Week 13

Monday, June 24, 2002

Well this is supposed to be the day that I get back on the road. As the day goes by, I am bugging the heck out of these people. Did the UPS may arrive? yes he did but now it looks like the accelerator cable is coming via FEDEX. Fedex man doesn’t come til this afternoon. This afternoon FEDEX man didn’t come. I said how about tracing this thing and finding out what the problem is. They traced it and found that it was delivered to another dealer in town. OK, Progress! Someone immediately went to that dealer and got the cable. Now work can begin. They brought the Princess into the garage and put her up on the lift. The service manager immediately noticed that I had a worn front tire and that I needed a part and of course a few other things, that was going to come to $1800. I told him that I had a repair coverage and he took the paper work and contacted the company and determined that the policy I had did not cover this type of work. It was maintenance, not breakdown. OK, fix the damn cable so I can get out of this parking lot and into a campground. He did fix the cable and I was able to leave. I went to the Lucky Loggers RV Resort and hooked up to drain my tanks, then decided that I should go back out again. Hooray! I have wheels! I went to fill up my propane gas tank and then drove to the Mill casino for a Hallibut dinner. Dropped $3.00 in the slot machines. Finally returned to the campground. Tomorrow morning, I have an appointment to return to Bay Center to get the rest of the work done on the RV.

Tuesday, June 25, 2002

Up at 7:00 this morning. Showered and out by 8:30 and back to Bay Center. As I sit here, the RV is up on the lift getting new shocks, sway bar and bell cranks. They already installed the spare tire wench that was ordered from Airstream in Ohio. I also got a new tire and wheel from the tire dealer down the street and if all goes well, I should be on my way to Astoria, Oregon within the next couple of hours….OK, I was out of there at 4:00 PM. Tired of spending time in Coos Bay, I drove right out of Bay Center Auto and continued North right thru to Newport. I stayed at the finest campground that I have ever seen. Pacific Shores Outdoor Resorts Motorcoach Resort. I stayed at one of these Outdoor Resorts many years ago in Gatlinburg, TN, and I wanted to see if this one was as nice. It was better. The place was immaculately landscaped. My spot was high on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The clubhouse which overlooked the golf course had a huge indoor swimming pool, sauna and hot tub. There are only 14 of these Outdoor Resorts in the country, but I would like to visit every one of them. Check them out on their website, www.outdoor-resorts.com

Wednesday, June 26, 2002

I hated to leave Pacific Shores this morning, but I am a week behind schedule, so I must move on. I drove straight up the Pacific coast on US 101. I thought the California coast was beautiful, but I must say that the Oregon coast is even prettier. The road is straighter and smoother. There are no major towns along the entire coast. The biggest town was Astoria, population 10,100. Astoria is on the Columbia River which is also the state line between Oregon and Washington. The bridge across the river was more than 5 miles long and it is one of the highest bridges that I have seen yet. Absolutely beautiful. Before arriving in Astoria, I stopped at Fort Clatsop National Monument. This is where Lewis & Clark ended their expedition of the West in 1805. I only spent a couple of hours there, but I really enjoyed the visitors center and the re-creation of the fort. It was very small, but the rangers and interpreters really brought the place to life. I left Fort Clatsop around 4:00 and I was planning to stop at Bay Center, WA, but it was only about 6:00 when I got there and I felt great, so I pushed on to a town called Artic. It is just South of Olympic National Park. There are no campgrounds in the National Park with utility hookups, so I checked into the Artic RV Park. It is buried deep in the forest and although it is rustic, it is very nice. I got a couple of movies from the office and then went to the tavern that is connected to the park. I had dinner there and played a few games of pool. I talked to a couple of people there who had recently returned from Alaska. It was nearly 10:00 when it got dark, and about an hour later, I made my way back to the Princess for a good night’s sleep.

Thursday, June 27, 2002

Every day it gets better. I left the Artic campground, just South of Aderdeen, Washington and drove North on US-101 through the Quinault Indian Reservation. Not a whole lot of Indian culture seen here, but spectacular scenery. From there it was into the Olympic National Forest and then to Olympic National Park. Highway 101 skirts around the western edge of the park, so I took the entrance road to the Hoh Rain Forest right in the middle of the National Park. It is 18 miles off of US-101, but it was worth the drive, even if I didn’t like driving so much. The rain forest was fantastic. I walked several of the trails through the forest seeing trees that were 300 feet high and more than 500 years old and some as much as 13 feet in diameter. The forest was covered with all kinds of ferns and other spectacular growth. I was glad that I took the 36 miles detour. After returning to US-101, I continued North to the town of Port Angeles, Washington. It is from here that I will catch the ferry to Victoria, BC, Canada. But I will spend a couple of days here before leaving. I checked into the KOA campground around 7:00.

Friday, June 28, 2002

It rained all night last night. I was up on the computer and watching TV until about 2:00 am. I knew that today was going to be a nothing day, so I went to bed late and slept in until about 11:00. My beige carpet in the RV has gotten pretty dirty over the past three months, so I decided to call Servicemasters and have them come out and clean it. I called and they said they could have a truck here in 15 minutes. I didn’t believe it, but sure enough, he was here in 15 minutes. It took about an hour to clean it and I must say he did a great job. Looks like new. Now I’m not supposed to walk on it for at least 12 hours. I drove up to the local Walmart and browsed around, bought a new power screwdriver, eventually got something to eat and then came back to the KOA. Took a walk around the campground, got on the computer to pay some bills; called the ferry dock to check on the ferry. I plan on taking an 8:20 am ferry to Victoria, BC in the morning. They say I should be at the dock at 7:00. Better get to bed.

Saturday, June 29, 2002

WOW! Today was my kind of day. I haven’t had a good action packed day like today for quite a while. Last night I called the ferry terminal to find out what time I should be there for the 8:20 AM ferry to Victoria. I was told I should be there by 7:00. I didn’t want to miss this ferry since the next one is at 12:45. So I set my clock and got up at 5:30 AM. When I awoke, I disconnected and left the campground by 6:00. I drove into Port Angeles; found the ferry terminal, paid my $71.50 toll and got in line. I then took a hot shower, ate breakfast, straightened up the princess and waited to board the ferry. It rained during the night, but wasn’t raining in the morning. The fog covered the mountains around Port Angeles, but you could still see the snow on the mountain tops. The temperature is about 55 degrees. The ferry took an hour and a half to cross the Strait of Juan de Fuca and we pulled into Victoria Harbor around 10:00. The harbor is beautiful. I found a good parking spot and first went to an ATM machine to get some Canadian money. I got $500 which cost me about $335 in American money. I then walked to the visitors information center and loaded up on brochures. Up the street was “Miniature World” www.miniatureworld.com which was on my list of things to see. This place was better than I expected. There were more than a hundred displays and dioramas covering scenes from various wars, railroad scenes, fairy tales, circuses, and just miniature houses from various periods of time. Everything was very well done. I left there and walked around the city a little past the Parliament building and a beautiful hotel called the Empress. Walked through the hotel, then down along the waterfront where hundreds of people were walking and street vendors selling some very nice arts & craft items. There was a boat anchored there that contained an aquarium called “Pacific Undersea Gardens” www.pacificunderseagardens.com The visitors center recommended it, so I went aboard. It was pretty good with thousands of fish, all different. There was a diver who went into the tank and entertained the audience with antics while feeding the fish. It was pretty good. When I left there, I walked around the waterfront some more, then back to the parking lot where I left the princess. Monday, July 1 is Canada day, which is similar to our Independence Day. Lots of preparations were being made in the parking lot for the festival which was about to begin. I drove the 6 miles to the campground that I had previously selected, Fort Victoria RV Park. I registered and got my space, then left for the next important attraction on my list, Butchart Gardens. www.butchartgardens.com I had heard of this place for many years, and at the visitors center I was told that on Saturday night they have a special fireworks and light show that shouldn’t be missed. So I drove the 10 miles to the gardens, and now that I’ve seen it, I believe that in my opinion, it is the most beautiful garden/estate in North America. I think I hit it at the very best time. All the flowers were in full bloom and the place was just spectacular. I had a delicious dinner in the mansion dining room and the fireworks, which began after 10:00, were spectacular. When it was all over, I joined the hoards of people leaving the place and drove back to the campground. I haven’t done much night driving on this trip, but I discovered that I had a burnt out headlight. Since I also have driving lights, it was no problem. I got back to the campground around midnight, and for some reason or other, I was kind of tired, so I went right to bed.

Sunday, June 30, 2002

I was planning to go back into Victoria today, but I had a few chores to take care of first. For one thing, I was out of clean clothes, so laundry was a necessity. I slept in a little too late this morning after a late night last night, but I was up shortly after 9. By the time I finished the laundry, it was after noon. Then I went to the office to log onto the internet. I figured I would have to dial long distance back to Port Angeles, but then I found that my long distance service requires a different number when calling from out of the USA. I’ve determined that if Prodigy does not have service outside of the country, it is time that I consider transferring to AOL. I signed up for AOL Canada and I was on line with them. Then I can log onto www.prodigy.net and still get my e-mail. I was planning to take the bus into Victoria, but by the time I got around to it, I decided that it was too late and I didn’t want to drive the princess down into all the Canada day celebrations, so I just went up the street from the campground, got some dinner, then returned and took a long walk around the campground.

So this ends week 13 and also ends the month of June, the half way point in my trip. I’ve driven nearly 8,000 miles so far and still loving it. I’m very much looking forward to the next three months and the next 10,000 miles.