Tuesday and Wednesday, October 22 and 23, 2013 (Travel to Olde Stone Village RV Park, McMinnville, OR)

We left Brae Island Regional Park, Fort Langley at 9:20 this morning...it was another foggy, socked in start to the day.  Arriving at the Pacific Border Crossing at 9:40...it was 11:00 by the time we made it up to the booth to be greeted by a very cordial crossing guard, who was quite intrigued by our rig. He didn't seem particularly interested in the usual questions...any alcohol?...meat?...fruits and vegetables?...but more about asking us what our occupations were.  Retired?...what did you do before retirement.  No, we don't have cash over $10K with us...okay....thanks folks, enjoy your stay.  And with that we were in Washington State heading to our first stop, Les Schwab Tires in Ferndale.

With an appointment next week to have new wheels and tires installed on the trailer, we just wanted the current tires to get us down to Junction City, Oregon.  We had purchased these tires in 2012 from Les Schwab in Mountain Home ID after Steve saw 4" of cord showing on one of the Marathon tires that came with the trailer. All four of those tires had tread separation. So Steve now wanted to swap one of the badly worn tires with the spare tire that had better tread on it.  They took care of us at Les Schwab...and didn't charge us anything...nice!

It was going on 12:30 by the time we finished at Les Schwab...time for lunch.  So we continued down the I-5 to the first rest stop we came to.  It was really nice getting a break from the fog...this is Lake Samish in the sunshine...yes!

As we pulled into the rest area, there was a fellow standing outside a trailer and I thought he looked familiar...then I recognized the truck and trailer...it was Bob and Sue Stewart, our ATV friends from Prince George.  They are on their way south to Quartzsite for the winter.  We chatted with them for a bit and then went to have our lunch and they continued south.  We will meet up with them again in a few weeks at Quartzsite.They were going onto to Kelso to spend the night at Art and Jan's place...another couple from the Quartzsite community.  We weren't going that far today...Tulalip Casino near Marysville was our destination. 

After our lunch we continued on the freeway for about another hour or so...unfortunately the lovely blue sky we drove through near Lake Samish didn't stay long.  Soon we were driving through more heavy fog...

We arrived at Tulalip Casino at about 2:30.  The RV Parking area had plenty of room available so we chose our favourite spot at the very end of the pull-through section.  We were level enough and we weren't unhitching, so it was just a matter of moving things off the bed so we could sleep.

After that was done, we decided to take a walk over to Cabelas...good to get out for a walk, plus it's Steve's favourite store!  We wandered around there for about an hour and then headed back to the trailer for a bit before going into the casino.

After relaxing with a couple of beer at the bar in the casino, we decided to check out the slots.  You just can't find a machine that will take a penny bet anymore...sheesh!  Most are minimum 25 cents to $2.50. Yeah, I know, we are big gamblers (haha!) After trying a variety of slots, Steve was only down 80 cents and me...well, I was down about $11.  When we decided it was time to go for dinner, we discovered that the line up to get into the buffet was an hour long...the only thing we can think of is that it must be seafood buffet night, otherwise why would it be so busy on a Tuesday night?  Well, no way were we going to wait in line for an hour...so instead, we went to a fairly new restaurant in the casino called Draft Sports Bar and shared a burger.

Once home, we watched a little TV and then lights and TV were off by 9:00...obviously we were both tired!

Wednesday we woke to a cold trailer...it was 6:30 and we both had had a great sleep.  Steve got up and turned on the furnace and coffee pot and was quickly back under the warmth of the bed covers. It was another foggy morning as we left Tulalip and continued south on the I-5.  Although still quite a distance from Seattle, we soon started seeing the traffic congestion..

Sections of the I-5 going through Seattle were very reminiscent of the roads in Alaska...very rough!  We got lots of air time in our seats while crossing a couple of overpasses. Then it was onto another section that was as smooth as driving down a railroad track...less the tracks! Oh...and lots of potholes. Glad we weren't going in the other direction...just look at that traffic backed up...

Once through the Greater Seattle area, we stopped at the first rest area that we came to.  There was a lovely couple serving coffee and cookies...very nice...

Ahhh...a little sunshine before we enter another fog bank...

The Columbia River...you can barely see a freighter in the fog...

Finally...after being in the fog for the last 8 days we broke into a beautiful clear sky between Kelso and Vancouver,,,

Time for a break...and lunch...before we tackle the freeway through Vancouver, WA and Portland...

Crossing the Columbia River into Portland, Oregon...

 Yikes!

About 20 miles south of Portland we left the Interstate and took Highway 99W. Thirty miles later and after being on the road for 5 1/2 hours, we arrived at our destination...Olde Stone Village RV Park. It was sunny and hot 22.8C/73F...oh, such a nice change!  We checked in and were given site 239 (after Steve requested an end site).  We chose this park because it is next door to the Evergreen Aviation Museum.  It is a lovely clean well kept park.  I had booked for only 2 nights but after discussing it, we decided to stay for a week, taking advantage of the weekly rate of $199...full hookups, Wi-Fi and cable included (although we put up our satellite dish).

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We have a week to kill before our appointment at Guaranty RV in Junction City, about an hour and a half south of here.  So we thought we would just plunk our butts down here and explore this area.