July 5-6, 2006 (Days 42-43)

After the morning meeting, we hooked up and left with another couple for our first stop on the way to Prince George, B.C. The drive was, once again, beautiful. Temp was around 60 degrees. Skies were cloudy, but no rain even though it looked very possible. We drove through Portland where there is much architecture and modern buildings and bridges. Along the interstate were tall pine trees and it certainly had a feeling of being in the north.

Our campground, an Airstream campground exclusively for Airstreamers, is at Lacey, Washington, which is just east of Olympia. The first two units that left Salem, were parked and watching for us to arrive. The fifth of our group arrived about an hour later after we did. Now the flock of five is all together. As soon as we were set up, we went to dinner at a local restaurant that is also a casino. Food was good. I had seafood gumbo. There were large prawns, scallops, and shrimp in a delicious broth. Dan had pork chops. When we got back to the trailer, we were soon ready to get some rest.

On Thursday morning, we didn’t awaken until 8:30 a.m. Dan did some things outside the trailer. I straightened up inside. We changed out our summer clothes for winter clothes. I brought too many summer clothes; because the temp was so cool in Salem, we mostly wore warmer clothes. Now we have our real warm winter clothes in the trailer and packed away the summer things in the Suburban. We are set to go north.

After lunch, we went to the post office and mailed all birthday and anniversary cards for the month of July. Our next U.S. stop for mail will be in Fairbanks, AK. We have heard that Canadian mail service is not good; takes longer, and costs more. So, we will probably not be mailing anything else for a couple weeks. Then we picked up a few things from the grocery, being careful not to get any fresh meats or produce. Those will be taken from us at the border if the agents find them. We are also restricted on cigars, cigarettes, and liquor. The first two items won’t bother us, but with three bottles of wine in the trailer, we will be over our limit. So, rather than having it confiscated, I started drinking wine this afternoon! J

The whole group went to dinner on the bay at Olympia. We watched the sailboats while we ate. I had another experiment with seafood and had almond-crusted halibut. Very mild and good. Dan had St. Louis ribs.

After returning from dinner, we five couples had a drivers’ meeting and set a departure time for tomorrow morning. We will drive to our next campground in Hope, B.C. We have to cross the border and stop to exchange American
currency for Canadian. We hope the border crossing will be smooth.

This is all for today. We will continue, “on down the road”. (Or, should I say, “up the road”!) tomorrow. Till then………