Changes in lattitude, same attitude! On the road south!

Changes in the weather were on the way.  Most of the trees had lost their leaves and were looking a little bare.  Temperatures overnight were starting to drop below the freezing mark on occasion.

 

Then, there was some snow!  Being from Yuma, Bailey has not really seen snow before, and he was not impressed! 

 

 

He immediately gathered up all his toys and started to pack them to the camper! 

The (summer) truck camper was off the truck, battery removed, and winterized.  The (winter) 5th wheel camper was still winterized since arriving home in the spring.  No doubt we could have stayed around a bit longer, but with the hot tub drained and winterized, and my annual visit to the rink to shoot a few pucks taken care of, there was no reason to delay any longer.  A couple years ago we pushed the limit, and ended up driving in freezing rain, with snow and slush on the shoulders.  No reason for a repeat of that!

Everyone assume their travel positions!

We overnighted and had a good visit with friends in the Cranbrook area for the first night.  With nice weather hanging in there, we used the local visitor center rv dump to water up the rig before they turned off the water for the winter, then headed for the border.  Despite all the rumours to the contrary, crossing was quick and painless as always (knock on wood).

 

We made good time with good traveling conditions, and spent the next night on the banks of the Columbia River looking over into Oregon from the Washington side.  Had some brutal headwinds for the last few miles.

As usual, the Columbia Gorge did not disappoint.  Cruising through Portland, we saw no tanks, no uniforms, no crime, no riots, no arrests, no immigrants, just the usual traffic - which thankfully was on the light side.

Tillamook was a different situation.  There were wall to wall people on the sidewalks on both sides of the road, all waving signs, smiling and waving at passing traffic!  What a friendly bunch ;-)

Next stop was at Cape Meares, with a walk out to what must be about the shortest lighthouse on the coast.  Last year, Bailey came along for the walk, this year he decided to stay and keep an eye on the rig.  We started to spend the night up on a high, windswept hill parking lot with a great ocean view.  But the winds were approaching hurricane force, and the heavy rain was coming at us horizontally, trying to sneak in the closed vents.  About midnight, it was evident that sleep there was not going to be an option (perhaps sea sickness from all the rocking), so we pulled out.  Easier said than done, however.  Fog was so thick that even finding our way out of the parking lot was a bit iffy.  We found a nice calm roadside spot down below in the heavy timber for the rest of the night. 

 We bummed along down the coast the next few days, stopping where we could to enjoy the views.

Bailey kept a close watch out the windows for gulls, seals, or other shore life.

We had quite a few rainy days on the coast with little sun, but as luck would have it, we left the coast just when the sun returned.  We blasted across northern California, with an overnight stop at Cowboy Camp, a free BLM camp spot, oriented towards horse users.  It's a cell service free area, so I got to test the new Starlink 'unlimited data at snails pace' for $7/month.  Found that it worked just fine for emails, weather, etc, and even a few videos with occasional buffering!

Hope to spend a few days soaking in the various hot springs in the eastern sierras, as long as the nice weather continues.