Last Leg on the homeward stretch

 Friday, March 29th


To make a long story short, back at McKay Truck we found the rig parked in the lot. We packed away all our stuff, paid the bill (ouch), hooked up the Jeep and pulled out of the lot at 3:37. Port Angeles here we come! We had made reservations for the morning Coho ferry so would be home tomorrow,

Knowing that today would be rather long, and that Gillian would rather not drive the 101 up Puget Sound in the dark we planned out route to give Art a bit of a break before we got there. Fortunately the weather looked very promising for the trip.

Art started out driving and though we were into rush hour(s) the traffic was moving well. Even the 405 look around (now through!) Portland was uneventful though busy  Once through Portland via the 405 loop and back on the I 5 we pulled into the rest area at Exit 11just into Washington state at 5:20. The dogs were a bit disappointed in that they didn't get a walk; we were on the high way again 5 minutes later with Gillian in the left hand seat and Art reclined in the right.

At 6:45 Gillian stopped at the mile 91 Rest Area just south of Olympia where we stopped for 20 minutes to feed and walk the dogs. Rested, Art returned to the driver's seat and in a few minutes we left the I 5 for the 101 to Port Angeles, estimating 2 1/2 to three hours enroute.

On the shoulder of the 4 lane highway leading in to Port Angeles we stopped to disconnect the Jeep. Art carried on the the motorhome with the dogs while Gillian followed along in the Jeep. At 9:45 we were at Safeway taking on fuel. Good thing we weren't much later: they close at 10:00PM!

10:15 we were in the ferry lineup, just past the Tourist Office. We took the dogs for a little walk around then decided to see what we could do for dinner. We  were getting a little peckish! It had been 12 hour since lunch.

Almost  beside us was a wine bar called appropriately enough, Wine on the Waterfront. We had thought about it before, so in we went. Finding the entrance was a bit of work and the stores below were closed. We finally found the way up and took a couple of stools at the bar.

Our luck being what it is, the kitchen was closed.

However all was not lost, we had a glass of wine, then another, as we considered our options and chatted with the bartender (who happily was quite knowledgeable about wines). They had a few small thing to offer including individual pizzas made locally daily and cooked there as they were ordered so which we took a chance.  Good decision. We were both pleased, they weren't very big, but big enough.


Back outside the wind was a bit brisk so the dogs got a final quick walk and we were off to bed.

 Saturday, 30 March



We were awake early enough for Art to boil the kettle and make a  cup of tea, Gillian would get one later from the espresso stand beside us. We hadn't needed an alarm because the Espresso stand starts setup around 5:30!!!

One the gate opened we got into the outer parking lot where Art had to wait for the rig to be measured before walking inside to purchase his ticket. Gillian was infront of us in the Jeep and was able to drive-straight in to the inner lot via the ticket office. There was a lot of construction inside the terminal lot due to new security measures and devices being put in place hence all the traffic behind that entrance was sent onto the outer lot.

Art took this opportunity to make a bowl of oatmeal in the microwave using the inverter--sure sucks the amps out of the batteries! Gillian fed and walked the dogs and went over and got her coffee.

Mean while we enjoyed the view. The weather was beautifully bright and sunny, the Olympic Mountains were spectacular. We took a few photos from the lot, the motorhome on the right of the photo under the red Olympic sign is ours.

At 8:05 Art, the dogs and the motorhome boarded the ferry, Gillian was somewhere ahead of us. Art met up with Gillian in the Cafeteria where we sat and sipped some hot chocolate for a while. The ferry departed right on time at 8:20. Once we moved away from the dock we were able to get a larger. view of the mountains and Port Angeles.

9:50 the ferry arrived at the dock. Once unloaded we had customs to deal with. We were just a tad over our duty free allowance--the heat pump alone put us into 4 figures! We don't try to fudge anything, nothing is worth being on their S*** list for the next 7 years!

By 10:15 we had paid the taxes and we clear customs, Gillian on her way home directly, except for a quick stop for groceries. Art, accompanied with the dogs, went to the Sani Dump provided (free) by the local Co-op, to empty the holding tanks. We cleared the dump site at 10:55 and were home at 11:15 AM.

13,233 kilometers since leaving home last October.

Waiting in Albany, Oregon

Tuesday, 26th March.

Ron, the service manager was ready for us even though Art had found an unlocked door a few minutes before opening time and had come in the back way!

We were finding our way around Albany, this being our third, no 4th, visit here. We were off to breakfast, fed and walked the dogs--there are a few nice parks for them. On leash only, but that's probably just as well!

There is also a very nice brew pub. As we perused the menu at lunch time Art finally had come to a decision, but said "You know for some reason I really felt that I could go for fish and chips, but I guess that was too much to hope for." Then for some reason he looked at the back cover of the menu and there it was!

We ate quite well over the next few days, though Art was getting just a little tired of shopping!

One day we drove to Wilsonville,  just south of Portland, to investigate new GPS units, and to see about getting a US Cell phone for Gillian, one that was or could be unlocked, had all the frequencies for North America as well as Europe.

We checked out several GPS units at CampingWorld but none of the RV or Truck units had Mexico maps available.  Back to the drawing board.

Phones too were not exactly what we wanted. More looking I guess.

On Thursday, the 28th it looked like we would be done that day. Just the generator service to do and a few finishing touches here and there. Art asked that before they buttoned everything up would the tech please have good look around underneath and all around checking hoses, cables, wires, connections  for signs of corrosion, constriction etc.

Later he received a call from the service manager, could we come down and have a look at something:

This is the left rear wheel well. The bracket is supposed to attach the motorhome body to the chassis frame. The next one forward wasn't in much better shape, but was at least still attached. There should be a gap of about one inch between the chassis and coach frames. Here there was no gap. The (coach frame was resting on the chassis frame! In the top photo you can see the wood block the tech used to hold the frames apart while he formed a new and longer bracket.

LATER NOTE: For comparison, I found a photo of the same wheel well from our Alaska trip in 2010.

$800.00 of welding and fabricating we were done. But not tonight Josephine!

He would not be able to finish today. In order for us to sleep in it tonight they would have to put the wheels back on, let it down, and then start over tomorrow. There was a dog friendly motel not far away--right next door to our now becoming regular breakfast place, so off we went.

The dogs had their own beds at least and settled down quite well.

Though when Gillian went out to the Jeep, Trekker waited anxiously at the door!

Friday morning we drove up to Salem to check out an old weaving mill that was now a Historical Site. The weather was improving and the drive was as pleasant as a drive up the I 5 can get.


The mill site was very interesting and well preserved, though some of it had been rebuilt. Unfortunately I can't seem to find any photos. However, I did find a link to their webpage; it's worth a look. http://www.oregonlink.com/mission_mill/index.html

After the mill tour we went looking again for a phone for Gillian and found one!  An unlocked quadband smart phone, by IDEOS with Google, at $89.99! Next we needed to find an AT&T office to buy the $100.00 pay as you go card which would be good for one year as long as we didn't use up the time.

We found AT&T but the machine there wouldn't accept our Canadian Visa or Mastercards! Nor could the assistant be of help! Gillian finally went to an ATM and took out the cash. Now we could phone each other without Gillian's Telus phone running up big roaming charges.

Meanwhile Art had asked were we might find a restaurant or cafe for lunch, not a fast food place. We don't do Big Macs! At the other end of the little strip mall from AT&T was a lovely little bakery and cafe where we had a quick but very delicious lunch then returned to McKay's to see what we would find there.

Homeward Bound from Ajo.

Sorry, a little late getting back to blogging!
 
8:30 Saturday morning, 23 March 2013

 Just a week late, Art pulled out of the park to fuel up while Gillian took the dogs for a walk. The Chevron station across the street was out of diesel!

A bit further back down the highway was Woody's, and they not only had diesel, but it was cheaper than the price Chevron had posted!

The computer estimated we had 66.5 gallons left. When done, we had taken on  61.3. It's a 90 gallon tank! That means there was only 28.7 gallons left. We had lost almost 39 gallons of fuel!

Art returned to just in front of the RV Park where he topped up the propane (in case we needed the furnace on the way home) and got the Jeep hooked up just as Gillian and the dogs arrived.  We were northbound at 9:20.

We found the Yuma Palms Mall without difficulty and more by good luck than good memory ( we had been here last year) we parked quite close to the Pet store and a couple of electronic shops.

No luck on a GPS, but found the required dog food without difficulty, had lunch and a few minutes after 1:00 PM were California Bound.

We found our way to Desert Hot Springs OK but got lost on the way to the RV Park--missed a turn! After a nice tour of Beautiful Down Town Desert Hot Springs, we got to Sands RV and Golf Resort by 5:00.

Walk and feed the dogs, shower, change etc we set off in the Jeep to our friends Celine and Peter. We met them quite a few years ago in Zihuatanejo, they dropped in to visit us at home in their sail boat a few years ago and last year we visited them in the park. Now they have bought a house here for the winters.

We had an excellent dinner and good time visiting them and another Canadian Couple, then headed home to bed, hoping for an early start in the morning.

And early it was, for us, anyway--departing at 8:40.

Our route was I 10 to the I 5 at Los Angeles, by what ever route our temperamental GPS or the Road Atlas or the Highway signs indicated. We managed to keep the GPS functioning more or less but followed a slightly different route than last year.

Where the 210 joins the I-5 we did not follow the truck route. In hind sight we probably should have as the multiple lanes thin out to just 2 going up a very long steep hill. Note the car passing us on the right in the merge lane.

The truck route appeared to be a little longer but less steep.










 At any rate, we were on the I-5 and fueling at the Flying J at El Tejon at 12.30 (exit 205) Just a quick stop here and we were on our way for about 5 minutes when we pulled of at the rest area fora quick lunch and to give the dogs a quick run and a pee.



Continuing on again at 1:35, we just kept rolling for the next 260 miles or so when we pulled off for some grocery shopping (Exit 463). 35 minutes later we were back on the road, just a short 40 minute run to the next Flying J where we fueled up again then moved to the parking area for the night.  There was a bit of a line up at the pumps, it took longer for the pickup in front to finish fueling, buy a coffee and a burger, than it did to pump in another hundred bucks of diesel.

Monday, March 25th

This was the day of our original appointment at McKay Truck in Albany OR. We were going to be a little late.

Somewhere around 8:00 AM, getting ready to roll and the rear jacks wouldn't retract. You may remember that the front jacks wouldn't respond to their button--(it's on the TO DO list for Chris when we get home) so we had just used the rears.  Well, this morning, it was the rear jacks' turn!

Art dug out the manual to make sure he opened the correct valves, reached in and began to turn the handle and . . .  Up came the jacks and down came the rig. We were mobile by 8:30.

Again a long day, stopping at 1:00 at Weed Rest Area in Northern California for lunch, 45 minutes later we were back on the road and in another 45 minutes had crossed into Oregon. We had called McKay Truck to let them know that we would be outside their door in the morning. We were told that they had a late shift on and they would open the gates to let us set up inside.

At 5:00 we stopped yet again at a Flying J, this one at exit 148 at Rice Hill. Half an hour here for a quick stretch and fuel and we arrived at Mckay Truck in the rain at 7:00 PM.

We parked, dumped the suspension, plugged in and were done. We'd be here at least two days, probably three.  We had quite a list, the biggest job being the heat pump.