| Surprises and the Unexpected |
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Everything went much better than I had expected. I
worry too much about all the things that can go wrong on a long trip but we
had no real problems with the motor home. Only a couple of minor problems
that were easily fixed. Tiffin builds a great RV with a good manual for when
thing happen that I do not understand. I only got one small scratch on the
RV from a stop sign in Burlington, Washington in a work zone trying to get to
a Walmart. I can fix it when we get home. The RV is easy to drive and the
seat very comfortable. It is very easy to arrive at a campsite and get set
up in just a few minutes. |
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California is much more beautiful than we expected. Of
course we avoided the cities but the eastern and northern portions of the
state are just beautiful. I was thinking we would just be enduring
California because it was unavoidable on a path to get to the Oregon Coast
but we really enjoyed every place we went in California. |
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Canadian money and the metric system is very
confusing. The most confusing thing is buying gas. It costs about 130 cents
a liter. So you first need to convert liters to gallons and then convert
Canadian dollars to US dollars. It works out to about $3.65 a gallon. It
also got confusing when shopping because we had to remember that the prices
were in Canadian dollars therefore everything was actually about 25% less
than the price marked when we used our credit card to pay. Canadians have no
pennies so prices are rounded to the nearest nickel. They also have no one
dollar bills. Only one and two dollar coins. |
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The weather was much, much better than I could have
ever anticipated. It seemed to rarely rain when we had plans. When it did
rain it was brief and only a drizzle. But the downside was that it was much
colder for many more days than we had anticipated. Next time we will leave
some of the short sleeve items at home and bring more cold weather attire.
Lastly the wind. Always the wind. It seemed to blow all the time and often
very strong. Especially on the Oregon Coast and in the high plains. |
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We learned that we do not need camping reservations as
much as I had thought. Rarely were the campgrounds full except on the
weekends after the middle of June. We also learned that we should stay in
state parks and national parks during the week and in private campgrounds on
the weekend. The only time we felt crowded was on the weekends at the
government campgrounds when the locals came for the weekend. Most of the
time the state parks were near empty during the week. |
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In Canada and at some of the more popular places, the
Asians were everywhere. And I mean everywhere. They have to be the rudest
people ever. Oh and they love to take tons of photos of themselves and their
family members in front of everything. They would just block trails and the
scenic spots for a long time to take a bunch of pictures without concern of
the other guests around them. When walking the trails they would walk
side-by-side and we would need to stop or go off the trail to get around
them. They also talk constantly and very loudly everywhere. They need to be
taught manners but I suppose it is just their culture. Most of the Asians
and Japanese I think. |
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We met a lot of very nice people who were always
willing to help us with what to do, where to go and how to get there. We
likely met someone from almost every state. Very friendly people travel by
RV. |
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Recycling is crazy in some places. Oregon seemed to be
the worst. They are nuts when it comes to recycling. Every place we stopped
to buy groceries there was a line to get to the recycling centers.
Apparently you can return bottles, plastic, bags, drink cans and such for
cash. They also charge you for bags at Walmart unless you bring your own to
the store. Several states did this. Yet in some places they did not recycle
anything. Oregon also charges for soft drink cans when you purchase a drink.
We did our part everywhere it was possible. |
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The July 6th earthquake which happened in Ridgecrest,
California made me think a little since we had been in the town on May 10th.
We stopped there to visit the welcome center to get some information. A
couple of days after we departed Yellowstone a nine year old girl was
injured by a bison. That is one reason I have no good pictures of a bison in
Yellowstone. While we saw a huge on near the road I did not get close enough
to get a picture. Those guys can be mean and deadly. |
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We were able to have some sort of internet connection
almost every day except those in Canada. The Verizon plan we chose worked
almost everywhere. When it did not we used our iphones and a hotspot.
Verizon is the best service for traveling the USA no question about it. |
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Wildfires have destroyed millions of acres of our
national parks and national forests. It seems every national park we visited
had some wildfires in the past decade or so. Yellowstone has recovered well
from the fires back in the 1990s. Glacier, Waterton Lakes, the Columbia River area
and North Cascades had miles of fire damage which made the scenery not so
nice. |
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We will have driven about 9,750 miles and been gone
for a total of 99 days when we arrive at home tomorrow. I do not think we
will do a trip this long again. I can drive almost anywhere in the USA in a
few days so it is not important to be away from home that long again. But,
you never know. |
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We will likely purchase a jeep to tow in a few months.
We decided not to tow anything this trip because we were moving every day or
two and it was too much trouble. I also wanted to learn what other people in
similar situations used for a towed vehicle. Most use a jeep. Very few cars
can be towed now with all the electronics aboard them. You would need to
purchase a CRV built prior to 2012 to get the next best thing to tow. |
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The best things we bought prior to leaving home were
the Verizon Mifi and an electric skillet. The only thing we forgot at home
were my tennis shoes. Or at least I think we forgot them. Either that or I
left them somewhere the first week of our trip. Other that that we did not
find our selves in need of any of the junk we own in Foley. |
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