We are Going Home

Sabino Canyon, Tucson

We were off the next morning on the road home. I guess we were on a mission because we took no pictures for rest of the trip.

We drove all day, mostly in the rain.  We drove north through Idaho and stopped at a rest stop just over the Oregon border.  It was right on the outskirts of Ontario, OR, so we were able to go for a walk when the rain stopped and have supper at a Burger King.  But first we had to walk through a block that was seriously on the wrong side of the tracks.  We passed by several lots that were packed with many old cars and decrepit RVs as they could possibly fit.  Then the next block was the strip with fast food joints, budget hotels, tire stores and marijuana dispensaries.  It was like the last bastion of the rural boondocks was about to be squeezed out by suburban expansion.  

We slept surprisingly well despite the Interstate traffic and semis idling all night. The next morning we continued through northeastern Oregon.  At one point Google maps sent us on a "shortcut" on a narrow windy road through a gully between rolling hills and past old homesteads.  Picturesque but not the best when towing a trailer.  We continued to struggle with Google maps all day, but finally we stopped at Bridgeport State Park on the Columbia River by Chief Joseph Dam. (I believe he's the guy that crossed the Columbia on the backs of the salmon, so I'm not sure he'd be thrilled by his namesake. There is a hatchery there too.)

Well, it was a balmy 20 degrees out!  A very nice park with green lawns.  There were only two other RVs here and the camphost. We went for a run and came back and sat outside in the sun afterwards, something it had been just too cold to do for most of the trip.  And there were free showers with lots of hot water.  The only hitch is that the motion sensor lights went out halfway through, plunging you into pitch darkness.  You had to run naked out of your cubicle to get it to turn on again.  Fortunately, a) pitch dark, and b) noone in campsite.

The next day was gloriously sunny, and we retrieved our passports from their hiding place and dug out our Canadian money.  I hard boiled the remaining eggs so I wouldn't bring any pathogens into Canada, and we drove north towards the border at Osoyoos.  The customs agent didn't ask us about the eggs, of course, and let us right through.  We stopped in Oliver at Tim Hortons for tea and Timbits.  Leo wasn't able to get hot tea at any fast food joint in the US.  We chatted with our neighbours about the lovely weather.  They had been freezing their butts off near Palm Springs all winter.

We drove as far as Kamloops, went for a walk in Kenna Cartwright Park and had a quiet night in the Costco parking lot as the Provincial parks aren't open yet.  And shortly after noon on March 31st we pulled into our driveway.  We were home.

Lake Powell