Saturday March 3 Day 44

We tried to get up early to get on route home and eventually had everything ready to go.  We pulled out of the Elks RV lot @ 9:20 @ 50349 miles.  We were making good time, traffic was medium and then we got to Tacoma.  There is a lot of new road construction going on, even the GPS was confused as we finally found a sign to say we were on I 5 north while the GPS kept saying “recalculating”.  As we drove past the Tacoma Dome we knew we were on the right road and the GPS finally agreed.  But it was slow and 4 or 5 lanes of solid traffic.  They had overhead speed signs hanging over each lane & at one point there were 6, “30 MPH” signs.  When we finally got north of Tacoma it smoothed out again although traffic was still heavy, it moved OK.   My only problem was the curb lane kept going to an “exit only” lane & I’d have to try to move over.  Fortunately there is a lot of warning about these exit only lanes so I could always eventually move over with out running anyone off the road.  Although I did notice sometimes, that after having my signal on for a short while, I started to move over and the car in my side mirror suddenly braked or changed lanes. It pays to be big. We finally stopped at a rest area, the one just north of Tulalip Casino, (around exit 210 I think),  to have lunch.  Pulled in @ 12:35 @ 50516 miles and out again @ 1:45.  We pulled of in Ferndale at the last Flying J/Pilot station for our last gas fill. We pulled off the hwy at 2:40 PM @ 50571, back on Hwy @ 3:00.  The electronic sign close to the border said wait time for Blaine 45 minutes, Pacific Hwy 15 minutes.  Arrived at border line @ 3:15 and through & out @ 3:35.  We are finally at our RV storage yard at 40607 miles @ 4:20.  It took an hour and a bit to pack up everything & pull out heading for home.

SYNOPSIS OF TRIP

Miles covered by RV – 2,737

Trip length in Days -    44

Gas used by RV – 406.684 USG 

Cost of gas - USD $1098.48

Total cost on trip of EVERYTHING - $3871.07 USD

Average cost per day of EVERYTHING – $87. 98 USD

Friday March 2 Day 43

Up to light rain. We are trying to make an early start so we can go to the local breakfast place that has a coupon in the Hi-Way Haven Camp ground info/map sheet.  We pulled out of the campground at 9:05 @ 50136 mi.  If we have a good breakfast we can maybe drive straight through and get to a stop a bit closer to home than Kelso.  Kelso is about 40 miles from the Oregon border so about 230 miles from the BC border.  Anyway we were at breakfast at the Apple Pedaler, (a 24 hr. restaurant in the town of Sutherin and about a ½ mile from the campground), 9:15 to 10:20 and pulled out to the I 5 in the RV at 50137 mi. Then into a Flying J for gas at 12:45 @ 50279 mi and out @ 1:10.  As it worked out we lost a lot of time in a traffic backup going into Portland. No idea why but it was 3 lanes wide, solid but moving very, very slowly and this is at 1:30 or so in the afternoon. Anyway by the time we got to Kelso, 2:40 @ 50349 mi, I figured we didn’t have time to make our second choice, the Elks Lodge in south Seattle suburbs, (Puyallup), as any delay would put me trying to navigate suburban streets to a place I had never been to before in the twilight or even dark. The drive from Kelso to Puyallup is 2 hours just on a straight run with out any delays.  Even with the GPS I opted to not try it.  We stayed in the lodge lounge and had supper here.  It was halibut & chips with very tasty coleslaw & a very good tarter sauce.  Then we stayed to play the Elks races. They have 6 names on a board & a dice shaker. Each race they flip the dice & call out 3 names and the corresponding pieces move a space (or more) across the board.  There are 14 spots with number 15 being the winner. There are odds that are called out before the start, after the betting.  I tried 2 or 3 races & came out $2.00 up, Sheila played one more race & came out $6.00 down.  So tomorrow when we head home, we may take the RV to Dewdney Trunk road to facilitate unloading, we will see.

Distance travelled – 213 miles, on road time – 3 hrs 55 min’s

Thursday March 1 Day 42

I checked the TV as soon as I got up this morning, (approx. 8 am) and we didn’t get any more news on the big expected storm.  Last night’s TV news had said they were expecting 4 to 6 FEET of snow in the mountains.  So, based on the assumption there might be Hwy patrol turning back cars without chains, I planned a route back home via Coast Hwy 101.  The trouble with this route is--it requires us to backtrack over 200 miles from the pass & then about 75 miles to Coast hwy 101, then about 225 miles to get equal to where we were at the OR/CA border.  So we departed Red Bluff Elks @ 9:20 @ 49850 with trepidation.  We started our 140 mile trip to the Siskiyou Pass.  Well, before getting there we started to get a sleety snow/rain mix and a build up of snow/ice slush on the road and windshield. That plus fog made visibility not good.  And for good measure we were on the 4 lane divided road with many, many semi’s, all spraying the rain & sleet everywhere! We drove through that for an hour or more at the elevation of 3,000 feet. We actually were going up & down as I passed 3 signs at different times that all said elevation 3,000 feet.  Fortunately, Sheila was engrossed in Yvonne’s book & never looked out the front window.  If she had I’m sure she would have got up, ran to the back of the RV screaming “We’re all going to die!” Not a fun drive!  Eventually the rain/snow stopped.  Then, as we got closer to the mountain pass we came out of the storm to see clear sky, totally snow-free fields all at 3000 feet elevation.  There were several warning lights set up about who could continue depending on what you had, chains, winter tires, 4 wheel drive etc., but none of the lights were blinking so we pushed on and up.  As we approached the CA/OR border I glanced at the dash to see what temp we were at.  At 12:15 we crossed into OR at temp 38 F and at 50,000 miles exactly--just a fluke I looked at the speedometer at that moment, then, at 12:20 we reached the summit of 4310 feet.  All the way up, (once we were out of the snow storm back down the hwy), there was no snow on the road and none on the side, then, going down the other side there was snow covering all the sides of the road.  It was like the storm hit the northern side of the mountain and never went over to the southern side and a separate storm hit us 40 or so miles south, before the summit.  The trip down the mountain was fine--no snow on the road surface & bare, almost dry pavement.  We pulled off the hwy just north of Medford for cheaper OR gas at 12:50 at 50031 miles and were back on the hwy at 1:10.  Then to a rest area for a lunch stop, in @ 1:25, out @ 2:10. Then we ran into another snow/rain storm so we creped along mostly at 40 or so MPH, passing semi’s crawling up small hills and then passing them later.  That storm lasted a less then a hour.  Finally into our night stop in Sutherlin, OR at the full service Hi-Way Haven RV Park at 4:00 PM at 50136 miles.  We set up and Sheila cooked a nice supper while I crashed out for an hour. Then it’s time to explore the TV channels, work on the blog and internet stuff.  This is quite a nice campground.  It has a huge outdoor screen where they show Drive-in movies from time to time, presumable in the summer, and a really nice dining room in the clubhouse which would be great for Roamers’ outings.  Too bad it’s so far from Coquitlam.

           Distance traveled – 286 miles, on road time – 5 hrs 35 min’s