April 30

We left a rainy Portland at 9 am for points east. About an hour later the sun came out and we've had nice weather all day.

We stopped at the Cascade Locks on the Columbia River then at The Dalles where Mickey got to sit on an old wagon. He wasn't thrilled and the wind was howling. I sometimes had trouble keeping the trailer on the road because of the gusts.

By 1 pm we were looking for somewhere to pull over for lunch. Karen saw a sign for a winery [surprise, surprise]so we pulled off the freeway only to find we had to drive 6 miles up a very steep ,gravel ,Blalock Canyon road . About a mile in we had had enough, We passed a cow and suckling calf within arms reach of the window on one bend and Karen didn't like the drop offs beside the road so we stopped at the widest spot we could find and had our lunch. There were cattle wandering around the sagebrush. We managed to back up and turn around and head back down to the highway .

Later Karen claimed to have seen two elk on the hillside. As neither Mickey nor I saw them, their existance is questionable. 

The drive was interesting, lots of huge windmills in the Gorge, then miles of prairie.

After Pendelton we started climbing to around 4,000 ft., there was snow on the side of the road.

We arrived at 5 pm at Baker City, which is sure not a city, about the size of Coombs, but they have wi-fi at the RV park and clean showers. It's sunny but cold, about 8 c. and windy.

We drove about another 300 miles today. Gas prices are around $3 a gallon.

Tomorrow we should get to Twin Falls, Idaho.

April 28-29

We left Victoria in the sunshine on the 10:30 to Port Angeles.
Customs guy took our green onions, basil plant and Karen's little orchid she brought. Not allowed in the U.S.!

The dog food was okay because it didn't contain lamb or goat, also not okay to import. Last year we unknowingly smuggled a frozen rack of lamb across the border!

After lunch in Sequim and a couple stops for gas we arrived at our RV park in Portland at 6pm. It was a long day with intermittent downpours but the GPS worked well and took us right to our destination. Drove 300 miles so far.

Today we hoped to meet Michael, the guy that helped with my boat building via email, but he had to make an unexpected trip out of town so we didn't get to see him. We dropped a bottle of wine and some of Karen's preserves at his coffee roasting business in Hillsboro, just west of Portland.

We did our usual shopping to get what we need before heading east to Idaho and Utah in the morning. Should take a day or two to get to Antelope Island State Park, near Salt Lake City.
The forcast has been calling for snow at night there so we hope it starts warming up!