Road Trips

[Gene]

More:

1. One of the 4 sites we were in at Living Forest CG in Nanaimo.

2. Some of the campers at the CG.

3. "Sushi, Eh". Maybe this is about Canada's ability to be a multitracial society with far less strife than in the US. We could learn from them.

4. "Goats on the Roof" northwest of Nanaimo. This is a tourist trap with food and tourist trinkets we took a day trip to. Never saw more than one goat on the roof.

Gene

[Gene]

More and more:

1. The bringer of food at Goats on the Roof. This was when I was recovering from my illness and she took good care of me while I moaned and groaned.

2. The public piano in downtown Nanaimo. The guy was playing some pretty good blues and then he let the little girl try. Downtown has narrow streets, old buldings and flowers. Nice place.

3. Street scene.

4. Marina in the Nanaimo harbor.

Gene

[Gene]

1. Down by the waterfront, there is a parking garage with shoppes in front. The store Newfoundland to Nanaimo had some great bargains (a fleece jacket with the exchange rate came to $35) and we spent money. The owner, a former CPA, wanted to have her own business. Barb's buying some mugs for her parents.

2. But don't park in the garage when it is raining.

3. View from the last site we were in at Living Forest CG.

4. Crossing the Island on our way to Ucluelet (Ukee) we drive through mountains on a rather challenging road and too much construction.

Gene

[Gene]

1. The Ucluelet CG. It looks better than it is. Basically a dusty crowded area for those who want water views with only 15 amp electric. If you don't want water views, you get trees.

2. A view of the marina. When the 13' tide is out, and it goes out fast, you view mud flats almost up to the boats. Across is an old ship made into a hotel.

3. The ocean at Tofino. Tofino is crowded and parking is difficult. Barb was at Tofino when it was a sleepy fishing village 40 years ago, now it is a tourist mecca.

4. The Tofino art gallery where a well known artist, Roy Vickers, has his work. It is designed like a coastal Indian longhouse.

Gene

[Gene]

1. Some of the art inside the Roy Vickers gallery. We bought a print with three drum heads portrayed and Barb got a ring. The exchange rate was a great help.

2, 3, 4. Views of the ocean from a trail near Ucluelet and the trail itself. This is an excellent trail with more benches to sit and rest or contemplate the views. Looks like it was built by volunteers. We walked 1.5 miles.

Gene

[Gene]

1. Lighthouse near Ucluelet. The original was destroyed by a storm almost a century ago and they built this blockhouse. Many ships have wrecked on this coast and people come to the area in the winter to watch the storms.

2. What the wind does to trees here.

3, 4. Views of the ocean at French Beach. We stayed in the forest at French Beach Prov. Park and a short walk to the beach revealed these sights. In #3 you can see the Washington coast west of Pt. Angeles about 25 miles away. Haze prevails in all photos of the mountains as forest fires raged everywhere.

Gene

[Gene]

These are from Botantical Beach near Pt. Renfrew. The tidal pools have a wide variety of ocean life, but we were there near high tide and didn't see much. Some small crabs were visible. Surfers have built shelters here.

Gene

[Gene]

1,2. Rain forest at Botanical Beach.

3. West Marine CG in Victoria. This is an older Airstream there with houseboats behind it. There are a lot of these 2 and 3 story houseboats. "Boat" is used advisedly since they don't look seaworthy at all. This marina/CG/restaurant has lots of these "boats".

4. This Mitsubishi Class something was parked behind us and had a European license plate. Besides what it must cost, consider what it cost to ship it to Canada. Looks like a Brinks truck. Suitable for camping on the moon.

Gene

[Gene]

1. Street scene in Victoria with turn of the century buildings.

2. Parliament with totem pole in foreground. This pole is supposed to be about wisdom to help the legislators do good work.

3. Built in the time of Social Darwinism, "The virtue of prosperity is temperance" is the message on this window in the parliament building. It was built in the early 20th Century and has amazing detail and is quite British.

4. "Great effects come of industry and perseverance".

Gene

[moosetags]

Love the pictures, Gene. We saw a couple of those European all-terrain campers in Moab. They are pretty impressive. They make Fred and Ethel look like toys.

Brian

[Gene]

Thanks Brian. As silly as that thing looks, I'd like one too.

More photos:

1. View of the parliament building dome from below.

2. Canoe below the dome. The tile floor, partly obscured by the canoe, is quite beautiful.

3. Considering the expensive and ornate detail of the building, imagine how salmon nets looked in the legislative chamber.

4. One of the water taxis that take people from one part of a large harbor at Victoria.

Gene

[Gene]

The museum in Victoria has an extensive collection of Indian art.

1. Totem poles.

2. I think this is part of a house moved and reassembled here.

3. I'm not sure what this is, but it is cool.

4. Bench.

5. Drum head. Reminded me of the print we bought in Tofino.

Gene

[Gene]

I'm fried by now and have a few more photos plus there are some on the camera I haven't transferred to the computer yet.

1. One of the water taxi stops with lots of shops.

2. The bringer of ice cream, much appreciated after a long day of being a tourist.

Gene

[Gene]

Now I'll post the photos. Did the wrong click proving I am fried.

Gene

[Gene]

The last 110 miles home were pretty easy, but we were tired anyway. The conclusion of a long trip is usually a desire to do nothing. After Green River, the Utah desert continues—fairly flat with mountains to each side and ahead. Federal law requires an interstate to have exits every 15 or 20 miles (unsure just how many miles) and thus in empty places, you see "ranch exit" or some such name for Nowhereville. That stretch from Green River (and before too) to the Colorado line (about 80 miles) had a few ranch exits. Now there are more exits, all are named and there's even a gas station. The reason—oil and gas drilling. You don't see much evidence of that because it is back from the highway though.

Picked up some bread and a double chocolate muffin in downtown Grand Jct. and drive home. We have a relatively small area in front of the garage to maneuver and there's no room for expansion because of a hill on one side and sharply downhill on the other. Moving the hill would cost a lot. In the past, turning the trailer 120˚ to fit in the area next to garage would take 10-20 minutes of back and forth. All that backing into campsites on the trip proved to be a good education. I did it in one minute. I feel like I deserve a medal.

We unloaded things we needed right away and I took a short three hour nap and felt like new. Barb kept working away, but is sleeping away the afternoon today catching up. We took showers that didn't require us to turn the water on and off and we could stretch our arms out. After a meal where we didn't run into each other in the kitchen, we watched the next to last Daily Show; tonight we watch the last one. We have a bunch of other shows we recorded to watch for the next week.

We made a list of 20 things needing to be done on the trailer for maintenance, improvement and winterizing. Have to fit that in between house painting. One thing that has been annoying for years is the window at the head of the bed. You can't prop up your head with 2 pillows without crushing the blinds. The solution will be something that will look like a flower box on the inside. the blinds will fit inside and a pillow can lean against it. I'll make it out of maple to match the dinette table I made. I hope I can rivet it to the wall, otherwise I'm not sure how I can attach it securely.

Our discussion of whether we will go to Newfoundland next year and how to do it given we are older than we were before will continue over the winter. It is also very expensive to do a 10,000 mile trip, about a dollar a mile.

I'll soon see what other photos I took and upload them. Maybe I should unload more stuff now.

Gene

[Fly at Night]

Another one for the log book.

Well done, Gene!

[moosetags]

We are glad that you and Barb made it home safely. We really enjoyed reading of your travels and experiences. Thank you for taking the time to share your adventures.

Brian

[Gene]

The numbers are in.

We towed the trailer 3,631 miles on this last trip of the year. 4,837 miles in four trips this year. Total since we bought trailer: 54,750 miles. I'll have to outlive Moosetags by 30 years to catch up to them.

Total truck miles are usually about 50% greater than towing miles. I never understand how so many more miles can add up so fast, but it usually does. We both forgot to note the start mileage on the truck and early on we could have compensated for that on the first or second day, but we continued to forget. The truck is close to 105,000 miles and was over 100,000 when we left, so the 50% rule may not be in effect.

The truck did fine except gas mileage has dropped. The usual cause on a high mileage vehicle is the oxygen sensor that controls engine performance (there are many oxygen sensors, but everyone usually says "oh, that's the oxygen sensor" without mentioning there are lots of them). About $55 for a original equipment Denso one and looks fairly easy to replace. You can get one a lot cheaper if you want to splice wires instead of getting one with the plug attached. The plug is better; less chance of contact corrosion, especially under a truck. On the Tundra it is under the truck where the exhaust pipe drops down from the manifold. Better than buried in the engine compartment. Looking this up I found much incorrect info, often about pre-2007 Tundras, other engines than the big V8, location and how many oxygen sensors there are and what they do. Ordering them is also confusing and I cross checked with Denso's information to make sure I had (hopefully) the right Denso part number to order on Amazon. Looks like a dealer would charge many times more for this.

Feeling well rested and unloaded mostly everything from the trailer and everything from the truck. Will drain the fresh water tank, pipes and see what is left in the black and grey tanks. Even though we drained them 110 miles back, more stuff shakes lose coming home. The black stuff is not pretty and somehow Barb doesn't want to be the drainer. Winterization later. Maintenance and improvements even later. More photos sooner.

Gene

[Florida 55]

Thank you for sharing your trip. I greatly enjoy the travelogues on Air Forums. You, Moosetags, and SilverEagle6 have helped add to the bucket list this year.

[Gene]

A rainy day that was supposed to be sunny today. Our neighbors below us appear ready to harvest their lavender experiment—income for when they retire. They are thwarted. So am I—want to go and open some more more drains I forgot yesterday.

I read an article several weeks ago when we were struggling with me feeling lousy that said people get more excitement from planning a trip than going on a trip. Maybe that is true. Imagination glosses over the strain of driving thousands of miles, looking for good restaurants, lousy campgrounds, breaking trailers and all that money going into the gas tank. But documenting it on these threads (besides being somewhat narcissistic) helps put it all in perspective. One issue I have written about is whether we can keep traveling all over North America as we age. We have friends who travelled full time or 10 years in a MH and loved it. Mention a town or campground and they've been there. But they had to give it up when his body just couldn't do it anymore. He is only 5 years older than me. We can think young, but we get new pains and strains and they have to be surmounted. Attitude is important, but a sore butt throws attitude for a loop. The illness I experienced had the same profile as a mild salmonella. Food poisoning, usually e-coli contamination, lasts 24 hours, so I knew it wasn't standard food poisoning. I ate no cucumbers (latest food borne illness problem with salmonella), so can't be sure what it was.

The two stoppers for a trip to Newfoundland are the high cost and the strength needed to do it. Last time we went we did not have a trailer and we made it to the ferry at N. Sydney, NS in a week or so (3,500 miles), not counting a side trip to Halifax and Peggy's Cove. Our first day was a record 700 miles—Pueblo, Colo., to Iowa. Not so many miles per day after that. That was 11 years ago. Most of the way until we reach Maine is interstate highways and the miles do go faster if the boredom doesn't drive you nuts. When towing the trailer hundreds of miles, I sometimes wish I were unencumbered by 3 1/2 tons of metal behind me. Towing does require more attention and is more tiring. But then I remember all the bad restaurants and motels we have been at and the trailer looks like a blessing rather than a dead weight.

Rain stopped, drains to open.

Gene