DAWSON CREEK, YT (Day 2).  Posed for group photo at Mile Zero of the Alaska Highway.

We later went to see local sites of interest.  One was Kiskatinaw Bridge, a wooden bridge with 11 degree pitch built with wood by U. S. Army as part of original Alaskan Highway.  Another was a wooden railway trestle near Pouce Coupe, BC that was built in the 1930s.  Both the bridge and railway are closed to traffic now.

Kiskatinaw Bridge Panorama

Kistakinaw Bridge Showing Its Age

Abandoned Railway Leading to Wooden Trestle

 

Queen Anne's Lace Along Railway

Wooden Railway Trestle Built in 1930s

DAWSON CREEK, BC.  Drove through more hard rain, arriving here at the Mile Zero Campground covered in mud.  First the water, then wind-driven dirt, equals mud-covered motorhome and (especially) Jeep.  Same happened when we arrived at the north rim of the Grand Canyon two years ago.  It seems to be a Fantasy RV Tours specialty.

Mud-covered Jeep

We saw one deer crossing the road, but nothing else, but others have seen multiple moose and bears.  Tomorrow we shall get some Canadian money to visit the nearby car wash to clean up the Jeep.  I hear it is a waste of time to clean the motorhome in this neck of the woods.  It will be filthy again very soon.  They call the color Yukon mud.  After the tour we shall have everything thoroughly cleaned.

The RV campground that we are in is named after its nearby location for the beginning of the Alaska Highway, which begins in BC and continues into Alaska.  It was begun during World War II when the country feared an invasion of Alaska by the Japanese.  It was built in record time by the army.  It has been repeatedly upgraded so that tourism is accommodated. 

Tomorrow we have a group photo taken at the Mile Zero point, where the Alaska (or ALCAN) Highway begins. 

The campground is also beside a pioneer village, much like the 1884 Town we visited last year in South Dakota.  Old buildings have been moved here to recreate a pioneer town as it was in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  If the internet connection would allow it, we would add more on this.

Cafe Offering.  Special is Chili and Bannock

Original Trapper's Cabin

Story of Cabin

"Comboose" Rail Car Used While Alaska Highway Was Built

Sign Inside Comboose

Betty Reading Old Signs in Comboose

Story of Comboose

Barber Shop & Salon

School

PRINCE GEORGE, BC. A very rainy day, with a few sunny moments interrupting the rain.  With all the talk about the Pacific Northwest being perpetually overcast and rainy, we saw virtually no rain, and had sunny skies, all the while we were in that part of the USA.  Once inside Canada, we are seeing the first serious rain of the whole trip.

We stopped for lunch at Williams Lake Visitor Center along Rt 97.  It is a giant log-cabin design three-story building, with gift shop, snack bar, museum, etc.  Main supporting posts are trees without the bark, roots and all, that have been painted.  If the weather had been nice, we would have walked out onto the balcony for the view, but views were runined today by the foul weather.  Betty bought yet another hooded shirt.  She has amassed quite a collection of shirts and coats.

It has been a challenge to adjust to the speed limits in metric.  Our RV GPS is supposed to translate everything into miles, and it does a good job sometimes, but it tends to fail at updating the speed limit as we move along where the limit changes constantly.  We are following Rt 97 most of the way, and it winds its way through one small town after another, with speed limits constantly changing.  The most common speed limit is 100 KPH (62 MPH).  There is a rare 110 KPH (68 MPH), but going through a town it can be 90, 80, 70, 60, 50, 40, then after passing through, it ramps back up.  The slow-downs generally occur as you drop down a long steep descent into a town, requiring a lot of braking.  The best part is the general courtesy and patience of the Canadian drivers.  The total opposite of California drivers.  Here there is no competition to force one's way past the next person.  If only the roads were a little straighter and more flat.  And fewer small towns would also help speed things up.  As it is, it takes a long time to go 50 miles. 

It is Going to be a Long Tour

CACHE CREEK, BC.  Entered Canada at a slow-moving border-crossing gate.  Was in line at least 45 minutes.  Only one lane was open.  Things suddenly started moving faster.  As we approached the gate, we noticed two of the motorhomes from our tour pulled over.  Both had been searched, and a pistol was found on one.  That person was returned to the USA and was unable to return for a day.  I believe they confiscated his firearm.  You would think he would know better.  I hear he will try to catch up to us later.

We traveled a long way on hilly, winding roads.  We made a stop to photo the Bridal Veil Falls and another stop at Hell's Gate Tram, which was over-priced and not very impressive compared to other trams we have ridden.

Stayed that night at a ranch that had no hookups for motorhomes, so we spent the night powered by batteries and inverter.  Went fine, and we got away early for the next leg of the journey.

Path Leading to Bridal Veil Falls

Bridal Veil Falls

View from Tram Leading to Hell's Gate

FERNDALE, WA (Day 2).  Today was more meetings to get us oriented and acquainted.  Later I found time to recheck all the tires' pressure on the motorhome and Jeep, updating our Tireminder device that will monitor the air pressure and temperature for each tire.  I emptied holding tanks and did other housekeeping matters.  Lastly I worked on photos for Three Rivers, Coarsegold, Redcrest, and Trinidad, California.  I added images to the past blog entry for Three Rivers.

Our Official Tour Photo

FERNDALE, WA.  Stopped to get fuel along the short distance from Lynden, taking less than an hour altogether to get here.  We are parked beside the wagonmasters in a very nice site with tall cedar bushes along the side. 

We attended an orientation meeting at 2 pm, and later were off to a very good supper provided by the tour.  The supper ironically was an Italian meal at a Greek restaurant.  Go figure.  Good food nevertheless.  We even brought back more of it in "doggy bags" for tomorrow night.

Tomorrow morning at 9:30 we have another meeting to review in detail the first day's itinerary (June 26th).  Then a social in the afternoon.  It seems like an interesting and friendly group on our tour.  25 RVs on this tour.

LYNDEN, WA (Day 2).  Drove to Bellingham again to attend Christ Church (PCA).  From the reviews we expected a formal service, and perhaps the early service is more formal, but the 11:15 am service was a sort of modified contemporary version.  The music was provided by a small group of musicians playing guitar, banjo, trumpet, trombone, violin (played like a fiddle), etc.  All done in good taste.  The music was mostly traditional hymns set to different musical arrangements.

The order of worship followed a liturgical format taken from The Worship Source Book of the Christian Reformed Church 2004.  All things otherwise were very informal.  Not a coat or tie in the room.  The pastor, Nate Walker, preached behind a pulpit, but wore only a long sleeve sport shirt and casual trousers.  The sermon, however, was surprisingly good, on the subject of the resurrection of the body, using I Cor 15:35-49 as text.  One of the best sermons on this subject that I have ever heard.  I actually took notes, as did Betty.  Nate is a graduate of Covenant Seminary.

After the sermon, The Apostles Creed was recited.  Some of the usual modernization of language was present, except it said "... descended into the grave" instead of "into hell."  Then the usual translation of The Lord's Prayer was recited.

At this point a hymn I had never heard was sung from music printed in the bulletin, which was a 26-page 5 1/2 X 8 1/2 inch booklet.  Again, producing the bulletin each week must be quite an undertaking.  This hymn was Eternal Weight of Glory by Wendell Kimbrough.  Perfect choice to follow that sermon, with many references to our current state vs our state to come on the day of resurrection.

This was followed by communion.  This was different.  The fencing of the table was addressed to ones who visit the church and show interest but have not made a profession of faith, so prayers are in the bulletin for them to use to come to faith.  I have never seen this before.  Then row-by-row we walked to the front of the room where the pastor held a half-loaf of bread and asked our name.  We then pulled a piece of bread as he said, [your name] "this is the body of Christ."  An elder next to him held out a tray of cups, the outer ring of which were real wine while the inner ones were grape juice.  He said simply, "this is the blood of Christ" as we selected a cup.  We ate the bread and drank the cup as others moved in behind us, a rather hurried affair.  Then, as we turned to go back to our row of seats, we noticed to our left a large urn into which people were casually tossing the empty glasses.  This reminded me of the rather clumsy service we had attended in Redmond, WA in 2014.  I found out later from the pastor that he had interned at that church.  The informality is disturbing to me.  Yes, I know the history of how the early church had communion as part of a larger meal of fellowship among believers, but this manner of participation, which we now observe as part of a worship service, distracts from the serious purpose of the sacrament, makes the person an individual participant by himself instead of partaking of the elements together in communion, which it is all about.  And it almost seems disrespectful to the Subject of the feast with so much interruption, walking around and seeing others chatting informally all along the way.

Then the bulletin has a section, AND SENDING US TO LOVE THE WORLD.  The "Sending Song" turns out to be the Gloria Patri.  So much focus on informality and loving the world that I was surprised to see the song to be about giving glory to God.  It would be helpful to put more of that into the worship service, since it is He that we worship.

The bulletin ends with a plea to come visit the church at least seven times to get to know them better.  It is entitled, "What story do you tell?"  So much focus on what we have to say.  Redemption is all about what God has to say to us, if we listen.

LYNDEN, WA.  We drove about 1 1/2 hours to the KOA here.  Was likely a great place years ago, but it is dated now.  Not much else available this close to the Canadian border.  We do have full hookups and 50 amps of power.  Drove to nearby Bellingham to go grocery shopping, stop by the drug store for toiletry items, and the auto parts store to get a new headlight bulb for the motorhome.  A full day even though the motorhome drive was short.

ANACORTES, WA (Day 2).  Drove early to the docks this morning to take the ferry to the San Juan Islands.  Cool but pleasant weather, and a very gentle voyage.  The ferries are handled with great care to make the crossings very pleasant.

We stopped first at Lopez Island while some passengers disembarked, then continued to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island, the largest and most populated island in the chain.  The people on San Juan Island are very happy and friendly everywhere we went, even at 8:00 am, which is when we disembarked there.  There are many retirees living there, including a lady who rode with us on the voyage.  There seems to be no rushing there.  Today there was very little traffic on a very pleasant day.  Low humidity, which they say is the rule.  Very little snow or rain, and pleasant winters.  That came as a surprise to us.

We traveled most of the island, focusing on finding orcas to photograph, since we saw none on the voyage.  The lady who rode with us, who lives there, said that the "resident" orcas had mostly left the island seeking their favorite food, chinook salmon, which have disappeared from the island.  Sounds to me like they are no longer "resident."  The orcas that the whale watcher boats chase are "transient" orcas that eat seals and other fish.

We finally went to Lime Kiln Point State Park, where these "transient" orcas tend to migrate off the coast.  We watched the whale-watcher boats filled with tourists hoping to see orcas.  They roamed together, several at a time, boats of different sizes and shapes, and we saw no orcas around them.  Finally we saw some far behind where the boats were looking.  Later a mother and her young orca appeared off the coast in near us, still far away but close enough for a mediocre photo or two.  So, we did see orcas, but not off the ferry as we had thought at first.

Two places we saw were the National Historical Parks for the English and the American Camps occupied by opposing forces when possession of the island was in dispute during the 19th century.  You can read more about it in the history of the "Pig War" of 1859.  The greatest irony of it all to me was that the final arbitrator that ruled in favor of American ownership of the island was Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany, whose grandson, Kaiser Wilhelm II, later fought both of us in World War I.

Driving the island was a joy, much like two years ago when we drove around Teddy Roosevelt National Park with the windows down photographing bison in beautiful weather.  Today we had fewer examples of wildlife to photograph, but the weather, pleasant surroundings, friendly people, and lack of crowds made it enjoyable.  A long but very nice day.

We are back in the motorhome getting ready to shower and get to bed early to prepare for our short drive to Bellingham for the weekend.  May have to drive a bit on I-5, so we are praying for a better experience this time.

Approaching Harbor in the San Juan Islands

One of the Ferries Working the Islands

Our Ferry Departing San Juan Island After Our Arrival

Downtown Area of San Juan Island

Betty Photographing the Coast

Lighthouse at Lime Kiln Point

Orcas Off Lime Kiln Point

Old San Juan Lighthouse with Bald Eagle Perched on Top

ANACORTES, WA.  We are at the Fidalgo Bay Resort.  Nice but the sites are short and narrow.  We managed to squeeze in.

The drive here was the worst of the trip.  Actually, any drive on I-5 is bad, but today was continual stop-and-go for hours.  We stopped for lunch at a rare rest area, hoping that things would settle down, but they continued unabated.  Three-four lanes solid heavy, nearly bumper-to-bumper traffic, with continual infusions from the right of 2-3 lanes of more heavy traffic.  Very stressful.  An outrage for the state of Washington.  One more reason to avoid the Pacific coast in the future.

We get up early (3:30 am) tomorrow to be sure to get to the ferry docks 45 minutes early for our 6:20 am ferry to Friday Harbor in the San Juan Islands.  We shall sail over an hour each way in waters that are supposed to be teeming with Orcas and the like.  If it goes like our recent elk-viewing experience, we shall be very disappointed.

We return here on the 7:20 pm ferry, so it will be late when we get back to Fidalgo Bay Resort.  Then we shall leave Saturday morning for nearby Lynden, WA for the weekend and much-needed rest before we leave for Ferndale, WA on Monday when the RV tour begins.  We have been over a month on our own private tour, so this will be phase 2 of our adventure.

MT. ST. HELENS, WA.  Today we drove Spirit Lake Highway (Hwy 504) to Johnston Ridge Observatory in the Mt St Helens National Volcanic Monument.  In 1980 the volcano erupted, blowing off a large part of one side of its peak, leaving destruction for miles and taking several lives in its wake.  Any tree with a trunk of diameter less than 4 feet was snapped off and blown away.  Nearby lakes were filled in and new ones were created.  The explosion was heard several hundred miles away, and dust filled the sky over the Northwest USA.

Betty Works to Capture the Scope of the Area

In the subsequent 40 years, new life has sprung up everywhere.

More Wild Flowers

What Remains of a Tree Pre-1980 

New Small Lake in Lower Right Above
All Trees Are Less Than 40 Years Old

Scarred Landscape Below Volcano

Many Overlooks to View What Remains of Mt St Helens

 There is a nice visitors center at the observatory, with book store and theater.  At the end of the movie, the screen lifts to reveal Mt St Helens behind the center (see below).

Window Facing Volcano

VANCOUVER, WA (Day 2).  This morning we attended Westminster Presbyterian Church (PCA).  Its location is far off the road, and we drove right past it on our first attempt.  The road has barriers along the center, so no U-turn is possible (or allowed).  We then turned left at the next intersection where U-turns again are not allowed.  After a few side streets we got turned back to the first road and found an opening in the barriers to allow us to enter the road leading to the church.  Thus, we were late arriving for the worship service.

The first thing we noticed about the service was the very nice bulletin they handed out.  It was a 16-page 8 1/2 X 11 inch booklet, with nice printing and attractive graphics on the front cover.  The weekly preparation of the bulletin must be quite an operation.  There are even instructions on the first page inside to familiarize worshipers with how to participate in a liturgical worship service.  This was the first indication that this would be a conservative church.  It is on this page that they "fence the table" for the taking of communion that would be part of the service.  It is also here that they state their practice of allowing "baby noises and wiggly children" in the congregation during worship.  After experiencing what was to follow, we disagree.  Little was done to quiet or control what were very rebellious kids, making it difficult for adults to participate in worship or even to hear the sermon.  We have never understood the logic of placing a higher value on childhood misbehavioral liberty than on the edification of adults.  It seems to us that instruction more suitable for them elsewhere would be more appropriate, and allow adults to hear the sermon and more fully to participate in worship without so many distractions.

The structure of the bulletin was quite promising.  Everything was founded on and read from scripture, with copious selections from the Psalms.  The Trinity Hymnal primarily was used, though a new selection from Keith Getty and Stuart Townsend named Oh For a Closer Walk with God was also used.  A very good violinist and cellist were accompanying the electronic piano throughout.  There were Old Testament and New Testament selections read (and printed out in the bulletin).  There was a Declaration of Faith taken from the Emden Catechism 1544 (new to me).  Following the sermon, the old translation of The Apostles Creed was recited ("Holy Ghost," "quick and dead," etc).  There was a Public Confession of Sin, using a selection from The Valley of Vision.  Then communion was celebrated, followed by The Lord's Prayer and a hymn.  Following the benediction, the congregation sang the Threefold Amen, just as we do back home.

When the time for communion came, they had everyone leave their seats and line up around the outer wall of the building.  Then the elders came around with the elements, first round with gluten-free bread cubes, then second round with real wine (except the inner circle of glasses which were grape juice).  We noticed that any tiny child that requested was given the elements.  Hard to believe that a child that young was able to "discern the body" (I Cor 11:29).  We then were instructed to return to our seats, without instruction on where to put the empty glasses.

The pastor is on sabbatical caring for his wife who has cancer.  The stand-in for the summer has been an army chaplain based at Fort Lewis in Tacoma, WA.  One would not guess that he is an army officer, since we was dressed in an off-red pair of pants, a brown-gold tie, and a sports coat that was a "coat of many colors."   I spoke to him after the service and asked if he was from California.  No, he is from Tennessee, and considered that coat to be "Southern Preppy."  Huh?  It was a collage of paint chips gathered together in a sort of cubism.  His dress, and the fact that the sermon was delivered by walking around on the stage, then into the audience, then back up to the stage, a while behind the pulpit, then back out, would make you think that the sermon was without merit, but it was interesting.

The actual message of the sermon was not bad.  The text was Psalm 1, focusing on "Blessed is the man ... nor sits in the seat of scoffers."  He made numerous references to American history, saying that we became a nation because we won a war that if lost would have resulted in the execution of our founding fathers for rebellion and treason.  And we still would rather "dump the tea in the harbor" than obey law or rule, including the law of God.  One might ask how that accounts for such disobedience in every other country, but after driving many days through California, land of scofflaws, I was attentive.  It does seem that Americans are becoming more rebellious, with the return of "Don't Tread on Me" flags and bumper stickers.  And the younger they are, the more rebellious.  Just look at the kids acting up in this church during the worship service.  I would ask how much time these parents spend at home with these kids in "the nurture and admonition of the Lord" which they vowed to do at each child's baptism.  I have found that when kids misbehave this way in church, it is because the things of God are foreign to them, and they react against the unfamiliarity of the things of God in the worship service.  That was my sermon for the day.

Tomorrow we leave for Silver Lake, WA, where we shall stay for three days.

VANCOUVER, WA.  Another long drive, complicated by stop-and-go traffic for at least an hour getting around Portland on I-5 and I-205.  We have now been on the road for a month, beginning May 16th.  Made it to Washington state, and it is cool and sunny.  Not nearly so windy as Oregon. 

We arrived around 4:50 pm, and the RV park was already locked for the rest of the weekend.  Closing time supposedly is 5:00 pm.  An envelope with our name on it was clipped to the door of the office, so we knew which site was assigned to us.  It was a short drive from the office, and we were set up quickly, then off grocery shopping at the nearest Albertsons.  The Washington state cherries and blueberries look much nicer than the ones we got in California.  And the service and environment much nicer.  So glad to be here now. 

COOS BAY, OR.  We have been following, first, the California Coastal Scenic Biway or Highway or Freeway, then into Oregon, it has been the Oregon Coastal Scenic Biway, all of which led me to believe it was a state road.  Hence, in prior posts I put CA or OR as a prefix, when actually it was always US101, a federal highway.  I went back and corrected prior posts.

US101 in Oregon is not as hilly or twisting as it was in Northern California, but one must add horrific winds off the ocean in Oregon.  The large trees on the right side of the road at times looked like a twister was scrambling them.  Worst winds of the trip, but the motorhome handled it quite well.  Nice to have a 35,000 pound diesel chassis.  Views of the coast were sometimes magnificent, but mostly it was 1/4 mile of water absorbed into fog farther out.

Oregon Coast Today

The trip today once again was slow due to the nature of the road, making speeds much slower than one has on an interstate highway.  Tomorrow we take US101 up until Route 38 eastward to I-5.  Then it will be all interstate highway.  Never been on I-5 before, but hope it will be an improvement over the last few days along the coast. 

We travel to Vancouver, WA for the weekend.  It will be another long drive, another example of my planning off a map and being unfamiliar with the roads here.  One thing we gained leaving the state of California, besides being surrounded by civil drivers for a change, was good Verison coverage and WIFI.  Very interesting that the state that includes Silicon Valley and the birthplace of so much technical prowess, is so stingy with cell phone coverage and WIFI.  The RV parks there were the only place in the country that parcels out WIFI in megabyte packages, after which you must pay for it.  It is simply included free everywhere else.

TRINIDAD, CA (Day 2).  Today was much cooler and damper, with fog along the beaches which drifted over the hills to higher areas, frustrating our photographic efforts.  We followed the advice of the RV park manager, driving to a "scenic" road to the beach, but turned out to be a one-lane winding and twisting road through redwoods mixed with ferns.  Yes, ferns grow here in abundance, just as they do in Washington state in the northwest area.  We met several vehicles coming head-on, with one of us stopping as close to the edge as possible while the other squeezed by.  Once we got down to the beach, it was foggy and not as nice a beach as we saw yesterday. Eventually we gave up on that area and doubled back, also an interesting drive back on that road.

After that we drove to a place that promised to show us elk grazing in a meadow.  Several hikers were there, and none of them saw an elk.  One couple from England (currently residing in LA) said they saw some earlier in the day in Orick beside the parking area of the government administration building.  We went there and in tall grass saw the small group of elk, mostly covered by the tall grass.  As for this RV park, no sign of an elk today either.

We did not pack a lunch today, hoping to eat out at a place along the way.  Wrong!  The towns all along this route have no gas stations or restaurants open.  Depressed area.  One would think with the tourists coming here business would be good.  We finally got some ice cream at a "market" in Orick, which was a convenience store.  We could not get gas until we reached Klamath.

The highlight of the day was the drive along the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway.  Here we saw more huge redwoods along quiet hiking paths. 

Tomorrow we leave the state of California.  Hurrah!  No more very high prices.  Hopefully no more very rude drivers (more on that later).  We shall continue to drive US101 into Oregon, where it will follow along the coastline.  Hopefully it will not be slow driving as it was in California.

The Best We Saw of Elk

Betty Beside an Unusual Tree

Note All the Ferns Among the Huge Trees

Betty Shoots Photo Inside Tree Hollow

Trail Along the Scenic Highway

Several Trees Grown Into One Another

Self-photo of Us Along the Trail

TRINIDAD, CA.  We are staying at the Elk Country RV Resort well north of Trinidad, but that is their mailing address.  It was a short drive today, but ended with our GPS leading us down the wrong entry road for the RV park.  We needed to go down the next road off US101, but were misdirected onto a very narrow private road, resulting in our unhitching the Jeep and backing the motorhome out the road and turning it around in a small area before re-entry to US101. It all worked out OK, since Betty just followed me in the Jeep as I drove the motorhome to the next road to the north.

This park is known for the herd of Roosevelt elk that supposedly come into the park every day.  As I suspected, now that I am here, there is no sign of a single elk.  We sat at our picnic table outside the motorhome waiting to see something until dark, but nothing.  Maybe tomorrow.

After we arrived here today, at the recommendation of the park manager, we drove to the nearby Dry Lagoon State Park along the Pacific Ocean.  It was a free entry and afforded a long walk on the beach near the dry lagoon.  The sand was like finely ground rocks with an amazing assortment of wild flowers growing all over it.  We continued to a place near a rock peak on the shoreline, then turned back nearer the water where the sand was damp and easier to walk on.  Huge pieces of driftwood and various rocks were everywhere.  We took many photos with our phones, with a few included below.

Wildflowers Along the Path on the Beach

Betty Beside Large Driftwood Photographing Peak

Large Driftwood

Wildflowers Growing on the Beach

More Wildflowers

Had to Steady the Flower in the Wind

Hollowed Log Becomes Planter for Wildflowers

Walked Near Water on Way Back

Betty Had to Get Her Feet Into the Pacific

Warning About Some of the Dangers in That Area

More Warnings

Example of Rocks Along the Beach

This Rock Looks Like Fossilized Wood

Back at the RV Park Swallows Build Nests Everywhere

Historic Schoolhouse Where Elk Gather

Inside Schoolhouse

Old Desks Among Few Items That Remain