Day 67: I have toys!

DAY 67: Olympia, Washington
Miles traveled: 8,810
States visited: 22
Weather: 72, overcast

I’ve arrived in Seattle after spending a fun day in Olympia. I have so many great pictures from here already, I don’t know how I’ll be able to post them all. For now, I want to write about some of my gadgets, as I’ve been meaning to do for quite a while.

I have three important toys that I couldn’t live without. First is my electrical charger, which plugs into the cigarette lighter. It has two outlets ready for use. I use this almost daily to charge my camera batteries, laptop, phone, and other gadgets. I found it on Amazon for something like $30 and it’s been great to have.

Next is my GPS. I would truly not be able to do this trip without it. I don’t know how people did road trips in the old days. I guess they just bought books of maps. But then they were stuck sticking to main roads. I can go anywhere without fear, because I know the GPS will lead me back. Occasionally, it takes me to a business that is no longer there, but overall it’s a lifesaver. Sometimes it does get confused – this shot makes it look like I was driving in the Pacific Ocean.

Last is my little stove, another purchase I made on Amazon for less than $40. It looks like a lunchbox. You put the food in heavy duty aluminum foil, close the lid, and plug the oven into the cigarette lighter. Twenty minutes later, the food is ready to eat. I brought some cans of ravioli and stew with me so that if I ever don’t feel like buying lunch, or if I’m in a campground and have no place to eat, I just plug in the stove and I’m set. That’s some good eatin’!

I’ve lost weight on this trip, but I’m not sure how much. When I got to LA, I weighed myself and was shocked to see a number I hadn’t seen since high school. It appeared as if I had lost 12 pounds. But I was skeptical. When I found another scale, it indicated that I’d only lost 4 pounds. At any rate, I’m delighted by this because I worried I’d be getting fat since I’m not exercising much at all. I haven’t gone on a jog since I was in Little Rock. But I guess plain old walking and hiking is good enough to burn calories.

My van doesn’t have a CD player, just a cassette player. I’ve been using an adapter to play the 100 or so CDs I brought with me, but I’ve been wanting to buy some actual cassettes too. This morning, I found gold at the Goodwill in Federal Way, Washington. I bought eight cassettes for 59 cents each, mostly ’80s pop, including 1999 by Prince and stuff by Debbie Gibson, Expose, OMD, and Bell Biv DeVoe. And – get this – a 60-minute guide to managing your money by Suze Orman, who I love. Road trip entertainment doesn’t get any better than that!

I’ve gotten to page 320 of the 800-page Warhol diaries. I’m up to August 1980. I actually read the entry where Andy talks about watching the Mount St. Helens eruption on The Today Show, which was funny since I visited there two days ago. I haven’t had a lot of quiet time but the other night I arrived at the Walmart in Chehalis a bit early and had some time to relax and do some reading. It was so refreshing – I need to make time for that more often.