Monday April 12, 2010 . had the refrigerator repaired at Camping World. All went well. From there on to Twin CedarRV in Lynwood, Wa. Twin Cedars RV was a small park adequate but a little difficult to maneuver around.
Tuesday April 13, 2010 Went to Seattle to see the sites. The first stop was the Pike’s Place Market, known for throwing fish around. The Market was really neat to see and experience. There was a Russian bakery where we got a pastry and it was really good. There were many selling flowers. The bouquets were beautiful. The range of shops was extensive. We ate at Ivans. We had fish and chips and chowder. All was very good.
Wednesday April 14, 2010. Today was reserved for getting everything ready for the trip tomorrow.
Thursday, April 15 - Today we crossed the border into Canada! We met up with John and Diane just north of Seattle and headed for Canada. However, because this was the first day of the Canada/Alaska trek, we had a few stops along the way: a stop for gas, a stop for diesel, a stop for customs, a stop for groceries, and a stop for wine! So we didn’t get too far into Canada today – just to Hope, British Columbia. We are using walkie-talkies to communicate between our 2 RVs. They can be static-y and one of them needs to be held together by a rubber band (even though they are new!) but they are pretty useful so far.
The Canadian customs process was more stressful than it needed to be. Because we are full-time RVers, they know we consider it our home. And because we are Americans, they assume we like to have a gun to protect our home. So they had a hard time believing we didn’t have any guns! Our guns are registered so of course that shows on their database search. We said several times that we left the guns with our cousin in Riverside, California, but I don’t think they believed us because they took the RV keys and searched the whole RV. We had to wait inside the customs building while the search was going on. It’s a bit unnerving to have to let a stranger go through your home, and they took their time and looked everywhere. We could tell, after it was over, that they had looked in the freezer, under the entrance step, in the cabinets, under the bed, in all the bays - everywhere. We travel with our breakables nestled on the bed so they are protected from road bumps and hard stops; after the search we found everything had been moved from the bed to the floor, and the mattress left askew on the bed frame.
While waiting through the process we were sort of worrying because we weren’t sure if there was some law we didn’t know about, and therefore would be violating. But at the end of it all, we were cleared without any issues. John and Diane’s RV was also searched, but that search took less than half the time that ours took. We think it might be because we are traveling together, and since nothing was wrong in our RV, it was assumed that theirs would be OK also.
We ended the day around 5 pm just north of Hope, BC at Othello Tunnels RV Park, after covering 167 miles. Although I had called earlier and was told the price would be $25, it was really $28. Oh well, we were all ready to stop and unwind, so we paid up and hooked-up. The RV Park is not well maintained, the advertised Wi-fi doesn’t work and there are a lot of run-down permanent trailers here, but there is a beautiful mountain view and its quiet tonight, so we will get some rest and be ready to move out tomorrow.
Friday – Today we planned to put some miles behind us, while the weather is clear and the roads are OK. The roads are a bit bumpy in places but overall they are good. There are a lot of curves and hills, but nothing as bad as that road through the Ana-Borrego Desert State Park (see March 5). We planned on boon-docking tonight. We’d heard and read that RVs could park overnight at most of the rest areas, but every one we stopped at had a sign that said parking was only allowed for 8 hours. We ended up driving 286 miles before we pulled into the Visitor Center in Williams Lake. They are supposed to have Wi-fi there but we couldn’t get it to connect. So we spent a quiet night without phone, TV or computers, which was nice for a change.
Saturday – Today we decided not to drive quite so far. But again, we could not find a place to stop. We drove about 318 miles and eventually stopped at the “Peace Foothills”, 167 miles north of Prince George. No services, but both RVs fit nicely in the roadside gravel lot. In fact there were two other RVs there for the night, too.
Sunday – Taking no chances, we drove 84 miles to Dawson Creek and looked for an RV park with full hook up. The first 2 we checked did not have water or sewer available yet because the ground was still frozen. The 3rd one had full hookup and knew they were the only game in town, so they charged $35. At this point we were all ready to hookup, so we stayed. Drove around town a bit – there is not that much here. I thought Dawson Creek, start of the Alaskan Highway, would have more of a frontier town feel to it, but it just has a small town feel.
Monday- Went to the Mile 0 mile post and did the standard tourist stuff. There is an Alaskan Highway information center that was really interesting. The rest of the day was devoted to getting things ready to go.
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