Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Home Again!

You betcha!  We drove up to our home at 4:00 pm sharp, yesterday afternoon.  It was a 6.5 hour drive from Salem, Oregon - through the Canada Border - and to our front driveway.
Leaving Red Bluff / Redding area of northern California - Sunday morning.
We were on the road from Durango RV Resort by 8:30 am, Sunday.  Weather was great and the passes in California and Oregon were forecast as clear.  Off we drove.
Shasta Lake - Northern California
The Siskiyou and Grants Passes were not overly busy - traffic wise - and it was smooth sailing.  The roads were bare with some wet spots along the way.  No snow is always good news in this area.
Clouds were forming......
......and we drove through some of this.
We opted to pull in to the truck stop @ the 7 Feathers - Canyonville, Oregon - area for fuel.  This is also the favoured RV resort for us BCites when heading south for our winter sojourns.  The RV area is situated in the hills above and rates 5 stars.
Large truck stop at 7 Feathers, Oregon
Within three hours, we had arrived at our Sunday night RV spot in Salem, Oregon.  We favour this place because of the long pull through sites, offering wide spaces and with good facilities.
Long and wide pull through sites.
This RV park is owned and managed by a local Indian band.  Although the office is never open when we arrive, a sign in the window directs us to open sites and we settle the bill before leaving the next morning.
Our primary goal, before leaving for the final day of driving for home, is to flush and sanitize our black, and two grey water tanks.  To have full services makes the job easier.  When we get home, about six hours later, we don't have the tanks to worry about. 
A lovely resort that mainly caters to long term full time RVers.
With our tanks clean and our bill settled, Jeanette and I were on the road by  9:30 am. With rush hour done, we sailed through Portland with ease.  Although the traffic was heavy (and always is) we moved through I-5 with ease.
Portland, Oregon.
 Traffic on I-5 north was steady.  Although rain was in the forecast, we only had a few spots that required the windshield wipers.

Approaching Seattle, WA.
It was just a bit before 2:00 pm when we drove through Seattle.  We plan our drives to avoid the morning and afternoon rush hours.  Seattle is a complete zoo of stops and starts, during rush hours, on the I-5.  Driving through, when we did, was seamless.  We rolled right through this intense highway zone. 
When Seattleites are working, we're driving through!
Soon to climb the final hills before driving through the city of Bellingham, WA.
From Bellingham to our home - excluding the Canadian border - is an approximate 20 - 25 minute drive.  That too was seamless and, before long, we were at the small Linden/Aldergrove border crossing.  With only two cars ahead, in our lane, and only three questions asked by the border security agent, we drove off for the five minutes required to arrive at our home.
Little traffic and within minutes, we had crossed back into British Columbia.
I didn't make this up....but the sign says it all!
Jeanette took the photo below as we pulled up to our home.  Away since December 29th, 2012,  the house was as we left it.  Our home sitters took great care of it.  That was much appreciated!
Our arrival @ 4:00 pm sharp - Monday
A special note from the house sitter along with lots of mail to sort through.
Our grandson, Easton, and his mom, left this nice chocolate design on our bed, with a little welcome back note.  Cute!!!!!
We busied ourselves with removing some items from the fridge,  unloading the motorcycle, removing the swivel wheel, and a few other items, before we headed to Ginette, Trevor and Easton's home - about 15 minutes from us - for dinner and that important visit with Easton.....oh...and his mom and dad too!  LOL
Oh what fun to see the little fella again!  We sure missed him, after his visit to Gold Canyon, AZ, this past February.....oh, and his parents too.....!
Easton spent a lot of time in the arms of his Nana.
The coming days will be busy ones.  But first, we'll focus on moving stuff from the fiver to the house and, after backing it up in the driveway,  spending some time cleaning and detailing the outside and inside, completing a few minor maintenance things and readying to store it.  It does have to visit a local RV repair facility to fix the damage that was caused by the severe tire blow out we faced last January when in southern California. 

It's sad to be off the road....but it is equally great to be back in our home.

Thanks for dropping by.

9 comments:

  1. We're glad you had a safe trip. Welcome back to the sunshine! (at least it's sunny here in the Okanagan)

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  2. Home is always a good place to be. Where do you live that is only 25 minutes from a US border crossing?

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  3. Welcome home...there is certainly no place like it!

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  4. Welcome home to you both!!!
    The snowbird season went by so quickly!!!

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  5. You have a beautiful home to return to. Welcome home !!!

    Glad you got your Easton fix !!

    We can't see our little ones until this coming weekend. Can hardly wait.

    Take care ... TnT

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  6. Glad to see you made it home safely - into the loving arms of your Grandson, Easton!!

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  7. Looked like you had a good arrival home, especially having the first nights dinner with the kid's, and Easton. One thing I hate after being gone for a while is the stacks of mail that await opening and sorting. Sure, a nice welcoming surprise to have on the bed!

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  8. Chalk up another winter of travel! Nice to see Easton again, I am sure...

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