Hoquiam
was the first small town I came to after emerging from my 4 month stay in
the rain forests of the Olympic National Park. The name Hoquiam was drvied
from a Chehalis Indian word meaning "hungry for wood." The Indians
called it this because the mouth of the Hoquiam River is always full of driftwood.
It was in the evening and Dawn and I had gone 17 miles from Quinault. We were
ready to rest for the night. The first building we came to had a water spigot
in the front. I asked someone if I could give my horse some water. They went
to get one of the owners. Eddie came out and the first thing he said to me
was, "are you lost?" I told him that I knew exactly where I was
and I asked him if I could give my horse some water. He not only gave us some
water, but he told us we could camp behind the building. There was plenty
of grass and it was right on the water of Grays Harbor. He also offered me
a job at the mill there. I thought that would be great since my plans were
to winter over in Portland, OR then head north to Alaska in the spring. If
I got a job here, I wouldn't have to go all the way to Portland for the winter.
So I stayed there at the mill for a couple of weeks. After work at the mill Eddie would bring me to his house only a few blocks away and feed me dinner. Then he would take me back to my camp. He grew concerned about me sleeping behind the mill every night and became reluctant to bring me back there after dinner. So he asked if I would stay with him at his house.
