roadquill1

Happy Leap Year to our family and friends!

Our Spring journey has begun, and we arrived on the Lower Mainland on Monday, February 26 about noon. A quick call to Escape Trailers in Chilliwack assured us that we could bring in TruckHouse Jr. for a couple of mostly cosmetic issues. Sure enough, by 3:00 all was complete, our battery box had been moved to allow us to access the 2 6V batteries, and the propane regulator issue of automatic tank transfer explained to me.

Nick from customer service liked the new stair lids that I had installed. (I created a new 1/2 box under the top stair, and left the other half open to the bottom below the stairs for storing small camp tables.) I then installed new hinges that hold the lids up on all three stairs. And finally, I purchased and installed new carpet (about $68 from “End of the Roll Carpet” – for a 2’ strip off a 12’ roll.)

With our TH Jr. fixes complete, we were set to leave and the next morning (Tuesday) we crossed the border a day earlier than we had expected. There were few questions from the border agent. And we were on our way.The day was overcast, but only small patches of showers until we landed at Woodburn, OR about 4:00 in the afternoon. The very helpful attendant lady told us that although the pool was heated “it is closed, and if I see you swimming in it, I will take your picture and post it on the internet!” No problem! Nobody wants to see a picture of a wet, chilly old dude on the internet!

On Wednesday morning as we began to map out the day’s schedule, we noticed that a massive change in the weather was on its way! Woodburn would soon be blanketed by a very wet air mass from the coast (on the radar image: dark green mostly, but some pink indicating snow) within a couple of hours. Even worse, there was a winter storm warning up for Siskiyou Pass south of Medford, and if you didn’t have chains on both the tow vehicle and the trailer, you would not be allowed to travel. The warning caused us to consider going to the coast from Grant’s Pass, but we decided that the day’s temperature and skies did not indicate anything like the prediction. So, we carried on even though I considered buying chains at Seven Feathers Truck Stop at Canyonville.

In the Seven Feathers shop, after fueling up, we found road cams showing clear roads everywhere so we carried on over the pass and arrived about 4:00 in Red Bluff RV Park. We were quite amazed at how lucky we were in our transit timing! If we had left Vancouver on the day we planned, we would be hitting Siskiyou Pass on Thursday. Here is a screen shot of the weather forecast that we found on Wednesday morning:

Apparently, the whole area above about 2000’ elevation north of Sacramento is getting warnings like this for tonight through Sunday. It would not have been possible to get through had we been delayed by 24 hours! (Areas of Lake Tahoe will get 5’ to 10’ of snow and full blizzard conditions with winds up to 110 mph in the Sierras!)

The Thursday morning reports showed the weather also warned of strong winds up to 40 mph south of Red Bluff. (Tall vehicles might be at risk.) However, we chanced that in order to get further away from the awful weather predictions coming out of Sacramento, and here we are tonight in 18º weather – relaxed, warm, well-fed, with a freshly picked bag of WONDERFUL SWEET ORANGES off the trees beside us in Orange Grove RV Park – in Bakersfield.

I tried something new today for the drive…since California requires all vehicles that are towing to stick to a 55mph speed limit, I came close to honouring that all the way down I-5. (Slightly above if I must be honest!) That put me in the slow lane with the trucks which were also supposed to hold that speed, but mostly didn’t. Thus…instead of me passing truck after truck, TruckHouse Jr. was passed by truck after truck and ALL cars! It was very relaxing! (And the Quilter strongly agrees, and she was able to relax her death grip on the arm rest, and to knit rather than put on her passenger side foot brakes!)

Love and best wishes to you all! Happy March to everyone!

Tony and Sandy

PS. It was very gratifying to see Lake Shasta almost completely full of water.