February 6

We decided to be home tonight; got up early and crossed the border at noon. It was a breeze, the officer waved us trough after a few questions. We have been on the 1 pm sailing on BC Ferries nice new Coastal Celebration. We vent upstairs, walked around, found a nice place to sit down, the room is called Pacific Lounge. After about 30 seconds a staff member came to us and said: we have to pay an extra 10 bucks to sit in this room. (Probably because all the seats are facing the water??) Needless to say we walked away and had a seat in the restaurant “enjoying” the 8 dollar burger. We made it home around 5:30 pm, good to see the Grandkids again.


We are getting closer...


Just have to roll off the boat and we are home in an hour.

February 5

We woke up to a foggy morning in Medford, left around 9:30 and we were really surprised by the weather. In the middle of Oregon we had 22 Celsius, unbelievable warm, nice and sunny. We stopped early in the afternoon, still had some shrimp in the freezer from San Felipe, it was our late lunch. Crossed the Washington border around 5 pm and wanted to stop somewhere in the Tacoma area at 8:30 pm. We like Flying J but we also ask first. A not so nice clerk told us: we can stay but have to be out at 6 in the morning because ”my manager comes in at 6 and he is going to kick you out anyway”. Well on my vacation I don’t like to be on the run so early so we decided to carry on. Drove all the way to Everett, the good part is: we drove trough Seattle late in very light traffic and spent the night in the Wal Mart parking lot in Marysville.


We stopped at Seven Feathers, brings back memories.


Later we wanted to go to MacDonalds in Springfield and realised: we have a brewery behind us. Where would you go?

February 04

We drove pretty much all day and just made it a bit ahead of the storm. In Weed, Northern California the storm hit hard, blowing snow, mixed with rain and a wind-warning. Kept driving and it seems like we were faster than the storm, weather improved a lot after we crossed into Oregon. No reason to rush so we stopped in Medford for a nice meal and to take care of business.


Just left Mexico 5 days ago (too early) and it HURTS!!!!


The reason I don't have too many pictures for today: the weather

February 03

I use VOIP for all of my long distance calls, but just after we left home the application quit on my laptop, sent an e-mail to the provider, sorry, we will fix it, but nothing happened for almost 2 weeks. I checked it again in Palmdale and it’s finally working now. That means we had to do lots of calls catching up with the last 2 weeks. That’s why we did not leave ‘till noon, stopped for a few pictures in Mojave, then around Bakersfield in the orange fields. Made it to Ripon on hwy 99 just south of Stockton and called it the day. Watching the news of course the weather caught my attention. The forecast is about a storm again, heavy rain and snow over 4000 feet. The California-Oregon border is over 4000 so we decided to leave early and make it to Oregon before dark.


This one is for Al. Stopped at the Space Research Center in Mojave


Wind power in Tehachapi


The 2nd of February and the orange trees are full of fruit in the Bakersfield area.


And that's for my buddies at work again

February 2

Weather got cooler as soon as we left the Coachella Valley, Joshua Tree Park is between 3-4000 feet high desert. It was so good to drive through the park again, stopped often to take lots of pictures. Last year we bought the annual pass for all the National Parks in the US, so this time it did not cost a penny. Once out of the park we headed north on 247, then on 18 west towards Palmdale and for a good reason. There is a Hungarian Sausage Factory store on hwy 18 in Littlerock; we just made it there 10 minutes before they closed. Bought bunch of good stuff, fridge is full, (life is good here).Drove another 10 minutes to Palmdale, fund a nice Wal Mart and a McDonalds just across the street with WiFi. After we have done all the uploads, e-mails, we decided to stay right here in Palmdale.


Driving through Joshua Tree National Park.


Driving through Joshua Tree National Park.


One of the great camp sites inside the park.


La Cholla cactus forest in the park

February 1

Well, Joshua Tree is tomorrow. We had to find wifi today, drove around and ended up in the beautiful city of La Quinta. The Library here had wifi and we spent a couple of hours taking care of business. My wife has never been there yet, she said this is the city where the density of Porches and Ferraries is the highest for one square mile. It is indeed a nice and rich neighborhood. Still staying at the casino and tomorrow we start our way home trough Joshua Tree Park.

We ended up in the beautiful city of La Quinta



Everything is flowering and it's only the first of February

January 31

We drove north trough the Coachella Valley's orange plants


I have a picture of the same palm tree from 14 years ago.


Came back to the good old Spotlight 29 casino where RV parking is free


Playing with the big dogs.