ROAD TRIP CANADA 2014 PART I

In truth it is, as I write, the 7^th of July and we are nowhere near either Miami Florida or the UK.   But what I find as I open this document is the remnants of something I began several months ago and never finished.  Being incapable (apparently) of deleting partially completed work I shall share what is currently here, before  beginning our current road trip.  

Saturday Morning, Miami Florida

I thought I had seen a lightning storm, but I was wrong.  We are on the fourth floor of midrise downtown hotel, looking out over the Miami River and outside our window is a sound and light show like nothing I have ever seen.  The sky is alight as if someone were incessantly flicking a light switch on and off as fast as they possible.  While the intensity of the light is as though hundreds of flash bulbs were going off simultaneously. It is hard to look out the window, the glare is so intense.  A blue white haze envelopes the sky, playing off the water droplets like so many prisms.  The air is full of the sound of a hundred Indy car drivers revving their motors simultaneously, a deep angry growl.  The occasional streak of fork lightening silhouettes a metro rail train car suspended over the inky blackness of the Miami River running across an insubstantial track glowing silver in the reflected light.  The sound of the thunder, so nearby changes, it is no longer a growl but the sound of trash can lids clashing together.  The rain, which is torrenting down, is so intense our view of the skyline seems wrapped in fog, occluded by a gauzy shroud of water.  After more than an hour it seems to be moving on, I wonder what the rest of the day will bring.  And so concludes our creative writing assignment for today!!

In order to dispel severe confusion, it is no longer July 7, but in fact July 28.  This is the first internet access we have had in two weeks.  And so the saga begins. 

ROAD TRIP – CANADA

We’re on the road again.  This trip will not be one of our months’ long marathons across the US but, a five week trip up into Canada.  The plan is to travel up to Edmonton and then down through Jasper, Lake Louise, Banff, Glacier and the east side of Hells Canyon, ultimately back into Oregon and home.  We took the opportunity to check out the tent trailer with a two night trip to a camp ground on the Rogue River just a little over an hour away from home.  Everything seemed to be in order.  Although after so many trips, (I reckon we have spent in excess of a year sleeping on the original foam mattress) we did invest in a memory foam topper which has made a vast improvement in comfort.

Over the years we have spent enough time in our home, away from home, that we have it paired down to bare necessities.  With the addition of perishable food and clothes we can hitch ‘er up and be on the road in under an hour.  It remains stocked with sheets and towels, warm slippers, sweats and wooly hats at all times.  Basic canned goods, plastic containers of sugar, flour and rice, hot cereal and soup are always in the pantry.  An electric heater, a radio/i-pod player and a 6”, flat screen TV round out our modern conveniences.  It has a two burner stove, so there is no need for more than three pans (small, medium and large), and since we don’t often “entertain” four plates, four knives, four cups . . . you get the idea, seems more than adequate.  We traded in our old style, percolator coffee pot, for a kettle (works for tea, coffee and the production of hot water for washing us and the dishes) and a drip cone for brewing coffee.  Toast can be made by sticking bread on a fork and holding it over an open flame.  A couple of years ago we invested in a camp oven, with two extra burners and a “camp kitchen” which is really just a stand for the oven and a flat surface for food prep and dishwashing.  On long trips you sometimes want something cooked in an oven, like meatloaf or corn bread.  Extends your repertoire immensely and better still, if the weather is fine we can cook out of doors.  The “wash kit” remains behind as well, shampoo, conditioner, toothbrushes and toothpaste, hair brushes, nail clippers and a mirror, all the necessities as it were. Naturally, there is a first aid kit, sunscreen, bug spray and “After-Bite”, for when the bug spray doesn’t work.   At first we were concerned about the weather (what happens to toothpaste if it freezes . . . nothing) or critters, but so far no issues.  Our latest extravagance, an outdoor carpet from Walmart.  Looks classy, keeps the dirt out and provides a surface for yoga mats. Which, yes we do occasionally do, much to the amusement of neighboring campers.  It is all just there and ready to roll.  

Getting anywhere by vehicle, from Ashland, is not a simple proposition.  First off, you need to understand that it is a minimum of a three hour drive to get to anywhere with a population in excess of 50,000 souls and all of Oregon has less population than the San Francisco Bay Area.  However, our objective was not large population centers but rural Canada.  Our normal pace of a maximum of four hours drive time when pulling the tent trailer was not going to be workable.  So instead we went for the gusto, drive ‘til you can’t drive no more.  We had a pretty good rhythm going, up over the Cascades past Crater Lake and down to Bend, changing drivers every hour and a half or so.   A quick stop for lunch out of the cooler and another to purchase cherries from a vendor on the side of the road.  It looked like Biggs Junction and the Columbia River were a distinct possibility.  We were on roads we had not previously traveled and the population is pretty sparse in Eastern Oregon.  Range land and wheat or other grass crops and carrot seeds was about all there was.  A no gas for 94 miles sign engendered a quick U-turn and a re-fueling stop.  We flew past the wide spot in the road labeled that looked like something from a grade B western and made Hermiston for our first night.

Moving north toward Spokane is an ever changing landscape.  You would expect there to be green along the river, but much of the Columbia shore is dry and barren or steep cliffs.  Into Washington you get some agriculture and rolling hills, not as verdant as the Palouse but not dry and brown.  Slowly fields and meadows were replaced by stands of conifers and the two lane road became four the closer we got to Spokane.  Spokane sits in a river valley and probably deserves to be explored, but not this trip.  We press north, crossing in to Idaho and skirting Coeur D’Alene we make for Eastport . . . and the Canadian border.  Quickly, it is back to two lane roads, rolling hills, almost mountains and trees.     

We stop for the night in Cranbrook, British Columbia.  Nice little RV/camping site right in town makes it convenient to go in to town for dinner rather than cooking.