meeting northern folks

A Bakersfield stop has let us rest up with three nights here at the Orange Grove RV Park.  Some chores were in order, you know, the usual... laundry, grocery shopping and cleaning.  Last evening some people from our northern home, Dave and Rita Wilson, parked next to us and we had a great conversation, catching up.  They are continuing onto El Centro and left Orange Grove at 7:05 am. Too early for us!!

We are heading off across the Mohave towards Lake Havasu.  There is a Harvey House restoration in Barstow that Donald would like to check out, as well as a railroad museum.  As I was washing floors yesterday afternoon, he was checking out all the videos on You Tube of trains going over the Tehachapi Pass, which we will drive through this morning. I think I heard train sounds for over an hour! 

We had an email sent to us this morning from friends on the island who happened to be in Kamloops, wanting to come out to the Shuswap and visit! Yep, we replied right away that we were a little far from there at present. Too bad, and it would been a wonderful visit! They are also ex-pats from the north home.

wind farm on the Tehachapi

where to find the best dates

The wind started to blow in the evening and our rig was rocking a little bit.  Better get ahead of this incoming cool weather, even though we were sorry to leave the RV park on the canal.  Kim woke up early, about 5 a.m. and she said the sculling crews were out on the waterway, with the coaches giving instructions, even though it was still fairly dark. Perhaps they were students from the local university in Stockton or Sacramento.

The drive was fairly nice with less wind then we had thought might show up.  This evening's parking spot is Orange Grove in Bakersfield, and we have booked into here for a couple of nights. First order of business after setting up the rig and the satellite dish was to visit the local fruit and nut stand, just around the corner. Our grocery bag had about 10 valencia oranges, chocolate covered coffee beans, some pistachios and some beautiful " wet " medjool dates. Best dates ever. ever. ever.

Miss this little guy already!

A near miss and a blissful site

Having stayed in Yreka on Tuesday evening, we were able to make good time down the I5, planning to stay in around the Sacramento area.  Driving through Sacramento was quite without incident, however in Stockton were we not so fortunate.  The traffic was busy on the I5, and some small little car decided to pull out  front of us from an on ramp, doing about 20 KM an hour, opposed to our 80 KM. Yikes!!!! It is not easy to slam on the brakes with a big rig behind you.  Donald laid the horn on big time, letting this driver know that it was a very reckless move. Lots of items moved in the rig, but all we lost was the tube lighting on my new Ott-Lite. It could have been horrendously worse.

back corner of our rig, looking over the canal

The good part was, that 10 minutes later we were setting up at the most awesome RV park we have ever been in. Our rig is 5 feet from the deep water canal that runs into the port of Sacramento.  We have enjoyed a beautiful sunset, with birds, racing sculls, sailboats and an ocean freighter all at our doorstep.

looking over the lilly pad type plants in the water

Onto Bakersfield in the morning. Cooler temperatures are on the way here, so our shorts are still in the closet for another day!

Back to warm weather!

Just a quick post to say that we just crossed over into California and the temperatures are a balmy 20 C! We took the ferry from Victoria to Port Angeles yesterday with an overnight stay at WMart in Chehalis.  Since we went to bed so early, we were up and on the road at 6:21 AM!!!! A new record for us and one that we don't really wish to beat.  The weather through most of Oregon was foggy and bleak, but as we came close to Canyonville and 7 Feathers RV Resort, it was beautiful, so we decided to have a quick lunch and continue on, as we have never experienced the Siskiyou Pass with sunny weather.  Lovely drive.

Tonights chore is to look again at the maps and decided what tomorrow may bring!

Leak fixed!

It seems like the repair to where the antenna meets our 5th wheel roof, was successful. Today's weather is back to teeming rain in Victoria, and so far, there is not a drop in the bucket underneath the antenna crank. Good job, Donald!

Tomorrow we hope that the Malahat highway will not be as foggy as it is today, when we travel to meet Rick and Paulette.  I will be taking pictures of some of my latest quilting projects and of the quilt studio building.  No doubt the boys will talk of RV's and south travels.

Thursday has us driving off-island, back to Vancouver for a couple of days.  We will be staying in Richmond, getting our fuel filter changed by the boy-wonder mechanic and having our " Christmas visit" with him.  Other plans have been made to meet with Donald's Aunt and Uncle from North Vancouver, whom we have not seen in many years.