Exploring Okanegan Valley

      Today is glorious weather.  Not so yesterday, we left for a walk, stopped to visit with Dora and Bert M. from Texas in their Casita. They are full timing in the little Casita with a new 21 Escape on order for next January.  They are couple Jim had met on the wine tour on Friday and are such fun. It was much warmer at their site and as we left decided to go back to the trailer and put on cooler clothing. We ate a quick lunch and by the time we finished the wind had come up and it was clouding up. The wind kept getting higher and pretty soon there were white caps on the lake. Everyone around us was quickly getting their awnings put away. Jim had left to help a couple who had come in on a motorcycle and were staying in a tent by taking him into town to see if he could get a replacement O ring for their bike. They had ridden in from their home about 5 hours ride from here. Over the next few hours, the wind kept picking up speed and the rain came down, it seemed, sideways. This kept up for most of the afternoon. Even our trailer seem to rock a bit though it is faced toward the lake directly into the wind. By about 5pm most of the weather had retreated and the sky begin to clear and people began to appear from trailers and tents. Jim had returned after about an hour and, during that storm, the couple he had taken to town, got the O ring replaced on the bike. They rode by our place so we could see they were operational.  Thirteen of our Escape went into town last night for a very good dinner at the Convivial in Osoyoos. It is owned by a couple from Toulouse. She told us the many of the their recipes hail from there. She had a wonderful French accent and welcomed our mix Americans and Canadians.
       As I mentioned above, today is the best weather of our 5 days here and 90 F is forecast for tomorrow. We drove up the valley and Jim took me to some of wineries he saw on Friday. The Okanegan is the Northern most reach of the Sonoran desert but it has the great lake, lots of water and a perfect climate from wine grapes. It is the main wine producing area for Canada. We went to the Tin Horn, the Burrowing Owl and Road 16. The Burrowing Owl donates all it wine tasting fees to the Canadian Burrowing Owl Society and so far has contributed almost 900,000 since they opened. Wineries have a bad reputation for replacing Burrowing Owl habitat. We just had to help the cause by buying a couple of fine wines. Have to post pictures tomorrow. My connection is painfully slow!
 

Tin Horn Winery looking toward the restaurant 

Sunday Escape Rally Osoyoos, BC

Rows of Escapes in all directions

Jim in favorite browsing position at table

        At the Saturday Rally potluck last night, it was announced that we had 247 people attending and 142 Escape Trailers attending. Many people started arriving last Wednesday, though we didn't arrive till Thursday. Jim went on the wine tour on Friday while Rose and I hung out, walked around and finished a great mystery novel. Rose didn't read, but I gave her a review! Friday night Reese and Tammy, the Escape Industry owners treated all to a dinner which was catered. They are growing. In previous years their family members and staff have cooked and served the dinner. This year they are working on a new building which will increase production to 2 Escapes per day instead of 1 per day. The wait for a new Escape is now almost a year so there is a big demand for used ones. They are just plain nice people. Tammy is the extrovert and Reese is the quiet spoken responsive mechanical guy. Tammy runs the financial side and he is all about watching their quality and responding to the customer who has a problem or suggests and improvement in design.
        Yesterday was tour day. There were so many trailers that each area had a two hour window to open their trailers. You hang a red ballon out front if you are open. People who are on the wait list, others who want to see how you have organized or made modifications or if you just want to hang out with old friends happens then or just whenever you get a chance. It has been so much fun to experience this moving community, meet the people who you have only known by their Escape Forum name and then meet them again and again at each Fiberglass Rally we attend. We know some people now who are full timers and move from Rally to Rally and that and the internet keeps them in a social network. We have done a lot of mutual problem solving about trailers and travel and kept up with them and their family events over time. Some very nice people are trailer trash like us.
       One more event at the Rally. There is a big grassy place in the middle of the park where after the dinner and potluck many of the dog owners (and there are many) bring their puppies who have waited patiently for them to return to the trailers, are brought out and we have an impromptu dog park. It has been so easy going, the dogs running and playing, big and little with no issues. Even a little rescue who had been terribly abused and fearful, slowly decided he would give it a try and we all enjoyed seeing him run circles with some other little dogs. His owner, who had never seen him act that free almost cried. It was a wonderful end to the evening. Be well all!

Arrived at the Rally

Crazy busy with all the spaces filled between our Fiberglass Rally and normal summer traffic. We got assigned a crappy site and had to go back and request something else. Now are very close to Lake Osoyoos with a view, if we could see out the front.  Lots of visiting going on and hopefully soon will catch up with the great people we met in the last couple of nights. Our WiFi is a connection we had to pay for from the NkMip Park and it is a bit flaky so is possible we will have a bit of a time getting on till we leave on Tuesday and not back into the States till Thursday, I think. Our Verison Hotspot is no good till we get back across the border. If all else fails will go into town and find some WiFi to check email if this purchased connection proves to be flaky. Every other time we have gone through the border have breezed through but today we got a lecture. Seems we were traveling with six bottles of wine and the limit is 2 per person. Border agent asked us how much we paid a bottle and when we said $10, he went on to say the additional taxes would be $10 a bottle. He was kind when we pled ignorance and let us go with a warning. Tomorrow Jim is going wine tasting but I begged off and will probably go to the tribal museum and take one of their nature tours. Tomorrow is the meet and greet dinner and beer exchange. This is a huge RV park and just by walking it one can get the 10,000 steps. We were abruptly reminded of the importance of enjoying the now day before yesterday, when we came upon two in a row accidents which had so recently happened that we passed the ambulances as we got farther down the road. Traveling provides so much time for reflection and immediacy of the moment. I find that even more dreams come to visit with more color. Wow, what a ramble tonight. Again, be well all.

Columbia Wenatchee Confluence

We remain tonight at the Wenatchee Confluence Washington State Park surrounded by this tree filled parkland. We traveled no where today except for walking the nature trail in the restored wetlands area and along the Apple Bike Trail which skirts the wetlands and borders the town. It has a lovely walking/biking bridge which crosses the Wenatchee. We spent the afternoon reading and napping, ah, the life.  Several more Escapes came in, this afternoon, on the way to rally so we met Kate Gormally and her Jack Russell, Fig. Rose and Fig were instant buddies and had a good run and play on the grass after a long walk together. Kate has a 17 foot Escape and travels with Fig. She lives in Olympia Washington. Another 21 came in owned by Art and Kathy Molvick. They live in Livermore, Ca and have owned their 21 since last June. Art is a retired Physics Professor. Their puppy is Poppy, a older poodle with no use of her back legs since she injured her spine jumping. She has a little wheeled cart so she can move around and seems to do her dog business just fine and socialize with other puppies which out even noticing her special cart. We all had several hours today visiting and look forward to seeing them again in Osoyoos tomorrow and in the morning as we are all hooking up. Dogs are a great way to connect! Be well all.

Lazy River

Yakima River was running past us this morning as we woke up. It is shallow but fast moving inviting trout fishermen in waders. Many do that it seems, trout fishing guides have a going business. Makes me want to learn a new sport in my old age. When Jim and I finally got hooked up and off this morning, we took a side trip to a Flying J station in Ellensburg. We got a weight on trailer which told us we are on the border of maximum weight. Must begin the lighten the load, use up the food, make a practice of buying locally. I will just fight to keep my spices and basics but think we can reduce. Trailer tracked just fine today so seems like weight distribution is much better. This bigger Escape is not so forgiving as our smaller Casita. Tonight and tomorrow we are here at the Wanachee Confluence State Park where the Wanachee and the Columbia come together. Hope to do some hiking tomorrow in a restored wetlands close by as well long trail we can pick up next to the park. It was 77 degrees today so able to put the Chacos back on. The first picture is Wild Horse Monument which is titled Grandfather Cuts Loose the Ponies. It was placed about 10 years ago. The artist is David Govedare. The sculpture is along I-90 east of the Vantage Bridge over the Columbia. It is about 200 feet long. The second is Rose taking it easy in the Confluence Park tonight. Sleep well all. Hope you also have had a good day.

Yakima River View

Ogden Gorge

After yesterday, today was a breeze. We both drove and as we said "got back on the horse that dumped us." Yesterday's time spent reorganizing so weight was down low and over the axles as well moved forward, the whole rig stabilized. We had winds and mountains with no sign of squirreliness. We left Madras and made our way through long unending horizons of Northern Oregon to Biggs right on the Columbia. There were tugs moving big barges down the river, a graceful slow scene. We tried in Biggs at a Flying J Truck scale to get a hitch weight as well as trailer weight but could only get a weight on the rig. The big boys were inline for weights, gas and just filling the space so we quickly moved on. Could just imagine the looks on their faces if we had hooked and unhooked and then hooked again. Visions of their great big hands on our necks! We moved on to Yakima with stops for the views and then to Ellensburg, Washington KOA as we are treating ourselves tonight with a $40 buck spot backed up on the Yakima river. Last night was the Fair Grounds in Yakima at a mere $18 rate for geezers. Have some pictures to share. First and second are Ogden Gorge outside of Madras. It is 300 feet straight down so no dogs allowed as the sign says "many have died going over the wall." Rosie guarded the pickup for us.  So on to dinner. Time to reduce some of this food I packed to lighten a load. Wisdom: don't let the cook take her kitchen!

Sunday Adventure

Tonight have more to tell you than pictures to share. Left Klamath Falls after a brief conversation with a next door trailer owner with a Don't Tread on Me sign on his bumper. Asked him was does that sign on his bumper mean. Launched into the a story about the Patriots during the Revolutionary War and their being overtaxed by the British. Then followed his story of being from Oregon but now lives in Arizona where you can do what you want. He felt that Oregon had too many regulations and no one could run a business there, like you have to pay $15 an hour and buy insurance you can't afford. Asked him if he felt if Candidate Trump reflected his views. Didn't answer me but started in on about how bad Obama was. Poor Tea Party People, know who to hate but can't figure who is their person! So I drove us out of the park, (my day to drive) rig felt a little mushy. Went on down the road, felt like had to totally pay attention. About 2 hours on drive to Bend, definitely had a problem as trailer started to fishtail, swinging the back end back and forth. Had a bit of a total focus, did think to not hit the brake and finally got us slowed down and under control. It was a scary bit of time. After a stop and check of the tongue, tires, hitch. went on to High Desert Museum. Found a good place to park and opened the door to find absolutely everything on the floor. That is where I needed to take a picture to share. Needless to say, still did not to go into the museum as we had to take everything out and decide how to proceed. Put some heavy things (food mainly) in the back of the truck. Did some redistribution and put enough away to proceed. No more problems as we went through Bend and on to Madras. Tonight we reorganized according to getting weight closer to floor over axles and paying attention to 10% -15% over the hitch. So with all our lovely space in the Escape, without distribution done correctly can get on into ADVENTURES! Sweet little Casita had little space except to the front and over the axle, so newbies like us are kept our of trouble. We have set up tomorrow to weigh overall trailer weight loaded and hitch weight to this little adventure does't repeat. I do think our weight distribution hitch kept us from worse trouble and allowed the sway to dampen down so I could bring to control. Yeah! Went out tonight to eat Italian and celebrate that neither the Tischer, Rose or the Escape have any damage. Thank you Great Spirit!

Made Klamath Falls

Had planned on leaving at 10:00 am this morning but underestimated all the last minute things to take  care of to leave the house for 2 months. Finally on the road at 12:00 pm, and happy to hit I-5 making the miles. Lots of heavy rain showers off and on to Klamath Fall. So wonderful to see Lake Shasta full again. The good old Taurus not longer starts on its own and had to be jumped to get into the garage. We will figure what the problem is when we get home.  Perhaps it was unhappy about being left behind. Tonight in Klamath Falls KOA, enjoying music on stereo after salad and salmon for dinner. Should sleep well tonight.

Seven days out

We have been doing preparation for weeks it seems for our Great Northern Foray. Mapping out the route and our proposed stays along the way and contacting friends we hope to see along the road. Planning a two month trip and Billie "Holiday" as we call our new Fiberglass Escape needed to be outfitted and storage planned. I think the prep and anticipation is great fun for both of us. Jim is our trip planner and he has been spending many evenings with maps and reviews. Here is a little picture of Billie and Rocky our TV.