We had a good 2 lane road from Prince George, an arid almost desert area, south and we did not do any special sightseeing beyond what passed our windows. We should have stopped in Clinton, which had a Trading Post that looked like it had been in business for many decades, for the
night but went on to Cache Creek. It was just basically a stopover. The road
from there took us through the Frazier and Thompson River canyons which were
spectacular deep canyons cut out by the wide, swift rivers. The drive was a little slower
through the canyons and generally overlooked the train rails which ran on both sides of the rivers. This area became mountains, forests and dramatic.
Throughout Canada diesel fuel prices were about 10-15
cents less per liter than regular gasoline. Fuel is expensive in Canada and we
paid $5.77/gallon at one location on the Alaskan Highway. We observed prices as
high as $6.50/gallon at small operators so it pays to manage your fuel
purchases.
The general advice is to keep your tank above half full
and to have cash in case the internet is down. This is good advice for some
roads but we had no problems finding fuel and used our 5% cash back credit
card. However, in late August travel was down on the Alaskan Highway and a
number of small operators were closed for the season.
Crossing the border into Washington we were asked about
fruits and vegetables but the agent did not want to see what we had. Sometimes they
want to look at the labels to see what country the produce was grown. One time the US
took 5 tomatoes while I ate the sixth and we cut off the tops of the green
onions which they kept. That agent said they had just gotten this regulation.
The border agents are looking for suspicious behavior, etc. and we apparently pass the test. The procedure: Hats off, hand them the
passports, answer their questions and don’t volunteer any information. In all
of our crossings, we have had two agents come inside and look in the refrigerator
including the tomato agent. At the crossing north of Skagway the Canadian agent
came just inside so she could see both of us.
One time, coming off of the ferry in Victoria, I was waved through in the motor home with just the standard "any alcohol?" and "any firearms?". But Diane, in the car, didn't fare so well. He couldn't understand why she didn't have any reservations or any luggage in the car for a 3 week stay. He couldn't seem to grasp the concept of "my husband is up the road with our motor home." So after 30 minutes it apparently dawned on him what this suspicious lady was doing and she was allowed to go through.
In Washington we stopped at Lynden but didn’t do any
sightseeing. We will go back to this town which is a cross of Scandanavian and German. ( A mini Solvang, CA) Then on to the Anacortes casino and we did take the car to the town of Anacortes, Oak Harbor and La Conner. La Conner is a small cute tourist town that
was fun to walk around. Anacortes is a major port for the San Juan Islands with
5 ferries running various routes.
We stopped at our daughter"s home in Carnation, Washington
and took this picture of the grandkids picking blackberries in their PJs. They
love driving the tractor.
Came across this guy at a rest stop. He certainly has a lot of "stuff"!
The next stop was Hillsboro, OR to see friends. Then north
a few miles over the Columbia River to Vancouver to have the car tow system
checked and a new auxiliary braking system installed in the car. Then down to Junction City
Oregon to have an update made to the satellite system plus two new tires for the motor home. Ouch!
Then we
continued on to Redding and then Sacramento to see our son’s family. Here are
the kids all nice and clean for soccer pictures.
Next we headed for the boat at Brisbane, California. On the way we crossed the bay bridge which has a new eastern span that just opened. So after a 30 minute wait for the toll booth we were driving across the new span seen below. The suspension portion is a single tower as you can see. It’s still new, clean and white and looks nice. We’re not sure that it was worth the 3x initial cost at 6+ billion. Also seems strange that it had a lot of support from San Francisco considering that the new span is on the east side of Yerba Buena Island and not real visible from San Francisco.
Here’s a picture of the bridge on the San Francisco side which is the same design at the now replaced section on the Oakland side.
They could have replaced the Oakland side of the bridge
with a similar structure at much less cost. But what do we know about bridge
building?
We’ll be in Brisbane for several weeks.
