Sunday ; Still gloomy, but a bit warmer ... and no rain.
The ad for the truck camper that we went to see yesterday was gone today, within 24 hours of it being posted on Kijiji, implying the truck camper has sold already. WOW ... that was fast ! Proving my point ... pricing is everything ! While our lot 89 has not yet sold despite being for sale for the last three months, nothing else was sold in this park during that time either. I am determined that our lot be the next lot to sell !
Fall pre-departure preparations continued today. And I installed two new carbon monoxide detectors today. We bought them yesterday. One installed in the house. One installed in the trailer. We had a carbon monoxide detector in the trailer, but it was
120V AC. Our biggest risk from carbon monoxide is when we are boondocking, so ... the new ones are 9V battery operated.
Monday ; Gloomy but warmer. Rain in the morning.
Another long, hard day of running errands in Penticton, the last of this season. First was a review meeting with our investment broker. WOW ... she had a heart attack very recently. Same age as us ! Sobering !
Tuesday ; Cold ! Very wet ! Clouds so low that southbound geese can be heard but not seen. HA HA HA ... geese flying IFR !
"Fall pre-departure" checklist items completed today. Tomorrow dedicated to "park model winterization" checklist. HEY ... I'm a pilot. And more than a little bit
obsessive - compulsive. I have checklists for everything !
Wednesday ; Hallowe'en
Gloomy ... but mild and dry. A pretty decent day to be working outdoors doing park model winterization. That's what I spent most of the day doing. Lots of "learning curve" ! Joanne spent most of the day moving stuff from the house to the trailer. Bo realized that we're preparing for departure and he's got serious hitch itch. HA HA HA !
By late afternoon we had moved from the house into the trailer, returning to the house in the evening just to watch Survivor on TV.
Thursday ; Keremeos, B.C. to Omak, Washington
Today was gloomy but mild and dry. Not a bad day for departure and travel.
This morning we slowly completed our last minute departure preparations, chatted with neighbours, and finally left Riverside RV Park Resort not much before noon. We stopped in Keremeos to adjust the tires' air pressures and make a grocery purchase, mostly to have a purchase receipt to prove we were still in Canada on November 1, for travel medical insurance purposes.
We drove east on Hwy. 3 to Osoyoos where we turned south onto Hwy. 97 to cross the border to Oroville, Washington. Well ! ! ! Hallelujah ! ! ! After that border crossing fiasco a year ago at Sumas it was a pleasure to once again cross the border at Osoyoos. Now that's what a border crossing is supposed to be like ! ! ! The polite and professional Customs & Border Patrol agent asked a few pertinent questions then spent a minute or two inspecting inside the trailer. Thanks ... bye !
After crossing the border we continued south on Hwy. 97, stopping for an extremely late lunch at Tonasket, Washington. After lunch we continued on to Omak. We found the Bank of America branch, where I took a Bank of Montreal U.S.$ MasterCard large cash advance and deposited it to our Bank of America account. A few days ago I had transferred that same amount to my BMO U.S.$ MasterCard account as an
"overpayment", so there will be no interest charged on the cash advance. More than one way to skin a cat, eh ?
We refilled with diesel then went to Safeway to replenish groceries before heading to Wal-Mart to boondock overnight in their parking lot. WOW ... what a lot of southbound BC RV's in the Wal-Mart parking lot !
Friday ; Omak to Spokane, Washington
Today was cloudy and mild. We didn't leave Omak until 1:30 PM ! < sigh >
Last night while washing dishes Joanne discovered a small plumbing leak underneath the kitchen sink taps, leaking onto the dishes in the cupboard below. Since we were parked overnight in the Wal-Mart parking lot, and there was a Home Depot in the mall next door, I thought it would be a good opportunity to repair the leak immediately.
I determined that the taps / faucet assembly needed to be replaced. I bought the faucet assembly 7½ years ago for forty bucks, so ... < shrug > ... I guess I got my money's worth.
< sigh > I couldn't remove the faucet assembly from underneath, inside the cupboard, so ... < bigger sigh > ... I had to remove the entire sink ! The faucet retaining nut on one side was corroded. I had to break it off with a chisel ! We went to Home Depot and bought a new faucet assembly. Seventeen bucks ! Real cheap piece of junk ! BUT ... it works fine ! And I only need it to work fine for a month or so. I'll buy a much better faucet at the Habitat For Humanity Re-Store in Yuma.
We installed the new faucet assembly into the sink, then reinstalled the sink into the kitchen cupboard. And ... hit the road at 1:30 PM !
We drove east and south on Hwy. 155 to the Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River, southeast on Hwy. 174, and east on Hwy. 2 to Interstate 90 just before Spokane. We drove through Spokane ... during rush hour ... on I-90, arriving at Camping World on the east side of Spokane just before dark. The store was just closing, so ... as planned ... we boondocked overnight in their parking lot so we can shop there in the morning.
Saturday ; Spokane, Washington to Pendleton, Oregon
Today started out cold and wet in Spokane, but ended up dry and mild in Pendleton. Lots of miles today. And lots of spending today !
We started the day by spending almost $550 at Camping World in Spokane. And that was for about $750 worth of merchandise ! I had a few very good coupons, including a recent coupon for 10% off everything at "northern" location Camping World stores for Canadians heading south for the winter. Plus 20% off and 25% off coupons for the two most expensive items we purchased.
As we were dumping our grey waste holding tanks and refilling our freshwater tank at the Camping World customer courtesy sani-dump station it began to rain heavily. We got pretty wet ! We headed southwest on Interstate 90 in heavy traffic and heavy rain. Oh, joy ! We turned south on Hwy. 395 to Pasco. I was almost out of fuel by the time we got to Pasco, and we missed the exit to the Flying J. DAMN ! By the time we got to the next exit and got turned around, I had to put our emergency two gallons of diesel into the truck !
While we are big fans of the Flying J chain of service stations, the one at Pasco ranks right up there with the Flying J at Ellensberg, Washington as the worst Flying J's in the chain. Small, filthy, overpriced ! What is it with Flying J's in Washington state ? ! ? Just a few miles down the road the price of diesel was thirty cents a gallon less ! ! ! And I had just bought over 34 gallons ! Close call ! The truck's tank is 35 gallons !
We crossed the Columbia River into Oregon and headed south on Interstate 82, then east on Interstate 84 to Pendleton, arriving at dusk. At the exit where we knew there was a Wal-Mart we also found a Dollar Tree. We had a lengthy shopping list of items to buy in Oregon ... sales tax free. When I entered the trailer before going into the Dollar Tree
I discovered ... < sigh > ... somebody ... < nudge, nudge, wink, wink, point, point > .. had not closed the fridge door properly after lunch. It popped open during travel, and items fell out. Including a tub of yoghurt ! All over the floor ! And under the edge of the slide !
< sigh >
After shopping at Dollar Tree ... and cleaning up the yoghurt ... we drove across the street for lots of shopping at Wal-Mart. By the time we were finished Wal-Martin' we were both tired and hungry. We bought a "meal to go" chicken dinner at Safeway and drove a few more miles to Wildhorse Casino where we ate our greasy chicken dinner ( YUCK !
I expect better of Safeway ! ) and boondocked for the night.
Daylight Savings Time ends tonight. I should reset all our clocks one hour back tonight. BUT ... we're crossing a time zone tomorrow afternoon, so ... if I set them back tonight
I will have to set them forward tomorrow afternoon. We'll live with the wrong time for half a day.
DSK
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