Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Two Weeks at Home

 

And have they ever been busy, fun things like visiting with family, we had lunch with my brother Rod and SIL Kathy, Edd,our oldest son drove up from Victoria for an afternoon (Megan was sick), Corey the youngest son  brought granddaughter Rylin for a visit. Grandson Colton came and stayed for a few days.We went to Gabriola Island for dinner with our middle son, Stuart and his girl friend Tanya.

The weather hasn’t been very good, Saturday and Sunday were lovely, but we are back to rain showers again this week. We did mange to get out in the garden a couple of days, but we have hardly made a dent in our overgrown weedy garden.  I cleaned the  inside of the motorhome so we are ready to go when the mood strikes us.

It seems odd to be home, I guess because of the weather,it is hard to get into a routine.

When we are travelling we don’t keep the exact records that some of our friends do, but we do save our gas receipts and keep track of our mileage and any campground fees .

So after 180 days away from home,   we drove  5,097 miles

We spent  $2308.62 for gas for the motorhome.

                $ 487.93 for  gas for the tracker.

               $ 322.41 for propane        

We boon docked   155 days,

Paid        $325.00 for 25 days in campgrounds.                                 

That is a total of $3443.00  for gas and accommodation. We are so glad we got the solar system last year.

We are already talking about next winter, we’d would  really like to try Mexico, we would stay in Rv parks and we are not sure if that is feasible with three dogs. Lots to think about.

 

Jean

 

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Friday, March 16, 2012

Glad To Be Home

 

We spent our last night in the US  at the Northern Lights Casino at Anacortes Washington, where Skip’s sister Pam lives. We have stayed there before in the full service RV Park. The weather was terrible, pouring rain and very windy. They are in the middle of building a hotel onto the casino, and the road was in terrible condition, from all the trucks and heavy equipment.

Skip and I  went to Pam’s house for a while then the three of us went to a restaurant called  El Jinetet for a good Mexican dinner.

Tuesday morning we woke up to this.

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All the way to the border.

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There was no line up at the border, we were asked the usual questions and welcomed home to Canada.

And there was no snow!

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For awhile, then we had sleet

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And bridge construction to deal with.

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We caught the 12.30 ferry to Vancouver Island, and by 3pm we were passing Nanoose Bay. No snow, no rain.

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Fifteen minutes later we pulled in our drive way, glad to be home. Our little house looked so  big after six months in the motorhome.

I think the yard needs a little work though.

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We have been home three days, the motorhome is mostly unpacked, our van is reinsured, and some of the leaves are raked up, now if only the temperature would warm up.

Jean

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Halfway Home

 

We are about halfway home it has been an  interesting few days I guess.We haven’t had an internet connection for three days. We spent Monday night in a rest area at Oceanside which is north of San Diego. That wasn’t the plan but that is where we ended up.Which meant Tuesday we were travelling through Los Angeles at morning rush hour. Now as my friends and family know, I don’t like crowds of people or  driving in big cities. Especially in a RV towing a car. Unfortunately I wasn’t driving, and Skip figured everyone should drive through LA once. Well, he was wrong and we were not friends by the time we reached Ventura.

Wednesday morning we were headed for San Francisco which Skip assured me we would reach after rush hour and that the traffic wouldn’t be bad at all.  The traffic was terrible, there was a lot of road work but the GPS took us right into the city.

A trolley car on Market St.

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I liked this house, the picture isn’t crooked the street is

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It was just after we passed this house that we realized to get to the Golden Gate Bridge we had to go down one of the steep streets San Francisco is famous for.

This picture does not do it justice, the road went straight down for four blocks with a four way stop at each intersection.

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The sign at the crossroad said high crest, trucks not advised, and there we were in a 30 foot motorhome towing , it was terrifying.

The Golden Gate Bridge

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Alcatraz

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We spent Wednesday night just north of Leggit California, in Standish Hickey SRA

Our site

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Mossy trees

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Yesterday we drove to Oregon, we usually stay at Harris Beach but this time we drove to Cape Blanco State Park.

Along the way,

 

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Our site at Cape Blanco

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The Road to the beach

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The Beach is magnificent

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Sophie and Louie were so happy to run on the beach

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Jake chasing Sophie

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The wind was really cold, but the kids on the beach were barefoot, and one boy had no shirt on. click to enlarge.

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We stayed here two nights, and tomorrow Saturday we are going inland to Eugene.

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Our last desert sun rise at Holtville Ca.

Jean

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Last Day in Holtville

 

Tomorrow we begin our trip home to Vancouver Island. we spent today getting ready, cleaning  windows, stowing the chairs and tables, the dish is put away.

In the morning we will go in to Holtville to dump our tanks and take on fresh water, then we are off to El Cajon, where we will spend the night and leave Tuesday morning for the California coast. It will be 172 days since we left home. We are planning on taking ten days to get home. I am quite happy to be heading north, Skip isn’t quite ready.

When we were at Joshua Tree, Skip came across these Big Horn Sheep, they saw him and kept moving away so he couldn’t get close to them.

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I .keep losing the signal for some reason …strange because we have had 4 bars since the day we came to Holtville.

Talk to you in a day or two

Jean