Day 96 Friday April 19

We started to get a little rain last night & there were some light showers in the morning.  We pulled out of Kelso Elks @ 53609 @ 10:00 and proceeded up hwy 5 in sporadic showers; I needed windshield wipers but not on full & not all the time.  I saw a lighted highway information sign that said “Secure Loose Loads   Emphasis Patrols on Now”, why the word emphasis, what does that mean?  We did a rest area lunch stop @  53776 miles, & had our leftover Red Lobster meal, from 1:35 to 2:55.  Sheila took over driving until 3:55 @ 53836 miles.  We got to the border at 4:10 and cleared by 4:15.  We arrived at storage 4:50 @ 53867 miles, unloaded a little bit and left at 6:00 for home.

Trip synopsis

Miles covered in RV               2737

Gas used by RV                      331 US Gallons ave 8.27 MPG

Trip length – days                   96

Cost of all trip expenses        US$ 6477.26

Ave per day cost                     US$ 67.47

Day 95 Thursday April 18

We pulled out of 7 Feathers at 9:50 @ 83360 miles.  Lunch stop at a rest area 12:20 – 1:15.  The dashboard temp readout says 68F outside but it feels nice & warm. Sheila took over driving after lunch & drove up into the gas station about 70 miles short of Portland, stopped 2:00 – 2:15 @ 53539 miles.  I took over to navigate through Portland, it was just after 2:30 and traffic was thick.  I try to be in a lane with only traffic on one side but that doesn’t always work well what with entrance lanes and exit lanes going on & off the highway. We made it to the Kelso Elks at 3:55 @ 83609 miles.  Got parked & hooked up and went into the lodge to do the computer stuff.  There is a Red Lobster here a cpl hundred feet or so away.  Sheila saw a special she wants to try when we were at the Red Lobster in Temecula and hopes they have it here. It turned out that everything was either not on the menu or the sale ends at 3 PM weekdays or it ends at 6 PM every day. Lots of neat dishes but not the specific ones Sheila was looking for on sale, they did have some but not at sale prices.  None the less we had a marvellous dinner and brought a lot home. We are both full so it’s veg out night tonight.  

Distance 249 miles – Time on road 4 hours 55 mins

Explanatory note

The next 2 post Aprils 16 & 17 were published today - April 18 because we had no internet service at Nancy's Airport Cafe stop in Williams CA and at Seven Feathers casino in Oregon. Today's blog entry may be tonight or tomorrow from home.  We are currently, (April 18 Thursday, late afternoon), at Kelso Elks WA.

Day 94 Wednesday April 17

It got a bit cooler at night getting down into the mid to high 50’s F.  But it warmed nicely during the day. In the morning, we discover a couple of trucks & another RV had parked sometime during the night--we never heard anything. We got up, had breakfast etc & were away by 9:30 at 53068 miles. We got to the summit of the Siskiyou’s at 12:55 just after we crossed the CA/OR state line at 12:50 PM.  We were going to stop at a rest area at the base of the mountain but it was closed for construction so we motored on. We stopped at a pilot gas stop 1:35 to 2:00, I put in 44.028 USG at $3.049 a gallon.  I have discovered that on my dashboard, instead of having a trip mile counter I can have it say mileage to empty, a much more useful number. We pulled out of the gas station at 2 PM after gassing up & buying some Subway & Taco Bell lunch goodies.  We immediately pulled into a parking lot across the hwy from the gas station for our lunch stop, 2:00 to 2:35.  Then off down the hwy to Seven Feathers where we are dry camped beside the casino at 3:50 @ 53360 miles.   We checked & they have their $9.99 buffet special on Mon. to Thurs. and tonight they have pork ribs, & beef ribs in addition to the normal buffet stuff and that it is all inclusive--nothing extra for drinks or desserts. There was a line up so one of the staff gave us a beeper disk so we could  sit in the lounge next door & listen to the entertainer while we waited for a table.  After stuffing ourselves with the buffet we returned to the lounge about 10 to 15 minutes before the next show.  It was a country singer so we didn’t know many of the tunes but she was good and had a good back up group – guitar, drums, & bass.  We stayed to the end at 10, then Sheila went to contribute money to the casino, (i.e. play video poker) while I came home.  She arrived about a half hour later having lost most of the money she won on the trip south in January.   

Distance 292 miles – Time on road 5 hrs 20 mins

Day 93 Tuesday April 16

Out Sun & Fun RV Park @ 52764 miles @ 10:05 and north bound on Hwy 99 to our gas fill-up.  Stopped at a rest area for lunch at 12:20 & out again at 1:20.  The “via Point” system on the GPS worked just as it was supposed to, it found the shortest, quickest route over to hwy 5 and we pulled off the I-5 at 2:40 @ 52950 at a Flying J station.  I filled the RV, 65.776 USG, and put gas in our car as they have the special RV filling stations there with pumps on both sides, so you can just drive in, doesn’t matter where your tank filler is, (the RV & the car have them on different sides, very inconvenient if you are towing & want to put gas in the car as well as the RV). Sheila went into the gas station and was seduced by the Cinnabon, stand so she got one.  We ate it in the RV & left the station at 3:00 heading for our night & supper stop at Nancy’s Airport café.  We pulled into Willows & parked in the large gravel lot beside Nancy’s Café at 5 pm @ 53069 miles.  They have graded the large lot and it is quite reasonable to drive on now – no potholes except at the entrance. We are here for the night so we went in for supper. After supper it is computer catch-up time & relaxing--no TV as we don’t have power & I will not run the generator just to watch TV

Distance 305 miles – Time on road 5 hours 15 mins - averaged 58 MPH

Day 92 Monday April 15

Day 1 on the road.  I got up had my coffee & frosted mini wheat’s cereal breakfast. Then I went about doing closing, storing, unhooking etc.  Sheila got up & we were ready to go by 9:50, we ran into a small snag getting the car hooked up due to the low mounted parts scraping on cement parking spacers and needing to be interchanged left to right side so the non burred side was up and I needed to spray the entrance stair joints with WD40 after not moving for 3 months & getting rained on.  All fixed & away by 10:20 AM at 52504 MILES, note that all mileages etc are going to be in miles not kilometres. The next delay was one of my making.  I had set our destination in the GPS and put in a “Via Point” so as to get us going on the correct hwy system.  Up hwy 76 to Hwy 10 and onto Hwy 10 westbound and then we came to a crawling stop in traffic--every lane was solid cars & trucks.  I got a GPS message to take a turn to Hwy 60 which didn’t seem familiar but in the middle of traffic I didn’t have much choice.  The hwy by now is 7 lanes wide in each direction and solid traffic, going only 10 to 15 MPH!  I got another change of hwy notice from the GPS & by now I’m sure I have never been on these hwys.  However, there nowhere to pull off & if I did, I would have a problem getting back on the hwy. The GPS was still counting down mileage to our destination & giving time of arrival notes so I trusted in technology and kept going.  We ended up on Hwy 5 at the north end of LA and we wanted to stop for lunch but, there were no rest areas until 2:45 PM.  4 hours after heading out of GVP, we found one & stopped.  We had only covered 161 miles in 4 ¼ hours!  We had a nice lunch and headed out again at 3:40 PM.  Now that we were clear of the LA traffic nonsense, and we made better time.  We pulled into our campground, (Fun in the Sun), at 5:20 at 52764 miles, - 100 miles in 1hr 40 mins. We got a pull-through which saves unhooking.  Sheila went to their pool, supposedly heated to 78 but did not go in because it felt too cold, but she did shower and wash her hair.  I stayed to do the journal and relax.  It was a tiring day being at the wheel for about 6 hours.  Fortunately the slow driving paid off, in that I wasn’t feeling stressed driving even when surrounded on all sides by big semi’s.  They were going as slow as me and we were both big rigs —so, no problem. Now, the reason I got into that mess of traffic is that when I turned the GPS off Sun night & on again Mon morning. It showed the route, destination, times & mileages but what I didn’t know was that the “Via Point” had disappeared, so the GSP quite properly took me on what should have been the fastest roads to I-5 & up to 99 & to our campground on Hwy 99 instead of going the route I normally drive--a light-traffic 2 to 4 lane hwy. I know for future to do my planning just before I go, set up the GPS, & leave, and check the route, which I will do for tomorrow’s run.  Besides WiFi they have TV here, so we can get our Monday night shows.  If we can watch some of our series shows here it saves time when we are home & there is a lot to do beside watch TV.

Day 91 Sunday April 14

Our last full day at GVP.  Sheila couldn’t resist the call of the WVB pool; she went up for one last session.  I stayed at the RV putting stuff away & preparing for a quick getaway Monday morning, please note, a quick getaway our style is coffee, breakfast, & out by 9:30 or so – usually the “or so” part.  We will go to Winco this afternoon for last minute supplies and then hopefully just relax this evening. Sheila got back from WVB & had a great time.  They had about 8 a side, so lots of action, lots of fun--she really enjoyed it!  Sheila said she had to pick up a couple of things at the dollar store so she went out about 2:15.  Well, she got back about 4:45 and then had to unload and put her compression stockings on, so we didn’t get out to Winco till well after 5. We did pick up one of their BBQ chickens and deli salads for tonight’s supper & probably tomorrow’s lunch and/or supper.  By the time we got back, supper was a 6:30 operation & I was starved!  After supper Sheila went out again for something that Winco didn’t carry.  I’m just going to relax & watch TV. Everything is done except the morning jobs just before we get rolling, (disconnect power, TV, put sewer pipe away & putting tension bars in the Fridge & cupboards so stuff doesn’t shift or fall out etc etc).