BACK IN CANADA

I am now quite comfortably settled in at my new residence at "I and M RV Park".  It is located on a farm and therefore I have lots of space and Bennie can run around and chase the barn cats. 

These hosts have very high standards to live up to though since the bar was set quite high by my hosts at L & L RV Park.  So far so good though as I have been treated royally with an abundance of help getting set up, a lovely cuppa tea made for me and of course dinner served.  The 'REAL' test will be of course tomorrow morning to see if I will get breakfast delivered to my door as my previous hosts did - see here


The traffic going through this particular border crossing wasn't bad…..

I'm getting closer and closer….


And I arrive safe and sound back in Canada after travelling 9,873miles/15,889kms since I left Newfoundland on November 3, 2010.


But immediately I see a problem !!  WTF is this !!???


They want me to do 80MPH on this little country road ??  No wait – it's KPH !!  OK so what is 80KPH again ?  When I first crossed into the United States back in November I thought I'd never get used to Fahrenheit and Miles and Feet etc. Damn metric stuff Canada decided to go with years ago !!  As a matter of fact, I had conversion websites permanently opened on my computer. 

Thankfully (or so I thought back then) my rig has MPH, with KPH in small letters.  It's funny how quickly one can get used to things though.  I am (and have been for quite some time) 'thinking' in miles and Fahrenheit.  Now I have to change my thinking again.  I mean let's face it, when it's 20C am I warm or cold ?  I need to know these things !!!

The problems continue as I am to turn right at this little road but look what I encounter……


WTF is that ???  I know my rig is somewhere in the 11' to 12' high range but how many 'feet' is 4.1 meters ???  I wouldn't chance it of course so I pull over to crank up my computer to do the conversion – NO INTERNET !!!  My computer knows it's now in Canada and therefore my Verizon stick thingie won't give me a signal.  How does it know that ?? 

I found another turn off and took that to arrive at I & M RV Park – with no car in the driveway !!  hmmmm, they know I am arriving as I had already spoken with Irene earlier this morning. 

Guess what ?  Well I was supposed to call after I crossed the border and Irene was going to come get me and I would just follow her to their place.  I decided (without telling them) that I didn't need to do that as I had googled the directions. 

So my dear friend is about as patient as I am (and that's not saying much !!) so got tired of waiting for me to call and got in the car and drove to the border.  So I'm at her place and she is at the Border !!  LOL


Irene lost her dearly beloved 'Hugo' just last year but hung on to many of his coats.  Bennie immediately inherited one of them….


What was I to do ?  I couldn't refuse now could I ?  That would have been impolite !!

I'll gets pics of my new accommodations tomorrow but suffice is to say I had a lovely and relaxing evening with good friends. There is no pool or hot tub here however I feel the amazing mountains views will more than make up for that.

DAMN YOU OREGON COAST !!

I just couldn't take it anymore !!  So cold and so much rain.  The following videos will give you a wee glimpse…

How cold was it you might ask ?  Well so cold that I had to put my clothes by the heater to warm them up !! They were da pure ICE when I took them out of the closet.


I left Beverly Beach State Park with the intentions of driving along the Oregon Coast for one more day and then heading over to the I-5 for my final descent back into British Columbia, CANADA !  My destination for that day was Tillamook, Oregon.

I wasn't on the road very long and the driving conditions were so awful I said "SCREW THIS !"  At Tillamook, I saw a sign for a route to Portland and took it.

It was pouring rain so hard and the rain drops were so large they almost looked like snow.  Pffft !  Snow !  Silly me !!  It's frikkin' the end of April.  But sure enough it was SNOW – and not just looking up into the mountains.  This disgusting stuff was on the ground.

I trucked on and eventually made it to Wally's in Cornelius, Oregon where I spent the night.  Thankfully today was beautiful driving conditions = NO RAIN and although it wasn't 'warm', it was nice and sunny. 
I now get to add another State to my map..

These pics are entering the Seattle area – not hard to tell I'm back in the big city zone. YUCK


Of course it's about mid afternoon by the time I reach Seattle and guess what…


Seattle is not a 'pretty' City, but look at that gorgeous sky !!



Starting to see the signs for Vancouver now !!!

And look at those mountains..


I drove to Bellingham, WA today for a total of 288 miles/463kms.  That's a lot farther than I had planned but I got on the road a little earlier than usual plus the driving conditions were so good it was very relaxing.

Tomorrow I re-enter Canada and get to spend time with my long time Friend, Irene, who lives just an hour outside of Vancouver in Abbotsford.  Plus I will also get to see many old friends that I've stayed in touch with over the years.

BEVERLY BEACH STATE PARK

I woke up this morning to a strange brightness coming through my blinds. Curious as to what it could possibly be, I immediately jumped out of bed to investigate !  Very carefully I opened the blinds to the most amazing thing that looked vaguely familiar……
THE SUN !!

I had decided last night that I was going to mosey on a little more today so by about 1 o'clock this afternoon I managed to get on the road.  Not a person to be rushed you see !!

A leisurely and very scenic drive was ahead of me.  On these roads you really don't want to do more than about 40 mph due to them being narrow and curvy. I drove farther than I had actually planned – from Winchester Bay to just past Newport for a total of about 82 miles.  I was going to stop in Yachats (52 miles) but most of the SP's do not have pull-thru sites.  And I really didn't want to have to un-hook. Besides I really was enjoying the drive.
For those of you who were nagging me to take the Coast and I WARNED you that I would come after you if I regretted it – well you can relax now 'cause this route is beyond awesome. It BEGS to be ridden on a motorcycle - not in a big ol' motorhome.  The twists and curves in the road (to say nothing of the spectacular scenery) is a bikers dream ride.  My 'plan' was to find a nice campground (no shortage of them on this route) to pull in for about a week and then explore the areas on my Harley.  Alas that is not to be as the weather is simply not co-operating at all.  It's still fairly cold and POURING RAIN as I type.
         Sandie, You and Jim have got to put the Oregon Coast on your 'short' list as you would love it.  Tell Jim there is fishing everywhere around here !!

I was going through a small town just South of where I am now, stopped at a traffic light when I see this Class B in front of me.  I noticed on the rear tire cover Saskatoon, SK.  Ahhh, A fellow Canadian I thought as I glanced down to the license plate.  WELL it was none other than Newfoundland Labrador !!  First time I've seen a fellow Newfoundlander since the beginning of my travels.
I pulled around them to get side by side and we chatted through the windows while waiting for the light to turn.  They are from the same town as where I am from.  I pulled in a little farther up the road and we chatted some more.  They are also heading to B.C. and then back across Canada to home.  They are now pulled in at the next site to mine here at the Beverly Beach State Park.
I tried to get some pics and videos of the drive but it was very difficult so here's all I managed to get……

This State Park is huge and looks awesome.  I may tootle on tomorrow or stay – depending on the weather.

WINCHESTER BAY, OREGON

Really a GORGEOUS spot – if it were not FREEZING temperatures.  The high being no more than 51F/10C.  I expect you can't get near this place during the Summer months.  I was quite lazy today because of the cool temps and slept this afternoon for about 3 hours.  Later in the day I FORCED myself to go out for a walk with Bennie, but quickly retreated to get my WINTER coat – my WINTER cap – and my WINTER gloves.  I wish I were kidding but I'm not !!  It hasn't rained (so far) today but it was overcast and COLD.  I had some visitors when I opened my blinds this morning…

Bennie and I just walked across the street to the 'expensive' RV Resort, although by California Coast standards these rates are cheap !!  I just won't pay them when the County Park, literally across the road from this 'Resort', is $20.00 a day.

It sure is pretty there though.  Yes, the sites are more 'manicured' and the view of the Bay and Pacific Ocean is gorgeous.

The sounds of the ocean waves coming into your rig at night would be soothing – if you could open your windows without getting frost bite at night !!  LOL

Off in the distance is the mighty Pacific Ocean and although it's not clear in this pic, she sure looks angry out there.  The waves are really thrashing about.

I'm going to mosey on tomorrow so I must go Google now to see how far I have to drive BACK to California !!!

THE COAST IT IS

With all the nagging I've gotten from you guys I decided to pop on over to the Coast.  Now I hope I won't regret it otherwise you folks are in BIG trouble !!

Last night I didn't sleep very well and woke up at 5:30AM – yes, you read right AM – as in ABSOLUTE MADNESS.  Not a fit hour for anyone to be outta bed.  Yes, I do recall that this ungodly AM hour does indeed exist, however, it was when I was a young lass and just getting home for the night !!!  LOL

I was on the road by 7:00AM – hopefully never to happen again – and of course got tired in no time.  So I pulled in somewhere at sometime and crawled right back into bed.  The drive didn't start off very good as it was quite windy…..and then proceeded to get worse when it started to RAIN….no surprise there huh.

RAINING ALONG THE I-5

I took the I-5 North from Medford/Eagle Point, OR and cut off just past Myrtle Creek, OR to take the 42W to the Coast.  Guess what ?  Yup, Still raining making for horrible driving conditions !!

And YES, several hours later - still raining but once off the I-5 onto the 42W this is one wicked route to take on a motorcycle.  Great twists in the road but none of those awful 90 degree hair pin turns.  Yes, more footage of just wipers and rain !!

I had checked the numerous State Parks along the Coast, and there are many, and had decided to pull into one of those.  Never thought to check if they had pull-thru sites – they don't !!

Tonight I'm residing in a County Park in Winchester Bay, Or where they DO NOT have pull-thru sites either, however, are not busy so I managed to get myself into a back-in site.  Now I don't mean to brag or anything (yes I do !!) but check out this sweet back-in job I did even with the little pup attached !!

OK, FINE !! Jeeze, you people are such nags !!  See that picnic table there in the middle of a site parking spot – and all that grass space…

OK, So the picnic table is supposed to be on the grass (next to my rig) and I had to move it so I could do a wide swing 'into' my spot instead of having to back in…

BUT I still had to go ahead and back up (like a gazillion times !) in order to get into my spot properly.  I really am doing much better with this backing up stuff.

This is the view from my living room ..

These pics were taken about 3 1/2 seconds before the skies opened and it poured !  I think I'm gonna hang here for a couple of days…we'll see.

COAST– NO COAST ??

Today I drove a whopping 11.9 miles in some direction ?? LOL  Actually I had decided to 'hang around the house' today, took a shower; did some chores etc.  I went into Wally's to do a mini stock-up and was disappointed to find it wasn't a 'SuperCenter' one.  Have gotten used to those whereby I can get everything, including groceries, all in one spot.  Took advantage of their Garden Centre (where there's always a water hose) to fill up my water tank – yes GLENN pay attention here – it's free !  There was a Lowe's right next door which had a Garden Centre (read: water hose) but that parking lot was far too congested for my 42'.

While doing that I got chatting with one of the employees who told me there was a WalMart SuperCenter only 8 miles up the road.  I was going to just mosey around Medford anyways but despite being only 8 miles it technically is in another community of Eagle Point where I am residing tonight – still contemplating my next move.

My 'executive decision' tonight is that I AM going to head over to the Coast – but really I wonder why I bother making these 'plans' as I always seem to do something different.  LOL  Guess we'll have to wait for tomorrow to see where I'll end up.

WELCOME TO OREGON

Yesterday I drove from Corning, CA to Medford, OR = 196 miles/315kms.  I now get to add the State of Oregon to my Map.

I pulled in to the Pilot Travel Center in Weed, CA where I thought I might stay the night…..until I saw this….

It was FREEZING !!  I said "Bennie, We're getting 'da hell outta here !"  I had checked and found out there was another Pilot only about an hour or so North and it was still very early in the day.

The driving conditions are great and that sure makes for a more relaxed day and those 18 wheelies continue to behave themselves which makes the world of difference when on the Interstates.  Shortly past Redding, CA it became a little more scenic but that also meant more twists in the road and more Mountains to climb.  I saw an elevation of as high as 4,000 feet and when you are driving 42' of vehicle that was a long climb.  Of course what goes up must come down…

I was sure hoping that I wouldn't need to use one of those runaway ramps !!! 

There were a LOT of these signs in different places and I was also hoping I wasn't IN FRONT of an 18 wheelie who might happen to need to use one of them.

I pulled in to the Pilot in Medford, CA for the night.  It was still early in the day and I surveyed the situation.  This was not one of the 'good ones' whereby they had parking for cars and RV's on the opposite side of where the Truckers are parked.  So I was smack in the middle of them and that was going to make for a noisy night.  I checked to see if there was a Wally's in Town and sure enough there was.  But many Cities in the State of Oregon (much like California) have an ordinance against overnight parking but thankfully this was not one of them.  I therefore had a nice, quiet evening and night.

But now what to do ???  It is at this point I wanted to head over to the Coast and drive along there for a few days and even pull up for a week or so.  WEATHER is everything and the forecast for everywhere along the Coast is COLD and raining every day.  Sure not ideal conditions to enjoy the beautiful coast of Oregon. Have I mentioned I HATE being cold !!  My Mother always says to me that no-one could ever live with me because of the amount of heat I always have on in my home.  LOL  I will scrimp and save and cut back on anything but HEAT !!

So today I must make the decision to drive along the Coast in the cold and rain and not be able to see its awesome beauty – or stay on the I-5 and just boot it to British Columbia ??  hmmm Wonder if my site is still available at L & L RV Park – it's warm there !!  And I have been known to back track !!  LOL

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my dear friend Irene !  We have known each other since our mid twenties !!  Irene is now **cough** **cough** today !!! (pssst, it begins with a "6" but don't tell her I told you that)