Made it to Berkeley, California

Harry is standing in the kitchen talking politics with Helen and Sam. It's great to be here in the Bay Area. There are oranges and lemons hanging off the trees, camelias and roses blooming in the yards. What a change from the snow and -12F in Yreka this morning! This afternoon I took off my long underwear (which I bought at Wal-Mart four days ago). We're thinking from here on it it's going to get warmer. We'll stay here tonight and tomorrow and then head over to Beaumont to visit Corinne, our friend from flyball. The dogs are looking forward to having more time to play ball and less time sitting in the motor home.

Over the Siskiyou Pass

No snow overnight and the temperature was rising so we headed south to the Oregon/California border. The big hurdle there is the Siskiyou pass at 4,300 feet. The snow levels were around 2,000 but we decided to go for it. Highway alerts warned that we would need chains to get over this pass and at Medford we saw all the trucks chaining up. So we stopped at Ashland and bought chains and put them on. The road was bare and the temperature was above freezing as we started up—slowly as you can't drive more than 25 mph with chains on. By the time we reached the summit it was clear that there wouldn't be any snow, so we pulled over and took them off. We just squeaked through though because by the time we got to Yreka in California the next snowstorm was coming through. By sheer luck we ran into Lorne and Anne here and found that they had done the same thing. Like good law-abiding Canadians we both bought chains, as did two other BC cars.

Tuesday night we stayed in the Yreka Wal-Mart parking lot in another snow storm. It was a busy, noisy night as the the truckers use this place to pull off the highway and catch an hour or so of sleep. We happened to park very near the entrance so the entire night was filled with trucks backing up and pulling in an out. We woke up to about four inches of snow on the ground and icicles hanging off the front of Mohita's overhang. Here's Mohita in the parking lot with the big boys.

Our goal was to get below the snow line before the next storm swept in, so we headed off over the next mountain pass at Mount Shasta (beautiful with snow covered trees) and made it here to Red Bluff. It looks and feels more the California we had in mind. We're sitting in a little Mexican restaurant, Las Palomas, having lunch and enjoying the sounds of mariachi music and the sound of Spanish, and planning the next leg of our journey—into San Francisco to see our friends Helen and Sam and their dog Addie. We'll keep you posted.

Still in Oregon

This morning the radio said not to travel unless you had to so we and our travelling companions decided to stay put. The day warmed up and the snow began to melt and the main roads were clear by the afternoon. However another snow storm is forecast for tonight. Tomorrow we'll see if we can at least make it a bit further south. The real problem is going over the pass into California. When there's precipitation this time of year it comes as snow and road conditions become dicey. It looks like rain and snow are in the works for the next five or six (!) days. Arrgh. Here's hoping that we'll find a window to sneak through.

Snowed In

We're just hanging out at this lovely place enjoying the snow, visiting with Lorne and Annie and playing with the dogs. It's a relief to be off the road and we'll just wait until it melts--they're saying it may be a day or so. The dogs are having a great time and so are we. It's not what we had envisioned but it's a pretty good spot to be doing some winter camping. Like the old saying from The People's Guide to Mexico goes, "Wherever you go, there you are." Eventually we'll get out of the snow and head further south.

Walmart Camping

Friday afternoon we got Mohita aboard the ferry to Port Angeles, along with our experienced traveling friends Lorne and Annie in their van. Once in the US, they introduced us to an American RV institution that we hadn't known about: Walmart camping.

Apparently Walmart welcomes RVs to park overnight in their lot and allows campers to use their washrooms. Many people who are on the road do this rather than paying for facilities that they won't use at an RV park. So we stocked up on food at Safeway and camped at Walmart. We enjoyed a nice steak dinner complete with a bottle of $6 Fetzer merlot. Our feast was by candlelight since we hadn't driven enough miles to charge the RV battery for lights.

Saturday we headed south to another Walmart in Springfield Oregon. Our plan was to ry to outrun the snow predicted for the northwest. But surprise, we woke up this morning to snow all over the ground. We've just finished moving both our vehicles to a nice RV park a few miles north and our plan is to wait it out. The dogs are happy--they love the snow. Heading out for a walk and a play. I'll post a few pictures in a while.

Joanna

Packing Up

Today we're packing and stowing things in the motor home. Our timetable has been pushed ahead by one day since all the reservations on Friday's Coho to Port Angeles were booked. To ensure that we can get on the boat we'll be parking at the terminal on Thursday afternoon. If all goes well, we'll leave at 4:00 pm Friday. So today it's last minute fixes and final decisions about what to bring. As usual, there are a few glitches--like cupboard door catches that break but we're ironing them out. Harry built some bookcases to stow all our reading and reference material. The trick will be to find places for everything we want to bring. We'll see if at the last minute we'll be scrambling to pull stuff out that won't fit.

Details, details

Mexican insurance, passports, e-mail addresses, duplicates of documentation, arrangements for bills to be paid while we're away, immunizations and medical insurance for us--and for the dogs a certificate of health signed by the "government vet" plus probably more. What a lot of paper work! I'm sure it will be worth it though. Tomorrow Kylen (who will be house-sitting and taking care of our cat) comes for a briefing and then we'll start packing up Mohita. We're meeting with Lorne and Anne next week to get the lowdown from them. They spent last winter in Mexico in their shiny new RV...ours looks more like an aging gypsy caravan.

Getting the Dogs Ready

Amazing the amount of details needed to attend to before we leave our house and cat for two or more months. We're gradually getting things done. The dogs are totally up for this trip--in fact they're wondering what's holding us up. The thing is, it seems they need some vaccines and a health certificate from the vet before we leave. The internet gives me a few variations but it looks like they'll need to have been vaccinated for Hepatitis, PIP and Leptospirosis--in addition to the usual Rabies and Distemper. So, it's off to the vet next week so we can get the paperwork completed. The dogs will just love being with us day and night for the next two or more months. Do these two look like they're ready to go? That's Maggie on the left and Geordie on the right.

Getting Ready

Less than three weeks to the 25th--the date we've chosen to start our travels with Mohita.

We're setting this blog up for friends and family who might want to know what we're doing on our motor home adventure. The 22 foot motor home was originally a rolling clubhouse for our flyball team and it spent many weekends traveling to tournaments with as many as 9 dogs and 6 people. Last year Harry and I bought out the rest of the team and we plan to head south with our border collies, Geordie and Maggie, to visit friends and former students in Mexico and explore that fascinating country.

The flyball group called the motor home the "moho" but we decided to put a Spanish twist on it and have rechristened her "Mohita." She's just a little thing, although a tad wide in the rear! Roomy enough for us we think. We've now set a departure date of January 25th, which gives us less than three weeks to get ready. There are more details than I ever imagined to getting away from our regular life for two or three months. But I'm sure we'll manage it. This photo shows Mohita in the snow at Abbotsford on December 1st where we were at our last flyball tournament. Since then we've installed a backup camera, made curtains and pillows and stocked her with some cooking utensils and camping books. Starting to get excited.