July 26: We are tainted!

July 26, 2013

I know my captors hide stuff under the rugs.  Therefore, it is my mission to keep turning them so that I can see what is there.  No rug may lay flat on my watch.

Crew:  Hey Doug, you left the barbecue on all night...

 Last night, we stayed in the town of Brookings at the AtRivers Edge campground.  And it is right on the river.  We picked lots of wild blackberries and meandered along the river.  My morning walk took me along the road that follows the river.  Slower did a walk there too.  Slow sat on his ass once again.  His muscles must be atrophying!

Once again, we readied Hannah for the road.   Since we are travelling daily now, I am sure my butt is growing!  South on 101 leaving Oregon and crossing into California.  I am driving this leg.. on winding roads... narrow at spots... with road construction...  I think Spouse was more nervous than me!  The road gets foggy and we are nearing the ocean again, and what is that?  A huge herd of elk right on the beach!

 I pull over and give Spouse permission to drive!  We count 4 males and a whole lot of females and young'uns, totally unaffected by the people stopping to admire them.  It is cold, brrr!  After a quick lunch, with Spouse driving, we continue on till we hit 299 east, towards Redding.

 We figured we would go along the Trinity River.  As we head east, after 3 miles it is 75 degrees.  A minute later, it is 100.  There are woods, then the river comes in to view.  I realized, I am ruined.  This piddly-assed river is supposed to be beautiful?  After where we have been, this is just so ordinary!   At one point, we stop and walk down to the river.  It feels good.  Spouse goes for a skinny dip.  I don't want to shock the nephew so I limit myself to the level of my shorts!  There are sandbars, and rocks, but it is sooo ordinary.  And it is hot!  We see a few rafters, but the water level is pretty low so I would imagine it was not a whole lot of fun.  As we got close to Redding, we see the Whiskey Creek which is big.  Looks a lot nicer with water skiing and people actually able to use the water to have fun!

When we got to Redding, it was 107.  Spouse refilled the propane tank and we found a site.  We have stayed at this park a couple of years ago and it is right on the Sacramento River.  Tomorrow, we head to Rick and Sue's in Grass Valley.  Not sure I will blog after this.  We will probably head home on Monday.

Good thing we have air conditioning...  Poor Rudy didn't even finish his food!

 

 

 

 

 

July 25: Knee slapper

July 25, 2013

 

I know the rat is in here.  Let me try and pull the door open.  Try.  Try.  Harumph... MEOW!  Play rat with me-ow!

Great fire last night. It was hot, hot, HOT and the air was cold, cold, COLD!

 This morning, I took a power walk along the lake.  They do a good job of making this a playground.  Lots of secluded picnic tables, places to clean fish and even fire pits.  While I was walking the lake, Slower was walking around the campground, and Slow sat on his ass and read.  He has no inclination to explore.  Or for that matter, he is inert!  Want him?  Free for the asking...

 We readied Hannah for departure and headed south on 101.  There are lakes, the dunes, water inlets, hiking trails.  The ultimate A.D.D. playground!  We stopped for Spouse to rent a dune buggy.  We get our helmets and since I am the short one, I get the back seat.  I am tightly strapped in and off we go. 

The first thing Spouse does is a wrong turn and we get hung up on a log.  Now it is a half log...  Then we hit the dunes.  Power up the hill!  Wheee!  Go down... whack!  My knee hits the seat.  Reposition.  Up the next hill... fast!  Wheee!  Whoa, down the next hill - whack... my knee its again.  Reposition...  Now up the big hill... fast!  Wheeee!   Wow, down this way and down that way!  Whack the other knee twice!  Ok, this is just killing my knees so I get dropped off and the guys can go tear it up.  And they did.  And they got stuck and almost needed to call for an SOS, but other riders came and they were able to lift the buggy out of trouble.  It was fun, but I guess I am not a backseat girl!

Continue south.  Beautiful ocean views guide us along.  We stop to get some driftwood and continue south.  Rudy decides to plop on my lap for a change.  Sweet little guy that he is, he usually is on the center console so I am feeling special!  Once again, we only make about 120 miles today.  We are in the southern tip of Oregon along a beautiful river with lots of blackberries for me to feed on.  MMMMMM!

 

 

 

July 24: Going nowhere fast

July 24, 2013

 I know they are up there.  If I stretch real tall, I am sure I can get one of them.  Let me stand on Mom's pillow.  Ok, I have my claws wrapped around the edge of the shelf.  If I can just reach and feel, maybe I can get one.  Aha!  I got one!  Oh no... here is Mom.   I will try again.  I must investigate and I will not be thwarted...

When I went to bed last night, I found one of my earplugs off the shelf and on the bed.  Rudy has been after them, little devil.  This morning, I awoke to drizzle.  I could see water dripping off Hannah.  I guess I will walk later.

 We readied Hannah and continued south on 101.  The highway is kind of like driving Pacific Coast Highway.  Sometimes you see the ocean.  Sometimes you see little beach houses.  Then you see strip malls.  You go 55, you go 25.  Spouse stops for one of those.  Spouse stops for one of these.  Oh, Spouse stops for that.  Combine Spouses 'squirrel-ism' and the nature of the highway, 3 hours later we have gone about 70 miles!  We see a Thai place and stop for lunch.  We had to park down the street and walk up.  It was cold and the wind was fierce.  You can see whitecaps on the ocean.  Here it is the middle of summer, and I could easily be wearing my ski jacket!  Fog has been drifting in and out.  Brrrrr...

 Lunch was great, and we continue on.   I see lots of driftwood I would love to paw through but no easy access towing Hannah.

After all of about 120 miles, we settle on an RV park just south of the town of Florence.  We have a woodsy site with full hook ups and a fire ring.  Every RV park should have sites like this (although WIFI would be nice!). 

 There are sand dunes and a lake right here.  We hike over to the dunes.  I take off my shoes.  The sand is soft and almost sensual.  We channel our inner camels and hike up the dune.  We step up a foot, slide back 6 inches.  Up and back, feel those calves!  Lawrence of Arabia has nothing on us!  People are sandboarding down the dunes.    A chair lift would be good.  Sandboarding looks like lots of fun but by the time we would unhook and get to town, the rental places would be closed.  Probably a good time for a smart phone...  It is cold and the winds are strong.  I think they call these winds scirrocos (at least when you are in the Sahara)?  Alan, please correct me?  And we would be freezing our behinds off anyway.

 When I get back to Hannah, I notice two earplugs on the bed.  Rudy has been busy...

 

 

July 23: Say Cheeeeese

July 23, 2013

I love the game Daddy plays with my rat.  He works some magic and makes it fly, so I really have fun chasing it.  I can jump from the bottom of the stairs all the way to the far end of the bed.  And sometimes, I can even stop myself before I slide over the edge!  I gotta work on that...

This morning, we took a hike right out of the RV park along a little creek.  The trail was soft from eons of decomposing forest matter.  We did not see any wildlife, but people have seen otters, beavers, bear, deer and elk here.  It took us by a huge spruce tree (10 feet in diameter).  There are still wildflowers popping up all over. 

When we finished the hike, we went into the RV garden and picked some fresh blueberries, raspberries and blackberries for breakfast.  They have a huge garden here and as a guest, you are welcome to the bounty.  It was hard refraining from being a total hog!  But we were good kids.  I gave Crew one of my fresh, juicy, sweet raspberries, and he totally disliked it.  He has the most boring palate on the planet!

We readied Hannah for departure heading south on the 101.  If I am not right on it, Spouse would miss every turn.  I have to tell him go right, go left, go straight even though there may be signs yelling 'Spouse, go right!'  I am never quite sure what his brain absorbs!

But south we head on 101 through water inlets, logging operations, forests, fishing towns and all in all, some very pretty scenery.  We picked up some fresh salmon caught by trolling.  Supposedly, it is better than net caught.  But fresh and wild will be better any day any way!

We cross over the Columbia River into Oregon.  The obligatory stop at Taco Bell to quiet the nephew is done, as is a stop at Petco to buy Rudy some food.   South we continue to the town of Tillamook.  You see, Spouse saw the cheese factory  here 2 years ago when we went by and was sorry that we didn't go in.  So, we set up Hannah in an RV park across the street, and walked over to the Tillamook Cheese Factory.  

There is a whole lot on the making of cheese, and you can watch them cutting, weighing and stuff like that.  Then you can eat... and all of it is bad for you:  ice cream, cheese (duh), fudge...  Even I indulged in a malt.  Then of course, I sampled some of the cheese.  With Spouse finally satisfied after two years of longing for the cheese factory, we headed back to Hannah.  I hope the ice cream did not ruin our salmon dinner...

By the way, Spouse went out of his way to pack fishing equipment.  But he is too cheap to buy a fishing license anywhere.  So instead, he hooked Rudy's stuffed rat to the line and casts it across Hannah.  Rudy is fast and loves to leap and fly after it.  At least  we can say that Spouse had some good catches on this trip!

 

 

 

 

July 22, 2013 Spouse breaks 100!

July 22, 2013  Spouse breaks 100!

 Wow!  That is an interesting dog.  It has a mask and its paws are almost human.  Look at the rings on its tail.  Wonder what kind of dog that is?

Last night, we had a raccoon visit us.  It checked out Hannah and the bag of Rudy droppings we put outside, then went into the back of the truck before it headed out.  Cute.

Today, Spouse and I would be playing golf with his friend Bill Miller.  Bill has been wanting to check out the Village Greens golf course and we are only about 2 miles away.  So we readied Hannah, and put her in the parking lot and hit the links.

Or maybe it was hitting the cow fields.  This is a short executive course with tiny greens that have not been mowed for weeks.  Fairways are narrow with lots of trees.  And the balls took some interesting bounces along the way.  I learned that I cannot hit a decent tee shot if I am not using my driver.  When I get home, that will be my practice.  Spouse shot a 91!  This is the first time he broke 100.  I shot 81, the first time I broke 90.  But...  I should have had a 75, and Spouse should have had 85 or so.  Par is 62.

 Crew whined about what he would do while we were playing.  We told him to get walking!

After our visit with Bill, we hit the road, heading south on Highway 3 past Belfair to Shelton, where we caught the 101 south.  We then cut across the Olympic Peninsula on highway 8, which changed to 12.  At Aberdeen, we hit the 101 again...  then it got crazy.  It seems that somebody in Aberdeen is a sadist.  They put signs saying 101 south, then you hit a fork and it doesn't tell you which way to go.  Then you see a sign that say 'to 101' so you go there and never see another sign.  It was late, I was cranky at the insanity of the signage, and all Spouse could think of was stopping at Safeway to get food for dinner and I had to remind him - over and over - that we had food in Hannah.  Then he got Cranky, then Crew got cranky!  We stumbled on an RV place (Artic RV) and decided to stop so we could de-crankify!  It is a woodsy place with full hook-ups but no WIFI.  And they have one washing machine.  I am so excited!  I don't know about Crew, but it seems Spouse and I have de-crankified!

Since they had a ping pong table in the laundry room, Auntie beat Crew 6 games to 3!  Crew was still a bit cranky...

July 21: There is something about Mary

July 21:  There is something about Mary

 I am a giver.  This morning, Thunder Paws - King of the Morning - will share my odor with my captors.  Deposit my load, then run back and forth for all to enjoy!  How can they not love me?

 We were successful in our squatting on private property last night.  This morning, we decided to walk the Cushman Trail.  This trail is for hikers and bikers and has hills and flowers and berries.  It goes for miles.  I left Slow and Slower at the big cedar tree where they turned around.  I went about one more mile up.  Nobody else was on this beautiful trail so it was a peaceful power walk.

We then cleaned up and readied Hannah for departure.  Today, we were going to visit my friend Mary Thompson.  We worked together many years ago and have maintained contact.  Her husband Mike is a retired navy seal and has some good stories.

 First, we wanted to see if we could find a site for Hannah.  The RV guide listed Manchester Park in Port Orchard.  The phone number went to a reservation recording, so we thought we would take our chances.  Turn left here for 2.5 miles.  Turn right here for 2.3 miles.  Turn left here for... and so on.   Finally, we found it and we found one spot that would fit Hannah that had not been reserved.   We jumped on it, backing her in.  The site had no hookups and was very woodsy.  It almost felt like night with such a dense canopy.  So now, we could detach and head to Mary's. 

Heading north, we took the road into Bremerton.  Wait, this does not look right.  But try to find a street sign.  Wait.  Do we go up that one?  Why does that not look right?  We call Mary.  She knows how to get there but does not know the names of the highways or roads.  Just look for signs for the town Poulsbo.  Dumb name...  I thought I saw such a sign before we hit Bremerton, so we headed back in that direction.  Coming from the north, the signs did not say the same thing so we had to drive all the way back south until we could turn around and read the street signs.  Once we found them, we were on our way.  What I thought would be about a 15 minute drive was over an hour!  But we finally arrived.

 We visited, ate fresh pizzas, chips and salads.  We laughed and had a generally good time.  I always feel good after a visit with Mary.  She is near and dear to my heart.  And Crew likes hearing navy seal stories so everyone is happy.

Coming home from the north, the street signs are not the same as coming from the south.  So we ended up getting off one off ramp sooner.  It was a good thing as this was a road that went all along the water inlet.  It was a very pretty drive that we were not expecting.  And what was even better, it ended practically in our park.  The beach is about 100 yards from the road in the park.   Great location.

We had a fire pit, and Mary and Mike gave us some firewood.  It was a great night!

 

July 20: Hannah is saved!

July 20:  Hannah is saved!

 I must supervise.  They may think I am sleeping when they are driving, but I am really supervising.  Every time they slow down, I stretch.  Mom call's it 'Halloween kitty'.   Then I sit ever so demurely scanning the territory.  If I see birds, I will them to turn in that direction.  But they still won't let me-owt.

 Crew got a lesson on the tides of the Puget Sound.  When we parked last night, there was a full bay outside Hannah.  When we woke this morning, the bay was gone and only bare ground was there!

This morning, Spouse contacted the Camping World that was nearby, and sure enough, they had the part and could fix Hannah.  So off we went.  I was a little uncomfortable leaving Rudy inside, but we had no choice.  We left to enjoy the town of La Conner.

 We are about 60 miles or so north of Seattle, then west some, near Anacortes.  La Conner is along the waters of one of the many inlets in the Puget Sound.  We have launched our boat here before and loved it.  It is an artsy town with lots of character.  I have a favorite shop here.  It is a wood craft shop.  Each piece of furniture is a one of a kind piece using combinations of various woods.  It is not just furniture, it is artwork.  Next thing I know is Spouse is buying a small table!  My Spouse!  Go figure!  I saw an artistic frog I wanted but it was $1000 too much.  Oh well!  I can't believe I was the one that cheaped out!

Hannah was ready about noon thirty so we went back to get her.  Spouse got a few supplies and we didn't leave until 2:30.  Here is the problem with that... It is Saturday, and every RV park within 100 miles of Seattle will be totally booked!

We have friends in Gig Harbor.  And my friend Mary lives about 30 miles north of there so we decided to hang around.  We actually found a flat lot that is set back and is for sale so we are squatting for the night!  I sure hope nobody calls the police on us!

 

 

July 19: if we only had a smart phone...

July 19:  if we only had a smart phone...

This morning, Daddy opened this door into a secret room.  He let me lick the floor, then he put me out and he went inside and closed the door.  I could hear water and it looked like Daddy was fighting off the water.  I sure hope he wins!  Oh, here he comes.  Good thing I supervised so that he would win.

Last night, Spouse and I set out to explore the Blue Lake campground.  It is very family oriented and people really trick out their campsites.  We headed into a meadow and walked with another couple for a while.  They showed us salmonberries.  They resemble raspberries and taste like a mix of raspberry and maybe strawberry.   They told us about the Lookout Trail so Spouse and I headed up. 

We really were not prepared for any kind of hike, and we did not think this would be but a quick jaunt.  We climbed passing pines, aspens, cedars and aspens.  We munched on salmonberries.  Nearly 25 minutes later, we were wondering.  How long is this trail?  It is after 8pm, we have no water, we have no idea where we are going...  Maybe this is not a good idea, so we turned around.  As it turns out, we had about another 5 minutes to the summit.  Oh well...  It was a nice bit of exercise.  We came back and lit a fire using our free firewood.  Spouse cringed at leaving all this nice wood behind, but we wouldn't be able to get it across the border so, why keep it.

 We decided to get an early jump in the morning.  Kind of.  Yes we decided that, but Spouse decided to wash the truck.  Huh?  We will be going down the dirt road from hell, and he wants to wash the truck?  Creating mud?  What is he thinking?  Eventually, we do get on the road.

First stop is about 20 miles south at Hell's Gate.  This is an airtram spanning a rugged canyon where the turbulent Fraser River churns.  Salmon need help reaching their spawning grounds here and concrete corridors have been built to assist them.  The descent is steep.  I would have preferred a zip line.   Wow, that would be fun!  After we got down, we found out you could hike it, but no trail is evident.  You have to work to find it.  We looked at the exhibits and headed back.  On to Abbotsford, where we are hoping to find the part to fix Hannah.

The Fraser Canyon is very beautiful surrounded by very steep mountains.  When we get to Hope, Spouse cannot help himself and must stop for a Dairy Queen ice cream.  Apparently, the wind came up when he and Crew were indulging and let's just say, they did not have enough napkins...  Continuing on, we get to Abbotsford.  We do not know where the RV place is.  Spouse just imagines it will pop up before us.  Crew and I inform him that if we had smart phone, we could find it.  His counter argument was that all the info on a smart phone is on his GPS.  So, my response was to look at the GPS and find the RV place.  Ooops !  He didn't load Canada...  He just doesn't get it!  We stopped at a rest stop, and Spouse found someone to give him directions and off we go.  And NO, they did not have the part.

 Now it is time to come back home to the states.  While we are in line waiting to cross the border, Spouse sees a duty free store.  He just can't help himself and must see if they have a good price for cigars.  They haven't yet, but he has hopes.  We are stuck in this long line and he wants us to get out of it.  Crew and I are a bit cranky, but we turn into the store.  Fortunately, there is a traffic controller who puts us back in line after Spouse returns.  No great deals he said... Duh...

The first thing we notice as we cross the border... smell... cows, sheep, etc.  Charming...

Back in the states, we can now revive Crew... we see a Taco Bell!  He is saved!  We pull up to Camping World just as they were closing.  They may have our part...  In the meantime, we found a spot right on the water near Anacortes.  No hookups, but we will live with it for the view.

 

And our phones are now turned on!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

July 18: Do you think we should take that road?

July 18, 2013:  Do you think we should take that road?

Me-ack-ack-ow!  I see it.  It is on the ceiling.  Me-ack-ack-ow!  It moved... I know it is mine... Me-ack-ack-ow!  Wait!  Daddy is picking me up.  I can't take my eye off the prize.  Oh, he is lifting me, lemme get it!  I missed it!  I lost sight of it.  Where is it?  Wait... Daddy is getting it.  How could he?  It's mine!  How could he take my prize?  Oh, he is giving it to me.  It is mine... yummy.

It is 4:35 in the morning and it is daylight.  I love having electricity so I can see the clock!  But 4:35?  I am going back to sleep.  How do vampires get anything done up here with so little dark time!

This morning, I left Slow and Slower and did a power walk on my own.  No bears to worry about, just my IPOD and me.  The mountains are shrouded in clouds.  It has rained a bit off and on through the night and it is still damp.  I am wearing my rain poncho.  I really love my morning walks and I have not been able to do them all the time while traveling.  It is not that I am not getting exercise with my hikes and all.  But my morning walk is a mental thing as well as physical and sometimes there is a time issue or a location issue that just interferes.   But today I could squeeze one in.

When I got back, we readied Hannah, and decided to eat some 'home cooking' in the restaurant out front.  Good food and no clean up.  Gotta love it!  We then continue south towards the city of Kamloops.  Funny name, but not exactly a tiny berg.  The odd thing is, as we approach the city, like a light switch we go from the green mountains with pine trees to the brown mountains of high desert.  There are a few pine trees at the top but essentially, it is brown.  The N. Thompson River continues to flow through.

We stopped at an RV place hoping to get a part for Hannah. He recommended we stop in Abbotsford, which is right at the US border.  So, on we head on Canada 1, the scenic route.  It is brown, but the river runs through.  The river turns into a gigantic lake.  Actually, it is a series of lakes but who knows where one ends and the other begins.  It is miles and miles of glassy water and not one water skier out there.  I am vibrating in place at the water I would so love to ski!  But on we go.  The road turns south, continuing along the Thompson River.  Eventually, the pine trees start reappearing and the mountains start turning green once again.   But it is hot... almost 100.  River rafts are floating down somewhat tame rapids.  Pretty.

If we hustle, we can make Abbotsford, but who wants to hustle!  We see a sign outside of the town of Boston Bar for an RV park.  Ooops!  We missed the turn.  Let's try this again.  Looking at the road... Spouse, do you really want to do this?  And on we go.  The road is a dirt road with big ruts.  It is narrow.  We actually have to use the 4 wheel drive to get up the hill... towing Hannah... really?  What kind of RV park could be back here?  Another one of those roads where one wrong move is a Thelma and Louise!  Crew and I have already decided that if Spouse has to back this puppy up, we are getting out and walking!  And I will take Rudy with me!

We continue.  The road gets narrower, and the signs read to yield to the downhill vehicle.  We don't see one so hopefully, we are ok.  We continue on. We really have no choice to continue on as there is no place to turn around!   We eventually see the Blue Lake Resort.    They don't have full hookups, but they have electricity, which is most important so we can run the air conditioning.   We cram ourselves into our spot (remember, we cannot detach Hannah from the truck, so we need almost 60 feet of space).

We are at Blue Lake.  It is a tiny lake where the locals come, not exactly on your higher end of clientele.  There is a sign barring profanity.  I imagine weekends may get quite rowdy!  Spouse and Crew went for a swim in the lake.  And tonite, we have to get rid of all of our firewood as we cannot cross into the states with it, so... let the bonfire reign!

 

July 17: We can now catch our breath

July 17, 2013: We can now catch our breath        

 

WHAT are those BIG dogs?  I have never seen anything like these!  The biggest one has a collar on it.  Not as pretty as mine, but I am sure its owner couldn't find anything pretty for a dog that big.  It is eating grass.  I wonder if its owner lets it in the house?  Where would it fit?  And look, even the smaller one with it is bigger than any dog I have seen.  Wow, they sure grow them big up here!

 

Since Hannah is not at 100%, we decided we should start heading towards the states today.  Maybe we can get her fixed in the Seattle area.   But first, we need to take a hike.

 

We headed 9 km south of Jasper to Valley of 5 Lakes.  The trail is roughly 3 miles (4.5 km).  It starts in a pine forest, but the forest is not so thick that you cannot see the mountains in the background.  It heads through a lush meadow with a stream, then up and around a series of glacier fed lakes.  At one of the lakes, the water is incredibly clear and you can see a gazillion insects feeding on top of the water.  We passed someone who had just seen a mama bear and a cub, but we made noise, and never ran into them.  I have to say that the scenery from the time we entered Kootenay Park until now has been breathtaking.  Every drive, every hike and every walk has been just amazing.

 

We were lucky to get a parking spot at the trailhead with Hannah.  We got there fairly early (around 10).  And when we left, once again there were throngs of people.  In this neck of the woods, they have a very short visitor season.  Essentially , they have June through August.  June can be iffy.  September sometimes might be ok, but it is not unusual for there to be snow in September so if people plan on enjoying the area, now is the time.

 

After the hike, we headed for a short drive up to Patricia and Pyramid Lakes.  There are dozens of hiking trails on this side of town, but for us, we just wanted a looksee.   We passed a small resort where I thought we should turn around.  Towing Hannah means a turnaround has to be big, but Spouse continued till the road ended.  Fortunately, there was just enough room for us to turn around.  It was tight, and we had to kiss a few tree branches, but we made it.  We then bid adieu to Jasper and headed west on Highway 16.

 

Road signs warn of caribou and moose.  We see none.  We then cross over the continental divide one last time, cross into British Columbia, and cross the time zone back into Pacific time.  We start to leave the rugged glacial peaks behind.  Now there are mountains, but the tree line is all the way to the top.  There are streams and lakes and meadows and it is still beautiful, but now we are able to catch our breath!  We pass through the Robson park, past Moose Lake and head ultimately to Highway 5 south.

 

This is still a pretty drive, but we are starting to see small signs of civilization.  A farm here, a house there.  We actually see a town, albeit only a few buildings.  We decided to make it to Clearwater, about an hour north of Kamloops.  We might make the states tomorrow, but there is a scenic route we want to take and we are not sure just how long it will take.  But tonight, we are in an RV park with FULL HOOK-UPS!  This is the first time in a week where we have had electricity (the coffee pot is ready for tomorrow!).  We can turn on lights, run water and everything!  Wahoo!  We could even have a fire with our free firewood... but it is raining...

 

Once we are back in the states, we can kiss kilometers goodbye.  Spouse seems to struggle with that and Crew keeps him on track.  Just for thought... a nautical mile is NOT the same as a kilometer...

 

July 16: Oh no...

July 16, 2013:  Oh no...

Why won't they let me-owt?  I wanna go owtside!  There are things to chase I must patrol.  Why won't they let me-owt?  Sometimes they take me-owt but they have me-ow tied to my collar.  I get to sniff, but I need to run free.  Me-owt!  Why can't they understand?

Last night, Spouse started the fire in the fire ring at about 4:00 pm.  It was cool and we had firewood so why not?  It smells so good.  Apparently, there is a black bear that roams through here.  We saw the juvenile bear when we were in Banff.  I guess they stake out their territory, and campgrounds are the best!  The old Yogi and the picnic basket thing...

 Rudy was glued to me last night, and I was glued to Spouse.  It was cold.  Spouse wants me to get up, close the windows, and turn on the heat.  I want him to do it as I can't disturb Rudy.  I win!  Spouse checks the thermometer:  35 outside, 47 inside.  We stay under the covers until it heats up a bit.  Spouse gets up, gets shaved and dressed.  It is about 8 am.  He decides to make a good breakfast for us all.  I wait a bit longer for it to warm up.  Eventually, I am up and Crew is up.  An hour later, it is 32 outside!  We eat breakfast and ready Hannah for departure.  It is now 31.2 outside.  Needless to say, we dressed warmly for the ride across the icefields.  Rudy is whining to go outside.  Spouse has taken him on a leash.  He really wants to be an outside cat, but we don't want to risk it while we are on the road.  After all, that is probably how we came to own him!

We turn north onto highway 93.  Every turn is a breathtaking vista.  The Icefields Parkway runs at about 5000 feet.  It is set in a high valley, with towering mountains on both sides.  There are 25 glaciers that live on this stretch of the highway.   The tree line ends about halfway up the mountains so the rocky peaks are totally exposed.  Add the rivers with the glacial runoff, and every moment is an 'wow'  moment.  We stop at the Athabasca glacier visitor center.   We could go up to the glaciers, but I must admit, I am a skier...  Snow is not a novelty to me.  I love looking at it, but hiking in it is not big thrill!  So, we continue on till we hit Jasper.

 The first campground had no full service spots.  We could get electricity, but we would be in a parking lot.  Not too appealing.  We got to the next campground.  Full hook-up spots have been booked for a year, but there are other spots.  Oh well, we have a generator.  We back into our spot, and as the males are adjusting Hannah's setup, I hear words I really don't want to hear... 'Oh, crap.  Something is broken'.  Huh?  The hydraulics for the forward legs to brace Hannah are not working.  At first, Spouse thought it was a fuse, but it is more than that.  Here we are in the farthest outreaches and we have a problem?  Based on our loose agenda, could we have been any farther from civilization?  Jasper is a village the size of my pinky finger.  RV repairs are not done here.  So we do not want to disconnect the truck from Hannah as we might not be able to hook it up.

Hmmm, this is one more time we remind Spouse that this would be a perfect time to have a smart phone... You see, he thinks that since I don't want to futz around with his GPS, that a smart phone would be useless on me.  And I tell him, I don't give a crap about his GPS and the two have nothing to do with one another.  And Crew jumps in supporting my position...  And the force field around his head thickens...

 Spouse keeps looking and thinks he might be able to jury rig something for Hannah.  So after artistically backing in to our spot, we pull out heading to town.  As we leave our site, there are elk all over the place, even a baby.  We found RV parking and Spouse got his clamp.  While we were here, we figured we would walk around the town.

The town is small with cute shops and lots of eateries.  The mountains tower in the background and the train station dominates the south end.  There are loads of hiking trails, but if we cannot unhitch Hannah, there may not be parking for us to hike.  But in the meantime, we are enjoying the scenery.

When we leave, we pass some more elk, this time males.  We get to our campsite and we not so artistically backed into our spot again.   Spouse tried his fix and decided we should not detach.  So as of now, we will be severely limited as to what we can do.  I cannot complain.  I was hoping to get to Jasper, but really didn't expect to.  So we made it, and even though I will not be able to enjoy it as much as I would like, I am happy to be able to enjoy what we have seen.  And I certainly enjoyed the ride here!

 As we ate our dinner, an elk with a collar was grazing outside of Hannah.  Rudy sat on the back of the couch, his eyes transfixed on this big critter. Or was he admiring the collar?  Hard to tell.

So now, since we cannot detach Hannah, the nature of our trip will change.  Maybe we can get this fixed when we get to a big city.  Or maybe we just learn to deal with the beast behind us.  Or maybe we are home early.  Who knows...  Tomorrow, the game plan is to leave on the early side, take a hike somewhere in Jasper, then head out on the long road to...