Red Bluff, CA - Day 4

Today we travelled from southern Oregon through the mountains to northern California.  The weather is terrific and the road was good.  No where near as scary as the BC mountains.  We did drive through some snow.  On the sides of the road only.  Last week the weather was quite nasty.  On the other hand, tomorrow, record highs are expected in this part of California.

Siskiyou Summit

Snow is melting fast.  The rivers are running high.

This is Mount Shasta.  The second highest volcano in the USA

Lake Shasta

The temperature rose from 14 to 30 degrees is less than an hour as we descended from the mountains.

About 2:30 pm we arrived at Durango RV Resort in Red Bluff.  We set up and gave the rig a quick wash.  Wayne has been fretting about the dust and dirt for a couple of weeks now.  It was too cold to wash it before we left Nanaimo.

This park is very new and extremely well designed and operated.  Because of the beautiful park and fantastic weather, we decided to stay an extra night.  We will head for the next destination on Saturday instead of Friday.

Think I'll laze around the pool tomorrow.

Gold Hill, Oregon - Day 3

Oregon has lots of sheep

Peaceful and Beautiful

It's A Convoy

Beautiful mountain scenes

This is as urban as we got today

Max temperature 20 degrees Celcius

Never fear, brother - the stock market is safe!

Woodburn, Oregon - Day 2

Beautiful trees at Burlington KOA

Our drive -rain/no rain -more rain

Saw these monuments on the other side of the road.  Not sure what they are for.

We drove about 275 miles/443 kilometers. One of our longer days.  We arrived in Woodburn about 330pm.  By 430 we were all set up and hungry.  Also a little upset.  We discovered that we have a bit of damage to trim on our front cap.  Must have happened going through the customs yesterday.  Wayne shoved some plumber's putty in the gap.  We can't fix it any better until it stops raining.  Maybe tomorrow night.  A permanent fix will require another trip to a service department.  Oh well, tomorrow is another day.

We're just relaxing now.  Every so often the trailer rocks in a wind gust.  I think it will be an early night.

Burlington, Washington - Day 1

We made it.  We are set up at the KOA in Burlington, Washington.  The only holdup was at the border.  We had to wait just under an hour to get through.  The lines were congested with very tight curves.  The lanes are compressed by portable traffic cones.  We had to be routed through the trucking lanes to get out of customs.  The regular lanes were too tightly curved.  All's well that ends well.

Waiting for the ferry at Duke Point

We had a good crossing to Tswassen.

These whales are seen all over BC.  This one is at Duke Point.

Interstate 5 heading toward Burlington

We went shopping

Yeah Camping World.

We did some guerilla style shopping.  Had to move quickly as  we had limited time to get to the stores.  First Walmart to get an emergency phone, then some supper.  Camping World was our next stop.  We only had a half hour to check it out before closing time.  Then we backtracked to Avenue Clothes.  I got some great deals on tops.  Last stop was at a grocery to pick up a few essentials.

We are now home.  Wayne is attempting to activate the phone.  If it works we will be in touch.

Tomorrow we head for Woodburn, Oregon.

TTFN

Our Last Week In Nanaimo

Bright and early Monday morning, we delivered the RV to Arbutus for the suspension repairs.  They needed 4 to 5 hours to do the repairs.  So we went to the mall to kill time.  At Eatons, I found a new outfit to wear to our nephew Daniel's wedding.  The salesclerk made me try on everything in my size because I had so much time.  After shopping and lunch, we walked and walked around the mall.  Later we went back to Arbutus and looked at some new rigs.  Very nice.

With the repairs completed, we headed back to our site at Living Forest Campground.  Wayne has now aced backing in.  He put the rig on the lot first try.  Right where we wanted it.  Whoo Hoo!

Wednesday was a busy day.  We emptied the basement of all the storage buckets, etc.  We switched our clothes - putting away winter ones and getting out some summer clothes.  Then we repacked and organized all our stuff.  The site looks empty.

The campground hosted a bbq and campfire for all of us snowbirds.  It was a fun time and a great fire.  One of the few night time fires we have had this winter.  We are more daytime fire people.

Thursday we went out for lunch with Janet and Terry.  Another good time.  After lunch I had an appointment at the spa for a manicure.  So relaxing.  Earlier in the week we both had haircuts.  Now we are primped, preened and ready to travel.

Haircut Time

So we are ready to hit the road.  We're saying our so longs and see you laters.  We have had a great winter and met lots of nice people.  We'll be back  to Nanaimo again.  Au revoir.

Next stop - Burlington, Washington

Last Week - Part 2

Saturday Amy and Ian arrived to say Happy Birthday and bon voyage.  They came bearing pie, flowers, silly hats and a sentimental card to make me cry.  It worked.  I cried.

We decided to go for a walk at Neck Point.  It is a park and beach here in Nanaimo.  Very beautiful including a rainbow out over the ocean. 

Somewhere under the rainbow

Our baby

Young love

Not quite so young  love

Before going to the park we stopped at Midland Tools.  Ian is training as a carpenter and needs to build up a collection of tools.  He fell in love with a hammer.  Yes I said Hammer.  It is made out of titanium and delivers a lot of power with little weight.  Apparently this hammer will last a lifetime.  He looked as happy as a kid at Christmas.

After returning to Living Forest Amy and I tried out the new lawnchairs discovering  how well suited they are for sipping wine.  We enjoyed the sunshine.  I know hard to believe that the sun was shining.  We had about 4 hours rainfree.

For supper we went to the Keg.  Great supper.  Thanks Mom,  Dad, Amy and Ian.

The kids stayed over night.  We had a great visit and will miss you guys immensely until our return next fall.  Thanks for coming.   Love Mom and Dad.

Last Week - Part 1

In preparation for our return to Ontario, we arranged for the RV to go to the shop.  We wanted to have the bearings repacked and greased and have the brakes checked.  Well, those two items went smoothly.  However while checking the undercarriage the techs found a problem with our suspension.  Large blocks of rubber which absorb up and down movement are severely damaged.  We have parts on order and they should arrive later this week.  Pretty expensive repairs.  Better to find and fix the problem now then get stranded in the mountains.

We wanted to visit with Marilyn and Tom before heading out.  Since the RV had to stay in the shop overnight it seemed like a good time to visit.  We drove down after dropping off the trailer.  On Tuesday Marilyn and I sewed a bit and then we had a great bbq supper and rousing game of cards.  We play a fun game called Phase 10.

Wednesday was my birthday.  Thanks for all the kind wishes.  I got a sewing machine for my birthday.  Thanks Wayne, Mom and Dad. To celebrate my day we played tourist in Victoria.  We started by going to Denny's for breakfast.  Do you know if it is your birthday your meal is free?  And a great omelet it was.

Next stop, Capital Iron - a really cool store with three floors of anything you are looking for.  If they don't have it - you don't need it.  We bought new lawn chairs.  The director type with an attached table and built in cupholder.  My wine glass fits perfectly in the holder.  HaHa.  Wayne bought a new Muskoka dinner jacket, a waterproof jacket and a new baseball cap with a safari flap to keep the sun off his neck.  Marilyn and Tom bought a fire pit for their backyard.

We wandered around the inner harbour checking out the sights and getting very thirsty.   To ease our parched throats we had drinks in the Bengal Room at the Empress Hotel.  Wayne and I spent one night of our honeymoon in this hotel over thirty years ago.

Are we having Fun?  You bet!

The Empress

Bengal Room

I'm having a Bengal Tiger Cocktail.  Yummy!

While wandering around we came across a movie shoot.  A movie about the life of JK Rowling (she wrote the Harry Potter books) is being made.  They have dressed up the streets with british stuff like phoneboxes and buses.  It was very neat to see all the stuff needed to make a movie on location.  The caterers follow the crew around with a mobile snack truck.  The rv dressing rooms are down on the wharf harbourside. 

Supper was pasta at the Old Spaghetti Factory.  To finish our tour of Victoria we drove to a lookout point and through a very ritzy neighbourhood.  Then back to Marilyn and Tom's house in Sooke.  We christened the new firepit with a great fire.

Thanks Marilyn and Tom for your wonderful hospitality.  We had a blast.

Another Week - Another Trip to the Pub

Well, Wayne's napping and I'm tempted to join him.  We went to the Crow and Gate Pub with our neighbours for lunch.  We both had ploughman lunches - mine, cheddar and Wayne's bratwurst.  We also shared a bread pudding with a very generous serving of brandy sauce.  Heavy on the brandy.  For beverages we had  G & T (Kim) , Kilkenny (Wayne)  and tea.  After all this we need a nap and a walk.

Last week's snow has disappeared.  Now it is just raining.  However the weekend forecast is warm and sunny.  The island had a very bad wind storm on Wednesday.  Hurricane force winds with lots of power outages.  In fact the power was out at the pub today.  They were running off a generator.  Even the ferries to the mainland were cancelled for 24 hours.  The winds and bad weather didn't affect us but did hit areas both north and south.

Our time at Living Forest and Nanaimo is running out for this season.  We will be hitting the road on the first of April.  To get ready for the big trip, we have had the truck checked over and oil changed.  We had some work done on the brake rotors.  On Tuesday, we are packing the trailer up and towing it the the local rv dealer.  The bearings are getting packed and greased and the brakes are being checked out.  If all goes well we will be back in our site by nightfall. If new parts are needed we will have to spend a night in a hotel.

We are letting our food stocks run down.  I want to have the freezer empty and defrosted before the rv goes to the repair shop.  Won't be plugged in while being worked on.  We also don't want to have any meats or fresh fruits and veggies on hand when we cross over the border to the USA in April.

I guess that we will walk down to the grocery each day, buying just what we need.  Exercise and shopping in one easy step.

I've been cross stitching a hibiscus flower since we returned from Cuba last Feb.  It is finally finished.  I will get it mounted and framed after we return to Ontario.  The hibiscus is going to hang in our bedroom.  For a later project, I'm going to make a quilt in the same colours for our bed.  God I love retirement. Time for projects. (And naps)

Another Ocean View

Now I'm off to have my nap.  Keep safe and healthy.