Spokane WA to Woodburn OR

Woke up this morning to two surprises... one was a half inch of fresh snow and the other was the above stuck to the door.  Sorry it`s not readable: I`ll translate.  It says we was BAD for parking overnight at the mall.  On the bright side, There`s no actual fine or anything and the Security Cop was pretty quiet about putting the notice on the window (he could have rousted us at 3:53 AM and told us to leave), so seeing as we`re not planning on being back this way for a while we`ll just treat this as a souvenir and a scrap booking opportunity.

After a nice IHOP breakfast, we were on our way as soon as it was light (no need for clearanceétail lights in the daytime!). 

Once we got out of Spokane we were back to bare ground again, so Gabby was again pretty happy about being able to walk on grass instead of snow.  Here are some pics of the scenery from Spokane down to Portland.  If you ever get the chance to travel along the Columbia River, you should.  It`s great! (Through-the-window pics don`t really do justice). 

We skirted around Portland, and arrived at the Woodburn Super Wal*Mart about 4PM.  It`s now about 8:45, and I`m pretty much all caught up on the emails and the blog thanks to my new buddy athomeBB29 who lent me his wifi signal.  It`s been raining pretty much since 3:00 or so, which at this point is a pretty good thing since maybe it`ll wash some of the gravel off the vehicles, and the outside temp right now is 41F.  Not balmy, but a real break from a couple days ago. 

Tomorrow we`ll hunt down a spot to take on water and de-winterize (probably the Pilot truck stop just down the road) and then we can kick into holiday mode for real. 

BTW, as I suspected and hoped, the tail & clearance light circuit seems to be fine now.  Some of the snow and slush must have gotten into the wiring at the back end somehow and shorted it out.  Something to investigate, but not today. 

On the road... again!

Sunday was relatively uneventful for the better part of the day.  We crossed over into the States (with no problems, as usual), and followed the familiar route through Bonner's Ferry and Sandpoint to Coeur d'Alene and Spokane.  Only one picture worth looking at from this portion: this is the rest area just west of Coeur d'Alene.  Note the lack of any white stuff on the ground (although to be fair the temps were still about 23F). 

We had a small adventure: after stopping to take on groceries near Spokane, we had an electrical short in the clearance/tail lights that kept blowing the fuse.  Discretion being the better part of valour, and not wanting to be rear ended by a maniac on I-90, we swung into the Spokane Valley Mall to try to fix the problem.  That didn`t work so we decided to be safe and just spend the night. 

On the Road!

OK, the people who thought I'd wait until Wednesday to leave are probably the same ones who thought I should stay home - or go to Winnipeg.  Temperature was a balmy -33.7C Saturday morning, so really no reason not to head out on the highway.  I'm starting to like those little magnet mount heaters, as with one of those stuck to the oil pan all night she cranked and fired without much difficulty. 

Fortunately I couldn't tell the temperature once we were in the Bounder, as my thermometers in there were frozen up.  But this was the view out the front window when we left about 11 AM, having had the defrosters running on high since about 8 while we were loading.  Eventually I stopped and fetched a fan from the back to get the air flowing on that side. 

My travelling companion had it a little better on the right-hand side: see, she even had her coat undone at one point!

After a stop in Ponoka to warm up and mooch lunch off Red and Diane, we had an uneventful trip all the way over to Cranbrook.  I have to say I'm impressed at the Bounder's ability to handle the cold even considering the obvious fact that it just wasn't made to travel in -30 degree temps.  Have to also thank the Ford chassis as it held together very well. 

As I expected, once we got across the Crowsnest temps warmed up considerably (as far as I could tell).  I thinke we had -10 or -15C in Cranbrook overnight, and the furnace was quite able to keep up since it didn't have the 90 KMH wind to contend with. 

Make up your mind!

OK, now it's getting silly.  Looks like neither Saturday NOR Sunday is gonna be a banner travel day... but Wednesday looks OK.  What do you figure the odds are of me waiting until Wednesday (trick question, since you already know the answer)? 

Just look at the poor Bounder.  I can't possibly make her wait longer, can I?

 

Uh oh.

OK, before you write to me and tell me Blogger isn't updating properly, I'm actually posting this on Monday the 14th.  But to keep things in order I've backdated.  So maybe every once in a while you need to go back and re-read the past posts!  Just kidding (maybe).  Anyway...

As you can see from above, the weather guy changed his mind a bit from earlier in the week, and now things looked not so good for the "wait til Sunday" plan.  In case you're wondering what the value of those below-the-line days are, here's the forecast:

Brrr.  Anyway, reset departure to Saturday, and DRIVE LIKE HECK.

The plot thickens...

Hmmm.  What day did I say we planned to leave?  Oh, yeah, that would be Saturday - THE COLDEST DAY OF THE FREAKIN' COLD SNAP.  Y'know, perhaps it would have been a wise move to put a block heater in the MH this summer (but really, who needs a block heater in the summer??). 

No matter, really... I think we'll just lay over and leave Sunday instead.  Weather's supposed to be improving the whole way early next week, so no point pushing too hard and breaking something.  Keep you posted. 

BTW, check the upper left corner - Blogger now has a poll feature which might be interesting to play with.  Keep watching there - I'll try to change it regularly.  If you have any ideas send me a note. 

Getting ready to head south - 2009 edition

Here we are in the countdown for another 5 or 6 weeks south.  Two main differences this year, though: 1.  Leaving in mid December and returning late January, instead of late Jan/mid March, and 2.  My travelling companion's a lot better looking this time around (might even share my bed this time). 

Oh, there seems to be a third difference, too:  3.  Last time we got out of Dodge just ahead of the big cold snap of the winter, this time it looks like we might be a week late.  Have a look:

The original plan is to head across to Cranbrook then down through Spokane to Portland, hit the coast and wander down to San Francisco.  Couple days there, then south and east to Phoenix in time for Christmas.  My Canuckleheads are playing there Dec 27, so it would be cool to see a game.  After that???

The weather's not looking great for a Saturday departure, though, and the SF forecast is rain next week.  Have to keep an eye on that. 

Smoky Lake Pumpkin Festival

Once again we borrowed Fuzzy and went to check out the Pumpkin Festival in Smoky Lake.  No camping this time - this was a day trip.  All I can say is... they certainly take the gourds seriously. 

Garner Lake - Fall Colours Tour

We snuck a nice (and unbooked) weekend to get a last camping trip in for the summer.  We thought e'd go a bit retro and head for Floating Stone, but it was closed for the season already so we backtracked a bit to Garner.  No matter - we spend most of the weekend in the car seeing the sights. 

While we were touring the fall colours, of course we had to take in the big perogy in Glendon and the UFO landing pad in St. Paul. 

West to BC!

I got a new co-pilot on the trip over to Chetwynd and Fraser Lake to visit the parents - we kidnapped Isabella (Fuzzy Belly) for the trip.  She seems pretty much a natural for the right seat, and I had her saying "on the road again" almost from the start. 

Of course, she has to get used to some road food for travelling - rotisserie chicken with all the fixins - does it get any better than that? 

Isabella got her first chance to swim in a real lake... think she took to it?  You tell me.  Only downside was that we neglected to remove the Pamper, so the lake level dropped a couple in inches by the time we left. 

Camping's not camping without 5:00 "Hooch Time".  This one's at Mount Robson. 

Cold Lake Airshow

We headed to Cold Lake for the annual airshow and a visit with Al and Cathy.  Boondocked at the rodeo grounds, which was OK - nice an rustic.  But no pictures again!  Somebody needs a smack! 

We decided rather than fighting parking downtown we'd pick up a bus from one of the marshalling areas.  This is part of the lineup that was ahead of us.  Needless to say we missed the first couple overflights. 

And this was the crowd in two directions when we finally got down to the beach. 

The Snowbirds did a great job, as usual.  As did all the other acts. 

East, to Saskatchewan!

I needed to be in Waskesiu for meetings, and it was time to pay a visit to Wendy's grandma in Humboldt, so we decided to make a trip out of it.  Of course the first night stop was in North Battleford at the WM. 

Then we swung south of Saskatoon to check out the casino... nice!  Free overnight parking - with power.  Not too crowded.  Feeling a bit sorry for them I left a small donation inside. 

The community campground in Humboldt.  Cozy would be the nice way of saying it.  Apparently I didn't take any pics of the Trailer Park in Waskesiu, so you'll have to take my word for it.  Campgrounds there were VERY quiet. 

Whitney Lakes again

Back out to Whitney again (quickly becoming a favourite destination!).  This is a viewing platform overlooking the North Saskatchewan, just south of Elk Point. 

Elk Island National Park

We took advantage of the free camping out at Elk Island to get a spring shakedown trip in.  Yup, that's snow in the background... but hey - we're not exactly tenting. 

Everybody's rarin' to go on another summer!

Huw and Bev even dropped by on their way through. 

Whitney Lakes Fall Tour

With the weather still being nice and having a feeling of accomplishment at getting the roof done, we treated ourselves to a fall weekend out at Whitney Lakes. 

It was a beautiful weekend and we had the place almost to ourselves. 

Roof renew

As you can see, the Bounder was due for some TLC to the rubber roof.  Counting on some nice sunny dry fall days in September I ordered the Dicor kit and waited. 

Sure enough, we got a perfect weekend, and over the course of about 4 days I was able to do the treatment. 

Not too much muscle work involved, if you're thinking about it.  The most work involved was in cleaning off the black streaks that worked their way under the plastic during the cleaning process (the kit said to keep the cleaner off paint, hence the plastic.  If I do it again though I might take my chances and skip the masking as that was the most time consuming part). 

et viola!  A nice white roof again!  Wear your sunglasses if you go up there on a bright day!