SOUTH OF THE BORDER DOWN FORKS WAY!

We were up shortly after 6 am this morning and on the road by 7:45.  We arrived at the Black Ball Ferry dock before 8:30 for the 10:30 sailing.  We did have a reservation but still had to be there no later than 9.  The ferry was jammed full and not everyone got on.  I guess it was because of the Dungeness Crab Festival in Port Angeles.  We paid $267.35 for the hour and a half ride.  When we got to Port Angeles, we found a place to leave the motor home.  After a quick lunch, we took the car and drove to Safeway to restock the fridge with those things they don’t want us hauling across the border, even if we bought exactly the same thing here.  Maybe they’re trying to help out their local merchants?

After rejoining the motor home and hooking up, we headed west and south to a little recreation site about 12 miles south of Forks at milepost 177.  We stayed here four years ago and are parked in the same spot.  It is just a gravel parking lot but the price is right and we’re dry camping.  Can you still call it dry camping when it is pouring??  We’ve had some really heavy rain today and the river beside us is quite muddy.

It was a bonus to have our Verizon aircard working today as I thought I’d have to find a Verizon office to get me back up again after the confusion we had over our bill.  Here’s a warning for other Canadian’s who may follow the same process to get internet.  When you suspend the service upon returning to Canada, the suspension only lasts 90 days then you have to re-suspend it again.  Apparently you can’t do it for longer than 6 months out of 12 either.   This wasn’t what the slick salesman in Quartzsite told me but it’s what I found out from Verizon later.

We had a great weekend visiting Richard Robin and Georgia.  We met R&G at the Saanich Farmer’s Market Saturday morning then later went for lunch at the Old British Fish and Chip café where Aileen and I had eaten on Friday.  Lunch was just as good again.  We got more dessert from the gluten free bakery for supper that Richard prepared.  It’s a good thing we’ve left Victoria, there are too many calories there.

Tomorrow we plan to only travel 2-3 hours to get to Montesano, WA to visit our AZ friends Jim and Betty.  They are the people we bought our AZ property from.  We’ll have to check out the weather all over to see what our best options are.  I can’t say we enjoyed today’s offering!    I did see several other bloggers are having wet weather including some snow on the North  Rim of the Grand Canyon. 

I saw these pumpkins while returning to Victoria from Saanich yesterday

Mitchell's Farm Market allows people to pick their own pumpkins

Their were interesting bins to look at inside too

LAST DAY BEFORE CROSSING INTO THE US

This is where we had our picnic on Tuesday as mentioned in the last post

Looking up the beach from our picnic, Quadra Island in the background

The long drought on Vancouver Island has ended.  We had lots of rain overnight and more forecast through the day.   The generator is getting lots of use keeping our batteries charged.  The cat and dog are having difficulty changing over to no electric heater.  They had taken to lying in front of it.  The first night without power, Aileen put the laundry basket where the heater sat.  When she looked out in the middle of the night, Mitzy and Sophie were both curled up in front of the laundry basket!

Bev D called about 8 yesterday to say she had a sore throat so would not be available to visit which changed our plans for the day.  When Richard mentioned a meeting at work he'd like to attend, Aileen offered to pick up Georgia at school.

As we were still looking to buy some cheap books for our travels, Aileen found a few thrift stores online so we headed out looking for one.  We ended up at two in Langford and got a large bag of books for $23.  One book Aileen found was one that she had planned on ordering online when we got to AZ.   She paid less here. 

I went to an RBC for some cash out then wandered in London Drugs after taking Mitzy for a walk while Aileen checked Celiac Scene.com for lunch.  She came up with the Old British Fish and Chips café on Pandora.  The complete menu is gluten free.  She had a piece of cod, two oysters and two prawns with lots of chips.   I had two pieces of cod with Caesar salad.  We shared the chips and salad.  Everything tasted really good.   Just as we stated to drive away, I noticed a gluten free bakery two doors down so we checked it out.  We had a couple of really good cream puffs and bought white chocolate cream cheese iced carrot muffins for supper dessert.

I wandered around Hillside Mall for a bit before we headed off to find G’s school.  Georgia was pretty surprised to see her Grandma in the hallway.  We went to R&R’s to hang out with G.  I caught up on the computer while Aileen read to G.   Mitzy and I took a big walk up and along Tudor to the end then up Phyllis, I think, then cut through a couple of trails to come out up on top of Arbutus.  We got rained on for nearly the last half.

Richard made us a nice supper of salmon, rice and veggies including his homemade chutney which was very tasty.  The muffins were a real hit for dessert.   We headed for home about 7:30.  It rained all the way.  The parks guy was here within moments to collect so I paid for two more nights.  When he collected the first night, he didn’t even want to verify my gold card for the senior’s rate so I said “look bud, I’ve been waiting years to do this so you need to look at the card”.  He was a good sport about it.  Bev D called just after we got home last night and she is feeling some better but not good enough to go out.

We will be getting together with Richard and Georgia this morning but not sure what we’ll do as it is pretty wet to try outdoor activities.  We’re getting together with Richard, Robin & Georgia for supper again.

This is Mitzy just a few minutes ago

LEFT ERRINGTON, STARTING SOUTH

Well a little south anyway.  We’re just outside of Victoria at Goldstream Provincial Park and I hope to get my first senior’s half price camping fee.  The rates are reduced for BC residents 65 and over starting the day after Labour Day til sometime in the spring.  It was inevitable, since I did a major cleaning and polishing of the motor home.  After weeks of drought, when it was time to hit the road, the road was wet so now we’re dirty again!  Not quite sure how that happens so frequently.

We had a nice Thanksgiving weekend.  On the Friday evening, we and four of my siblings, their spouses and some offspring gathered to celebrate my sister Susan’s 60^th birthday.  There were about 17 attending. Her birthday isn’t until the 12^th but she and John left for Australia on the 7^th for nearly a month.  They were going to visit their daughter, husband and the newest grandchild, a girl born a few weeks ago. 

Our son and granddaughter came up from Victoria Sunday and stayed overnight.  We all went to Sheila’s Mom’s for turkey and ham supper.  About 17 or 18 people sat down to supper.  Since someone noticed it was our 45^th anniversary, we received a card and they sang happy anniversary to us.  We went for a walk along some trails near Qualicum on Sunday morning and found a geocache. 

After a lunch from the deli counter in a local grocery, Richard and Georgia went off to meet up with his cousin Keith while Aileen and I went to Campbell River to meet her sister Anne and husband John who drove down from Port McNeill.  John and I walked along a forest trail geocaching for the afternoon and the ladies picked us up at the other end about five hours later.  We had a good day logging 28 finds.  We struck out on the last two we tried though.  We enjoyed a late supper at the Royal Coachman Pub.  I had a buffalo burger with a gluten free bun which was excellent and I don’t think it cast extra either. It was so nice we could get together with John and Anne again before heading south. 

Aileen and I went back up to Campbell River on Tuesday, the next day, as previously arranged to meet Heather who we bought the motor home from two years ago.  We had a nice visit with her then took our picnic lunch up the road where we could sit at the ocean shore.  Later, we went back to the two geocaches John and I missed the day before but we still didn’t find them.  I did find another as soon as I tried it though.   

Yesterday was a busy day tying up loose ends.   I went to the local phone store and got my phone and the air card put on minimum plans for the time we’ll be out of the country.   I also went to the bank for a money order to pay our taxes on the AZ property.  Taxes on both lots and the park model trailer came to $300.46 for the year.  We also will have a strata fee of $530 per lot due over the winter.   I also visited my Mom in the care home.   She was doing fairly well and gave me some nice smiles, kisses and hugs.

We were up early this morning to start preparing for our departure.  We went over to the rodeo grounds to add some fresh water to the motor home then dumped the tanks at Charlie’s.  We have parked the pickup in Charlie’s side yard with a trickle charger hooked up to try and prevent the battery from discharging too much.   We were on the road just before 10:30 and were set up in the campsite by 2 pm.  

This is a drilled artesian well near one of the caches I found a few days ago

This is an old photo I took on a stormy day near Salmon Arm a few years ago 

ALMOST READY TO HEAD SOUTH

It’s starting to feel like time we headed south as we’re getting frosty mornings.  Except for one day with some showers, we continue to have gorgeous sunny days.  It’s just those darn cold mornings.  It is hard to keep warm in the motor home without using too much electricity.  The other day I loaded the ATV on the trailer, put its cover on and parked it in the shed.  Put all the locks on and the tarp over the entry so hopefully it is secure.  The forest service is still asking that ATVs stay out of the tinder dry forest.

I bowled for Charlie again Monday night to give his rib more time to heal.  I helped Sheila pick plums yesterday and we got quite a haul and they are very tasty.  I’m trying to eat my fill as we can’t take any across the border.

I’ve been out several times geocaching.  I took Mitzy one day and we put on at least 7 kms so she was a little tuckered out.  The next day I did over 10 kms.  I was out with my bike today and did about 10 kms on the bike and another 2 or so on foot.  I did find 23 of the 24 caches I tried for.  I noticed quite a few had been found by my Campbell River brother in law back in July.  Some of the spots along the cache trails are very pretty.

On Tuesday, we took friend Bev D with us to Courtenay for a nice gluten free lunch at the Union Street Grill.  We did some geocaching there and back.  Yesterday, Aileen and Bev wandered around Qualicum for a while.  They went to the Coombs Market for veggies for Bev then swung by here for some plums for her and her Mom.

I washed the motor home in the water here yesterday to get the fly crap off.  Now I have traded the fly crap for water spots.  I will try my new almost waterless cleaner to see if I can get the water spots off without having to drive to a better water source.   We have a few more cleaning items to take care of before we head south.  Our plan at present is to leave here next Thursday and move down to Goldstream Park near Victoria then take the ferry to Port Angeles on Sunday morning, the 14^th October.

Qualicum Beach

Looking across from Qualicum to mainland BC

Saw this little guy while caching the other day

There was a cache near here on French Creek

CACHING AND SPARING

Our beautiful sunny weather is still holding which is nice except for the extreme fire danger.   I did some geocaching several days this week.   Last Sunday, Mitzy and I found some nice trails to cache on while Aileen was at church.  On Monday, I went out with my sister Janet and her husband, John.  We had a good day finding a dozen.  I only got to claim eight as I had already found four of them on my own.  On Tuesday, I took Mitzy with me and we wandered some trails in the bush behind the farm I lived on in my teens picking up a couple caches.  The Broadleaf Maples were shedding their leaves creating a beautiful, glowing forest floor.  On Wednesday, we went to Cumberland to visit our longtime friends, Lynda and Perry.  We found a couple caches along the way.

There was no geocaching today as we went to Victoria for Aileen’s last acupuncture treatment.  I dropped her at her appointment, walked Mitzy along the waterfront for a few minutes then picked up our friend Bev.  By the time we got back to pick up Aileen, she was waiting for us.  We drove up near Duncan where we had a leisurely lunch at the Pioneer House Restaurant.   We then stopped at a farm market just up the road for Bev to stock up on produce to take to her mother’s where she will be for the next week and a half.

On Monday evening, I took Chas’ place bowling as he had a crash while playing volleyball last Thursday and was too sore.  Sheila had gone to Vancouver Thursday to help her son who had nose surgery the next day.  Since she wasn’t home yet, Aileen went to Toastmasters in her place.  Aileen has been enjoying Toastmasters and plans to join the group in Florence, AZ.  She also went to a Toastmasters event in Qualicum on Tuesday. 

Upper trail, lower trail, they're both beautiful!  Where Mitzy and I were geocaching Sunday.

These two shots were taken on our Tuesday outing

This is the MV Coho, the ferry we will take from Victoria to Port Angeles on October 14.

Here it is heading across the Strait of Juan de Fuca.  That's the Olympic Peninsula in Washington 

State in the background.

STARTING TO FEEL LIKE FALL

Firewood and geocaching still played a big role this past week.  I’ve done quite a bit of walking looking for caches and seen some interesting places.  I’m up to 163 caches found now.   We’ve both been working on my Mom’s diary and this morning finished assembling 1994 with the last page being 4,718.  We’ve been at this for quite a few years!   Aileen is now into April 1995 and still typing. 

I have done some cycling when time permits and Aileen has enjoyed going to Toastmasters with Sheila.  Aileen intends to join Toastmasters in Florence this winter.    I went to the Coombs Opry last night.  This is a monthly music evening with the Coombs Old Time Fiddlers leading off followed by an open stage.  Last night was an excellent batch of musicians including my sister Wendy.  Many different types of music  were played and there was lots of mixing of performers sharing the stage and backing each other up.

On Wednesday, Chas decided to take down a large dead fir tree behind the motor home.  He climbed up his long ladder and attached a long rope to the tree then Sheila and I pulled on the rope to ensure the tree went right down the center of the lawn.  It did, so no fence or plants were damaged.  We had Aileen behind us trying to get a picture and watching the dogs.  I hauled the blocks down to the splitter that night then the next morning, Aileen and I split them all.  It is all stacked along the fence now and there is probably close to enough wood for next winter.  It will stay out and dry til next fall when it will move into the woodshed which is already full for this winter.  The last part of the job was cleaning all the branches and debris off the lawn.  I hauled it away with the tractor and dumped it on a burn pile.

Last Tuesday, we took chili and other lunch fixings and met cousin Bill Van B at Dagmar and Fred’s in Bowser.  We enjoyed a great visit and lunch.  Bill brought part of the lunch and Dagmar supplied some as well.  It took some planning, but it was all gluten free. 

I was disappointed to receive an email this morning cancelling the ATV weekend that was coming next week.  Apparently the forest is closed to motorized recreation since the fire hazard is still extreme.  There is a possibility of rain on Monday but the decision has been made.   I guess I’m finished riding here for this year.  Now I have to wait til we get to Florence.   We had been planning to move the motor home up to a campground to join the rest of the group, but that has all fallen through now.

I finally got our travel health insurance bought this week.   That isn’t all that simple, apparently.  Every company has a different interpretation of medical conditions it seems.  One company even penalized me for not having had a complete physical in the past twelve months.  A couple put me in the highest category for having had valley fever while others said no problem as it was a onetime occurrence. 

I still don’t have much done planning a route south.  So many things to consider such as what the weather will be like in the mountains and what the travel guide says about some of the passes.  I have a mountain directory which also tells you whether large vehicles are even recommended.  Some of the roads that look interesting on the map turn out to be best driven in a smaller vehicle.  I ran into that on old Route 66 a few years ago.  I was using both lanes to make it around some of the corners.  It was fortunate that there were few other vehicles using the road at that time.  I guess when we get to Arizona we’ll know which way we went. 

Spider web on the fence beside us.

Seen on one of my walks the other day.  Note the figurine hiding in the stump.  The little notches you see cut in the stump are where springboards were inserted to get the fallers higher off the ground and away from the swelled butt so they had less to cut through to fall the tree.  This was back in the day when crosscut saws and axes were the only way to drop a tree.

Here we are dropping a tree using a chainsaw and rope

A successful operation

Old stumps nurse new growth.  Here we have a cedar stump from long ago logging with a second growth cedar dominating a western hemlock which is twisting its way around the cedar.

Right across the trail from the last one, we have a maple and hemlock growing out of the big old cedar stump.

There were quite a few of these fish spawning in the Englishman River and side channels

GEOCACHING AND FIREWOOD

The title pretty much sums up my life lately.  I did go to town this morning to get my driver’s licence renewed for another five years.  It was a pleasant surprise to pay only $17 instead of $75, one of the benefits of turning 65.  Of course there are a lot of things not so good. 

Yesterday was a geocaching cycling day.  Packed a lunch and took off my trusty bike and went to the trails along Englishman River.  There are lots of caches hidden along the way.  I got 13 of the 14 I tried for and I had 29 written on my sheet.  I missed several along the way as I’m not familiar with the maze of trails.  I had an enjoyable day in nice scenery.  I was surprised at how many people I met mostly walking dogs or riding horses.   The only downside to the day was falling off my bike.  I had been riding in bright sunshine along a powerline when the GPS led me into a dark forest trail which suddenly got rough.  I put my foot out to steady myself but it turned out there was a hole there that I didn’t see since my glasses were still darkened.  I ended up with a few scrapes and bruises but non required medical care.  My aches and pains felt much better after a long soak in the tub.

 I was on the road Tuesday by 8 heading for Courtenay Motor Sports.  Got there just before 9 and left the quad for service.  I went geocaching in the Dove Cr area.  Did 9 caches over the day.  I quit part way through and went to have fish and chips on the pier in Campbell River.  Stopped and picked up Bill Van B to join me.    The fish was good!

On Wednesday,    we went to supper with my sister Janet and John for their 42nd anniversary.  Their daughter Merrilee and Derek and girls joined us at the Mekong Delta Restaurant. The food was really good and no problem getting everything gluten free.  Apparently the Vietnamese use very little gluten in their cooking normally.

We did some wood splitting with the machine on Wednesday for a little while and again today.  The tractor wouldn’t start this morning so I split some with the axe for something to do.  After it warmed up this afternoon, the tractor fired right up. I guess it is like me and likes the warmth.   Aileen came and ran the splitter while I loaded the blocks and Sheila stacked the split pieces.  Brother Chas was at work, of course.

A bit of Vancouver Island fall colour.  The Alder leaves sometimes go a little yellow

Some reflections in a side channel of the river

Belle (the dog) Aileen, Sheila and me.  If you look closely, you can see a couple of my scrapes on my left calf