Almost there!

Please, no more riding in the truck today!

Another short day today.  We got settled in time for Roger and Miss Maggie to have a nap before we went out for pizza.  Maggie had another day of hyper-ventilating and didn't settle down until about 30 miles from our destination. She wore herself out and decided to hide from the world once we arrived!

No weird sightings today.  We had beautiful wild orchids and wild blackberry bushes along I-5 but once we turned off onto US101 at Olympia it became a forest of cedar and pines as we slowly wound our way north along the western edge of the Hood Canal. It is another one of those two lane roads that is a beautiful drive - if you aren't the one doing the driving!  The Olympic Mountains were shrouded in clouds and we could see fog in the bay but we had dappled sunlight as we drove along the Canal.

We drove 166 miles today from Kelso, WA to Sequim, WA.  We have reservations tomorrow on the Port Townsend Ferry to cross over to Whidbey Island where we will stay at the Cliffside RV Park on the Naval Air Station near Oak Harbor.  We will be there for two weeks overlooking the Strait of Juan De Fuca and doing some sightseeing in the San Juan Islands. 

Well, Rog is at it again - playing Mr Fixit.  For some unknown reason the lights on the outside of the trailer decided to turn themselves on and are stubbornly refusing to go off.  After a few hours of  troubleshooting, the problem was "resolved" by removing the bulbs from the fixtures. DUH!! All last winter we had "0" problems with this coach and now, it's becoming a daily occurrence   While the problems are pretty much minor, they are frustrating.  It may be the "internal" warranty clock on this coach is sensing expiration next month.  

A Good Day!

It was a better day today than yesterday!  The naproxen worked on my back, Roger drank lots of fluids yesterday, and the dog was only hyper half of the day!  Can't ask for any more than that!

We figure Rog was dehydrated from the first day.  It was so hot, he had to work outside to fix the stabilizers plus all the other stuff he had to do for first day out and wasn't drinking enough water.  Yesterday he said he drank enough water that "my kidneys ought to be entitled to get sea pay." That's an old Navy expression!! 

Maggie hyperventilated the first two hours on the road.  She jumps right in the truck so that isn't a problem, but once the engine starts she starts panting and shaking.  After our lunch break she was much calmer and even relaxed enough to sleep.  Slow but steady is the progress!   

Lunch Break in the parking lot

Had to have lunch in a shopping center parking lot today.  The rest areas in southern Oregon are not RV or truck friendly.  Since Roger hasn't perfected parallel parking with the rig (think about backing into a parking place with 38 feet of really big trailer attached to the back end of a truck), we had to bypass the rest stops.  It worked out well, though, as we had a whole back row of empty parking spaces with some shade to enjoy our noon time repast. 

Weirdest thing we saw today:  A really old Subaru painted a rusty orange/brown (or maybe it was rust).  Affixed somehow to every square inch of paint were Barbie dolls!  Seriously!  Arms and legs all over the place.  All states of dress and hairdos.  Hundreds of Barbies.  On the roof between the rails of a luggage rack were at least a hundred, hair blowing in the wind.  It was a man driving!!  Absolutely crazy. 

Lots of rolling green and gold hills in the southern part of the state, then leveling out to farms in the Willamette Valley.  The most impressive sight was as we crossed the Columbia River, Mt. Hood was clearly visible off to the east.  Those volcanoes in the Cascades are just incredible, particularly on a clear day when you can really get a feel for the enormity of these mountains!

262 miles today.  Canyonville, OR to Kelso, WA.  Weather was perfect.    It's taken three days for us to go what most people drive in one.  We don't start til about 9:30, stopping for Maggs to pee, half hour for lunch, and we arrive around 3:30.  Like Rog says, "I got no where to go and a long time to get there."   

A recap from the first journal I tried

Yesterday: 

New Shoes

Day one of the trip - Sparks, NV to Weed, CA.  212 miles on two lane roads that Roger hates and I love because the scenery is super.  There is still snow on Mt. Lassen and on Mt. Shasta. Beautiful! 

We stopped at Honey Lake Rest Area south of Susanville, CA for lunch and there was a guy there shoeing horses!! The two gentlemen apparently meet there when it's time for new shoes because they live 180 miles apart.  It wasn't something you see every day in a out of the way rest area.  


Maggie is not a happy traveler.  She shakes and shivers and hyperventilates the whole day in the truck.  We have put a little bed on the console and buckled her in and she just doesn't like it at all.  She alternates between her perch and my lap but never stops shivering.  

Long first day, though, despite the relatively short distance.  First days always are tough - have to unpack and put things away and Rog always gets to fix something when we set up.  This time it was the rear stabilizers that didn't want to come down and for some reason all the handles on the cupboard doors rattled loose and some fell off.  

Today - Weed, CA to Canyonville, OR

The day did not start out auspiciously.  Rog woke early with dizziness and nausea, the dog was still stressed out and shaking in her boots, and I pulled a back muscle yesterday while setting up.  Rog and I took meds for our issues and Maggs had to tough it out!  Fortunately it was a short day.

Rog got a nap, while Maggie and I sat outside in the shade with a lovely breeze.  We are at Seven Feathers RV park.  What a nice place!  We have stayed here once before and really like it.  We have, in our travels, stayed at several Indian casinos all over the country and we have yet to get a bad one. They are usually nicer than most RV parks - and we get a free shuttle to the casino :-)  

Earlier in the day we passed a large car carrier with some very expensive looking vehicles on it.  We couldn't make out what they were - but they looked quite pricey.  This evening when we went to get fuel we stopped at the attached diner to get something to eat.  What do you know - one of the same type of cars and in it's very own marked spot! - A Tesla.  Wow, are they beautiful!  

Maggie has calmed down considerably and we had a nice quiet evening while I tried with some amount of frustration to figure out the best way to do this travel journal.  So I think I finally have it - shall ask a few folks to check it out before I distribute widely, though.

A New Way to Journal

I started out with a new journal app that I downloaded to the computer and phone because it promised ease of use, syncing and sharing.  Well, the ease of use was good and it was great at syncing, but I couldn't figure out how to share.  So, started looking around for something new to try that hopefully is easy for folks to find and read if they want to.  I got the idea from a friend whose daughter is in Africa and is using blogspot to write her journal.  I hope this works out!