Our View From The Road

Sharing where we've been and what we've seen

Category: 2022 Cross-continent tour

Our first long-distance trip with our Class-B campervan

  • July 21, 2022 – Recap and Statistics

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    Three weeks, yes it’s been that long since we arrived home after our 42 day cross-continent tour. A few friends have asked for some specifics about the trip and so we provide the following for your consideration.

    The first question tends to be about where we stayed each night. Did we find suitable camping locations? So, here are the stats for that.

    • 13 nights moochdocking (family laneways). Thank you all.
    • 3 nights at Indianapolis Motor Speedway camping field (no services).
    • 7 nights at Harvest Host locations
    • 3 nights in Walmart parking lots
    • 6 nights at KOA campgrounds (serviced).
    • 3 nights at US state park (Fort Stevens)
    • 2 nights at Canadian National Parks
    • 4 nights at Ontario Provincial Parks

    As you can see we mixed it up a bit and tried a variety of places. Favorites?

    • Harvest Host: Shiloh Winery & Vineyard, Kansas. Quiet solitude on the plains.
    • KOA: Central City, Colorado.
    • Parks Canada: Jasper, Whistlers Campground, Alberta.
    • Ontario Provincial Park: Macleod, Geraldton, Ontario.
    • Family laneway: Yeah, we’re not picking a favorite as we love you all.

    The next obvious question is about where exactly did we go? Here’s a map that shows you the route West from Ontario, across the US Midwest, up to British Columbia and the back across the Canadian prairies.

    Map of the journey

    Lastly, given the current price of fuel, folks have asked how much fuel we used and what it cost. So, here it is all laid out in a table for you to review.

    Fuel statistics

    So there you have it, a few statistics about the trip. Hoping you find them interesting.

  • Day 42: June 30 – Deep River, ON to Home

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    Good morning.

    Slept in today as it will be a short drive home from Driftwood Provincial Park. Had time to cook eggs, bacon & hash-browns and enjoy them outside…. Yes, the weather has finally cooperated to allow us to do this.

    Last breakfast on the road for this trip

    This being the day before Canada Day traffic between the park and Ottawa was much heavier than we had seen in recent days. However, we enjoyed an uneventful drive and before long we found ourselves driving into our laneway. We are home.

    We were greeted by Kyra and an overly exuberant Dublin (Kyra’s dog) both of whom had missed us these past 42 days.

    The remainder of the day will be spent unloading the van and settling back into the house.

    If you’ve followed our journey from the beginning, thank you. I hope that my writing and our travels have been engaging for you. I plan on posting one or two follow on posts in the next few days that provide some statistics and thoughts after the fact. So, stay tuned!

    Happy travelers. See you soon!

  • Day 41: June 29 – Timmins, ON to Deep River, ON

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    Today we shall complete our Hwy-11 journey and join Hwy-17 at North Bay for the journey down the Ottawa Valley.

    We pass through Earlton and wave at ‘Earl’ the bison on the way past. We stop for lunch at a quiet rest area a little North of North Bay and find an amazingly tranquil lake.

    North Bay seems overly congested after the past few days of driving. The return to civilization is a little jarring. We leave the Toronto-bound traffic and continue Eastward on Hwy-17 towards Mattawa.

    At Mattawa we spot Big Joe Mufferaw and turn towards Ottawa. Our destination for the night is Driftwood Provincial Park near Deep River as it will leave a short drive for tomorrow, our last day.

    We snag an amazing waterfront site and settle in for a relaxing afternoon in the sun. The view is incredible across the Ottawa River and the sun is warming but not hot.

    ‘Earl’ the bison in Earlton, ON
    Lunchtime view a little North of North Bay, ON
    Lunchtime view a little North of North Bay, ON
    Hwy-11 bridge
    Hwy-11 scenery
    Hwy-17 scenery
    Driftwood Provincial Park, near Deep River, ON
    View from our campsite
    Last night campfire
    Sunset
    Good night

  • Day 40: June 28 – Geraldton, ON to Timmins, ON

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    Although last nights weather forecast was only for light showers, we actually had an all out thunderstorm for about an hours or so around midnight followed by light rain the remainder of the night. By this morning the rain had ended. Yay.

    We traveled East for a few hours through the Northern Ontario wilderness and then stopped for fuel in Hearst. A short drive further and we arrived in Kapuskasing where Barb got to satisfy her desire for chip truck poutine from Nicky’s Chipstand. It was delicious (Yes I had some too).

    Leaving town we stopped at the Fromagerie Kapuskoise to buy some wonderful cheese products made with locally sourced milk (cow, sheep & goat).

    Driving along Hwy-11 you see some unusual sights; however, the flying saucer in Moonbeam probably has all others beat. We had to stop to take a photo.

    Our destination for the night is Kettle Lakes Provincial Park just East of Timmins, ON. A large park with lots of smaller lakes throughout, the campsites were roomy and separated from each other nicely. The mosquitoes are very abundant.

    Hearst, ON
    Kapuskasing railway station
    Fromagerie Kapuskoise, Kapuskasing, ON
    Moonbeam, ON
    Kettle Lakes Provincial Park near Timmins, ON
    Our campsite at Kettle Lakes

  • Day 39: June 27 – Dryden, ON to Geraldton, ON

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    Aaron Provincial Park was wonderful. Quiet and quite large sites. If you’re driving past it’s worth a stop for the night. We highly recommend.

    Slow start to the day it seems as we didn’t get rolling until about 10:00am. Today we are targeting Geraldton, ON along Hwy-11 from Thunder Bay. We’ve never driven along the northern branch of the Trans Canada highway and thought this trip was a chance to do so.

    Before we got to Thunder Bay we stopped at the marker for the crossing into the Eastern Timezone at 90degrees west. There is also a couple of plaques describing and memorializing Sir Sanford Fleming as he invented the concept of Standard Time.

    Our next stop was the Terry Fox lookout just East of Thunder Bay along Hwy-11/17. Not only is this is a wonderful place to lookout across Lake Superior it is also a fabulous memorial to an amazing Canadian. Driving here? Do not pass without stopping.

    At Nipigon we topped off our fuel, turned North onto Hwy-11 and headed toward Geraldton. The first hour is gorgeous with the road winding alongside lakes and traveling down valleys between rock outcroppings as tall as the Niagara escarpment. Eventually the road turned East again and we were now driving through the true Northlands of the province.

    Eventually we arrived at our destination for the night, Macleod Provincial Park. Again no reservation but they had an unserviced site next to the lake for us. It took a few boards to level the van but the view is worth it.

    Crossing back into the Eastern time zone
    Terry Fox memorial, Thunder Bay, ON
    Terry Fox memorial, Thunder Bay, ON
    Terry Fox memorial, Thunder Bay, ON
    Cable stay bridge East of Thunder Bay on Hwy-17
    Beardmore, ON
    View from our campsite at Macleod Provincial Park near Geraldton, ON
    Our campsite at Macleod Provincial Park
    View from Terry Fox memorial, Thunder Bay, ON

  • Day 38: June 26 – Portage la Prairie, MB to Dryden, ON

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    After a great nights sleep at the Walmart, we headed to Tim Horton’s for breakfast. Disappointment awaited. Barb’s breakfast sandwich had eggshells in it and my Bagel BELT arrived without L or T. 😒

    We made a quick stop at the White Horse monument just West of Winnipeg as we had stopped there on our last trip West in 2003 with the kids.

    We also stopped in Winnipeg for fuel and to look for a specific alcoholic beverage sold at the Manitoba Liquor Marts but not back home at the LCBO.

    Accessing the liquor mart required us to handover photo ID. The staff then checked the image on the card against each of us (I had to remove my glasses which were slightly tinted because of the sun). They then scanned the cards and returned them before unlocking the door to allow us to enter. Tighter security than any airport it would seem is required before you can buy your bottle here. Wow.

    The drive out of Manitoba saw us leave the prairie and enter the boreal forest. We then crossed back into Ontario 32 days after we left. We stopped to enjoy lunch at the ‘Welcome to Ontario’ information center and then continued toward our destination just past Dryden, ON.

    Our stop for the night would be Aaron Provincial Park. We have no reservation but they had some sites and ours was close to the brand new shower block. Shower first, then dinner.

    White Horse monument
    White Horse monument
    Story of White Horse
    …& into Ontario
    Typical Ontario view through the windshield
    ‘Max’ the moose, Dryden, ON

  • Day 37: June 25 – Lloydminster, AB to Portage la Prairie, MB

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    Early start to the day as we head East out of Lloydminster and immediately into Saskatchewan. The border actually splits the town into two and as we depart we both commented on our observation that most of the recent commercial development had occurred on the Alberta side of town leaving the Saskatchewan side feeling less loved.

    Saskatchewan is what you expect, arable farm land as far as you can see. On our journey we are accompanied by a railway line and a never ending string of electricity poles. The yellow brick road Yellowhead highway is occasionally crossed by secondary roads that if you turn to look along as you pass, appear to go over the horizon. Maybe Oz is out there somewhere.

    Contrary to rumor, not all of the old grain elevators have been torn down and replaced with new shiny silver bins. Below you will see a few that we passed.

    We stopped in Saskatoon primarily to visit the PleasureWay Industries plant where our van was made. Unfortunately it being a Saturday there was no one there. We still took the obligatory photo in front of the factory.

    The afternoon was supposed to go like this; drive into Manitoba, find the town of Russell, and end the day by parking up for the night in their “Peace park” where they have free camping and electrical hookups. I say ‘supposed’ because that’s not quite what happened.

    We started the afternoon well and finished driving across Saskatchewan and into Manitoba. We even found the town of Russell and the ‘Peace park’. It was barricaded and a sign indicated that the site was soon to be the home of a new Co-Op. Hmmm. Now what? Where do we stop & park up for the night?

    After filling up with fuel, we travel a short distance and look at a couple of campgrounds neither of which we felt comfortable stopping in (one was particularly sketchy although the online reviews made it sound fairly nice but basic). Looking at the map we realize that we were only 2 hours from Portage la Prairie and a Walmart. Decision made! Onwards we drove, we can re-provision in the morning.

    The Walmart parking lot was freshly paved and there was lots of room. It was 10:02pm CDT and we had just driven for about 12 hours and covered just over 1000km. Sleep will come easily tonight.

    Alberta / Saskatchewan border in Lloydminster
    Grain elevator 1
    Cargill potash terminal
    PleaseWay plant, Saskatoon
    Grain elevator 2
    Old Borden Bridge across North Saskatchewan River
    still… Our view from the road
    Crossing into Manitoba
    Rainbow
    Cargill grain elevator

  • Day 36: June 24 – Jasper National Park, AB to Lloydminster, AB

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    That was a cold night. We have recently slept easily through a few cooler nights without turning on the furnace and so thought last night would be the same. Nope, something about last night made the 5C feel colder than it was. Should have turned on the furnace or put on the heavier blankets.

    Today we leave the mountains and drive across Alberta, the landscape will change significantly and our thoughts will transition towards going home. It will take a few days, but we still expect to arrive home in about a week.

    Leaving the park we came across a herd of female Elk with their young laying beside the park entrance, a nice surprise for this time of day. From the park we headed into Jasper for a quick stop before getting back onto Hwy-16 and heading East toward Edmonton.

    The first hour or so the road roughly follows the Athabasca river out of the mountains, it is running very high and appears to be close to flooding. Before long we pass the last of the high mountains and enter the foothills. The road rolls up and down and is far less challenging than that of yesterday. There are more trees in this part of the province than we expected but as we approach Edmonton more arable land appears as a harbinger of what lies ahead.

    We take Hwy-216 and skirt around Edmonton as Friday afternoon rush hour has started and Hwy-16 through the city center is congested. A short 30 minutes later we rejoin Hwy-16 and are now on our way towards Lloydminster.

    We stopped for fuel in Vegreville and also found that the town has the worlds 3rd largest Pysanka. Mounted on a post in a park at the East end of town is a giant Ukrainian Easter Egg. It was made for Alberta’s Centennial in 1974 and rotates with the wind.

    We are well and truly away from the forests of western Alberta and now find ourselves driving through rolling farmland. Looking to the right or left as we pass roads leaving the highway we see that they head straight across the landscape for as far as we can see.

    Eventually we arrive in Lloydminster which actually sits on the border between Alberta and Saskatchewan. Tonight we are staying at the 4th Meridian Brewery. Tomorrow we will cross Saskatchewan and hopefully enter Manitoba.

    Female Elk resting at the exit to our campground
    View of Whistler’s peak from Jasper,AB
    Dome car parked at Jasper railway station
    Roche Miette on the way out of Jasper National Park
    Last mountains before entering the foothills
    Our view from the road…
    Worlds 2nd largest Pysanka (Ukrainian Easter Egg), Vegreville, AB
    Worlds 2nd largest Pysanka (Ukrainian Easter Egg), Vegreville, AB
    Along the highway to Lloydminster, AB
    Entering Lloydminster
    Our hosts for the night the 4th Meridian Brewing Co.

  • Day 35: June 23 – Yoho National Park, BC to Jasper National Park, AB

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    Today will not be what we expect. Although we slept really well and neither of us heard any trains overnight, the day would bring just a few surprises.

    We started off with our usual morning preparations and then because the driving would only consist of about 3 hours, we thought we’d hike the “Walk in the past” trail which was documented at just 1.2km each way before we left the campground this morning.

    The trail has interpretive stops that tell the story of the building of the railway into Kicking Horse Pass. Little did we imagine that the 1.2km trail (actually 1.6km) would rise by 100 meters through the trees from the campground up and across the Trans-Canada railway to the original 4.5% grade ‘Big hill’ that the trains had to negotiate before the spiral tunnels were built in the early 1900’s. Phew, this was quite a hike, but we had some amazing views across the valley.

    Leaving the campground, we had a short drive to Hwy-93 that would take us up to Jasper. Having the Park Pass allowed us to just drive into the park and the road then began its long slope upwards. Shortly into the drive we drove over the Bow mountain summit at 2,098m. Continuing North, the road rose and fell through various passes, the sky darkened and rail began to fall. The rain soon changed to snow, yes snow in late June. No probs we thought, a few flurries in the air, nothing to worry about here. 20 minutes later the snow was accumulating on the windshield wipers, the campervan accident avoidance sensors were covered and resulted in multiple messages within the dash for Tony to clear. Soon enough the snow was accumulating on the road, not much but enough to make driving a 10,000lb vehicle an adventure.

    We arrived safely at the Columbia Icefield center but due to the snow and the low clouds could not see any mountains or the Athabaska glacier. We are soon to learn that glacier tours have been canceled for the day as 2m of snow had fallen overnight on the glacier preventing even their large busses from venturing there.

    We also had tickets for the Skywalk and so took the coach to that and went for a walk on the wild side (see pictures below). Walking on a glass platform over 900ft above the canyon floor was an interesting experience. The glass is 36mm thick and the cantilevered structure is supposedly designed to support 400,000lbs. Tell that to your brain as you first step onto the glass.

    Leaving the zero degree Celsius temperatures at the Icefield, we drove to Jasper where it was a balmy 9C. We treated ourselves to a nice meal ‘out’ this evening before heading to our campsite at the Whistlers campground just outside of town. It was still raining.

    We settled in for the evening and watched a movie before saying good night. Tomorrow we cross Alberta.

    Kicking Horse Pass
    Indian Paintbrush
    Trans-Canada highway passing over Trans-Canada railway in Kicking Horse Pass
    Snow on the Icefields parkway heading to Jasper, AB
    More snow…
    Barb braving the Columbia Icefield Skywalk
    It’s over 900’ to the gorge bottom
    Looking down between Tony’s feet
    Usie time!
    Looking down at the canyon far below
    Another look down
    Approaching the Skywalk
    Campsite at Jasper National Park, Whistlers campground

  • Day 34: June 22 – Tappen, BC to Yoho National Park, BC

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    After a restful night at the winery, we enjoyed a quiet breakfast and headed out. Destination today, Yoho National park.

    Our first stop was in Revelstoke where we enjoyed a Tim Horton’s bagel BELT and coffee before filling up with fuel. Starting to reacclimatize ourselves to CDN prices for fuel, Yikes!

    We visited the Revelstoke Railway Museum and learned more about the history of the railway through Revelstoke and the Canadian Rockies. Definitely worth the stop if you’re in the area.

    Continuing our journey we headed towards Roger’s Pass. It was raining. By the time we arrived at the Roger’s Pass information center it was raining, a lot. We learned that needed a Parks Canada park pass to drive up the Icefields parkway (tomorrow) and so purchased this here as it also provided us access to sites in Glacier, Yoho, Banff and Jasper National Parks.

    At Golden, BC the highway is undergoing some rather major reconstruction East of the town. The section of the highway that descends into the valley is being widened to four lanes. Now as the existing two lanes were carved into the mountain sides you’re probably wondering where the new lanes are being built. Well, from our perspective it appears that they are building in thin air above the valley; however, in reality the lanes are being built as bridges clinging to the side of the mountains. The workers appear to work in very perilous conditions daily to build these new lanes. The heights and where this is being done made our heads spin.

    We soon arrived in Yoho National Park where we would stay at the Kicking Horse campground just West of the CP spiral tunnels. Our campsite is wonderfully level and close to brand new showers & washroom facilities. The view is amazing and we walked around the campground taking it all in before dinner. If your a light sleeper the sound of squealing brakes from the trains descending the hill into Kicking Horse pass might put you off of camping here, luckily we tend to be sound sleepers but will let you know in the morning. Good night.

    Salmon Arm, BC
    Railway museum behind passing train, Revelstoke, BC
    Revelstoke Railway Museum
    Revelstoke Railway Museum interior
    Roger’s Pass, BC
    Hwy-1, Golden, BC – construction
    Hwy-1, Golden, BC – construction
    Hwy-1, Golden, BC – construction
    Yoho National Park, BC
    Yoho National Park, BC – Kicking Horse pass campground – our campsite
    Yoho National Park, BC – River near our campsite
    View from our campsite

  • Day 33: June 21 – Galiano Island, BC to Tappen, BC

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    We have booked travel on the 8:25am ferry to Tsawwassen as our drive is looking to be about 5 1/2 hours for the day. This meant an early rise so that we can load the bikes, enjoy a quick breakfast and say our goodbyes before leaving for the ferry terminal at 7:00am. After a week of being lazy and sleeping in more than a little, the early morning was a little trying but we did it and managed to be on our way shortly before 7.

    We’ve had a great time visiting and catching up on ‘life’ over the past seven days and the island has been a perfect place in which to recharge ourselves ahead of the drive home across the country. We can’t thank Tony’s parents enough for their hospitality.

    Back on the mainland our first stop was a Walmart to top-off our provisions and remount the bikes onto the rack. I kept them in the van for the ferry ride as the ramps can be notoriously bumpy and I was afraid of dragging the rack while embarking or disembarking. Wouldn’t you know it though, on this crossing the ramps were almost level and bump free.

    We drove from Tsawwassen to Surrey via Hwy-17 in order to join the Trans-Canada highway. From there we headed towards Hope, BC and enjoyed an ever thinning traffic volume as we went. By the time we had reached Hope, the traffic was quite light.

    We drove up the Coquihalla highway (Highway thru Hell) and have a completely new appreciation for the truck drivers that take this route in the Winter months.

    The scenery changed as we approached Kamloops to something similar to what we had seen in Utah/Nevada, mountain grassland meadows and scrubland.

    From Kamloops we turned and headed East further into the mountains. Our stop for the night is a charming winery in Tappen, BC. Only a few kilometers from the highway, but peaceful and serene. Good night one and all, enjoy the pictures from today.

    Ferry arriving to take us away
    Vancouver, BC
    Fraser river at Hope, BC
    Jamie Davis’ yard, Hope, BC
    Starting our climb up the ‘Coquihalla highway’
    Coquihalla snowshed
    View from up on the ‘Coque’
    Approaching Merritt, BC
    Recline Ridge Vineyards & Winery, Tappen, BC
    Our evening view

  • Days 26 – 32: June 14 to 20 – Galiano Island, BC

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    We spent 7 days relaxing on Galiano Island while visiting Tony’s parents. Rather than detail each day we’ve included a few of our favorite photos from this week below. Activities included walking, cycling and reading. Enjoy, we most certainly did.

    ‘Campsite’
    Rex
    Retreat cove at low tide
    Tony & Barb
    Retreat cove at high tide (opposite view from above)
    Rex, again
    Foxglove
    View from ‘Lovers leap’
    Guess where we were on the island.

    The island is as peaceful and laid back as the photos portray. There are only a few options for accommodations or you could try tent camping (Montague Harbour provincial park). There are no camping facilities for RVs anywhere on the island, as such unless you are staying with a resident options are few.

    Dining options are also limited and no ‘fast food’ chains have outlets anywhere on the island, this has resulted in fewer tourists and visitors in general making the island a destination meaning that it is an ideal place to come for peace and quiet. Let’s hope that places like this stay just as they are.

  • Day 25: June 13 – Tsawwassen, BC to Galiano Island, BC

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    7:00am and we’re awake. The ferry isn’t until 10:25am but we want to be in line early to ensure we don’t get bumped. BC Ferries in the Summer are almost always full and reservations, even mid-week are a must. We arrive at the terminal by before 8:30am and are at the front of a line of cars. Phew. Now to wait. Time for breakfast.

    A short wait passes quickly and before we know it we’re being loaded onto the ferry “Salish Eagle”. As our stop is the first of several for this route, we get loaded so that we’re near the front on the top car deck. The photo below shows us about to enter the ‘belly of the whale’.

    Above you can see us all tucked away for the voyage, and below a shot from the passenger deck above the car decks.

    The sun came out for our crossing but as you can tell from Barbs attire above, it was not warm. We went to the other end of the ferry deck out of the wind and it was much more enjoyable.

    After about 45 minutes we arrived at Sturdies Bay on Galiano Island and drove off of the ferry and back onto land. I was very happy to have purchased and installed the hitch mounted skid wheel because (as expected) the skid wheel did hit the deck of the ferry as we drove onto the ramp at the dock.

    The 30 minute drive ‘up’ the island took us through some wonderfully lush West coast forests as the Summer heat has yet to arrive in Southern BC. We arrived at my parents home and parked up in their laneway. This will be our ‘campsite’ for the next week.

    We spent the remainder of the day catching up and sharing the story of our trip so far. The next week has been planned to be completely downtime for us, time to recharge and enjoy our visit. Stay tuned for another blog update when we leave the island.

  • Day 24: June 12 – Abbotsford, BC to Tsawwassen, BC

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    We slept until 9:00am, that was a treat and a testament to how quiet our location is. As a treat, we headed to Tim Horton’s for breakfast and a coffee where we made plans for the day.

    Today has been set aside for reprovisioning before we head to Galiano Island for a week of downtime and complete relaxation.

    We decided to drive to White Rock as we’d not been before. The seaside of the town is very busy (Sunday morning) with folks going to their favorite cafes for breakfast. Parking was too tight even for a campervan and so we pressed on to Crescent Beach. What a nice little community tucked away on the shore just North of White Rock.

    We found a parking area at Blackie Spit park and went for a walk. It was cool and breezy and threatening to rain, but it felt good to walk about and breath that sea air.

    From Crescent Beach we headed to Tsawwassen where we visited the Tsawwassen Mills shopping center for the afternoon before enjoying an early dinner followed by a nap in the van.

    In the early evening we relocated to the Walmart parking lot where we joined several other campers who had chosen this as there overnight spot ahead of catching a BC Ferry this next morning. We stocked up on groceries for the week and settled down for the night. Hopefully a quiet one.

  • Day 23: June 11 – Lynden, WA to Abbotsford, BC

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    Knowing we only have about 20km to drive for our stay tonight, we got to sleep-in and take our time getting ready today. The campground here is very picturesque; however, the neighbors didn’t seem to have volume control of their voices and so that spoiled the site a little. We spent last evening at in the van (it was raining) watching Netflix and therefore didn’t have to listen to their entire conversation.

    We left at about 11:30 and went into town to get our last fill-up of fuel in the US before heading to the border crossing. A quick stop at the duty-free shop and onto Canada customs. 3 minutes later and we were wished well on the remainder of our trip. This was by far the quietest and easiest border crossing we’ve ever experienced.

    We drive into Abbotsford looking for a place to have lunch and settled on the Field House Brewing Co. on West Railway St. We each enjoyed one of their beers as well as a plate of bruschetta and an order of chicken tacos. Yummy, we highly recommend.

    Acre upon acre of raspberry bushes growing adjacent to the Abbotsford airport.

    That night we were staying at Campbell’s Gold Honey Farm and Meadery just outside of Aldergrove. They have a wonderful shop where they sell their wares and also locally made crafts. A quiet and secure location where we slept exceedingly well.

  • Day 22: June 10 – Port Angeles, WA to Lynden, WA

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    Today we awoke early as we were heading around Puget Sound to our last overnight stop in the USA, Lynden, WA which is just South of Abbotsford, BC our destination for the next day.

    These is a way from Port Angeles to Bellingham using ferries; however, we found that these were already fully booked and so we would have to drive to Olympia, Tacoma, Seattle and then onto Bellingham before turning toward Lynden. This would take about 2 hours longer but as we had the time we enjoyed the scenery and didn’t dwell on it as an inconvenience.

    Approaching Olympia we’re down at sea level
    However, our borrowed GPS thinks we’re a little lower than that! (BTW, notice the name of the road we’re approaching) 😜
    Arriving in Seattle. The Space Needle can be seen near the left side of the skyline
    The I-5 takes you right under the downtown core of the city

    Arriving at the KOA in Lynden, we quickly setup camp and set about relaxing after a day of traffic jams and busy roads. Tomorrow we go home to Canada!

  • Day 21: June 9 – Fort Stevens State Park, OR to Port Angeles, WA

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    Today we packed up our campsite and headed toward the Northern shore of the state of Washington. We would drive around Olympic National forest in which is Mount Olympia; however, the weather would not give us a chance to see the mountain as it started raining shortly after we left the campground and rained all day.

    Leaving Warrenton and heading towards Astoria, OR
    Colorful Astoria, OR

    About an hour North of Astoria, Barb finds that South Bend, WA has a statue of the worlds largest oyster. We stopped and in the rain located the statue. Voila!

    South Bend, WA
    Olympic National Park / Forest

    We stopped in Forks, WA at the Timber Museum and ate lunch in the van before touring the museum. Although small they had some fascinating relics from the BIG timber days of 100 years or so ago.

    Forks, WA
    Treehouse

    At the other end of the town of Forks, another museum displayed thousands of items that the owner, John, had collected over the past 47 years from the beaches in the area along the Washington coast. Although a high percentage of his collection is fishing floats, he also has a large collection of items from the 2011 Japanese tsunami that washes across the Pacific.

    John’s Beachcombing Museum, Forks, WA

  • Day 20: June 8 – Fort Stevens State Park, OR – Day 2

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    I managed to get up early this morning and go for an hour long walk. The first of the trip ☹️

    The walk took me along the shore of a small lake near our campsite and then I headed toward the beach. It’s early so there was almost nobody about.

    Coffenbury lake

    I managed to get these two pictures of what remains of the wreck of the Peter Iredale. This was a 3-masted steel hulled barque that ran aground in 1906 during bad weather when trying to navigate into the Columbia River just a half mile North.

    Peter Iredale – bow
    Peter Iredale -masts

    After returning to the campsite, we spent a relaxing morning enjoying the sunshine albeit somewhat cool at just 14 degrees C.

    After lunch we decided to take our bikes down onto the beach to ride them along the hard packed sand.

    Riding South along the beach
    Our Rad Power Bikes RadMini’s
    Tony found a much better cell signal and did some writing.
    Barb enjoying the experience of riding on the sand

    For dinner we enjoyed steak, potatoes and grilled vegetables with some wine we picked up at Arcadian Moon Winery in Higginsville, Missouri. For the record, the mosquitoes were really bad and the citronella candle was required to have them leave us alone.

  • Day 19: June 7 – Fort Stevens State Park, OR – Day 1

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    Today was the first of two full days we are spending at Fort Stevens State Park, a little downtime from traveling and time to enjoy the West coast a little.

    View South along the beach
    Wreck of the Peter Iredale (1906)
    We rode our bikes on trails to the Northern end of the beach
    Wild Rhododendron
    View Eastward from the tops of the dunes and across the Columbia River toward the state of Washington

  • Day 18: June 6 – Pendleton, OR to Fort Stevens State Park, OR

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    Last evening a small thunderstorm rolled through shortly after we had setup at the campground. This morning it is dry and we awoke early to use the showers, they were clean and the hot water was plentiful. Ahhh.

    We ‘treated’ ourselves to a McDonald’s breakfast (our first fast food on the trip) and then we topped off on provisions at the Walmart before getting back onto the I-84 towards Portland,OR.

    Leaving Pendleton the highway takes one last drop down into the Columbia river valley. For the next few hours we drive alongside this majestic river passing several large hydro-electric dams. Our route is shared with the railroads that also recognized this as a good route up from the ocean and into the heartland of the continent.

    Columbia River

    As we get closer to Portland we notice that the grasslands of the higher elevations have given way to more arable lands and then forests of tall cedars and firs. A clear indication that we are now on the West cost of the continent.

    Mt. Hood Historic railway
    Hood River, OR

    Along with these forests we witnessed a significant increase in the number of logging trucks on the road.

    At Portland, we turn North and join I-5 into the state of Washington for a short drive to Longview, WA where we once again turn west and back into Oregon towards the coast. Longview is clearly a lumber town as we saw huge yards of logs being stored and awaiting shipping overseas where they will be turned into finished goods for shipping back to North America.

    As we head towards Astoria, OR we realize that for the past two weeks we had been watching our elevation on the GPS rise from a few hundred meters to several thousand and now that we are near the coast, it is reading less than 50 meters. Before long this should be close to 0 meters as our target for the day is Fort Stevens State Park, OR.

    Arriving in Astoria, we notice on Google maps that the primary bridge to the park is closed for maintenance and so Barb re-routes us across the town toward and alternate bridge. This new route through town turns out to be a 40% road upwards over the ridge and down the other side. I want you to think about San Francisco but in an RV. I head toward the hill now staring me in face and ask Barb, “are you sure?” To which the answer is “Yes” and so upwards we go, past the sign for ‘No trucks allowed’, up, up, up and over the top. Of course, the van made it and we were reminded of not blindly trusting what a map might suggest. We laughed at what the folks living on the street might have been thinking.

    Arriving at Fort Stevens State Park we get ourselves settled as we are staying here for 3 nights to wind down and enjoy some time off-grid. Internet is not very reliable here and so a few days might go by before further posts are made. Back soon!

    Fort Stevens State Park, Warrenton, OR