(sing out loud to the tune of “stuck in Lodi again” . . .

Just about 2 months ago
We set out on the road
Seeking photo opportunities
Lookin’ for that perfect one
DMV screwed up, then screwed up some more
I guess you know the tune
Oh Lord, stuck in Washington . . .

With sincere apologies to John Fogarty and Creedence Clearwater Revival, I could not help but think of his song “Stuck in Lodi again” to depict our current situation.

You see, we are “stuck” in Washington, waiting for the DMV to issue my Class B Driver’s license.

It is now the 4th of July and about 7 weeks later than when I should have received my license . . . and I am probably still 2 weeks away, all due to some clerical error within the DMV.

I shall spare you the details of what has happened, but suffice to say that, after passing both the written and behind-the-wheel tests AND submitting a certificate from my doctor stating I am healthy enough for a commercial license, I still don’t have the license. Instead, I am using the Interim License, that piece of paper the DMV issues while you wait for the real thing to be sent to you. Valid here in the US, but (and this is the issue) Canada does not recognize that piece of paper, so we are prevented from crossing the border.

After a multitude calls, made over the course of 4 weeks, with each person I spoke to telling me the issue is fixed and the license is on its way and should be there in 2-3 weeks, I finally tracked down the supervisor of the person handling my license. She admitted there had been an error and that her department had never issued the “All Clear”. She fixed that right there, with me on the phone.

As I believe she really had the authority to do that, I now have confidence the license is finally on its way. Trouble is, I will have it in my hands about 2 months later than I originally expected.

So here we are in Washington, waiting, just hanging out for something to happen. We are in an RV Park in Bellingham, about as close to the Canadian border as we can get. With full respect to the people in Washington, we are getting impatient. Washington is beautiful, but we want to move on. We had originally anticipated to be somewhere in the Yukon Territory by now and having traveled all the way through British Columbia. Yet here we are, still in Washington.

While we have now given up on traveling to Alaska this trip, we DO want to go to Jasper and Banff from here and are waiting with baited breath for this infernal license to arrive.

What is perhaps most frustrating is that our frame of mind is no longer excited about being here (in Washington). We’ve been to the Olympic Peninsula, seen Mount St. Helens and Mt Rainier and have driven through many parts of the Cascades, visited North Cascades National Park, saw orcas in the Hood Canal, took a cruise through the San Juan islands, visited Victoria, BC, explored Anacortes and Fidalgo Island, drove right across Widley Island and visited art galleries in Langley . . . All beautiful, but . . .

We refuse to just sit in the motorhome and do nothing (although believe me, it is tempting), so we are really trying to find things to do just so we get out. Today we visited a local park called Whatcom Falls Park which had a waterfall. On Wednesday, we will take our Subaru Forester and drive to Vancouver (Linda will drive so there will be no issues if she needs to show a driver’s license) and on Friday, we will head South and spend a day in Seattle. All good activities, but it is a “mental” thing – we want to be in Canada.

There are also some housekeeping issues that need attending, the awning straps I need to replace, look into the coach leveling system, which seems to be having issues and the WiFi Ranger, which is not performing the way I believe it should be. Also, Linda has been wanting some quality time with her Art and we both have some writing planned for the blog. . .

So, all in all, we are keeping ourselves busy, but we ARE frustrated. We hope to be able to leave on the 20th, so still another 2 weeks so. . . Sigh . . . .

Signed Stuck in Washington