British Columbia

We are now in British Columbia, Canada. We crossed over this morning. The border crossing went pretty good. They ask how long we were going to be in Canada about 5 times. They ask if I had any firearms, if I owned any, where they were, about 3 times. Other then that, it went good. We are in a rv park in Lillooet, BC. What a trip getting here. The road we took for 40 some miles was a 2 lane rough curvy steep horseshoe turns road. The main road, BC1, is hilly and curvy but nice. The first 2 pics are along the road getting here, the good road. We had no place to pull off the bad one. The rest are from the campground we are in. The good thing is this park has wifi so I can get email and update the blog. We will be here 2 or 3 days then head on north. The river is really high right now so I don't know if I'll get much panning in, but I'll try.

Till next time

Duane and Louise

Movin' on

We left the Olympic peninsula today heading north. We took a ferry from Port Townsend to Keystone, then drove across an island to mainland Washington just above Seattle. The bottom pic is a tug pulling a 1950s U.S. submerine. The lighthouse is near the docking area where we landed. The top pics is from Desperation Pass bridge. We are not sure where it got it's name but the bridge is about 180 feet above the water. We are in a Walmart parking lot tonight. Not sure if we are going into Canada tomorrow or not. If we do, this may be the last post for a while. My cell phone internet will not work in Canada so I will have to rely on wifi hotspots to post and check our email. I will post as often as I can.

Till next time

Duane and Louise

Day tripping

We went on a drive of the coast near here today. Some cool overlooks. Then we did a little geocaching. Found 3 out of 4 we went after. One of them eluded us. We looked for quit a while before giving up, may go back there tomorrow to look some more. There are several others we intend to go after while here. We will leave here on Monday, stopping before the border to load up on some things.

Till next time

Duane and Louise

Olympic National Park

Today we went to Olympic National Park. The cloud cover was pretty thick going up the mountian, but when we got to the top we were above the clouds. The veiw of the mountian was awesome. The first pic of the mountian has Mt. Olympus in the middle. The second one is Mt. Carrie. The snow at the top had been DEEP. They say it can be 12 foot deep up there in the winter. The drift Louise is standing in front of is taller then she is. We saw deer and the grouse that is in the pic. The waterfall was along the road into the park, not real big, but pretty cool. After we left the park we drove down to the Puget Sound and walked on the beach looking for rocks and shell. We are going to drive the area tomorrow.

Till next time

Duane and Louise

Mount Saint Helens

We are off again. After spending the weekend at the rv repair center, we got things fixed and are on the road. We spent last night in a campground outside Mount Saint Helens National Monument. When we got got set up for the night we headed to the volcano. The views were spectacular. The damage it caused when she blew 27 year ago is still very evident. On the way back we saw elk on top of the mountain (pic above). There were 4 in this group, 3 big ones and a baby. Saw 2 other elk in the woods but couldn't get a good pic of them. They say the blast of the eruption caused 700 mile an hour super heated wind clearing everything for miles around. You can see the mud flows around the base. Moved on to Olympic National Park area today. We will stay here for a few days to visit the park and look around the area. Hope to get a lot of pics in the park tomorrow. Taking it easy for the rest of today.

Till next time

Duane and Louise

Junction City, OR

Stuck in Junction City. Took the coach in today to have the fuse problem fixed. The tech that worked on it could not get the fuse to blow, hence, he couldn't fix it. I took the rv back across the street to the campground they have for people to use while in for service. I had told them that I thought the step was the problem. After about 10 minutes of playing with the step, the fuse blow. Called the service guy back over, he called Monaco, after being on hold for EVER, he went back across the street. It's now 4:30......He comes back to the coach at 5:00 with the service tech. After talking to him, finally getting hold of a Monaco tech on the phone, they decide that the module that operates the the step is bad, can't get the part till Monday. So we will stay here till then. Free camping with electric hook up. If only they had listened to me ......oh well, hopefully we can get it fixed Monday.

Till next time
Duan and Louise

The fallsand GOLD

Went gold panning today,finally found a little piece!!!!!!!! It isn't much but I found it in a crack in the rock you see in the pic. We had a great time wading around in the water looking for that elusive first piece. We spent yesterday hiking in to the falls in the pics. Some were a mile off the road while others were very near the road. We hiked a total of 5 miles and drove a 70 miles one way to get to them. We would see one then drive to the next trail head and hike again. Great fun, great views. When we got to the end of our drive we were 5500 ft above sea level. There was snow on the ground. Wanted to go to Cater Lake National Park but the road was snowed in!!! The rabbit and the turkeys are more of the nature that wonders around the park we are in. Having a great time.

Till next time

Duane and Louise

Sutherlin

Setting in the parking lot of a Taco Bell posting this. We are going out on a hunt for water falls today. We have a map with about 10 on it, don't know how many we will make. Will post the pics of the ones we find. The pic of the deer was taken out of the window of the rv where we are parked. They come thrugh the campground every night. There are wild turkeys everywhere here to, just haven't had the camera at the right time. The covered bridge was near a geocache we went in search of . We found all 4 we went after. We better get going.

Till next time

Duane and Louise

Oregon

We are in Sutherlin, Or at an Escapees park. I have to go up town to get on the net here as my phone connection does not work in this area. I am setting in a Taco Bell parking lot using their wifi. I will try to get some pics ready for the next post. On the way up here, we went through some great mountains. We will be here till next Thursday, then move on north a ways. Going to stop at the place where the coach was purchased so they can check a fuse blowing problem. After that it is on north. There is still snow on the mountain tops around here, but nice in the valley where we are.

Till next time
Duane and Louise

On north

Been out of reach of the net for a couple of days. Left Concord Monday morning heading north. We had a great 3 weeks visiting with the kids. They about wore us out with all the sightseeing but didn't get to see everything. There is so much to see in and around San Franciso. We are now in Crescent City, Ca in the heart of redwood county. Spent last couple of nights in Willits, Ca. While there we took a ride on the Skunk Train out of Fort Bragg. It is the train that was used to log the redwoods years ago. The scenery was really pretty. The first two pics were taken from the train. Today drove through the redwood forest. Spent a lot of time going up and down mountains and around curves. After we got settled into the rv park we went to the beach for a walk. Then to the dock to see the tall ships that were in the harbor for the week. The pic of the lone ship is a ship that was in the movie Pirates of the Caribbean. We will go on to Oregon tomorrow.

Till next time

Duane and Louise