OUR EPIC JOURNEY from FINLAND to ALASKA has startedy...

[Spinner1]

Then came the oil change....Good thing too as the guy discovered the little leak on the water pump.... Oil change done at the local Quick Lube...

There too, the men were wonderful. One got on the phone with the Chevy dealer and inquired about the pump and the price. ( I had bought an extended warranty on the Avalanche, but it did not cover this)...$480....total.....

Another Gent, looked up the phone number to a mechanic he trusted. The price was very reasonable...$115 for the pump (new one) and $50 to put it on......

I felt very good about having gone and had the oil change after 2500 miles of driving instead of 3000 miles.... a fortune in misfortune...

....

I drove the three miles to the "trusted" mechanic and checked him out, His name was Mark Brown. He was up-tone and I liked him right off the bat. Made an appointment for the first thing in the morning and I was there a bit early at 08:40...

Here is Mark working on the truck....

Meanwhile, back at the Coachman....

 

[Spinner1]

Going to also take you back to the Mammoth Caves, as here are some interesting pictures from there. Maybe you haven't been there and would like to see them...

Here was the entrance to the cave...

The first part of the cave took us to a "cavern" where people mined Salt Petre...
The path was leveled and tiled for the first quarter of a mile as you see...

This sign tells you about the mining operation...

This was the mining operation place...

 

[Spinner1]

From there we continued and came to a place where people in the old times, wrote their name on the ceiling with a candle...
You can see, some of the names came from mid 1800's....

Here is the "bottomless" pit..... it was waaayyy down there...

 

[Spinner1]

Sorry about the back tracking....but here are some more interesting pictures....

On the way to Memphis...Incredible place...

Mississippi river... Unbelievably wide.

Some beautiful houses by the river...

Memphis - Elvis....

After Memphis...

 

[Spinner1]

OK, back to after Virginia City....

Next stop was to visit old, dear friends, Roger and Mary in NE corner of California.

Here is a couple of Mary's Arabians and her cat with Cass...

Mary does 50 mile endurance rides. This horse is the one she has won races with.... Beautiful animal, don't you think?

 

[LMT66]

Very interesting photo's and I'm always checking for more.
I find the "meanwhile, back in the Coachman" photo's very funny! Ah the life of a cat!

 

[Spinner1]

Very interesting photo's and I'm always checking for more.
I find the "meanwhile, back in the Coachman" photo's very funny! Ah the life of a cat!

Thanks. I'll try to post some more tonight. The trip was great for us and hopefully it will remain as a special daughter-mother trip in Cass's memory.

AL-CAN highway ahead.

 

[Spinner1]

Nice old relic...

We left NE California and went through Klamath Falls and Bend Oregon as we headed toward Canadian border.

Here are some of the things we saw... Sorry, they are not necessarily in order.

We got into a hail storm.... This was in Oregon.

The horizontal lines are from dynamite!?

They look like GIANT Tonka equipment.

 

[Spinner1]

What a street name.....

.

 

[Spinner1]

Talk about shoes....


I tried to make the picture smaller...didn't turn out right, but I'll post it for you anyway.

 

[Spinner1]

This sign made us chuckle...

a synagogue...

In Washington we stopped in Omak for the night. This was the first time we parked at a WalMart parking lot.
The night was balmy and moon was high.

I snapped this picture as I walked over to meet and greet a Canadian couple we saw in the parking lot.

Before parking, I drove around the back part of the parking lot, scoping out a good, level parking spot in a quiet area.
As I did this, we saw a couple from Canada parked kind of behind us. This is their rig.

They had a nice truck and a trailer. The way they were enjoying their evening in the Wal*Mart parking lot
brought on a happy chuckle to us...

They live about 30 miles from the border and had came to Washington to go camping by the river for about a week.
They were going there the next day.

He had just started to get a bit familiar with a computer and was taking a "seniors" computer class.

They were nice and friendly.

I asked if I could post their photo on our thread, they said "yes" with a smile.

I loved the lawn chairs in the parking lot....LOL.....

 

[Spinner1]

The next morning I went to the bank and got some Canadian money. The people in the Wells Fargo were nice and helpful.
The Omak experience was nice.

We headed to Oroville and which was going to be our last staying point in the USA before heading to Canada.

We found a nice camping place on a river and had a little R&R.

This was our spot...

We were not supposed to have any neighbors as the people who had a camper two spaces down, were away and
not expected back that night.

They came to their camper that evening and friendly as I am, I said hello and started a conversation.
They were really nice people so I invited them to join us by our fire and have a cocktail.

They came and we spent better part of the evening talking, laughing and having a good time.

Here they are; Andy and Melissa...

They love to fish and had rods and reels by the dozen. Even a few above their bed as you see.

Melissa and Andy live near Seattle and had driven five hours to get back to their camper by the river.
They park the camper there for a couple of months during the summer and come as often as they can.

They had bought a old apple orchard near by and were getting ready to convert it to their liking so
this was a nice and convenient place to be...besides there were many good places to fish....

Very enjoyable evening spent with nice company.



Next morning.

Ooh...and that cute little lap dog was just that...a lap dog... She loved the closeness of Melissa...
She was always either on her lap or in very close proximity...

 

[Spinner1]

The next day we crossed the border at about one PM. I was asked the routine questions and when I mentioned having the firearms,
it became the main focus and nothing else was asked about.

It all went well. I told them, the firearms were still in an unopened gun case, under the sealed tape of the US Customs
from their arrival to New York.

We were told to go to the side and take our papers inside the customs building. I mentioned that we had a cat,
but there was no interest on it at this point.

They run a background check on me and gave me a sixty day Canadian-registration for the firearms and we continued on our journey.

.

The first part of the trip in British Colombia was through wine country.

There were wine yards and wineries by the dozens if not hundreds. I have never seen so many wineries.

I loved seeing the barrels. I think they look so nice...

A little coffee place by the road...

Nice stone house...

Getting to the peach growing country...

 

[Spinner1]

A biker decked out differently...

Check out his mirrors, even their shape matches his image....

It's nice to see real art on a building... This painting had a lot of detail..

That night we looked for a campground with WI-FI and found this nice place to stay. It was Clinton Pines.

The firewood was free, showers were clean and the place was heavily wooded and nice. I recommend them if you
ever travel to Clinton BC. The owners were nice.

Here they are

Now here are people after my own heart...They even have chickens....LOL...
A close up of the nice owners.

...and the Lady of the house... I like this picture as the wind blows through her hair and their lovely house looks
so nice in the background.

.

Check this out. Someone does it with style... Their own satellite apparatus for internet...LOL....
I wish I'd have had one of those as we got deeper and deeper into the BC and Yukon...

 

[BA_Colt]

I am really enjoying this thread. Thank so much.

 

[mqqn]

Hi Spinner1 -

More GORGEOUS pictures!

Thank you once again!

I have never seen a white ladybug - that is cool!

I have seen the movie Wild Hogs - it was funny.

Take your time and feel free to peruse my pictures anytime - they are up on my web site permanently.

best regards -

mqqn

 

[Spinner1]

I am really enjoying this thread. Thank so much.

Thanks for the positive feedback. I'm glad you are enjoying the travel with us....

 

[Spinner1]

Hi Spinner1 -

More GORGEOUS pictures!

Thank you once again!

I have never seen a white ladybug - that is cool!

I have seen the movie Wild Hogs - it was funny.

Take your time and feel free to peruse my pictures anytime - they are up on my web site permanently.

best regards -

mqqn

Thanks. Checked your website. Very interesting. Great garage addition. Heated floor...:thumbup:...and the lift to boot...

You must do a lot of repair and maintenance!?

Wow. that's more motorcycles I've ever seen in one person's collection. Fine ones too....

 

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Some places on the map were called 50 mile house, 59 mile house (this is it) 100 mile house etc...

Kind of interesting as British Colombia uses kilometers, not miles....

70 mile house garage...

Structure on the boulder.

Hungry Bear Restaurant...

Horses....

The people with horses had a nice barn. Here....

Hew Ha...lol... See the birds with him...

 

[Spinner1]

Something nice to make you feel lightness of heart...

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Back to realty... Highway of Tears. A march to remember our lost, murdered, and missing women.
The fact that there is so much violence against women made us sad and silent.
You could not pass this without an effect created upon you.....