From December 26 to New Years…

When we left the Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range, we knew we had a good window of weather to get back to Canada. Quartzsite was the first stop.

The town has a regular population of about 3,700 and during the RV season it grows significantly over the months of January and February as RV’s go there to visit the gem shows and other RV get togethers. We had read so many people’s blogs that we just had to go and have a look.

We found a great place to boondock after searching the web…just outside of Quartzite is a great BLM (Bureau of Land Management) area that’s free. The photo’s GPS reads Parker, AZ but we think it’s the Dome Mountain BLM area. We checked in with the camp host and found a reasonably secluded area to camp at the edge of the allowable camping area.

I wanted to ensure that we had two full propane tanks before heading into the cold so we stopped by one place and the poor guy had so much trouble getting the connection right that he gave up. For some unknown reason, the connector to the propane tank leaked…he tried and tried…finally suggesting that we go somewhere else. I was concerned that the problem was on our end, but the next place had no issues filling our tank.

Away we went towards California and after a long drive, we stopped at the Country RV Park in Bakersfield, CA. It was far hazier than I expected. We checked the air pollution levels and found that they were fairly high…throughout the valley.

Filled up and drove out early enough to make some miles as California is bigger than a person thinks….we ended up at a nice park called Mountain Gate RV in Shasta Lake, CA. A good spot, not too close to the highway…we are finding on travelling days we can live with the noise.

Another early morning for a long drive. I was concerned about the temperature and weather in the Shasta Mountain area…and I should have been!

The temperature dropped to freezing and there was frost on everything as we climbed then the fog arrived…we pulled into a rest stop for about an hour and as more trucks used the road and the temperature crept up, it became safer to drive the trailer through the pass.

Then it was driving to a KOA in Corvallis, Oregon….wet ground where we stayed, but full hook up and using the electric heater and lots of Internet.

As we drove up to Washington, the thought occurred to us to go to Port Angelis and take the Blackball ferry…so that’s exactly what we did…with an overnight at Elwah RV park…we have to go back there…such a nice place with good hiking trails nearby.

We took the early ferry and were in Victoria just after noon. Fort Victoria RV Park was on a bus route to downtown Victoria.