Bonnevlle Salt Flats and Utah

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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.

Replacing Stuff

We've replaced most of the stolen stuff (from the Jeep), should get reimbursed through our homeowners policy.

In the midst of all the drama we had forgotten hitting a tree branch the same day.  Awning needs a new motor!