We were up bright and early, after our late night fireworks viewing. I watched the Coho Ferry come back and dock at a little after 11 pm, and finally got to sleep. Then it was up at around 4:50 in time to greet the US customs and immigration people shortly after 5 am. We had a fairly calm sailing across the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The Coho is noted for rolling side to side, but this early in the morning it wasn't too bad. It is usually a tradition that I take a picture of Doreen on the outside deck of the ferry as we are leaving. I'm a little leary of postiing this picture, as Doreen is not at her best. But this is just to show what 4 or 5 hours half sleep will do, plus a stiff breeze, as the ferry was going full tilt at this time!
Miss Travelaire had the full body search on the other side in Port Angeles. But Eric and Sarah's RV had the same treatment, so Miss Travelaire didn't feel too bad. I talked to the Customs guy, and he said the reason why you get this treatment is because they don't have all the sophisticated technology they have at places like the Peace Arch. There you just get X-rayed and don't know it, so they know what all you have on board.
After we got going again (after Eric & Sarah), and heading down US101, we came upon the first excitement of the trip. We came upon Eric & Sarah's rig on the side of the road, with Eric up under the hood doing something in the engine compartment. It turns out this was a problem Eric had had before, the passenger side intercooler pipe (Eric's explanation) had come off. By a combination of cleaning the pipe of grease and oil, and adding a clamp that I provided, it seemed to fix the problem.
I continued the tradition of going to a Target store, and buying a Visa gift card to provide AT&T some money to pay $30 for 3 GB of data time. This is getting old hat, and apart from the difficulty in finding a WiFi connection to carry out this procedure, I soon had everything straightened out. The problem with the WiFi was that there seemed to be nowhere near the Target store for a WiFi connection. The only place was a Starbucks in a Safeway store, which SEEMED to have WiFi, except it never would connect. I finally asked, and they said "Oh, it hasn't been working for about a week!"
We had originally intended in spending our first night at a Walmart: sort of a tradition. But when we finally got there, in Lakeview, WA, an hour's drive or so north of Portland, OR, it was so hot, we thought we would have to make a change of plans. Doreen and Sarah both did a grocery shopping in the Walmart, while Eric and I searched for places to go that would have an electric connection to run our air conditioners. It looked pretty hopeless at first; they were all full. But then we found one that had sites available, quite close by, and at a reasonable price, Brookhollow RV Park (N46 08 36.0, W122 52 48.9). When we got there, we were amazed, because it was a really nice place (except for the fact that it didn't have a swimming pool - bah!) Sorry, I left it too late, and didn't get a picture with any people in it (except for Miss Travelaire and Big Diesel).
Well, the kids are all in bed, and we are having a quiet time in the evening, a gentle breeze blowing, and temperatures much like Victoria!
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