Travel Journal

Editors Note: AvNell and I moved from the plains of Western Kansas to Washington State. The transition has been memorable. On The Road is a compilation of sites, places, and people that we discovered along the way as well as the the ones we have come across since our arrival to Shore crest, near the town of Shelton in Puget Sound.
On May 31st 2015 we headed north on Kansas Highway 96 leaving Scott City for possibly the last time, saying goodbye to friend and family, before embarking on an adventure that would take us through Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, across Washington State and into the Pacific Northwest.
AvNell and I are both now retired.  She was an art teacher for nearly 40 years and continues as a working artist and muralist. I am a photojournalist, spending much of my working life as a photographer and writer for newspapers and magazines in the midwest. I will continue make to pictures, mostly for myself now and help AvNell with her art projects...seems old habits are damn near impossible to break.
Here are some of the people, places, and sites we have found along the way.

Lilliwoup, WA

The Hood Canal is one of four main basins of Puget Sound that winds and stretches some 70 miles beginning between Foulweather Bluff and Tala Point, passing along the small town of Union, and ending near Befair .  Above, the Hood Canal,  photographed near the post office in Lilliwoup.

 I met Scotty, (right) a retired fisherman and self proclaimed Washington State traveler in Lilliwoup. He parked his RV along US Highway 101 that passes through the Olympic Peninsula, and walk to a small grocery store just up the road a quarter mile. On his return trip, he stopped, introduced himself and said how much he enjoy this part of Washington State. He asked if I had seen the Salmon spawning and pointed me in the direction of a road that would lead to a that segment of the Skokomish River...it was amazing. The Salmon were thrashing and pushing up stream through the crystal clear water that looked to be only a foot deep in places. Below are a couple of pictures as the Salmon try to swim agains the current and a Seagull floating in the calm waters of the Skokomish River .