Following the hood south.

We had an ugly, rainy and busy winter and I have a new job. I have to go to Vancouver 4 days a week, driving a truck and hauling food. Like the new job, a lot less headache than the management was before. Because of my new job we couldn't take any time off but after a while it hits me again: we got to go!!! We used to go every winter but this winter was just crazy, -2 in the Palm Springs area, much colder than usual in Arizona too. My wife said: I do not go 'till it's at least 25 C or more. And it hasn't been for a long time. Last week it was finally getting better, short chat with the boss, no problem, you can go for 2 weeks he said, but only after mid-March, somebody else booked a trip ahead of me. I have a friend, when I ask him where he is headed he always answers: following the hood south. The plan is: strait down south to Las Vegas, Yuma, walk across the border to Algodones, Margarita, Taco, some sunburn and burn some fuel coming home. I'll post before we leave.

Poor motor home spent the winter parked. It's not designed for neither is it's owner.

From our place we follow the hood south for about 3 days and on the other side of the gate all kind of goodies....
(Wikipedia photo)

....are waiting. Like Margaritas.... (Wikipedia photo)

.......and driving trough the desert on the way home is always beautiful. Stay tuned!

Awesome Parade

I usually post here about our travels but now I just have to share a few pictures. For the last 6 years we have been shooting the annual Christmas Light Truck Parade in Victoria. Drivers & companies are working for days decorating the trucks, then on the first Saturday in December it's showtime. This year 85 decorated trucks drove trough town very slow, a huge crowd watching the show while a few trucks were collecting donations for a food bank.

I work for them now.

Thousands of lights, lot of work.

Local truck driving school teamed up with a local farm.

Lined up just before the trucks left for the parade

Awesome mixer

Made it Home

After a really good time in South Dakota we crossed the Montana border and stopped at the Wheat Montana Deli in Three Forks. Had lunch, picked up some home made jams, honey and bread for the road, it's a nice place and it seems to be always crowded. They also have a gas station and the office with the cashier is made out of a grain silo. Later we just enjoyed "Big Sky Country" but hit the pedal because we wanted to enter BC at Grand Forks to visit friends in Greenwood BC. After spending a half a day with them the next morning we left for Osoyoos. We like it there so much we always stop at the lake and spend some time fishing. Mostly my wife and I have to help her when she catches a bigger fish. So far that's the only lake I know in BC where you can fish for carp.

Wheat Montana gas station, the office in the grain silo.

Last mile in Montana....

...on the other side of the hill is Idaho

Lake Osoyoos. We stopped here 3 weeks ago too heading east.

She had a good time fishing for carp. We got home after spending 22 days 9200 km-s (5716 miles) on the road. Even though we drove a lot in windy weather our fuel mileage turned out pretty good: 15mpg. That's the good news. The bad news is: 4 days after I started working again I got the pink slip. No surprise, it was in the air for a while. The next good news is: found a new job literally in about 30-35 minutes but it's another story, more about it later.

Homebound 2

Sorry about the long wait, I have a very simple explanation for it: I also wrote about the trip in a magazine and it wouldn't have been ethical to publish the same story on the blog before the magazine comes out. So: After the Badlands we drove to Mt. Rushmore, it's about an hour drive, more if you stop on the way to enjoy the scenery. The whole place is very well organized, parking is plenty for 12 bucks even for the biggest RV-s. Spent a half a day there and headed for Wyoming.

Still in Badlands we've seen this RV shipped over from Germany, driven by a nice couple. On the back of the motor home a big map of North America with a lot of red dots on it; places they've visited.

Leaving Badlands

A couple of hours later at MT. Rushmore

We crossed the border later to Wyoming, had a nice and easy day, weather was really nice.

The next day was Montana Day, Big Sky Country and it is indeed. The border line in the picture is where the color of the pavement changes.

After crossing into Montana we went to see a Cabelas store, have planned it for a long time but never did. Pleasant surprise and a big congratulation to Cabelas for the huge indoor wildlife display. It was good to see little kids in front of the exhibit eyes wide open. Another nice thing about Cabelas: they provide free RV dump in the parking lot.

Homebound

It would've been nice to stay a bit longer but I had to head home to work. We've never seen the Mid West so we wanted to come home this way to see it. Crossed the border again on the Ambassador bridge and headed for Chicago. I have been traveling a lot and seen a big part of the world. Thought I've seen the worst big cities traffic wise. My favorite tune for a long time was: Sweet home Chicago, from now on I'll remember that song in a very different way. We did 4 miles in 5 hours, the weather was an ugly mix of rain and smog, my wife started to feel sick and made me worried a lot. Finally we had Chicago behind us and had to find a spot to watch one of the Canucks games (Stanley Cup). Pulled over at a big mall, turned on the Tv just in time, they just started the game. (Canucks lost) A cop told us that we can't stay there for the night, so after the hockey game we moved to a MacDonald's. Next day we finally had very nice weather, 28-30 C°, it was good to see the very well kept farmlands in Wisconsin and Minnesota, it reminded me on the rolling hills in the Swiss Alps. When we crossed the Mississippi river on I 94 to Minnesota it was so beautiful we had to pull over and spent a couple of hours right down at the water. Lot of locals were fishing, it was one of those "picture perfect" fishing spots. Later we checked out an Aldi Market, we used to by our groceries in those stores in Germany but there is none on the west coast. We stocked up the fridge with good German stuff, although good German beer is a bit expensive there. We spent the night just before the turn off to Badlands South Dakota at a truck stop. Badlands was the same as the Grand Canyon when you see it the first time: jaw dropping. You expect something and when you see it all you can say: whooooooa! In the middle of the flat land all of a sudden it feels like being on the Moon. But it can't be the Moon because wildlife is walking around, stops in the middle of the road and stares at you. The park also has a nice campground, 99 sites and very friendly rangers. Then we headed to see Mt. Rushmore, same story: yes we have seen lot of pictures but did you think it's that big?


Sweet Home Chicago in a new light


Wind power farm in Minnesota.


A picture perfect fishing spot on the Mississippi at the Wisconsin-Minnesota border on I 90


A little Germany in Minnesota: Aldi Market


Finally made it to the Badlands in South Dakota. It's really "jaw dropping"


It's not a roadside but a middle of the road attraction in Badlands National Park

After 5 and a half days.......

After 5 and a half days of driving (almost) like a mad man we arrived in Windsor. It was interesting to see that big trucks crossing the border in 3 minutes, for us it took 30, probably because of the "gas tourists". Fuel is so much cheaper in the US that they have built a gas station right on the other side of the bridge just for Canadians, you don't even have to cross the border officially to fuel up. It was good to see our 84 year old Oma, she is still living on her own with her companion: Rusty, probably the most spoiled cat on Earth. We usually call her every week and she always said: it would be so nice to see you one more time in my life, how could you say no? It was 8 years ago when we visited, there is so much to talk about, see every body in the family, we had a very nice dinner ( thanks Barb ) and finally time for a family picture. Unfortunately a couple of people could not make it from another part of Ontario, at the time we let them know when we are coming they had something important scheduled. Don't worry John, we catch up but now it's your turn to drive. Or Tammy and Mike will maybe hijack a cruise ship next time and visit us on the Island. We wanted to stay for 3 days only but left after four, had a very good time and left for the border to come home trough the mid western states, more about it in the next post.


The Ambassador Bridge between Windsor and Detroit.


Our 84 year old Oma lives in Windsor....


...with Rusty, the most spoiled cat on Earth.


At 84 she had to bake a cake for my wife's birthday.


Birthday kid in Windsor, Detroit in the background.


The picture from 8 years ago.


And the one from 2011. Our Great Granny passed away since and a couple of people could not make it

Almost there.

Ontario is HUGE, it takes days to cross and there are many nice places to pull over. Some of them even would be a nice overnight spot but there is the famous sign: No Overnight Parking. After about three decades in the trucking business e don't have any problems spending a few nights at Truck Stops. We pull in and ask the staff: is it OK to stay here for the night, our rig is really small? Some of them said 10 bucks, some said 15 we always said thanks and kept going and always found a nice and safe place somewhere. After some bad experience with wildlife the first night we decided not to drive much after dark. So many roadkill on the side of the Trans Canada, if we hit a big deer with our small RV it would mean "game over" for our trip. That's the reason the trucks are equipped with "cow bars", they have to protect the front of the truck and the radiator in a crash with wildlife. If you have a damaged radiator in the winter and help is coming from a hundred miles away you have plenty of time to think about investing in a cow bar. Thanks God we didn't have any problem with wildlife although have seen a lot and around lunch time the next day we crossed the border to Michigan. Since we wanted to go to Windsor we decided to take this shortcut rather then driving around Lake Huron.


Driving around Lake Superior. So many nice places where you would like to spend the night but.......


.....there is the famous sign right behind you....


....so you carry on on the never ending strip in the bush called the Trans Canada Hwy.....

a
....and there is a lot of roadside attraction.


Not every body's story with wildlife has a happy ending .


The Akawa trading post is a nice place for a brake.


The bridge to Michigan at Sault Ste. Marie. Tomorrow we are in Windsor.