Year 3 Week 20

October 29 to November 4, 2006

Oliver, B.C. to Sutherlin, Oregon

Year 3 week 20

 

Sunday ; Today was partially cloudy, windy and cold.

When the Canada Geese in Manitoba starting flying south about 6 weeks ago, we knew it was time to leave Manitoba. The Canada Geese here in British Columbia have started flying south. Must be just about time for us to leave !

Today was another lazy day of lying around, reading. I did a few small cleaning chores, including removing the roof vent in the kitchen and cleaning out the dust and debris. Sometime during the night Teddy decided that the kitchen floor register was a good place to puke up a hairball and his half digested bedtime snack. I had to remove the floor register, and clean out inside the heating duct as well as cleaning all the slats and vanes of the register. Thanks a lot, Teddy !

 

Monday ; Today was sunny and cold. Fresh snow is visible up on the mountains around us. I can see snow on the mesh spread over the vineyards ( to keep the birds away from the grapes ) up on Black Sage Road on the "bench" on the mountain on the other side of the airport. Hellooooo, California !

After lunch I drove Joanne downtown, dropping her off at the grocery store. I went to the Chevron station and adjusted the air pressure in all 7 truck tires, in preparation for our departure on Wednesday. I went to the Post Office to pick up our mail. Our regular mail forwarded by my sister Sharon in Lorette was there, but my investment mail forwarded by my cousin's husband Bruce in Thunder Bay was not. Darn ! I refilled a propane tank, then washed the truck. Joanne met me at the car wash across the street from the grocery store.

As we were preparing for bed, we discovered that our outside water hose was frozen. I disconnected it, and switched to our internal fresh water tank. Hellooooo, California !

 

Tuesday ; Oliver to Penticton & return

Happy Hallowe'en !

Today was sunny and cold. Joanne says she's allergic to winter.

This morning we headed to Penticton. First stop was Canadian Tire for a few automotive supplies. Then we headed for a meeting with an Edward Jones investment broker. Next summer we're going to have to move our investments from our broker in Ottawa to one nearby, probably in Penticton. After our meeting we went to Bling Performance. I got a 3 day download of a power and performance program "chip" into Lanoire's computer. It's an opportunity to try out the horsepower and torque performance improvement program "chip" before buying. I want to assess this expensive power "chip" while towing Harvey, starting tomorrow. We had a late lunch at Boston Pizza, then headed back to Oliver.

Back at Desert Gem RV Resort, we hitched up Lanoire to Harvey in preparation for departure tomorrow morning. Just before it got dark outside I went for a long walk to smoke the last of the Monte Cristo No. 5 cigars my sister brought back for me from Cuba last winter. AHHHHHH ! I retrieved my month end investment data updates, and bank statements, taking advantage of my last day with Wi-Fi for awhile.

I thought it might be a good idea for Bo and I to go out for Hallowe'en. I could be "Timmy" and Bo could be Lassie. "Lassie, Lassie, I've fallen down the well ... go for help, Lassie". Bo didn't "get it". Stupid dog ! HA HA HA HA HA !

 

Wednesday ; Oliver, B.C to Ellensburg, Washington

Today was sunny and cold. We had quite a scare tonight when we lost Teddy in a parking lot filled with commercial trucks and RV's coming and going.

This morning we departed Desert Gem RV Park. Before leaving Oliver I adjusted the air pressure in all the trailer tires, while Joanne refilled water jugs at the grocery store. We drove south on Hwy. 97 to Osoyoos, where we filled up with diesel just before the border crossing. They were searching all RV's crossing the border today south of Osoyoos. They confiscated a 10 pound bag of Canadian made dog food that we purchased 2 days ago ! We had used up most of our food, and were careful not to have any beef, fruits or vegetables. But the border crossing regulations seem to change on a daily basis, and today they would not allow any Canadian made pet foods across the border, even a lamb and rice dog food with no beef. I'm a little miffed !

We stopped at the first town on the U.S side, Oroville, Washington, and replenished groceries. It's hard to believe the price discrepancies between Canada and the United States on some foods. A dozen eggs was 79 cents ! We continued south on Hwy. 97. We stopped at Wal-Mart at Omak, Washington and replenished supplies, including dog food.

For most of the day, Hwy. 97 followed the Okanogan River, until it flowed into the mighty Columbia River, then the highway followed the Columbia River. In Canada the river and valley are spelled Okanagan. In the United States it's spelled Okanogan. At Wenatchee Hwy. 97 turns northwest for awhile, away from the river, and climbs up into the Cascade Mountains, and Wenatchee National Forest. We detoured about 6 miles on Hwy. 2 to Leavenworth looking for a campsite, but we couldn't find it so we returned to Hwy. 97. The road ascended to an elevation above 4100 feet. There was snow on the ground. We stopped at a National Forest Campground, but it was closed for the season. We continued driving, in the dark, down out of the mountains, and out of the National Forest, to the town of Ellensburg.

We stopped at a large truck stop service station and parked for the night behind all the parked semi-trailers. After preparing supper we had a slight propane supply problem. I went in and out of the trailer a number of times fixing the problem. Shortly thereafter, we noticed Teddy was missing. We frantically searched inside the trailer, looking under the bed where he sometimes squeezes in when the bedroom slide is retracted , and in all the cupboards. We couldn't find him. While we were looking, three large RV's arrived and parked beside us, and semi-trailers were coming and going. Panicked, we started searching outside. We finally found him, slowly walking back towards the trailer from underneath a row of parked semi-trailers. It was scary ! He’s not very street smart, and doesn’t have the sense to get out of the way of approaching vehicles. I’m upset and angry with myself for allowing him to escape out the door while I was going in and out working on the propane problem. After having him for 14 years, I can’t imagine the horror of losing him to my carelessness and his stupidity.

 

Thursday ; Ellensburg, Washington to Corbett, Oregon ( just east of Portland )

Today's weather started out, and ended, very ugly. This morning as we were leaving the parking lot behind the Pilot service station and Perkins restaurant where we boondocked overnight, the weather was light snow, ice pellets, and freezing rain. Having spent 16 winters in Ottawa, Ontario, I hate freezing rain ! ! ! We decided that because of the weather we would travel on the four lane divided Interstates, instead of our original plan to follow the much shorter and more scenic route on two lane Hwy. 97. Leaving Ellensburg we drove about 3 miles east on I-90, then turned south on I-82. The road was coated in black ice, and the front tires felt as if they were floating, with almost no steering traction. It felt treacherous to drive a big, heavy rig like that. I shifted into 4WD and that improved things a lot. With power going to the front wheels, it increased the traction greatly. We stopped in Yakima to refill with diesel. I don't see much mileage improvement with the power performance improvement program that's temporarily downloaded into Lanoire's computer. I sense increased horsepower, but that's not really needed. We followed I-82 all the way to the Columbia River, which is the border between Washington and Oregon. We crossed the river into Oregon, then turned west on I-84.

When we stopped for lunch, the weather had improved a lot. The temperature had climbed above freezing, and the rain had stopped. After lunch Joanne drove for an hour and a half. We were driving along the Columbia River through the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. It was nice, but would have been nicer if it hadn't been so gloomy looking with low clouds. As we were driving, I glanced out my window, to the left and up. What luck ! We were passing Mist Falls. A mountain stream that falls over a precipice 600 feet up, and before the waterfall can reach the ground, the wind blowing along the mountain face disperses the waterfall into just a mist. A waterfall that just disappears.

We've crossed over the Cascade Mountains from the relatively dry east side to the very wet west side. Much like in British Columbia where the falls and springs are relatively dry east of Hope, and wet west of Hope. That's one of the main reasons why we bought a lot in Keremeos, east of Hope.

It's currently 6:10 P.M. and I'm watching the news on a Portland TV station. It's reporting on the many multi-vehicle accidents in and around Portland right now. In the last hour, the sun set, the rain and wind became very heavy, the temperature dropped back down to the freezing level, the rain froze on the roads, and vehicles are sliding into one another. We got off the road an hour ago, just as it got really ugly.

We found our way to Crown Point RV Park, about 7 miles off the Interstate, following the Historic Columbia River Highway, all uphill into the mountains. As we arrived, the wind and rain became extreme. It was an unpleasant, difficult arrival, trying to back the rig into our site, me backing up completely blindly, Joanne standing out in the heavy wind and rain trying to guide me by walkie-talkie.

 

Friday ; Corbett ( Portland ) to Sutherlin, Oregon

Today was raining all day. I guess we're not going to see any sunshine until California. But we've travelled far enough south that the temperature is in the 50's.

This morning we drove back down the Historic Columbia River Highway to Interstate 84. First stop was Flying J where we refilled a propane tank and filled up with diesel. It took awhile because there was a line up of RV's waiting to get at Flying J's RV islands. A short distance on I-84 to Portland, then onto I-205, the Interstate bypass around the east and south sides of Portland, to I-5. The traffic in and around Portland was heavy. The weather was bad, with heavy rain. It's so stressful to drive the rig around large cities, in heavy traffic, with poor visibility, and urban drivers who either don't understand, or don't respect, big rigs.

Interstate 5 was fairly heavy traffic all day. I-5 is the main highway on the west side of North America, from Tijuana, B.C. ( Baja California ), Mexico, all the way to Vancouver, B.C. ( British Columbia ), Canada. We drove south on I-5 to Sutherlin where we stopped for a couple of nights at Timber Valley SKP Park. In the last 2 years we have been to 18 of the 19 Escapee parks. Timber Valley is the last one. WOO-HOO. We have now been to all 19 Escapee parks.

We got set up in our site during heavy rain. Oh, well, setting up upon arrival in the rain is not as bad as preparing for departure in the rain. Timber Valley has cable TV, and we spent a couple of hours watching the National Geographic Network. We were both amazed and educated by watching Cesar Millan, “The Dog Whisperer”. He’s an incredible dog trainer and behaviourist.

I spent the evening working on reconciling bank statements, updating investment files, and watching Dirty Jobs and Survivorman on The Discovery Channel. HA HA HA ... I love both those shows.

 

Saturday ; Today was mild, cloudy, and raining lightly.

We took a break from driving today. This morning I walked over to the clubhouse to take a look around. A group of residents having coffee and chatting invited me to join them. Joanne did laundry. I did Lanoire's 42,000 km. scheduled maintenance inspections. I took Bo for a long obedience training walk. We came to a vacant lot with 4 bunnies grazing on it. I put him into a "sit, stay, leave it". He sat, watched the rabbits, and didn't move. Good dog, Bo. We continued walking, and came across a woman walking her cat on a leash. Sit, stay, leave it, Bo. He did. I walked about 50 feet away, and gave him a "come" command. ZOOOOOM ! Straight to the woman and cat, freaking out the cat, and pissing off the woman. For crying out loud, Bo. It's a cat ! What's the matter with you ? ! ? I also took Teddy for a walk on a leash. He's usually not a very good leash walker, but he did fine today.

This park, Timber Valley SKP Park, is filled with rabbits and deer. When I walked Bo late in the afternoon, we came across 5 deer beside the creek. Bo freaked out. I tried to calm him using a technique I learned yesterday watching Cesar Millan on TV. It didn't work. I guess I'm a failure as a "dog whisperer". HA HA HA !

DSK