Day 48: Seattle, Washington

We were going to Seattle for the night to get an oil change and stay with Theresa's relatives. The drive from Olympic to Seattle included a ferry ride across Puget Sound! We called to make sure the ferry accepted RVs and they did! This would save us an hour! Plus it would be Ariadne's first trip on a boat!

After we got off the boat, we went to get our oil changed. Clint made the appointment a week ago so we figured it wouldn't take too long and we would just wait for it. Our simple oil changed was not so simple. First the mechanic couldn't figure out where the oil filter was located. While the oil place called other places to figure it out, Clint and I did our own research. Clint called Tiffin but it was after hours. Theresa called Good Sam, waited on hold for 40 minstrels and was told a technician would call her back. We googled it and found that this was a design flaw. The oil filter was under the bed. However, several people claimed that you could go from the top of the engine. The mechanic tried and said he still couldn't reach it. So we cleared out our storage under the bed and the mechanic said he still couldn't get to it. We continued to research. Others had cut an access door on the bottom wood panel that the bed rested on. Others suggested just unscrewing the bottom wood panel completely. The mechanic said he already did this and it wasn't there. So we went out ourselves, completely dragged the mattress off, and started unscrewing the bottom panel. Clint quickly realized the mechanic had unscrewed the bottom half of the panel when he should have been unscrewing the top half. When we finally got all the screws off and removed the top panel, there was the oil filter. Theresa ran in to tell the mechanic they found it. He looked at her and said, "That's great, but we close in 30 mins. I need at least an hour to an hour and a half. I can't do it now." At this point, we have been here for 2 hours. Sweet Ariadne has been sitting patiently in the tiny waiting room coloring and watching Peppa Pig by herself while we were taking the RV apart. Clint had been relentlessly researching and found the solution that the mechanic (who should be more experienced than us) couldn't find. Thinking about all this, Theresa snapped. At first, the mechanic just stared at her as she pitched a fit. Then all of a sudden he jerked up and said, "You're not from around here? You live in that thing?" After Theresa explained to him that we were from Georgia, going cross country, and just made a quick stop for an oil change. Since she seemed to have his attention, Theresa told a little white lie about how now she has to research for a hotel and call a taxi to come get them. The truth was her relatives lived about 20 minutes away and that was our destination tonight. It worked. He hopped up and went outside to find Clint. A few minutes later Clint came in and said the mechanic had changed the filter and was now draining the oil. When the mechanic was almost done, Good Sam's technician finally called Theresa back. He confirmed where the filter would be and told Theresa to make sure 17-24 quarts of oil was put back in. Finally after about 4 hours at the oil change shop, we were finally leaving!

We were so excited to leave and get to Theresa's relatives! While Clint went out to dinner with a friend who lived in Seattle, Theresa, Ariadne, and her relatives went out for Vietnamese food. It was delicious! Theresa had been missing Vietnamese food.