THE TERRA HAS LANDED ON VANCOUVER ISLAND

That wasn’t the best night for sleeping.  We were awake several times in the night.  Aileen finally got up about 5:30 to wash her hair then fed Mitzy.  I took Mitzy out then did the power cord, garbage and readied the car while Aileen put the slides in and the jacks up.  We pulled out about 6:02 am and headed down to the ferry lineup.  We were about number five so no problem getting in without a reservation.  It cost us $247.50 this time, I believe.  The crossing got quite rough with the ship wallowing side to side and slamming down into troughs causing spray to come over the bow and drench the windows.  I was starting to feel quite queasy for a while.

                The customs guy was very polite and easy to get along with which was good.  We got out of town as fast as we could and started up the Malahat which the electronic signs proclaimed to be bare and wet.  Not!  We ran into snow before even starting up the first hill and before long it was sticking to the road.  The guy in front of us had a two wheel drive pickup towing a car on a dolly and he did quite a bit of fish tailing.  The Terra motor home felt very secure, which was good.  I’m not sure about some of the rest of the crew though!  We stopped at a rest area south of Nanaimo for lunch and the rain mostly stopped for it.  We even had some sunshine in the Nanoose to Parksville area.  Thankfully it was not precipitating while we did our set up at Charlie and Sheila’s.  It was 3072 kms from Florence (1920 miles) to Errington where we will be for the next few weeks.

This pilot boat was getting lots of water over the bow just like we were

Oh, Oh!

And then it got worse!  At least most of the other traffic was driving carefully

LAST DAY IN THE US THIS TRIP

Yucky on the windshield

Our plan was to hang around Victoria to visit the kids on the weekend so I thought we’d stay a couple more nights at the cheap park in Elma since it is so expensive near Victoria.  However, Aileen found out this morning that wasn’t the case after all, so we decided to head for the ferry today, blow through Victoria and get further up Island.  We are in Sequim, WA tonight and hope to get on the ferry in the morning without a reservation.  We took a drive out to Aberdeen, WA this morning but there wasn’t much to see as the weather went downhill on us.  It started raining before we got to Aberdeen and didn’t quit until we were in Sequim hours later.  We had snow building up on the windshield several times whenever the road gained a little elevation but it wasn’t sticking on the road.  We only put on 180 kms today in about 2.5 hours of driving.  That would be about 112 miles, I think.

OFF I-5 FINALLY

Not too far north of Grant's Pass we ran into this

I took Mitzy for a big walk in the cold before breakfast.  We drove over to the gas station about 7:30 but it was a couple minutes past eight before we had the $294 gas in and the car hooked up.  I drove for a couple hours then Aileen for about one and a half up to lunch.  I did the rest and tonight we are in Elma, WA.   The Passport America park I had planned on staying at near Castle Rock is now a KOA park and PA is not honoured.  I am wondering about my wisdom in taking out this membership.  I had intended using it enough on the way north to cancel out the cost of joining but with only this park in Alma and the one in Gila Bend, our savings are about half of the $39 fee.  Another I wanted to stay at wasn’t valid in February while yet another wasn’t valid on the day of the week we would have been there.

We put on 726 kms (425 miles) yesterday and 614 (384 miles) today.  So much for our target of no more than 500 kms (300 miles).  Yesterday our excuse was getting past the possible storm.  Today was getting away from that danged freeway.  Most of the RV parks along I-5 are right along it so they are horribly noisy which is not nice for two people who seem to have very sensitive hearing.  I guess there are times when some hearing loss does come in handy.  The next drive for the motor home will only be to Sequim which is not much more than 125 miles, I think.  I’m considering staying here another night and perhaps taking a run out to the coast tomorrow to poke around.  The lady said it was only 19F degrees here this morning so we’ll just have to see.  We dumped our tanks when we arrived this afternoon and filled the fresh water tank.  That way we don’t need to have any hoses hooked up to freeze.

A little further north and the co pilot was starting to get nervous but then we dropped a thousand feet and all was well

OVER THE SISKIYOU PASS AHEAD OF THE SNOW

We were up at 6:17 this morning and on the road at 7:14.  I topped off the tank next door so we didn’t have to worry about gas the rest of the day.  I drove 2 hours and 40 minutes getting us well beyond Sacramento before making our first stop.  Aileen drove the next 1.75 hours then I drove us the rest.  We got in to Henderson’s in Grant’s Pass a little after 4 pm, so about nine hours today.  That’s where we had our suspension worked on so successfully last year and they told us to feel free to come and plug in outside the shop if we were passing by, so we did.  There was lots of wind in several places along the way, but nothing like yesterday   I had planned to take Aileen to The Vine, the great gluten free restaurant we ate at last year, but they are closed on Sunday so it was supper at home. 

The weather for the next few days looks rather lousy and especially, wet.  We are planning on taking two days to get to Port Angeles, where we’ll take the ferry to Victoria, but it seems we might have a bit of snow even in the lower elevations.  I guess we’ll just have to see what happens.  The forecast for the Siskiyou Mountain area is predicting possibly several feet accumulation as there is about four inches of rain forecast coming in from the coast.

WORKING OUR WAY UP I-5

That wasn’t the best night for sleeping and certainly the exact opposite of the night before where we had absolute silence in the hills above Bouse.  We were up at 6:20 this morning and on the road at 7:12 am.  The wind all the way to Tehachapi was just awful.  Our gas mileage went right down the tube and lots of time I had to slow down a fair bit.  The motor home was in third gear at 3200 prm for miles when it should have been in fifth at 2200 rpm.  We stopped for gas north of Bakersfield.  In Arizona, you just stuck the nozzle in the tank and locked it on.  In California, you have to push the nozzle in to depress the spring then hold the trigger the whole time.  Both my hands were tired by the time I got done.  We stopped for lunch just before getting on I-5 from Route 46.  Aileen had a short nap then took over driving which is why I am typing this at 12:53 along I-5, and we’re still fighting the wind.  We got to Santa Nella and checked in to the RV park of the same name.  At least we’re a little further from the freeway tonight.  535 kms for us today.

The weather forecast now has tomorrow looking like the only non snowy day for the Siskiyou Pass so we’ll check in the morning and if it is still the same, put in a longer day and get ourselves over the pass.  It’s the highest point on I-5 and the weather can be very fickle.  

Between Mojave and Tehachapi, there are hundreds (or perhaps thousands) of wind turbines.  Aileen grabbed this picture as we were rocking along in the wind 

Aileen grabbed this shot as we came careening down the mountain from Tehachapi to Bakersfield.  Shooting out the window is a problem with reflections

Another of Aileen's and she managed to snag a crow to pose

These many thousands of cattle in this feedlot along I-5 didn't smell very nice, I was dozing and came to wondering what the horrible smell was.  I shot this through the window screen

We drove past miles of these almond trees in bloom and there were many places where the orchards were on both sides of the road.  That was poor planning as the honey bees tend to go from one side to the other and the mortality rate is very high.  I cleaned the windshield three times so we did in quite a few honey bees ourselves and there are thousands of vehicles using those roads daily.  Where the orchards were on just one side of the road,there were no bees on the roadway

HELLO FROM NEWBERRY SPRINGS, CA

We had a leisurely start to the day and didn’t get on the road til 9:20.  We drove a couple back streets in Bouse then stopped in Parker for gas and a quick look in Walmart for a small refillable propane tank but, none there.  We had an early lunch near Needles before getting on I-40.  We had set our clocks back an hour when we crossed the Colorado River earlier.  Looking ahead at the weather for northern California, I see there are several days of rain/snow with the snow elevation levels to be very low.  There seems to be a window of better weather on Monday so after projecting ahead, I called and made a reservation in Santa Nella for tomorrow night.  It is a little more than we like to drive in a day but puts us in position for Monday if the opportunity is there.  No pictures to show from today but I have just a few from yesterday.

I thought this little water company compound was rather cute

A hand held HDR shot of this old Diamond T truck while on my bike ride yesterday

I took this picture while bike riding after supper last night.  That is my pack sack on my back, not my hunchback

Last night's sunset was a little better than the night before

GILA BEND TO BOUSE

All these flowers were taken in the desert behind the campground in Gila Bend

Most, like these little daisies are nearly stemless and hug the ground

West of Gila Bend were some fine alfalfa fields which were being harvested, note the large truck with silage aboard

Blue Herons and Egrets shot at 60+ mph

Brittle Bush brightened the highway for miles

Sunset over Bouse looking east

This is Dateland with the trees on the left where we stopped and loaded up on dates

We got an early start Wednesday morning and were actually on the road by 8:20.  Aileen drove the first leg to Dateland where we stopped and bought some dates and had the really tasty date shakes.  We arrived in Yuma ahead of schedule so we found a place to park the motor home with the car still hooked on, then we walked up to Parrish’s Bar and Grill where we met our Salmon Arm friends Ray and Edna for lunch.  We had a great visit then they gave us a ride back to the motor home.

After departing Yuma, we headed up 95 then took Plamosa Rd almost to Bouse where we found an empty spot to spend the night.  Our nearest neighbour is about half a mile away.  The highway is quite close but later at night there is next to no traffic.  We sat outside and watched the semi sunset.  We mostly stayed put today.  Aileen enjoyed some real down time for a change.  I went for a long bike ride into and around most of Bouse.  Furthest I’ve ridden in years so my butt is complaining tonight.  We did go for a walk around the area this morning before it got too warm, well it didn’t get too warm for me.  I sat out in the sun and read after lunch.  I guess we will move on along the route north tomorrow although it would be nice to tarry longer.  If we did then we’d have to put in longer days later to get to the border in time.