Oct 25, 2019
An interesting first day
This is how our RV looks parked in front of our home. There needs to be enough room for a fire truck to get through plus we are only allowed to be out front for three nights and a total of ten nights within a year.
About 11AM yesterday while Colin was washing the front RV window he realized that our wipers should be replaced as they were beginning to fray. Fortunately Lordco had them in stock in their warehouse and had them back to our local store here in Lake Country within three hours. Great service plus they gave us a 20% discount, but it still cost us $77.00.
Beautiful sunrise this morning. I seldom see them as we don’t go to bed until late.
We were concerned about traveling during the wind gusts to 70 km/h and wanted to hit the road ASAP this morning. Three weeks ago we had booked our plumber to show up at 8AM today to blow out our water pipes. Long story short he did not arrive until 9:30AM. I was not a happy camper at that point. Meanwhile we discovered that he had gone to another job first, so we used that time to move the RV and hook up the Jeep. We were trying to save us time. Once he finally got to our home, I fixed Colin’s fruit and muffin for the morning drive and prepared our coffees. It took 35 minutes for the plumber to do the job and we were finally driving by 10:15AM. An unexpected delay.
Our Hawthorn tree has finally started to change colour in the past few days. Meanwhile the Mountain Ash has lost all of its beautifully coloured leaves. We still haven’t figured out why it has no berries this year.
We saw lots of colours as we drove.
We made it to the border and were asked some interesting questions. The usual about veggies and fruits and alcohol. He did not seem to care that I had two declared bottles of wine plus four cases of wine with me. No questions about meat. However he did ask how much cash we had and then he wanted to know exactly how much in each currency, CAD, USD and Mexican Pesos. He then asked if we had any Traveler Cheques or gold or silver or anything else of value. I showed him my wedding ring and he said that they didn’t count those. The final question was about drugs and narcotics. I did see a large sign as we approached the border stating that cannabis was not allowed over the border.
We were then asked to moved ahead and to wait for the agriculture officer to board and inspect out RV. The fellow was very respectful and polite. So a few moments later a female officer approached the RV. She went to the driver’s window and asked Colin if we had pets. She then asked me if we had pets. She then gave us a wee lecture about removing the sign we had in the window to please save our pets in the case of emergency. Yes we have been remiss to to this. By then Colin was sitting on the sofa. As she entered she told me to sit down. She then asked yet again if we had pets. She proceeded to yank open the fridge door, good thing nothing fell out. I had stated to the first officer that we had 2 -3 bananas and romaine lettuce. She asked me what else. She was peering into the fridge and glaring at me. Oh right, I had one half of a Walla Walla onion. Sorry but I am human and I forgot. She pulled out my veggie crispers which were full of cheddar cheese and things like veggie ground round, etc. She never checked the freezer, good thing as something would for certain have fallen out and broken her foot 😯 She turned to us and told us to stay seated until she left the RV and only then could we get up and leave 🙁 I will say that she did have some attitude. Her last question was ‘Do you have any other animals?’
Next stop was to pick up our new Corelle dishes at the ship it place. It would have cost too much to find a few plates to replace our broken ones so I decided to make a clean sweep. This set is called Impressions Watercolors and I am beyond impressed. I love them.
More vivid colors as we drove through Washington state. We even saw some apple picking happening.
Then the wind picked up and got more intense. Those round grey spots are tumbleweeds. They just kept coming across the highway.
You can see several on the left of this photo just as they had blown past us. That poor RV in front of us was having a difficult time. It was smaller and lighter plus having a tow dolly with only two wheels on the ground it was being blown around a good deal. He was really having a difficult time.
We ended up stopping shortly after after 3PM to warm up the left overs from our dinner last night for a late lunch. We hadn’t been back on the road for more than seven minutes when I heard a loud bang. I exclaimed and then saw what I thought was an open basement door flapping in the wind in Colin’s mirror. I shouted and fortunately a pull out magically appeared.
What a lovely place to have to make an emergency stop at.
Colin went to check it out.
Turns out that it was the fender that had come loose. Perhaps it was the wind. Thank goodness for Gorilla tape and we were soon on our way.
Not more than five minutes down the road Colin pulled over yet again 🙁 He explained that when he had gone out to check the basement door/fender situation he had taken the basement keys with him. In the last few miles he wondered if he had lost those keys as the shorts that he was wearing were his work shorts and the pockets had holes in them. So he stopped the RV and there were the keys hanging where they should be. Thank goodness that we did not have to go back and search for those keys.
By 5:15PM we were settled in the Moses Lake Walmart. We were just heading into the store to pick up some fruit and wine when I turned and saw the sunset reflecting on the RV.
So here I sit with the generator running and a few heaters on. It is cool but no where near as freezing cold as the next few nights are supposed to be. Fortunately we have free Wifi from Walmart tonight. I will deal with the weather tomorrow. Time for more wine and dinner, almost 9PM now. ( actually 9:55PM with proofing but I have been eating as I work ). Fortunately I had the forethought to put wine in the fridge at home for when we return April 1st 😳 Thanks for stopping in.
We drove 255.2 miles today. A short day compared to what the next two days will bring.
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Sounds like a pretty good first day in the road, glad that you were able to get a temporary fix for your fender, Continied safe travels.
It was a great first day until the weather kicked in. However we are almost in Vegas and are mostly good to go.
have a safe trip. we will know when we can leave after I see the doctor Tuesday. Bill thinks we can leave Wednesday – I think we need a couple more days to get things loaded. He is already freezing, and weather will just be getting colder here – for him, I like it.
Yikes if he is freezing I will be frozen once I get there. I wish the best in getting it together to leave this week. We arrive mid day Monday. I know that you will be be crazy busy but we will see you in Maz.
ONCE WE CROSSED THE BORDER WE ALWAYS FELT “NOW WE ARE ON OUR WAY” AND BECAME MORE EXCITED. WE’RE UP TO 57 NOW AT 0736. I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO HAVE TO PUT THE HEAT ON LAST NIGHT BUT MADE IT. THE A/C WILL BE GOING ON LATER. I HAVE THIS RULE. ONLY ONE CAN BE USED/DAY. HEAT IN THE NIGHT MEANS NO A/C DURING THE DAY. SEEMS COUNTERINTUITIVE TO BE RUNNING BOTH IN 24 HOURS!!!!
ENJOY ALL THE GORGEOUS FALL COLO(U)RS. HOPE THE WINDS WON’T BE TOO BAD TODAY. BE SAFE.
Well if you need heat use it and if you need A/C use it. You only live once and you need to be comfy.
Great to see you are on the road and the start of another adventure. We look forward every day to see your pictures and read about your progress south.
Alan and Laura Brechin
Lovely to have you along. Hope that I don’t disappoint but some days are a real pain. You just can’t control the weather.
Nice dishes! And you took some beautiful pictures today. Glad your trip went well, other than the body panel. Sometimes the people doing the agriculture inspection can be so rude and then other times they are so friendly. I guess it’s the nature of the job, good days and bad.
Thank you my friend. Day one went well but day three has been over the top. Happy for you both that you had the perfect trip this year.
We are also following you ??????Very windy here yesterday, luv all over the place, but no power loss like Vernon& other places, safe travels ?????
Yeah, happy to have you traveling with us. We will try to be safe but it certainly is taking a lot of energy.
Glad all your delays were minor ones.
We have the Ambassador Bridge to cross before going south. It is where they train all the new Border Guards. We’ve yet to go through without being checked.
Be Safe and Enjoy the adventure.
It’s about time.
Thanks for taking the time to check in with us. I did not know the about the Ambassador Bridge. From what I have read on various blogs, the Ontario crossings are the easiest.
I love your new corelle set, great purchase. Finally on the road – albeit with a rude border inspector. It would have been great if a gigantic spider dropped on her 🙂 Oh yeah, we forgot about our pet spider
Love these dishes. Thanks for making me laugh with the spider visual.
Whahoo, the start of another great adventure. We will be following you on the net as we will not be heading south to the sun this winter. Enjoy the trip.
Sorry to hear that you are not heading south this winter. So happy to have you along with us. Be sure to let me know if there is something we can do for you 🙂
Looking forward to following your adventure again this year.
Love your new dishes! Safe travels and have fun.
Happy to have you along with us Phyllis. So glad that you like the new dishes.