Day 6 - Part 1 finished - Corvallis, OR

Four full days plus two short days at each end. 2611 miles and 43.3 mpg for the whole trip. And the car didn’t get very dirty thanks to all the rain to wash off the mud. The truck is easier to drive for long distances partly due to more room inside and a more “chair-like” seating position. Having the inductive charger for the phone was really convenient. And the hands-free calling was incredibly convenient. Even Siri seemed to work in the car.

Now time to re-sort through stuff to figure out what I need for the cross country road trip. 

Day 5 - Stevenson, WA

This morning, I just entered Stevenson, WA, into the gps on the Prius. About 30-40 miles down the highway, I realized that the gps had routed me through the Sumas border crossing and Seattle instead of Osoyoos like I had planned! Oh well, I wasn’t going to turn around. It was a shorter distance but the 45 minute wait at the border and the heavy traffic (multiple accidents) in the Seattle area more than negated the shorter distance.

I stopped at Stevenson so I could meet up with motoblogger Lynne (Curvyroads.info) and Jerry who are workamping at the Bonneville Dam visitor’s center. We had dinner at Big River Grill in Stevenson. Tomorrow, I’ll be in Corvallis.

Day 4 - Merrit, BC

No pictures today. The only stops today were two stops for gas and maybe twenty times for road construction. It was raining when I left this morning and hit 92°F this afternoon. Only 613 miles today though the construction delays made it seem like a long day. The Prius has been averaging 43 mpg so there’s going to be some sticker shock when relocating the class A from GA to OR. 

Day 3 - New Hazelton, BC

I looked at the weather maps last night and the rain/snow appeared to be heading north. If I took the Alaska Hwy, I would be in it for most of the day. The Cassiar headed due south so I should pop out the other side before long. So, south it was. The second picture shows what the first hour was like. Quite a bit of snow but none on the road. By Jade City, it was starting to clear up.

By the time I hit Dease Lake, there was even a little bit of sun peeking through the clouds. There was some scattered sleet for the rest of the day but was much more relaxing drive than yesterday afternoon. A bit slower due to the narrow, winding roads.

This is sort of typical of the scenery along the Cassiar but as I headed south, the snow disappeared. But I did see 27 black bear along the road. Mostly in the southern half. 500 miles today but I waited until 9:30 before heading out to let things warm up a bit. I stopped at a random hotel and it turned out to be the same one we stayed on a previous trip.

Spotwalla