BC Canada to Oklahoma Day 1 & 2

Day 1

Well, this trip has been long awaited and I was exhausted from all of the preparation that had to take place before we starte out on this longggggg road trip. Since our condo is currently on the market for sale, we had to be sure that the house was still ready for showings while we were away. Which meant three long weeks of packing and planning before we even left! Chris was happy about the trip and enjoying it before we even we even started! ha   Needless to say, I was simply exhausted when we finally did pull out at 5:45 and head to McDonald's drive through.





We finally, after a small breakfast....made our way to the border which was 1 1/2 hours from our house.  We decided to use the "Peace Arch" crossing this time and were glad we did.  The border guard looked at us and said "you guys are good"....so we just flew right through the border.   

I was glad to be back in my own country for a while........even though things are quite messy here right now.  Sorry about blurr....:-(

 by the time we had gone for a few hours, that 4:30am wake up started wearing on both of us as we did not get to bed until after 1:00am!  Poor Christo!  He was driving with his eyes closed and I was praying that mine didn't close as well!

Hey, Somebody had to keep their eyes open and look fabulous! Might as well be me.....haha.  By the way, all that stuff behind me.....well, I had to have "some" creature comforts....haha....

 We got to the first rest stop in Custer, Washington just across the border and used that time to check on "Maj" and "Ms Vickey"........:-).  Seemed like they were tired too as they were leaning a bit!  We got that straighted out before going further.....

 tires.....check.  yellow and orange tie down straps....check.  wheel bearings.....check.  Good to go!

We stopped at a place called "North Bend, Washington" and had some lunch.  Clam chowder and a mushroom/swiss burger seemed to be a good idea.  We were starving!  AND...it gave us a chance to test out our new phones that we had just gotten the day before.  Talk about  a learning curve!

The burger was so big we decided to split it....I mean after all, we were going to be sitting for over a week!  Who needed a whole burger!  hahah

I didn't want "Ms Vickey" to feel abandoned, so I took pic with her and "Maj"...She was already a little embarrased that she didn't have a "bra" on since we took her and "Maj's" windshields off to help with the wind drafts that would hit them.  So, she was pretty happy to see me....:-).

This is Keechelus Lake at the Snowqualmie Pass.....but it was very cloudy as there had been several fires in the area. You cannot even see the sky for the smog.  It was like this for several miles and the air was thick with the smell of burning pine trees.....

I was glad to see this truck stop called "Price Creek" rest areaas I was in need of a serious potty break!!!

After having lost about 5 pounds between the two of us in the rest room, we were "relieved" and ready to keep moving!  haha...Thank God for weight loss!



And then the air started getting thicker as we got close to where the fires had been.  But you still couldn't see anything as of yet.  I thought the landscape was unusual as it looked like someone had draped these slopes with a camel color velveteen fabric.

This was a lake you could barely see because of the smog just south of Yakima.....

More velveteen covered hill......:-).  Wish it wasn't so smoggy....:-(.  The picture doesn't do the beauty any justice.  But it got old after several hours of ......welll...."nothingness"!

I mean miles and miles of GEN-U-WINE ....nothing!  One could get road hypnosis real quick out there! 

We finally made it to Kennewick, Washington....the smog was still thick and was really bothering both of us....at one point, I put my blouse over my nose just to filter some of the air...it was coming through the vent system of the car!....sheesh! You can see how hazy the sky is in this picture.
 

After 12 hours on the road, we were hungry again and decided to get dinner before going to a hotel.  This sounded like a plan.....:-)

Poor Christo was tired, but the tought of some chow seemed to give him some "renewed" strength....haha... Notice the eager look on his face?  ha

I was in desparate need of some protein and decided to get some fried chicken, the shrimp and noodle something that I should have left on the food bar and some green beans that weren't terrible, but not that great either....but hey.....it's dinner and I was hungry. Now, the dressing on the other hand was a slam dunk!

After dinner we checked into the Quality Inn and crashed for the night!  What a long day it had proven to be!  We covered the bikes before we went in and made sure we parked where the security camera was pointed at the parking space.

Day 2

As you can see, the sun is barely up and we are rolling again.  First stop, the post office to mail a package and then we're off again.

And what to my wondering eyes should appear? 

Yes, it is a donut shop that Chris visited with his parents in 1962!  They make their donuts out of potatoe flour.....:-).  Now, we're in trouble!!

A master at work.......:-).

 Chris was filling the lady in on his last visit......:-)

the sky was turning "pink"......:-)

and the sun was still trying to break through the smog........wow.....I just discovered that my camera lense was dirty and I had nothing to clean it with.......:-(.  Sorry 

We decided to take a short detour and visit the locks and see if we could spot any big ships coming through.....  NOPE......not a one.  Just a few little boats fishing.

But we did see these just above us where we were parked.....they are Basalt cliffs.  Basalt is the kind of rock that these are and they are used for retaining embankments along the highways and for road construction in some places......(Christo told me that).....:-). 

You can't really see the tiny boats in the water, but they were there...

We decided that we had lost enough time between potatoe donut stops and this so we started across the bridge......

I've always liked bridges as they speak to me of "transition"........:-)

and then.......BOOM!  We had made it to Idaho!  Home of the famous potatoe...ha



Christo celebrated out progress by devouring one of his donuts! hahah 

We drove for hours and saw a lot of NOTHING......I could not believe how much uninhabited land there is ..........then we started see some water.......this is the "Snake River"..........

Then it was time for lunch.......I'm getting worried about this fast food habit.  But there is no room in the car for anything else.  We have a small cooler for water and milk to make our own coffee in the mornings......Anyw, we ended up here for lunch, but ate in the car.

 

It wasn't a large lunch.....just a couple of egg rolls and some water....ha

After 10 hours of driving, it was time to call it a day..  We stopped at a Walmart super store and picked up a couple of things to heat in the microwave and came back to this hotel that we spotted on the way in.....this looked like a good idea...ha.  I am road weary and could use an egg-cellent breakfast in the morning! 

  

We got checked in and was glad to have a nice place to sleep again.......4:30am comes early!

Chris started checking mail on his new phone and started heating up dinner......



I wrote my "drive report" and headed for bed!  Good night.....

Dinner and a "Slight" Night Ride....

After spending the day with computer issues, packing, and a measurable amount of "putting out fires"...I needed to get out of the house and was glad we had an invitation to join up with some folks that we love very much......Since I had not been on "Ms Vickey" in a few days, I was feeling like I should take her out at least one or two more times before confining her to a trailer for 6 days of travel......So, we headed out on our bikes to see our friends...:-)

After Scootard got the bikes uncovered, we discovered that the street cats had been sleeping under our cover again.  I guess even "homeless cats" like to have some protection from sun during the day and cold during the nights.....

 For some reason, they like to accummulate "stuff" on MY seat....I mean what are they doing, carrying this stuff on their paws??? 

After tending to that, we got on our way.  The ride was nice as the wind was not howling like it often does in the afternoon.  But, it did feel a bit shakey to me as I had not been on in a few days. I felt just a bit stressed as I don't ride every day like some..

We made it to the home of our host and then it hit me........I'M ALIVE!!!  hahah  That wasn't so bad after a three week "sit out".  whoo hooo!!

 We had a great dinner of prime rib, mashed potatoes, and carrots with dill......yum....Do you know what was left on my plate.....?

NADA!  NOTHING! ZIPPO!

 

Sooooo, I forgot to take a pic of that award winning meal..., but you get the drift, right? 

We pealed ourselves away from the table and retired to the living room where we would be keeping company with this guy...... 

yep....  "Bullwinkle"!......How'd you like to wear that on your head all day??  Interesting fellow even though he didn't add much to our conversation.....just not as sociable as the rest of us I guess....

after a superb dinner and some very good conversation, we decided to head home as we were losing light.......The trip was pleasant and quiet...(ear plugs help, trust me!), and the sun was setting fast!  We made it just before complete sunset. Scootard started locking the bikes together again as is his habit.

I started putting my stuff away....you know us girls seem to always have "stuff" no matter how we are traveling....

I mean once the sun slipps behind the moutains, it can get dark in an instant!  So, I was trying to hurry as we have lots of tree roots to avoid on the path the leads to our home...

See what I mean?!  Holy Moly!  Can't see nothing but my reflective strips...

Well, home again and looking forward to the next trip with "Ms Vickey" and Scootard as my "experienced chaperone"....:-)  Thanks, honey....:-)

Hubby in the Kitchen......:-)

Today started out very early again.  I'm not smiling when I say that because very early means 4:00 or so.  The birds aren't even stirring yet!  So, sometimes when I am awake that early, I feel like I am going "nowhere" while waiting for everyone else in my part of the world to wake up!

After praying about everything I could think of I decided there was a lot to do in regard to our trip south. So I should get up and continue doing it.  It's been a very busy week trying to get things in order with our home and ministry before we leave.Which means I still had a lot of packing to do! I started early..... I mean like.... the other day! ha

  

Well, enough of that foolishness half the day!  Time for a break.  A cup of "joe" of my favorite coffe sounded like a plan to me.

It was then to my utter amazement that I heard a strange sound in the kitchen.  What to my wondering eyes did appear?  It was Scootard, reved up about some chicken macaroni and chees casserole......hummmm.  Now, THIS could get dangerous!   

 There he was; cutting, steaming, chopping.......meanwhile, I was grabbing pieces of cheese....  you know; to "tide me over" until the materpiece emerged....:-)

ok,  I can feel this....sauteed onions and mushrooms....

Bechamel sauce with some roasted peppers and garlic.......hummm.  okie dokie...

The chicken had been roasting away in the oven and now was ready for the cutting board...Dinner was starting to look interesting.....you know, with me being a professional cook/chef at one time in my life....  The broccoli was going to be a good addition for balance.....ok, so far so good....:-)

And then he started added things together........

  Now, I should have taken pictures of the layering process that Scootard went through, salivating all the way through to the end.  But I decided to spare him that candid shot...haha.  At the end of about 35-40 minutes.......his casserole emmerged....

Now, had I been in the kitchen when he added the broccoli, I would have told him that unless he "immersed" them in the sauce, they would come out like tiny trees that had been set on fire at one time.  However, the broccoli survived and dinner was quite tasty......

Thank you, honey....:-).  I'm waiting for the next adventure!

Farewell to Switzerland!

This morning we decided to be up early to catch our last pics of our Swiss guest...:-).  We had a cup of coffee and talked about our respective plans for the day....

It was time for Marc to meet his taxi who would take him to his next destination.  It was very strange to me as the people who have come so far have been young.  So, it feels like I am watching my "kids" go off on these extreme adventures! ha.....I know...it's strange.

He was very appreciative of our hospitality and thanked us for everything.  He took our picture as well the evening before....:-).

You are welcome, Marc.....:-)

We hope his mountaineering experience is all that he expects it to be......:-)

We wished him a safe journey!

Now we start planning our own couch surfing experiences for our upcoming trip!

Cedar Plank Salmon and Swiss Couch Surfer Day 2

It proved to be a VERY WINDY DAY....and of course, we braved the elements and headed out to our Sunday service across town.  Marc and left almost 2 hours before us for his mountaineering classes.  So, we knew we had most of the day free until about dinner time.  This is the view from the house where we had our service.

 After service, we had the best cedar plank salmon I had ever eaten.  The fish was pretty large and had been caught by our host on a recent fishing trip.

 This is my plate with seasoned mushroom rice, garlic bread and broccoli....and peach soda type drink.  I think it was an "all natural" thingee....:-).  Pretty good!

 Tasted pretty peachy too....:-)

 We sat out on the deck for a while knowing that we had a few hours still before Marc would be done with his classes and we needed to be back home.

 Then we decided to drop our bikes at home and make a run for the beach complete with a picnic that didn't have any food...ha.  We were too full from lunch!

I love the water and didn't grow up around beaches.  So, going to one is alway special to me.  The challenge for me with this one is that it is littered with wood chips and splinters from the logging that goes on....:-(.  But, this is kinda all you've got here.   

We finally went home as the wind was about to carry us into the next province! And Marc joined us an hour later having had a full day of mountaineer training!  Did I mention that in Switzerland, he is a ski and snowboard instructor?  And that one of his adventures including a 2700kilometer ........(wait for it)............WALK to Spain from his home in Switzlerland!?   

So, with all of this adventure going on in his life, we figured the guy had to be hungry!  Baked chicken, potatoe salad and greek salad was a quick pick from the store....and we hate......twice!

 yep........ha.  did I mention the French Press coffee and lemon poppyseed muffins for desert? 

 Then after rolling ourselves into the living room, we talked more about travel, watched a few documentaries and looked at pictures from Marc's 2700 kilometer pilgrimage....Wow.  What a journey!

Marc is showing us some of the roads that he walked which is called the Northern route to Santiago De Compostela and Finisterre, Spain.

I was glad that I had asked him to sign our guest book the night before as shortly after the pics from the pilgrimage and a little bit of a movie, our guest retired to his room for the evening.....very grateful for the hospitality.  He will be leaving early in the moring to continue his adventure in Canada before returning home to Switzerland.  We are glad to have met him....:-).