Down the Road with Jumbo: Stormy Weather with Clams on the Side

“For whatever we lose (a you or a me)
It's always ourselves we find in the sea.”

― E.E. Cummings

I left my car parked in Mom's driveway, and hopped aboard Jumbo for our journey to Westport. We realized that I had never ridden in Jumbo as a passenger for any great distance, since I followed along in my car during our trip to Washington from Denver. It was a relaxing experience - I sat back and cross-stitched all the way.

We arrived at the American Sunset RV Park around 5:00 p.m., with our buckets, clam guns and shovels, ready to dig some clams bright and early Saturday morning!

We left the RV park around 7:45 a.m. Larry & I rode with Matt and Nora and the boys. When we headed down the road it was drizzling just a bit, but the closer we got to the beach, the harder the rain began to fall. We were not about to be scared by a few raindrops, but when we got out of the truck, the wind nearly knocked us over. We proceeded to carry on, though, and with buckets and clam guns in hand, tried to make our way across the sand. We were all looking downwards, hoping to see the "dimple" that would indicate a clam, but all we could see was the rain pelting the sand. My glasses were covered with raindrops, so I was having a difficult time seeing anything at all. We soon realized that we had dressed totally inappropriately for the weather - our jeans were soaked and clinging to our legs, and why I decided to wear tennis shoes, I have no idea. They were soon filled with water. We finally decided to head back to the truck, piled our soaked-to-the-skin selves inside, and made the trip back to the RV park with Ben's one and only clam.

We dried off the best we could, hanging sodden clothes wherever we could find a spot in Jumbo. The rain died down a bit as the morning progressed, so around 10:30 a few brave souls, including Larry, ventured back to the shore. Duchess and I, however, stayed warm and toasty inside Jumbo, only venturing out for a few quick potty walks for her.

Shortly before noon, Matt called and told me to let Nora know that she should start heating up some water, because they had all limited out and were on their way home! I lit my propane stove as well and put a pot of water on, and soon they were rolling into the parking lot.

Larry thoroughly enjoyed his first clam-digging experience! He came back a bit wet & dirty, but with a huge smile on his face!

Nora fixed us some Mimosas...

We had the hot water ready...

And got to cleaning! Everybody got the basic directions from Matt and were soon going about it like old pros.

I had the job of dropping the clams into the hot water, and then the ice cold water to stop the cooking. Next, the clam body had to be removed from the shell...