TRAVELS RESUME - FALL TRAVELS OF 2021

OCTOBER 12th, 2021

We were finally able to leave home for our next warm winter adventure!
It had been a long time but worth the wait.

IN the summer of 2021 we decided to act. We knew we would eventually be coming back to travel in a motorhome and now was the time. It was hard to find one we wanted and I watched the North American motorhome market for well over a year. I almost went to Wisconsin to buy one when we finally found one in Canada, outside of Edmonton that was the same model but one year newer!

We purchased a:
2015 Fleetwood, Southwind 32 V, Class A motorhome.
It has a Ford chassis with a V10 gas engine and is 33.4 feet long.
Very similar layout to our old 2003 Bounder, just newer.

Our new/used motorhome and new/used 2014 Honda CRV

We also needed to tow a car behind the motorhome like we had in past years. This is a bit tricky as one needs to ensure the car can be towed with all 4 wheels down. I didn't want to have to tow with a Dolly or trailer. We found another CRV (2014 Touring Edition) like we used to tow and it was a low mile unit (only 62,000 Kms) from Calgary so we bought it and still love it! 2014 is the last year of CRV that can be towed this way as they went to a different transmission after that which doesn't allow for towing.

There was just one large problem with leaving home…

At the time (due to the Covid Pandemic) a Canadian was not allowed to drive their vehicle in to the USA for some reason? However we were allowed to fly into the USA? To us and many others this didn’t make sense? If they were worried about transmission of the virus like they said they were, why then would they allow one to get on a plane with 2-300 other people to travel versus in their own private and secluded vehicle? You can’t make this stuff up! 

So, we had heard rumours that some SnowBirds had found a loophole around this silly border measure and they were temporarily importing their vehicles into the USA. That sounded like the answer we needed. 

Well that didn’t last very long…. Once we found out the price these commercial exporters were charging we almost fell off our stools! Like with everything else in life that is crazy, if you want it bad enough you often find a way. So we figured out a way to rationalize it and we made it happen. 

The paperwork to do this was also crazy but that’s a government agency for you. Barb's good with doing paper so away she went and got er done! Paperwork + Cash = Warm Travel! 

So having said all that (keeping it very short too) we finally left home. 

We spent our first night in Salmon Arm parked on the street beside a Canadian Tire. This was because they had a RV dump and water where we could de-winterize the RV before going to bed.

Salmon Arm - De-winterizing the RV at Canadian Tire

 
On October 13th we arrived in Surrey BC and parked the vehicles where the Exporter told us he had a lot and space for us. We arrived a couple nights early so we got to relax and spend two wonderful days and evenings in a run-down parking lot behind a Pub on the US Border. All I (a retired Cop) could think of when trying to sleep at night is where is my gun?

Our camping spot for 2 nights behind the Surrey Pub

The good news is the pub treated us very well and had great food for our dinners! 

OCTOBER 15TH, 2021

It had been rainy the last couple of days and at this time of year rain equals chilly days and cold nights in Vancouver. So that’s why and when the furnace in the motorhome decided to quit on us. 

We started Motor-homing our winters away 10 years ago back in 2011 and found out quickly the realities of owning a RV. Even though we had owned trailers and campers before, the Motorhome brings another animal into the game. 

That animal is….“If you don’t have anything to do today, wait 5 minutes because something will either break or quit working soon.” 

One of the best tools to have while doing the Snowbird thing is the internet. Along with a ton of junk is some informative information and video on how to repair and fix things and this is certainly true with RV’s. Some research on the net and I determined what the likely issue would be and tracked down the part. It was a faulty “Sail Switch.” For those of you that don’t know what that is, neither did I. 

Thanks to a good video I took the furnace apart, tore out the old part and found a new one about 35 minutes away at a RV parts shop. $15.00 later we had a warm furnace again! 

Our Exporter and his crew arrived at the scene. After some niceties and me teaching them how the braking system of a towed car works behind a motorhome, Barb and I left via Uber for the Vancouver Airport to fly to Seattle. Once they knew we had landed (US Law) in Seattle they drive the RV & CRV across the border to Bellingham.

All I could think of the whole flight was one of my favourite TV Shows (we still watch the re-runs) called “Frasier” which was filmed in Seattle.

Once landed we proceeded to the Car Rental area to get a you guessed it, a car rental. Because of Covid we found out before leaving home that cars at rental agencies are now hard to get. So Barb reserved ahead of time because we think we are smart?

Well I guess 243 other people at the same time thought they were smart too and all reserved their car at the same rental agency! The line-up was a mile long!

We feared we would never get out of there and we had to drive all the way back up to Bellingham to retrieve our motorhome and our car! What is a man to do? Well in my case a man should marry Barb.

She (as I've said before) is the best at researching things and being aware of her surroundings too. She finally got out of the line-up at Budget and walked over to another brand name rental counter that had zero people in line. (Note: Out of at least 6 car rental agencies the only one with a line up was Budget for some strange reason).

Ten minutes later keys in hand we were off to the parkade to pick-up the rental car! Meanwhile 242 people were still in line at the Budget counter! We should have bought a Lottery ticket that day.

I must add that last summer when we were searching for a vehicle to tow behind our motorhome we considered a Jeep Wrangler. We had considered this other years beforehand too. The reason being is that we are “sporty people” (now sporty seniors) and I thought we’d look good in a Jeep, Barb agreed! LOL...

Actually the real reason is that a huge number of people with motorhomes in Arizona tow Jeeps and use them to go on their Off-Road Adventures in the desert which we thought would be fun too! Well guess what. The car we ended up renting was an almost new 2021 Jeep Wrangler!

I was excited to get in and see what the Jeep was like. We had test driven them once or twice before. Maybe this one would be different? My apologies before I go any further… to any of you who own a Jeep Wrangler. I’m sure your Wrangler is a wonderful vehicle to drive and that you have good reason to love it.

You see when car shopping over the years we had looked at the Wrangler a couple times. Every time we drove one however the ride was rough and the wind noise less than desirable to mention a few reasons why we bought Hondas both times. After all we needed it year round as a vehicle for more than driving the back country in the Arizona desert.

But I thought, maybe driving this one all the way back to Bellingham would be different? Perhaps we will see through the rough physical macho ride and decide that a Jeep is for us after all….? I will never rent a Wrangler again!

Besides being a huge gas eater the wind noise was beyond noisy on the freeway. The cold air was blowing in on my arm (Through the door jamb) so bad that my arm got cold! The flat windshield was likely the culprit for some of the wind noise but the symphony of rattles and creaks were so out of tune it made the ride a great story for a Tylenol commercial. Holding on to the steering wheel going down the road was like trying to master a bucking bronco at a drunken rodeo.

To put it mild I’m so glad we bought a Honda CRV. Our day ended with retrieving the motorhome & CRV plus a dinner in a nice fancy & romantic Burger Joint.

We drove the 3 vehicles over to a nearby Casino where we parked and slept for the night.

TIP: Most Casinos allow free camping (check with them first).

If they do allow you to camp then do not drop your jacks, open your slides or set-up your patios.

The next day we dropped the Wrangler off at the rental agency in Seattle and headed further south down to Kelso Washington which is right beside Longview if you care about that at all. :)

It was such a nice little campground in Kelso that we spent a few days relaxing there before heading to our next stop in Oregon which is one of our favourite states to visit.

OCTOBER 20, 2021

Coming into Oregon is always an exciting time for us. Part of it is the scenery, all the green, forests galore, beaches and seaside views. The other more important part for me is the memories it brings back. A time when our family was young and the kids were still at home and ready for any adventure we threw in front of them.

Oregon has one of the most scenic coastlines anywhere!

I think of the trips we took to Cannon Beach, Oregon. We even did some of these for a long weekend. All the way from our home in Cochrane, after all it’s less than 17 hours one way. Call us crazy and you’d be correct!

As we come in we cross over the Columbia River which is the Washington/Oregon Border. We usually do it so that we can zip right into Astoria at the top of the coast (where the movie Free Willy was filmed) and then come south on the 101 Highway along their beautiful coastline.

As per usual, our first overnight stop was at Cannon Beach. We love this little town and wished that no other tourist would have found it, but they did.

If you ever stop here you must do two things: 1. Walk the main street, check out the many little shops and boutiques downtown. Number 2, walk the beach and check out Hay-Stack Rock. Try and do this at Low Tide so you can see all the little critters left by the tides in the ponds that surround the rocks.

Driving downtown Cannon Beach 

I could go on and on about this place, the eateries and where else to go but your best to find these yourself or give us a call when we can fill you in on the details. I would venture to guess that we have been here at least 10 if not a dozen times or more. You’ll find out the reason why when you go there! 

Haystack Rock on the huge beach!

We stayed at a couple of new to us campgrounds this time. One right near Cannon Beach and another down the road at Beverly Beach where you are camped near a bridge arch and a short walk to the beach.

Camped in Beverly Beach

The view from our door at Beverly Beach

 
Both were great campgrounds and the only thing we would change was the weather. To be expected this time of year it was getting a little windy and stormy to say the least but heh, that’s part of the adventure of Bounding the Borders! 

Sitting On Cannon Beach Enjoying the Ocean Air

The last week of October was spent adding some miles to the odometer. We did some serious driving and ventured down to California via some back roads through some very scenic and heavily treed areas. If it was warmer I'd like to have stayed and camped a bit more. We went through some towns no one has heard of like Newell, Adin and Susanville. 

The fun part is seeing these towns that time forgot, it can be very interesting. From Susanville we ventured down Hwy 395 to a place we found few years back called Lone Pine where we spent a couple of nights Boon-Docking in the Alabama Hills.

Lone Pine - Alabama Hills - Boondocking 

There have been lots of movies filmed around here because of the scenery. Most of them are old time “Duster” type western movies, think John Wayne and older movies, some before colour came. Add to that some Sci Fi movies too.

Lots of Free Camping & Space Here!

The Rock Formations & Places to Camp are Awesome!

You’d recognize some of the movie titles if I could just remember what they were? Another good reason to keep Barb near-by as my Co-Pilot! My memory stinks!

From here we ventured past Death Valley (been there and done that) down to the heated heart of southern California and over to another one of our all time favourites which is called Quartzsite, just inside the Arizona Border off Interstate 10. 

Lots of Room to Roam Boondocking in Quartzsite

We stayed here (Boondocking in the desert) a couple nights and did an oil change in the motorhome too. It's not all fun when doing this RV Travel Thing as I mentioned before there are always things to fix and one had better keep her maintained too!

After Quartzsite we rolled into what I always call our “Home Base” of Arizona and that’s the town of Apache Junction which is on the east side of Mesa and Phoenix. It’s also home to the Superstition Mountains. It’s got lots of history, a little old, sometimes quirky too but we like it here for a few reasons. One of them is the ease of shopping and the fact it’s a little less mad than the big city of Phoenix, although we like going in there by car too.

We spent the month of November in the old resort we’ve gone to for years now called Golden Sun. I don’t know why we keep going back to the same RV resort but we do. Maybe next year that will change? There wasn’t a lot of Canadians down here yet. Most of them weren’t as dumb as us (exporting cars and RV's) but we knew they would be coming because the border did finally open in early November.

The resort was only half full of RV’s which gave us lots of space. As usual we made some friends there and enjoyed our time.

I cleaned, washed and waxed the motorhome, she still feels so new to us and we love her - LOL!

NASCAR RACES
I squeezed in some time to go to the NASCAR Races in Phoenix. 

My Buddy Fred came out from Huntington Beach and stayed with us while we did Boy Stuff at the race track!  

Fred (L) and Me at The Track!

After Several Hot Days at the Track
We Watched the Big Sunday Race From Our Home! 

Fred and I have remained close friends since high school days. Then when we moved out from our parents homes we were roomates for several years in both Calgary and Vancouver too. In 1986 Fred and his new Wife moved to So-Cal in 1986. We still manage to get together every year or so and often it includes a NASCAR Race in places like Phoenix, Los Angeles or even Daytona Beach, Florida!

December 1st: 

The day came much too fast. Time to go home for Christmas and a break with our much missed family. When we do this we leave the motorhome in storage somewhere in the area. It was a lot tougher and different this year due to the Covid pandemic. Most if not all of the storage places were full and the ones we did talk to raised their prices from around $50 or $60 a month to $200.00 USD a month! Its crazy! 

Finally I found one at the usual $50 a month and I booked it for 2 months just in case we were late getting back down for some unknown reason. There’s a lot of work in storing a RV. We had to get rid of most of the food so anything we had left over we gave to some good friends of ours from back home (you know who you are). Cleaning and then Rodent Proofing is another wonderful job to do. We got er all done and buttoned up and said goodbye! 

The drive back home was uneventful and we got er done in our usual 3 days. We did however go a different route up through Moab, Utah which was an awesome place to visit the Arches National Park!

Photos Do NOT Do This Place Justice!

If You Can - Stop Here & Visit!
Shoulder Seasons Like Early December Are Best.

Arches National Park is an incredible place to visit. We went home through the back roads to Utah and spent one night in Moab. Early the next morning we jumped in the car, grabbed some coffee and bought a park pass.

We were almost all alone in the park! We were lucky the weather was perfect (especially for December). It felt like a slightly cool fall day. As it turns out it's the best time to do this visit as these parks get so busy during vacation times. We've heard that starting next year (2022) you will need reservations ahead of time as they will only allow so many people into the park at one time.

Not even one snow flake of snow was seen along the way home until we hit the Calgary city limits! Incredible for this time of year. We always prepare for bad roads and blizzards. It was more like travelling in early October. The weather is certainly changing. 

December 2021 was spent at home getting ready for Christmas.
Due to Covid things were still a bit tight & locked down but we did manage.

I should add that down in Phoenix this fall, one wouldn’t even know we were in a pandemic. Very few were wearing a mask while shopping etc. When we saw people with masks on we guessed they were likely Canadians. LOL
When we got back home everyone was wearing masks and it was mandated by the government to do so. Such a difference when travelling only a few thousand miles.

Thankfully Christmas was near and we could now change our focus to family, giving and the real reason for the season! Thank you God! 😌