Posts Tagged ‘road journal’
Run Away, but Slowly
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.
July 19, 2015 – “Have you bought your maps yet?”
Our summer travelling time has finally arrived, and this time, our anticipation and excitement don’t seem to be as high as we sometimes experience. For one thing, our trip is a very long one, and for another, one of the driest seasons on record has created huge fire danger potential. Also, we are quite enamoured with our homebound hobbies of quilting and woodworking, and my workshop is nearly ready for productivity instead of organizing. These hobbies along with family and friends will give us great incentives to be eventually homeward bound.
A fish-eye view of my new workshop. The “door” wall at my back, is seen on the left and right of the photo.
My new workbench using pipe-clamps instead of traditional vises. (The plan is modified from “Fine Woodworking – A New-Fangled Workbench”.)
In preparation for leaving this week, I sought some electrical wiring assistance from my neighbour – Jim Clark. (I have added an after-market backup camera so that I can judge rear-view distances a little more accurately.) As he quickly resolved my issues, he asked about our itinerary. I explained we would head down into Birch Bay, Washington and then across to the Penticton… “Tony,” he interrupted, “Have you bought your maps yet? Alaska is NORTH!” Yes…we have all our maps, and the 2014 edition of Alaska State’s “Milepost” book. We are on our way with the first stop being in Fort Langley at the new digs of our Lindsay family. We will eventually visit with family and friends in Birch Bay, Penticton, Kamloops, Prince George, and Whitehorse.
Truck House is as crammed as it has ever been, and although I saved a bit of room by downsizing our barbecue, I then added a 5 gallon diesel can for reserve. Although I am not sure that it is needed, our experience in the Springtime of almost running on empty in southern Oregon (“sage rat” episode) has encouraged me to be more cautious. Multiple fish “guns” are stacked in the crew cab, and the kayaks loaded on top. Fishing is a high priority for me on this trip as well as the opportunity to see new vistas and travel down new roads. We are probably carrying way too many books, but many of them are used to it as seasoned veterans of our travels! Perhaps they will get read this time.
We’ll keep you posted and will look forward to your comments – both on the blog, and via emails – whichever you choose.
Much love and best wishes to all, and we hope that you all are enjoying your summer wherever you are – including the snowy regions of Australia!
Sandy, the Quilter and Tony, the Quill
Welcome to the Road Quill (and Quilter’s) travel journal
Greetings to all!
After one year of trying another blog site, and finding that the “subscribe” process was unnecessarily complicated, I decided to switch my blog software. Welcome to the new home of “Road Quill” where I will share the tales of Sandy (the Quilter) and Tony (the Quill) as we explore new roads and revisit old roads in our lives.
Most of the time, this will be a descriptive of our various visitations, but on occasions the visitations may only exist in our minds – well, mostly my mind! I find that the real truth is usually somewhat mundane and deserves to be polished up a bit. I will therefore take that liberty as I put my thoughts and memories to paper. (The following story, as described to me by my daughter, Paula, should be cautionary to me. Her son, my grandson Matt, had been given a bunch of old coins that were in pretty sad shape. In an effort to add value to them, he carefully polished them all up until they shone. Upon presenting them to a dealer, he was told that it was too bad that he had polished them…they had had greater value before he had shined them. That was a sad moment for him, and the story may help to keep my embellishments to a minimum – but it probably won’t!)
In preparation for our departure in just over a week, yesterday I washed Truck House (2005 GMC and 2006 Adventurer Camper). Afternoon temperatures in Nanaimo reached about 10 C. This is quite different from previous years, and once again, there is the pesky and nagging thought – Why are we leaving such a beautiful place and weather? Oh yeah – I remember now…there might still be weeks of rain on the Pacific “Wet” Coast.
I must admit that I hadn’t planned on writing this blog note today. It is mostly to welcome my email family, friends and neighbours who are planning on following our journeys through the blog.
Truck House
roadquill1 