequim.

Lavender farm

One of the things the area is known for is growing lavender.  I don't know why.  You can't eat it and it doesn't smell that great to me.  It has some medicinal uses but the studies use all kinds of hedge words which make me suspect its effectiveness may be more related to belief than pharmacology.  But around Sequim it's a big deal.  The previous weekend had been the big annual Lavender Festival in Sequim but they hadn't chopped down all the plants yet, so we went and visited a lavender farm.  Vicki explored thoroughly, traipsing up and down between the rows, then visiting the gift shop.  To me, one lavender plant looks pretty much like another, so after a couple of minutes, I found a nice chair in the shade and admired the color from a respectful distance with the dogs on my lap.

All pretty much the same to me

With Vicki finally done, I got up and headed for the exit when we came upon a flock or gaggle or whatever of apparently free range ducks and geese and chickens wandering between the lavender and the farmhouse.  The schnoodles went berserk.  I didn't know what they would do if they actually got hold of a goose (since it probably outweighed the two of them combined) but I was pretty sure I didn't want to find out.  Fortunately, they were well leashed and I had a good grip.  I herded them back to the car as quickly as practicable and we took off to a chorus of yips and barks.

The lighthouse on its sand spit

Sequiim has a lighthouse that sits at the end of a 5 mile sand spit.  I had no interest in hiking 5 miles to see another lighthouse, but we managed to find a small beach park across from the end of the spit where you could see the light pretty well without the walk.  We got out to gets some pictures and noticed a lot of clam shells on the ground in the parking lot.  As we walked out to the beach, we notice a seagull apparently picking something up and dropping it on the rocky shore.  These birds have apparently learned to get clams and mussels and fly them up about 20 or 30 feet and drop them to crack them open.  Then they pick out the

Mussel ready for cracking

insides with gusto.  Sometimes it takes 3 or 4 drops, but it works.

We sat on the beach and watched as a small brownish gull, a juvenile, accompanied a bright white adult as it went through this mussel cracking routine.  A mother teaching the behavior to her offspring.  I certainly read it that way.  Most of the birds cracked their dinners on shore rocks, but occasionally one would fly up and use the asphalt parking lot, a much easier target.  I have read about crows doing this sort of thing, but have never seen seagulls do it.  They're still flying rats, but not stupid rats.

Bombs away

It was time to go back to the shop where we were told the AC gasket looked fine.  There is a pump that is supposed to get rid of condensation from the air conditioner and it was frozen up, so they fixed that just because they had it open, but that would have caused a leak from running the AC, not from rain.  So as far as they were concerned they had not found the problem.  We talked about bringing it back in a couple of days for another look but weren't too enthusiastic.  As chance would have it, the next day it rained again and guess what?... no leak.  So we didn't go back to Sequim.  Since then we have been through a couple of thunder storms, including a pretty impressive one a couple of hours ago, and the interior is dry as a bone.  So I guess we'll call that problem fixed for now.  But we will still cross our fingers every time it rains.