Day 68, Saturday June 9, 2018 Getting into Canada via Abbotsford, British Columbia

This was a very short trip, It was just 75 miles and on very good, not winding, and level roads. That surprised me as I had anticipated , and was told to me , that it was quite hilly. Not so! Ruth was very excited to be able, in this broad valley that lies between the Pacific Ocean and the Cascades to see the full height of the mountains. In Canada when we crossed the border we picked up the mighty  Fraser River and that is the valley that stretches inland as it gets narrower and narrower. It is a delightful trip along the Fraser River either by train as the tracks run along  the river, or by car/bus on the road , or for some there is a river trip by raft or other types of boats for part of the river. It is a beautiful, powerful, magnificent  river . But of course there was the border crossing at Abbotsford / Sumas, before we got there.

This Sumas USA fire  truck was kept close to the border crossing.

Looking down main street  as the line gets longer to cross.

From this point it was a 20 minute wait, Few questions.

Two lines. That day they were questioning particularly  the White trucks.

THROUGH AT LAST, AND ON TO HOPE!

But as we traveled in this valley we noticed some intensive crops were growing, at first they looked like blueberry plants , bit seemed to be greener, than the ones we have in the Midwest. Maybe they were currants or gooseberries? There were some hops growing, but we know they are on tall wires standing 10-15 feet in the air. So what could they be?


 The Fraser River Valley produces the most berries in Canada especailly the highbush bueberry. There were 57.000,000 pounds of blueberries produced in 2015. There are also the floowing in volume; Raspberries, Tayberries, Black Currants,  Blackberries and Boysenberries. We dod see some of these as they come in a different times in the summer.

One of the vineyards n the Fraser River Valley.

 The Fraser River Valley is composed of the following:
City of Abbotsford, City of Chilliwack, District of Mission, District of Hope,  all of which we drove through , and the District of Kent, the Village of Harrison Hot Springs and Electoral Areas A, B, C, D, E, F, G and H. (I do not know what they represent!)

Very pastoral in the Fraser River Valley.

Ruth liked the clouds in this one. All taken through the car window.

In areas of both WA,& BC grass is grown as fodder, not clover.

There are also Beets  Cabbage  Carrots Parsnips  Potatoes Pumpkins White Turnips are all grown here in abundance. (These are root crops and there is a Farm group that controls these products.)
Crops produced in relatively large volumes include potatoes, sweet corn, cole crops (such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts and cabbage), beans, cucurbits (such as pumpkins, squash and zucchini), lettuce, carrots and peas. Other crops include asparagus, beets, Chinese vegetables, onions, radishes, rutabaga and spinach. ONe farm we saw had 15-20 different types of vegetables coming up at at the same time.

The local airfield has gkider rides arund the mountains. Good verticals!

One of the waterfalls out our back window!

The entry way to "Wild Rose" Campground.

Jim and Ruth are camping here.

Some snow on this 5,000 foot peak.

From front to back (this)  there are 50 sites hidden in the trees.

 The campground is nestled right under the huge mountains that make up the western edge of the Cascade range.  The tallest are between 4,600 and 5,500 feet in elevation. One of those is just behond our campsite.

We set up camp were introduced to Judy the Camp manager, and had a light lunch. Then it was time for the laundry again. Now you would think that doing the laundry would not be much of an adventure, BUT...its was , once again.  I had looked up on the internet the laundry in Hope so we headed there, There was NOT a laundry on 3rd Avenue as I had seen. . We spotted the Dairy Queen (DQ) and decided to cool our jets with a blizzard while we figured this one out. (In Canada there is no such thing as a "Heath Bar Blizzard") (Go Figure!) In the DQ was a lady who was excited to pick up her cake for her son, David's 11th birthday. She said it was the last one for him as he was 11 now and that was not going to be fun anymore, He said.  But she told me where the laundromat was. Going outside she pointed to a blue building and said :"Just look for the  "little" door, , You could miss it and it is not on 3rd ave, but around the corner from it!" We were immediate friends. We did find the laundromat and as usual I go in first and 'scope it out' to see of there are 4 working washers. ( One does not want to wait too long for clothes to be washed with only two washers. I looked inside and could not believe what I saw. This was absolutely the WORST Laundromat we have ever been in. Dirty, unswept, pieces of cardboard in places to keep the vibrations down, junk, pieces of cloth on everywhere and not an attendant in site. Five of the eight washer were taped shut as they did not work. So I told Ruth my instinct and she came in and looked, She walked out and was definitely NOT going to use that laundromat.  It was filthy! Just as we were about to leave I spotted a maid coming out of a motel across the street,and heading home after a days work.  I hailed her and asked her about laundromats in another nearby town , Silver Creek. In a very broken Asiatic English she replied, "Yes, in Silver Creek by the Cafe , there is a very good one. " Good enough and I thanked her and we went there about 3 miles away. That was a gem! Another lady with hardly any English (Asian again) apologized for the lack of English but she came right in to help us. She   gave us all the Canadian money we needed to exchange ( she had a a small coin can) and was very gracious in getting us started. She smiled the entire time.  Talk about a turn around and getting help.

We finished the laundry ($2,50 CA per washer load and $2.50 CA per dryer per hour,) and were happy as a lark. Thanks to the ladies who helped us. The Health Dept at Hope will get a note about the condition of the laundromat in Hope.

SO WHO'S HAMBURGER IS WHO'S?

Is this Jim's or Ruth's? (Hint: Jim loves mustard)

Is this Jim' or Ruth's? Don't let the sweater influence you. (Jim is tricky!)

A fitting end to this post. A white rose in the campground .

That was it for the day. Supper was hamburgers, grilled outdoors, Ruth's style. Tomato, Lettuce, onion and all the condiments you wanted. She does it best with the best meat. I have to admit it was more than  should have eaten.

The Detroit Tigers won a game in the bottom of the 12th inning today,  and are playing good baseball.




Others?




Tomorrow is a day for us to explore the area as it is the only day we will be here. Maybe we will

pick some strawberries?

Day 67, Friday June 8, 2018 , From Longview to Bellingham WA. Rainin' all the way,

That was some drive and ride.  The last time we had rain was on April 28th In Harlingen TX, so I would say for weather on a vacation, that was a great 39 days. That day, in Harlingen,  it stopped raining before noon.

The roads up I-5 and the bypass around Seattle on 512 and 167  to I-405 and eventually I-5 again, were fine for the most part, but the bottlenecks on many of the merging traffic lane in the cities were horrendous. One stretch near the approach to I-405,  for six miles, took 30 minutes. There were many of these bottlenecks.  The problem is there is a new bridge and interchange being built at the I-405 entrance from the south and north, and that stops traffic both ways.  Seattle knows the problem but whether they will ever get it smoothed out remains to be seen. I doubt it, as there are too many cars and not enough "other ways"to get places.  It is ranked as the 23rd worst traffic in the world. The tanker crash this week shut down WA 99 for 8 hours.  So it could be worse.

This was the end of the back ups and gridlock...(So we hoped. At this point we had reached I-405)

The new interchange evens blocks all traffic for sometimes as long as 6-8 hours.

A new interchange includes many ancillary projects that are connected to it.

But we survived and actually made good time. Ruth was able to see Mt. St. Helens from Longview and later on as we turned north, to see Mt Rainer even though it was cloud obscured at top. She was excited about that.  Me ...? I was watching the road.  (See photo)

OK, so you have to look hard, well so did Ruth!  But there it is  (Mt Rainier) even if you can't see all 14,800 feet of it.

We ate lunch in a Denny's parking lot as we had leftovers from our stop at Arby's from yesterday to eat at lunch. So "Arby's lunch in a Denny's Parking lot"!

The rain was quite steady but not a down pour and not the splashing we get sometimes on I-80 going into Chicago.  Mike met us at the Office in the Bellingham RV Park and escorted us to the site. All went well.  Supper was at 5:15 (we are early eaters usually)  and we settled for Brats with all the trimmings.

Bellingham is a coastal town, (I neglected to remember that fact). I was stationed at Ft Lewis during the 1955-57 years and today when we passed it by,  O noticed that it is cmboned with McChord AFB as one unit.   This makes for quick deployment of troops when necessary  as wellas having a deep water port at Tacoma. When I-5 was completed it divided the Fort into two sections and one is now called "North Fort Lewis."  Bellingham has about 87,000 population and the hospital, the schools and Western Washington University are the argest employers.

Here are a few facts about Ft. Lewis.
" Fort Lewis began as Camp Lewis in 1917 when the citizens of Pierce County voted by an eight to one margin to bond themselves for $2 million to buy 68,721 acres (278 km²) of land. They donated the land to the federal government for military use. The only stipulation was that the tract be used as a permanent army post. (Remember this was during WW1) This is an amazing contribution.

 From 1942 to 1943, forty-two Japanese, German and Italian Americans were held at Fort Lewis as part of the government's "enemy alien" internment program during World War II. The Japanese and Italian internees were transferred to Fort Missoula and the Germans to Fort Lincoln, and the temporary detention facility closed on March 30, 1943". Gray Field at Ft.Lewis is the site used for Audie Murphy's parade at the end of "To Hell and Back" movie.

That's about it . We saw no birds of any consequence (7) but I did see a deer that Ruth missed.
The campground is a hilly one with many slopes , but we are level and good to go.  I'll put in a trailer photo tomorrow as maybe the rain will stop.

Here area a  few photos of the construction on I-405 and a hazy one of  Mt Rainier.

Day 66, Thursday June 7, 2018, Longview WA on the Columbia , Cowlitz and Coweeman Rivers. (3 Rivers)

MY special thanks to those of you who have been reaing the blog. We have been averaging in each 30 days  about 950 readers . In the 10 years we havebeen doing this,  there have been over 34,000 readers of the blog. That is why it stays at the top of the search engine list.   The countries who lead the listin readers varies from week to week.  The UNites States has close to 100 per day, and the Netehrands is cosistenty in second place.Korea, Spain and Russia have all been in second place a few times.  About 13 countries have been represented at times. Again my personal thanks for reading.
NOW , TODAY ON THE COLUMBIA RIVER!

Within less than a mile of where we are camped are those three rivers (TITLE). The Coweeman is directly behind the campground and a huge dike is at the back of the park about 150 feet from where we are parked. Its name comes from the Cowlitz word ko-wee-na, meaning "short one", referring to a short Indian who once lived along the river.  So the Coweeman empties into the Cowitz, which empties into the Columbia  all about two miles from here.

Today after that early morning trip to the Chiropractor, (Ruth is feeling much better if not 100%) we stayed in town to see Sacajawea Park in the center of Longview. A mile and a half long with a lake as its centerpiece, we drove around ot to see any birds but MALLARDS, GREAT BLUE HERON and BARN SWALLOWS  were it! One of the gals (Stephanie)  at the Chiro told us about some sloughs in the SE of town near the Industrial park so we headed there. (We finally secured a good map from  Leah the Park manager). That is along the road where many industries are located. Here are a few of them.  (These all have access to  Railroads, truck shipping and the deep seaport for the Columbia River... from the sea. NIPPON DYNAWARE,  WEYERHAUSER , AXIALL CORP., BPA LONGVIEW SUBSTATION, MILLENIUM BULK TERMINAL, NORPAC, (paper and pulp), and the  COLUMBIA AND COWLITZ RAILROAD. There may be other butthat is what we saw between the road and the Columbia river.   NORPAC  produces 750,000 tons of paper annually. They state the following.  "NORPAC paper is made on three world-class paper machines using thermo-mechanical pulp (TMP) for its uncoated mechanical grades and Kraft pulp for its newest Orca grades. In addition, the mill operates an advanced de-inking facility that processes old newspapers, magazines and sorted office papers into high-quality recycled fiber for paper grades that include post-consumer waste. Sophisticated systems in the shipping warehouse and waste recovery operations contribute to the quality and environmental performance NORPAC customers demand."

One of the birding areas we viewed

A huge substation of electricity to all those plants and industries.

PNW recycling (metal) is huge.

Along side the Columbia River is NORPAC (North Pacific Paper Co.)

The Weyerhouser Co has a plant there as well. (See ship photo)

More of PNC metals .A pile of ground  metal.

Part of the complex of heating and cooling water for Longview.

 After a lunch at Arby's (one of our favorites) we headed down WA #4 to the town of Cathlamet, an old working town on the Columbia where things were better in years gone by, but it still remains and now is, a "bedroom" community (small ) for Longview and Kelso, WA.  Along the way we watched the shipping and activity on the Columbia river. Remember that we are on the RIGHT BANK ( of the river and not the well traveled left, (south) bank where Portland and Astoria are located.  few facts about Cathlamet. I am sure you never heard of this town.

  "From time immemorial, Cathlamet was the largest, or one of the largest, villages of Columbia River Indians west of the Cascade Mountains, and the home of the Kathlamet people.[7] "Cathlamet was sighted in 1792 by Lt. W.R. Broughton, while verifying Capt. Robert Gray’s reported discovery of the Columbia River. This village of cedar houses included 300-400 inhabitants when visited by Lewis and Clark.
The Elochoman Slough Marina is located in Cathlamet and attracts boaters and fishermen year-round. The old waterfront still boasts a busy tugboat operation and other small commercial fishing companies.  (See photos) Main Street houses a historic hotel, restaurants, a grocery store, flower shop, pharmacy, two banks and other small businesses including the local newspaper, the Wahkiakum County Eagle. We did see the main street  the  grocery store, Hotel and Newspaper.

Chinookan language spoken by the tribe that refers to a "rocky stretch of river channel".

Films shot in Cathlamet include Come See the Paradise (1990), Snow Falling on Cedars (1999) and Men of Honor (2000).

The Cathlamet ,WA port has seen better days

We just saw this tug going down river .This is a tug terminal at Cathamet.

The Julia Henson Butler Bridge into Oregon. She was elected to the State House from Cathlamet. IT is under repair at this time.

By the waterfront in Cathlamet is this tavern.

Headed for Japan and China is this load of logs. This "Global Saikai" is out of Panama also.  I could not get the whole ship in the photo.

 Finally today we end with these photos. Have to have a few birds.

Baby Killdeer, looking for food (and MOM)

"There's MOM now!"

"Thank Goodness I can hide, I feel safe now." (look at the four legs!)

One of two Anna's Hummingbirds we saw today.

And here is the other Anna's.

And to prove it,  we had a mother sitting on eggs by the trailer (gravel drive) and when I approached she gave me the old "I'm hurt, come and help me" routine. Found these eggs in the gravel by the trailer. She was so accurate with the ploy that you would have thought she was going to die.

The eggs are in there. I'll give you ten seconds to find them.  Hint: they are like the ones below.

Killdeer eggs. They are members of the Plover family.

See ya tomorrow, we hope.

Day 65, Wed., June 6, 2018, From Oregon to Washington State. "Over the Rivers and through the Woods!

 Where did the Spainish followers go?  The photos are down a bit!  
 ------------------------                               --------------------------                           ------------------------
And that is exactly what we did! It was a real step back in history , for me, when on the Oregon map there is a notation for "William's Wagon Road" an historic spot where a wagon road was use so many years ago. It is on the present day OR Rte.  6 that we drove from Tillamook to just east of Portland.

BUT WAIT... I am always getting ahead of the story. The morning  really started at 6:00 AM when Ruth and I decided we would get an early start. The reason being we had an appointment to see a chiropractor that she had lined up in Longview at 2:00 Pm. The miles were not  that long, at 171, but we had some errands to do  before we left town. That was, namely, to purchase two tires for the trailer as they were wearing thin and that is not good. We had set up an appointment at the Schwab Tire store  in Lincoln City some 4 day previous, so we knew the tires would be in stock. We arrived about 15 minutes before the hour of eight and were taken care of immediately. Ben and Gerald lined up everything and I pulled into the open bay and they went to work. In 30 minutes we were on the road to Tillamook. I feel better with the tires solid in back.

The ride on US101 to Tillamook has some coast line but for the main part of the 42 miles it is those winding, rolling, forest roads. They are good two lane but in some places just two lane with no shoulder, There are "Slow vehicles use the right lane" signs when there is a passing lane. Oregon law state that if there are three vehicles behind you wanting to pass you must use the "pull outs" that appear frequently.

We arrived at Tillamook looking for OR #6 to the east, but Ruth said," You didn't forget about Tillamook Creamery, did you ". Heavens no!  So we continued past Route #6, to the creamery for her favorite flavor of course ..."MUDSLIDE"   ...Two scoops in a cup. I opted for a scoop of coffee pecan.  While we were standing there we had a brief chat with a couple from Oregon also pulling a large trailer with FOUR 4 X 4 's in the back of the truck. they were going to meet their daughters in Portland. He elected not to go across the border to Canada as he was carting some guns in his vehicle. (I don't know the regulation on importing guns)

Our campsite at Brookhollow in Kelso WA

We left these signs on the coast. We never did take a photo of the "Tsunami  Corridor" sign.

Portland is known for its roses and this is along I-5.

The Colombia River Brige into Washington atPortland.

The Columbia River from the bridge at 45 mph

Oh yes! Always logging trucks on every road.  This was a rest area.

The Tillamook State Forest is 365,000 acres  and runs from the coast to some 30 miles west of Portland . Solid trees, Firs, hemlock, ...well, there are 30 native conifer species in Oregon, and 37 deciduous species that grow there. Ponderosa is the primary tree grown east of the  Cascades and Douglas Fir is the most common tree in the Coastal Range. (If you guessed that that evergreen tree was a Douglas Fir, you would be right 8/10 times.

We continued on OR 28 and 30 to Portland and skirted that across the Columbia river entering Washington at that point.  The traffic was heavy but moving along nicely. The long downhill (6.5% grade) on OR 28 into Portland is a regular "ski run" . It ends at the entrance to the I-402 bypass, so there is always a "backup" of slower traffic.

This rye, used as food for attracting deer , but also a grain in bread.

 Ruth loves these weird structures

Me? I love the tunnels , this one in Oregon.

We arrived at The Campground in Kelso at 12:45 with enough time to make the 2:00 appointment at the Chiropractor.  We bought a Pizza (Pizza Hut of course for us) and had a slightly early supper.    (Having skipped lunch) Ruth rested after supper and I wrote this blog  and a few letters. This is a very quiet park and one reason is there are no fire rings. Some of you would say "Boooo" to that but this is forest country and care is of the premuim.

Tomorrow We will be in town and doing errands, as well as the Chiropractor visits. See you then.

Day 64, Tuesday June 5, 2018 Visit friends in Sweet Home, OR.

That took the day  to accomplish as the trip to Sweet Home ,Oregon  is a two and a half hour trip, along the coast south to Newport from Lincoln City and then across the state to the east about 100 miles where we met our friends at a mid point. They drove from Bend ,OR and met us at the Point Restaurant there at noon.

The easterly road (US 20) from Newport on the Coast goes through what is called the Coast Range or the Oregon Coast Range... here you go! "The Central Oregon Coast Range is the middle section of the Oregon Coast Range, in the Pacific Coast Ranges physiographic region, and located in the west-central portion of the state of Oregon, roughly between the Salmon River and the Umpqua River and the Willamette Valley and the Pacific Ocean. This approximately 90-mile long mountain range contains mountains as high as 4,097 feet for Marys Peak. Portions of the range are inside the Siuslaw National Forest and three wilderness areas exist as well: Drift Creek Wilderness, Cummins Creek Wilderness and Rock Creek Wilderness."

Some of the terrain on US 20 east of Corvallis. Timber country.

A good stand of Scot's Broom is the yellow flowering shrub.

It is easy to see the edges of the forested and the regrowth lines.

 The designation of US 20 is the LONGEST US HIGHWAY IN THE COUNTRY. It starts (ends) in Newport, Oregon and ends (begins) in Boston MAssechusetts. That is a 3,365 miles.  It roughly is the highway that I-90 follows  from east to west.  It has two breaches (breaks)  in its course.




Our portion of the road only reaches 790 feet above sea level, but the pass that Richard and Pat drove over is slightly over 4, 800 feet.  It includes a stretch of geology called "Three Fingered Jack". It is a glaciated, volcano of the Pleistocene era.

The day was sunny and at the Coast with an average 63 F, while inland it was about 12 degrees warmer as it often si, (75 F).  Pat and Richard arrived just as we did and even though we have been correspondents since I left Alaska, we had met only once since then and that was back in 1995 when she was home for the summer. Pat was born in Coffeyville, KS the home of the "bad guys" and headed for Alaska  a few years after college graduation and was in the same village all those years until retirement. (I hope that is close, Pat).

Ruth, Pat and Richard

All of us in front of the goldpanner and the lumberjack.

Foster Lake across from the restaurant.

A good study of the clear cuts and logging designs.

We are on the right road!

IT was good reminiscing and talking about where former students are located today, and how our gardens grow. Pat and Richard have a good summer garden with asparagus almost all year  long.

A question still to be answered is what are these pipes function on the sides of the hill along US 20?  We bought fresh strawberries in Corvallis and they were fresh and delicious. They didn't last long.

These pipes are coming out of the talus/riprack on the slope. ??? They have shut off valves as well. I am puzzled.

 

A portion of US 101 that was wiped out by the rains this last year . They merely moved the road over a few feet. (Taken from the car on US 101) In CA.  CA #1  is still not open at Mud Creek.

The strawberries from Corvallis were Deeee-licious.

Tomorrow we head north agan to Lopngview WA for two days before leaving the statesfor awhile.