11th July - Vancouver to Seattle, WA - 184 km

It was time to leave my 5 star accommodation at Fran and Rod's home, I can't thank you both enough for your kind hospitality and the way I was looked after while there. I set out to head back into the USA on route to Seattle. Well...took  2 me 2 darn hours to just get through the border. When I finally headed down the highway and was back on track then I hit t the Seattle traffic...grrr snail pace stuff. What should have taken me 2 hrs to get there, took me 5.5 hrs.

When I finally made it to Seattle, I met up with Curt aka WizeNWyld aka WizeAZZ...aka SmartAZZ...lol all of the above. He then chaufered me to meet up with Bryan aka BMcNASTY at his work... where just happened to work as a masseur...weeeee. An hour with Bryan, has the best hands and was just what I needed !!!! It was great thnx Bryan......Massage Envy...4423 S Meridian Suite A721, Puyallup, WA..253 841 0808..just ask for Bryan !!!! there ya go Bryan ya free plug like I promised. Was then off to stay at Tony's aka hotsauce219, met his daughter Sophie a cute kid. Tony's wife Jamie, Tony and I then set off to the Casino. Didn't win anything big but had a nice evening. The next morning Tony and I set off to the Cornacopia Fair, walked through all the stalls and was a nice morning just browsing.

Was then party time and to meet up with Barb aka BarbD7463 and Lizzy aka WyldNDizzyLizzy. We had a great fun night although Mr organiser The Smart Azz one...lol was bloody lateeeeeeee and got a head start on the rest of us....lol  Barb is great singer and stole the show with her karaoke skills. Curt just stole the show with his dancing skills.....or lack of em...lmfao.... He thought he was good so we let him think he was....lmao. Was a fun entertaining night to say the least.

left to right: Barb, Tony, Me, Curt, Lizzy

Sunday I said my goodbyes to Tony and moved into Curt's. We picked up Lizzy and then hit the city. We walked through the market where they even had the welcome sign out for me...lol....then onto the waterfront and pier. Back to Lizzy's for a yummy BBQ lunch, and yes Curt cooked !!!!

This is Mount Rainier, better known as Curt's Mountain !!!!! well so he says....lol

Monday we set off for the coast to meet Wanda aka onedashere2play and her daughter Aunja. We went down to Westport, very pretty on the coast...but....geez it's darn windy and cold !!! We walked onto the rocks and around the pier then drove onto the beach. Had a nice burger lunch together on the way back.. Thanks Wanda was nice to meet up with you.

Monday night I caught up with Bryan again, we went bowling....I won the 1st game, then he cleaned me up in the next 2. The scores weren't great but we had fun. Then out came the cards...lol I beat him at crib. Was a fun evening Bryan thanks.

15th July - Seattle to Rufus, OR - 229 miles  Going Fishing !!!!!

Tuesday morning I left Curts after getting my the brakes on my car seen too and headed over the Cascade Mountains towards the Columbia River. Thanks Curt for a great time in Seattle was heaps of fun. I can see now why Washington is called the evergreen state, the forests are absolutely beautiful. As I headed across the mountains towards Curt's Mountain...lol Mt Rainier, the scenery was awesome and to see the mountain up close was great too.

But boy did things change after I crossed the mountains, I thought I was back in Texas...lol. very dry and hottttttttt. I was deep in fruit growing country around Yakima, orchards everywhere and the cherries were good too. I headed south towards the river, and then there she was the huge Columbia River nestled into the gorge. I made my way down the Washington side of the gorge and across to the Oregon side to the small town of Rufus. The town has a population of around 260, I finally met up with Steve aka cribpro19 at the market/diner/meeting place for the locals...lol It was so great to finally meet Steve after all these years. We sat and chatted then headed down to the rivers edge to the camp site. I knew my car would come in handy not just for driving....but the backseat is very comfy to sleep in...lol I spent 5 nights sleeping in the car alongside the river under the moonlight...it was awesome.

Wednesday the wind got up so was no good for fishing so we headed back over to Washington to a small town called Bickleton, and when I say small I mean smaller than Rufus...lol. We stopped at the pub the Bluebird, its the oldest pub in Washington. We had lunch there and that place has a lot of history, great food and very friendly. We headed back to camp and of course the crib board just had to come out, and of course he whooped my ass. I think for the week we played almost everyday about 20 odd games...I won about 4..that's the normal....lol I did skunk him ONCE tho....wooohoooo

Thursday was fishing day weeeeeeeeeeee...We were up bright and early and it seemed all calm on the river so after breaky off to launch the boat. At first we went fishing for squawfish right close to the dam but no bites there, so we packed up and moved downstream to the bridge to fish for walleye. Now this is where I really became the 'baitbitch' lol finally mastered baiting the worm....lol. The wind started to get up grrrrr and I only had one bite...but geez musta been something big cause it took everything.... so no fish today !!! We headed back in and made the most of the park where we launched the boat...I did get a 'rare' shower...lol we then sat and played more crib...lol I thoroughly enjoyed just being out on the water and being shown the ropes by the master himself...lol

Friday the wind was still up so off we went sightseeing. We drove down along the river to visit the waterfalls, the scenery in this area was superb. The first falls we came too was Horsetail Falls then onto Multnomah Falls, this one was the most scenic with double falls and the bridge going across between the 2 falls, the upper falls was 542 feet and the lower 69 feet. The next one was Wahkeenah Falls, they were all beautiful in their own unique way.

From the falls we headed to Bonneville Fish Hatchery and Bonneville Dam. I saw the huge sturgeon fish that frequent the river, some are 10 feet long, reminded me of a shark they are so huge but very unique looking. Then off to the dam and watch the fish climbing the ladder to head upstream.

We called into the Discovery Centre which was set up with fascinating displays of history of the area right back from the ice age. Then it was off to The Dalles for late lunch at Chinese Restaurant.

Back to camp after lunch and sat around and relaxed, chatted away with Bill the fish checker for a while and then more cribbage...lol

Saturday was too windy again for fishing so off sight seeing again. We headed off into the country towards John Day area, into fossil territory. As we were driving along Steve asked me have I ever seen a shoe tree... of course I said a what tree. Then a few miles up the road there it was !!!!! A bloody shoe tree !!!!!

This was probably the most contrasting day as far as scenery so far. We started off up into the hills in the dry hot wheat fields. Eastern Oregon had everything...pine forested mountains, glades preserving tall native grasses and wildflowers, deep canyons, trout streams, and small coves of pinaccled badlands. The whole area has lots of hidden landscapes, the John Day Valley badlands are fossil beds whose sedimentary rocks preserve a 40 million year record of plant and animal life. Steve was a great tour guide although he hadn't been through this part of his state before, his knowledge on rocks, trees and the history was great. The first fossil bed we came across was Clarno, the huge rock formations were amazing. It makes you think how they ever rode their wagons through this country all those years ago.

As we drove even further into the country another hidden treasure was upon us....The Painted Hills. These were just a breath taking sight, the layers and colors were so beautiful. I believe the colors change so much too during different weather.

After we left the Painted Hills and headed towards John Day, low and behold another darn show tree. We did find out that it was an Indian who started this by removing his moccasins and throwing them up in the tree, it was some kind of spiritial thing in hoping his prayers would be answered. We came to our next fossil bed called Sheep Rock, we visited the Information Centre there, and Steve took me to the movies...lol ... They showed a short film on the area...lucky it was short or we both woulda fell asleep...lol I'm not saying it was boring, cause it wasn't, just dark...lol. We then stopped at John Day and had a nice lunch before heading back to Rufus via the forests. We had covered over 400 miles that day and was all spectacular. Oh and btw Curt...Steve has his own mountain too.... lol it's Mt Hood.

Sunday morning was back to the market for breakfast, each morning we had our breaky cooked for us. Jasmine was a sweetie, as was the other ladies who cooked for us. Each evening before closing time at 9pm was ice cream time !!!!! I then went off after breaky to do some laundry, got that started then Steve showed up with the crib board and deck of cards in hand...so that passed the time away while waiting for laundry....lol. I decided today was the day to move on as the wind had been up all week and not good for fishing, but the sightseeing and company was great, and just being there with Steve and him finally meeting his bait bitch, I think I'm a qualified 'bait bitch' now.....hence the proposal !!!! lmao

20th July - Rufus to Portland, OR - 109 miles

21st July - Portland to Reedsport, OR - 200 miles

22nd July - Reedsport, OR to Arcata, CA - 427 miles

23rd July - Arcata CA to Stockton CA - 349 miles

  Here's the link to YouTube for all the laughs !!!

  ~*~ YouTube Videos ~*~

If I'm close to you along the way please give me a yell either on msn or send me an email to loraway50@hotmail.com,

would love to meet you.