I’ve started a new project here called “Public Transporting,” in which I used local public transportation agency schedules to try to get from one part of the state to another. My first effort was Ocean Shores to Seattle.

I eventually want to get all the way across the state, but I’m going to work across just Western Washington for now.

This project was inspired by this chapter from “The Roaring Land,” in which Archie Binns as a kid travels from outside Shelton to Tacoma by steamboat ferry. It amazed me how they’d catch a ferry just out in the salt, instead of stopping in a town first.

This early mass transportation on the water made me realize how much we’ve changed from a water focussed region (canoes, fishing, and ferry boats) to a land and road focussed region. Seemed like an interesting topic of study.