Sunday ; Sunny and cold.
We did a lot of pre-departure preparations today. Joanne did more than me. She has more of the "last minute" packing and loading responsibilities. She also did laundry. And had a long phone chat with her sister while I napped this afternoon.
Inspired by her telephone conversation with her sister, I researched ... and bought ... tickets to see the Canadian play "Come From Away". In Las Vegas in late February.
It was very surprising to me that the tickets to this play ... showing in Las Vegas for only six days next February ... were almost sold out already. The pickings were very slim, indeed !
We went to the swimming pool at supper time for an exercise session, our final one here, for this year. I did my weekly analysis of our investment values, and posted my weekly journal to my blog.
WOO-HOO ! Perogies for supper. BUT ... < sniffle > ... no more perogies until our return late next April.
Monday ; Sunny and cold. < sigh > So cold that I was unable to de-winterize the camper, and refill the freshwater tank and water heater today as planned. I was hoping for above freezing temperatures overnight tonight, but ... that is not to be !
Joanne worked hard today, moving kitchen contents to the camper. I "winterized" the minivan. We checked and treated Ozzie's ears, and checked Emma's ears.
I reactivated our U.S. cell phone. And ... < sigh > ... as always ... I encountered a considerable amount of cell phone reactivation drama. That's why I absolutely detest the annual chore of reactivating the U.S. cell phone !
Tuesday ; home to Abbotsford, BC
Sunny and cold, below freezing at home, above freezing at Abbotsford.
Well ! We're finally on our way, three weeks late ! No thanks to MEDIPAC ! We left home at 1:20 PM, and arrived at the Trans-Canada Hwy. 1 mile marker 99 rest area at Abbotsford at 5:15 PM.
This morning's preparations for departure, winterizing our home, and de-winterizing the camper, did not go particularly well. They could have gone a lot worse, but ... they also could have gone a lot better. At least I didn't have to do all that outdoor work in cold rain or snow. The exterior water spigot on the side of the house was frozen. Not surprising, I suppose, given that the temperatures have been below freezing every night for about the last week. That forced me to have to drive the truck and camper to our park's sani-dump station to de-winterize, and refill the freshwater tank and water heater tank. And when I was partially underneath our home, disconnecting and draining plumbing lines, a new ( expensive ) valve that I had installed last summer was frozen, and I couldn't get it disconnected. So ... I applied heat using a propane torch, and ... damaged it. < sigh > Story of my life ! So ... immediately upon our return next spring
I will have at least one, maybe two, plumbing problems to resolve. It's possible, maybe probable, that the frozen water spigot will also result in a frozen, cracked, water supply pipe. I tried, and mostly failed, to not obsess about those plumbing problems while driving this afternoon.
Ozzie was very upset as we prepared for departure this morning. Our activities seemed reminiscent to him of the activities of Marcie and her son when they were packing up to move Marcie to the Lower Mainland a few days after Gord's death thirteen months ago. Those activities resulted, in Ozzie's mind, in the loss of Gord, the loss of Marcie, three days alone in their house for Ozzie, and then the loss of the house as well, when he came to live with us. He was extremely anxious as we finished our preparations this morning, and then immensely relieved when we departed, and he was coming along with us ! Poor Ozzie ! Thought he was going to be abandoned once again.
We headed west on Crowsnest Hwy. 3, stopping in Princeton for a late lunch. From Princeton to Hope, through Manning Provincial Park. it was very cold and there was a dusting of snow everywhere. We arrived at Hope at dusk, at 4:30 PM. Crowsnest Hwy. 3 ended and we continued west on Trans-Canada Hwy. 1, into the lower elevation and therefore warmer Fraser Valley, reaching Chilliwack at 5 PM. It was completely dark by then. We arrived at the rest area near Abbotsford about 5:15 PM. We were disappointed to find that the recently installed power pedestals at the pull through RV parking spots did not have electricity, as they did the last few times we were here, in September and October.
While Joanne prepared a simple supper, I used the rest area's free Wi-Fi to look for Bank of America locations along our route tomorrow. We need to deposit some U.S. cash.
Wednesday ; Abbotsford, BC, Canada to Ilani Casino, Ridgefield, Washington, U.S.A
Cool, but temperatures above freezing, raining on and off all day, foggy in the evening.
Today was a very long, very tiring, very difficult, very stressful day, for everybody. I felt like I was drowning in my own negativity for much of the day.
We were awake by 8 AM and ready to leave the parking lot of the rest area by 10 AM. We pulled over to the rest area's sani-dump station, dumped our waste holding tanks, refilled the freshwater tank, and pulled out of the rest area at 10:20 AM. A short distance west on Trans-Canada Hwy.1, then a short distance south on Hwy. 11, and we were at the Sumas border crossing by 11 AM. I had a lot of anxiety about crossing at Sumas. We had crossed at Sumas only once before, and it was the most aggravating border crossing experience we've ever had. And it took over two hours ! ! ! There was a brief line-up of vehicles today, then we were processed by a Customs and Border Patrol agent who was not quite as much of an asshole as his colleagues were five years ago, but still ... ! After about ten minutes of questioning ... he admitted us into the United States. I've never understood why some Border Patrol agents require ten minutes of asking questions, when others require about thirty seconds of questioning to ascertain that we are no threat to their "homeland security".
Once across the border we stopped to refill with diesel at Nooksack. And ... par for the course ... my U.S. cell phone failed to activate when turned on. All the online reactivation steps had been completed successfully a couple of days ago, but ... < deep sigh > ... the final activation failed when the phone was turned on today. < deep sigh > We stopped at a Post Office in Everson to buy a stamp. We stopped at a Bank of America in Bellingham to deposit some cash. And then ... we got onto Interstate 5 heading south.
At Burlington we got off the Interstate to shop for some grocery items for lunch. We found a wonderful grocery store named Haggen. What was supposed to be a stop to buy some deli meats and a loaf of bread or some buns turned into an impulse purchase of more than eighty dollars worth of groceries ! While Joanne put away the groceries in the camper, and made lunch, I took Ozzie for a walk.
We finished lunch and continued southbound on I-5. Within minutes ... < sniff sniff > .... the truck began to smell of dog shit. HUH ? ! ? Joanne retrieved Ozzie from the back seat and discovered ... when I walked him through the field next to the grocery store's parking lot, he had stepped on a pile of soggy wet dog shit hiding in the long, wet
grass ! Joanne tried to clean his foot with towellettes from the glove box, but it soon became apparent that the problem was bigger than towellettes could solve. < deep sigh > I took the next exit off the freeway and found a spot to stop. We washed Ozzie's foot, cut off as much of the soiled hair on his foot as we could, washed his foot again ... and so on and so on ! ! ! Before we got him cleaned up he had pulled his leg and foot into the "sleeve" of the sweater he had been wearing, so there was shit smeared inside the sweater as well. And periodically throughout the rest of the day, we could detect the faint odour of dog shit inside the truck. Despite having searched and cleaned in the truck. So ... tomorrow we're going to have to search and clean in the truck ... again !
We reached the north edge of Seattle around 3 PM, just as rush hour was starting. It took us more than three hours of rush hour gridlock to get through Seattle and Tacoma. What kind of a moron civil engineer routes an Interstate Highway through large cities ? ! ? And how ( and why ) do people endure that kind of rush hour gridlock day after day ? As we struggled through the agony of this ... in the rain, in the dark, in the fog, bumper to bumper, either at a standstill or at 70 MPH ... Joanne suggested that I no longer bitch about having to drive through Kelowna occasionally ! < deep sigh >
About 7 PM we stopped at a rest area to stretch our legs, walk Ozzie, and feed the animals. We contemplated having supper at the rest area, and maybe even staying overnight but ... the place was like a zoo ! Everybody and their dogs were driving to Gramma's house for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow ! After Joanne and I visited the restrooms, I walked Ozzie ... he and I both paranoid about walking on wet grass in the dark ... Joanne got both animals fed, and ... we left.
We reached our destination objective for tonight at 9:15 PM ; Ilani Casino about 16 miles north of Portland, Oregon. Supper was pretty late tonight, n'est-ce pas ? !
Thursday ; American Thanksgiving ; Ilani Casino, Ridgefield, Washington to Seven Feathers Casino, Canyonville, Oregon
Cool, but temperatures above freezing, raining on and off all day, sometimes very heavily, very windy in the afternoon, calm and clearing in the evening.
Today was a much better day than yesterday. We drove less distance. From the time we started driving at 10 AM until we stopped driving at 5:30 PM. the traffic diminished. Traffic was very heavy in the morning, but ... everybody needed to be at Gramma's house for dinner, so ... by about 4 PM there was hardly anyone on the road.
We pulled out of the casino's parking lot … thank you very much Ilani Casino ... at 10 AM, drove to the other side of the freeway and refilled with diesel at a Shell station. We continued southbound on Interstate 5 ... which we will do all the way to Los Angeles, California ... stopping after just a few miles at a rest area to dump our waste holding tanks and refill our freshwater tank, working in heavy rain. YUCK ! Just a few more miles southbound and we were crossing the Columbia River from Washington to Portland, Oregon. Traffic through Portland was heavy, but nowhere near as bad as Seattle / Tacoma yesterday.
By lunch time I came to the realization that we would be arriving in Eugene by
mid-afternoon, much too early for my planned computer buying trip to Best Buy, which was to open at 5 PM ... on Thanksgiving Day, for Black Friday shopping ! < rolling my eyes > Go figure ! Joanne and I had a discussion, and decided to skip lunch, skip the computer shopping in Eugene, and just drive all the way through to Seven Feathers Casino, to have Thanksgiving Dinner in their buffet restaurant.
We stopped at a rest area to feed the animals, and we each had a bit of yoghurt as a lunch substitute. HEY ... if you're going to have Thanksgiving Dinner at a casino buffet, you might as well be damn good and hungry ! HA HA HA ! A couple of hours later we stopped at another rest area and I napped for half an hour. When we arrived at the casino we first went to their Travel Center and refilled with diesel to save time tomorrow morning. We got parked in their RV parking lot, walked Ozzie, fed Ozzie and Emma, then went into the casino at 5:45 PM to have Thanksgiving dinner.
HMPH ! Three hour wait time for Thanksgiving Dinner at the buffet restaurant.
Oh, well ! We returned to the camper, shared a cookie, and I tried to figure out what needs to be done to get our U.S. cell phone functional. I failed. Obviously I am going to have to contact TracFone by telephone ... ( can you spell "Catch - 22" ? ) ... to get assistance.
We returned to the casino at 8 PM and were paged to our table at 8:30 PM. Thanksgiving Dinner was good, not great, we both rated the casino buffet restaurant a seven out of ten. I "smuggled" a slice of turkey in a napkin in my pocket as a treat for Ozzie and Emma. HA HA HA ... Emma indulged her inner carnivore and attacked the piece of turkey, tearing at it with her teeth like a wildcat.
Friday ; Black Friday ; Seven Feathers Casino, Canyonville to Medford, Oregon to Rain Rock Casino, California
Cloudy, cool, intermittent light rain. I was ill today with a colitis flare-up, probably due to unwise food choices last night.
We pulled out of the casino's parking lot ... thank you very much Seven Feathers Casino ... at 10:30 AM and drove a very short distance to a rest area where we refilled our freshwater tank. We were back on Interstate 5 by 11 AM and arrived in Medford about 12:30 PM. We spent the day Black Friday shopping in Medford, leaving about 5:45 PM. We arrived at Yreka, California about 7 PM and found our way ... with a bit of difficulty ... to Rain Rock Casino in Yreka, our overnight boondocking location for tonight.
We wouldn't have had any difficulty finding the casino if we had had the address. We would simply have loaded the address into our GPS. WOW ... the GPS was very impressive today while shopping in Medford. We had the addresses of all the shopping locations we wanted to go to. We loaded them into the GPS and it flawlessly and easily took us from store to store, mall to mall. Should have bought a GPS years ago !
Traffic congestion around the large shopping malls and in their parking lots today was horrendous ! First stop today in Medford was Best Buy. My Black Friday priority was a new laptop. WOO-HOO ... got the one I wanted ! Also got a hundred foot coaxial cable for our satellite dish in Yuma, and printer ink cartridges. Drove to Medford's largest mall, to buy a pair of SAS shoes. Found a parking spot ... not easy with our truck and camper ... found the shoe store ... not easy ... they did not have what I wanted ! ! ! What a colossal waste of time and effort. BUT ... we noticed that a nearby mall had a Trader Joe's, so ... we went there and spent a hundred and fifteen bucks buying completely unnecessary specialty and gourmet food items. HA HA HA ! Screw the shoes ... we got food !
We found our way to a specialty pet food store to buy a bag of Ozzie's food. They didn't have it, despite the manufacturer's website showing that this store carried their product. HMPH ! By this time ( after 4 PM ), it was almost dark. We found our way to a large Wal-Mart and did the rest of our Oregon tax free shopping before continuing south on Interstate 5 to California.
Saturday ; Rain Rock Casino, Yreka to Rolling Hills Casino, Corning, California
Mostly clear skies, mild temperatures. Winter ended at Redding as it always does when we travel the Interstate 5 route.
We left the casino parking lot ... thank you very much, Rain Rock Casino ... about 10:30 AM and continued south on Interstate 5. Around noon, and before we reached Redding, we reached the northern end of the recent Northern California wildfire areas. The hillsides on both sides of the freeway were burned. There were no workers today, but lots of heavy equipment on the sides of the road, and lots of evidence of the burned trees on the steep hills beside the road being chopped down and stripped out to reduce the risk of mudslides onto the freeway if / when the heavy rains come.
We climbed up and over and down the Shasta Mountains and ... winter was over ! Hello, Redding, California ! We stopped at a shopping mall in Redding to have lunch and then while I napped briefly Joanne went shopping at Dollar Tree. From there we drove one exit over on the freeway to a Safeway store. While Joanne went into the store to buy some buns I dumped the camper's waste holding tanks and refilled the freshwater tank at the sani-dump station at the Safeway Fuel Bar.
We were back on the road before 4 PM and before it got dark around 5 PM we had arrived at our destination for tonight, Rolling Hills Casino at Corning. We parked in their RV parking lot beside a motorhome from Vancouver Island. We chatted briefly with the couple from the motorhome while Ozzie visited with their dog Angel. We took Ozzie for a long walk and chatted with an elderly man walking a dog similar looking to Ozzie. He was in a trailer in the casino's full service RV park, which was full. Because ... it was filled with victims of the local wildfires at Magalia and Paradise. Including the man we chatted with, who lives in Magalia and works in Paradise. He is eight months from retirement, has lost his home to the wildfires, and is contemplating becoming a full time RV'er.
After supper I went into the casino's "clubhouse", a truckers' travel center providing
Wi-Fi, showers, and a laundromat. While working on Wi-Fi ( and watching the casino make a fortune selling $10 showers to truckers ) I overheard the front desk clerks repeatedly telling phone callers that the casino's hotel rooms are all sold out, all rooms occupied by wildfire refugees.
DSK
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