Monday

Monday morning wake up call, 6 AM. We rolled out of bed after a very chilly night and packed up camp, ate breakfast, and got ready for another day on the road. We were all ready to go by 7:30. After Caitie did devotions we headed out. Mr. H kindly made a seating arrangement. We’re all split up and utterly cranky…just kidding :P We waved goodbye to Lynden and stopped in Bellingham for a fuel top up.

So far we’ve passed through several big cities. There must be a lot of US of Aians (as Leanne calls them) or something :D Seattle is absolutely beautiful! Sky screamers…I mean scrapers… and the famous Space Needle are set just beyond an ocean bay. The roads all intertwined and turn over and under each other. The architecture is amazing! Next was Tacoma, then Portland. Portland is another beautiful city that has the Columbia River running right through the middle. Ocean ships run up the river for a long way (according to Sir.) There were a lot of huge bridges and fishing wharfs. Another neat thing about Portland is that the state line is on the main bridge. The first half of the bridge we were still in Washington, by the other side we were in the state of Oregon. While in Portland we could look out the window to the west and see Mt. Saint Helens. Further on down the road is Salem, Oregon’s capital. Sadly the freeway doesn’t take us through the middle of it, but passes around it.

Did I mention today is the Fourth of July? Do I believe Americans are more patriotic? Yes I do. Fireworks have been shooting off every night since we’ve been here! There are flags on practically every building: houses, stores, everywhere. A guy had a huge flag attached to a pole on the hitch of his truck. These people even make napkins, hats, house decals, pots, oven mitts, you name it, to look like American flags. All of the rest stops we pulled in to had free coffee and cookies for everyone. Apparently people are rather chipper and quite generous on Independence Day.

We’re all fairly excited to reach our destination at Gold Beach. We wanted to take a more scenic route along the ocean so we won’t make it to the campground until 9ish. So for now we’re basking in the joys of road trippin’! Singing at the top of our lungs, patiently waiting in lines at gas stations, sipping beverages, munching on snacks, waving at everyone, getting semis to honk, playing go fish, making animal noises through the walky talkies, practicing bladder control, shaving our legs (Oh ya!), and plain old lounging out with tilted seats and feet out the window. That’s the life on the road, over and out. (More to Follow)

So apparently Bart (or Bubba Bikker) drives like he’s drunk! He was called in for swerving too much and guess who pulls him over in the safeway parking lot…a real live state trooper! Jordan tried to convince those of us who were already shopping that Bubba had gotten a $600 ticket (some of us more blonde people almost believed it… J), but it turned out he got off scot free; the cop was just concerned for the safety of everyone. Bart just likes riding rumble strips. :D We’re all enjoying a little chuckle.

Up to this point we followed the freeway for a while longer, then switched highways in Eugene. It is beautiful and sunny, and we are loving everything about this place. We decided we were deserving of ice cream and discovered that the US of A does not have Smartie mcflurries… or Smartie anything for that matter! They are also missing things like ketchup chips, Tim Hortons, Coffee Crisp, Aero bars, etc. But they have vanilla coke, much to our delight! And everything is cheaper!

 We stopped in Florence for groceries and also purchased some very essential window markers. Now we are getting all sorts of interesting looks from people as our windows are decked out with autographs and phrases such as “California Bound” and “Honk if you love Canada!” (Ironic for July 4^th J) We also succeeded in getting our first cop warning and are currently riding the windy road along the coast, awaiting our first appearance of the ocean!

[ Written by Kait n Net ]