Through the smoke, and into clear blue skies...

Most of you will have heard of the devastation of the town of Paradise, California. We were supposed to be going right by there, but the main highway was closed due to the fires. So we altered our route to head across the mountains to Reno, Nevada.

But the winds were blowing the smoke right through our path. My thinking was that we should be able to drive through the smoke, and hopefully get far enough east to get out of it. We had enough smokey skies in British Columbia this past summer!

"What the heck was that??"

We took off from the Bear River Casino and headed up highway 36 east towards the mountains. The first part of the road took us through another section of big California redwoods forest. Ruth took a video for you below!

After that, we climbed... and at some points, very steep. We had seen the warning signs at the beginning of the road, so we knew there were going to be lots of curves and steep grades. But I don't think Sherman has ever had to climb a long 10% grade before. Probably a few short ones, but never one that goes for two miles! He had to summon all of his horses for that!

Those are some big trees!

One of the reasons we wanted to come this far south before heading east was to see the big trees in Redwood National Park. We have in the past seen some big trees... such as Cathedral Grove on Vancouver Island. But those are douglas fir trees, and these ones are of course coastal redwood.

When we left the casino, we topped up the gas tank once more, this time at $3.25 USD a gallon ($1.14 CAD per liter). Fuel is expensive in California (often near $4.00 USD per gallon), so we will top up when we see it near the state lows. It will be cheaper once again when we enter Nevada next week sometime.

Goodbye Oregon, hello California!

What a great day we had yesterday... let me tell you all about it!

First of all, as you'll see from the photos below, it was a beautiful blue sky all day long. Temperatures about 60F (15C) which is perfect for doing a bit of hiking and exploring. And, there was a lot of exploring to be done... once again, every five or ten minutes there is somewhere worth stopping at along this section of coastline.

Settling or Being Realistic – What’s the Difference?

Have you ever asked yourself if you’re just ‘settling’ with your life, or do you make a more realistic and positive assessment of what is around you? You can ask this question about many aspects of your life—relationships, houses, traveling, friendships… basically anything.

Settling can mean different things. It could possibly signify that you are maturing and are ready for new and exciting challenges. However, it more usually has a negative connotation, meaning that you’re sacrificing your happiness. That is when you need to be concerned.

We finally got a 100 mile drive done!

We actually got the required number of miles logged yesterday, despite the fact that we didn't really get going until almost 11:00am.

We have to be in Mission, Texas around the 28th of this month. That means, we're trying to do at least 100 miles (160 kms) a day on average. And even at that, we know there will have to be some longer days because we will want to have some rest days too!

More fun on the Oregon coast, and sunny days ahead!

Early start to the day yesterday because we had promised the folks at the Newport Municipal Airport that we would be gone at sunrise. Good thing we were too, because there was definitely some activity around the airport at that hour and there was not a lot of parking.

We actually hit the road at about 6:50am, but we only drove to the first scenic stop, which was not very far away. There is not much distance between attractions here on the Oregon coast!

October Expenses

No, I haven't been procrastinating due to the abnormally high expense report! But yes... we have had another expensive month. We're really looking forward to having a month go by without spending yet another $1,000 on Sherman!

But, it wasn't only Sherman's fault... whenever we travel back to Ontario we seem to spend a fair bit of money.

Well, we didn't get very far!

And no, Sherman is not giving us problems. He's doing just fine.

Its just that there is so darn much to see on the Oregon coastline!

We drive for ten minutes, we stop for half an hour... we drive for ten minutes, we stop for an hour.

Back to the Pacific coast!

First thing we did yesterday morning was go for a walk around the campus of the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum. It's a big property and we probably did 1.5 miles (2.4 kms) just walking around it.

Lots to see even if you don't go inside the buildings. They have a very cool indoor water park on the property as well.

That was a full day!

Had a great sleep boondocking in the forest. It's not that easy to find decent free camping in the Columbia Gorge... it's simply too popular of a place, so there are a lot of "no overnight parking" signs around. You have to go up into the hills on Forest Service Roads, and we're just not comfortable doing that given how much rain there has been.

The rain stopped around 9:00am, and we set off looking for the first waterfall of the day. There are lots of waterfalls in the Columbia Gorge Scenic Area!

Gorgeous views from Beacon Rock

We slept surprisingly well at the ilani Casino overflow parking lot, so close to the I-5. We must have been tired!

We needed to do a grocery shop, so I planned a route that would avoid both the I-5 and most of the congestion of Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington. We first headed to the town of Battle Ground, where they have a fairly new Walmart Superstore.

We must be crazy!

It rained all day.

And we're getting pretty tired of it. But, we keep smiling because we know that it's a pretty safe bet we won't be seeing much rain during our upcoming four month trip to Mexico.

Still... it's just a little wet up here in the northwest United States...

Sherman is back to his old self, and we are back on the road!

Parked on the street outside of Atwood Engine Services in Aberdeen, Washington is not the best place we have ever spent the night in the motorhome! In fact, it's probably near the bottom of the scale. I think somebody in Aberdeen could make a killing opening a muffler shop.... there are so many vehicles with loud exhaust!

Despite that, we slept surprisingly well.

Sherman's mechanical repair saga continues...

Yesterday morning at 7:45am (when the sun comes up around here!) I tried to fire up Sherman. I had changed all the spark plugs and plug wires late Sunday afternoon, and hadn't yet tested to see if it did any good.

He fired up fine, and idled fine to warm up. After 10 minutes or so, I put him into gear... moved about five feet, and he promptly sputtered and died. Arrrggghh. Trying to re-fire him immediately didn't do any good.

More mechanic work on a rainy day

We spent the day parked at the Home Depot. Not exactly where we like to spend our free time! But, it would have to do while we try to figure out these mechanical problems.

It rained most of the morning, just like they said it would. But then, it cleared up a bit, which was not in the forecast. When it did that, I seized the opportunity to go for a walk to the auto parts store... again!

A little frustrated...

We got on the road yesterday morning to try to make it to Aberdeen, Washington... a distance of about 75 miles (120 kms). With Sherman not running properly, we honestly didn't know if we would make it. But the alternative was to call roadside assistance. We figured that if we drove, the worst case scenario would be that we have to call roadside assistance anyhow.

So off we went.

Obviously, there is more to the problem.

We spent the morning waiting for the new spark plug wires to arrive in Forks, Washington.

We walked over to get a few groceries. Pretty expensive! The prices were similar to Canada, except we had to add on 30% for the exchange rate. Yikes.

On the way back, we noticed a laundromat in the building right next door to where we had been parked the last two days. No idea why we hadn't noticed it before, but Ruth went over and got a load of laundry done while I was changing the plug wire.

A little bit of Mexico in Forks, Washington

When we arrived here in Forks, Washington Sherman was sputtering. There was a definite misfiring in the engine. We were still mobile... but you could tell something was not right.

We had to find somewhere to park for a day or two so we could get this problem sorted out.

Made it to Cape Flattery

One of the things we wanted to see here on the Olympic Peninsula was Cape Flattery... the furthest northwest point on mainland U.S.A.

And we made it! Sure glad we didn't attempt this in the middle of summer though. We can only imagine how busy this area is at that time of year. The weather may not be as nice now... but it sure is better that there's hardly any people around!

When you visit a rainforest...

...you have to expect that it's going to rain!

We were actually pretty lucky yesterday though. The forecast wasn't great, and they're calling for showers on and off for the next week or so. Of course... the Olympic Peninsula gets a lot of rain.

First stop was a hike up to Marymere Falls.

Not the smoothest day, but it did have some high points too!

Slept fine at the 7 Cedars Casino. The fog looked like it was clearing, so we decided to go for a bike ride on the Olympic Discovery Trail located on the other side of the highway from the casino.

I got the bikes down off the rack... and Ruth's front tire was totally flat!

This actually didn't surprise me. When we bought the bike used, we knew the front tire sidewalls were badly cracked and the bike shop had given us two new tires as part of the deal. And I was going to install new tubes at the same time.

Lots to see once the fog cleared up!

Lots of photos from our day yesterday!

We said goodbye to Randy and Marilyn. Might be a while before we see them again! They always go to the Baja, and we will be doing mainland Mexico and the east coast for the next while. And we have no plans to come back to this area in the foreseeable future. Too bad, because we had lots of laughs. But, we're glad we were able to get together again. Thanks for the hospitality!

Fastest border crossing ever!

Well, we are back in the U.S. of A.

It's always interesting crossing a border. You never quite know what's going to happen. Are they going to inspect your RV? Are they going to pull you in for further questioning? Will they take away any food? Will you answer all their questions properly?

We've crossed a lot of borders... this was one of the easiest ones ever!

Last day in Canada, and a European RV for sale

Well, our time here in Southwest British Columbia is up! We're back on the road as of today, and heading across the border into the state of Washington. We're going to stay with friends in Bellingham for a night. I made our ferry reservation for Sunday after lunch to get across to the Olympic Peninsula from south of Bellingham.

We will meander our way around the Olympic Peninsula, and then head south along the coast and into Oregon.

Busy day visiting

Nice day here in southwestern British Columbia. Mostly clear skies, a little hazy, no wind, and highs of about 18C (65F). Not too shabby at all for mid October.

After breakfast, blog reader Shirley stopped by with her partner Richard. Shirley has been a regular reader of this blog since around the time we won a trip to Namibia.

Happy to be back in the motorhome!

Woke up to a chilly morning yesterday in Hamilton, Ontario. Breezy, overcast, and drizzly. Calling for highs of about 8C (46F). Nice day to be heading back to the west!

First thing we had to do was return the rental car. before 8:30am We drove out to the Avis location near the airport at 8:00am, dropped it off, and covered the bill. Hassle free. Total was $549 CAD ($425 USD). Not bad for a three week rental.