Back home again

August 4--Panama City Beach, FL

I didn't go to Shoneys; I went to Outback Steakhouse instead. I had a very nice shishkabob, plus a chicken and bacon quesadilla. Then I waddled back to the motel.

Sleeping didn't go well, because there was a lot of activity outside. I don't know if it was prostitution or drugs or something innocuous, but there were people talking and knocking on a door and the door opening and closing all night. Combine that with the air conditioning apparently going out for a bit and the cats escaping and going under the bed, I didn't sleep well.

We headed out about 6:15, when it was 82 outside (and 87 in the rig). I stopped to get diesel, and then stopped at McDonalds, where I let the cats out in the RV (they could use the exercise) and I got breakfast and ate it while the cats ran around. Then I began to drive to Panama City.

I took my time, because it was only a few hours and I didn't want to be too early to the campground. The weather was OK; rather sunny and hot, reaching the low 90's by the time I got to PCB.

I'm in the same campground I stayed in last summer. There's a bit of shade, but I'm hoping it's cloudy while I'm here (I may be renting an apartment tomorrow and hopefully will move in (at least to sleep) on Friday). I met with Fran to get my car and had lunch, then I visited four or five apartment places, checked in at work, bought cat food and a sandwich for me, and then looked at the new library.

Now I'm relaxing, enjoying not having to drive far anymore. And I have a new trip to think about: my mother and I are taking a cruise to the other Panama City over Thanksgiving! We're going to take an excursion to go through the canal, which ought to be great. I'm looking forward to snokeling as well, and having a room with a balcony. I'm sure I'll update this blog more then!

Thanks for reading.

SMOG!

August 3--Montgomery, AL

I slept OK last night; I kept waking up to make sure I didn't oversleep. Well, I didn't; I was up at 5:30 eastern time and out by 6:45 (subtract an hour for Central time, where I am now). I filled up with diesel, bought some McDonalds breakfast burritos and a sweet tea, and headed out.

Lots and lots of hills, for most of the day (until after Birmingham, really). It wasn't too hot for the first hour or so, and actually it was rather foggy. I did notice that my gas mileage was rather bad--I blame the hills. I stopped right over the Tennessee border to fill up, and kept going (after turning on the air conditioner, since it was 84 or so by then--8am local time!).

Nashville was rather smoggy, although the construction/traffic wasn't too bad. The temperature really ramped up when I crossed into Alabama, leading support to my idea that Alabama is a suburb of hell. We hit the 90's in Decatur, and by the time we got to Birmingham it was flirting with 100. I hate driving through Birmingham, between the traffic and the lousy roads, and this was no different. But we made it! I did lose a couple of years of life when some cars that had apparently had a bit of a fender-bender were stopped in the middle of the road, including my lane, and others were dodging around them and I slammed on my brakes and still don't know why I didn't get hit by someone driving like a maniac, since everyone drove like that all the time. But I'm feeling much better now!

I was going to stop in Birmingham, but decided to keep going to Montgomery; it's only about an hour and 15 minutes longer, and it had a pool. So I kept going, and got to the Motel 6 around 1:45pm. I'm in a handicapper room, which was the only single on the first floor. I got the cats unloaded, but not before the temperature in the RV reached 92; I shudder to think what the temperature must be now, but since I forgot to get clothes for tomorrow, I may find out soon. And I might need my umbrella as a parasol to go for dinner!

The room is nice, with a wooden floor, although when I let the cats out Nell discovered that she could indeed get under the bed, so I lifted the bed up to try to get her out, and nearly cut Puck in half when I lowered it, so after a few more misadventures they're both back in the kennel. Nell is meowing, most likely because she's hungry (too bad, so am I), and I suspect Puck is just glad he's not in that hot RV and/or cut in half.

I just went out to try the pool, but 1. it's somewhat dirty-looking, and 2. when I put my feet in I found out that the pool is about 95 degrees, and the water almost feels a bit slimy. So no pool for me. Which is probably good, because the sun is strong enough to reduce me to ashes in a very short period of time (and I'm not even a vampire!). It'd be nice if we got a thunderstorm and cooled off a bit, but I'm not holding my breath. I'm planning, when it gets cooler or I get hungrier, to walk to the Shoney's across the street. Yay Shoneys!

Only about four and a half hours to Panama City, and the weather there looks normal, which is damn hot enough--highs 90, lows 78 or so. If it doesn't get much hotter than that, we'll be fine until I can get an apartment (hopefully by this weekend).

I guess I slept well . . .

august 2--Shepherdsville, KY

. . . because sometime last night some guy decided to take a header out of the fourth floor window and smash into the sidewalk a few rooms down from mine. I headed out that way to get to the RV and saw all the broken glass and the dried red areas, and thought maybe someone had dropped wine and/or soda with a pizza or something. The broken window was then pointed out to me, and I was told the lovely story. You'd think the Motel 6 would block off that door, or that the police would, or that someone would have cleaned up the gore and broken glass, but no. Rumor has it he didn't survive. I shouldn't wonder, given it was the fourth floor and, from the glass break pattern, he went through head-first.

Eesh. The day got better. It almost had to. I checked my tires (all well), loaded up the kitties (after moving the RV so I didn't have to walk through the debris) and headed out. I got to Port Huron in about an hour and 15 minutes, and spent 40 minutes waiting to get through customs. Grrr. And then I got Mr. Wonder-Customs-Guy, who I think was trying to trip me up from my prior stories--he stated that "you have a pet" and I confirmed two cats. He asked me why I stopped in London, and I told him about the show (I should have showed him the program). He finished by asking me what year was my vehicle; I told him. I suspect he looked up my license plate to play 20 questions to see if I was Al-Qaeda or something. Given all that, he didn't bother looking through my rig, which everyone else has done.

The interstates in lower Michigan are awful. Horrible, bumpy, terrible. Even with all the construction, they stay horrible. Things improved when I reached Ohio, and got diesel and lunch (and let the cats out a bit--I told them it was going to be a long day, but I don't think they believed me). Then more driving.

I also hate I-75 in general. Whether you're in Michigan or Ohio or Kentucky (or Florida, for that matter), it's heavy traffic and wall-to-wall semi trucks. And every time a semi overtakes me I get pushed all around the road, which freaks me out, since I feel like I'm either going to be pushed into another semi on my other side or into a wall or something. I'm also a bit leery, since I almost got sideswiped by a semi in Canada, so I wasn't happy. Every city had construction: Detroit, Toledo, Dayton, Cincinnati, Louisville. And around Dayton it got above 90 degrees. The high was 97 here in Louisville, right before I stopped.

The Motel 6 here is old and tired, but clean. I got a room right on the end with a lovely efficient air conditioner, although I had to go talk to the desk to have them turn my water on (there's renovation here in the bathrooms, and apparently after they finished mine they forgot to turn the water on). I also can't let the cats out, because the bed is old and they can get up into the box spring and Nell, for one, will. I think tomorrow I'll take them out early to the rig and feed them there and let them stretch their legs. It's the real problem with going to motels with cats: they're often penned up in the fabric kennel, which is rather small. But I don't want to camp when it's 93 degrees in the shade. Oh well.

Onward south tomorrow!

And now it's over

No, nothing bad has happened, but I've thought of seeing "The Tempest" as the end of the summer vacation, and it really feels like it. Dammit.

The show was fantastic. I didn't sleep too well last night (I don't know why, but I've not been too successful sleeping in motels this trip), and I was out the door by 8:45 or so. I followed the GPS instructions to Stratford without incident (44 miles).

It turns out I was right, and there are nice shaded spots along the river--I'll remember that for next time (if there is a next time, although after looking at next season I'm tempted to spend more time here--or maybe volunteer!). I walked around Stratford, which has lots of older brick houses of two and a half stories that are just lovely. Also an old-fashioned downtown, and the park next to the river is beautiful--grass and trees and benches everywhere so you can look at the swans and ducks (very few geese, and no Canada geese, which seems odd). It appears to be the tradition to pack a big picnic lunch, eat it at this park, then go see a show. It even looks a little like Stratford-upon-Avon, although there's not nearly as much river current here, and instead of rowboats they rent pedal-boats.

The Festival theatre is huge, with a big thrust stage. I was in the orchestra, fifth row, all the way over on the side, but I could see most everything. The show was great, and Christopher Plummer is a god. But I kind of knew that before.

Due to my seat location, I got out and got to my car before most people had left the building. I know this because I had to drive through a bunch of people on the way out who needed to realize that while they had numbers, it's best to get out of the way of a 10,000-lb RV. I just went slowly and let them part around me, and got out before the worst of the traffic began. I do think some theatre-goers caught up with me on the way home, though, because there was a lot more traffic and I got passed a couple of times like I was standing still.

It's probably good that I got this room, as it is indeed hot out--84 with humidity to match. Not as hot as it is down south; I'm not looking forward to going back, for any number of reasons. Ah well. The next three days are long drives, and probably staying at motels due to the heat. I'll try to keep updated, but if you want to say hi remember that my phone will be working once I cross the border (about 10am tomorrow, I'd say).

And the award for worst showers goes to . . .

Toronto-West KOA!

Seriously, the showers frighten me. I was wondering yesterday whether taking a shower would leave me dirtier than I was before. Just ew. Hair, dirt, bugs, clogged drains, just awful.

The other thing about this campground is, they have firepits that, if the campground is full, burn about five feet away from other RVs. That's too close. The sites here are just crammed in. Luckily it hasn't been full, and I'm leaving today for a motel, where I can stash the cats while going to Stratford without worry.

I did enjoy the local harness-racing track. I watched some races, which were interesting, and did a bit of slot machine gambling, where I actually came out ahead. I also had a salad yesterday at the only walkable restaurant (other than the casino); I'm not sure my system knows what to do with healthy food!

The weather has been very nice: sunny but not too warm. It's only about 51 degrees this morning, and I had to use the blanket; the next time I need a blanket will probably be November, if we're lucky. It's been 94 with a heat index of 108 in Panama City; do I really need to go back?

Nice, though noisy

July 29--Campbellton, ON

It was fairly restful at Perry Sound, although I was grumpy for some of it. I mostly sat around and read, which was nice, although the weather didn't necessarily cooperate. It was hot on Tuesday, and I walked to the nearby boat launch and waded a bit (carefully, since there was lots of fishing going on), and then through the woods to a local trail that might have been neat except for all the ATV's on it; the campground was full of ATVs and motorbikes and such.

Wednesday it rained. Everything got muddy, and I mostly stayed inside. Internet access was erratic at best, so I again did reading and sorting things on my computer and such.

I've not been sleeping well. I've been having problems falling asleep (which may be due to the napping I've been doing), and waking up in the middle of the night. It's not that I'm obsessing about things, like I normally do when I have this type of insomnia, so I'm not sure what it is. Too many carbs, probably. I'm going to have to cut down on them, I think.

I got up this morning and walked over to the WiFi antenna to get online to check e-mail and such (I get very little access from my campsite). I took my time getting ready, dumped the tanks, and headed out a little before 10am. Lots of construction on the 400, as well as lots of traffic. I wish I could have looked at the scenery more; there were lots of those little human rock figures (inukshuks) that were the symbol of the Vancouver Olympics on all the exposed rocks, and there was a lot of exposed rock.

I stopped south of Barrie to get diesel (full serve, which was the only thing available, but at least my hands aren't smelly!) and McDonalds, and then more to the south. Traffic picked up considerably, and I could eventually see the CN tower in the distance. I turned east well before we got downtown, and things were crazy--roads everywhere, people cutting across traffic going 70 mpg, just crazy. I plodded on, and managed to get through it without too much cussing. I am glad I'm not coming into town, as that was backed up for miles.

I'm in a KOA that bills itself as "Toronto West", but we're in the back of beyond, really. True to the nature of most KOAs, the 401 Interstate is running right by this place, and I'm trying to pretend the sound of the traffic is a river or something. I was allowed to pick my own spot, and I have a nice semi-level semi-shaded campsite. It took me several tries to find it, but we're here! I chatted a bit with another View driver, and wound up lending him my instruction book, as he left his at home and has had some interesting experiences. I also went swimming--thank god there's trees in between the pool and the highway. All the pools here are interesting: they don't seem to be lined with concrete, but simply have a sturdy rubber/plastic liner over what seems to be packed dirt (it's uneven and wrinkled). One would think that they'd put in something more permanent, but maybe the weather would do it in.

So I'm sitting here enjoying both the sun and the cool breeze, reading a book and drinking ice tea. I may go to the nearby harness racing track tonight to watch the racing and/or play the slots, but I think I'll wait until tomorrow. There's also a restaurant; I plan to eat lunch there tomorrow, since I've already eaten out once today and I need to finish the perishables before Saturday, when we're staying at a motel (to give me a safe place to leave the cats while I drive to Stratford and see the play).

Ooh, a trampoline!

July 27--Parry Sound, ON

Woke up yesterday morning early as usual (Puck). Fed the cats, ate some cheese pastry I'd bought at WalMart, and decided not to dump before heading east and south. I got out of the campground (nice, but not shady) by 8:30 or so, to head down the highway. I filled up the tank (98 cents a liter!) then headed out.

The one disadvantage to driving the TransCan from the Soo to Sudbury is how little of Lake Huron you actually see. For the most part, you're a few miles inland, and can only glimpse a bit of lake here and there when going through towns. Still, the drive was lovely; the sun was out and it wasn't too hot (yet), the wind was behind me, and the traffic wasn't too bad (and when it was, on two-lane highways Canada very politely puts passing-areas every few miles, for those in a big hurry). The other nice thing was, I could actually drive the speed limit! I don't like to push the rig more than 60, maybe 65 mph, and that's about what the speed limit was.

I stopped at a little town called Espaniola for lunch (Wendy's) and to give the cats a bit of a break outside of their carriers. It took me a bit of time, but I managed to find a spot--quite the happening spot at noon. We were in full sun, and it was getting warm, but with the windows open it was OK.

Past Sudbury and south, the landscape changed dramatically. The tall forests and farmer's fields of before changed to scrub forest. I thought maybe it was due to mining stunting the trees, but rock became more and more predominant, and I figured we were on the Canadian Shield. Turns out I was right. Lots of rock (including by roadsides, often festooned with piles of rock and graffiti--my favorite was "Thelma and Louise 2007"), small trees, and wetland (probably the water can't seep away through the rock). Also lots of construction, which was a pain. Particularly to my GPS, which couldn't figure out why I was driving NEXT to the actual road--well, because there's a new actual road?

The campground here is OK. WiFi signal here is limited (if too many people are using it, I can't), it's a bit dusty (the KOA people had to go yell at some guy running his ATV around on the dirt roads for churning up dust), and I don't get TV or even a good radio signal, so I'm a bit cut off. But it's shady, the pool is cool (if crowded), there's a trampoline I'm going to try later, some trails to walk, and a Tim Hortons in walking distance, if I get hungry and desperate. Not too bad.

I'm here for three days, which will be nice resting and reading and such. Hopefully. Sun and heat today, rain tomorrow, and better Thursday for travel. If only the cats don't drive me nuts--Puck is being particularly ornery. I need to play with him, and comb both of them, and give them more hairball treats. Maybe later.

Staying in Canada for a bit

July 23--Pancake Bay, ON

I got up early yesterday--it was foggy and cool, which was nice. I checked the tires and all were well, and then did laundry. I was in no hurry to go, since I couldn't check in to the campground until after two, so I finished all the chapters I had to read (yay money while on vacation!), and left around 11:30.

I got on the truck route, so I wouldn't have to go through downtown, and wound up by the WalMart again. I needed some groceries, but decided to go to a market instead. I got some turkey, some chip dip, and more of the hairball treats! I then went to Arby's for lunch (eh) and headed north.

The bridge was rather like the old bridge in Charleston: two big humps for the ships to go under, two lanes of traffic. And there was construction, which was quite exciting (nothing like stopping on the top of a tall bridge!) The construction continued through much of town, although there were enough signs that I didn't get lost.

After we ran out of town, it was pretty much wilderness (or darn close). Up some big hills, which pissed off the people behind me (suck it up, dudes, I'm going the speed limit). Lots of "moose crossing" signs, but no moose. I also passed the midpoint of the TransCanada, which amazed me; I don't think about just how far east the road goes. Pretty damn far, if this is the midpoint. Up into Newfoundland and everything. It's weird when I think that I'm only a bit west of Temperance (and much farther north) and yet it's the midpoint of a transcontinental road.

Pancake Bay Provincial Park is a relatively narrow strip between the highway and the lake. I pulled in and talked to some poor guy who sits out front (under an umbrella) and gets to talk to everyone arriving. He asked if I had firewood--no. Then he asked if I had a pet--I said I had two cats. He looked puzzled and said "Um, we don't have a cat policy, so I guess they're OK". I reassured him that they don't leave the RV, and headed to the office to get my official paperwork.

My spot is indeed the equivalent of the one at Kalaloch, except I don't have any view at all. I also am not next to the dumpsters, so that's something. I'm supposed to have electric, but I found that my cord isn't long enough to reach the outlet, so I'm boondocking it. Other than not being able to use my microwave (and being careful about things like computers and the radio), it's fine.

There is indeed a long narrow beach, and it was full of bathers (well, full enough). I walked a bit, and then put my feet in the water which felt really good. So I went back to the RV, put on my bathing suit and went swimming! No, I didn't stay in long, but I did get in all the way, and even swam underwater a bit. It was quite refreshing, and felt good after the rather hot drive. I will say that when I got out, I was cold for a couple of hours--it's how I used to stay cool in Missoula without air conditioning: go swimming in the river, get cold, warm up gradually. I eventually went for a walk to warm up.

The spots are rather far apart, which is nice (nobody is directly across from me, and those on either side are screened by trees). The traffic on the TransCanada is quite loud, and I'm surprised that some people who are here for the season are right on the road by me. I mean, if you're going to be camping somewhere for the summer, don't you want it a bit quieter than a busy highway? I guess not. There are seasonal spots that are closer to the water (and away from the road), which would be better.

I slept well, despite the noise (and that there was little breeze so the RV didn't cool down much). Puck woke me up, I fed them, ate a sandwich, read a bit, and then napped for two hours (which apparently included some serious snoring, since I included it in my dreams!). After this, I tried to call home a couple of times, but kept getting busy signals, so I'll try later.

There's a big tourist trap just down the road a mile or so, so I walked there today. It was still cloudy and cool and drizzly, so not a bad walk. I did have to walk in the gravel next to the TransCanada, which was a bit disconcerting when huge trucks went by. The tourist trap itself was a bit disappointing; I was hoping for a restaurant, but only a grocery, a wood-carving place, and an Indian trinket/leather/fur place (which included wolf pelts, which made me nauseous). I lurked a bit, bought an iced tea, a beef stick, and an ice-cream sandwich for lunch (I really wanted something else, but there was nothing), then walked back.

So now I'm in the RV, resting a bit before walking more, I think. It's not quite warm enough to go swimming, although it's gotten warmer and it's VERY humid, so I might walk along the beach or something. Exercise is good!

July 25--Sault Ste. Marie, ON

I don't think I did much of note on Friday. I did go to the movie they showed at the ampitheatre, which was a quick history of Lake Superior since the Europeans showed up, and would have been much more interesting if 1. I could have seen it better (it was still quite light) and 2. the kids would have shut up. People brought their kids, who got bored (can't blame them, really, particularly the smaller ones) and talked or ran about or whatever.

Yesterday I decided to do the 3.5km nature walk. It was quite a nice walk, except that I had forgotten to put on bug spray, since there weren't many bugs by the beach. So I spent a lot of time waving my arms around and smacking my legs and walking as fast as I could trying to avoid the tall grass (ticks!) and the mud churned up by illegal bicyclists. I did enjoy walking through the fen (a fen is a bog with water circulation), although I didn't see any pitcher plants. I think I actually made it through without any bites! Maybe I'm just not tasty. And then I read and relaxed and walked more through the campground.

This morning I got out early to do the Edmund Fitzgerald lookout walk. I had heard about a shortcut to the top, avoiding most of the trail through the woods (been there, done that) and walked up an access road for most of the way, then cut up an illegal trail to the base of the stairs. Lots and lots of stairs, some of which reminded me of the metal stairs at the ravine near Grandma's house, which were always freaky to me because I couldn't tell how far away they were. But I trudged up them and reached the top platforms. Which did give a great view, but weren't labeled at all, so I wasn't always sure what I was looking at. Oh well. I headed back down and took the same illegal trail, which required walking around a locked gate. Luckily, I was past the gate and into the "legal" part of the road before two official trucks drove by (past the locked gate is not only the illegal trail, but a couple of cell phone towers that these guys were apparently servicing on Sunday morning). I waved at them and tried to look innocent, although the mud on my shoes and the fact I had sweated enough to make me look as if I'd had a bucket of water dumped on my head was probably suspicious! I also had to walk waving my hand above my head for a while, because while the citronella lotion I had put on was reasonably effective for mosquitoes, the biting flies weren't deterred. I hate biting flies almost as much as ticks.

When I got back I was footsore and (as mentioned before) covered in sweat, so I put on my bathing suit and jumped into the lake one last time. It was quite cool, and I did feel quite invigorated afterwards; maybe that's why those crazy Scandinavians roll around in snow after being in the sauna? I still think I'll pass.

I had realized that I could stay at the KOA at the Soo for less money than I was paying at the state park and with a lot more amenities, so I left a day early (got a refund!) and headed south. I overshot the park and went to the WalMart for kitty litter and McDonalds lunch (I was going to buy supplies, but I couldn't bring myself to pay the Canada prices--I guess I'll eat out of my larder for the next week or so).

I'm in a small spot that isn't gravelled and seems to be an afterthought. It's relatively level, but has almost no shade. I do have nice speedy WiFi and I can get a couple of channels on the TV (yay no digital TV in Canada!). The pool is hysterical; the shallow end is 3 feet, and the deep is 3 feet 10 inches! Oh no, get the life ring!

I plan on moving on tomorrow, south and east toward Stratford, where I have a ticket to see Christopher Plummer in "The Tempest" next Sunday. I should have e-mail everywhere I stop, so I'll keep you posted!

Ahoy!

July 21--Not moved yet

So the thunderstorm was a doozy. Not only did I think I saw a funnel cloud dissapate in the distance before it hit, but the storm itself was nasty. The frequent lightning should have given that away, but I was hoping it would go to the north. Well, it did, but we got enough to be scary.

The rain and wind hit at the same time. All of a sudden I could barely see across the parking lot to the trees that were nearly bent double, and my RV was listing like a leaking boat. I actually moved to the other side of the RV, the way you do in a boat, to try to keep it from tipping. I didn't think it actually would, but it was freaky enough to scare Nell, and she doesn't scare. Puck had wedged himself into the foot well of the driver's door, which may have been the safest place in the rig. It poured and blew for about 20 minutes, which felt a lot longer, and then passed by. All is well, but wow.

I didn't do much today--well, I read a couple of chapters for work, but otherwise I just futzed about. I did walk to a restaurant called Antlers for lunch. This place is a taxidermist's dream: I saw everything from a couple of African lions to a tiny owl stuffed and mounted on the walls. A mouse-deer, a wolverine with a Michigan hat on it, a rhino, and more ungulates than you could shake a stick at. The food was OK, but I was rather creeped out by the end of lunch; all these dead animals. Eesh.

I did get to see several tall ships go by. There are on their way from a get-together in Bay City last weekend to one in Duluth this weekend. None of them were under sail, so while they were interesting, they weren't amazing. There were also a lot of freighters; probably at least 8 if not more. Much busier day than yesterday!

Tomorrow I'm off to a Canadian provincial park, so don't expect an update for a bit. And it's a good thing, since a big-ass trailer pulled in next to me and cut off my breeze, which could make the next few days rather warm. Time to rest on a beach, with fresh water and warmer temperatures than Washington. Good thing I have a lot of books to read!

tick, tick, ACK!

July 20--Still the Soo

I slept pretty well, and Puck didn't wake me up, for some reason. Maybe the tapeworm, being dead, didn't make them hungry? I don't know. But I slept in a bit, and then fed the cats, and headed out on the town around 9am.

The campground is about a mile or so from town, so I got to see a bit of the place on the way. Including a HUGE very old hydroelectric plant, run on water from a canal (? maybe a stream) that runs from the Superior side to the Huron side, which means it drops 21 feet on the way, which makes quite a current, and which also makes downtown Sault Ste. Marie an island. I also walked by a couple of churches, plus a big tower that was made to commemorate missionaries, but now commemorates all the early explorers, and also gives people a great view of the land. Not me, since I'm afraid of heights and didn't want to pay money to be afraid.

Downtown I stopped in some of the small shops. The town itself appears to be dying; there are "For Rent/Sale" signs everywhere. However, they are also tearing up nearly all of the streets by the water, and I'm not sure why.

I hit some tourist traps (which are a bit higher-class crap than the usual traps), bought a couple of cheap books at the Salvation Army (I really need to get rid of some of the books I've read), and then headed to the locks.

What with security everywhere these days, you can't get anywhere near the locks or the canals except in the official (fenced-off) visitor area, and they searched my bag before they let me in. I did get to see a big freighter go through the locks, which was neat to watch. Seeing a huge ship looming over the canal walls, and then watching that ship sink to where you can't really see the deck. Very impressive.

Walking back, I tried to see the historic area, but that was what they were tearing up. So I did some bushwhacking and (probably) illegal cutting across construction zones with overgrown grass (more about that later), and managed to see most everything.

I also stopped at the public fishing pier, which gave me a great look at another freighter slowly making its way to the locks. Pretty damn big. And then I walked home, where I found the RV a bit warmer than I might like (the sun came out quite a bit) but the cats were fine.

I had been home an hour or so and was sitting on the dinette seat when I suddenly felt a tickle on my shoulder. So I went to scratch it, good primate that I am, and I felt something! I screeched a bit and grabbed it enough to fling it on the table, and found a big black tick! I suspect I picked it up while walking through the long grass, it got off on the dinette when I first came in, and then got back on me when I sat down again. I tried to squish it, but the damn thing kept coming back like some sort of zombie, so I flushed it down the toilet. Let it try to get back from there! I checked myself pretty thoroughly in the shower I just took, and I'll check my hair again as well as the cats a bit later (I doubt they have anything, unless it jumped off me and onto them). I'm also a bit jumpy now; I keep feeling that tick!

It did motivate me to do a cleaning, so now we have clean (well, clean-ish) floors and a clean litter box and I did the dishes. I also vacuumed the dinette seat. Damn ticks.

And we're going to have a nice thunderstorm now. We has a severe one go just to the south of us earlier; hopefully this one won't be too bad.

Rollin' down the river . . . well, not really

July 19--Sault Ste. Marie, MI

I spent most of the past day or two hanging out with my family, before they all left for Lethbridge this morning. It rained much of yesterday, and I'm glad I wasn't in a tent! Serious ponding on the ground. Luckily, the church group in tents left right before it got bad.

The family left around 9:30 today, and I was out a few minutes later (I did stop to fill up on some water, since I was a bit low). I headed north on I-75, through thick woods at first, then some fields. Very little traffic, which was a nice change.

I exited at the second-to-last exit in the US and went to WalMart, where I did a bit of shopping for necessities (which apparently includes Faygo Redpop--yum!), then I went to the local vet. I had discovered back in Maumee Bay Park that Nell had a tapeworm (you really don't want to know how I discovered this, trust me), and it was my first real chance to stop at a vet. We had to weigh her (which she didn't like), and I bought anti-tapeworm meds for both her and Puck. Unfortunately, she wouldn't take them as a treat, so I had to force-pill both of them. Luckily, no damage to anyone.

I'm at a campground right on the river between Lakes Superior and Huron, with Canada right across the way. It's a nice campground, although a bit of shade would be nice (the long-termers appear to have bogarted the shady spots), and I do have a view (through other RVs) of the river. I might take my chair and go sit next to the river for a while; there's an area for people who don't border the river to have access. There are boats of all kinds going by, from tour boats (whose spiels I can overhear) to big lake freighters (which blow their horn, which is a bit loud but luckily doesn't happen often).

I'm going to walk to town tomorrow for tourist purposes, since it's going to be cloudy and maybe rainy, and that way I can make sure the RV doesn't overheat on Wednesday, when it's hot(ish) again. If I keep the big windows open, there's a great breeze through, which helps counteract the heat from the blacktop that makes up most of this campground--but it's way too easy to break into the big windows. At any rate, I took a great nap this afternoon, and I foresee several more!

Very good family reunion/party

After six days in Troll-country (i.e. below the bridge--it's a Yooper joke), I'm back in St. Ignace. It was hotter than billy hell in Toledo--upper 80's and 90's, rather like the Florida weather I bought this RV to escape. Despite the weather, it was a good time (other than the horsefly bites I got--ow): lots of eating, swimming, laughing, playing cards and dominos, and catching up with everyone. My dad's 80th birthday party went beautifully--we had it in a park right by where we used to live in South Toledo. Plenty of his old friends came, we barbecued hamburgers and hot dogs and had pasta salad and chips and soda and beer (yay great caterer!) and there were no major disasters and I think everyone had a great time. One of the better get-togethers we've had.

So I was thinking, where should I go once the party broke up? I have three weeks before I have to be back in Florida, and I'm in no hurry to return to that weather. I thought about New England, but it's been hot there, it remains hot, it's high season (particularly because it's so hot and I'd want to be by/on the beach like everyone else), and it's far away (driving back to Florida would take several days, plus having to bypass several major cities). So I decided to go back to the Upper Peninsula.

Driving up yesterday (the only thing worse than driving south through Michigan on a summer Sunday is driving north on a Saturday! Traffic galore), the temperature literally dropped 10 degrees from 9am in Dundee MI to 3pm in St. Ignace. My parents and my sister and her family are here until Monday, to go to Mackinac Island. I, having been there last year and with work to do, will be resting today--well, other than the work. There's good reliable Internet (I have to proof a couple of chapters of a text book) and I really really need to sweep the floor (the cat hair is beginning to form small tumbleweeds in the aisle, which even I as a very indifferent housekeeper don't much like). It's a cool cloudy rainy day--my kind of weather!

(We're in the same campground I was in a week ago, and the youth group is still here! Must be a long trip)

Rested!

July 11 (morning)--St. Ignace

Well, I'm rested! My ankles are unpuffed (for the moment), the laundry is done, I did some swimming, I did more reading, and the cats really want to eat a seagull. Nell was so in hunter mode she was making little noises while staring at the gulls. I didn't have the heart to tell her that the gull could eat her for an hors d'oeurve. I also got to tell off the little maggots from the prior post: they were chucking rocks around about 10 feet from my rig, and I told them they needed to stop or there would be problems (in a very reasonable voice) and I haven't seen them since. There was also a huge (well, maybe 20 people) youth group that arrived, set up a half-dozen big tents, a dining tent, and a kitchen. They seem to be here for a while. They're also pretty well-behaved; I saw that they're a church group, which probably explains it.

I'm off to the south today. Not looking forward to the weather, but the company should be worth it. It's been in the upper 50's for lows here; very very nice.

Puck got me up at 4:30 this morning; needless to say, he spent the next two hours in the kennel. I'd love to be able to sleep more, but I want to get started before everyone else starts leaving the UP: it's Sunday, and everyone has to be back to work tomorrow, and the Interstate should be loaded in a few hours.

I'm tired . . .

July 8--Odanah, WI

I slept OK, although Puck got me up REALLY early--as in, the sun wasn't up and the sky was barely light. So he got put in the kennel, which he didn't like, while I tried to sleep in a bit. We were up and gone by 7:45.

I wanted to go to International Falls and see (at least a bit) of the Minnesota north woods, so we headed northeast. The landscape went from trees and fields to just trees, from a mixed forest to just conifers, as we went north. The road also deteriorated; some of it resembled the infamous Minnesota highway 60 from last year, though it never reached that level of awfulness.

International Falls itself is a nice little northern town, pretty much indistinguishable except for a huge plant of some sort (maybe lumber or mining?). I did stop to look at some bikes, though they were expensive, and I should have stopped at the giant statue of Smokey the bear (with two little bears at his feet looking scared--hell, if I were that close to a giant Smokey, I'd be scared too!). There's something about this area and giant statues; I counted no fewer than three giant statues of fish before I reached Duluth, one of which you could climb on into a convenient saddle for pictures.

I stopped outside of town to get gas (by the aforementioned ridable fish) (and of course later passed lots of stations with cheaper gas) and headed back southeast. I got a Subway sandwich in Cook, and let the cats out for a pit stop while I ate it, then continued.

More woods, four-lane here on out. Through Duluth (the transition from Minnesota to Wisconsin was a bit terrifying, with one-lane bridges and unexpected traffic lights and hills), then along route 2.

It is a really lovely day, although it's definitely warm. Sunny, a very good breeze. I stopped in Ashland at the municipal campground, only to find that my rig wouldn't fit into any of the remaining campsites (and when I tried, it was so tilted I never would have levelled it). Which is a shame, since it was on the lake and would have made a nice stop.

So I'm at the Bad River Casino, in Odanah. There are a dozen or so free RV spots, with electric and water, which is the best deal ever. I'm on the end (after unnecessarily freaking out another guy who thought I was going to ram into him--I wasn't anywhere near him), next to a very nice guy who helped me back into the spots (which makes me feel better about being here). The casino is small by Vegas standards, but is full of machines and a few tables, as well as cigarette smoke (it didn't seem too bad when I was in there, but I can still smell the smoke on my clothes). Plus, free Pepsi! You just walk up, grab a cup, and fill up at the pop fountain. There's also a gas station, a post office, and an IGA (where I bought kleenex and cheese). If it weren't so damn hot, it would be great. Thank god for the breeze. According to my thermostat, it's 90, but it's a dry heat and the breeze keeps things manageable. I won't be staying here tomorrow, though.

The cats are actually happy about the heat--at least Nell is. I'm not sure about Puck; he's like me. However, he was chasing flies earlier (he loves to eat some flies!) and now he's on the floor with his head pillowed on the tribble cat toy; he can't be too unhappy. Besides, both of them ate like starving wolves. When it cools down a bit and I feel more confident about closing a window or two (it's too damn easy to break into this thing, since the screens just slide open), I'm going into the cafe for their meatloaf dinner, I think. The cafe closes at 9pm, but I think the casino is open later. I may have to blow some money there as well.


July 9--St. Ignace, MI

Damn, it got hot. That parking lot was like being in a frying pan. I eventually figured it wasn't going to cool down anytime soon (and the breeze began to die!) so I shut everything up and put on the air conditioning full blast. Which was like spitting on a forest fire; my A/C is just not impressive. This worries me, because it's going to be hot this week. Anyway, after 45 minutes or so, the temperature had dropped a whole 4 degrees inside, and I was hungry, so I abandoned the cats and went into the casino and had dinner. A big overcooked chopped steak, some overcooked carrots, a tasty baked potato with roll (trust the starches to be tasty!) and an iceberg-lettuce salad. I've had worse. I then gambled a dollar or so, before heading back to the RV. The sun had gone down, and it was 84 in the rig, so I gave up (it was 79 outside), turned off the A/C, opened all the windows (the breeze had completely died, which was no help), and didn't sleep well.

Puck woke me up early, I put him in the kennel and slept another hour. Then I got up, read a bit, fed the cats, and ate breakfast in the casino--other than overdone (for me) toast, the eggs and ham and potatoes and tea was very yummy, and cheap! I packed up and used the (free!) dump station for my tanks, which was rather disgusting; I think some people didn't use a hose, they just opened their tank in the general vicinity of the dump. Ew. Afterwards, I went back to the casino, washed my hands thoroughly (I wanted to scour my entire body at that point), grabbed a free Pepsi for the road, and headed east.

I got gas in Ironwood, MI, and kept driving. The weather was nice, although the wind began to blow--behind us, yay! I drove and drove and drove, and the scenery was pretty (I remember at one point marveling at the pastures, wondering how they got here in this north woods, then found out that the place had been logged to bare ground 100 years ago--that'll do it), and drove some more. I stopped east of Marquette to put my feet in Lake Superior, and damn did that feel good. The lake didn't seem that cold, and my ankles aren't happy with me; I've been eating too many carbs and not exercising enough and been sitting too long, and my ankles are puffy. I stopped in Munising to get pasties for dinner (and tomorrow's lunch!), then kept driving. I was tired then, and I'm exhausted now. I should have stopped, but I kept going.

I'm in St. Ignace, in the KOA, in the same spot I was in last year (shaded and relatively flat--since the place is mostly empty, I could pick my own spot). I thought about trying a new campground; there are a few that are nearer the lakeshore, but they don't have internet or they aren't flat and I'm too tired to be disappointed. So I came here. Besides, I hope to use the pool, which none of the others have.

I'm here for two nights. I don't plan on doing anything tomorrow--well, I'm going to do laundry, and sweep the rig, but I'm also going to nap and read and let my ankles unpuff and go swimming and pet the cats and drink a lot of water and try not to eat too much. I don't think this coming week, as much fun as it's going to be, is going to be very restful. So, I'm taking tomorrow off. Unless I get really bored, then I'll go to Mackinaw Island, but I was there last year and don't have a burning urge to go back. I can always take the free shuttle bus to downtown St. Ignace, and then just walk around town--that might work.

I think I'm going to not do the pool tonight, just shower and read and go to bed early. I'm so tired I'm dizzy--way too much driving. There are a couple of little kids running around like banshees--I'm tempted to set up a cord to trip the little buggers. They're about 8 or 10; they should know better. Their parents are letting them run wild; tire them out, I guess. Ah well, just call me Dr. Evil!

From the plains to the forests

June 7--Bemidji, MN

I slept really well last night, and woke up this morning with a sore throat. Well, if I'm coming down with something, that would explain a lot. Still, the sun was out, the air smelled fresh and wonderful, and it was a good morning. I fed the cats and we were out on the road by 7:50am.

I drove through the construction in Minot (lots of construction in ND--one place east of Devils Lake they had taken the road out right down to the dirt, which made driving fun) to Rugby, where I had to stop to get a picture of the Geographic Center of North America. Well, no, it isn't really, the actual center is a few miles away in the middle of basically an empty field, so Rugby had usurped the honor, but still. The monument is in a restaurant's parking lot, and it does amaze me: Canada must just be huge, if the distance from the Panamanian border with Columbia to Rugby is the same distance as that from Rugby to the northernmost part of Canada. I mean, we're not only in North Dakota, but northern North Dakota!

The land had changed from rangeland to farmland right about at Minot, and most of the hills went away as well. So we cruised through the farmland past Devils Lake (which was indeed really high) to Grand Forks, where I stopped and got diesel. Over the Red River (not too high at the moment, even though Grand Forks gets seriously flooded every year, seems like) to Crookston, MN, where I got lunch. The sky had begun completely clear, but by the time I got to MN we'd caught up with the clouds.

The plains changed over to forest right about Fosston, and it was rather abrupt. I turned south at Bagley, because I wanted to see the source of the Mississippi. Well, to get to the actual source, I would have to pay $5, and there weren't any parking spots since the RV spots were full of cars, so instead I stopped right outside the park, at a canoe launch. The Mighty Mississippi was about the size of a good creek--about the size of the creek at the entrance to Seneca Trail after some really good rain. Not too impressive.

It had begun to spit rain off and on, so I continued on. I was going to stay at a particular campground, but I couldn't get the usual discount and it was out of the way, so I lacked imagination and am at the Bemidji KOA. I have electricity and cable and Internet access (obviously) and plan to use all of them. The sun just came out, the cats have been fed, and I'm about ready to read and/or watch TV. Just another evening in paradise!

Not much to say

June 6--Minot, ND

The trains didn't wake me last night, although I did wake up for the 4am worry (yay cable again--distraction!). We got out on the road by 7:50, and I drove for what seemed a very long time. For the most part the wind was behind us, which not only gave us great mileage, but kept me from going mad: we were perpendicular to the wind for about 13 miles, and given the tilt of the RV and the veering we were doing with gusts, I was incredibly glad that was only about 13 miles. Rolling land, ranging from pasture to cultivation, with no mountains visible.

Most of the day it was cloudy, with more dramatic clouds and spits of rain. I decided to stop in Minot, since there's not much past this and I'm tired (I do hope to sleep tonight). I'm at the usual campground, though there's someone in my old spot! This one is better: it just has electric, so with my discount it cost less than $20. The sun has come out, the wind is now not an enemy but a friend fumigating the RV through all the windows which I've opened, and the cats are laying in the sun making vitamin D. No cable, alas, and no hot tub, but otherwise near perfect. I may have to take a nap in the sun myself!

Big Sky country--for real

July 5--Malta, MT

It amazes me how much mobility there was in the campground this weekend. I thought the place would be full and everyone would stay for the weekend. Well, the place was full each night (give or take a few tent sites), but a third to half of the campground left and was replaced each night. Sometimes very late--people would pull in at 9pm and out at 6:30am. Hell, you might as well just stay in a parking lot!

I continued doing nothing last night, and enjoying it immensely. This morning I woke early (or rather I got up early, after Puck woke me up around 6am), and was out on the road by 8:15. The cats weren't happy, but they knew what was up. I hope they enjoyed their peace, because we're going at least four (and maybe more) one-night stands.

I got gas (and of course spotted diesel for less money pretty much everywhere today) and headed through Hellgate Canyon, to Highway 200. It was fairly deserted, although since I don't go much over 60mph, lots of people passed me (when they could). There was low fog here and there, which was very pretty, but the odd deer trying to cross the road (and one confused German Shepherd in Lincoln) made things a bit hairy. It wasn't actively raining, for the most part, but it was very cloudy. When I got to Lincoln I stopped at the Hi Country Beef Jerky Trading Post, and got some jerky (it's damn tasty--I'm trying not to eat all of it today) before heading over the pass. Luckily it wasn't too cold--Rogers Pass (this one, not the one I went through in Canada) has the record low temperature for the lower 48: -70 F. Now that's cold.

Once down in the (relative) flatlands, I could drive a bit more consistently (I've been getting 18 to 20mpg lately--I don't know why I wasn't doing this well before; maybe the tires?). I drove through Great Falls to get to Fort Benton, which was a big-time steamship port. This was the farther you could get up the Missouri (upstream are the Great Falls of the Missouri, which tends to put a crimp in boat travel). for about 20 years, this was quite the boom town/hellhole. Everyone coming up the river stopped here, and several trails (like the Mullen trail, to Walla Walla, and the Whoop-up Trail, to Ft. McLeod) began here. I walked up and down the riverfront, reading all the signs. There was yet another heroic Lewis/Clark/Sacajawea statue (why is it that it's always Lewis, Clark, and either Sacajawea or the dog?), plus a full-sized keelboat--big and shallow-draft. There's also the Shep statue (for those who don't know, Shep was the dog of a sheepherder who died and was shipped off on the railroad--afterwards, Shep met every train apparently hoping to meet his master--he was killed six years into his vigil). I also found Veteran's park, which had a monument to the military dogs in Vietnam, which apparently were left behind when the troops left, which is sadder than Shep.

Headed north and east, the clouds were amazing. Montana lived up to its Big Sky Country billing, because the clouds were incredibly dramatic. Dark, light, rain falling or not, near and far, really cool. It wasn't quite as cool when I had to drive through the rain, but still, pretty cool.

Nothing much else happened until I stopped at Malta--oh, wait, I saw the Empire Builder headed west, just east of Chinook (I think it was only about half an hour late). I'm at a campground recommended by AAA, which is literally a stone's throw from the railroad. Those other campgrounds where I said the trains were near? Nothing compared to this. The rig shakes when the trains go by. Luckily there's no whistles, but I'm likely to think it's an earthquake. The cats don't seem to mind, so I'm sure I'll sleep through it OK. I just did laundry (had to dry everything twice--weeny dryers) and ate bean burritos. I suspect it'll be early to bed, if I don't find something good on TV (yay cable! I am SO not into roughing it.)

My parents, my sister and her husband and her kids, and both family's dogs are going to be headed to Billings tomorrow to pick up a 31-foot RV to drive to Toledo--I believe I've started a fashion! I'm trying to get them to write a blog as well,b ut no takers.

Missoula!

July 4--Missoula, MT

So day before yesterday I got up early--the trains that went right by the campground helped! It was a bit cloudy and rainy, but we got off by 8:10. I stopped to get gas in Post Falls, which was a mistake: the person ahead of me at the diesel pumps didn't follow the rule of gas stations, which is pull up to the first available pump. Since I couldn't pull in ahead of him, I sat and sat and sat while he took his time. Then the pump wouldn't take my credit card, so I took cash in, and then it took the card after all . . . it took a while. The rest of the drive to Wallace was uneventful.

I wanted to go to the Bordello Museum in Wallace, since I hadn't been. Even with all the hassle, I was still early, so I had a chance to walk around Wallace. This town is known for three things, in no particular order: 1. it was the sight of the last stoplight on I-90, which existed until around 1991; 2. they filmed the movie "Dante's Peak" here (of the several "Volcanos wreak havoc" movies that came out around then, it was the one with Pierce Brosnan and Linda Hamilton), and 3. the Bordello Museum. Well, there's also a sign stating that the intersection of 6th street and Bank Street is the Center of the Universe, but that's unofficial.

It was always rumored that prostitution was legal in Wallace; it wasn't, but the sheriff was given enough "donations" that they didn't get busted (in fact, there was a "panic button" in each of the four bordellos that would get the police there quickly). The last whorehouse went out of business in 1988, when the madam was warned that the Feds were coming, and everyone grabbed a few changes of clothing and left. The building (complete with everything that was left, which included a bag of groceries on the counter) was locked up and undisturbed until 1993, when Ginger sold the building and it was made into a museum by simply cleaning out the garbage and rotted food (except for ashtrays, which were covered with saran and left), dressing a few dummies in the clothing left behind, and opening the doors. The place looks just like the inhabitants just left for lunch--there are books out, makeup, toiletries in the one bathroom, food in the kitchen, liquor in the cabinets, everything. I got my own tour, since I was the only person who had signed up, and it was fascinating.

After the tour I stopped at a bakery where I bought a HUGE roast beef sandwich, as well as a pepperoni-and-cheese roll (which I had for breakfast the next day), and headed out. It rained off and on the rest of the drive, which made the narrow twisty sections of I-90 even more fun.

The skies cleared when I hit Missoula, and I headed through the traffic (I think the whole town was trying to get on the Interstate) to the KOA. Believe it or not, I was given the EXACT SAME SPOT I had last JUly! 150 spaces to choose from, and I get the exact same spot! Which was nice, because it was a damn good location. I set the RV up, sat with the cats for a bit, then headed downtown on the bus.

I walked around downtown, glad to be here. I watched the kayakers surfing Brennan's Wave off Caras Park--apparently there was a big competition there that day, but it was cleared by the time I got there. I walked in and out of stores, and then ate a double Mo-burger with pepper cheese. Huge, greasy, and wonderful. I had some time before the bus I needed, so I walked to Safeway to buy groceries, where I discovered a miracle: Friskies Hairball Control treats! I've used those with my cats since I got them, and they work great, much better than any other product I've tried, but I haven't been able to find them for months! I bought enough to last until their expiration date, and hopefully I'll be able to find them after that.

Yesterday I tried to sleep in as much as possible (not much, with these cats), then walked over to catch the other bus (the one that stops at the KOA driveway doesn't run Saturdays). I stopped in the PetSmart and the Barnes and Noble, just browsing, and then headed downtown. I went to the Farmer's Market, then the People's Market, then the Caras Park market (Missoula is such a crunchy granola place that it can support so many markets) and got an organic breakfast burrito, which I ate while listening to a really good guitar player. Then I walked over the Higgins bridge down to University (the Munster House is looking a bit ragged--looks like student housing now), then down University to the campus. There are a LOT of new buildings I haven't seen: the Native American building (which is complete with place for bonfires), the Journalism building, the Education building, lots of new ones. Then over the Clark Fork footbridge (Goldsmith's doesn't have ice cream anymore--the restaurant is a bike shop) to the library, where I bought a tea, then to the Bagels on Broadway for dinner bagels, then back to the bus.

Today I did very little. I watched TV (yay KOA cable!), read the paper (yay KOA again!), took a nap, did some proofreading, and goofed around on the Internet. It's now cloudy (it was sunny earlier), so I might go sit in the hot tub. Ah, relaxation. It's back on the road tomorrow; the weather looks like it will cooperate by not being hotter than hell, which is great. I may not be able to stop for more than one night until I get to Toledo, which will be a haul. We'll see what sort of progress I make.

Hmm. In completely random news, I'm currently watching "Yankee Doodle Dandy" ("1776" was on earlier), and in the "Wow I never thought of it that way", I'm watching James Cagny doing George Cohen doing FDR, dancing away, when FDR could actually barely walk. Hmm. I wonder if Cagney dances on his toes because he has high heels on because he was kinda short?

Headed east again

July 1--Spokane Valley, WA

The mountain came out! I got some great looks at Rainier in the late afternoon yesterday, when the clouds went away for a little while . . . so they could come back in force today. But I get ahead of myself.

I got into Seattle a bit earlier than I had planned; taking the bus that stopped right across the street got me moving a bit faster to catch it. I then had a bagel with cream cheese while I read the local alternative papers, and began to walk toward Tom's office. I knew I was early, but the big REI flagship store (complete with a mountain path to test bikes and a climbing wall) is right across the street from his office, so I figured I could linger there.

The REI store was lovely, and full of stuff. I did notice, however, that there seemed to be very few overweight people there. Granted, there aren't that many overweight people in Seattle, but at least when the salespeople asked if they could help me (which they did constantly) they did nicely, without the "what on earth are YOU doing here, tubby?" vibe I've gotten from other places. I almost bought an all-purpose head bandanna/scarf/whatever, but I didn't. And they also had socks without toes, for doing yoga, which intrigued me enough I almost bought them as well. Then when I was done shopping, I sat outside and read my book until 11:30.

I called Tom and he met me outside the building. We walked to a sushi place (that I had passed on my way to his office), where the sushi was OK (I was disappointed by almost every meal I had in Seattle; I guess I'm expecting too much). Then he showed me his offices, which were huge and well-lit and full of people and computers and papers. It was great to see him again!

After I left Tom I wandered over to the Seattle Center, where the Space Needle is. No, I didn't go up the Space Needle (although if I'd known that the clouds were breaking, I might have done so to see the skyline). I didn't go to the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame either; I expect that will be my next trip. Instead, I decided on the spur of the moment to take a Duck tour! Yes, the same sort of boats that we took in the Wisconsin Dells.

I got into the Duck late, but managed to get a window. I wound up with a little kid next to me, who didn't speak English and who luckily was more interested in the food his mom kept handing out than in the view. I enjoyed the trip quite a bit, even though the driver was really quite obnoxious. He told bad jokes, laughed harder at them than anyone else did, and never stopped basically shilling for other attractions in the area (I wonder how much they pay him?). Still, it was cool to ride so high above Seattle, and then we went into Lake Union.

Seattle is built all around water, and Lake Union is a freshwater lake between Puget Sound and Lake Washington. What's cooler is, there are float planes that are constantly taking off and landing, and this is also the home of the house barges. If you saw "Sleepless in Seattle", we cruised by the barge where they filmed (and if you want to buy it, it's only $2.5 million!). I loved looking at those house barges; I'd like to live on one someday, although it'd need to be somewhere I could afford.

After we got back, I took the monorail downtown (mostly to say that I had done it) and then wandered back down to the waterfront near the Pike Place Market to stare at Mt. Rainier for a while. After I caught the bus, I found that I could stare at the mountain on the way home as well. There something about these volcanoes here, that just loom in the distance and don't look real, that fascinates me. Unfortunately, once I got back to the RV I couldn't see the mountain anymore, unless I walked to a nearby bird sanctuary. Which I did. The campground is along the Green River, and that sucker must flood bigtime; not only are there advisories on the bus routes that flooding may cause problems, but there's a big temporary levee along the road made of straw bales and plastic bags. Wow.

It got cloudy overnight, and began to rain when I started to pack up to leave (of course!). I got out by 8:10, then ran into traffic so it took me over a half an hour to go about 10 miles, but things sped up more once I got on I-90--yay reverse commute!

We went up to Snoqualmie pass, and then back down the other side. I got off at Roslyn, because I wanted to say hi to Cicely, Alaska. The series "Northern Exposure" was filmed there, and I wound up parking right under the big moose painting on the Roslyn Cafe. I wandered a bit, bought a Brick Tavern T-shirt and a KBHR bumpersticker, then bought a cup of tea at Cicely's Cafe. The lady in there was telling me that she needed to fix the sink in the ladies' room, because someone had sat on it and broken it! Who the hell sits on a sink in a restaurant bathroom? Neither of us could believe it.

Most of the rest of the day was driving, which isn't very interesting. Central Washington, having been scraped by Glacial Lake Missoula, is pretty featureless. At least it stopped raining, though the sun didn't come out. It did get up into the 70's, which was nice.

I'm in the Spokane Valley KOA. It's small and a bit dusty, but we have a nice spot on the end (no cable TV at this spot, alas, but I do have NPR) and Nell enjoyed the sun shining in. Puck is now looking out the window and entertaining people walking by, who can't believe there's a cat in the RV! Oh, and the next-door neighbors just pulled in! Never a dull moment. I'm off to Missoula for a few days tomorrow--yay Msla!

Better cold than hot!

June 30--Kent/Seattle, WA

I've been remiss, and I'm sure you're all on the edge of your seat waiting for an update, so:

The week at Lynn and colin's was very nice. We camped out in their driveway, which was nice and quiet. The cats enjoyed the time not moving, and I enjoyed being with family.

Wednesday I did a drive up to Neah Bay, which is the most northwesterly part of the continental US. The drive there was wonderful, on a two-lane twisty road with views of mountains and ocean (and deer, but that's a constant). The very end involved a walk down a hill to a rocky point that was gorgeous. I stopped at the Makah museum, to see the artifacts from a village that was buried by a landslide 500 years ago. And I bought a hunk of authentic smoked salmon, which was good (if a bit strong).

Thursday I did very little; went to Wal Mart to get cat stuff, dropped some food and litter off at the local Humane Society (they needed kitten food), and hung out with the cats.

Friday I went to Victoria on the ferry. I took the fast ferry, which got us there in an hour. Victoria is a great little city, with amazing water views (the Olympics over the Strait was just lovely) and lots of cute houses. I walked around the downtown up to Chinatown, where I had lunch (kind of a touristy restaurant, but good and plentiful and cheap food), then back to the harbor area, where I decided I was tired of walking. I took a Gray Line tour on a double-decker open bus, so I could sit in the sun (yes, sun, and lots of it--Victoria tends to be sunny when everywhere else isn't) and see more of the place. At one stop, at a marina, there were some pretty tame harbor seals that could be fed. The tour guide (who I'm not sure I believe) said that they were refugees from an oceanarium that closed in the early 90's after a killer whale killed a trainer--the whales were sold, but the seals were released, and decided begging for fish was better than being wild. There were four of them here, and two were pregnant, so I suspect there will soon be more!

Then I took the ferry tour, in these tiny little boats (much smaller than my RV), up the harbor gorge. We saw another seal, as well as houses ranging from shacks to mansions (the gorge used to be the garbage dump, and wasn't cleaned up completely until about 10 years ago). Also, lots of scullers/rowers, who can really get moving when they get down to it. The ferry ride back to Port Angeles was fun, because the wind had picked up and the waves were bigger and hitting us broadside. This boat wasn't that big, and we were pitching and tossing and I was up on the bow and got hit good by a wave (right in the ear!) and enjoyed most of it.

The weekend was a lot of relaxing, plus a trip with Lynn to tide pools up on the Strait. We had to walk out pretty far on sharp rocks and mussels (and I had worn the wrong shoes for the occasions, so between that and my lack of depth perception to see where to put my feet, I was pretty slow). But I got to see more anemones, plus purple sea urchins (VERY purple) and a red sea star. And lots of people. Then we went to the Lake Crescent Lodge and had a great lunch, then to the Elwha dams (which are going to be removed next year), and then back.

I left Monday, after doing another load of laundry (thanks, Lynn!). Nell decided to vomit again--there's something about driving after a long layover that causes her to get carsick. Another towel gone; I think I'll be putting paper towels in now. The drive was uneventful (except for people stuck behind me on the two-lane road--I miss Canada's frequent passing lanes) until I decided to look for lunch. I followed some signs in Gig Harbor that said food, but all I did was go down a long hill through a congested area, then up another hill and back to the Interstate: no food. So I crossed the Tacoma Narrows bridge (no galloping Gertie, yay!) and got off at another stop just past Tacoma. Where I found the Burger King, but there was absolutely no place for me to park in the small congested parking lot. So I pulled back out into traffic (thanks to the drivers that let me out, and I'm sorry to the RV for hopping that curb) and found a McD's with a slightly larger parking lot, and then when I left I got into the wrong lane . . . there's a reason I'm taking the bus now that I'm here.

The KOA was easy to find, and I have a spot right in front. It's a bit noisy, like most KOA's; it's on a major road with lots of traffic. But I can sleep through it, and the people all around give the cats something to look at.

And there's a bus stop right across the street, that during rush hours will take me directly to downtown Seattle! I did that yesterday, getting to the Pike Place Market early because I thought it would be interesting. Um, no, nothing happened. I ate a ham/cheese/spinach piroshki (which was good but crumbled all over everything) and walked down to the waterfront. I walked up and down, looking at the boats and the piers and everything. Then I decided since I had time I did the Underground tour. Seattle was originally built on a mud-flat that had been built up by sawdust, and thus was pretty wet and tended to subside. So after a big fire in 1889, they decided to raise the roadbed up about 15 feet, and the first floors of buildings that survived were buried. In one room there was the remains of wall decorations, as well as a toilet that was elevated to avoid backwash when the tide came in. Another place, you could see that the floor had subsided about 2 feet since it was laid. Very cool.

I walked back to the waterfront and got clam strips and fries at Ivar's wharf. I ate most of the crab strips and some of the fries, and fed the rest to the hovering seagulls, which didn't quite snatch it from my mouth, but came close. Then I walked farther down the waterfront, then up to a park on the bluff. The weather was mostly cooperating, with some sun. I walked through the market, then had some clam chowder, and then it was time to head back, where I fed the cats and was lazy.

I'm not going to head out quite as early this morning, and I'm going to be meeting with Tom for lunch! And the sun is out; I'm hoping to see Rainier today.

The Olympics, but not the sports . . .

June 19--Kalaloch, WA

I was idly checking the Internet website for Kalaloch, and found that reservations actually began last weekend, and not next. So I checked the availability of campsites, and found exactly one campsite that my RV would fit which was available the days I wanted. Oh dear.

I didn't sleep that well, fed the cats at 6:30, and left by 7:15. This is earlier than I normally would, but the cats did not get sick, so it worked.

It was cloudy and a bit drizzly, but the scenery was pretty. I did have to pull over twice for logging trucks that were in a big damn hurry, but otherwise traffic was light.

I pulled into Kalaloch at 9am, and immediately drove to the campsite, hoping 1. it was still open, and 2. my rig would fit. Both were true! It's not the best site; it's right across from the bathrooms, Highway 101 is a stone's throw away, and it backs up to the dumpsters (literally, there's a dumpster eight feet from my rig). It's also tilted enough that I can't quite level it, and the rig is right next to the road so people need to drive carefully. But we're very happy to be here!

I walked over to the registration station, and found that someone had canceled the spot yesterday, which is why it was open--thanks, person!

After I got set up (and ate breakfast/lunch--I wasn't hungry before), I walked around the campground, which I did several times. I'm along the branch of the campground that is next to the road, but I haven't found it to be any louder than other places I've been (most KOA's are at least as noisy). Lots of tent camping, which since it rained all last night (it's the next morning), was probably not fun. Like I said, I'm a wuss, and like vehicle camping. I've tent camped in the rain enough, thanks. I also found some big rigs wedged into small spaces, and one of these rigs had the dashboard blocked off, with baby rabbits in it! The husband of the pair told me his wife is fostering the bunnies, while she picked them up and showed them to me. Not even baby bunnies can cancel a oceanfront camping trip! By the way, I can see the ocean from my spot as well, even if it's rather far away. I also saw at least two other cats on dashes, as well as a version of my rig, but without a couch and with the bed downstairs. I don't like it; I like mine much better!

I climbed down to the beach and walked along it for a while. It was low tide, and the water was very far out, Not a lot of shells, other than crab carapaces, but some very pretty rocks. Then it was back to the RV for reading and napping (all three of us decided to sleep--me and Puck on the couch and Nell in her favorite spot on the dash).

After the nap, I decided to check out the lodge. It's a short walk along the road from the far end of the campground to the lodge, where there's some overpriced things at the Mercantile (someone left a hot-dog-cooker at my spot, so I priced hot dogs--they want $5 for a pack of hot dogs!) plus a couple of reasonably priced things (I bought some jalapeno cheese crackers and a HUGE chocolate muffin, that I'm saving for when I really need chocolate), plus a restaurant that is way overpriced for dinner, but I plan to eat there for lunch today (before tide pooling, assuming the tide is low enough) and maybe breakfast tomorrow. The cabins there are very nice, with great views, but for what I'm paying for three days here I could stay there for maybe half a day. Another reason I like my RV!

After having tuna and green beans for dinner (and feeding the cats), I wandered over to the amphitheater to see if there was going to be a program. Nope. Bummer. So I wandered around the campground some more (I need the exercise), then I sat down at a (presumably temporarily) empty site to watch the sunset. With the clouds and the water and Destruction Island with its lighthouse in the distance, very pretty. And it meant that I was out of the campfire smoke. There wasn't much of a wind, and the smoke was just hanging over the campground. Blech. A wind would be nice. My jacket this morning reeked of smoke, even though I hadn't had a fire. Heck, who needs one! I did gather some driftwood, in case I feel like a fire, but even though it's under the picnic table, it's a bit damp.

I didn't sleep well, really. This damp cold is really cold, even though it's 58 inside (which is what I set the heat at other places) and only 53 outside. So I woke up after an hour or so to grab another blanket, and then had to rearrange myself around the cats (who were also cold) to make sure I had some blanket. Then the cats decided to play, then Puck horked up a hairball (luckily on a brochure I had left on the floor--I just chucked the whole thing out the door and dealt with it this morning), and then it started to get light. I'll have to try to get to sleep earlier tonight, maybe. And get the bed set up before I get in it.

So I woke up this morning, fed the cats, ate a tomato sandwich with a Pepsi (breakfast of champions!) and am now watching Hell's Kitchen while writing this. Hopefully the inverter I bought will allow the laptop to recharge, so I can watch more shows I have ready. Yep, that's me, in a beautiful wilderness area, watching bad TV. But it's raining, and it's cold! Wuss.


June 20--Kalaloch, WA

Lots more walking (on the beach and through the campground), as well as reading and napping. The weather has been the same pattern: rainy morning, partly sunny early afternoon, cloudy evening, rain at night. I've tried to be outside for the sunny parts as much as possible.

Walking the beach when the sun is out is very cool: the sand is dark and absorbs the sun's rays enough that it begins to steam, so mist is rising off the sand in the sun. Very pretty, and a bit eerie.

I walked to the lodge yesterday and did some tidepooling. There are rocks off the beach there, and at low tide I got to see a lot of barnacles, some limpets and whelks, and some big green anemones. No starfish, unfortunately, but still pretty cool. I then rinsed my feet off (I was wearing my new water shoes, which are partly neoprene which comes in handy in cold water), then had lunch at the lodge (in bare feet, but don't tell them!). A big hamburger with fries and a Pepsi, which was very good. Then I walked back and kept the cats company for a while.

The campground was pretty much full yesterday. The only open sites were those that have been reserved, but nobody showed--maybe they forgot, maybe it was too cold and they didn't think to cancel. I felt a bit bad for people who were coming by and could have stayed, but the sites were reserved. The ingenuity to keep the rain off the tents is amazing--lots of tarps tied here and there, as covers and roofs and such. My favorite so far is the person who had a big screened room with a nice waterproof roof who could fit both the picnic table and the tent in the enclosure. Still, I like my RV.

The campground was a bit noisier last night. A bunch of kids on bikes were riding around, plus some yahoos a few sites away decided they needed to play their music loud enough for me to hear it with my windows closed; I can't imagine how loud it was for those in the tents. I think someone finally told them to turn it down, because they did after a couple of hours. Yay!

I slept much better last night; I was even too warm near the end. I wonder sometimes how much is my metabolism, or how much I've been active. It was 57 this morning, but still felt colder.

I walked the nature trail this morning, which was beautiful. Overgrown trees, ferns, the path running through, a stream or two, really lovely. Lots of birds, many I've never heard before. There are some that sound like canaries, and one that sounds like some sort of electrical feedback. I didn't see any animals on the trail, but I did clap my hands occasionally to scare anything off (I have my period and figured since I smell like blood it was a good idea).

For lunch I went to the lodge again and had a sandwich that was a thing of beauty: bacon, lettuce, avocado, sprouts, and tomato, on thick wheat toast. Just amazingly good. Then more beach walking, sitting in the sun, reading, and playing with the cats (not all at the same time!).

We're headed out to Port Angeles tomorrow; it's kind of a shame to leave this quiet. But it'll be great to see Lynn and Colin, and to visit more of the park.


June 22--Port Angeles

We got up early as usual yesterday, and it was raining (as usual). I fed the cats and waited the hour before packing up, checking the tires (all OK!) and heading out.

I wanted to see some of the park on this side, so I turned in at the Hoh rainforest, much to the pleasure of some people behind me (the traffic was light, but I did have a couple of people pass me in a big damn hurry). I drove the speed limit up the Hoh valley, which pissed off more people, but did keep me from hitting a deer that was confused and decided to escape my vehicle by running right in front of it. No panic stop, luckily. The weather had gotten better, and by the time I got to the visitor's center the sun was actually peeking out.

I parked in the regular parking area (it was deserted enough, and the spots long enough, that I could do this) and went to the visitor's center. Not much to see, but I did then walk the Hall of Mosses. Some very pretty areas, with plants covering about every surface (including air plants on other plants!). My favorite sight, however, was probably the stream running through the area. The water was completely clear, and there were water plants growing under the surface that were swaying with the current. You could literally see one patch wave with different ripples of currents; it was hypnotic.

On the way down there was a lot more traffic, both going up and coming down. I did get a glimpse of a Roosevelt elk female nursing its calf, but it was only a glimpse because I was driving at the time and couldn't pull over. Then back to 101 and Forks.

Forks is the town chosen somewhat at random by Stephenie Meyer to set the "Twilight" books in. And the town has jumped into this with both feet. It used to be a dying lumber town (there's still a Lumber Museum here), but now everythign is Twilight. Tours, restaurants, shops, everything. Even a special pull-over for vehicles so people can get their pictures taken with the "Welcome to Forks" sign. No, I didn't stop--well, I did stop long enough to get a Subway sandwich, but that's it.

I kept driving towards Port Angeles. I saw that I was going to get in REALLY early, and when I passed the sign for the Sol Duc hot springs I decided to stop. It was up another long road into the interior (there are no roads that go through the Olympics, but several spur roads that go in a bit). I found that I could again park in the regular parking lot, and headed in. In all these stops, by the way (except for lunch), I let the cats out. They enjoy getting out of the carriers, and having something to watch, and I enjoy not having to worry about them soiling the carriers or getting thirsty. And luckily, I can pick up Puck to put him in his carrier, and Nell usually gets in herself.

There are four pools at the hot springs: a really hot (106 degrees) pool, a hot pool (102 degrees), a wading pool for kids (99 degrees), and a larger swimming pool that was 74 degrees, which may be a real pool (i.e. chlorinated; the smaller pools aren't treated because the water circulates so quickly). The water itself was odd; it made my skin feel slimy. It's possible that it was just really soft, but it was just weird. It also smelled of sulfur, but not too badly. I sat in the medium-hot pool for an hour or so, even reading my book for a while. The sun came out enough that it was really nice. And on the drive down I saw a doe with two fawns, which were very small and may have only been a day or so old--very cute!

I then continued around Lake Crescent (very deep, and a very interesting color, presumably from the glacier melt), then outside of Port Angeles I saw the view. It was clear enough (and we were high enough) that the Strait of Juan de Fuca was quite visible, with Vancouver Islands in the distance. It was so stunning, I nearly drove off the road. Just amazing looking, it didn't seem real.

Once I got to Port Angeles, I realized that I didn't have directions or a map. So after stopping at an Albertsons for some bread (which Puck promptly ate into--I suspect now it was him and not Nell behind the infamous bread eating episode!) I followed the main drag through downtown (which was pretty, if congested, particularl with an RV) till I saw signs for the park. I knew roughly where the administration building was in relation to the visitor's center, and there was also a sign. So I pulled in, parked across several spaces, and went in. I found Lynn without much trouble, and she and a coworker came and saw the kitties. Then we drove to her and Colin's house, which is very very nice. I did manage to park in the driveway, although it's rather unlevel. Oh well, I don't have to use my refrigerator anyway!

We went for a drive around town, then picked up pizza. It is a pretty town, and lots of places have a view of the Straits or the mountains or both.

I slept well in the RV, then did laundry the next morning. It was a sunny, clear day, and halfway through the laundry I decided to go up to Hurricane Ridge. I left the laundry in the washer (temporarily!) and got in Lynn's car (which drives very nicely!) and headed uphill.

Hurricane Ridge, about 18 miles above Port Angeles, is amazing. You drive up and up and up, with some impressive cliff action on one side and rock walls on the other, and then at the top you round a corner and there is about 180 degrees of snow-capped mountains, all seemingly about the same height, across the horizon. It's just amazing and stunning, and again it was good that I could stop and gawk. I went into the Visitor's center (passing a deer in the parking lot that was transfixing everyone else--um, it's a deer) and stared at the mountains until I got cold (it was 45 degrees up there, and even though it was sunny I hadn't really dressed for that weather). Then back down the mountain, where I also got to see the fog bank that was covering the strait and Puget Sound, but letting views of higher portions of neighboring mountains show through. Very pretty.

When I got down the hill I decided to wander around the college. I couldn't find any visitor's parking (there's some sort of construction going on taking up most of the parking), so I parked along the road and walked. And quite frankly, I couldn't find much of anything. I mean, I found the library and the student union and such, but there apparently are no departments and everyone is just kind of mixed together. Kind of confusing, but again the campus has a great view as well. Then to McDonalds for lunch (bad idea to hit fast food in Port Angeles at lunch time, apparently--I could barely get into the parking lot because of the line for the drive-through and I couldn't go in the out and bah). Then back home, whereupon I dried my laundry, put it away, hung with the cats for a while, and took a nap.

When Lynn got home, we went for another drive and scoped out houses, and then back home for steak. I'm now on their internet, and catching up on everything. I plan on doing a coast drive, as well as taking the ferry to Victoria, although I'm not sure when. I may well update this, but I intend to head to Seattle on Monday, and I'll certainly update then, if their Internet works!

Almost to the sea

June 17--Hoquiam, WA

After I had posted last night, Nell decided she wanted to play. So I got the feather-wand out for a while, and she attacked it until Puck woke up, found there was fun going on without him, and crashed the game. So I played with him a while, and tired them both out.

I slept well (interesting dreams of Mythbusters, after falling asleep to that show last night), and woke up around 5:30am. I wanted to get a fairly early start, in case there was a chance of seeing Mt. St. Helens. I fed the cats and loitered until around 7:20, to give them time to digest, then headed up the hill.

The weather had not improved. It was cloudy and drizzly, although occasionally the clouds would lighten enough to give me hope. I found I could have slept later, as nothing opened until 9am. So I stopped at a bridge overlook (which at the moment was mostly overlooking fog) to eat some tuna salad for breakfast (hey, protein's good to start the day). I didn't know if I wanted to drive the remaining 22 miles or so to the Johnston observatory, because I doubted that I could see anything. So I backtracked to the county visitor's center, which had very little of interest other than a collection of newspaper articles. Plus a memorial grove to those who were killed by the volcano, which was nice. There was also a good view of the Toutle river, running through the black volcanic mud of the valley--yes, it's still very visible.

At this point I thought, well, what the hell, maybe we'll be above the clouds, so I set off to the observatory. It was worth it just for the landscape, which ranged from nearly undisturbed forest to very few trees and a stream running through a valley choked with huge burnt-black tree trunks. I got to the observatory and---nothing. Fog and cloud. Which is a bummer, because most of the pictures I've seen show a spectacular view of the crater from there.

So I drove (carefully) back down the mountain, and headed back through Toledo (to take pictures that I neglected to take before), and then drove through the country for a while before construction forced me back on the Interstate. I got diesel and lunch in Chehalis, and then drove to Tenino, to Wolf Haven.

Janis and her family had been here before and raved about it, so I decided to stop. It's a sanctuary for former-pet wolves that can no longer be handled by their owners, as well as part of a breeding program for endangered red wolves and Mexican gray wolves. I got there about 45 minutes before the tour left, so I walked through the wolf prairie/graveyard, left a rock with our dogs' names at the wolf cairn, and then went back to the RV and read a bit and clipped the cat's nails (hey, we had time) and gave them hairball treats. I had let them out, since I figured we'd be here a while, and they rather like having the day broken like that, I think.

There were five of us on the tour, and I'm not sure but that I knew more about wolves than the tour guide did. But we did see several wolves, including one that had just caught a crow and was busy playing with/killing it (the remaining crows were all circling and raising hell above the trees, to no avail), as well as a red wolf (which I'd seen in South Carolina, which impressed the guide), a Mexican gray wolf (which impressed hell out of me--they are REALLY rare) and some coyotes. Also a bunny or two, but I don't think they count. It is indeed a very nice sanctuary, with pair-housing of wolves and nice big pens for them.

We then headed toward Elma, where I intended to stay. Except when we got there, the entire campground had been rented by a group. Since I was tired and the options were slim, this did not make me happy. However, I drove on to Hoquiam, and am now in a nice little RV camp next to the river. The lady at the desk was great--we got into a discussion about books, and I swapped two of my read ones for new books. I'm also going to fill up with water here at least halfway, since I'm going to be at Kalaloch the next few days and I don't know the water quality there (here it's chlorinated, which is good, but it's also tasty). I won't have power there either, so it should be more of a boondocking experience. However, I have to say, I'm happy here with my Internet and my electricity and the cable TV. I have found that I'm not huge on "roughing it", but Kalaloch is gorgeous enough that it's worth it.

Back in the USA

June 14--Grand Forks, BC

Woke up early this morning, but managed to get back to sleep and slept until 7 (probably because I fed the cats snacks at 3am). Puttered around a bit until 8am, where I went back for one last dip in the hot pool. Then I checked the tires (all well!) and we headed out.

The drive down to Nakusp was pretty well deserted; it's an advantage of being on a road that you have to take a ferry to enter: by the time I was on the road, the batch getting off the ferry at 9am had passed, and the 9:30am batch wouldn't catch up with me, so I rather took my time. Most of the roads today followed the same pattern: narrow valley (often filled with lake or stream), with the road partway up one side. Very pretty views of snow-capped mountains adorned with clearcuts, as well as lake views. With the occasional deer to increase adrenaline.

At Nakusp I stopped at a Kal-Tire place to have the lug nuts on the one tire checked; all was well, and we went on. I stopped at New Denver, and rather wish I had spent more time. It's a cute little town on a hill, with some artisan shops, a nice grocery (where I bought a chicken wrap and a tea for breakfast), and several war memorials. I also found my favorite motel: Dome Quixote, made up of little canvas huts. And then we went straight up a mountain.

I thought the roads before were deserted. Nope. Road 31A between New Denver and Kaslo was as deserted a road as I've ever driven on. No houses, once past the outskirts of town. No traffic passing me (and I did not drive fast). Damn little traffic in the opposite direction. All hill, mountain, stream (very fast-flowing), and sky. Absolutely gorgeous, and I was very glad that I could go as slow as I needed to. I didn't drive very far today, but it took a long time because I had to keep slowing down for turns and hills and such. But even the weather cooperated: no wind, high clouds to keep it cool.

I stopped at Ainsworth Hot springs for my finale. I mostly wanted to go here because they have a "cave" in their hot hot spring that you can go into. So I pulled in and parked next to an RV with a big dog in it. I let the cats loose in the rig, so they could pee or drink or whatever, and Nell immediately spotted that dog and began glaring at it. I don't think she likes dogs. Puck could have cared less, of course. He was more worried that I was leaving.

The hot spring was fairly reasonably priced, and I even got a nice big biodegradable plastic bag for my clothes. Their warm pool (96 degrees) was not huge, but had lots of nice nooks for people to relax in. There was also a spring-fed cold plunge (40 degrees) that I did go into--up to the ankles, and I also rinsed my hair in it before I left. The outside part of the hot hot pool (105 degrees) was small, but there was a lot more room inside, which was well worth the price of admission.

If you've been in a cave, you know they tell you not to touch the stalactites and stalagmites. Well, the inside of this cave (which had been at least roughed out by people, since the floor was smooth and it was about 5 feet wide throughout) was covered in most places by stalactites. The calcium carbonate and suchlike in the water (which was streaming down from the ceiling in drops--probably this was excavated in the actual spring--there was a stream leading in from a dark corner, which I didn't explore because it was dark) had caused huge calcium formations to grow, with ripples and tiny straws and all sorts of colors. It was well worth the steaming heat to touch and see all those things.

Even with the cave, I only spent an hour or so in the springs--I'm kind of hot-springed-out. So I went back to the RV and ate a tomato sandwich (as I'm headed back to the states tomorrow, I'm trying to eat all of my Canada vegetables/fruits) while pondering where to stop for the night. I decided on Grand Forks, and began driving south.

Nelson is a nice big town, right on Kootenay lake, complete with little college. Castlegar is much the same, although we didn't drive through the center of it the way you had to drive through Nelson. And then we drove up to a 5000-foot pass, which took a while (yay for passing lanes!), and then back down (which in a way is even more disconcerting). Another "No services for too damn long" road.

I'm in a little RV park, between the Kettle River and the road (which is rather loud). The lady in the office was nice and let me move from the rather unlevel spot I was in before, so now not only am I level, but I have a little gazebo to sit in (right next to the swimming ladder--don't go in now, though, unless you like drowning, as the river is deep and fast and cold with runoff). There's also a library, so I can exchange some of the books I've read for new ones, and nice washrooms (showers only a dollar). I was going to go take a shower, but we just had a thunderstorm pop up just east of here. I don't know if it will retrograde back to get us, but it's rumbling something fierce at the moment. I don't think we've gone through a thunderstorm in the rig--tropical storm yes, thunderstorm no. Puck isn't nervous at the moment, but I think I'll wait until it stops rumbling before I shower.


June 15--Vantage, WA

The little rumbly thunderstorm didn't come near us, thankfully.

Puck woke me up early (5:15), and attempting to get back to sleep didn't work. So I listened to the CBC and read a bit and ate some cheese, fed the cats at 6:30, and discovered something unprecedented. There's a cat food that Nell won't eat! I had given her one of the varieties of Friskies I'd bought (Turkey and cheese in gravy), and she had vomited it two mornings ago. I figured she just ate too fast or it was just a hairball or something equally temporary, but when I fed her the same type this morning, she didn't touch it. She sniffed it, ran up to me and meowed, then ran back and sniffed it again, and meowed again. After I recovered from the shock of Nell not eating food ravenously, I fed her a bunch of Greenies, to see if it was the food or her. It was the food; she scarfed those treats up with a frenzy I recognized. So, anybody want a can of Friskies? Luckily I only have one left, and that variety isn't usually included in packs in the US.

We were out by 8:00 or so. I drove slowly through Grand Forks, looking for a Tim Hortons, but didn't see one. So I got a Subway egg/ham/cheese sandwich and headed for the border.

Where I promptly pissed off the guy by not stopping at the stop sign. Sorry, dude, I wasn't sure if that was for the people not being helped or what. So I answered a few questions, he took my passport in to (probably) record my passage, came in the side door for a minute to make sure that I was indeed alone, and then I was allowed to go. I had to drive through two large columns, set about 10 feet apart, after going through customs; I thought about taking a picture of them, but I'd probably get arrested. I wonder if they were radiation detectors? I've never seen them before.

The drive to Republic was lovely and so full of deer I nearly lost my mind. The first part in particular was bad; the road went between the hills/woods and the river, and apparently the deer were headed to drink. I saw several and once had to do a panic stop (not fun in an RV--EVERYTHING slid forward, including some things that haven't moved all trip) to avoid the damn dumb thing. But it was damn pretty, at least what I could see of it when not looking frantically for deer.

I filled up in Republic and bought some Doritos and a soda, then headed south. More hills, more deer (I passed a mom and very young baby as I turned down the road), and more slow driving. Between the hills (where I have to go both up and down slowly) and the twisty road, I'm glad there was almost no traffic, so I could drive at my leisure. I wanted to go to Nespelem, where Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce is buried, which required turning off on a road that made the prior road look like the Seeney Strip (for those not familiar with the UP of Michigan, the Seeney Strip is a road that is not only flat but has no curves whatsoever for over 20 miles). Twisty up very slowly, even more twisty down (I had the RV in 2nd gear for a while, and still needed to use my brakes). The climate got dryer and dryer; it had been dry last night (I woke up at 2am with total cotton mouth) but this was REALLY dry. No wonder the Nez Perce were so unhappy here! I sure would be; I don't like deserts.

I found the Chief Joseph Memorial, which happens to be at a rest stop. Somehow, memorializing a great Native leader with toilets just strikes me as wrong. I wanted to find his grave, and did find the graveyard, but after driving up to the tiny parking lot (which had some potholes that when combined with the steep slope made me fear I was going to roll the RV), I found the fences were locked. Oh well, I tried.

So I turned south towards Grand Coulee. When I got there, the deserted road immediately turned into a suburban street, with trees and neat little houses; it was a bit disconcerting. As was the dam itself. I crossed a little bridge toward the visitor's center, with this big dam looming some distance away. I pulled into the parking lot; the people who designed this were thinking, because the parking spots were long enough to easily park my RV.

The dam is huge. It's about 200 feet shorter than Hoover dam, but Hoover dam is a triangle; this is a rectangle about five times as wide. Most of the middle of the dam was spillway, so there was a huge waterfall crashing down over the lip of the dam, making a loud roar. I went inside and watched a couple of videos (one was basically an ad for building dams; the other was geology about Glacial Lake Missoula, which was a lot more interesting).

During the Ice Age, an ice dam would form in Idaho, blocking the Clark Fork of the Columbia, and creating a huge lake (more water than Lake Erie). You can still see where the shoreline was on the mountains surrounding Missoula. When there was too much water, the dam would break, and all of the water would drain out, possibly in about 48 hours. Whereupon it scoured much of central Washington clean down to the bedrock. It cut valleys and coulees and left the remnants of waterfalls and just wrecked the place. And it did this dozens of times over a bit more than 2000 years. And yes, people were living here when that happened; that would be a hell of a thing to see.

After leaving the dam, I drove by Dry Falls, which is one of these waterfall remnants. It's not like a glacial hanging valley; it's more dramatic. When the Dry Falls weren't Dry they were about 3.5 miles long and over 400 feet high, and now there's a half-oval cliff with sheer walls and lakes in the bottom. It's the bizarrest thing.

I drove along the coulees (relatively flat, at least once we got to the bottom of the coulee), letting people pass me whenever possible. I decided I could make it to either Vantage or Ellensburg, and decided on Vantage. It's basically a campground by itself, with a small motel and a restaurant and some houses, right off the Interstate on the west bank of the Columbia. The campground is nearly deserted, except for some long-term people. I'm a bit leery, since there isn't anyone near me, but I'm close enough to someone tenting and to the motel that if I blow the air horn I happen to have by my bed, I should be heard.

I did laundry ($2.25 total to wash and dry one load--I can't do it that cheap at home!) and ate a burger at the restaurant (OK, but the mystery burger sauce was a bit too mysterious for me) with a salad (which was tiny, but any vegetable counts!). I walked to the one bathhouse I had seen, only to find it closed. Grumpy, I walked back and then realized that the laundry building has bathrooms, and took a nice hot shower.

The cats are fine; I played with Puck for a while. Nell is now sleeping on the driver's seat, which has Puck's carrier half over it; maybe she feels better that way. It's partly cloudy, with a bit of rain here and there, and the clouds are dramatic. I can see some of the river, with the bluffs on either side. It's also damn windy, and the rig is rocking a bit back and forth. Ought to be fun sleeping tonight!


June 16--Castle Rock, WA

Actually, sleeping was uneventful, even with the wind rocking the RV a bit, until Puck woke me up at 4:10. His excuse, I suspect, was that the sky in the east was getting light, and we were facing east so he could see it, thus time to feed cats! I finally put him in the kennel and slept until 7am--such decadence! I fed them a bit later and discovered that the restaurant I ate at last night wasn't open, so I had a cheese sandwich. We were on the road by 8:30, and spent the first 10 miles on the interstate going up a long, long hill. And then we went down a hill into Ellensburg. And then up and down a couple more hills to Yakima, where I stopped at WalMart for supplies (some food, plus a thermometer so I know just how damn cold it is outside--right now it's 57 out, and 72 in). Then I got lost in a rabbit warren of a parking lot trying to get diesel, of course only to find out later that I could have gotten it cheaper and easier a bit down the road. Oh well. We were back on the road, headed west on 12, by 11am.

Another loooong hill, this time up the Cascades toward Mt. Rainier (which I caught a glimpse of coming into Yakima, before the clouds set in), in the clouds and rain. The rain wasn't bad, never too hard, but the clouds pretty much killed any chance of a view. We chugged up to White Pass (it was 35 degrees at 4500 feet, but no snow falling), and then down. At least half of the traffic was RVs, so I felt right at home.

After we went through the pass, I looked for some place for lunch (I wanted a sandwich). And looked and looked and looked; some sit-down restaurants, but no sandwich place. I finally stopped in Toledo, at the IGA, and bought some jerky and a bagel with cream cheese (no sandwiches there either). By then it was close to 2pm, and there was little/no chance of seeing Mt. St. Helens through the murk. I listened to the weather radio and found there was a better chance of a view tomorrow (not much of a chance, just better). So we stopped at this RV park, at the foot of the road to the mountain, to wait until tomorrow. We have Internet, cable TV, heat if necessary, and lots of new food--we'll be fine.

I forgot to mention, on the way to Toledo we went through a little patch of old-growth forest. Lots of tall trees, and it was DARK. I hope to see more in the Olympics!

Someone is trying to back a trailer into the narrow spot next to me. I'm very glad I have a motorhome! And Puck was so fascinated he tried to stand up and forgot he was on the edge of the table, and fell off it! Ah, my cat.