27SEP07 - Sequim, WA

Today we motored down the road a whopping twenty miles and visited another of Dan’s cousins, Kathy Grasser, in Sequim. For readers of this blog Kathy is Steve Keisel’s oldest sister. Unfortunately Kathy’s husband, Dave, passed away a few years ago. Although nothing can replace the loss of a loved one, Kathy now has Dave’s mom, Marge, living on the property. Dan and Corrie hope they are as full of life when they are as young as these two!

Dave started as a deckhand on the COHO, a private ferry that runs from Port Angeles to Victoria, Canada. Eventually Dave became the Master and served in that capacity for many years. Today Dave and Kathy’s son Elmer is the Master of the COHO. Dave always gave Dan grief about being in the Coast Guard, and especially about being a Marine Inspector inspecting ships like the COHO. Dan always threatened to come back as a CG Captain and make life miserable for Dave. Too bad it never happened.

After parking the RV, Dan took off to visit another retired Coastie he worked with in Morgan City, Steve and Jan Ohnstad. Turns out they live less than three miles from Kathy. They bought ten acres many years ago and have been preparing it for their retirement over the years. They built a pole barn in the 90s, and then a house a couple a years ago. They and their kids have adapted to the country life, raising and selling cattle, pigs and lambs; along with the cultivation of hay. The visit was extremely brief, but it was good to reconnect, and we promise to spend several days in the area on our next trip to Washington.

Our time at Kathy’s was also too short. Another great evening reminiscing and talking about the latest about our relatives; and discussing true Seattle traditions like Sea Fair Pirates and JP Patches. Turns out Kathy also has several battery operated video poker handheld machines. At one point in the evening Dan noticed that no one had spoken for several minutes because we were all playing different machines!