5C's Que Pasa

It only got down to 35F but that was cold enough for us. The clouds came down the mountain this morning.

We had a great overnight in the Butte Walmart last night.  There were at least a dozen RV’s and a few semi’s there but we positioned ourselves away from everyone and it was very quiet and restful.  I appreciate your comment David about using the free campgrounds, etc. in order to avoid Walmart stays.  We are aware of those links but we don’t travel that way.  Usually we are trying to get from point A to B in the quickest way we can and to travel no more than 400 miles per day.  So we map out the number of miles and divide by the number of days and that is how we find where we will spend the night or as close to as we can.  When we are totally retired we hope to be free to just roam at will and stop on a whim.

Some Montana countryside along I15.  Just thought I would mention that we travel at 60MPH no matter how high the speed limit is.

About 50 miles before we left Montana it got very foggy.

Back to Idaho.  The sky did brighten up once we crossed the state line.

After 25 hours of driving we stopped for a wee break.  The RV you see here is a Contessa  made by Beaver.   We looked at them at one time but the layout did not appeal to us.   However it is nice to have an RV named after oneself.

A wee bit of US trivia from 1877.  We were at Dubois just off I15.

Lots of farmers getting ready for winter.

We passed a small section that had lava on both sides of I15.  Just as suddenly that it appeared it was gone.  Craters of the Moon is somewhat to the West of where we were and likely this was a flow of lava that had come this way.  Years ago Colin visited Craters of the Moon and was able to walk inside a lava tube. He found it fascinating.

Idaho has a vast amount of different scenery.

Next thing we knew we were entering Utah which as you can see was also overcast.  It was much warmer,  in fact the first heat we have felt for a few weeks but very windy.

By now we needed to fuel the RV.  Because I had done some research we were able to find diesel for 3.29 per gallon cash.  Much better than the 3.61 we paid yesterday.  Idaho is expensive.  As we were whizzing past we saw a sheepdog herding some sheep, rather comical.  Sadly it all happened too fast for me to catch a photo but the image is embedded in my mind.  Unfortunately so are the images of the various road kill we came across from pheasants to foxes, to skunks and a single rabbit and a dog 😥

I did mention that it was windy.

Not a very clear day to see the mountains.

Ahh finally just a few miles down the road

Tonight we are staying at the Walmart in Perry, Utah near Brigham City.   Such a change in temperature in one day, it was about 82F when we arrived at 5PM and we had started the day at 35F.  We have a great spot with no one around to bother us.  Once we did a mini set up, we walked over to Walmart to cool down inside and to discover that indeed they did not sell wine nor alcohol here, only beer.  Nothing appealed to us in the store which was already stocked with heavy winter wear.  Back to the RV where Colin did a few outside chores and I started this post.  Eventually a cool breeze came along.

This is our view. Pretty special.

Arrowhead Gramma guessed that we were headed to Yellowstone.  No  not this year and due to timing not next year, but for certain in 2020 or so we hope.  The guessing game is still open as to our destination 😛

God’s country.

Thanks for following along.  It is fun having you with us.  Alright, you have us convinced to do some research into Garmin or whatever it will be.  One step at a time.

We drove 370.3 miles today.

We are truly enjoying the joys of heading down the open road.  Of the 49 nights from when we left home until we arrive on the Isla we are only staying in a Walmart four times, the rest will all be in RV parks.  Staying in a Walmart is handy especially when you are covering 300 plus miles per day and are just stopping to eat and to sleep for the most part.  In twenty one years of RVing with some stops each trip at a Walmart I have to say that last night was the worst ever.  It started with me waking up at 2:30AM to a clanking sound.  Someone was loading metal pieces into the back of his pick up at the far end of the lot ever so slowly and very loudly.  Once he stopped a good 20 minutes later, I fell asleep again, Colin slept through it all.  Then at 5:30AM Miss Security with the deep bass voice and a huge attitude began flashing her vehicle lights into cars that the homeless were sleeping in and knocking on their window while yelling “vehicle owner, you must move on, you are not allowed to overnight in this Walmart lot”.  To the car nearest us she added that she had told them last night to move and if they were not gone by her shift tonight she would hook a tow truck up to their vehicle  with them in it.  I was shocked when she next began banging on the side of our RV to tell us to move on.  We had asked for permission from this Walmart store to spend the night and they had even directed us specifically to where they wanted us to park for the night 😳 I so wanted to get out of bed and confront her, but Colin told me to just let it go.  The RV parked behind us moved but none of the cars did, nor did the other RV.  Just as I was about to fall asleep again a fellow came by on a noisy cart cleaning out all the garbage bins.  Once he left our vicinity another dude came by in a noisy mini Zamboni picking up trash strewn here and there.  I noticed that he made a point of driving right around the vehicles that Miss Security had called out to.  Colin slept through all of that and I eventually fell asleep until  7:30 AM.  Once up I saw that the sprinklers were hitting our RV more than the tiny bit of lawn they were to be watering.  Such a huge waste of water, the parking lot had mini rivers running through it.

Yup, definitely the worse night ever spent in a Walmart.  On the other hand we have had many more bad nights paying to stay in an RV park.  We were driving out just over an hour later and I was lucky enough to have scored a decaf drip coffee from Starbucks to go 😀

As we drove away we saw this couple moving their vehicle. They were the ones threatened to be towed later today.  Did they run out of gas, did the truck even run, did they have any money?  They were young and we saw them smoking and talking on cell phones and eating junk for breakfast.  Still you wonder what their story was.  A few moments later we saw them just down the lot parked at MacDonald’s where he had pushed the truck.

Not too much later we crossed into Idaho and needed to fuel up the beast.  Turns out that at $3.619 per gallon ( that was with our Good Sam, Pilot/Flying J,  8 cent per gallon discount ) we should have made more of an effort to fuel up in Washington.

Such a beautiful area of Idaho. Timothy Lake.

Followed by the fabulous Lake Coeur d’Alene.  As you can see the sun came out.

Exit O!

I caught this by accident. Again today we did more mountain passes and so many were going much faster than the speed limit.

Once we crossed into Montana we climbed even higher.  It wasn’t until I opened this photo that I realized what all the white crosses I saw today had meant.

We also lost an hour today as we crossed from PST to MST.  The fall colors are just beginning to show in Montana.

Previous to this sign we had seen another stating that there was a free RV park ahead.  Turns out this free park is in Haugan just off I90.  I later saw a sign that if you stayed at Ruby’s Inn, exit 101 off of I90,  that you will get a free home cooked breakfast.  Montana seems like a good place to visit if you are on a budget.

Ahh those beautiful blue Montana skies.  By the way, the historical town of Wallace looked like a very interesting place to stop for a few hours.

At one point today we both exclaimed at the speed limit of 80mph for cars and 65mph for trucks 8-O.  Colin recalled that when he was in his early twenties driving through Montana that there was no speed limit!  We can’t even imagine driving at 80mph.

Tonight we are staying at Chez Walmart in Butte.  Again tonight we are getting free WiFi, last night compliments of Starbucks and tonight Walmart.  Lots of open space around us.  All the other RVers are crammed together in a tiny area.  Their choice.

We drove 326.4 miles today. It was a good day.

Which map do you prefer? The first was Bing Maps and this one id Goggle Maps.  You really can’t see much detail with either unless it is full screen.

Thank you all for your comments.  We are both enjoying them.  I just wish I could be happier about the temperature, the forecast says that we are going down to 30F tonight.  Brrr.

One question, do these offline maps like Navmii that Kathy and Eric use and Suzie and George’s Microsoft Streets & Trips ( which I tried to figure out but could not ) tell you where you actually are as well as the direction ahead?  I really need someone to teach me this stuff.  But the I would still have to figure out how to use a Garmin.  Enough for tonight.  Anyone ( who has not been told by me ) know where we are heading?

Our very long day started at 7AM with packing up the odds and sods.   Ed the plumber was 25 minutes late and it took longer this year to do the blowout.  By the time we pulled out and met up at the exit area to hook up the Jeep it was getting on in time.  Then of course being the first time since April, Colin was extra careful to make certain that it all was done properly including setting up the Brake Buddy.  So it was 10:10 before we pulled away.  It was not a nice morning and cool at that.  Once on the road I bundled up under a few layers of fleece.  I was really cold and it took a few hours for me to warm up.

Adios dear house, see you in the spring.

We saw a lot of different scenery today. First time I have ever seen grapes ready to be picked. I had no idea that the grapes hung at the bottom of the vines. Not a great photo from a moving vehicle, the grapes are the black things at the bottom of all that greenery.  I missed getting a photo of apples being picked at an orchard.

We had no problems getting across the border.  They never even asked how much alcohol we had 😎   Of course we were boarded by the agriculture people and this agent was more thorough that others have been.  She checked under each sink cover to see if I was hiding anything and even opened the two closets in the bedroom.  She checked the fridge and opened the crisper drawers to see what I had.  The freezer was so full that things started to fall out once the door was opened.  She mentioned that the only meat not allowed at this time was lamb for those of you who are coming behind us.  Next stop was just a few miles down the road to the shipping store.  We had several packages sent to this pick up location.

Our good friend Grant who lives in Osoyoos, drove across the border to meet us and help up load all this stuff into the RV.  Those two very large and very heavy boxes on the bottom are our new RV roof air conditioning units.  They weigh 100 pounds each.

They barely got thru the door and into the bedroom. Rather a tight fit.  When the slide out is out we will have walking room in the bedroom but no access to my dresser and closet.  The AC units will be installed on the Isla.  We saved a huge amount of money doing it this way.  Thank you again Grant.  Both he and Janet will be flying to Mazatlan and will end up on the Isla before we get there.

Shortly after Oroville we headed East on Highway 20 at Tonasket.  This was a new route for us but it was a very winding road and slow going at times.

Established May 22, 1900.  We stopped here for a quick lunch.  From here we climbed even higher, the Sherman Pass was 5585′.  At one point we had a 6% grade downhill for 10 miles.

We didn’t see much other traffic.  Yes those are dog toys in the girls bed on the dash.  Colin likes to see it there as we travel.

It was a surprise to cross the great Columbia River at yet a different area.

A lot of logging in this area.

As well as agriculture.  We certainly did see many different vistas today.

About 20 minutes before we got to our destination for the night I realized that we were on the wrong road.  Colin had found the Walmart we were to stay at and it was on Hwy 2 and we were on Hwy 2/395 but it was not the same road!  So where were we going to spend the night.  We were less than 12 miles before hitting that huge freeway system in Spokane.  It was already 5:30PM and we were both exhausted and I knew that we could not get caught up in the freeways as it would be a long while before we found a place to spend the night.

Fortunately I had three very old travel reference books with me.  I used the Walmart Locator book to find that there were two other Walmart’s somewhere.  Then I used a 2001 Exit Source Authority that told me that I90 and exit 281 would bring me North on Hwy 2/395.  Well we were traveling South on that road and I quickly worked with the directions from the Walmart Locator book to pinpoint those two Walmart’s.  However suddenly there was a division in the road with Hwy 2 going to the left and Hwy 395 going to the right.  We had a split second to make the choice and chose right which meant we missed the first Walmart as it was on the #2 split but I knew we could still get to the last Walmart but it was not a superstore so it might be crowded.

Heading West with the sun at eye level.  It was most difficult to see out the window because of all the bug splatters not to mention the sun in our eyes.

But we did find the Walmart and yes there was room for us.  It was a close call and we are both very tired.  We were parked by 6:15PM.  A very long day and a full 277.6 miles on the road.  I was too tired to cook so after buying some wine at Safeway, we picked up a Subway for dinner.

Sunset from the Walmart lot.

Colin managed this selfie last night. Yes the sky was that color.

Well here it is 11PM.  Time for a hot shower and bed.  I think I will sleep well.

Our route today. 277.6 miles.

Sorry for any typos…to tired to do a final proof.

Oh and just to be clear, no we do not have GPS in the RV nor am I using my iPhone here in the US, too expensive.  We are using Colin’s old flip phone Blackberry which is only costing us $20.00CAD per month for unlimited calls and texts.  I will however use the smartphone while in Mexico.  So I think I did a grand job of  sorting this Hwy 2 mess out without any electronics.

The other 2% will happen in the morning starting with the blowout of all of our house lines and pipes including the hot water on demand unit.  The blowout of the irrigation system and water shut off has been arranged for October 9th.   The rest is mostly carrying the last minute items into the RV such as our bedroom pillows, the bathroom items used in the morning and my desktop.  Oh and any open unfinished bottle of wine should there be such a thing :-D.  Even the TV receiver is in the RV and already connected.   Colin just finished a few more things outside ( the hitch and tow shield are already on the Jeep ) and between us we did a quick vacuum and dust before it got dark.  I then closed and locked all the windows and lowered the blinds.

We enjoyed a rainbow late Monday afternoon.

I set up my ATT hot spot device for internet today and received a wonderful surprise.  Instead of spending $75.00 for 8GB of data we are now getting 15GB for the same price 😛 Good for 30 days.  Before you all start telling me about your better plans, remember that this is a pay as you go, month by month plan.  I usually only use it for one month heading South and one month heading North.  This year it will be two months going down but I likely will only do a $50.00 for 8GB for our second month.

Monday’s sunset.

Thanks to long time reader and special friend Sandy, I have an update on the Mexico flooding situation.  “Friends on the way to Guayabitos went through that area September 24 – there were no detour signs up and they said you need a good GPS to get through that area. Did not elaborate on the route they took – they are 40 feet long and tow a pick-up.” 

Hmm, we don’t have GPS in the RV, hopefully things will  have improved by November 13th!

These stink bugs are crawling all over the house and the RV trying to get inside.  I have evicted two from the RV and five from the house in the last 48 hours.  When you touch them with a Kleenex or a paper towel they let off a horrid smell.  They are everywhere and seem to be in even greater numbers than last fall.  So hard to keep them out when we are going in and out loading.

Taken with my camera last night.

I leave you a bit of trivia.  Did you know that there are only three songs with the word oasis in the title?

Well tomorrow is a big day, hope you check in again 😎

PS  Breaking news, well at least in my world.

Today those who could make it from our all girls school graduating class had a party.  They were celebrating that we were all turning 65 this year.   My dear friend Ena, just sent me this photo of their get together.  They of course were aware that we are leaving in the morning and that the timing was off for me to fly to Edmonton.

How very special.  I so wish that I could have been there.  For sure next time.  Thanks for the photo.

Sadly Sonora and Sinaloa were recently affected with major flooding due to a tropical storm.  Highway 15 from Nogales to points south including Mazatlan has been shut down.

So sad to see this lovely new highway broken.

I am only posting about this as I have been getting several emails per day from RVers asking me if I know what is happening and when will everything be fixed.  I have no answers.  However the Mexican people are most resilient and creative and I believe that the repairs or bypasses won’t be long in coming.

It is going to take some time to deal with this emergency.

We have been in contact with friends in Culiacan and Guasave and they have not been directly affected.  Having said that, everyone is affected, from us about to travel down that road in November,o those living in the area needing to get the basics, shelter, food and water.  Even those not directly affected rely on that highway to bring in the goods that cities need to survive on a day to day basis.

Here is a link to what is being suggested as an alternate routes.  Click here. Personally we would not do any of those.  However we remain optimistic that everything is being done to facilitate a much easier detour.  It is early days yet and assessments are only now just being done.  I have heard that some are being diverted to the libre  Highway 15 but that at the moment there are restrictions to vehicle weight etc.

As soon as there is more news it will be posted to the various media outlets.  This seems to be a very good place to check https://themazatlanpost.com/.  Thank you for that Nancy.  I just now received an email from blog reader Bob, who likely will be crossing into Mexico earlier than we will and promises to update me so that I can update all of you.  I will try and keep you informed the best I can, but we are heading out in just over 24 hours and for the two weeks internet will be limited.  If someone has some information please email me ( top right corner of the blog ) and I will post it for the rest of you.  That includes what you experienced when you went through that area and photos if you have them.

I apologize for my delay in posting about this incident ( I was waiting for more information about a permanent detour ) but many of you are obviously on the ball.   I appreciate all your emails regarding the flooding.  Please don’t worry.  In our over twenty years of driving down to Mexico and what we have experienced over the years, I honestly believe that this will be resolved in a way that will make your journey South a safe  trip, perhaps with a few adventures 😉

Meanwhile the loading of the RV continues.  Stay tuned for the adventures to come.