Odds and Ends before we are "Lost in Space"

We need to tell you that we are now in Canuckia.  Tonight we are in McLure at Pinegrove Campground.  McLure is about 25 miles north of Kamloops.  Whenever we travel we try to put big cities in our "rearview" mirror - Get through them so the next morning we don't start the day facing a traffic jam.  Now, you'd think that Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada CAN NOT have traffic jams, right?  You'd be wrong.  We just came back from town and faced a 3/4 mile wait for a traffic signal.  Thank goodness we weren't turning that direction.

We left Cascade Locks/Portland East KOA Monday morning.  On the way out we had a confrontation with a stump that they hadn't ground down. "WHAT WAS THAT!!," as I slammed on the brakes.

OUCH!!

So, that will be repaired at Red Bay in Nov/Dec.

Odds and Ends #1:

We traveled California from South to North to East to West.  We entered Cali on I-8 and could LITERALLY see the fence along the border with Mexico about 1/4 mile from the Interstate - That's both about as far SOUTH as you can go in California AND as far EAST as you can go in the state of California.  We drove around looking at our previous residences and drove on the Pacific Coast Highway - right against the Pacific Ocean.  Also, we drove right along the Pacific Ocean in Eureka, California.  That's almost as far WEST as you can go in California.  Then, after visiting and having a Sojourn at Yosemite Bible Camp (which is in the Sierra Nevadas which are on the border with Nevada), we drove out the NORTHERN border of California on US Highway 97.

Odds and Ends #2:

We drove through the Imperial Valley to see the Salton Sea and the San Andreas fault that ends along its eastern shore.  Going through the Imperial Valley and were amazed to see all the farming that is done in that area - Date Palms, Almonds, Fruit and Vegetable fields.  But that was N-O-T-H-I-N-G compared to the farming that is done in the Central Valley of California that we drove through from Grapevine, CA to Stockton, CA going to and leaving the sojourn at Yosemite Bible Camp.

The Central Valley of California.  The central valley comprises LESS THAN 1% of the land area in the United States.  Now, look below at the percentage of TOTAL % of crops produced in this small amount of land (relative to the total area of the USA):

Odds and Ends #3:

The central entry point to the Alaskan Highway is Ellensburg, WA. This happens to be the city that I went to college in.  It was a college that began in 1891 as "Washington State Normal School."  It was a teacher training college.  In 1937 it became Central Washington College of Education.  By the time I attended - 1970-72 it had been renamed "Central Washington State College" (That happened in 1961).  In 1979 it was redubbed for fourth time - this time as Central Washington University.  So, I showed Irene around the campus.  The dorm I was in was still there - Munson Hall.  It's an original building of the campus, so it's on the National Historic Registry.

Odds and Ends #4:

We crossed the border at the Oroville (US)/Osoyoos (Canada) Border Crossing.  It went pretty quickly:

Final Note:

Going through the rest of British Columbia and into the Yukon Territory and Alaska.  I can't promise how many posts we will be able to have over the next 2-3 weeks.