The worlds fastest Badger..

at the Bonneville Salt Flats. I was going to take him for a run but a) the salt was still wet from recent rains and b) he's a bit of a ponderousaur getting up to speed and we only had 2 days to spare. Besides, he's really built for comfort rather than speed, just like his owners....

Famous potatoes

‎Those who have known me for a while will have heard me wonder many times why everything in American restaurants has to pumped up and named, in particular idaho potatoes. I've always figured there were 3 options: 

Some freak of geography and geology has resulted in idaho having some special soil that grows the perfect, ambrosia, food of the gods potato‎, or

Nuclear testing in the 50s led to the growth of giant, self cooking mutant potatoes, or

Idaho is soooo boring that the most interesting thing in the place is to potato. I always leaned toward this explanation.

Having now driven across most of southern idaho and seen the potato fields, I think I was right on the third count. However, it turns out that the first US experimental nuclear reactors were all built in the middle of the spud patch, there may be something to the second option.....

Bad bent Badger

‎Hit the road again this morning after almost 2 weeks spent catching up with Pris and Bill in central Oregon. We camped next to them after our first day on the road in Palm Desert 18 months ago, and they sort of adopted us, and they have been asking us when we were going to pass by their summer place ever since.

We ended up staying a little longer than initially planned as whilst I thought badger had survived the winter with not too many problems, it turned out he had a couple of surprises left in reserve. 

I fixed the mirror in bellingham and capped off the water line to the ice maker to stop the leak before we hit the road, and had filled and emptied the fresh water tank a couple of times to flush out the anti-freeze with no issues. However, when we refilled the tank and started moving there was water pouring out of the bodywork around where the tank is located. Bugger.

And then, for his piece de resistance, when we stopped for the evening at Stephanie's in washington (someone we met our fist night in badger south of LA), I pressed the button to automatically put the jacks down and level the coach, and for some reason it threw a fit and tried to stand on one leg. Net result, one rear right jack that is now angled at about 20 degrees ‎rather than vertical, and the whole bus being pushed sideways whenever we tried to put the jacks down again. Spoke to an RV repair shop in Bend that Pris and Bill recommended and they said the earliest they could see us was the 1st, so hence the longer stay.

Took him in there on Monday and left them to look at the jack and do a routine service, and when we got back mid afternoon they informed us that he has bent the mounting onto the frame, that looks to be about 6-8mm steel angle welded on to the frame rail, and also bent the jack itself, so they hadn't done anything to fix it as it's a 3 week lead for the new jack. If they had phoned me earlier in the day I would have told them to cut off and reweld the mounting for now, and I would get the jack ordered and done further down the road, but as they ‎had already taken him out of the bay and parked him back on the road I couldn't be bothered to argue.

Got back to Pris and Bill's and took a look at the jack with a straight edge and the outer tube looks straight to me, and having worked out how to put the jacks down manually one at a time ( not trusting the auto button again) the ram comes in and out smoothly enough, so I think and hope they may have been overselling the problem. Did some phoning around to places on our upcoming route and i've found somewhere that will take a look at doing the welding in southern utah next Friday, so we'll see how that goes and if the jack does need replacing I have found a couple of breakers selling used ones on-line, although getting in there myself may be a bit of a struggle as I don't have a pit or any ability to jack the coach up to work under it safely‎ - might have to take bus and jack to another garage further long the route. But we'll cross that hurdle once the welding us done.

This enforced delay did give me a chance to investigate the water tank - can't find any leaks so hope it was just water from the fridge leak that was sat on the horizontal surfaces under the coach ‎until we started moving then ran down. I ordered a replacement ice maker solenoid from the web which turned up, so I was able to get a new pipe locally and pull the fridge out to replace that and it turned out that the old pipe had fallen apart anyway over the years, and it was just the insulation holding the water in and passing up to the ice maker. So now we have nice clear ice with no bits of pipe in it.

I also finally gave in and ordered a new 39" Lcd TV and fitted that above the front windscreen. It's  double the screen area of the old one, so I can actually see what is going on if we watch a film when it is too light for the projector.

And never having seen another avatar on a campground or dealers, an almost identical one suddenly turned up with a for sale sign outside the hardware store in Terrebonne where Pris and Bill live - literally in the last couple of days as it wasn't there the previous times I drove down there‎. It was slightly tattier than Badger, and still had the old CRT TV above the dashboard and it turns out that hangs down even lower than the new LCD, so I feel pretty good about my handywork.

Off to idaho tomorrow, craters of the moon national park on saturday then on down into salt Lake city on sunday. Couple of days there and then bonneville salt flats, great basin national park in nevada for a couple of days and then start the major attractions in zion national park next Friday and bryce canyon the following week....

Washington State and Oregon - week 1

Back on the road again and a few hiccups with Badger. No doubt Mark will blog soon with the list of breakages that need to be fixed, both small and large.

In Washington state, we visited a friend we met in November 2013 when we were down in California who now lives in Washington. It was great catching up with her (thanks again Stephanie for letting us park on your drive)

Down to Mt St Helens to see the mighty volcano that erupted 35 years ago (18^th May 1980). It started to rain as we arrived, but we were so lucky as the clouds cleared and then we had a wonderful view of the mountain and surrounding plain

From Washington we headed down to Oregon and stopped at IKEA in Portland to buy a new mattress. Badger took up a few parking bays to one side, away from the front of the store :-) 

We stayed a few days in Troutland, the gateway to the Columbia Gorge. We took Toad down the winding historic Highway 30 and the scenery was magnificent, once the mist lifted

Along the way, we visited many waterfalls

Latourell Falls

Bridal Veil Falls

Wahkeena Falls

Horsetail Falls

And the best of them all, at 620 feet and the second highest waterfall in the US, Multnomah Falls

We paid a visit to Bonneville Lock and Dam and the original power house dates back to the Great Depression. The powerhouse originally housed 2 generators, now it has 8

We are now staying with our friends Pris and Bill, a lovely retired couple we met in California in December 2013. They live on a butte in Terrebonne (central Oregon). Badger behaved himself on the way up their steep driveway,

And the view from the top is amazing

From here we’ve had a couple of day trips so far.

The first one was to Newberry National Volcanic Monument. Newberry Volcano last erupted 1,300 years ago and is the largest volcano in the Cascade Range. Lava Butte, at 5,020 feet, is one of Newberry’s many cinder cones and rises 500 feet above its 9 square mile lava flow

From here, we journeyed down to the caldera and hiked around the Big Obsidian Flow, the entire surface being glass, rough in most parts and very smooth in others

(proof that life still goes on and some plants are now starting to grow here after all this time)

There are two lakes in the caldera, East Lake and Paulina Lake both of which are above 6,300 feet. No wonder I was a little breathless after the walk!

Yesterday we went down to Crater Lake, 125 miles to the south. It’s a caldera lake and the remnant of the destroyed volcano, Mount Mazama. The caldera rim ranges between 7,000 and 8,000 feet high, so there was still snow around on the ground and surrounding peaks – lovely. We did get a few strange looks as we were in shorts and t-shirts, but the air was so fresh and we didn't find it particularly cold. Part of the lake was still frozen as the reflection of the peaks was not clear in places, but the views were absolutely stunning.

We sat on the wall and had our lunch (I think Pris has adopted us as she baked us some cookies to take in our packed lunch J ) and this was the view. Nothing could top that.

Alaska cruisin'

Day 1 - Seattle

Arrived at the cruise terminal with 2,000 of my soon to be closest friends.  It only took an hour to get checked in and sign over my credit card for  any purchases on board. Then it was a quick bite to eat at one of the many restaurants before grabbing a deck chair at the front on the sun deck and waiting for the ship to depart. I know Seattle is famous for its rain, but we've had a glorious few days and we even got to see Mt Rainier in the distance (and it's enormous!) 

As the last of the ropes were  released, the horns (that were right behind us) blasted out signaling our departure. I wasn't ready for it and must have lifted at least 6 inches out of my seat. I'm so glad I didn't have a drink in my hand otherwise Mark would have been wearing it! We stayed on the sundeck for a few hours as the ship made its way out of Puget Sound, then time to change for dinner in Tsar 's Palace restaurant.  After watching a fantastic sunset on deck, we sloped off back to the cabin. No partying for us tonight as neither of us has had a good night's sleep since we left Whistler, so we let the soft hum of the engines lull us to sleep.

Day 2 - at sea

What to do? Sat outdoors in the sun at the Garden Café at the back of the ship having a leisurely brunch with many cups of coffee, passed a few hours. Watching the world go by and looking out for whales is very relaxing. I decided to wander around the ship and take some photos,  leaving Mark reading,  now on the sundeck at the front. I spotted a few whales spouting, but no breaching or tail fins in the air. I also went to my first art auction. I'm not really into art but they were serving free champagne,  so I was happy to suffer their art for mine. After dinner, it was a toss up between karaoke and the hot tub. Believe or not, the hot tub won and we sat there in the cold night air waiting for the stars to come out.

Day 3 - Ketchikan

Another sunny day and after a leisurely breakfast,  we disembarked and went to check out the town. Ketchikan claims to be the salmon capital of the world and also has the world's largest collection of standing totem poles. It was a pretty town with lots of colorful buildings as well as history The museum was interesting too and explained how settlers coped with annual rainfall in excess of 13 feet (3.9m) I'm surprised the locals don't have webbed feet! Back onboard and after dinner, the captain advised that once we entered Summer Strait we might see some whales. Instead we saw lots of dolphins and another glorious sunset.

Day 4 - Juneau

As we maneuvered into port, the city was shrouded in fog. By 9.30, most of it had cleared and the sun was shining again, even though it was very chilly. Juneau has been the capital of Alaska since 1906 but as it was Sunday,  the museum was closed and the Alaska State Capitol building was closed for refurbishment. After a walk around the town (which didn't take long, we visited the quaint Russian orthodox church,  St Nicholas. We kept on walking up the hill and into the forested area to Mt Roberts trailhead then further on to the Last Chance Mining museum.  Unfortunately,  the bridge to it was under repair, so we didn't get to visit that either,  but we had a nice long walk and saw many waterfalls and streams along the way. The sun was quite warm by this stage, so we had a lovely day. Back on board having coffee and cake in the sun, watching all the float planes coming in and going out with lots of sightseers,  and spotting bald eagles soaring overhead or just watching the world go by from their high perches. A bottle of Rioja and a nice meal was in order tonight as we celebrated 30 years of being together.  Where has the time gone?

Day 5 - Skagway

Another glorious sunny day. Situated on the Alaska panhandle,  the 'city' has a population of about 1,000 which doubles in the summer in order to deal with more than 900,000 tourists! Its a pretty town and many of the buildings have been restored. We decided to join the scenic railway up the White Pass & Yukon route. Born in the Klondike gold rush of 1898, the route climbs 3,000 feet in just 20 miles and has steep grades of almost 4%. Building the 110 miles of track (to Whitehorse) was  certainly a challenge especially when work on one of the tunnels took place in mid winter with temperatures as low as -60F . Here are some of the views from the train as we traveled up to the White Pass summit and across the US/Canadian border:

The Rotary Snowplow No. 1 was built in 1898 and helped clear the railroad during heavy snows. It last ran in 2011 but now it's on display in the town.

Day 6 - Glacier Bay (at sea)

Glacier Bay National Park covers an area of 3,283,000 acres (1,329,000 ha) and has many inlets, lagoons, islands and channels and there are restrictions on how many vessels can operate in the area on a daily basis. Only 2 cruise ships,  3 tour boats, 6 charter and 25 private vessels are allowed in the entire area per day. Approximately 500,000 people visit every year (check stats on wiki) with 95% being on a cruise ship. The scenery and glaciers were stunning, and the clear blue skies and sunshine made it perfect.  Mark was up at 6am as he couldn't sleep and had seen lots of seals before i joined him a few hours later. 

At dinner this evening,  we saw whales out of the window, spouting and waving their fins at us. Beautiful! We ended the day with a swim in the pool and relax in the hot tub (because we'd had such a busy day!) And watched as the stars came out.

Day 7 - Icy Strait Point

Today we anchored off the town of Hoonah as there wasn't a dock. As we sat having breakfast in the sun at the back of the ship, we watched whales at play. I decided to go ashore (mark stayed to watch the whales) and as I was getting my stuff from the room, I saw a whale breach right outside our balcony. It was so sudden I didn't get a chance to take a photo, but it was beautiful to see. I took the tender ashore, mainly to get a good photo of the ship. From the shore line,  I saw seals at play and an otter eating his lunch 

Back on board, Mark told me of the whales at play that he had seen (see his blog) and we continued watching for whale sign until the ship sailed away.

Day 8 - At sea

What to do today? Sleep late, eat fabulous food and sit in the sun and read. I went on a skincare seminar and also one on how to look at least 15 years younger. For $300, I could have had my crows feet filled and another $300 would have filled out the forehead and lifted my eyes. On telling Mark this, his comment was (and I'm paraphrasing here) "If you're annoyed with me, I'd like to see the facial expression so I know you're annoyed as I need all the help I can get!" 

Day 9 - Victoria (BC)

We didn't get off the ship today as we were only here last week, and besides, we had already done our six months in Canada.

It was really quiet with everyone ashore - lovely.Another sunny day and time to top up the tan again.  I decided to make use of the spa so had a facial and nice relaxing massage because cruising is so stressful!

Day 10 - breakfast in Seattle

The ship docked at 8am so time for a quick breakfast before we headed back to Bellingham to get Badger out of storage. We're going to be on a diet of salad for the foreseeable future!