PORT TOWNSEND – Shane Lyles and Shaun Nimrichter stood among five tents, eating cold hot dogs on Saturday at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds in Port Townsend.
They were talking about the weather, but not just to pass the time.
“It’s so cold,” said Nimrichter, 20, as he buried himself inside his hooded sweatshirt to hide from chilly breezes.
Lyles, 30, draped in a large leather jacket, prepared a hot dog he had purchased at Safeway with food vouchers earlier that day.
He joked about the varied weather that had swept in last week.
“I woke up one morning with snow on my tent, and then I went out and it was sunny, all in one day,” Lyles said.
The two men have not known each other long.
Brought together by the fact they both have nowhere else to go, they chat like old chums at a far corner of the fairgrounds that has been converted into a temporary homeless shelter.
