Author: tincantravels

18th April: Day 10

Today is the day that we fledge from our comfortable nest. Fly away from the ensuite bedroom with walk in-wardrobe, the central heating, the cat-swinging space, and our Adventure Facilitators, The Adams.

The Beast and the Tin Can are ready. And so are we, possibly.

The day started early, as Dean and Lori left before us for their trip to Indonesia, having us trusted to lock-up and alarm the house.

By 10am we were mustered, and managed the Highlands Extraction without incident.

Today we are headed to Maryhill State Park, a small, but perfectly formed park with camping on the banks of the Columbia River. It is still in Washington, but looks over to Oregon, as the river is the state boundary.

It was about 250 miles (sorry to all the NZers, had to let go of our metric ideals), but the driving is pretty effortless. Long straight scenic highways and lots of sensible driving (so also quite unlike NZ).

The campsite was and sunny with lot of trees, and bazillions of squirrels to amuse us. We struck camp (i.e. parked), grabbed a beer, and went down to the river to sit in the sun and play skimmers. Lots to see: massive barges on the river, the highway on the other side and the enormously long freight trains chugging through the gorge.

We crashed early. All this excitement is exhausting.

19th April: Day 11

Remember those trains I mentioned. They ran all night, sounding their horns/whistles/claxons (whatever they bl**dy call them) round every corner. Not very sleep inducing. But Hey Ho. Nothing major to achieve today and we had a very lazy morning.

To earn our lunch we broke out the bikes, and meandered around, finding the road up to Stonehenge. This is a WW1 memorial, built atop the gorge, looking up and down the river. It was built to replicate the original, but is fashioned from concrete, and is in an ‘intact’ state. It is, according to the blurb, the first national war memorial. Quite cool really, in a war memorial kind of way. The ride down much more fun than the ride up. We had an equally lazy afternoon. Later on we got chatting to George and Mary, a couple from Alaska. They are travelling in a sensibly sized truck camper, and came over to marvel at our behemoth.

20th April: Day 12

Our main reason for coming to Maryhill State Park was to visit the Maryhill Museum and Art Gallery.  Set up in the 1920s it occupies the massive house that a chap called Sam Hill had built but never lived in.  He was a a big road builder and had bought himself a massive slice of land here. Unfortunately things didn’t work out. However he was very well connected and lots of his buddies donated some very cool artwork.  Most notably there is a whole exhibition of works by Rodin. Who’d have thought it?

After our cultural infusion we meandered on our way. Today we head to Baker City, Oregon. 200 miles of interstate highway, but again empty, scenic and easy driving. On the way we crossed the 45th parallel, the halfway point ‘twixt North Pole and Equator.  We also witnessed our first live-action tumbleweed. Not expecting that in Oregon for some reason.

We are already a little weary of Country and Western music on the radio. This is only our second day on the road. Either we will go mad or be converted to their ways. Time will tell.

Baker city is an ex gold mining town on the old Oregon Trail. It is on a plateau at 3000ft, surrounded by mountains. Very beautiful but very cold. Even Nick put a coat on. Our home for the next 2 nights is a family run park about 1.5 miles out of town. We offloaded the Tin Can, as we are planning a trip tomorrow, and then walked to a local steakhouse.

The trains have followed us…

21st April: Day 13

The reason for a stop in Baker City (Pop. approx 10,000, so a bit of an overly grand title) is that it is close to the Oregon Trail Interpretive Museum. We whizzed up there in the naked truck, which is a veritable hare when not a beast of burden.

Hundreds of thousands of people made an horrendously tough 2000 mile journey to Oregon in oxen carts and on foot with the promise of a better life. The museum is a fantastic homage to them. It sits on a hillside, looking down on the plains, and has a few miles of (nicely paved, thank you) trails to give a taste of what the immigrants would have seen. Our journey with a 4 wheel drive ute, camper with flushing toilet, shower, oven, microwave, queen bed, flat screen TV with DVD, heating, air con and LPG generator, oh and 4G internet with access to Google maps isn’t quite so tough.

                          

 

 

 

 

So, after weeks and weeks of planning, replanning, change of plans,  plan modification, and talking of plans, we are finally doing it.

The flights booked and the visas in place. The camper and truck sourced and paid for, insured and registered. Travel insurance sorted. Cash ordered and collected. A small apothecary of medication stockpiled. Year-end tax paper work lodged with the accountant and GST done. A home deep cleaned, packed up and rented out. Lots of goodbye dinners. Oh, the small matter of packing our bags.

9th April: Day 1

A long, long day, thanks to a ‘head buzzing’, sleepless night, and  24 hours of travel against the clock.  During the first flight from Kerikeri to Auckland, I could see both coasts of New Zealand at the same time.  Would have to be an astronaut in orbit to manage the same feat of the USA. As a point to note, our first meal in the States was a salad. Nick is still in shock… We arrived safely in Seattle in the evening, all bags present and correct, to be scooped up by Dean and Lori, and whisked back to to comfort of their art deco home. They are gracefully hosting us for a week, and helping us get out s**t together.

10th April: Day 2

We are now the proud owners of a US bank account and finished the day with margaritas and Mexican food.

11th April, Day 3

Pick up day for the camper and truck, a trip that was about 70 miles and a short ferry ride. A morning of nervous anticipation, as we had taken a leap of faith and bought the ‘rig’ sight unseen over the internet.  Originally Lori had been worried we might be the victim of a ‘bait and switch’. We were less concerned, but you never know… All was entirely as advertised.

And this is the Beast (Working title).  Well, a beast of a truck, loaded with, a small-but-perfectly-formed home. Well, a small home, but a very large camper.

For those interested: The truck is a Chevy Silverado 3500 Dually, with an 8.1L petrol engine. Did I say beast? I meant planet. The bed is in a different timezone to the cab. When loaded, it does a whole…wait for it…9 miles to the gallon.

We had a rapid and detailed show around, with a beginners guide to all that is ‘camper’. This included tutorials on the power systems, the gadgets, and the ‘black water’ management.  Quite important to get things right in that department. Strong advice was given on toilet paper types, chemicals to use, and the tank drainage and flushing.  We can live without mistakes in that department.

With brains full of new information, notebooks filled with scribbled memos, Nick expertly manoeuvred us back onto the ferry, and across back through the Seattle traffic to our first camp, Dean and Lori’s driveway. They live in a beautifully manicured and exclusive gated community, which doesn’t usually play host to camper hillbillies. So luckily we are parked out of sight. Don’t want to raise the ire of the Home Owners Association. We uncoupled the camper from the truck (Easy once we had worked out the power situation), and will worry about the re-loading procedure another day.

12th April: Day 4

The boring details are not needed, but today I went shopping. Macys and Target now have some of our money, and we have a somewhere to sleep, and can now cook. In the evening, Dean took Nick to his Boys’ Book Club meeting. As you can imagine, this is a thinly veiled front for a ‘yacking, eating, drinking, etc, club’. They came back suitably improved.

13th April: Day 5

Today we spent (a lot) more money, and are also now the proud owners of a USA cell phone and number, and 2 nice new shiny bikes. We had planned to buy second hand bikes, and thought the city would be awash with such machines at affordable prices, but it seems not.  The price for a new bike was only about $100 more, so it seemed to make more sense. Dean and Lori continue to be indispensable as Adventure Facilitators, as their good friend owns a bike shop, and gave us his ‘mates rates’ discount. 

In the evening, other friends of Dean and Lori came round for dinner. A cool group of people that we have met several times previously, so great to catch up with them again.

14th April: Day 6

A few weeks ago Lori and Dean saw and bought a holiday home across the mountains from Seattle in a (much sunnier and outdoor activity friendly) town called Wenatchee.  We went over with them for the night, as they took possession of the property, and took the first 2 carloads of stuff, and the bikes over.  Her sister lives in the same complex, and the family had gathered for a birthday dinner for her Mum.  It was great to meet her sisters, brothers-in-law, and parents.

15th April: Day 7

The day started with a lovely bike ride along the trail along the banks of the mighty Columbia river, which is as the bottom of the house’s back garden. The new machines performed admirably, although our bodies are a bit out of condition currently. Luckily the route was flat. The sun was shining, and we shared the trail with the multitude of runners doing the Wenatchee marathon and half marathon. Lori’s Dad created a huge pile of pancakes for brunch afterwards, and we sat in the sun in Marla and Marty’s garden. Definitely more spring-like on this side of the mountains.  We came back to Seattle mid-afternoon, had an early dinner out at a local restaurant and then sat around Dean’s new gas fire pit for an hour, until it got too cool. We watched both hummingbirds and bald eagles fly around the trees before dusk. Quite a bird spectrum in The Highlands.

16th April: Day 8

Yup. Still not camping.

Easter brunch of more pancakes, followed by another money haemorrhage at the shopping emporium that is Fred Meyer.  We now own a tool kit, an axe (because Nick wanted one), lots of bike accessories, and a whole heap of other  essentials that I had not thought we needed.

The truck had its first of many re-fuels, and then we successfully navigated the delicate procedure of backing it back under the camper, and reloading the whole kit and caboodle.  Managed to achieve this, and remain married.  For all those with a trailer boat, you will know what I mean…

17th April: Day 9

Today we had planned to set off, finally, on the Big Adventure.  Unfortunately Nick awoke with an awful head cold, and so we are not rushing off today.  Such is the beauty of having such a long time to do our trip.  We continued to titivate the Tin Can, and take our time doing the last few bits and pieces. We really will leave tomorrow. It will be an early start, as Dean and Lori are leaving early-ish to start their trip to Indonesia tomorrow. It will also give us time to a) decide where the hell we are going to go tomorrow, and b) for me to finish off this first epic post.

This has been a fantastic week. Such a treat to be able to sort ourselves out at leisure with this great house as a base, and Dean and Lori as such amazing hosts. They are planning to come and find us somewhere along the way, so it will be interesting to see where that will end up being.