So I left Jennifer's yesterday morning right on schedule at 10:00 in the morning, and actually made very good time, until I was set back just a few minutes by the dashboard of my rental car suddenly telling me I had low tire pressure in the rear right tire—24 psi, as compared to the other three ranging between 36 and 38. I knew virtually nothing about what this might actually mean, so I Googled it, and learned that apparently anything below 22 psi is "considered a flat tire." This freaked me out a little, as the page I found also said that continuing to drive on a tire that deflated could result in "a catastrophic blowout."
Why the fuck did it deflate so much in one day, anyway? They were all reading in the mid-thirties the day before. I won't be driving the car today, so we'll see how it looks when I drive it again tomorrow. But, I pulled into the first gas station I saw after this, driving north on Highway 101 toward Port Townsend, and the lady there, who had trouble hearing me through my mask and on the other side of her plexiglass, had to tell me they didn't have air there. She said a gas station the next town up did, and said "Good luck!"
I drove a while further north, and when I reached the town in question, I could only see one sort of off-brand looking gas station that sort of intimidated me with its sketchiness. I drove past it, even though I probably should not have, thinking I would catch the next one . . . which I did not see until I literally reached Port Townsend. There was an actual Shell station there.
The lady at this place was very patient with me, because I probably looked like a complete moron. I'm about to turn 45 years old and I've never inflated a car tire in my life. I didn't even know how the air machine thing out in the parking lot worked. First, it said "quarters only," and I had none. I had to go inside to ask about this, thinking I would see if I could get some cash back or something. But, as soon as I told her I had no change, she said she would just turn it on for me. That was very nice of her. Except, when I went to inflate the tire, it didn't seem to be working. I tried and tried to figure it out, until I went back inside to say, "I'm really sorry about this, but I can't seem to figure out how it works." She said, "Did you turn it on?" I was like . . . what?
Apparently there's a button on the side of the machine. She walked me out to show me, and indeed, there it was. It's a small button on the side and I had no idea it was a machine you had to start up. So, once that was done, I finally figured it out.
And then: I overinflated it. I drove from there to the Port Townsend Co-op Valerie had recommended, with that tire at a psi of 51. I bought myself a sandwich and a Zevia soda to have at the park, and then drove the five minutes from there to Fort Worden State Park, where Valerie had already been waiting since I was at the gas station. When I arrived and told her about the tire pressure, she was like, "Yeah that's way too high." and she happened to have a tire pressure gauge in her car. She actually found the spot inside the door that indicates what the psi is supposed to be (34) and she deflated the tire until the gauge had that as its reading. And, I later made it home with no issues or deflation (so far, anyway).
The actual time I spent inside Fort Worden State Park yesterday was pretty limited, no more than about an hour. There were multiple reasons for this, not least of which was the Academy Awards, which I wanted to get home in time for, which meant getting back to Bremerton in time for the 3:00 ferry. Then, there was Valerie's suggestion that we go visit Auntie Rose's grave, which had not even occurred to me might be an option, though perhaps it should have. Thus, I got to the park around noon, and we left it around 1:00.
There's a lot more of the park to see (and I had already been to this one multiple times, both for other reasons and due to a family history of visits there since childhood), but we didn't even visit any of the bunkers. Our visit was limited just to the main, open grassy area with buildings lined facing each other along each side, which was where we took the photos I wanted for posting a checkin; and the pier down on the water. For the photos, I used the timer—and then later Valerie used the remote app from her Apple Watch to her own phone—to get photos of us together, with a large printed photo I asked her to bring of Auntie Rose, sitting on the steps of one of the houses on the side where you can rent rooms to stay overnight (and we had family trips there doing just that, ages ago—so long ago I do not have any of my own photos of those visits). We did this on the house at the far east of the row of houses, which is a museum and thus we knew not to be occupied. It wasn't even open.
Once we got those photos taken, cracking ourselves up after a series of comic errors, we walked down to the pier on the waterfront, which Valerie said Auntie Rose had been really fond of, and she had a favorite octopus there. I grabbed the sandwich and soda I had brought, and we found a picnic table out at the far end of the pier where I could sit and eat it as my lunch. Right before we sat down, Gabriel FaceTimed me for a couple of minutes to talk briefly about the Oscars.
Oh, by the way: I had my mask on when I first got out of the car, and when I finally saw Valerie from across the grassy area, walking her two dogs—her husband Scott had not bothered to come with her, as is usually the case—she was unmasked, but she put her mask on when she saw me. We gave each other a hug, but soon after that, we were both unmasked again, after she told me she was well past two weeks after her second vaccine dose. And we were never anywhere near any other people the whole time we were there; we did see a few others around but the park was mostly empty.
Valerie said she had really been looking forward to this, as it was the first chance to do any kind of "celebration of life" for her mom. She warned me she might start crying, which I said was fine of course; she did tear up a little while we talked about Auntie Rose, particularly when I brought up how she was one of the very few Christians I ever knew who was devout, but never hypocritical—when it came to Jesus's teachings, she truly walked the talk. Grandma was similar in that way, the only real difference between the sisters on this point (though they were wildly different people in every other way) being that Grandma was never afraid to call people out on their bullshit, and Auntie Rose was entirely non-confrontational.
Anyway, Valerie had set a timer on her Apple Watch, so we would know when to head back from the pier, which was very pretty with a wonderful water view. In fact, the forecast for some time had been for rain that day, and I even encountered rain driving there
and driving back, but it was totally dry for the duration of our brief time at the park, which was perfect. That was also the case at Laurel Grove Cemetery, which I then followed her to in my rental car.
It was kind of a trip visiting Auntie Rose's grave. Apparently Uncle Imre (who had stayed at home) visits every single day, having even brought a bench to sit on by the grave, and Valerie comes along often. Uncle Imre still lives in their house in Port Townsend, and Valerie and Scott still live in Bellevue, but as I recall they had bought a second house in Port Townsend right next to Auntie Rose and Uncle Imre. Valerie in particular no doubt has spent a lot of time up there, what with Uncle Imre now being on his own.
I was kind of blown away by the scale and detail, the ornateness of the gravesite and particularly the headstone—it has to have cost a fortune, but I was not so crass as to ask how much they paid for it. It was weird to think of Auntie Rose's literal body being six feet in the ground below us, but I only thought about that briefly, instead focusing on several photos I took of it. (The full photo album on Flickr can be found
here: it's a 35-shot album in which 20 shots are of Fort Worden State Park and 9 shots are at the cemetery.) I really appreciated getting the opportunity to visit, and it seemed wholly appropriate given that the visit to Fort Worden itself was to honor her, as it had been where Auntie Rose and I planned to visit for my Birth Week last year, before she passed away. She even mailed me a full map of all of Washington's state parks, which of course I still have and regularly reference.
It's too bad I couldn't have stayed longer. Blame the Academy! We hugged again and said our goodbyes, and I told Valerie I would be happy to have her continue being part of my Birth Week. She said especially after having to be so disconnected over the past year, she's into the idea of staying connected with family. So, I'm sure we'll stay in touch.
I got home in time for the Academy Awards, which were wildly different and very odd with all their covid-precaution changes. A lot of it was surprisingly dull, until the main actor category wins at the end of the night were both genuine shocks. I could write more about it but I need to go get ready so I can be ready in time for Danielle and her girls to pick me up. I will say I got on FaceTime with Gabriel often enough, mostly during almost every commercial break, that I think I'll consider it that we watched together and give him a Social Review point for it. Not that he gives a shit. Anyway, on to the next thing!
[posted 7:49 am]
