Home again, Home again

Aug 21 Monday Lac La Hache, BC



After a nice night in the motel, we hit the road again, refreshed and rested and both of us enjoyed a wonderful shower. That was after I sat in the whirlpool last night until I was wrinkled like a prune! Ohhhh that was nice.



BC is so pretty and we really do enjoy this drive. And the closer we get to home, the more we enjoy things! We are in the Frazier River Valley and it is absolutely beautiful. Everything is so green and fertile; hay crop is baled in most places and other crops are just now being harvested. There are a lot of high end horse ranches up here as well. I think Lori would enjoy seeing some of these! Cortney, do you remember this area?



We are stopped for the night at Fir Crest RV and Resort on Lake Lac La Hache. What a beautiful place. We think we would like to come back next year for a week just here…possibly Gary and Jeannette would like to join us and/or Dick and Lano and/or Denise and Gordon and/or……………? It is so pretty, we could back our RV’s right up to the lake, they have great RV spots. The lake has great fishing in June and we could also rent a boat. I am bringing back info on it. Start saving your pennies and we could make this a great trip. There is a lot to see from here as well.



The weather was almost perfect today! Sunny, a few high clouds, and 85 degrees. We drove with the windows down most of the day just enjoying the fresh, warm air. Both dogs had their heads out for a while as well, sniffing and enjoying getting wind blown.



Ahhhhhhhhhhhh in the distance I hear a train! We must be in an RV park! We have noticed that a lot of RV Parks are close to railroad tracks. That’s okay, just getting us ready for Odessa!



We saw a couple of very funny signs today. One sign said “Prairie Dog Farm and Meat” – that had me scratching my head and saying “HUH?” Do you think? NAH! Well, I guess maybe if ----nah! Never heard of Prairie dog meat! About 50 miles down the road there was a sign that read “West End Trial Rides” -- okay, what the heck does that mean? I am sure it should have read “trail” however it did make me giggle….brought back memories of a trip through Arkansas with Donna Bearden….Ride-a-Pest! Then I just broke out in loud laughter. That is one thing I will NEVER forget Donna and I still laugh at.



We are about 400 miles from home. I have a feeling once Al gets going tomorrow we won’t stop until Odessa! Which is fine with me. We have been in this camper for 10 days now…about 10 too many. Needless to say, once we get home, I am unloading this sucker, cleaning it and hanging a “For Sale” sign on it! I want my 5th wheel back! This camper would be fine if it was just the two of us, however, with the big dogs, 2 cats and us there isn’t room to sneeze. We have done pretty good in it, and it would be great for very short trips, but never a long one again in it. We need our space…even the dogs are getting grumpy and the cats are yowling they need space. So, adios camper! Sun Country, get the 5th wheel ready…



Critter count: 1 lonely deer



Aug 22 Oliver, BC



Ah… I can almost smell it…home! We are about 200 miles from home and I can’t remember a time I was so anxious to get home. Living in this tin house for 12 days and in our tin house in Alaska for 45+ days makes be ready for ROOM! And I am not alone, Al and all the animals agree…we need to stretch our legs.



We left this morning in glorious sunshine….and wound up in a smoky mess. It is really smoky here from the fires in Winthrop and Omak WA. We have just heard about 2 new fires just started in Omak, so it really makes it smoky here. The sun has that weird red glow, the smoke red glow.



It has been warm all day and we are loving it. We drove with the windows down most of the day. We decided to take the highway through Kelowna, BC instead of going over the high pass outside of Merritt BC. BIG MISTAKE! We have never seen traffic like we encountered in Kelowna! Seattle is a piece of cake compared to the mess we were in…and Tucson during snowbird season is a nothing compared to this. We sat dead still for over 30 minutes, just waiting to get through one traffic light. The bridge over the lake is narrow and down to two lanes….needless to say it takes FOREVER to get across the bridge and that backs up traffic for over 10 miles! AARRGG! We will know better to take the high pass and bypass this nightmare if we ever do this again.



We are at another wonderful RV park…Desert Gem. We have stayed here before and it is so well kept up and clean. We really do enjoy this park. It has a good restaurant with in walking distance for us as well.



Tomorrow home….



Aug. 23, Wednesday ODESSA!



FINALLY --- cats are out stretching their legs and OFF THEIR LEASHES after being tethered to them for 9 long weeks. Dogs are busy marking their territory and checking out all of the different smells that have been made in the last few months. And we are HOME. We arrived home around 5:00 p.m. after a long border crossing, a stop for fresh fruit and veggies (peaches are in season and so, so good) and a stop at the grocery store for milk, etc. The border crossing was very interesting this time. Not only were they checking each and every vehicle closely, (opening trunks, all doors, looking under them, etc.) all RV’s were pulled over for additional inspections. The US Customs agents were very thorough and professional and nice to work with. Of course, I have a soft spot for our Customs Agents having worked with them for the last 20 years, starting in Saudi Arabia. However, they did confiscate Al’s bologna! Al had found this Ukrainian Garlic Bologna Ring that he really liked. We made a special stop at 100 Mile House, BC for it, buying 3 rings and throwing them in the freezer. We were very careful about produce we were bringing back to the US, but didn’t give the bologna a second thought! Well….the bologna contained Canadian Beef, which you can not bring back to the US (Mad cow disease) and even though the bologna only contained less that 2% Canadian beef, we had to give it up. Now instead of having mad cow disease, I have a mad husband!



Odessa has never looked so good…we were more than ready to be home and out of the camper. Know anybody looking to buy a camper? Send them our way, such a deal we will make them!



We have fires all around us; the biggest of course is the Tri-Pod fire near Winthrop, which we get the smoke from; as well as the fires in Omak, which we could see driving through and now fire near Colfax that seems to be out of control as well, along with the multitude of fires burning around Spokane. We drove through smoke from Oliver, BC until we got to Wilbur, WA, at which time the smoke cleared. However, as I write this (10:00 p.m.) we have smoke and I truly don’t know from which fire. When we were having lunch in Tonasket a fire crew came in for lunch. There were 20 of them and they had just completed 14 days on the Tripod fire and were on their way home for 2 days before returning to the fire lines. The fire boss said it is bad everywhere. It is very, very dry here---we could have used some of that Alaska rain we had last 9 weeks! I spoke to my brother in Alaska tonight and he said it was still raining, mudslides and flooding everywhere! And we thought it was just because we were there it was raining! :-) Guess not!



Jerry and Ardis stopped by tonight we barbequed a tri-tip and had a short visit with them. It is so good to have them near by.



So now we are going to start the long process of unloading, sorting and getting ready to load the 5th wheel….this never seems to end! At least I am finally home and can take my time. However, I did manage to fall out of the camper this afternoon -- landing on my back and left hip. Needless to say, I am a bit scraped up and bruised, but I don't think I broke anything....just hurts like heck.



We traveled a total of 8,422 miles while gone (including trips to and from Kenai River to Anchorage, Homer, etc.); total travel miles to and from Odessa to Kenai River was 5,203; and we used 610.6 gallons of diesel for travel to and from only, at an average cost of $3.56 per gallon…you do the math, I don’t want to!



We had a good trip, caught lots of fish and will do it again probably, however, NOT in a camper and probably will not drive it again, but fly next year. So thus ends our Alaska 2006 trip.



Aug. 24.....Just a note...we are doing the unloading routine, albeit, I am alittle slow today as I am pretty sore. Guess I wasn't made for falling...I don't bounce well. Okay Suzi, you can stop laughing now! At least I don't have any black eyes....just a very black and blue hip, back and leg!



Very smoky here today....and only 80 degrees, but that is okay, I am finally in a pair of shorts...haven't had shorts on since June 9!



Until next time...we finally are

UNWROAMIN' Wraspirs!