Warmer weather please.

 Normally, we stop at Seaquest St Pk, as it is about half way home but after the hassle of registering on the way down and it was early, we decided to press on. There is a RV park in Centralia, Midway RV, turned out to be a good choice. Neat, tidy and spacious pull through sites, we will stay there again.  Saturday we headed for the boarder. Other than an accident north of Seattle, we made good time. The usual questions at the boarder, then, welcome home. We stayed a couple of days on the mainland to visit with Ryan and family. Monday morning we were off to catch the ferry home. We had a reservation, so no problems there. As much as we enjoy traveling, it is still nice to be home. Vikki invited us for dinner, pulled pork, yum and I didn't have to cook.  Distance traveled 13223K, 8264.4 miles and spent $4447.92 on fuel. Time away, just over three months. Goal for today, get the hot tub filled and hot.

A week ago, we limped into Yreka with a broken leaf spring. We phoned numerous places and Camping World in Medford was the only place that seemed they could help us. No one had parts but they would order them on Monday. So I ratchet strapped the axle in place and slowly made our way to Valley of the Rogue St Pk just north of Medford. Monday morning I called Camping World and ordered the parts, two days for shipping, they should be in on Wed. afternoon. The last few days had been raining, there was sun today and for tomorrow, yay. Wed. afternoon we went to CW to check on our parts. We were going to buy four springs but only have the two back ones installed for now. I was going to do the others at home. I did not want to install the springs myself, as it is job that I didn't think I had the tools for. The parts had not shown up yet, so they checked on the progress. They were not going to be shipped till Fri. today and then a few days for transit. Not CW fault, they were told that the...

Camping World  came through as promised, all parts ordered, they should be here Wed. Hopefully they will be correct and be installed Thursday.  It rained all day yesterday, we just sat around and read. It is still raining but today we will do a bit of shopping and some exploring. There are a bunch of chain saw carvings at the entrance to the park. If it is not raining too hard, we will  stop for a good look. I will take some photos and post. It is supposed to clear up tomorrow and Thursday, that would be nice. Monday and Tuesday lows of 3C highs of 6C Wednesday and Thursday lows of -1 highs of 10 and 14.

 As it was raining when we left Frank and Linda's we had thought that we would head over to the coast and come home via the Oregon coast. The closer we got to the road heading over to the coast the nicer the weather looked along the I5. Checking the forecast, it looked like there would be a couple of days of sun. So, we opted for the I5. Somewhere past Redding I noticed that the trailer seamed to be dog tracking, that's not good. Checking at a rest stop, I found that we had a broken leaf spring. I nursed it to Yreka, we got there around 4 pm. After phoning around, it soon became apparent that we could not get it fixed there. I got underneath and ratchet strapped the axle in about the correct position. we left Sat. morning hoping that my fix would last till we got to Medford. It did, we made it to Valley of the Rouge St Pk. I had phoned a few places in Medford on Fri. afternoon but no one had the part. Camping World said they can most likely get one but they will not know till M...

 The drive from Joshua Tree Nat. Pk to San Bernardino was not pleasant, high winds again and freeway driving. After we turned towards Lancaster, the winds calmed and so did the highway. It was then a nice drive to Bakersfield. Around Bakersfield there were miles and miles of fruit trees in bloom. We stopped again at Orange Grove RV Park, dump, fill and laundry. Next day we headed to Placerville, we took I5 till Stockton, then the traffic started to get thick. Over to I49, which takes you to Placerville the slow way. I think it was still faster than going through Sacramento at rush hour. A lot less nerve racking and I get to see something other than traffic. Our longest drive yet, 7 hours, not a favorite of ours anymore. I don't think it got over 13C all day but it was very pleasant at Frank and Linda's. This morning, however, was quite different. Yup, snow, it did melt by mid day though. The turkeys and deer let me take their pictures. It was too cold wet and snowy to go out an...

 From Quartzsite, we headed east to the Desert Pattern Challenge that takes you around the bottom end of Phoenix. Lots of traffic, although it did go fairly good. I thought I knew where the field was from the last time we were here. Did we get a surprise, the area was all being developed for housing. I found a spot to pull over and found an address for the new location. Luckily, it was still in front of us, no back tracking. The GPS led us there with no problems. It was good to hang out with John and Rex, we had not seen them for quite some time. John treated us to dinner at a smoked meat bar and it was great. Thanks John!  Thursday lots of pilots arrived to practice, other than the cell tower and the some times smell, it is a nice field. It is a big dairy farm, if the wind is just right, the odour can make your eyes water. Luckily, that was rare. The contest had 36 contestants. Because of the numbers, they only got in 5 rounds, you normally like to get in 6. I think everyone ...

 One of the places we wanted to check out while in Quartzsite was the Desert Bar ( Nellie E ) It is located just past Parker to the north of our location. Going up this very rough road we spot this sign. Dang, it is Friday, oh well, lets check it out anyway. Just before the bar, they have the road closed off but there is a spot to look at the area. Here are a couple of photos. We did go to dinner with Dave and Sheila, a Chinese dinner in Parker. It was pretty good, enough for two meals. We BLMed for a five days, then went to Park Place RV for three nights so we could catch up on laundry. We are now just outside of Florence at a flying field that is hosting the Pattern contest. We will hang out with John and Rex for a few days then start our way home. We're hoping the roads won't be too bad or we might need to hunker down somewhere for a few days til they clear. Back to wind the last couple of days, nice today though. Cold last night, with a low of 3C and only 8C at noon. All th...