San Antonio for a week. Or so.

Wednesday. Here we are waiting to hear from one of the agencies that ICBC uses in the USA. Eventually they called and were quite surprised to find that we were in southeast Texas--the ICBC adjuster had led them to believe that we were in California!

Thursday morning the glass shop arrived to check the damage. Took a photo or two, checked the VIN,confirmed that it was rock damage, and that they would call in 5 days. Apparently that is when they should have the windshield.  They did say that once they had it they would install it right away. Hopefully we'll be out of here in a week. Could be a worse place to wait--except for the weather.

We needed a few groceries, Art needed a new pair of jeans (to replace the ones torn in Port Angeles) and his whisky was getting terminally low so off to Costco we went. Attached to the building but having a separate entrance was a Liquor Store.

First stop the liquor store. Here Art rubbed his hands in delight; Cartons of Johnny Walker Red Label, $34.99 for 1.75 Liters ,  Old Pulteney, (a favourite single malt) $34.99 for a 700 ml. bottle.

 LCB prices: Johnny Walker Red Label, 1.75L  59.99 Canadian  ($78.00 US). More than double. Old Pulteney, 71.99 Canadian, ($94.00 US) almost 3 times.

We decided to get the other stuff in Costco and stop here on the way out. Good decision? Bad decision?

In Costco proper we came across a dash-cam on sale. Have been looking for one for some time.

At the checkout Art's Mastercard was declined! As was Gillian's! Paid cash, not enough left for the booze. The check-out clerk said that soon they would take VISA. We later discovered that Costco US doesn't accept Mastercard. I suppose that the clerk thought it was a debit card. Mastercard is relative new for Costco Canada as well. Oh well, back to camp!



Tonight at the "clubhouse" local residents of the park will put on a roast pork dinner with huge baked potato, green beans, salad and desert, all of $6.00 each. We brought enough back to the rig for tomorrow's dinner. 

Friday, October 30

Last night was not a good night for sleep. RAIN "showers"  like the West Coast has never seen. And very windy. Woke frequently to the drumming of a waterfall on the roof. Forecast was for rain all day but it kept pretty dry after we got out of bed this morning.

Later we watched the news. Major flooding in the northern areas; +/- 9 inches of rain over night while we "only" got an inch. Showers?  Then we found that 4 tornados had touched down around San Antonio. One 50 miles to the east, a  couple to the outskirts north and northeast and one to the south east of the city about 18 miles from us where a school was badly damaged--three classrooms destroyed--and a semi tractor and trailer ended upside down on a hotel roof!

More rain and flood warnings for tonight but we have been assured that our area should be fine.

Wish we had brought the inflatable and the lifejackets!

Around noon we headed into San Antonio to do a bit of grocery shopping and to get new phone cards for the US phones. Wind had died down, an event free trip.

Dinner, yep: Roast pork and green beans reheated in the steamer and the potatoes chopped and fried. Enough left over for pork sandwiched for lunch tomorrow and potatoes for hash browns for Art's breakfast in the morning. Not a bad twelve bucks worth.



Saturday
 
At 3:30 AM we woke to the sound of the pitter-patter of rain on the roof and thunder in the distance. Then closer, then wind, then the downpour began. The wind was strong enough to rock the rig a little. Tia was a little nervous but not too bad. She's so deaf now that she barely hears the thunder.

Soon the lightning was all around and the wind was howling. When he realised the rain was spraying in the bedroom window Art got up to the rest that had been left open--the curtain over the drivers window was almost horizontal. The thunder and lightning flashes were almost continuous and for a while seemed right over head. The dinette seat was damp as was the rivers seat. Papers left on the dinette were on the floor.

Most of the lightning was cloud to cloud though Art did see one vertical strike very close by--the sound was only a couple of seconds behind the flash. By 4:00 AM it was all over.

This morning the skies are clear, the sun shining and no wind at all. Even the RV pads are dry except for a few puddles in the hollow spots. No sign of last night's brief storm except that Art's bike, which we had covered with a tarp to protect the electrics from the rain, had blown over.

Later in the afternoon Art took a walk around the park where he discovered that an oak tree had been been up rooted:

Another, only a few hundred feet away from us hit by lightning and a branch had been knocked off. Up close you could still smell the burn.

We were in a pretty good site, the gravel at each end of the concrete parking pad was well drained, even the grass not too soggy. Some sites had several inches of water hiding in the grass or puddled on the dirt and gravel.

Hallowe'en, not a goblin at the door. Though it seems the wind had been a problem for some.

Texas bound

Internet was next to useless on Sunday hence no update as promised. Better late than never I guess.

Sunday we went to Old Town where we wandered around looking at the shops not in—except to buy a novel. Spider Woman's Daughter, a mystery/crime novel by Anne Hellerman, daughter of Tony Hellerman who died some years ago. He wrote detective novels set in the south west, mostly within and involving the Navajo Nation in New Mexico. Anne, an author in her own right, has continued in her fathers style using many of the same characters. This is her first in her series.

A bit later we came across Hacienda Del Rio, a very nice looking restaurant kitty corner from the square with outside patio seating by the street. We were lucky to get a table, there being only two vacant. Tia settled happily on the floor beside us. The food was essentially New Mexican and absolutely delicious. We whiled away an hour or so then returned to the car. Of course we had forgotten the camera.

We then asked the GPS to find a grocery store and detoured there to stock up a few things. Next door was a Liquor Store Art went there while Gillian went for the groceries. No Scotch Whisky at the liquor store, so he wandered into the grocery store. Better luck here, though no bargains. With prices comparable to Canada for blended whiskys, taking into account the exchange rate they were terrible! The only reasonably priced one was a liter and a half of Clan McGreggor at $18.00 US. Having tried that one once in Mexico Art knew it was no bargain even at that price! He settled on a 750 ml bottle of J&B. Should do better in Mexico.

Back at the rig we watched the weather network to check out the situation is Southeast Texas. It looked like the worst was over. We sent an email to an RV Park in San Antonio that we knew and prepared to head out in the morning. It was going to be a couple of long days.

Monday morning Art climbed out of bed at 7:30 hoping to get a reasonable start. Of course Tia needs to get her morning meds an hour before her breakfast so 9:00 would be the absolute best we would be able to do. Art called the RV park in San Antonio and was told that there had been no flooding there, they had booked us in for Tuesday afternoon and if we were going to be delayed just give them a call. He explained about the windshield problem and having to wait an unknown time and was told that it would be no problem. She would put us in a space we wouldn't have to move from

Well we were on the road by 9:25. We had last fueled up almost 500 Km ago and hoped to only stop once for fuel before Sa\n Antonio. It would be close—we don't like to push it too closely. Of course the first 5 or 10 miles out of Albuquerque (east bound on the I-40) is mostly up hill. I doubt we got into top gear more than a couple of times for a while.

We were taking a slightly different route this time. Though the GPS came up with first choice route being south on the 25 then east, all on freeways, it looked a long way round and in fact its alternate choice was a good hour shorter! The alternate (East on the 40 first) was similar to what we had done a couple of times before, this time it took us farther east before turning south. Previous trips we had gone via Roswell (UFOs) Carlsbad (caverns) and down the Pecos Valley to I-10 then east to San Antonio. Before we started to visit San Antonio, and crossing at Laredo, we had carried on south from Fort Stockton, through Del Rio and crossed into Mexico at Eagle Pass.

Today we carried on past Santa Rosa and turned southeast on the 84 to Clovis and the Texas border.

At Clovis, New Mexico we stopped for fuel, 845 kilometers (528 miles) since fueling in Bluff, Utah. We took on 55 US gallons, (209 litres) 9.5 mpg (US gallons) A touch under 12 using Imperial Measure.

After fueling (didn't time it, but it's always at least 20 minutes) we pulled alongside a semi, one of dozens lined up, angle parked for a snooze or lunch break. We did lunch, no time for a snooze, infact Art had filled his large travel mug with coffee to keep him awake for the rest of the day.

One hour and 5 minuets after stopping we were back on the road at 2:05 ten minutes later we crossed the State Line into Texas. We lost an hour at the state line, we were now on Central Time. Sometime in the next 5 or 6 hours we had to find a place to stop for the night. Preferably cheap or free, after 4 days at Albuquerque Central KOA.

Along the way we agreed that this was a much more pleasant route than the one we usually took down the Pecos to Fort Stockton.It  must be cotton picking time here. Lots of cotton fields, some very large, some quite small, some all white and others harvested and some already turned over and bare ready for planting.

In one town we passed a large building signed as the area's Coop Gin. We though we'd rather me members of a Gin Coop.

Eventually I-20 appeared. The road atlas showed a rest area 15 or 20 miles along towards Abilene. It was getting late, the sun going down quickly. We were heading almost due East and had a rising full moon in front of us and the setting sun behind. In fact Art had to adjust the right hand side mirror down and out a bit to avoid being blinded by the sun.

Just about dark, at 7:05 PM we arrived at the Rest Area (Exit 257), got parked, took Tia out for a much needed run, a drink dinner and soon after, bed.

725 kilometers, seven and a half hours driving time. (454 miles) average speed: 60 MPH We weren't dawdling! But yes, it was mostly flat. Mostly cruised at just above 65

One of our longest and tiring runs is in Mexico, from Mazatlan to San Carlos, 780 kilometers in 12 hours and 20 minutes including a very fast 50 minute fuel and lunch stop and eleven toll booths.

In the morning we hit the road with no worry about making San Antonio, or more accurately, Elmendorf, a few miles to the south. 5 hours later we stopped at the Valero fuel station nearby to fill the tank--it was pretty low. Gillian took Tia and walked over to the RV Park office to check in. She must have thought that Art had stopped for a nap. After all, it was about 3:00PM!

The guy filling the pick up truck ahead of him warned that it was the slowest pump he has ever seen! When Art was paying the bill ($157.44 for 69.7 gallons) half an hour later the clerk apologised for the slow pump—the tech was coming in the morning.

3:30 PM we were parked, leveled, slides out water and power connected.

3:50 PM Art's cell phone rang—it was the ICBC adjuster! Things were coming together!

We'll likely be here a week or so but it's a nice park. http://brauniglakervresort.com/

Albuquerque

This morning (23rd note the date.) we called ICBC, to find that there are no adjusters on Friday. We told who ever had answered the phone that we were waiting to hear from the adjuster and that we would be in San Antonio on Monday.

We watched Hurricane Patricia information on the internet, checked in with some of our friends down there. Most concerned with Puerto Vallarta where we had planned to be in a week or two.

Then down the street to treat the Jeep to a much needed bath. When will the USA start using dollar and two dollar coins? A couple of twonies or four loonies are easier to deal with than 16 quarters! We remember in our Alaska trip in 2010 receiving US dollar coins. We didn't come across them in any of the other states then or since.

We were able to get in touch with our friends Ken and Cathy who we had met in Zacatecas many years ago and a few years later in Zihuatanejo. They have visited us while in Victoria a few times and we do the same with them in Albuquerque.

It was good to see them again, though it hadn't been too long since we saw them in Victoria this summer. They took us to lunch at a New Mexican restaurant at the base of the Tramway. A few years ago we took the cable car to the top. Too cold for that today and the cloud reached down just to toouch the top. Fortunately, the clouds stayed over the hills and to the east. Happy to sit inside and enjoy a great lunch. There won't be a need for dinner tonight.

One of the great things about this RV travelling is meeting great people from all over and forming long standing though often long distance friendships.

On the way back to the park we diverted to the pet food shop to stock up on Tia's food for Mexico. We're getting to know our way around this city

Back in the rig we returned to the internet to follow the developing Patricia story. Then we saw the reports of flooding in southeast Texas. Hmmmmm. San Antonio is in southeast Texas. Better give that a rethink as well. We'll stay at least one other night.

Saturday, 24^th

After breakfast Gillian went to the office to book us in for another day.

The morning was taken up with Hurricane news, great to hear that Puerto Vallarta dodged the bullet, at least the worst of it. Most of the small villages for several hundred kilometers south were very badly damaged. Even down Zihuatanejo way though the town was out of the track, ocean front villages both north and south received a lot of wave damage. Many of those were seriously affected.

After checking and responding to emails Art decided to check his. Amongst the rubbish there was one email from ICBC sent on the 22^nd. (Remember, note that date above?) He need to check it more often than every week!

The adjuster needs our permission to arrange the windshield repair. That was sent off as well as a note that we would be in San Antonio in a couple of days.

We sent an email to Braunig Lake RV Resort just south of San Antonio to tentatively book in on Tuesday evening, and ask about the flood situation. Waiting a reply.

During the afternoon Gillian took advantage of the park's laundry facility. Meanwhile we continued to watch the weather via the internet. Then we connected the cablevision and watched things unfold in southeast Texas on the Weather Channel which was running a special report flooding report. Not looking good. They are in the midst of a disaster down there.

More tomorrow.

Utah to Albuquerque NM

Tuesday, 20 0ctober

An even later start than usual for us, on the road at 11:00 after making arrangements to get the wipers looked at by Auto-Motion at the south end of Salt Lake City. We pulled in there at 11:30.

Met by a friendly fellow who directed us around the side where we unhooked the jeep. He then reversed it into the yard behind the shop while Art went in to fill out the work order.

Art returned and eventually the mechanic, who had disappeared, returned with a buddy and began poking about under the hood at the wiper mechanism. All the time chatting about all kinds of things. They had visited Victoria and the island a few times and even remembered which hotels they had stayed in. His daughter in law is from Maple Ridge. Quite a chatty and friendly fellow—he and Art got along just fine!

“I think it's just this part here is slipping” Removing a nut he pushed the wipers back to where they should be and tightened it up again. After a couple of times turning the wipers on and off, and re adjusting the parts under the nut all seemed well. “I think that should hold it at least for a while.” But he warned us that we might need to order a new wiper motor from Itasca.

When Art said that he'd go in and pay the bill he was told there was no charge, it was just a little job. Art said that's not right, you can't do that, he replied with a grin, “yes I can, I'm the boss. I'm one of the owners.” He had certainly spent a bit of time on it so Art handed him a 20 and said “then put this in the coffee fund.” To which he replied with another grin, “Being a good Mormon I'll just do that.”

12:55 we were southbound for Moab, about 4 hours away. For those following our route we turned off I-15 at Spanish Fork on route 6 to Green River then the 40 East to 191 and south to Moab.

The weather was still reasonably good but as we went over the top part what was looming to the southeast wasn't promising at all.

Photo through the windshield

 and one via the rear view mirror

An hour or two into Route 6 as a truck passed westbound there was a loud bang like a rock hitting the windshield or at least the front of the rig. We couldn't see any damage and carried on. A hour or so later Gillian said “That is where the rock hit.” Two short lines rising from near the right front corner of the driver's side windshield.

In the town of Green River we stopped at Ray's Tavern for hamburgers, recommended by our loquacious mechanic up in Salt Lake City. Burgers were good enough, at least not over cooked, the fries were good, the coleslaw excellent. As was the beer. (The driver had a taste!)

We had planned to stop in the Portal RV Park in Moab but as we slowed for the entrance a sign said Sorry Full. We carried on almost all the way through town (a few miles) to Canyonlands RV Park where thankfully they had space. $38.00 for the night. With free wifi. And they had a laundry. The machines accepted credit cards!

Once we got settled Art called ICBC's 800 number. Surprise, they answered on the first ring. When he explained the problem he was transferred to the Out of Province Claims number which again was answered promptly. Note this was after normal office hours.

A claim was started, Art was advised that there was the $200.00 deductible and since we were out of province we would have to talk to an adjuster who would call tomorrow. Art explained that we were traveling and that cell service was spotty at best. He was given the claim number, a toll free number for the adjuster and his adjusters name. He was also told that ICBC had a list of approved glass shops in the USA. Things were looking hopeful.  Hope that $200.00 deductible is in Canadian dollars!

Next morning we hung around a bit hoping the adjuster would call, finally called the 877 number and left a message in the machine and set off for Bluff in the southeast corner of the state.

Weather was much improved, a bit of rain here and there just to test the wipers and by early afternoon we had arrived at the Cadillac RV park Bluff, Utah. The park is for sale and was last time we were here two years ago and the grounds are a little run down. The ponds are full of bullrushes, the grassy areas knee high, though the parking areas were as neat, clean and well kept as ever. There were no more animals however. Trekker used to like the goats though he wasn't too sure about the emus! And of course no more waterfowl in the grown over ponds.

Gillian decided that since it was quite a reasonable day we should walk to the Twin Rocks cafe a short distance  back down the highway. Good idea said Art who grabbed is stix and off we went. 20 minutes had brought his heart rate up a bit so he thought he had earned a beer. Food in this place has always been very good. They bake their own Navajo fry bread and ash bread--both delicious. Art's Sheepherder sandwich (Roast beef and a bunch of other stuff in a frybread (like a pan fried flat bread, similar to naan bread).  Gill had a beef stew with ash bread--similar bread but with black ash specks.  ???  Truly delicious though!

Thursday morning we left late again, fueling first and were on the drive to Albuquerque New Mexico. We had thought to head to Santa Fe, but Art looked at the map, the small very twisty roads that meant hills and lots of driving not just steering so voted for Albuquerque instead.

The roads out of Bluff and on towards Farmington were in pretty bad condition. We were down to 50 MPH for some of it. After Farmington they improved a lot, the 550 was a great highway.

Entering Albuquerque we headed for the first RV park listed in the GPS, which turned out to be a huge parking lot for the Balloon Festival Museum. No signs or rigs around so up the street to the next one. This one was full of mobile homes, the office was closed, no information for late arrivals. And a great row of mail boxes. Obviously a residential park. So south some more to the I-40 and east a few miles to the Albuquerque Central KOA Nothing central about it—as far south and east as you can get in the city!

It is a nice park though, but being a KOA not cheap: $108.00 for 2 nights.

Stay tuned for the next episode:

23 called ICBC No adjusters on Friday Said we would be in San Antonio

internet info on Hurricane Patricia.

lunch with Cathy and Ken, dog food

News about flooding in Southeast Texas.   Hmmm Maybe a re-think in the morning.

Bonnevlle Salt Flats and Utah

.

Monday 19th October. Election Day at home, but we had done our duty and exercised our right to vote at the Advanced Poll a few days before we left. Since we couldn't do anything about the outcome at this point we decided to forget all about it and enjoy the scenery.

We had the wheels rolling by 9:35, pretty good going for us on another rainy overcast day. The I-80 is not a bad route, some ups and downs of course but the highway is in good shape. The 75 MPH speed limit kept us mostly in the right lane with most though by no means all traffic whizzing by on the left. We maintain about 60 MPH (100 Km/H) unless in heavy traffic when we try to at least keep up with the slower cars. On the long flat roads we'll bring it up to 65. 70 MPH burns a LOT of fuel!

A couple of hours later Tia needed a break so we stopped for 10 minutes at the Rest Area near Dunphy. We were pleased to find two places in the truck and RV parking area that had potable water taps and near the exit a sani dump. Very handy. We made a note in the log and continued on our way, the weather improving some what.

We crossed the Nevada Utah border and entered the Mountain Time zone where 1:55 PM suddenly became 2:55 PM.

As we crossed into Utah Art saw a speed limit sign ahead:  80 and promptly slowed from his 100 Km/H. His brain had read the 80 as Km/H rather than MPH even though our U.S. built motorhome has the MPH numbers larger and our speedometer was hovering around 60. 80 is not a posted speed we are used to seeing in the USA! We found out later Utah was one of if not the first state to raise freeway speed limits to 80 MPH.


At 3:05 PM we pulled into the Rest Area at MM 10, just at the start of the Bonneville Salt Flats for a late lunch. 

Last time we came through here the flats were dry. There must have been a lot of recent rain. The rain had been on and off though there were lots of sunny breaks. The wipers were acting up again, the “Park” position moving more and more to the outside. 

After leaving the lunch stop and approaching the end of the flats the weather began to look more 

promising.  

Though in truth when we got there, there wasn't a lot of change, let alone a pot of gold.

Just before 6:00 PM we stopped for fuel at the Flying J near Bountiful (northern outskirts of Salt Lake City) and then across the highway for the night at the Pony Express RV Resort where we have stayed several times. A nice clean resort with free (slow) wifi and laundry facilities which we declined to make use of since we were both too tired. We had enough clean clothes anyway.

By the time we arrived the wipers had parked themselves at the far outside of the windshield. This put the right hand wiper right in front of the side view mirror making visibility difficult to say the least. The brochure from the resort had several listing for RV Service and mechanical work, hopefully a phone call or two in the morning would lead to a solution of the wiper problem.

We got the wifi going well enough to see some election returns but there was no chance of streaming video so after dinner we had drink and went to bed.

Day 2 and 3 Through Oregon to Nevada

Day 2

Yesterday Art had noticed that the indicator light the showed when the brakes on the Jeep had been applied was not working. The fault was in a loose connector at the motorhome. While Gillian was off seeing to the sim cards he attacked same with the crimp tool and a little pressure had the connecting wire from the Jeep staying put.

After all the running around and fixing was done we finally got under way at 12:35. The weather looked good for the Oregon route so at Salem we turned east.

At 2:20 we pulled off the highway alongside a small fast flowing stream for lunch. Here Gillian noticed a small bird perched on a rock amongst the rapids. Suddenly it dove into the water and
disappeared! It stayed down for a surprising amount of time before darting out of the water and back onto the rock. It did this several times, sometimes emerging onto a different rock several feet away.

We got the camera out and focused but now of course all it did was stand there and preen it's feathers. It must have been pretty wet because it went on for a long time. Then it just stood there while we took pictures. We finally gave up, put the camera away and returned to the road.

Anyone know what kind of bird this is?

In the town of Bend, we had planned to stay in the Walmart but there were very prominent signs saying No RVs and NO OVERNIGHT CAMPING though there were several rigs there. Gillian checked with a customer service staff and was told that they couldn't tell us it was OK because there was a city by-law against it. If someone came and told us to move we would have to move. Since the flattest area was right by the street where we would be very noticeable,  not wanting to be awakened we moved on to the Sandia RV park just a few minutes away, where we arrived at 5:30.

We did plug into the power since we were paying anyway but didn't bother with the water or sewer as the holding tanks were in good shape. The park was not one of the nicest by any means. The pads were asphalt, narrow, cramped and not level. $38.00 for a place to park for the night whether we need services or not. We won't be stopping in Bend again.

Not wanting to leave thing on a flat note, I'll continue on with Day Three!

Day 3

Leaving the RV Park at 10:00 AM Art made a wrong turn so we made a small detour through town. Another beautiful day, a very pleasant drive. A bit after noon we pulled into a Rest Area to give Tia a break and Art reset the ham radio frequency and APRS path for the International Space Station, hoping to report our position that way.

For the Geeks and other interested parties: APRS (Amateur Position Reporting System) takes the data from a GPS and send via ham radio digital repeaters to an igate where it is uploaded to the internet. The International Space Station has such a ham radio digital repeater and it is possible to connect through it when the space station goes by withing range.The position can be seen on Google maps either on a map view or satellite view and you can zoom in or out.

To see all the amateur radio stations heard by the ISS both on a list and on a world map go to http:/ariss.net

To see where we last reported from, either via the ISS or directly via ground based repeaters go to   map.findu.com/va7rv-12

Note: Since where we are (and often elsewhere) the internet is very slow and unreliable, I'll be writing in Open Office and posting where we can. Meanwhile, I'll add a few points as to were we are.Or rather were, at the time.

APRS as mentioned above has been working very well with lots of relays from the Space Station. Even through the wet trees and rain! Yes, rain.

We began to run into bits of rain in Oregon but it was still a pleasant and comfortable drive. This high plains type of country in this southeast Oregon is not what the average tourist thinks of when you say Oregon.

And the windshield wipers were doing something strange. Art had noticed a short time ago that the wipers weren't "parking" where they should, right up near the mid windshield divider, but were almost a foot away. Getting a little concerned.

We stopped for fuel in Hines, near Burns, the fuel gauge hovering at the edge of the red warning bar. Our Silverleaf isn't working, (more on that in a moment).

We had travelled 878 kilometers (about 550 miles) since topping up in Port Angeles. We took on about 59 US gallons if memory serves, averaging 9 US MPG. Better than expected.The rig has a 90 gallon fuel tank.  According to our Silverleaf program we averaged 8.8 MPG pulling the Tracker and 8.2 with the 4 door Jeep. That was over several years.

The Silverleaf takes data from the engine computer and allows to be read easily on a computer. We have a new computer and uploaded the latest software and couldn't get it to work properly. It wouldn't report the fuel use. The old one accurately reported how much fuel we had left and how far we could go at the current usage. Very useful information when fuel stops are few and far between. We called Silverleaf and were told that the latest version was written for the newer engines and had issues with older engines such as the Cummins 5.9 ISB (ours). The latest version had come out to fix issues with the new engines! We were told to get rid of V3.1 and download 2.5 and it should be good. Well we downloaded 2.5 OK, extracted the zipped files, and get the message “File Not Found”. NOT being computer literate we need to contact them again. Or find someone who can tell me what I'm doing wrong (or not doing right). I'll probably have time for that while waiting for the new windshield. (Spoiler Alert)

  

The closer we approached Nevada the more threatening the clouds and as we crossed into Nevada the more frequent and heavier the showers. We arrived at our tentative objective for the day and proceeded to the Walmart in Winnemucca Nevada for the night, arriving shortly before 6:00 PM As we drove though town we noticed a FREE RV parking sign in town!

Raincoats were mandatory! Here we purchased a few grocery items (like WINE) and Art got a new pair of jeans to replace the ones he had ripped in Port Angeles. He had tripped on the sidewalk and put a tear in the jeans as well as in his own knee. (The knee repaired itself.)

On Our Way. Really.

It almost seemed that we were never going to be ready, but it all came together in the end.

6:15 AM comes awfully early when you are not used to it. How did all those years of starting work at 6:00 AM or 7:00 AM seem so normal?

Several minutes before 7:00 we were rolling, Art and Tia in the motorhome and Gillian in the Jeep. It's cheaper and easier to take the vehicles on the ferry separately. We arrive at the Coho Terminal at 7:30 just as the gates opened, a few vehicles waiting ahead of us.

The motorhome was first. The agent asked Art if he had a reservation. No reservation. (There had been no reservations available when we tried to book them the day before.) He asked if the Jeep behind was with him. Yes. Some hesitation on the part of the agent, then he took out his tape and measured the rig. 32 feet. He then said, "I'm probably going to regret this, but go ahead".

Art pulled into line behind the only other RV in the lot. Speaking with him later, it turned out that he didn't have a reservation either, and had arrived in the lot the previous evening. Gill and the Jeep were near the front of a line of cars.

Art went up to buy the tickets while Gillian fed Tia. We then headed across the street for our breakfast at the Day's Inn. As we were leaving we notice that the agent who had so nicely let us in was a bit unhappy. It seemed that the rig in front of us had no reservation either and the agent hadn't been aware of that. The agent yesterday had not left a note. OOPS!

Back at the quickly filling up terminal we waited for US immigration to talk to us then took our passports into the office to be scanned then returned to our respective vehicles to wait.

The M.V. Coho soon arrived, disgorged a load of cars and semis and we began loading. And we both made it on. 

Another bright sunny day for the crossing. We almost wondered why we were leaving.

We arrived on the other side and cleared the immigration passport check at 12:15 but the motorhome was sent off to the side for the agricultural inspection. It seems that the list had changed since Gillian had checked it on line. Added—tomatoes! We had several pounds of green ones and a pound or so of ripe and nearly ripe. These were our own home grown Roma tomatoes grown from seed a local stone mason had brought back from the family farm in Italy. The seed has been collected for generations. Small, very sweet and lots of flesh. The rice too was taken since it was in a canister and not the original package showing country of origin.

While Art was waiting for this, Gillian carried on to the Safeway for groceries--things we couldn't bring across. We had been told on the other side about the tomatoes but didn't know about the rice.

Half an hour or so later the Aggy guy was done. Next stop Safeway for diesel and to meet Gillian and hook up the Jeep for towing. After Gillian topped up the gas in the Jeep.

She had also purchased two new phone cards for our pay and talk AT&T phones. However, since we had not used our U.S. phones in over a year the sim cards were no longer active. Now we need an AT&T shop. We know where there is one in Wilsonville, just off the freeway.

The weather continued to be gorgeous, a very pleasant drive down the 101. We were hoping to stop at our favourite lunch stop, the Tides, near Hoodsport, but were not sure it would be open. We seemed to remember that it closed at 3:00 PM. We arrived there at 3:30 to find that we were wrong. They closed at 2:45. Oh well, so much for the chowder. We parked on the dirt in front of the cafe and made a couple of sandwiches, walked Tia, and returned to the road an hour later.

We had thought to turn off the I-5 at Salem and follow Route 20 and 95 through southeast Oregon and planned to overnight at a Rest Area between Wilsonville (near Portland) and Salem. Then Gillian had a THOUGHT! Why not park over night at Campingworld in Wilsonville and get the new folding chairs we had been talking about. The ones we had were getting a bit thin and one had already had had some fabric replaced in Mexico. Also, a support strut for one of the overhead cabinet doors had broken and need to be replaced. Then, while Art was doing that, Gillian could take the Jeep down to AT&T a few miles away and get new sims for the phones.

With one quick P stop for Tia at the Toutle River Rest Area at 6:30, we arrived at Campingworld at 8:30.

Ready to go,

A day later than planned, just too much stuff to do and not wanting to set off exhausted, we postponed our tentative departure date to the 16th.

We'll be hitting the sack in the stick house very shortly, up early tomorrow (16th October) to hopefully catch the morning Coho to Port Angeles. No reservation, just crossing fingers!

Another catch up?

Just marking a space or two in case I get around to doing a catch-up.

Catch up?

Just marking a space or two in case I get around to doing a catch-up.