We arrived home to a nice, dry, clean Curtsy, everything looked good, nothing had leaked or was blown off with the high winds they had here while we were gone.    We did know though , that we had to replace the hot water heater in the engine room, it had sprung a leak the day before we left, it was 5 years old so that’s not too bad……apparently…….The tank is stainless steel, but the inside is not, it cracked on one of the corners, and the water nicely ran into a bowl, as if it was put there just in case….

Bert installed a new tank, and we are good to go.      Then, on a very , very rainy night, i heard a unfamiliar drip…… sure enough, there was a leak in the main cabin, alongside  one of the vents.    We had trouble there before , but Bert thought he had fixed it.     It leaked hard!!!!!       To this day i think it is a small miracle that it didnt leak while we were gone, not a single drop on the floor!!     (its carpet, so i would know).      While i was gone grocery shopping, Bert took the whole ceiling apart, and the floors, and everything else that was in the way, he then could trace the water as to where it was coming from.      Several tracks run in the area of the leak, so he proceeded to take everything off, clean, and reseal, with caulking.     let me show you what things looked like inside.

What you see here is the deck, Bert took off all the old insulation.

My hard working Ship wright.

This is good, one of the first things i read, once i was back home!!

GIVING :DO THINGS FOR OTHERS.

RELATING:CONNECT WITH PEOPLE

EXERSIZING :TAKE CARE OF YOUR BODY

APPRECIATING :NOTICE THE WORLD AROUND YOU

TRYING OUT : KEEP LEARNING NEW THINGS

DIRECTION :HAVE GOALS TO LOOK FORWARD TO.

RESILIENCE : FIND WAYS TO BOUNCE BACK.

EMOTION :TAKE A POSITIVE APPROACH

ACCEPTANCE : BE COMFORTABLE WITH WHO YOU ARE.

MEANING :BE PART OF SOMETHING BIGGER.

by DR. Mercola.

The battery ran out,in my camera…..yes, i have a charger, no, i didnt think i had brought it with me, because usually the battery is good for well over a month, not counting using the telephoto lens, which uses a motor, which uses a huge amount of power, and, well, yes, later on i did find the charger,but not till i was home, well tucked away in the Westy, lovely!!!     Even in such a small RV, things are still hard to find!!!!

So, just a bit of writing now then, we headed to the 101, and found that they had lots of problems here too, because of the severe rain, sink holes!!     In some places, the highway kind of disappeared, i think for almost 4 or more feet, so we drove through lots of D-tours.In Brookings, Oregon, we found a very nice RV place, clean, with excellent laundry facility, plus the lady at the desk, after looking outside as to what we were driving, had great pity for us and put us in a lovely , private spot, she could not possibly imagine, anyone person or two, sleeping in such a little RV, and i cooked in there too you say???   she said with total horror on her face!!!!     Too funny, but most Americans drive in huge motor homes, and take everything with them from home that they might possibly need…..

On monday , Feb.8, we stayed in Bruce Port County park, we even found it in the dark!!!We were surrounded by huge Sitkas, definitely coming back here.    We then headed to Port Townsend, just love that town, with its beautiful , old waterfront, and harbors full of wooden ships. We camped right in down town, at the water, expensive but fun!    Then, the next day, homeward bound, to the Peace Arch and the Tsawwassen ferry to Schwarz bay.

So far we drove 6722 km, the speedometer showed 192646km

It was quite the trip, we thank you , Roel and Ineke , we had tons of fun with you two!!! we thank you Americans and Mexicans, we found everyone courteous, and helpful, we never did see one accident, really amazing i think, as soon as we were on the road on the island, we were rudely cutoff by another driver, so figure!!!    Home again!!!!!

Close to Willow creek, we arrived at the Six rivers lookout, the road winds around the rock cliffs while the Trinity disappears down below, at one point, we pulled over and saw , way down below, these beautiful rivers, six of them, all coming together, they are the EEL RIVER, the VAN DUZEN RIVER, the KLAMATH RIVER ,the TRINITY RIVER ,the MAD RIVER and the SMITH RIVER.  The national forest is truly beautiful, it contains over one million acres, and over 137.000 acres of old growth forest.     Needless to say, this area draws a lot of people, camping, fishing hiking, and white water rafting are among the attractions here.  I can see why…..The old growth forests include Coast Douglas Fir, Tanoak,Pacific Madrone and White Fir.

Looking down at the Trinity river.

This river is truly gorgeous, we saw several nice, deep spots for trout to hide in, the floodplain showed signs of lots of water, from the immense rains that fell here, hawks were sitting in the pines , waiting for an opportunity.      Did we ever sleep well, all this forest air, the soft gurgle of the river, aaahhhhhh………

Spring is on the way, little green sprouts showing themselves!!!!

All along route 299 ,following the river , are government camp sites, most of them down below the road, they seem to be used mostly by fishermen, but for now, all of them were empty!!!    We stopped at Shasta-Trinity , Cedar Flats, a nice and private spot, with lots of greenery and very tall Ponderosa Pine.     A lot of these pines were cut down, and upon inspection, i noticed that the stem roots were totally rotten, these are the main root, basically holding the tree up.      It could be root rot, a disease that has hit B.C. in the past also, we didnt see any sign of  the pine beetle.      The quiet was so lovely, we could hear the river, and some birds, the air smelled of fresh water and greens, a soft breeze was stirring the trees, this was wonderful!!      We loved the desert also, but i dont think i could do without the forests!!!

Bert set up the camp, i cooked dinner, we have a propane heater for in the Westy, there was no power hookup in the campsite, and it was going to be a cold night, Bert rigged up a special holder for the heater, in between the two front seats, so it could not fall, and if it ever did, it would shut off immediately, a nice safety feature!!!

Our little propane heater.

The very best camp spot.

I just lost four posts, due to some very strange things going on with my blog, i am not too happy with the new settings, especially since i surely didn’t ask for them.  I pay for my blog so should be able to work on it the way i see fit.

After a restful night in Williams, we headed towards Redding, bought groceries there and gas, and started towards the coast on route 299.     They have had a lot of flooding here, and for  a long time, the road had been closed, we were warned that there could be up to 15 minutes waiting time, but with the engine shut off, listening to the rapids of the Trinity river ,which the road follows , almost all the way to the ocean, we relaxed and had some snacks.     The road was being reconstructed and rebuilt on the sides, huge chunks of earth had broken loose, and thundered all the way down to the river.   It sure looked like it had been a huge mess, here and there they are taking out  very sharp turns, and rebuilding the very high shoulders.

Route 299, whole chunks of hillside were washed away.

I took these while driving past, sorry about the bit of blur…..