April 29, 2005

April 29, 2005

Princeton to Rock Creek, B.C.

DAY 316

 

Today was sunny and warm in the valleys, sunny and cool up high in the mountains.

After my regular morning preventive maintenance routine, I worked on replacing the license plate light bulb socket. It didn't go quite as easily as I would have liked. Does it ever ? By the time I was finished, and we were all hitched up and ready to go, there wasn't much of the morning left. We headed east on Hwy. 3. We stopped in Keremeos to buy some groceries and to have lunch. As we were leaving Keremeos, Eric Pryor, our accountant in Ottawa phoned to discuss the preparation of our personal income tax returns. I had to pull over to the side of the road, and talk to Eric. Shortly after, Joanne's oncologist in Ottawa phoned. She has been trying to get the Ottawa Regional Cancer Centre to make arrangements for her to have some tests done soon in either Winnipeg or Kenora. She hasn't had any of her regular post cancer screening since last September. She has spoken to the oncologist's assistant a couple of times in recent days. To make a long story short, they are either unwilling or unable to assist her. She's on her own ! I'm not impressed ! ! ! We also missed a call this morning from Allen Bindle, the Park Ranger at West Hawk Lake. He was to phone us with some last minute details about our Campground Host job this summer. We returned his call, but just ended up playing telephone tag.

We stopped in Osoyoos, at an RV dealer, to shop for some parts I would like to replace on the water heater. The dealer didn’t have what I need. Maybe I’ll just wait until we’re back in Winnipeg in a couple of weeks. The parts I need aren’t urgent. The long climb out of the valley that Osoyoos is situated in ( the Okanagan Valley, actually ) over the mountains to the east was the longest and most difficult climb yet for Dee-Dee and Harvey. Dee-Dee’s temperature gauge was higher than it’s ever been. I turned off the air conditioning, opened the windows, and turned the heater on its highest setting, in an attempt to dissipate some of the engine coolant’s heat. It worked, I guess. The coolant temperature gauge finally stopped rising, but it stayed at that extremely high temperature level until we were finally over the summit of the mountain, and on our way back down. I was really concerned that Dee-Dee would blow a hose.

We stopped for the night at Kettle River RV Park, in Rock Creek. It’s a nice park, and like most of the campgrounds we’ve been to in B.C., it’s quite empty. It’s a bit early in the year for regular vacationers to be travelling, so there’s not too much RV traffic on the B.C. roads at this time of the year. Plus, we’re on Hwy. 3, the least popular route of the 3 highways heading east across B.C. to Alberta. We want to stay on Hwy. 3 into Alberta, to be close to Pincher Creek, where we want to visit Escapee friends. After setting up in the campground, we took Bo for an obedience training session, then hiked leisurely over to the Kettle River a short distance behind the campground. B.C.’s rivers are all so fast flowing, especially at this time of the year, with the spring melt run off out of the mountains.

We drained the fresh water tank, then refilled it with a strong bleach solution. It's time for our quarterly water system disinfection / purification. I barbecued supper again, as I am doing most evenings now that the days are longer and the weather is dry. We watched a movie on CBC. We can get 2 channels here, using the antenna on top of the trailer. Both are CBC. One is an okay picture with poor sound. One is a poor picture with okay sound. At least that's better than the cell phone, which indicates no signal / service.

I spent the late part of the evening trying to decipher the Revenue Canada Pensionable and Insurable Earnings Report ( PIER ) that our company just received, indicating that Joanne and I both have a CPP remittance deficiency, as does our company, for 2004, and asking for another $700 please.  HUH ? ? ? I wrote a long e-mail to our accountant. Maybe he can translate it from "government speak" into English for me.

DSK

April 28, 2005

April 28, 2005

Hope to Princeton, B.C.

DAY 315

 

Today was sunny and warm. I think it was warm. It's kind of hard to tell when high up in the mountains where the air is quite cool.

We left Wild Rose Campground this morning and drove into Hope to find the NAPA Auto Parts store that Joanne looked up in the Yellow Pages last night. We found the store, and I exchanged the wrong license plate light bulb socket that I bought in Powell River, for the correct one. We headed east on Hwy. 3 which follows the Skagit River first, then the Similkameen River. The road passes by the Hope Slide area just outside of Hope, where in 1965 a huge chunk of mountain broke off and slid down onto the road, killing many. It climbs high up into the mountains, through a couple of high altitude passes. For a few miles on each side of the Allison Pass summit, there was snow on the sides of the road. We pulled over onto the shoulder, and got out of the truck with Bo to allow him to experience snow for the first time. Bo doesn't "get" snow. I threw some on him. I tossed him lightly into it. He doesn't "get" it. Stupid, little Alabama dog ! So I threw a snowball at Joanne. HA HA HA ! I tried to convince Bo to pee in the snow, by telling him that it was a very Canadian thing to do, eh ?

As we were driving along, Joanne suddenly shouted at me to stop. She had spotted 3 large deer grazing on the side of the road. By the time I got the rig pulled over and stopped, we were a couple of hundred feet past them. We got out of the truck, and walked back towards them a ways, watching them. A buck and 2 does. We also saw a muskrat, and a couple of woodchucks today.

We stopped in Princeton to refill with diesel, and found a nice, inexpensive municipal campground on the banks of the Similkameen River. We decided to stop driving earlier than usual, and stay here tonight. We don't really want to rush too much heading east. The weather in Manitoba doesn't seem that great yet. I took a nap, we took Bo for an obedience training session, then I worked on updating my investment data files. I picked up a B.C. based RV magazine at this campground. In it there was a letter from the owner of the campground in Richmond that was no longer in business, that caused us such grief a few days ago in Vancouver. The land that their campground was located on is being used to build the 2010 Olympics Speed Skate Oval.

DSK

April 27, 2005

April 27, 2005

Hope to Hell's Gate, Fraser River Canyon, B.C. & return

DAY 314

 

Today was sunny and very warm. A perfect "June 18" day.

Joanne had read yesterday about the Hell's Gate Tram and decided we would go today. We started the morning with regular, daily chores, then unhitched, in preparation for spending the day exploring from Hope to Hell's Gate. The advertisement for the Hell's Gate Tram said dogs were welcome, so we took Bo along. What a big day for a little dog ! We drove through Hope, bought diesel, then headed north on Trans Canada Highway 1. Hell's gate is about 60 km. / 40 mi. north of Hope. The Trans Canada Highway leading north from Hope follows the Fraser River and its canyon, through the rugged, wild Canadian Rockies. The scenery was spectacular ! On one side of the Fraser River is the CPR rail line, built in 1885. On the other side of the Fraser is the CNR line, built in 1914. When we arrived at Hell's gate Tram we parked, then ate the picnic lunch Joanne had prepared and brought along. We boarded the tram for the trip 1000 feet down the canyon and across the Fraser River section known as Hell's Gate. The tram is the same as a gondola at a ski resort. When the CNR line was being built in 1914, the workers dynamited out a section of the mountain, creating a huge rockslide down into the river. This is what created Hell's Gate. The river is deeper and narrower here than anywhere else, so the water comes through here with immense turbulence. From the 1940's to the 1960's huge concrete fish ladders were built to allow the 2 million salmon a year that are trying to get upstream to spawn, to pass through Hell's Gate. Their inability to pass this turbulent section for 25 years almost depleted them. Once down at the lower tram station we walked around, exploring and taking photos. We crossed over the suspension bridge from one side of the Fraser River to the other, over Hell's Gate. Bo wouldn't step onto the open grate decking of the suspension bridge. I think it reminded him of the cattle grate he fell through in New Mexico. We carried him over the suspension bridge, in both directions. He was terrified ! Poor Bo. He thought we were going to fall down through the bridge to the water below. We wandered all around outside, then went inside to see an amazing, award winning film about salmon, and their spawning, called "Run, Salmon, Run". Watching films isn't exactly Bo's cup of tea. We visited the gift shop, the restaurant, the little general store, and the outdoor deck over the river. When we'd seen enough, we rode the tram back up to the upper level building at the highway.

We started driving back south towards Hope. Joanne had seen a small waterfall up on the mountain near the highway on the drive north to Hell's Gate, and we wanted to stop and see it on our way back. We saw the little waterfall, pulled over, and hiked into the forest, to the waterfall. It was a lovely place, and we decided to name it "Bo Falls". Continuing back south along the TCH 1, we stopped to take some photos of a couple of the tunnels through the mountains. There are 7 tunnels on the TCH 1 through the Rocky Mountains north of Hope. When they couldn't get the road around or over the mountain, they went through it ! We stopped again and hiked to the Alexandra Suspension Bridge, built in 1926 over the Fraser River. Another bridge with open grate decking, and again Bo wouldn't step on it. Another bridge to carry Bo over. We took more photos. The hike down the Fraser River Canyon to Alexandra Bridge was a lot easier than the hike back up. We drove back to Hope, admiring the play of the late afternoon sun light on the mountain sides.

Back at the trailer, we took Bo for an obedience training session, then I started work on the large amount of photos I shot today. While working on them, I barbecued a juicy, thick steak for supper. E-mail, accounting, journal, a bit of TV, goodnight !

DSK

April 26, 2005

April 26, 2005

Abbotsford to Hope, B.C.

DAY 313

 

Today was sunny and warm again.

We slept late, then slowly prepared to leave. We drove down the mountain from where we were camped, to the city of Abbotsford. We stopped at a grocery store with a very RV unfriendly parking lot. I had to park at the mall next door, with a parking lot almost as unfriendly as the grocery store lot. I'm getting rather adept at manoeuvering the rig in and out of places that it shouldn't fit into. I had to use 10 parking spaces for the rig. We stocked up on groceries quite a bit today. We had run our stocks down very low to cross the border, and had not yet been at a large enough grocery store to inspire us to restock before today. After grocery shopping, we had lunch while parked in the lot. From Save-On-Foods it was over to Wal-Mart, with another RV unfriendly parking lot. Are all parking lots in B.C. urban areas RV unfriendly ? After finishing at Wal-Mart, we headed east on Hwy. 1 out of Abbotsford to Hope.

We are at Wild Rose Campground in Hope. After we arrived, and got set up in our site, we took Bo for a long walk around the campground. We checked out the facilities, and came to the conclusion that this is the best campground we’ve been at in our 10 months on the road. It’s superbly designed and laid out. It’s superbly maintained. The restrooms and showers are exceptionally clean. It’s in a beautiful, natural setting beside a high mountain, with steep, vertical sides, and waterfalls. It has free Wi-Fi ( yessssssssss ). It has cable TV, allowing us to see Amazing Race tonight, which we missed last week. I think we might stay here tomorrow, and do some sightseeing in the area.

I spent the late afternoon, and evening online, sending e-mail, retrieving e-mail, updating my blog, retrieving accounts payable, and updating investment data. I barbecued some great sirloin burgers for supper. We watched some TV. Life is good !

DSK

April 25, 2005

April 25, 2005

Vancouver / Surrey to Abbotsford, B.C.

DAY 312

 

Another sunny, warm day.

I am working on the computer at the picnic table in our campsite, in the afternoon sun light, in this lovely forest setting high up on a mountain side just north of Abbotsford. The birds are singing in the forest. Bo is lying on the picnic table beside the computer. Joanne has just called me over to point out that we missed the fact that the expensive campground we stayed at last night in Surrey gives a 25 % discount to Explorer RV Club members, which we are. That really frosts my cake !

We stayed at that expensive campground last night so we could be reasonably close to Vancouver, and our friends Dwight and Jennifer. This morning we decided to move a short distance down the road to a rural, and much less expensive campground. We drove east on Hwy. 1 about half an hour to Abbotsford, then spent another 45 minutes driving around lost, looking for this campground.

We set up in our campsite, had lunch, then I took a well deserved nap. Now I'm catching up on three days worth of my journal, and doing some accounting, and preparing outgoing e-mail. I really need to get online soon. Joanne is doing some trip planning, and seems to have found a campground in Hope that has Wi-Fi. We'll go there tomorrow, and I'll be able to get a lot done online with Wi-Fi.

I spent the entire afternoon at the picnic table, working on the computer. As the sun began to set, and the air started to cool off, we took Bo for an obedience session, walking around the campground. He's doing great. Now I need to begin to figure out how to make him better behaved around visitors to our "home". I don't think Dwight and Jennifer were too impressed with his behaviour last night. Bo's a "liberal thinker", and believes he should be entitled to jump up onto anybody's lap, whenever he wants.

I lit a campfire, using oak from the Missouri Ozarks, and cedar that I picked up in Porpoise Bay Provincial Park a few days ago. The cedar smells nice as it burns. It was such a lovely, warm evening, in such a beautiful, mountain forest setting that we barbecued, and ate supper outdoors at the picnic table, beside the campfire. First outdoor meal in quite awhile, and first campfire in quite awhile.

DSK

April 24, 2005

April 24, 2005

Sechelt to Vancouver / Surrey, B.C.

DAY 311

 

Another warm, sunny day.

We hitched up this morning and left Porpoise Bay Provincial Park, heading for the ferry at Langdale. South on Hwy. 101 through Sechelt, Davis Bay, Wilson Creek, past Roberts Creek, and finally, Gibsons, to the ferry terminal at Langdale. This was the largest of the eight ferries we've been on in the last week or so. The ferry ride from Langdale to Horseshoe Bay, just north of Vancouver, took about an hour. We drove in heavy traffic for 2 hours from the ferry, east on Hwy. 1 through North Vancouver, then south on Hwy. 99 over the Lions Gate Bridge, through Stanley Park, through downtown Vancouver, through Vancouver, past Vancouver Airport, and across the northern arm of the Fraser River into Richmond. We found our way through Richmond to the location of the RV park we were headed to. It wasn't there. It was permanently out of business. < huge sigh > We pulled into an industrial park empty parking lot to prepare lunch, phone our friends Dwight and Jennifer, and figure out where to go from there. We did all that, and chose the next closest RV park, about another hour of driving through urban traffic east to Surrey. We found our way back through Richmond onto Hwy. 91 heading east, then south into Delta, onto Hwy. 10 heading east, then Hwy. 15 heading back north onto Hwy. 1, to Tynehead RV Camp. All in all, that was about 3 hours of driving the rig through heavy urban traffic to drive a huge "U" just to end up back on Hwy. 1 where we were when we first came off the ferry !

We set up in the crowded, small sites, expensive, urban campground. I took Bo for an obedience training session, and as I was finishing with Bo, Dwight and Jennifer arrived. They had our March mail with them. I used their address as my April "mail drop". We haven't seen them in quite a few years. We had been planning to go out with them for dinner to the fishing village of Steveston adjacent to Richmond, for fish and chips, but obviously that plan went out the window with the non-existent RV park. Jennifer had just had dental surgery on Thursday, so her eating choices were still confined to soup and / or scrambled eggs. Okay ... scrambled eggs for Jennifer, and Louisiana gumbo for the rest of us. We had a long, pleasant evening of visiting. We filled them in on what the full time RV life is all about, and our adventures overthe last ten months. It was great to see them again.

DSK

April 23, 2005

April 23, 2005

Sechelt, Roberts Creek, & Gibsons, B.C.

DAY 310

 

Another sunny, warm day.

We had a long, tiring, but exciting day of exploring the Lower Sunshine Coast. We unhitched this morning, then started our day of exploring by driving over to the day use area of Porpoise Bay Provincial Park, to see the nice beach. The best part of the beach, for me, was watching float planes land. I miss flying. We were fantasizing about settling down in this area. I could become a float plane pilot. Joanne could become a brownie baking hippie. I guess that's better than her last fantasy which was to settle down in the back woods of the Ozark Mountains in Missouri and become a survivalist.

We drove into Sechelt, looking for the House of Hewhiwus, the "House Of Chiefs" of the Shishalh Nation, the self governing band of Sechelt natives, and the adjacent Tems Swiya Museum, chronicling their heritage. Out front, the parking lot was filled with a weekend outdoor market. While Joanne browsed, and bought some excellent blackberry jelly, I sat and chatted with a native sculptor who was filing a chunk of alabaster into a bear shape. He explained his work to me, and the differences between sculpting alabaster and soapstone, both of which he uses. He told me that the Olympic logo had just been announced yesterday. It is an Inukshuk. He and his native artist colleagues are still eagerly awaiting the announcement of the Olympic mascot. He's hoping for it to be a bear, and that is why he is currently sculpting an inventory of bear pieces. We went into the Tsain-Ko Gallery, and bought some gifts. I'm a big fan of Aboriginal art. We went next door to see the Tems Swiya Museum. From there we drove over to the Information Centre in town to get some information on local sights to see. We drove south on Hwy. 101 to the village of Wilsons Creek, and then up on the mountain, back into the bush, looking for the Chapman Creek Salmon Hatchery. We found it, and wandered around the hatchery, looking into the huge outdoor tanks, each containing different size / age of salmon fry. After we had been wandering around for awhile, the one employee working there came out of a building, and seeing visitors, came over and explained a bit about how the salmon hatchery operates. He took us into the spawning building, and showed us how the salmon are spawned, and hatched, and reared until they are ready for the outdoor tanks. It was pretty interesting. Using a small net, I took a small fry out of the water, and looked at it for a very brief period of time. When I returned it to the tank ... uh-oh ... it was dead. My, they sure are delicate !

From there we drove over to the little village of Roberts Creek, noted for its "hippie" ambience. It's like a village frozen in time about 40 years ago. There are now 3 generations of hippies populating Roberts Creek. The originals, about 50 to 60 years old, their children, 25 to 35 years old, and their grandchildren, little barefoot kids in halter tops and flowered sun dresses. What a great, laid back place. While Joanne browsed in the small collection of shops ( like the organic health food store ) I chatted with a gentleman who was constructing an addition to the little mall that was the centre of town. What they were constructing was to be a woodworking school, to teach how to make fine hand crafted furniture products out of local woods like Western Red Cedar and Douglas Fir. We went into the one restaurant in town, an organic vegetarian restaurant called The Gumboot, to have lunch. It took quite a long time for our lunch to be prepared, but it was worth waiting for, and this village didn't seem to have much of a sense of "hurry up". I did not know that there was such a thing as organic root beer ! After lunch, we walked across the street, and had some ice cream in the little general store. Joanne thought that Roberts Creek was the kind of place that she could be happy settling down in, after we're finished this travel adventure, and maybe make a living as a brownie baking, happy, old hippie. We drove along the waterfront out of Roberts Creek, following Lower Road about 5 km. back to Hwy. 101.

We drove south to Gibsons, the town made famous by the Canadian television series of the 80's, the Beachcombers. Only in Canada would television use a real restaurant, in a real town, as the set for a TV series. Molly's Reach, the main setting of The Beachcombers, still functions as a restaurant, overlooking the harbour and wharf, looking exactly as it did for those 19 years it served as the set for the series. You can't help but look inside, and expect to see Nick, Jessie, and Relic sitting at the counter arguing. We walked out onto the long wharf, to the public gazebo at the end, then down onto the docks, walking around all the boats, many of them log salvage boats looking pretty much the same as Nick Adonis's Persephone. In behind Molly's Reach is a short street of tourist shops called Molly's Lane. I bought a CD of Aboriginal Blues. What a great album. Aboriginal music blended with blues. There is a song about a red man, singing the black man's blues, living in the white man's world. Another song is entitled "I caught you white handed". I love native humour.

Driving back out of Gibsons Landing Harbour, we stopped in Upper Gibsons, at an art gallery called Gift Of The Eagle. We walked around, viewing the great First Nations art, chatting with the owner, and petting her dog Daisy the Yellow Labrador Retriever who roams freely around the gallery. After admiring the artworks in the gallery, we walked across the street to the Blueberry Bakery, where I bought a small Ganache Cheesecake that we had as dessert tonight. MMMMM ! We drove back up Hwy. 101 to Wilsons Creek, stopping at the IGA to buy some groceries, then went to fill Dee-Dee with diesel. Just at the turn off to Porpoise Bay Provincial Park, I decided to detour for one last stop, the Porpoise Bay public wharf and docks. We parked, and walked out onto the wharf in this lovely setting, so I could watch float planes landing. We returned to the trailer, made and ate supper, ate our cheesecake, and went to bed exhausted, at 9:30 P.M., about 3 hours earlier than we usually do.

DSK

April 22, 2005

April 22, 2005

Saltery Bay Provincial Park to Porpoise Bay Provincial Park, B.C.

DAY 309

 

Another sunny, warm day.

Since we had a choice between catching a ferry at 11:15 A.M. and another at 12:25 P.M., I decided I had some time this morning to get a couple of minor maintenance chores done. If I finished quickly, we'd catch the earlier ferry, and if it took a bit longer, we'd catch the later ferry. I did my regular preventive maintenance, then a couple more little jobs. When I finished, at 11:10, Joanne checked the ferry schedule again. Damn ! I had misread the ferry schedule. From Saltery Bay to Earl's Cove, the ferry leaves at 11:20 A.M. and 3:30 P.M. It was now 8 minutes until the ferry departed, the trailer slides were still extended, and we were a kilometre from the ferry terminal. We decided it wasn't even worth the effort to try ! We'd just go on the 3:30 ferry. So I decided to do the last little maintenance job I had left, which was to replace the license plate light bulb socket. I got the necessary tools and materials, crawled under the truck, cut off the old, corroded license plate light bulb socket, and realized that the replacement socket I bought yesterday in Powell River was the wrong type. Damn ! ! !

All this time, as we were going in and out of the trailer, we were allowing Bo to go in and out without a leash. He behaved very well, and never left our campsite. We were so impressed with his new found "good dog" behaviour, and since we had time to kill, we took him on a no leash hike to Mermaid Cove. He never got too far in front of us, and always returned promptly when we whistled or called. Good dog, Bo ! At Mermaid Cove, the water level was much lower than it had been yesterday afternoon when we were there. I guess high tide is in the late afternoon, and low tide is in the morning. We explored all around the rocky shoreline, and discovered bright purple and bright orange star fish at the water's edge. They were a bit too far for either me or Bo to reach. They were resting on kelp covered boulders quite close to shore, and were particularly vivid when viewed from the cliffs above. We hiked back to the trailer for a late lunch, making the hike another off leash obedience training session for Bo.

After lunch, we drove back north on the Sunshine Coast Highway about a kilometre to the day use / picnic area part of Saltery Bay Provincial Park. We parked in theboat launch parking lot, then explored along the rocky shoreline and pebble beach. The oysters in this area were huge. The inside of the clams were a deep purple colour. We found a hiking trail leading through the forest, so we went for a short hike, until it was time to head for the ferry. We took the 50 minute ferry ride ( $134.05 please ) from Saltery Bay across Jervis Inlet and up Agamemnon Channel to Earl's Cove. Shortly after Earl's Cove, we turned off the highway, and went 6 km. up a back road to Skookumchuck Narrows at Egmont. We parked at Egmont, and started to hike to Skookumchuck Narrows when we realized it's a 4 km. hike. We were too tired, and it was too late in the day, to begin a 4 km. hike, when we still had no idea where we were going to spend the night. We went back to the truck, drove back to the highway, and continued south.

At Halfmoon Bay I again turned off the highway, and drove a short distance to the village. At the end of the road was a little general store, and ... well ... the end of the road ! I had little more than a 2 lane road to try to turn Harvey and Dee-Dee around. It was extremely difficult and stressful. Despite Joanne's assistance as a "spotter" I hit the store's eaves trough with the roof ladder on the back of the trailer. I punctured a hole in the plastic eaves trough. I finally managed to get the rig turned around, and went inside to apologize and pay for the damage. I wasn't a very happy camper, to say the least !

It was getting late, and we were tired and hungry and angry. We drove to Sechelt, to a private RV park we had picked out. We didn't like it, so we drove back 4 km. to Porpoise Bay Provincial Park. We found a good camp site, got backed in, and quickly barbecued a late supper.

DSK

April 21, 2005

April 21, 2005

Powell River to Saltery Bay Provincial Park, B.C.

DAY 308

 

Today was sunny and warm.

Fairly early this morning the shop that was working on the cruise control phoned to say that they had diagnosed the problem, and fixed it, and were on their way to pick me up. They drove me back to their shop, showed me what was wrong ( I should have found it myself ! ), I paid the bill, and returned to Willingdon Beach Campground. We prepared the trailer for departure, hooked up, paid the bill, and checked out. We drove to Powell River's one large shopping mall. While Joanne went shopping for groceries and supplies at a number of different stores within the mall, I began to work on replacing the driver's side exterior door handle on the truck. I am very frustrated that something so simple as changing a door handle was so extremely difficult, because of design. I removed the door inside panel, and began disassembling, to remove the broken door handle. I finally got it off, but was not able to get the lock cylinder removed. By this time Joanne was back from shopping, so we took her niece Amelia's birthday gift to the Post Office inside the mall, and mailed it to Winnipeg. We drove to the GM dealer and squeezed the rig into their parking lot. I took the broken door handle inside to ask for help with removing the lock cylinder. The only way to get the lock cylinder out was for them to break open the already broken door handle. It was then that we discovered that the lock cylinder wouldn't come out because of corrosion, and it wasn't suitable for replacement in the new door handle. I bought a new lock cylinder. Then we had to phone the mobile locksmith in Powell River to come to the GM dealership and rekey the new lock cylinder to my existing truck key, before I could insert the cylinder into the new door handle. < BIG SIGH > The locksmith came, rekeyed the cylinder, I installed it into the new door handle, then started to work on re-installing the door handle into the door. Repeatedly I had to go into the GM dealer to get assistance with figuring something out, or to buy small miscellaneous parts and hardware that were either broken, or that I dropped down inside the door where they will rest eternally ! I spent all afternoon in the GM dealer parking lot working on this. I could only finish by having Joanne sit down beside the door, stick her arm, which is thinner than mine, into a small, narrow, tight opening at the bottom of the door, and blindly screw in a bolt that was impossible for me to get at. It was only after she finally managed to accomplish this near impossible task that we realized her lymphedema arm was getting all scratched and bruised. Not very good ! We'll have to watch her arm closely for the next few days. It was almost 5:00 P.M by the time I finished replacing the door handle and reassembling the door and interior panel. I walked across the street to an auto parts store and bought a license plate light bulb socket that I need to replace on the truck.

We drove south out of town, rushing to get to an RV parts dealer that we had seen an ad for, before they closed, to buy some parts I need for the trailer water heater. We missed the dealer, and I didn't need the parts badly enough to turn around and back track. We continued south on Sunshine Coast Highway 101 to Saltery Bay Provincial Park, 1 km. north of the ferry terminal at Saltery Bay. When we leave here, we will have to take a ferry from Saltery Bay to Earl's Cove. This is an unserviced, wilderness campground in a Pacific Coast rainforest. The forest is thick, and there is moss hanging off the trees. It's not quite the same as the Spanish Moss we saw on trees in the bayous of Mississippi and Louisiana, so I'm don't know if it's called Spanish Moss or if it has some other name. There's only a couple of other campers in the campground. We are in a site with a creek running a few feet behind the trailer. It's quite a lovely place, although desolate. We set up in the site ( turn off the truck key, extend the trailer slides ) then hiked through the forest to the ocean shoreline. Beautiful ! Rocky shoreline, lots of tidal pools for Bo to explore, lots of rocks for him to clamber over.

It was hard to hold onto him, and get dragged all over the rocks along the shoreline he wanted to explore. We decided since we were in the middle of nowhere, with nobody else around, to take the leash off him. He behaved extremely well, exploring excitedly, but not getting too far from us. When we called or whistled, he returned. When we were all finished exploring, we began the hike back to the campsite, with Bo still off leash. As we hiked through the forest, we did our first off leash obedience training session. He did great ! Good work, Bo ... good dog ! ! !

By this time it was cooling off, and the sun was setting, so we went inside the trailer to begin preparing supper. I was too tired, and too stressed, from today's door handle replacement ordeal to want to barbecue. Maybe tomorrow. Joanne made Louisiana style gumbo for supper. I added the last of my smoked salmon to my serving of it. Then I did today's accounting and journal entry while Joanne washed dishes and did some trip planning. We are so over budget, with much of it due to the recent transmission rebuild costs, and very expensive ferry fees. We have 2 more ferries to go. A hundred and fifty dollars worth of parts to replace a broken truck door handle doesn't help much !

DSK

April 20, 2005

April 20, 2005

Powell River, B.C.

DAY 307

 

Today was sunny and very warm, temperature about 25° C. / 76° F.. It's supposed to be nice for about the next week.

This morning I did a bit of preventive maintenance, then phoned Allen Bindle, the Park Ranger at West Hawk Lake, and our "boss" for the summer. We're supposed to be starting work as the West Hawk Lake Campground Hosts before Victoria Day, and I needed to work out some details with Mr. Bindle. Then I went to the campground office here, and borrowed the local phone book. I made some phone calls to find out the location of the nearest G.M. dealer, and an automotive electronics shop that might be able to determine what is wrong with Dee-Dee's cruise control. We had lunch, then set off for the tourist information centre. While Joanne was in the tourist information centre, I went to a Bank Of Montreal branch and took care of some business. We drove to the G.M. dealer, and I bought the exterior door handle that I needed. I hope I'll be able to figure out how to remove the inside door panel, which I have to do to be able to remove and replace the exterior door handle that broke the other day. After the G.M. dealer, we drove north on Marine Drive / Hwy. 101 to a couple of scenic viewpoints the tourist office told us about. We explored around Powell River for awhile, then took the truck to the shop that can diagnose the cruise control problem, hopefully. They drove us back to the campground, and will work on the truck tomorrow morning.

We went for a long walk with Bo, partially an obedience training session, and partially a beach exploration. It was a lovely, warm late afternoon. I got the barbecue out, and barbecued for supper. We haven't had much opportunity for barbecuing lately. I hope barbecue season is here to stay ! After supper, I downloaded today’s photos, did today’s accounting, then today’s journal.

DSK

April 19, 2005

April 19, 2005

Union Bay to Powell River, B.C.

DAY 306

 

Another sunny, warm day. Finally ! We deserve it !

This morning we drove to the Post Office in Union Bay, bought some Canadian stamps, and mailed our personal income tax and company fiscal year end data to Eric Pryor, our accountant in Ottawa. We drove back to the trailer parked behind the The Highwayman Pub, and prepared to leave. We got hitched up, said goodbye to Hein who was working in his motorcycle repair shop behind the bar, and headed out on Island Hwy. 19A, north to Courtenay and Comox. At Courtenay we stopped at a Wal-Mart. Joanne went in to replenish supplies, while I unhooked the trailer in the parking lot. I took the truck in for an oil and filter change, then hitched up to the trailer again < sigh >. We ate lunch while still parked at Wal-Mart, then continued driving through Courtenay, to Comox, and the ferry terminal. While still in Courtenay, we stopped to fill up with diesel, and to refill a propane tank. By then it was time to head for the ferry. Onwards, through Courtenay, then through Comox.

HOLY SHIT ! ! ! SNOWBIRDS ! ! ! All nine, in formation, smoke on, 50 ft. AGL, screaming by right over the windshield as I drive towards the ferry terminal ! For my American friends reading this who don't know what the Snowbirds are, they are the Canadian Forces Aerobatic Team, flying little Tutor jets. CFB Comox is adjacent to the Comox ferry terminal, so I guess the Snowbirds are stationed at CFB Comox this week, getting ready for an air show somewhere nearby. After paying the ( outrageous ) ferry fee, and driving into line waiting for the ferry to begin loading, I stood beside the truck, slack jawed, like everybody else, watching the Snowbirds practice / perform right over head, and out over the water. What a bonus !

After crossing the Strait Of Georgia to Powell River, we found our way to Willingdon Beach Campsite, on the edge of Powell River, right on the ocean, the Malaspina Strait. It's a very lovely campground. A creek runs right beside our trailer site, on its way to the ocean a few hundred feet away. We got settled in, then went for a long, leisurely walk along the beach. We took Bo for an obedience session, then had supper. I did today's accounting, downloaded the last few days worth of photos, then worked on today's journal entry.

DSK

April 18, 2005

April 18, 2005

Union Bay, Denman Island, Hornby Island, Courtenay / Comox, B.C.

DAY 305

 

Today was a sunny, warm day. Finally ! ! !

This morning we drove a few miles south on Island Highway 19A to the ferry landing at Buckley Bay where we bought ferry tickets < choke > to Denman Island, then Hornby Island. We took the ferry over to Denman Island, then drove across Denman Island and caught the ferry to Hornby Island. These 2 islands are close together, and both are close to the "big island", Vancouver Island. All the ferry rides are short. I had visited Denman and Hornby some years ago when I was out here visiting Pamela and Hein on a trip I took without Joanne. Denman and Hornby are very interesting, and this was an opportunity for Joanne to see them. Both islands are home to many "Escapees" from mainstream society. Hippies, and artists, and “bushies” make these islands home. We drove slowly across Hornby Island, exploring as we went. We stopped at the epicentre of Hornby, the Co-op store and artisans' centre. Most of the artisans' store fronts were closed, since it was Monday, and it's the off season for tourism. We browsed around the Co-op general store, then had a lovely fresh lunch at Jan's Restaurant, a small cafe beside the artisans' centre. Freshly prepared lunches using locally produced products. Salmon, crab, sprouts, home made guacamole and chutney, etc.. After lunch, we continued driving around Hornby, exploring. We stopped beside the beach, and took a long walk with Bo on the rocky shoreline, exploring tidal pools. Bo figures ... you never know ... if you've found a star fish once, there must be more out there to be found. We drove to a Provincial Park hiking trail, and took a long hike through thick, wet forest, to cliffs overlooking the shore. We drove to the far tip of the island, to Ford's Cove, where we walked out onto the large wharf serving fishing boats and recreational boats. The wharf is comprised of a series of floating dock sections. I had thought Bo was fearless, but such is not the case. He's afraid to step from one floating dock section to another. As we stepped from one floating dock section to another, with both sections of floating dock bobbing slightly, Bo would flatten on the dock we're stepping off, and whine, afraid to step a few inches over water to the next dock section.

We drove back to the ferry landing, and caught the ferry back to Denman Island. On Denman Island we continued exploring, stopping at a small apple orchard to buy some apple cider. Bo was excited about the peacocks walking around the yard. We drove to Denman Village, and browsed around the general store, and some artisans' shops and gift shops. We drove back to the ferry dock, and while waiting a few minutes for the ferry to start loading, Bo and I went for a short walk along the beach adjacent to the ferry dock. The water at the shoreline was filled with shell fish, including oysters. I picked up three oysters, thinking it would be a good opportunity to learn something about oysters, like how to open / shuck them. I tossed the 3 oysters into the box of the truck, and we drove onto the ferry for the short ride back to Buckley Bay. When we arrived at Buckley Bay, we turned south, to drive 2 km. to Fanny Bay. From the Denman Island ferry dock we could hear the sea lions all the way at Fanny Bay honking / barking. I remember Pam telling me the last time I was out here that sea lions congregate at Fanny Bay, to feed on the plentiful herring. We drove north back to Union Bay, dropped Bo off at the trailer, then drove to Pam's and Hein's. We were planning to take them out for dinner. When we arrived, I asked them if they would show me how to open oysters. Hein got their special oyster shucking tool, and we went outside for an oyster shucking lesson. Hein took an oyster, and with the special oyster shucking tool, pried open the shell. With the tool, he showed me how to cut the oyster off its shell. Then ... to my surprise, he picked up the oyster meat with the tip of the tool, and popped it into his mouth. OH ! ... Okay ! I took the next oyster, pried it open successfully, cut the meat off the shell, popped the slimy little piece of snot into my mouth, and swallowed hard. Hmmm ... tastes just like a salty, slimy little piece of snot ! You know, I'm always willing to try something once. Some things, however, don't warrant a second experience. Eating raw oysters right out of the shell ranks in that category. Hein says they’re better with a bit of Tabasco sauce. Yeah ... whatever !

We all loaded into Pam's car, and she drove us north about 20 km. / 12 mi. to the small twin cities of Courtenay and Comox. We went to an upscale Italian restaurant in Comox for dinner. Afterwards, we drove back to their house, and visited a bit more, until fairly late in the evening.

DSK

April 17, 2005

April 17, 2005

Qualicum Bay to Union Bay, B.C.

DAY 304

 

Today was cool and cloudy with intermittent rain. Same old story ! It's been like this for about 2 weeks now.

Last night and again this morning I phoned my friend Pamela Ramsay and left a message for her to call us. Pamela and her husband Hein live in Union Bay, about half an hour north of Qualicum Bay, where we spent last night. Pamela and I were colleagues at Canada Post in Winnipeg in the mid-80's. She returned my call just before noon. She and Hein were driving back home to Union Bay, from Nanoose, where they were picking up a car this morning that Hein had purchased. When she phoned, they were near Parksville, about half an hour south of us, and would be passing by us on their way home to Union Bay. They stopped at the RV park we were at, and we had lunch together in the trailer. After lunch, and visiting for awhile, Hein headed back to Union Bay in his new car, and Pam waited for us to hitch up, and follow her in her car back to their place. When we got to Pam and Hein's home, high on a hill overlooking the Strait Of Georgia, we decided that their driveway was too steep, and narrow, to get the trailer up. We drove a mile further, and parked in the parking lot of The Highwayman Pub, owned by Pam's mother.

We got the trailer unhitched, and set up, then drove back to Pam and Hein's house. We spent the rest of the afternoon visiting, and drinking wine. Pam prepared supper for us, and we continued visiting, and drinking wine, until late in the evening. I borrowed a phone jack in their home, and got online to retrieve e-mail, and update my blog, then showed Pam and Hein some of the photos of our travels, before we left to return to the trailer parked behind her mom's pub.

DSK

April 16, 2005

April 16, 2005

Port Angeles, Washington to Qualicum Beach, Vancouver Island, British Columbia

DAY 303

 

HMPH ! I have just discovered that my daily journal day numbering is out by 1 day. Today is day 303 of our travel adventure. I wonder where I missed / duplicated a day ?

The weather today was strange. It changed frequently, rapidly, and drastically. One minute it would be partially sunny, and warm, and the next it would be cold, windy, pouring rain, and near blizzard conditions. It repeated this cycle over and over and over today.

We got up very early this morning, to be ready to drive across the street to the ferry terminal when it opened at 7:00 A.M.. I was absolutely stunned at the cost of taking the rig on the ferry. One hundred and fifteen dollars ! ! ! U.S. dollars ! ! ! We got into the ferry line up, and onto the 8:20 A.M. ferry across the Juan de Fuca Strait to Victoria on Vancouver Island. While on the ferry our friends in Vancouver, Dwight and Jennifer, phoned to find out where we were, how were we doing, and when could they expect us in Vancouver ( B.C., not Washington ) ? We arrived in Victoria at 10:00 A.M. The border agent we got at Customs was very thorough. He examined our passports, then Teddy's and Bo's vaccination documents. He asked about our purchases while in the U.S., and closely examined the list I provided him of our purchases. He questioned me about some of them. He walked all around the rig, and seeing there was no dealer sticker on the trailer, he asked for the trailer registration documents to prove that we had not purchased a new trailer while in the U.S.. He asked about Bo, and whether he was a planned or unplanned acquisition, and at what cost. HEY ... Bo was a freebie, so to speak. No duties due on Bo ! He examined Bo's vaccination documents closely. He asked about the firewood I had in the back of the truck. Where was it from ? ( Missouri ) What kind of wood was it ? ( oak ) What was I going to do with it ? ( burn it, eventually) Why hadn't I already done so, instead of hauling it around for the last 4½ months ? ( didn't have as many opportunities for camp fires as I had hoped ) Importation of firewood is prohibited, so I was certain he was going to make me unload it and discard it there. He didn't. He made no mention of the fact that we were a day late returning, so I'm hopeful that he didn't make a notation to that effect in the computer, registered against our names and / or license plate number. Surprisingly, he didn't ask any questions about either our food, or the pet foods.

We drove through Victoria, and headed north on Hwy. 1, the Trans Canada Highway. At Mill Bay we stopped for diesel. YIKES ! ! ! The most expensive fill I've had so far. $100 to fill the tank ! Fuel has risen in price dramatically since we left Canada 6 months ( + 1 day ) ago. At Duncan we stopped again to buy supplies at Wal-Mart, and groceries at Real Canadian Superstore. It's like we're in a foreign country again, instead of being back home. We've been away so long that Canadian money looks strange. We're seeing Canadian products that we haven't seen in a long time ( Hawkins Cheezies, Old Dutch Potato Chips ), and not seeing products that we've become accustomed to buying over the last six months. I asked Joanne how she could tell we were back in Canada ? She said it was the Old Dutch Potato Chips. I thought it was the drunk Indian in the shopping mall parking lot ( HA HA HA HA HA SNORT SNORT SNORT ). Welcome to Vancouver Island.

We switched from Trans Canada Hwy. 1 to Hwy. 19, which heads north all the way up the east coast of Vancouver Island. At some point this afternoon, I tried to turn on the cruise control, the first time I've tried to use it since the transmission rebuild. It doesn't work. I'm really upset ! I'm now about 800 km. / 500 miles ( and a 95 minute ferry ride ) north of the shop that fixed the transmission. I can't just drive back and say "Hey ... you did something to the cruise control. Please fix it." We stopped for the night at Qualicum Bay, at a motel and RV park on the water front. After setting up, resting a bit, and doing a bit of work on the computer, we went for the Saturday buffet dinner in the Chinese restaurant attached to the motel. When we returned from supper, Joanne went to bed early. She was very tired from getting up so early this morning. I did today's accounting < shudder >, then today's journal entry.

DSK

April 15, 2005

April 15, 2005

Tillamook, Oregon to Port Angeles, Washington

DAY 301

 

Well, despite my best effort, it was not meant to be. We did not make it back to Canada today, on time. We will be a day late. We made it to the Port Angeles to Victoria ferry terminal in Port Angeles by a few minutes after 6:00 P.M., but the ferry schedule information we had was incorrect. There are only 2 ferries a day from here to Victoria during the winter season. The early one departs at 8:20 A.M. and the late one departs at 1:45 P.M.. AND ... < fume > I have just had to start over retyping today's journal entry after working on it for the better part of an hour, because my computer decided it needed to reboot itself after loading some upgrade it automatically retrieved this morning.

Today was a cold, miserable day of heavy rain, and poor visibility, and heavy traffic.

I was up early this morning, and had myself and the trailer pretty much ready to go by the time Mechtronics came to pick me up at 9:30 A.M., as they had promised. They drove me back to their shop, where I plugged in the laptop and got online for a few minutes to update my blog before paying the bill for the transmission rebuild. YIKES ! ! ! U.S.$2400 / $3000 CDN.! I drove back to Wilson River RV Park, hitched up, and we were pulling out of the park at 10:45 A.M.. We headed east on Hwy. 6, then Hwy. 26 to Portland. At Portland we got onto Interstate 405 heading north through the city, leading to Interstate 5. At some point on I-405 in Portland, travelling uphill, at 70 MPH, in heavy rain, in heavy traffic, the transmission slipped and whined for a few seconds. I felt a surge of panic through my stomach. I anticipated the transmission self-destructing on a hill, in heavy traffic, in heavy rain, at high speed. It only lasted a few seconds and then everything was fine. I have driven over 300 miles / 500 km. on the rebuilt transmission today, and those few seconds were the only problem, so hopefully everything is okay. Maybe it was just something “breaking in”, as opposed to something breaking ?

Through Portland, onto I-5, across the bridge over the Columbia River, and we were in Vancouver, Washington. We continued north on I-5, stopping very briefly for lunch in Kelso, and again for diesel in Castle Rock. At Castle Rock was the turn off to Mount St. Helens Volcano. Not today ! All the way up I-5 to Olympia, where we had a choice between turning northwest onto Hwy. 101 leading up the west side of Puget Sound to Port Angeles where we could take the ferry to Victoria, or staying on I-5 heading northeast up the east side of Puget Sound through Tacoma and Seattle to the Canadian border just south of Vancouver, B.C.. We chose Port Angeles, because we could get there, and to the ferry, about 3 or 4 hours quicker than we could get to the border over land. Hwy. 101 was a winding, twisting, up and down and around the mountains type road, as it had been ever since Los Angeles. A tough drive when rushing on a rainy day.

We got to the ferry terminal as the ferry that arrives from Victoria at 6:00 P.M. was just unloading. Great, I thought. It will unload, then reload, and we’ll be on our way. NO ! ! ! We discussed turning around and heading about 3 hours back to I-5, then driving 6 or 7 hours north to Canada, but we’d still be a day late crossing into Canada, and I didn’t have the energy to drive another 10 hours.

We parked on the street for the night, across from the ferry terminal which opens at 7:00 A.M.. Joanne took Bo for a bathroom walk, then I took him for an obedience training walk. He did great, especially considering that I was walking him, and working him, on city streets. Good dog, Bo ! We fed Teddy and Bo, then went walking around Port Angeles downtown, looking for a place to eat. We used up the last bit of our food last night, so that we would have no food when crossing the border. We had supper, then returned to the trailer. Joanne took a shower, while I did today’s accounting, then worked on today’s journal ( repeatedly ! ).

DSK

April 14, 2005

April 14, 2005

Tillamook, Oregon

DAY 300

 

Today was cloudy and cool for most of the day, with rain in the morning and early afternoon, and a partial clearing late in the afternoon. The sun actually peeked through for a few minutes. That was likely the only break from the rain for the next week. The forecast calls for another week of this cloudy, rainy, cool weather in this area. I wonder if it will extend north as far as Vancouver Island ?

I am very disappointed to be sitting here yet another night in Tillamook, waiting for the truck. I checked with Mechtronics at noon, and they still thought there was a possibility they might have the truck ready to go by 5:00 P.M. today. No such luck. When I phoned at 4:00, they realized they wouldn't be finished today < sigh >. They are hoping to have the truck ready to go by mid-morning tomorrow. If we had been able to get on the road late this afternoon, I think there was still a good chance we could have made it back to the Canadian border on time. Starting tomorrow mid-morning, there's not really a good chance we can make it that far tomorrow. Hauling the rig isn't the same as travelling by car. We have to stop more frequently for fuel. We can't travel as fast up and down the hills. We can't travel as fast in wind or rain. We have another couple of hours of mountain passes to go before we get to Portland, and the Interstate. I guess we're going to be late returning to Canada.

I finished up the year end accounting for the company this morning. It's ready to be sent to our accountant in Ottawa, along with our personal income tax information. We'll take care of mailing that to him soon after we return to Canada. While Joanne finished up some laundry, I made lunch. After lunch, I read for awhile, then napped with Bo. When I got up, I began to prepare the trailer for departure, still hoping that the truck would be ready today. I got the holding tanks drained, the fresh water refilled, and got all the water and sewer hoses and connectors cleaned up and put away, before phoning Mechtronics at 4:00. Then I had to take everything out of its storage place, and reconnected again to stay another night. I took Bo for an obedience training session, and then, since it had finally stopped raining for awhile, we took him out for just a goof off walk. He's suffering "cabin fever", as are we all. The sun was peeking out between the clouds, so we walked down to the river's edge. We hadn't gone right down to the river's edge before. Bo waltzed right into the Wilson River, right up to a depth where he was beginning to float, and having to swim. With his scrunty little legs, and buoyant, thick little body, that's actually not very deep. He seems absolutely unconcerned about walking into lakes and rivers, although he seems quite cautious about the water on the ocean beaches. I wonder why he's cautious on the ocean beaches, but walks right into the water on lakes and rivers ?

We spent the evening watching Survivor, and The Apprentice.

DSK

April 13, 2005

April 13, 2005

Tillamook, Oregon

DAY 299

 

Another cold, cloudy, rainy day ! I'm getting desperate for some sunshine !

We slept late again this morning. This forced delay provides an opportunity to start our days late, which Joanne really likes. Ever since her battles with cancer, and her surgeries, a few years ago, her stamina has been reduced, and she needs more sleep. I spent much of today working, on and off, on our company's fiscal year end accounting. We took Bo for an obedience training session this afternoon during one of the few very brief lulls in the rain. We're all getting bored ; Joanne, me, Teddy & Bo ! We're all feeling a bit cooped up in the trailer with nowhere to go and nothing to do. If at least the weather was a little better, we could go for walks which we all enjoy. We're in a nice area, thick forest beside a river, high mountains all around us. We're eager to get going.

When I phoned Mechtronics late this afternoon to check on the progress of Dee-Dee's transmission rebuild, they were hopeful that they may be finished by the close of business tomorrow. I surely hope so. If they have the truck ready to go by 5:00 P.M. tomorrow, we'll immediately leave, trying to get over the mountains before it gets dark around 8:00 P.M., and into Portland. If we can make it to Portland by tomorrow evening, there is a chance we will be able to make it back to the Canadian border on time, before midnight Friday. It would mean driving completely across the state of Washington, south to north, in one day. So much for visiting the beautiful state of Washington ! Oh, well ... next year, I guess.

DSK

April 12, 2005

April 12, 2005

Tillamook, Oregon

DAY 298

 

Today was cold and raining. Are all days in the Pacific Northwest cold and raining ? And very quickly changing ? In the last hour, it has alternated between sunny, cloudy, light rain, heavy rain, hail, and back to a few minutes of sun.

Poor Bo was ill during the night. He woke us up about 4:00 A.M. suffering, and needing to go outside. I took him out twice between 4:00 and 5:00, and all he wanted to do was eat copious amounts of grass. Finally, after a couple of hours of tossing and turning, and whining, and restlessness, he had an "accident" on the carpet, then seemed to feel better. By then it was time for me to get up < sigh >.

Early this morning, I was picked up by the owner of Mechtronics and taken back to his shop to see the dismantled transmission, and discuss the situation. While I was there, I asked to be allowed to connect my laptop to a phone line so I could get online. He did one better. He connected me to their high speed cable connection. I retrieved e-mail, and updated my blog. I haven't had an opportunity to get online in over a week.

Joanne tried to make some phone calls to U.S. authorities to discuss the ramifications of our late return to Canada. All she could get were recorded messages, and endless voice mail "options". I suppose all we can do once the truck is fixed is drive as hard and fast as we can back to Canada, and hope for the best. Normally, the ramification of returning to Canada late is being hassled when trying to get back into the U.S. next fall. Border guards can refuse to allow entry into the U.S., based on a failure to return on time the previous spring < sigh ... again >.

I took a nap after lunch, then took Bo for an obedience training session. That was during the 15 minutes of sunshine, right before the hail storm < yet another sigh >. I'm having a problem with Oregon's cold, wet weather, and lack of sunshine. What a lousy week ! ! !

I finally stopped procrastinating and started to work on the preparation of our personal and corporate income tax information. I need to get it all sorted and organized and summarized before sending it off to our accountant in Ottawa. We need him for at least 2004 and probably 2005, to execute the tax planning we did for 2004 and 2005, last spring before starting our travel. With his strategic guidance, we can minimize the tax implications / liabilities of selling our businesses last year. I have been meaning since last Friday to use this week of delay to accomplish tax preparations. I've just had some difficulty getting started.

DSK

April 11, 2005

April 11, 2005

Tillamook, Oregon

DAY 297

 

Today was cold and raining again. The last few days have been like this, and the next few days are forecast to be the same. And it looks like we're stuck here for the rest of the week waiting for the transmission to be rebuilt.

This morning we went grocery shopping. I had arranged to catch a ride into town with the RV park's manager when he makes his regular Monday morning run into town to buy groceries.

This afternoon, we took Bo for an obedience training session during a lull in the rain. At 3:00 P.M. I phoned the repair shop, as pre-arranged. They had removed the transmission from the truck, and disassembled it to diagnose the problem. Suffice to say that the transmission needs to be rebuilt, due to wear and tear, and heat. They were just in the process of determining costs, and asked me to call back at 4:30. I've been phoning them, instead of them phoning me. If I phone them, it's a local call on my cell phone. If they phone me, the call routes a couple of thousand miles to Winnipeg, which they pay for, then routes a couple of thousand miles back to me, which I pay for. When I called back at 4:30, we discussed a number of options about how to proceed. The one that seemed to make the most sense to me was to have them rebuild the transmission, using upgraded heavy duty components, in consideration of the heavy duty demands placed on the transmission by towing Harvey, especially up and down mountains. The cost will be U.S.$2300. At current exchange rates, that's between $2800 and $2900 Canadian. I'm really dismayed ! And it likely won't be ready until Friday. We're due back in Canada on Friday !

I'm also having a problem getting online to retrieve e-mail and update my blog. This park has no modem access, and I can't get a digital signal on the cell phone, just a weak analog signal. I'm going to the repair shop tomorrow morning to see the worn transmission components for myself. Maybe I can persuade them to let me have access to a phone jack in their office, to connect the computer.

DSK

April 9 & 10, 2005

April 9 & 10, 2005

Tillamook, Oregon

DAY 295 & 296

 

Saturday was cloudy and cool. Sunday was cloudy and cool, with rain most of the day.

For both days we did a lot of nothing. We slept late, napped in the afternoon, read the weekend newspapers, watched a lot of evening TV, suffered a lot of anxiety and frustration, and consequently made each other's lives somewhat miserable ! We're upset about the cost of the transmission, the overall costs of maintenance on this journey, the delay, the consequences of being late returning to Canada, and anything else, real or perceived, that we can think of to fight about.

DSK

April 8, 2005

April 8, 2005

Cape Lookout to Tillamook, Oregon

DAY 294

 

Today was cloudy and cool, with a bit of light rain in the morning.

We got a very early start this morning. We wanted to have the truck at a repair shop fairly early in their work day. Just as we were about to pull out of our campsite, the campground host in the site next to us came over with a local phone book she borrowed from the park ranger station. It was extremely helpful. Before pulling out of the state park, we made a bunch of phone calls, to find a suitable repair shop, and a suitable campground nearby. We succeeded in both, and left the state park with a bit of a sense of relief, knowing where we were taking the truck for repair, and where we were going to park the trailer in the meantime. We drove gingerly along the 11 miles curving up and over and around ( we're getting pretty used to that ! ) to Tillamook. We found our way through town, and out onto Hwy. 6 leading to Portland. A couple of miles out of town, we came to Wilson River RV Park. I had ascertained by phone that they had a pull through site available, which meant I could pull in, unhitch Harvey, and drive Dee-Dee away without ever having to go into reverse. As soon as I got the trailer unhitched, I left Joanne to register and finish setting up the trailer ( electricity, water, and sewer connections, extend the slides, etc. ) while I headed back to the edge of town, to Mechtronics, a local auto and heavy equipment repair shop. They were expecting me, and were able to begin diagnosis of the transmission problem as soon as I arrived. When it became apparent after an hour or so that it was not a really simple problem, they drove me back to Wilson River RV Park, and told me to phone them at 3:00. Hopefully they would know more by then.

We had lunch, then I took a long, well deserved nap. It's now 3:00 P.M. and I've just phoned Mechtronics. They have the transmission pan lowered, and haven't yet figured out what the problem is. Phone back in an hour. < sigh > When I phoned back at 4:00 P.M. they had ascertained that the problem was not the servo motor, or the rear transmission band, so the problem is internal. The options they gave me were to order and install a rebuilt transmission, or allow them to lower the transmission and begin disassembling it to identify the problem, and what would be required to repair / rebuild it in their shop. Option 1 is likely to cost $2500 and the truck will be ready next Wednesday. Order a rebuilt transmission on Monday, receive it and install it Tuesday, be ready to go Wednesday. Option 2 is likely to cost $2000 and the truck will be ready to go next Friday ! Lower the transmission and disassemble it to identify the exact problem on Monday, order the necessary components Tuesday, receive the components and rebuild the transmission on Wednesday, reinstall it into the truck on Thursday, be ready to go on Friday. < sigh > While I'm worried mostly about this transmission problem, and its cost, Joanne is fretting about our return to Canada. We left Canada on October 15, and should be crossing back into Canada on or before April 15. U.S. Homeland Security only allows us to remain in the United States as visitors for 6 months. I don't perceive that being late due to a mechanical breakdown is a problem, but Joanne thinks it is. Maybe she can do some research on Monday, and make some phone calls, and figure out how big a problem it is, if any, if we're late returning.

We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening trying rather unsuccessfully to cope with the stress we're feeling.

DSK

April 7, 2005

April 7, 2005

Newport to Cape Lookout, Oregon

DAY 293

 

Today was cloudy and cool, with intermittent rain.

Once again, we're in a bit of a pickle, thanks to Dee-Dee. As we backed into our campsite tonight, the transmission failed in reverse. We're in the campsite okay, but there's no more reverse gear. Let's hope I can make it the eleven miles to the nearest town tomorrow morning without needing to back up anywhere. The eleven miles to the nearest town, Tillamook, is a winding, hilly, road from the Pacific coast over the mountains Wish me luck ! The campground host here says that Tillamook should be large enough to have a decent transmission shop or GM dealer. Pulling Harvey up and over and around all the mountains that we've travelled in the last few weeks has been pretty tough, so I guess the transmission has decided it's time for some repairs, or replacement ! < sigh > Why does the truck always decide to break down either just before, or on a weekend, when getting repairs always results in a delay over the weekend ?

We started out late this morning, partially because the weather was poor. When we finally left the South Beach State Park, we drove a couple of miles to the town of Newport. Joanne wanted to see the Oregon Coast Aquarium at Newport. We spent the rest of the morning, and part of the afternoon wandering around this fabulous aquarium. It has outdoor pools, with viewing glass below water level, with sea otters, seals, and sea lions. The sea otters have particularly cute mannerisms. They were Joanne's favourite exhibit. There is an aviary with sea birds. I liked watching the male puffin perform a mating ritual "dance" on the water. Indoors, there are three large ocean habitats behind glass, connected by a 200 foot underwater tunnel. As you walk through the tunnel from exhibit area to exhibit area, you can watch all manner of sea life swim around, above, and below you. It was quite fascinating. I tried taking some pictures, without using the flash. I hope I got something useable.

We had a late lunch in the aquarium parking lot, then headed north on Hwy. 101, as usual. We only drove for a couple of hours, since we got out on the road quite late. As we have done for the last few days, we followed the Pacific coastline along Hwy. 101. Just before Cloverdale, we turned off the highway onto a rather poor secondary road leading here to Cape Lookout, and a little further, to Three Arch Rocks. We are camped for the night at Cape Lookout State Park.

DSK

April 6, 2005

April 6, 2005

Bandon to Newport, Oregon

DAY 292

 

Today was a sunny, warm day. The cherry blossoms and lilacs are blooming here in Oregon.

Before we left Bullards Beach State Park this morning, we drove over to the day use area of the park, to see the old Coquille River Lighthouse which used to light the entrance to the Coquille River from the Pacific Ocean, allowing ships to travel upriver to the towns of Bandon and Coquille. We left the park, continuing north on Hwy. 101. At Seven Devils Road, we left the highway and turned west towards the quaint little fishing village of Charleston. In Charleston, we stopped at a fish market, where I bought a smoked salmon pepperoni stick ! We followed Seven Devils Road around for 12 miles back to Hwy. 101, and the city of Coos Bay. We stopped in Coos Bay to buy some groceries and supplies at Wal-Mart, and to have lunch.

After lunch, we continued north on Hwy. 101, periodically stopping at scenic spots to look around, and take pictures. The rugged Pacific Coast of Oregon is quite spectacular. Just south of Florence, we contemplated stopping for the night at Passport America listed private campground, but I didn't like the look of it, so we kept driving. At Waldport we turned east onto Hwy. 34, and drove a few miles to check out another Passport America listed private campground. Again I didn't like the look of it, so, back to Hwy. 101, and we continued north. We finally stopped for the night ( once again, a bit later than we should have ) at South Beach State Park. The state parks are more expensive than the Passport America rate for the private campgrounds, but you get what you pay for. Oregon's state parks are excellent.

After setting up, we took Bo for a lengthy, challenging obedience session. Most days, we are working him together, because until Joanne joined our obedience training sessions just recently, Bo thought I was Alpha Dog, and Joanne was a lesser being. His obedience training is progressing very well lately, and he now accepts that Joanne is also Alpha Dog. Today we started really mixing up the sequence of the commands, and forcing him to really think about what our expectations are. Good work, Bo ... good dog !

Joanne made my favorite spaghetti recipe for supper, then we watched the recap episode of Amazing Race. We missed a couple of episodes in the last couple of weeks.

DSK

April 5, 2005

April 5, 2005

Crescent City, California to Bandon, Oregon

DAY 291

 

Today was sunny and warm.

This morning we drove out of Sunset Harbor RV Park, and across the highway to Crescent City Harbor. We parked the rig beside the fishing boats and went exploring. A portion of the parking lot is dedicated to a net repair area for the fishermen. As we walked across this area, Bo found a star fish. OH, BOY ... Bo's very own star fish ! He walked around with it in his mouth for about the next 15 minutes, looking ever so pleased. When he saw the harbour seals along side the dock, he was so stunned he dropped his star fish and forgot about it. We watched the harbour seals for a few minutes, then went back to the rig to drive over to the large jetty, which was a bit too far to walk to. WOW ! ! ! Sea lions ! Lounging around on the edges of the jetty, sunning themselves. I got some great pictures of them, while Joanne stayed back, holding Bo, screaming behind me that I was getting too close to them.

Before we drove out of Crescent City, we stopped at Safeway for a few groceries. We headed north on Hwy. 101, and soon were passing from California to Oregon. Soon after entering Oregon, we stopped at a State Travel Information Centre. Goodbye, California ! We picked up an Oregon road map, and some very helpful driving guides from a very friendly and helpful attendant. Goodbye, California ! ! ! The best driving guide is a "mile by mile" narrative of Hwy. 101 along the Pacific Coast all the way through Oregon, from California to Washington. The scenery along the Oregon Pacific Coast is spectacular. Rocky, rugged terrain behind wide sand beaches, with crashing surf.

We stopped at Brookings, so I could shop in a salmon smokehouse. MMMMM ! I bought some smoked Wild King Salmon. I really enjoyed having it for lunch. So did Teddy. I hope he appreciates that he was eating U.S.$30 a pound smoked salmon for lunch. We continued along Hwy. 101, stopping periodically to take pictures of the scenery. We stopped for diesel in Bandon. We also stopped at a Myrtlewood factory / gift shop. We didn't know what Myrtlewood was. It's a tree found only along Oregon's wet Pacific Coast. One of the friendly employees in this wood working factory / gift shop explained about the Myrtlewood trees, and took me outside their store to show me a couple of growing Myrtlewood trees, and explain their growth to me. He ripped aleaf off the tree, and had me smell it. They use Myrtlewood leaves locally as a substitute for Bay Leaves. Back inside the gift shop, we browsed through the Myrtlewood products, but it was very expensive, and not particularly suitable for our lifestyle. We bought some Myrtlewood leaves as seasoning, and some cranberry candies. Cranberries are grown in this area of Oregon.

We stopped for the night just north of Bandon, in Bullards Beach State Park. This is a very nice park, with fully serviced campsites, at a reasonable fee. Goodbye, California ! I hope other Oregon State Parks will be as nice as this one. We stopped earlier today, so I had time to barbecue some nice steaks for supper, accompanied by the remaining half bottle of California Chardonnay.

DSK

April 4, 2005

April 4, 2005

Garberville to Crescent City, California

DAY 290

 

Today started out cloudy and cool. I thought it was cloudy, but it was actually coastal fog. Once it lifted, the day was sunny and warm.

We started out late, heading north on Hwy. 101 which from where we started out this morning, is known as Redwood Highway. Just before Phillipsville we turned onto the scenic 31 mile stretch of the old, original Hwy. 101 known as Avenue Of The Giants. We stopped at Phillipsville to buy a stamp, and a cup of coffee. Every 3 to 5 miles along this scenic drive was a small town. Between each little town was forests of old, giant, original growth redwoods. We stopped frequently to take pictures. At Humboldt Redwoods State Park Headquarters we stopped to look around the Visitor's & Interpretive Centre. We watched a short movie on the total destruction of this area by the flooding of the Eel River in the spring of 1964. We had lunch, then went for a short hike in the redwoods. I wanted to convince Bo to pee on a giant redwood, but they're too large for him ... so I did ! HA HA HA ! At the end of the 31 miles, we were back on the newer Hwy. 101, the Redwood Highway. I got a lot of great pictures.

At Loleta, we got off the highway, and drove into town. In one of the tourist information newspapers we had read about a cheese factory, and a sausage maker that interested us. We bought some freshly made hickory smoked jack cheese, and some freshly made chicken and apple sausages. Back onto the highway, and north to Eureka, where we stopped to fill up with diesel. We contemplated stopping in Eureka for the night, but I wanted to see, and stay overnight in Redwoods National Park. It was less than another hour down the road. Redwoods National Park was nice, but there wasn't a campground that could accommodate a rig our size. We did see 2 herds of Roosevelt Elks beside the road. The first herd was on both sides of the road, right up to the shoulders. Joanne was able to take a picture through the truck window of an elk right beside the road.

We came out of the redwood forests, and were beside the Pacific Ocean once again. Pounding surfs on wide, rocky beaches. We ended up driving further than we should have, and longer than we should have, to get to a campground at Crescent City. We are spending the night at Sunset Harbor RV Park. Across the road from the park, is a marina on the Pacific. We can hear harbor seals honking, or barking, or whatever their noise making is called. Maybe tomorrow morning before we leave we'll walk down to the water and take a look.

DSK

April 3, 2005

April 3, 2005

Garberville, California

DAY 289

 

Today was cloudy and cool, with heavy rain for most of the day.

We spent the morning, and the early part of the afternoon, washing the truck and trailer in the heavy rain. We had noticed yesterday that some other people were washing their rigs here, so we decided to stay here today and do the same. Most campgrounds prohibit washing of rigs. The last time we washed the truck and trailer was in Pecos, Texas. Lots of desert dust and grime, caked on with a bit of rain, baked on by lots of sunshine, lots of spring bugs on the front of the trailer ... the truck and trailer were really filthy already. When we woke, and saw it was raining heavily, we were uncertain whether to stay and wash the rig, or go, but we decided we can't stop living because of a little rain. Whether washing the rig, or driving these narrow mountain roads, it was going to be a bit of a tough, miserable day. We thought the heavy rain might actually help with the rig washing, and it did. But by the time we were finished, we were pretty tired, wet, and miserable feeling. We came in, took off all our wet clothing and shoes, got dried, and had a late lunch. I napped while Joanne got caught up on laundry. We haven't had an opportunity to do laundry in about 2 weeks.

By late afternoon the rain had stopped so we walked across the highway to see a couple of tourist attractions and gift shops. First was the "One Log House", a 3 room house carved out of a long piece of a giant redwood tree. We shopped inside the gift shop and wood carving / redwood furniture shop. We bought some gifts. Then we walked down to the next place over. A gift shop, and redwood carving and furniture shop centred on a giant, old redwood tree named "Grandfather". The oldest and largest redwood trees have names. Grandfather is over 300 feet tall. Today's blog picture is Joanne standing in front of Grandfather. As we were walking away from Grandfather, Joanne tripped and fell ! Twisted shoulder, twisted hand, dirty knees !

We walked back across the highway to the RV park, and while Joanne finished up laundry, I took Bo for an obedience training session. Then I did some computer work. Since I had Wi-Fi last night and today, I downloaded bank statements and investment statements.

DSK

April 2, 2005

April 2, 2005

Ukiah to Garberville, California

DAY 288

 

Today started out sunny and warm, but became cloudy and cool in the afternoon. As we get further north, the evenings are getting cooler.

We decided we need to slow down a bit. The last week or so we've been driving long, hard days, on difficult roads. I'm tired. We're both edgy. So most of today was spent running errands, and we drove less. We started by heading back on Hwy. 101 south 3 exits to find a Wal-Mart. We did some grocery and supply replenishment. Then forward on Hwy. 101 north 1 exit to Safeway for more groceries. On and off the highway exits, in and out of the city, in and out of shopping malls with the rig is hard work. We had lunch in the Safeway parking lot before heading back out on Hwy. 101, heading north.

We have passed the middle of California, so we are out of Southern California and are now in Northern California. The change is obvious and dramatic. We have left the heavily urbanized south, and have entered the rugged, forested north. We are driving up and down and around mountains covered in evergreens and redwoods. We have begun to see quite large redwood trees. Joanne noted today that being back in forest seems rejuvenating. She's right. I guess we're more "at home" in this kind of terrain.

We stopped in Willits to buy diesel, and a few more supply items at Dollar Tree. We haven't seen a "dollar store" since we left Arizona. I guess a buck doesn't buy much in Southern California ! We stopped for the night at Richardson Grove RV Park in Garberville. It's a very nice, fully serviced campground, in evergreen and redwood forest, at a very reasonable price. Finally, prices are coming down a bit. And the people are becoming noticeably nicer. I'm don't think I'm ever going to be a big fan of Southern California.

After getting set up in the campground, I put a roast on the barbecue, and we took Bo for a long walk around the campground. I went back to tend to the roast while Joanne chatted with a neighbouring camper. They're from Alberta, and have been travelling full time in a fifth wheel since last June, like us. I haven't barbecued a roast in a long time. Now that the days are getting longer, I plan to be using the barbecue a lot more again. Daylight Savings Time starts tonight. We drank half a bottle of California wine with our over cooked, dried out roast. After supper, I went to the campground office / store to use the modem access phone jack set up on their front porch. While attempting to get online to update my blog, the resident cat Dusty came over and jumped into my lap to get some attention. I gave up trying to connect to AOL after 5 attempts each resulted in a very slow connection. I needed to update my blog with about 8 days worth of journal and photos, and I needed a faster connection than I was getting. I returned to the trailer, and used Wi-Fi, which is available in this park, but at a bit of a hefty daily fee. Oh, well ... the daily camping rate was quite low, so it balances out okay.

DSK

April 1. 2005

April 1, 2005

San Martin to Ukiah, California

DAY 287

 

Today was sunny and very warm.

We were both up early, to have the rig ready to move into Camping World's service department at 8:00 A.M.. They had the water heater fixed by 9:00, and the 4 new tires on by 10:00. The bill was prepared, and paid, by 10:30. As I was pulling out of their parking lot, I noticed the ammeter indicating strong discharge. Uh-oh ... Dee-Dee had an electrical problem. I suspected the same sort of problem that grounded us in Elkhart, Indiana just before last fall's Escapade. I was right. The splice on the wire between the battery and the alternator had melted / burned through. I've been watching that wire and splice ever since Elkhart, and I knew it was slowly burning through. Dee-Dee runs pretty warm ! If I knew last September what I know now, I could have solved a little tiny problem before it became a really huge and expensive problem. Today, I had the problem fixed within half an hour, and we were on the road before 11:00.

We headed north from San Martin on Hwy. 101 to Interstate 680, which we followed along the eastern edges of San Jose, San Francisco, and Oakland. We crossed a toll bridge over the Carquinez Strait from Martinez to Benicia. We had really rude encounters with service station attendants at a station in Benicia. Actually, we both had rude encounters here. Me with one person, and Joanne with another. At Cordelia we stopped for a late lunch, then got onto I-80 to connect to Hwy. 128. A short distance on Hwy. 128 and we reached the town of Napa, and beyond that, the Napa Valley. The Napa Valley was really pretty, but it increased the contempt I'm developing for California. No state road maps available, no state travel information centres, RV unfriendly, tourist unfriendly, rude and dangerous drivers, rude people serving the public in service stations, everything outrageously expensive. Should I continue ? We followed a directional sign in the Napa Valley to a winery a mile down a side road, only to discover it wasn't open to the public. Then why the hell is there a sign on the highway ? ! ? It was near impossible to get the rig turned around at the closed gate of this winery ! We went back to Hwy. 101, and stopped at a winery that was obviously open to the public. The place was snooty ! Bottles of wine starting at $40. Wine sampling at $7 a taste. Puh-leese ! We walked across the streetto a General Store to buy some fresh cheese. Asian-American Valley Girls in miniskirts, with cowboy boots, buying organic broccolinis ! Puh-leese ! ! ! We got back in the truck, vowing not to get out again until out of the Napa Valley, and away from the ever so chic San Francisco crowd. The tourism industry here seems to be only interested in serving locals. Visitors, ( but not their money ! ) seem unwelcome.

Through the very pretty Napa Valley, with vineyards covering the sides of the hills, then up and over and around the lush, green mountains on Hwy. 128 to reconnect with Hwy. 101 at Geyserville, then continuing north on Hwy. 101 to Ukiah. We are spending the night at Redwood Empire Fairgrounds and RV Park in Ukiah. We are discovering that many municipal and county fairgrounds have small, serviced site RV parks at reasonable rates.

DSK

March 31, 2005

March 31, 2005

Watsonville to San Martin, California

DAY 286

 

Today was sunny and hot. That's about the only thing that went right about today.

We took our time preparing to leave Pinto Lake Park this morning because we didn't think we would be travelling very far today. As we were pulling out, I realized there was a blown fuse in the truck. I decided to leave it, and fix it later when we were in a Wal-Mart parking lot. Our first stop was going to be Wal-Mart in Gilroy. We had to get from Watsonville on Hwy. 1 to Gilroy on Hwy. 101. That seemed easy enough in planning. Both highways run north and south, just a few miles apart. We got twisted around entering Hwy.1, and ended up headed in the wrong direction. I took an exit, and attempted to enter again in the opposite direction. Again we got twisted around, and again I ended up heading in the wrong direction. Welcome to California freeways ! Another exit, and I finally got headed the right way on Hwy. 1. We exited onto Hwy. 152 heading the short distance east to Hwy. 101. Halfway to Hwy. 101 was a sign prohibiting vehicles longer than 45 feet from continuing on Hwy. 152. We had to detour over to Hwy. 129 to get to Gilroy. We got all twisted around again, and drove around a little lost, and a lot frustrated, trying to get onto Hwy. 129, to get just a short distance over to Hwy. 101. Finally we made it to Hwy. 129, then onto Hwy. 101. At Gilroy, we exited at the sign directing to the Visitor's Information Centre. We got to the Visitor's Information Centre, and I cut a corner too sharply, hitting the curb with the trailer tires, and slicing open the sidewall of a tire on the metal drain embedded in the curb. The tire blew ! And it was the new tire I purchased 2 weeks ago in Quartzsite ! Another 100 bucks down the drain because of a moment of carelessness ! And, of course, those are American dollars ! I'm angry at myself, and having a hard time forgiving myself tonight, although I keep trying to console myself by telling myself that most moments of carelessness behind the wheel of this rig would result in a lot worse consequences than the loss of a hundred dollar tire.

I changed the tire, while Joanne went inside the Visitor's Information Centre and got directions to the Wal-Mart in town, then made lunch. Gilroy bills itself as "The Garlic Capitol Of The World". The staff in the Visitor's Information Centre offered Joanne some garlic flavoured jelly beans. She declined ! We drove to Wal-Mart, and while Joanne did a bit of grocery shopping, I located and changed the blown fuse. Easier said than done ! We left Wal-Mart, and Gilroy, heading north on Hwy. 101 to San Martin. We headed for the Camping World at San Martin, where we have an appointment at 8:00 A.M. tomorrow morning to get the water heater repaired.

We were planning to visit Joanne's cousin in Capitola today or tomorrow, but things haven't quite worked out as well as we had hoped. We cancelled our visit by e-mail tonight. We also made a decision to buy 4 new trailer tires here at Camping World while we're here. Two of the tires were on the trailer when we purchased it, and are worn, and ready for replacement. I blew the brand new one today. And the spare is under rated for the trailer load. The only half decent tire left is the one we bought in Minneapolis on the Labour Day weekend, and it already has a fair amount of wear on it. That one will become the spare. The under rated current spare, I guess I will keep as an unmounted spare spare. Regardless of how much or little the water heater repair is, tomorrow is going to be a very expensive day.

Tonight while I was walking Bo, we came across a stray dog. She was wearing an engraved tag identifying her as Brandy, with a phone number. She was quite content to walk along with me and Bo, so I thought I would just take her back to the trailer, and phone the number on her tag. While we were walking, a very frustrated gentleman came around the corner of the Camping World building calling Brandy. Turns out he had been wandering around looking for her for an hour, since she had escaped from his motorhome, after he scolded her for eating the $30 book he had purchased at Camping World a few hours earlier. Her feelings were hurt, and she would not go back to him. I had to call her close to me, then hold her by the collar while he came over and snapped her leash on. Oh, well, if nothing else went right today, at least Bo and I helped rescue an escaped dog.

DSK

March 29 & 30, 2005

March 29 & 30, 2005

Lompoc to Big Sur State Park

Big Sur State Park to Watsonville, California

DAYS 284 & 285

 

Tuesday ; We left Lompoc this morning, filling up with diesel before we left town. We headed north on Hwy. 1. I wanted to drive California Hwy. 1 for at least a couple of days, and these two days were certainly the right choice. This is the stretch of Hwy. 1 known as Big Sur Highway. It winds along the side of the Santa Lucia Mountains, along the Pacific Coast. Very narrow 2 lane road, high up the side of the mountain, curving, winding, tight switchbacks ! Oh, boy ... it's known as California's most dangerous highway. It was like the ultimate RV'ers challenge ! It makes the Sea To Sky Highway from Vancouver to Whistler look like a drive around the block. I am amazed that I managed to not scrape the side of the trailer against the mountain on the many tight, right hand curve switchbacks. I needed both lanes of the road to get around a lot of the switchbacks. The margin for error is pretty narrow. Too close on the right hand side, the trailer scrapes the mountain. Too far over onto the left side, and you plummet hundreds of feet down to the Pacific Ocean below. In many places, there is chicken wire holding back the rocks from sliding down onto the road. In many places where there isn't chicken wire, rocks are sliding down onto the road. The upside was the jaw dropping scenery. This stretch of California Pacific Coast is immortalized in the rock and roll songs of our youth. Pismo Beach, Pebble Beach, Ventura Highway, Monterey, etc..

After about 7 hours of very stressful driving, with lots of short stops to take pictures, we stopped for the night at Big Sur State Park. Our rig is too big for their campground, so we paid 20 bucks ( U.S. ! ) for the privilege of dry camping in a picnic site area parking lot !

 

Wednesday ; We started out from Big Sur State Park this morning expecting to be able to fill up with diesel at the nearby town of Big Sur. No such luck. No diesel in Big Sur ! We continued north on Hwy. 1 / Big Sur Highway to Carmel Highlands, where I found a station with diesel. It was a station meant to service all the rich and famous folks in the area, with Mercedes Benzs, not 47 foot long RV’s. I had to sort of back my way in, and ask other people to move their cars to allow me room to squeeze in. Once filled up, I could relax a bit. Dee-Dee was really sucking dust the last few miles, and this would have been a hell of a place to run out of gas. Just a few miles later, and we were at the city of Monterey. We decided to get off the highway, and go explore the Monterey Peninsula. There is a 17 mile drive around the peninsula ( $8.50 toll, please ) called, of course, Seventeen Mile Drive. It winds ( again ... winding being the operative word ! ) around the privately owned Monterey Peninsula, and houses the very rich and the very famous. We stopped at famous Pebble Beach for lunch. Bo and I romped in the surf !

At the end of Seventeen Mile Drive, just before you leave the Monterey Peninsula, is the very chic town of Carmel-By-The-Sea. I think Clint Eastwood used to be the mayor a few years ago. Yesterday and today were marvellous adventures, although when these roads were developed, big rig RV’s didn’t exist, so the last 2 days were pretty RV unfriendly. We came off the Monterey Peninsula, and back onto Hwy.1 at Monterey. We continued north along the coast to the city of Watsonville, where we are camped for the night at Pinto Lake Park, a very nice municipal campground, on a lake, on the outskirts of the city. The camping fees for serviced sites are outrageously expensive in California, and to add insult to injury, all campgrounds charge extra if you have a dog ! That damn little rat shit terrier cost me 2 bucks extra tonight !

DSK

March 28, 2005

March 28, 2005

Bakersfield to Lompoc, California

DAY 283

 

Today was partially cloudy, with a bit of intermittent, light rain.

Things didn't start out too well in Bakersfield this morning. I was up at 5:30, fed the animals, walked Bo, showered, dressed, had breakfast, and was at the front door of the Camping World / Venture Out RV building at 7:30, awaiting their 8:00 A.M. opening. Camping world wasn't able to service the water heater. Their one water heater technician was off on a 9 week training course. I went next door to Venture Out RV. Their service department was fully booked up for today < sigh >. I had a propane tank filled, emptied the holding tanks, and refilled the fresh water before pulling out of their parking lot. We drove across Bakersfield to the Visitor's Centre to see if we could get any tourist information, and a California state map. California is the most tourist unfriendly state we've been in. There was no Tourist Information Centre as we crossed in from Arizona, and we crossed in on an Interstate ! We still don't have a California road map. We've been using our road atlas. Joanne went into the Bakersfield Visitor’s Centre and picked up an information book which has a small amount of incomplete information on state parks. They didn’t have a state road map. Without a road map, and a state park campground guide, we feel really handicapped.

We left Bakersfield heading south on Hwy. 99, then turned west on Hwy. 166. We stopped at Maricopa to fill up with diesel, then started climbing up, and around, and through the Sierra Madre Mountains. They're green, and lush, and beautiful ! We stopped for lunch, and I took a brief nap while Joanne made some phone calls to campgrounds to check on rates and site availability. We drove out of the Sierra Madre Mountains at the town of Santa Maria, where Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch is. We turned south on Hwy. 101 through the Santa Ynez Mountains towards Santa Barbara. At Buellton we turned east towards Lompoc on Hwy. 246. We are in the Santa Ynez Valley, an area of vineyards and orchards. We are camped for the night at River Park, a city park on the outskirts of Lompoc. Behind our campsite is the Santa Ynez River. Surrounding the park is a cauliflower farm.

We unhooked the trailer, then took Bo for an obedience training session in the lush green grass park. Bo has missed grass, since we've been in the desert for the last 3 months.

We drove about 20 miles to the town of Solvang, our reason for being in this area. We bought fresh, local strawberries at a road side stand at Buellton, on the way to Solvang. They're really huge strawberries. Solvang is a Danish settlement, and resembles an old village in Denmark. We walked around, browsing, then went into The Red Viking Restaurant and had an authentic Danish Smorgasbord dinner.

On the way back to the trailer, we stopped in Buellton to buy some groceries. Back at the trailer, I did today's accounting, and blog, then we watched a bit of TV.

DSK

March 27, 2005

March 27, 2005

Tehachapi to Bakersfield, California

DAY 282

 

Happy Easter !

Today was sunny and very warm.

It took me about 3 hours of spinning my wheels late last night to solve my computer / cell phone problem. It should have taken me about 3 minutes. Such are the consequences of being tired and frustrated. It was very odd that starting about 11:30 P.M, a bird sitting in a tree nearby started to sing loudly. I went outside to see for myself that it was indeed a bird, in a tree, singing late at night. I wonder what kind of California bird sings at night ?

This morning we puttered around a bit with some minor maintenance. We didn't really want to leave much before the park's check-out time of noon, because we were only planning to drive a couple of hours to Bakersfield, to get the water heater fixed at Camping World tomorrow. Joanne phoned some local orchards to see if they were open today. She found one that was open. I watched gliders and their tow plane taking off from the airport, and then watched gliders landing. Sort of neat ! Landing without power. Us regular airplane pilots consider a landing without power, such as if an engine failed, to be a major emergency. For glider pilots, every landing is a "forced landing". I noticed that there was snow just a few hundred feet up the side of the mountain across the airport. I later found out that we were in a valley with an elevation of between 4000 and 5000 feet ASL, so you don't have to get much higher than that for there to still be snow, despite the fact that the temperature in the valley was about 80 degrees.

We drove a few miles down local roads to the orchard and produce stand that Joanne had found was open. What a great place. Reasonably priced, great selection, all produce certified organic. Yes, we must be in California ! There was free meatball soup, and carrot cake, for lunch for the customers. How nice.

I forgot to mention something that I noticed yesterday, as we were near Los Angeles. At every freeway exit, and at every mall, there is a Starbucks. What a great idea. Pump them full of caffeine with a "Grandé Double Double", then send them out onto the freeway to drive like assholes !

After buying produce, we left Tehachapi heading northwest in Hwy. 58, a 4 lane divided freeway. The first 14 miles out of Tehachapi was all downhill, at a grade of 5% to 6%. Fourteen miles, travelling between 100 and 120 km. per hr. / 60 to 70 MPH, without touching the accelerator ! The hills all the way to Bakersfield were all lush and green.

We arrived in Bakersfield in mid-afternoon, and found our way to Camping World. It was open today, for sales, but not for service. We parked in their parking lot to await the opening of their service department tomorrow morning. We were the first rig parked here awaiting service, but now, late in the evening, there are 8 rigs parked here overnight. I assume they're all here for service tomorrow morning. In the meantime, we went inside and bought some stuff I needed for maintenance, then I spent the balance of the afternoon doing rig maintenance in the parking lot. I replaced the side marker light that was broken by the flat tire mishap in Quartzsite. I replaced a broken roof vent crank handle. And finally, the biggest job for today, I replaced the "city water" fresh water inlet connection on the side of the trailer. I had a bit of a rude encounter with a man walking across the parking lot. He took exception to my facial expression which obviously revealed that I thought he was ignorant for not knowing where Manitoba was ... or even that a place by that name existed ! California and Texas are the only 2 states where we've encountered overt rudeness. We took Bo for an obedience training session, and discovered that there is a fresh water fill and holding tank dump on the side of the building. That will be very convenient for tomorrow. After we get the hot water tank fixed ( hopefully ) we can dump and fill before we leave. Joanne prepared a nice Easter dinner, while I spent about an hour on the phone with AOL Tech Support. After a frustrating 45 minutes on the phone with a moron, I hung up and phoned AOL Canada. My problem was solved in about 2 minutes ! We had a nice Easter dinner, then did some trip planning.

DSK