Monday to Friday, March 16 to 20, 2020 (Travel to Peace Arch RV Park, Surrey, BC)

We managed to get on the road fairly early this morning, around 8:30, but unfortunately we had conflicting GPS directions that took us around in circles until we figured it out. Serena, our Garmin Truckers GPS wanted us to retrace our route part way back to Las Vegas, before heading south...Google Maps told us to go the other direction to highway 372 and cross the mountain range. We finally decided to go highway 372...and learned the reason why Serena wanted us to go another way. Apparently there was a length restriction warning that 65 feet was too long...as soon as I changed our length to 63 feet, we were good to go. It ended up being a fabulous route!
Very scenic...too bad it is cloudy though...





A dry shallow lake bed ahead on the left...




The highway took us to Shoshone and the junction with highway 127, where we turned left (south). If we had continued right that would have taken us to Death Valley on the other side of the mountain range...

Colourful mountains...
There is a huge off-highway area...Dumont Dunes OHV Area...
Sand dunes...
One lone van in this huge boondocking/OHV area...

Mountain reflections in this shallow lake...
Soda Mountains Wilderness Area...a dry lake bed...
That was a very scenic route with very little traffic. At Baker, CA, we hit I-15 and headed southwest towards Barstow. Another shallow lake...
Flowers blooming along the highway...


Don't know what happened here but obviously the driver lost control and rolled his car...
Once we passed Barstow, CA., we took the exit to highway 58 west, towards Bakersfield. Lots of  yellow flowers covering the desert...
The forecast is for a big snow storm in the Tehachapi Pass for later today, 2"- 4" and 55 mph winds so we had our fingers crossed that we would get through the pass and down into Bakersfield before the storm hit. Doesn't look good...
Hundreds of wind generators as we near Mojave and the start of Tehachapi Pass...

A train winding it's way through the mountain tunnels...

Blowing dust in the farm fields in the valley below as we near the bottom of the pass...
We made it through without any snow, thank goodness! But as we passed Bakersfield and went north on highway 99, the rain started, and by the time cut across to the I-5 on highway 46, we were into major rain...
We arrived at our destination for today...Harris Ranch Inn and Restaurant...just after 4:30. It is our first time stopping overnight here so we weren't really sure where we could park. Earl texted us some pointers, though, and we found it was easiest to cozy up to 3 motorhomes parked on the edge of the truck stop lot. Today's travel was almost 8 hours, 623 km/387 miles...
After we got settled, we decided to get out for a walk and check it out more. There is a parking lot between the restaurant and the hotel that a couple of RV's had taken...we may have been able to get in as well but we know for next time. It certainly would have been much quieter than beside the I-5 and the trucks running all night!



We looped around the property...and then navigated around puddles the best we could. All these other RV's are all heading home to BC. In fact we kept running into them at our next two overnight stops. Kind of reminded us of our Alaska trip where we kept running into the same people over and over and have become great friends with some since...
We were up extra early Tuesday (March 17) morning...not a very restful sleep in the truck stop, especially right beside the I-5! So we were on the road before 8:00...with a very foggy start!
The fog finally lifted and we had a mix of sun and cloud as we headed north. An orchard in bloom...
A young orchard...
We saw a number of these signs..."Disinfect 2 Protect Wash Your Hands"...
So many semis on the freeway...and lots of vehicles, both RV's and trucks/cars, with Canadian licence plates heading north.  A very colourful roadside...
Crossing the Sacramento River north of Sacramento...

Colourful along the freeway...
We pulled into Rolling Hills Casino in Corning just before 2:00...almost a 6 hour drive, 476 km/296 miles. It was pouring out and windy!
We lucked into the corner spot in the truck parking lot, quickly got levelled the best we could, and hunkered down inside. The casino appears open but we are self-isolating...do not want to expose ourselves to the Coronavirus (Covid-19) anymore than necessary. It sucks, though, we would normally go inside for drinks and dinner....now I've got to cook! Drats!

The view of the RV park out our side window...
Lots of RV's started arriving to park for the night...
Wednesday (March 18) morning...and up early again. Mind you, we are going to bed at 8:00 p.m. to watch the 12-volt TV...power management! After showering and doing the dishes, we still managed to be on the road at 8:40 a.m.

Just north of Redding, CA, there was a vehicle inspection set up...ensuring all vehicles were carrying chains. This backed traffic up for over 6 miles!
Also a long line of traffic behind us as far as you can see!  As we inched along...for about an hour or so...the traffic sped up. Apparently they had removed the check-point. Steve had actually purchased chains for the truck last fall before we headed south...we plan on carrying them, but never having to us them!
Lake Shasta in the fog...
There had been a storm in the mountains the other night...fresh snow!
Today we have many mountain passes to conquer...
We experienced very light snow flakes through here...yikes!
Black Butte...unfortunately Mt. Shasta was hidden in the clouds...
First time we've seen a Rolls Royce pickup...very cool!
We arrived at Seven Feathers Casino, Canyonville, OR to find it closed...
The main parking lot was blocked...
But luckily the RV parking area was open. There were only 2 other RV's when we arrived but there was a steady stream coming in shortly afterwards. And look!...blue sky and sunshine! Today was a 6.5 hour day, 433 kms/269 miles...
After getting settled, Steve got the chairs out and we enjoyed some sunshine. It seems the further north we went the weather got better.  That's a helicopter pad...
Looking back to the RV parking area from the helicopter pad...
After fuelling up and getting propane at the travel centre Thursday (March 19), we were on the road at 8:30. We had thick fog again this morning...
But the fog burned off and we had clear blue sky the rest of the day. About to cross the Columbia River in Portland...
The traffic through Portland, Olympia, Tacoma, Bellevue (we took 405 Seattle by-pass route) was busy but not the stop-go slowdowns we are used to. So it was a much more enjoyable drive...if you can call going through such a busy section of the I-5 "enjoyable"!
We arrived at the Tulalip Casino, just outside of Marysville, WA, around 4:30. We knew that all Washington Casino's were closed but were hoping that they would leave the RV parking area open...but not so, all parking lots were blocked. So, plan B was to try Cabela's, just adjacent to the casino. Luckily we managed to get the last truck/RV parking spot...unlucky, though...it happened to be right beside an old beater motorhome with the engine running, smoking and sounding like it was ready blow...
Then they decided to start their 7500 watt construction generator that smoked as bad as their motorhome! We had to sit inside with the door and windows shut because of the smoke all the while listening to it for over an hour, which happened to be right outside our side window!
Steve eventually had enough and went over for a talk. Apparently they lost their air which locked up their air brakes so they were running the generator to power this huge portable air compressor they had. They said if they could get their brakes to release they would be leaving. Eventually they turned off the generator and didn't leave so I guess that was a failure...Ahhh...peace and quiet finally, except for the noise of I-5...

Friday (March 20)...and the last leg of our journey home! Its a short drive today and although we started out with a sunny sky, we ran into fog again...

As usual, whether on our way south or north, we stopped at the Pilot Travel Center in Ferndale and filled up with diesel...$2.76. It was shortly after 10:00 when we arrived at the border. There were only a couple of vehicles ahead of us and the crossing was a breeze. We were asked when we left Canada, how much did we spend on goods to bring back into Canada...and if we felt sick or had a fever. No questions about how much alcohol and/or tobacco! He then asked if we were aware that we had to self-isolate for 14 days, gave us an info sheet...and we were on our way...
It was a short drive to Peace Arch RV Park. They have put in precautions for Covid-19...only one person can go into the office to register and we must stand 6 feet back. Although check-in time isn't until 1:00, she said if the site was empty, we could go in. Unfortunately when we pulled up to our site (C-9), the folks were still packing up so we had to wait for about 15 minutes or so until they pulled out.

We got situated on our site, level and unhitched...and both of us got to work on our set up routine, then showered. The sun was wonderful...it was much warmer sitting outside than it was inside our trailer!
So once the work was done, it was time to relax and "cheer" our return to Canada! But we maintained our 2 m/6 ft social distancing, LOL! Todays travel day was just under 2 hours, 139 km/86 miles...
Ahhhhh...it's good to be "home"!


16 comments:

  1. Yay you’re back! Stay safe!!

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    1. Thanks Deb! Glad we're home. All the best to you, Steve and your family in these trying times. Be safe ❤️

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  2. Thanks for the pictures of your drive north. I enjoyed seeing them. I especially liked seeing photos of your drive along California 58 west. I use to be stationed at Edwards AFB.

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  3. Those are some long days. I bet you are glad to be home, hope your next 14 days go quick so you can see the grandkids!

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    1. Yeah, it really wasn't much fun especially since we couldn't go enjoy drinks and dinner out at the end of each day! Glad to be home, though. So close...but yet so far...to the grandkids! Sucks...

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  4. It sure is a pretty drive from Pahrump to Shoshone. We took that road on the Monday when we went to China Ranch.
    Looks like you hit all the weather seasons on your way home. Makes the drive.....interesting.
    Stay safe. Hope you found a source for groceries. It's a zoo out there.

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  5. Really enjoyed that drive by Shoshone. Those mountain passes are always a crap shoot. 😉
    We couldn’t get grocery delivery within a reasonable time so have placed an order for pickup which is still over a week away.

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  6. You did some long days in the saddle on that trip! Certainly got to see some different weather. We were lucky and had mostly sunny days all the way north.Happy that you are home safe and sound. Tuck in for a while and stay healthy my friends.

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    1. They were long days! But glad to be home. Steve is happy he has no more driving days like that!

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  7. Welcome back to Canada.Now while practicing Social Distancing you can destress from all the long travel days. Beautiful Scenery.
    Be Safe and Enjoy!

    It's about time.

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  8. It’s nice to be back but we’re well rested now and starting to get restless now that we are into day 8 of our 14 day self isolation. Stay safe and healthy!

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