The Trip So Far

We arrived in Victoria on Saturday at about 3:00PM and waited on the street until the 4:00 ferry sailed. At that time we are allowed to drive into the lot and park for the night. The gate is closed at around 4:30 or 5:00 so you have to be there on time.

Brooks and Linda showed up a few minuted later and we walked across the street to the SwiftShore Pub to wait for Linda's mom and dad. They arrived, we had a couple of drinks (except for Linda, the DD) and then went to Santiago's for dinner. It was good food, great conversation and then we walked over to the motorhome for a nightcap before everyone left. We were in bed early and actually slept in too late to go across the street for breakfast.

We were pre-cleared for customs, registered our passports with USA Immigration and boarded the ferry. After a one and a half hour crossing we unloaded, drove through the inspection area and were on our way. I like the drive down the Olympic Peninsula and Hood Canal. The road had been improved since April and soon we were in Olympia and on our way!

We spent the first night in a Walmart in Chehlis, WA where it was very cold! The down comforter came in very handy. In the morning we drove to Camping World in Wilsonville, OR to see if they could fix a couple of windows that had developed broken cranks. They could not so we carried on to Eugene, OR where we parked in another Walmart. We did not cover much ground today as we stopped in every Walmart along the way looking in vain for a Virgin Broadband device. The monthly cost of these was just reduced so they are in demand and being sold out quickly. After buying the device ($79 for an Internet stick or $149 for a MIFI card) it is only $40 per month for unlimited bandwidth use. This is a good deal and we finally found one.

The Walmart we are in is posted "No Overnight RV Parking" but, through experience we have learned to ask anyway and there was no problem. She said the signs were just to keep people from parking for days on end, I can't understand why anyone would do that...