Day Eleven

Yesterday was boring. Today was crazy. Now that I have your attention, read on.
The weather forecast called for strong winds and high temperatures. They were correct.
I was very excited to finally get to see my daughter in law and kids so my day began with high spirits. I gassed up in Pasco before leaving and paid just over $3.00 per gallon for the first time since crossing into the US roughly 5000 miles ago.
The wind from the southwest was so strong that I checked to see if I’d left the emergency brake on, which I hadn’t. The constant buffeting was unnerving to say the least. Fortunately I had 5000 miles of experience to help boost my confidence. I figured if the big semi’s were okay to drive in this wind then I should be okay but it was a real white knuckle trip regardless.
It was just over 200 miles to Portland and I expected to be there around 1:00 pm. As I cruised along Hwy 84 which skirts the Columbia River I could see white caps on the river, which I’d never seen before, because of the wind. I could see wind and kite surfers having the time of their lives out there on the river. The river flows to the ocean in the west but the waves, driven by the wind, were coming out of the west and blowing eastward. That’s why this part of the mighty Columbia is so popular. A surfer can travel upstream with the wind and then have the current take them back to where they started.
I decided to stop at a rest stop to film the crazy winds and photograph the white caps on the river.




About a half hour later it was coming up to the noon hour and I was feeling a bit peckish so I stopped at a McDonald’s for one of their chicken Caesar salads. When I got to the restaurant I realized that I had left my wallet in the truck. Earlier I had taken my wallet out of my back pocket to get my credit card out to reserve a campground for the week while I visited with my family. I had left my wallet on the console so I went back to the truck and no wallet. Trying not to panic I searched everywhere but the wallet was gone. I sat there for a moment wondering what I should do first when my cell phone rang. It was an 800 number but I answered it anyway. It turned out that it was Capitol One calling to tell me that someone had found my wallet at the rest stop and the person was on the line so I could talk to them. They apparently had stopped at the same rest stop and found my wallet and after going through it they had called one of my credit card companies to report that they had found it. Long story short, they agreed to meet me at the McDonald’s restaurant which happened to be on their way to where they were going anyway. This had been an emotional rollercoaster for me as I had seen my vacation going in the toilet to having some honest person save the day. When the couple showed up with my wallet I was so grateful I gave the guy a big hug and thanked them profusely. They were as happy as me to have helped save my trip.
Once I was back on the road again feeling very happy and grateful that there are still people out there that do incredibly wonderful things for total strangers I was simply overcome with appreciation and love for my fellow man.
Somewhere about 50 miles east of Portland there were some brush fires right beside the highway and firefighters were working hard to put them out. The high winds were really whipping the flames and making things much more difficult than they otherwise would have been. 


The traffic on the eastbound lanes was restricted to a single lane and the backup was over a mile long. Because I was headed west it didn’t affect me but I did feel badly for the poor motorists caught unaware by the road closure.
As I eventually rolled into the Portland area the winds died down but the clouds came out and it actually rained pretty hard for a short while.


Thanks to my GPS I found the Van Mall RV Park in Vancouver, Washington just across the Columbia River from Portland. They only had one space left and it was pretty tight but I booked the site for the week so I could spend some time with the kids.

So, as I said earlier, it was crazy and not boring. I’m sure you would agree.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day Forty-Nine

This is the day that I finally cross back into Canada, my home, and I am so close that if I just went for it I’d be in my bed tonight. This is where I have to behave like an adult and do the right thing. I called ahead and spoke with the service manager of my RV dealer. He thinks he may be able to fix all my warranty issues while I wait. That remains to be seen. The weather was much better today. No rain but very windy. As I travel east the gas prices and the camping fees go up. Last night my campground cost me $50 after my KOA discount. This is absurd considering all I got was a place to park with wifi, electricity, water and a sewer. How can one man use enough of any of these benefits to justify the charge? This was just a long day at the wheel. I reached the US/Canada border and naturally picked up a bottle of vodka at the duty-free shop. My Nexus card really helps when crossing the border. They kind of assume that you’re a low-risk citizen since you’ve been vetted by the ...
Read more

Day Twenty Two

Image
As much as I appreciated Daniel providing me with a spot for my trailer, I had no electricity, water, wifi or sewer so today I was hoping we could get the power and wifi situation resolved. Fortunately, I still had 30 gallons of fresh water on board for washing. Daniel is an early riser so he had already left for his town "office" at the Starbucks coffee shop by the time I woke around 8:00 am. We had agreed to meet there at 10:00 so this way I could have my morning coffee, I could finish my daily blog from the day before and we could plan our first day together. Before leaving I was able to successfully level the trailer out and disconnect my truck. Here is a photo I took of the crazy steep hill I had to negotiate the night before in pitch darkness. After breakfast, I drove into town and met up with Daniel. Once logged into the Starbucks network I got to work on my blog while Daniel conducted business on his computer and shared some conversation with some of his many f...
Read more

Day Forty-Five

Hurricane Florence has hit the east coast at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina which is causing thousands of people in the affected area to head inland to escape the storms fury. This means that many of the campgrounds are I am are filling up with weather refugees. After a lazy breakfast, I finally decided to take a chance and head east toward the Great Smokey Mountains. Because of the exodus of coastal residents, I figured I had better call ahead and make reservations and found a great little camping spot in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. It was a short driving day as it was less than 200 miles east of Lebanon where I'd spent the last couple of days. I arrived in Pigeon Forge around 5:00 pm and found myself stuck in bumper to bumper traffic wondering what was going on in this tiny town. As I rolled down the main drag I noticed a lot of classic cars around me and people were starting to set up folding chairs along the sidewalks. When I checked into my campground at King's Holly Haven ...
Read more