The race was fun and we were a part of the world's largest stadium stunt....they're contacting the Guiness Book of World Records! 160,000 people! Then, on Sunday, we drove as far as Cookeville. Monday, (today) we drove to T-Rick's (an RV park just short of Little Rock) ...tomorrow we will get home, and I plan on jumping in the pool! More later..

We are at Bristol Motor Speedway! It's incredibly hot! 98 degrees and 98% humidity! Good thing the races are all at night!

Friday morning, we woke up at the edge of Oregon, headed South, stopped and spent a few hours in Arches National Park and Moab, Ut. took some pictures, (our newest family portrait) drove some more, and went to sleep in New Mexico, Friday night! WHEW! We dropped off some stuff at Beverly and Casey's in Belen,N.M. then had lunch at Rudy's in Albuquerque. Headed east again and wound up staying at a really nice RV park just outside of Amarillo,Tx.

We are now in a rest area, for the night, just outside of Knoxville. We will get to the track by noon and the Truck races tomorrow night......just in time!

Hello everyone.

I am afraid that we have been on a mad dash across the country, in order to get to Bristol and the NASCAR race on time. After visiting our friends in Oregon, we went to the FMCA rally in Redmond, Or. for the 13th through the 16th, to help some other master agents sell the Road Hog. Jimmy managed to sell one, with some promising leads to call in the future, hopefully!

Then, Thursday evening, its off for the mad dash to Bristol!

Well, when we got to Grants Pass, we parked in our friends, Bob and Nadine's driveway (which is like a parking lot) and made ourselves at home. We just visited the first day, but then the second day we went on a jet boat trip, up the Rogue River. What a blast! We saw some Osprey in their nests, Canadian Geese (that have decided , Oregon is pretty good place to be, so they don't migrate.) and we got soaked! The boat operator did some spins, in the water that ended up drenching us to the bone. (A good thing on a warm day). Then, when we got back, we went out to eat in Nadine's classic '52 Ford.....really beautiful! Had a lot of fun, then went home for the night. The next day, spent around the bus, did some laundry, then had a bar-b-que that night! Got up and had to leave for the FMCA this morning.

After arriving in Coos Bay, we parked in our friends cul-de-sac and promptly sat in beautiful back patio, with waterfalls, and just visited.

The next morning....not early, we went to the Pancake Mill for brunch. Jimmy and Joanie had lunch, while Leroy and I had breakfast. Then we drove around town, drove out to an area where lots of ATVs go play in the Oregon Dunes and sat and visited with Mark and Sharon . We were just seeing the sights and where their business was...just goofed off all day. The next day we got in the Hummer and they got in their Jeep and off we went to the sand dunes......right on the ocean! It was sooooo pretty! We drove out to the New Carisa...a piece of a shipwreck near the beach, then the doggies had to go nuts, running like wild Indians, in and out of the surf.After that, we just went bombing around in the sand for awhile. Not too much....we don't want Leroy to get hurt (he just had back surgery). We had a really nice time....and their cat, Kobe, and Shadow became new BFF (best friends forever). We will be leaving for Grants Pass, tomorrow, to see Bob and Nadine.

And you wonder why I don't get enough sleep!!

We left Seattle, bright and early, so we could make it to Coburg Or. (The Marathon Coach Factory) We had some things to pick up....spare lightbulbs, bay door switches, hose connectors,etc. They had 3 brand new Prevost Buses, just in from Quebec.....then I took a picture of the finished product...pretty cool, huh?
Then we turned right, toward the coast and went to see our friends in Coos Bay....Beautiful area....cool house at the end of the street...making a cul-de-sac. Tomorrow morning, breakfast, spend some time visiting, then on to Grants Pass, Or.

Well, today, we are back in the lower 48! Beautiful pictures of a pretty blue river in a fabulous gorge, on the way down. Had to stop along the way to walk all the kids! Got to the port and decided to go to Sumas...the smaller port, instead of the big port, on a Friday, and we got through in just a few minutes.....once again, just a few questions and off we go! That makes at least half a dozen times, we have been in and out of the country and not one officer has set foot in the bus! We have heard of friends that have had their entire motorhome gone through, strewn out all over and then just left....Have a Nice Day! We have been very lucky! We might be stopping by the FMCA Rally in Redmond, Or. next week...not sure yet. Going to go hang out with friends, today.....seeya.

Well, today we took off driving, early....(9 AM is early) . We are back in the land of sunsets, now, twilight is about 10 PM, so it actually gets almost dark at night....not sure if I like it. We continued South, towards Prince George, and had a couple of incidents.....the road is good, so we were going about 65 M.P.H. when a Caribou decided to come out of the brush and cross the road! The big rig, behind us, had to lock it up, too!
Then, after we regained our heartbeat....and speed...about an hour later, 2 RVs in front of us nearly wrcked and we nearly barrelled into the back of them, when a bear sauntered across the road! Jeez!

We stopped on a turnout on the side of the road, for a break, and Libby, our Jungle cat, really enjoyed walking out into the grass......she's loving her "freedom" (on a leash) and Jimmy took the dogs to play in one of the many rivers we crossed.

Then, as we went along, after the cutoff to Price George, he started noticing that there were no fuel stops around, like on the other roads.....and it was getting pretty important! So, I started digging through the Milepost (travelers bible) to try and find one. After getting increasingly concerned.......I finally found one at the junction with highway 39 to MacKenzie. About 20 miles away.

We turned off any A/C and coasted whenever we could....luckily, a lot of the way was downhill. We pulled into the gas station and both pumps were in use, so we had to wait......yep, you guessed it....it died, right there! Anyway, when it was our turn, Jimmy had to spray starting fluid into the engine, while I drove up to the pumps.......Whew! Another crisis averted! What a day!

Tomorrow, we will make it back into Seattle, where we see some friends, and think of our great memories we have made, on this trip.
I'll make entries, as we travel along, so check back often.

Check out the dust!
It was a cloud that came boiling in, even though everything was closed!


We were supposed to take the cutoff for the Cassiar Highway, right before Watson Lake....but it had been washed out in several places, the road fell into the river, someone had been killed, and the road had been alternately open and closed....only for cars......SOOO, we decided to go another way! We stopped at Archie's in Watson Lake, again, for burgers (we knew they were good), and kept going, until we were about Prophret River, past Fort Nelson, for the night.

We made it to Teslin, and who was there, but our friends we met in North Pole, Ak. from Albuquerque, N.M. and a bunch of people that they were traveling with.
Wednesday morning, they had some mechanical problems, so Jimmy lent a hand, then we were off......Jimmy had told Kim and Kim ours friends in Seattle, that we would be there, Friday night! 1500 miles to go! So, like a barn sour horse....off we went! Talk about Mr. Toad's Wild Ride! Besides the roads having deteriorated quite badly, since we drove up. Many places that were perfect when we drove up, were now freshly oiled and gravelled and had chuckholes that were under construction or being filled.
Very narrow, winding and lots of frost heaves...I guess the permafrost had been melting while we were gone!

Tuesday, we stayed in Whitehorse to go on the boat up the rapids in Miles canyon..pretty cool! Before, though, we went to the transportation museum, again..it was so neat, we went back, from yesterday. Then we went to the Berengia Interpretive museum.....it had actual skeletons from Scimitar cats, Woolly mammoths and other ice age creatures! Then we headed out of town to Teslin and Mutluk Annie's for the night!