Believe it or not, I had a second post almost done yesterday when the computer just ate it.
The second half of the Cocquihalla was a bit more challenging, and had lots of ice and compact snow sections near the summit. There was one car on it's roof and another pickup facing the wrong way in the fast lane after having fought and lost with the concrete barriers. Once down in Hope and the Fraser Valley, however there was no more snow and the expected green grass. Since I had determined that the main camper battery was not pulling it's weight, I stopped in Abbotsford and jacked the camper up - so that I could connect the two extra batteries in the wheel wells. On through US customs with minimal wait and minimal hassle - if you don't mind losing your orange peels!
Gassed up in Bellingham for a run on I-5. Gas prices here were ranging from about $2.63 to $2.91 a gallon with diesel over the 3 dollar mark.
Perhaps I should have stopped in Pitt Meadows at Rooster's country club, but I was on a mission, so headed for the Riverside in Tukwila (Seattle), Wa. Faithful readers (ha ha haha) may recall in the March 4th entry coming north last time, that the Riverside was closed and had construction dumpter's outside? Well, it is back up and running, but is now a casino, not a country bar, so I won't have to aim for Seattle on a weekend any more :-(
Blasted on past Seattle and Tacoma, till hunger got the best of us and a Costco parking lot beckoned to us in Nisqually, Wa. Parking spot came complete with an internet connection, so that is always hard to resist. The newly connected batteries performed admirably, and kept us warm all night running the furnace to ward off the bitterly cold 5C temp! It rained all night long, and Harley informed me that the duct tape job on the roof vent was great - except for the drip over his bed. Guess we will have to find a sunny scenic place today to install the new vent cover.
We'll have to consider the likelyhood of frost from here on down and decide whether or not to de-winterize the camper, and get all the water systems running again.
Also nice to click back into 2WD, and hope you will not need it again till some place in the desert or on the beach!