Vancouver Island Happenings

Chrome Island Lighthouse - Just off Denman Island

Before we cover the ‘difficulties’ over the past month, let us begin with the great time we enjoyed on Vancouver Island (known as ‘The island’ up here.) In 2004 we had planned to stay only 2 weeks on The Island, but ended up staying 7 weeks. We liked it so much then that we decided to come back for 4 more weeks. So, we loaded our 5th wheel onto a ferry in Tsawwassen, British Columbia and sailed on a beautiful day to The Island landing in Nanaimo. Nanaimo is about 1/3 of the way up the east coast of Vancouver Island which is over 300 miles from Victoria in the South to Port Hardy in the North. Most of the people live on the eastern side of The Island since the weather & waters are much calmer and a road could be built along the coast. The west coast has a number of fjord-like inlets and the weather can be quite severe at times.


The weather while on The Island was fantastic. It was sunny most days and the high temp reached 80 degrees only 1 day. We even enjoyed a couple of days where the high was only in the upper 50’s. What a change from last year when we were in Austin with day after day of 100 degrees. We visited many of our favorite places again, like Telegraph Cove, Alert Bay, Pacific Rim National Park (Tofino & Ucluelet), Chemainus, and Victoria. In Chemainus (noted for murals painted on buildings) we photographed the new murals that had been added recently. In Victoria, we walked the harbor waterfront and went back to Butchart Gardens to enjoy the beautiful flowers in a different season this time. The Gardens are open all year and so you see different plants & flowers throughout the year.

We visited 5 islands off the east coast by ferry (going without the 5th wheel) to Alert Bay on Cormorant Island, to Sointula on Malcolm Island, Denman Island, Hornby Island, & Quadra Island. In addition, we added 11 additional lighthouses photographed to our total. In 2004, we were not really into lighthouses and had missed quite a few. So, we made up for it this time.

This year seems to be the year for us to ride ferries. We figured up (including the Alaska trip) that we boarded ferries 21 times (sometimes with the 5th wheel, sometimes in just a truck or car, & sometimes walked on). Of course, every time you go to an island, you must ride a ferry to get back – so the numbers add up.

If you haven’t guessed by now, Vancouver Island is one of our favorite places. If we were Canadian, this place would be right on top of places to retire to. If you ever get to Tofino, make sure you visit First Nations artist Roy Henry Vicker’s Eagle Aerie Galley. We have many of his paintings (small copies, of course, to fit in the RV) and we added more to our collection this visit. The Island is covered with beautiful old tall trees and many of the Provincial Parks have very large forested sites (our favorite this year was Little Qualicum Falls Provincial Park).

Now to the unplanned ‘exciting’ times we had.

• Our difficulties started before we even left Washington when our A/C stopped putting out cold air. We have not had it fixed and, fortunately with our great weather so far, this has not been a problem.

• After crossing the border, the truck engine started losing power and started ‘smoking’. The ‘smoking’ was due to coolant splashing on the engine since Jan forgot to put the lid back on after adding some coolant. What luck! The cap was still on top of the engine! Fortunately, the engine never got too hot.

• After a bit, the engine started running better, so we went on to Nanaimo and had the fuel filters changed. The mechanic noticed that silver flakes were floating in the fuel & the fuel was murky. He did not know what the problem was (maybe bad fuel), so we had the tank removed, cleaned out and re-mounted. Later, in looking on the Internet, we found out that some Ford F450 & F550 fuel tanks delaminate (the aluminum coating inside the steel tank flakes off). Since the tank will eventually rust, we ordered a new one to be shipped from Ontario to Nanaimo. When we got to Nanaimo, the tank had not arrived as scheduled. So, we waited 3 extra days – still no tank – so we went on. Hopefully, we can make it back to Texas with a few flakes still in the fuel.

• To top it off, when we were about 20 miles north of Campbell River, we noticed smoke coming out the back of the trailer. We pulled off and found out that the trailer back tire on the driver’s side was on fire. FORTUNATELY, people were following us and with their help and with their & our fire extinguishers, we got the fire out before the rest of the trailer caught fire. What a feeling to envision almost everything that you own almost go up in smoke!

• There was no cell phone coverage where we were, and again by good fortune, a wrecker driver came by and radioed for a big low-bed wrecker to load our trailer onto. We backed our 5th wheel onto the wrecker and then followed it back to Campbell River in our truck.
• It was determined that the problem was caused by the brake controller activating the trailer brakes without pressing the brake pedal. One set of brake pads were really worn down & one set of pads were completely worn down - so the metal-on-metal grinding with the rotor got hot enough to set the brake fluid and tire on fire.
• Amazingly, the tire on fire did not blow out. We had the tire replaced and the brake calipers and pads on all 4 wheels replaced. Plus the 8 studs & lug nuts replaced on the one wheel (these are made of brass and the heat caused the threads to get messed up).
• I had just recently replaced the brake controller, so after the fire, I put the previous brake controller back on. All is working well now.
  

• One last problem – In Nanaimo, Jan was backing up the truck and hit a stump with the running board. So, Jan took off the running board (made with fiberglass) and with some Bondo, spray paint, and the bending of some brackets it is “almost” back to normal.

• We did have to replace a burnt out taillight, but this really seems so insignificant now.

After all of this, we still really enjoyed our time in Canada. We had a great visit with friends that we met in 2004 in Chemainus and met some really great people that helped us when we needed a hand.

We are now in Chimacum, Washington on the Olympic Peninsula. Tomorrow we plan to start our meandering down the Oregon and California coast snagging some more lighthouse photos and visiting with relatives on our way to the San Diego area. Then, it will be back to Texas by the middle of November.

Upper Little Qualicum Falls

Bald Eagle looking down on our Ucluelet campsite area

Cliffs near 3-mile trail in Helliwell Provincial Park on Hornby Island

Large wooded campsite in Little Qualicum Falls Provincial Park

Wild Pacific Trail in Ucluelet (in Pacific Rim area)

Pulteney Point Lighthouse - The flotsam washes up from both sides of the point.

Young First Nations dancers in The Big House in Alert Bay on Cormorant Island

Our trailer backed onto wrecker for trip to Campbell River

Chainsaw carving competition in Campbell River - 'The World Can Be a Heavy Load'

Sunken Garden in Butchart Gardens

'City of Welland Germany 1996' rose in Butchart Gardens

Marigolds in Butchart Gardens

Trips Thru Alaska Inside Passage Plus Olympic Peninusla

Eldred Rock Lighhouse - South of Skagway

After reaching the Olympic Peninsula in northwestern Washington State, we parked our 5th wheel in an Escapees RV Club CO-OP Park and left out of Seattle on a Norwegian cruise ship thru the Alaska Inside Passage. We enjoyed a rather relaxing trip since we did not sign up for any of the (sometimes very tiring) on-shore excursions. Jan had located the coordinates of all possible lighthouses along the way and used a GPS device that listed the speed of the ship, how far away each lighthouse was, and in what direction to look for it. So, on the way, we arranged our meals and activities around making sure that we did not miss one (except for those that we could not see at night).


Our ports of call were Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, & Prince Rupert, BC. We disembarked the ship in each place and strolled thru the towns. In Skagway we visited the Klondike National Historic Site where we got the passport stamp and listened to a talk on the Volunteer Fire Department (quite interesting to us since we had both been volunteers back in Texas). The Ranger there was being transferred to the National Park Service site on Guam (a place that we probably will never get to for a passport stamp). Cathy visited the quilt shops in all ports (except in Prince Rupert which did not have one) looking for and finding Alaska themed fabric. One of the highlights on the trip was seeing the Dawes Glacier in the Endicott Fjord.

After this trip and a few days of rest we rented a car and drove 800 miles around the Olympic peninsula. Some of the highlights were:

• Taking photographs of 10 lighthouses. One was on the northwestern tip of the continental US at Cape Flattery and we also climbed the tallest lighthouse in Washington (Grays Harbor in Westport, WA)
• Driving up 18 miles and a 5,230 ft gain in elevation in Olympic National Park to Hurricane Ridge to see beautiful mountain tops.
• Hiking in the Hoh Rainforest in Olympic National Park to see the lush green forest plants.
• Driving by the beautiful Lake Crescent in Olympic National Park
• Driving along the Pacific coastline
• Visiting the communities of Forks and La Push. These are the main locations for the Twilight series novels (werewolves and vampires) that are especially popular with teenage girls today. There are an estimated 3,000 people that come to these small communities every month to see the places mentioned in the novels (such as the high school, hospital, police station, some of the main characters homes, and First Beach). We drove around and took photos of the main places (plus a lighthouse keepers home that was converted to a school in La Push) and sent them to our teenage granddaughter.

We had heard that the way to see the real Alaska is to go by ferry. The ferry goes at a much more relaxed pace, stops at places the cruise ships don’t go to, and sails thru much more of the inside passage in British Columbia. So, after a week’s rest we took our 5th wheel to Bellingham, WA and left it at an RV friend’s house. The next day they drove us to the Alaska Marine Highway ferry terminal where we started our 2 week ferry adventure back to Alaska (without a vehicle). The first leg of the journey took over 2 days aboard the Columbia ferry. We could not get reservations for a stateroom and were planning to sleep in the passenger seats. We could have also taken a tent and pitched it (tied down with duct tape) on the top decks (which many do, but we decided against it). Fortunately, we signed up on the standby list & were paged for the last 2-person stateroom which made sleeping much more comfortable.

With the only scheduled activity onboard being a few short talks by a National Forest Ranger, there was plenty of time to sit and watch the beautiful scenery, scan for signs of whales, read a book, talk with other passengers, and (of course in our case) look for and photo lighthouses. What a different and more relaxing experience than on a cruise ship!

We got off the ferry in the small community of Wrangell. While there, we had time to walk around the town and talk with local folks and get a much better idea of what life is like up in Alaska. After spending a restful night in a B&B there, we boarded the Taku ferry for a four hour ride thru the beautiful Wrangell Narrows to Petersburg. After leaving the ferry we spent the rest of the day walking thru town and, of course, Cathy visited the quilt shop in town. Our B&B for the night was very convenient since it was only about a block away from the ferry terminal & we had a great view of the waterfront and eagles diving for fish,

The next morning, we boarded the Fairweather (a high speed catamaran ferry) and enjoyed the smooth four hour ride to Juneau. After spending a day of rest in Juneau, we flew in a small plane to Gustavus (the Glacier Bay National Park headquarters) for two nights at the Glacier Bay Lodge. The highlight of our stay there was going on a day long boat ride into Glacier Bay National Park (narrated by a Park Ranger) to see three tidal glaciers (those that end in ocean waters) plus wildlife (whales, sea otters, bear, seals, puffins, etc.). We also enjoyed nightly talks by a National Park Ranger at the visitor center located right in the lodge. The next day we flew in another small plane thru a beautiful mountain pass back to Juneau where we spent the rest of the day driving around the Juneau area visiting a quilt shop, seeing the great Mendenhall Glacier, and other sites.

The next day, since there was no scheduled ferry, we flew to Sitka and spent 2 days in this delightful historic community (not yet impacted too much by the cruise industry). Sitka at one time was the capital of Russian America and the influence of the Russian and native cultures are still quite evident (notable Russian buildings are the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Michael in the center of town & the Bishop’s House. The National Park Service operates the very good Sitka National Historic Park which includes a lot of the history plus a totem pole park.

As all things must come to an end, the day arrived for us to board the ferry (The Columbia again) for our 3 day and night trip back to Bellingham. We had managed to reserve a stateroom for the 3 nights and enjoyed the relaxing ride back to Bellingham.

The weather on both of our trips to Alaska in May and June was normal for this area (a tropical rainforest). A good bit of the time it was quite cool, overcast and cloudy with intermittent rain. But we did have a few great days when the sun was out and then the scenery was especially beautiful. The ferries and the cruise ship did not take the same routes and so we were able to add 24 lighthouses to our photo collection (bringing our grand total to 568).

After the ferry trip, we took it easy for a few days visiting with friends in Bellingham and for Jan to have and recover from a hernia operation in Bellingham. Fortunately, one of our college friends was a doctor who had practiced in Bellingham and he recommended the surgeon to us. All went well with the surgery and we were released to continue our travels after 2 weeks.


We are now in Campbell River on Vancouver Island in British Columbia.  We plan to tour what is known as 'The Island'  for 4 weeks before returning to the states. In a few weeks, after we get back into the US, we will put out another update which will cover some of our recent experiences (including one very close call with our 5th wheel). Until then, enjoy the following photos.

Sleeping Sea Otter

A sea otter "raft"

Green Island Lighthouse - In British Columbia (just below the Alaska border)

Green archway in the Hoh Rain Forest in Olympic National Park

Moss covered phone in the Hoh Rain Forest

Crescent Lake in Olympic National Park

A Tuffed Puffin in Glacier Bay

A brown 'black' bear lumbering along the shore in Glacier Bay

Dawes Glacier in Endicott Fjord

Mendenhall Glacier (north of Juneau)

Floating ice that calved from glacier

Side channel off of the Wrangell Narrows near Petersburg

Our cruise ship with the Seattle Space Needle in background

Back on the road again

Badlands National Park in South Dakota

After a long break in our travels we are back traveling and exploring North America. Right now we are in Bellingham, Washington. In order to bring you up to date, we will split this into 2 updates:

1. This one – our travels up to the Olympic peninsula area in the northwest.
2. The second one (in 2 weeks) – Our 2 trips to Alaska (cruise and on the Alaska Marine Ferry) plus our visit to Olympic National Park.

Here is what has happened since the beginning of 2009 (with some photos included below):

•  In April we were in Louisiana on our way to the east coast when we were diverted to the Austin Texas area to help Cathy’s brother David. With no warning, he developed a brain tumor and needed someone to help him since he lived alone and his daughter lives in London. For the next 9 months we lived in our rig parked on his driveway.
  
• In January this year, when his condition worsened, we moved him into an assisted living facility. With help from Cathy’s sister and other brother (who fortunately also live in the Austin area) we got his house ready to sell, disbursed his furniture etc., and fortunately completed the sale of the house by the 1st of March.
  
• We left David’s sister and other brother to help with his doctor’s visits etc. and we drove to Dickinson (close to Houston) for a month set aside for our annual doctor checkups etc.
  
• After camping a few days at the Escapees RV park in Livingston, TX (our “home base” address) we headed to McKinney (north of Dallas) to spend a month with our daughter’s family and grandkids plus help with major house repairs (like putting on a new roof on an addition).
  
• Finally, on April 8th we hitched up and started this year’s trek to the northwest.

Our first major goal was to be in Idaho for an RV rally with other owners of New Horizons 5th wheels and travel trailers. On the way, we visited with Jan’s brother in Kansas City and stopped at the following National Park Service sites:

1. Buffalo National River in Arkansas
2. Pipestone National Monument in Minnesota (This is where the Native Americans did [and still do today] quarry for the special stone used to make peace pipes).
3. Missouri National Scenic River in Nebraska
4. Niobrara National Scenic River (plus Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge) in Nebraska
5. Badlands National Park in South Dakota
6. Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument in Montana
7. Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area in Wyoming/Montana
8. Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming
9. Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho

The RV rally in Mountain Home, Idaho was a great time to learn RVing tips, reconnect with old friends and meet new ones. The best part (as it has been with previous rallies) was when we have open house and get to visit each other’s RVs to see how their home on wheels is configured. Each RV (5th wheel or travel trailer) is unique and was custom made in Junction City, KS . They only problem we had were the north cold winds which seemed to blow almost all of the time.

After the rally we headed to the Olympic peninsula in Washington State with a stop in Kennewick, Washington to photo a brand new functional lighthouse on the Columbia River – this was the 1st lighthouse we had seen in over a year. We then settled in at the Escapees COHO Evergreen Co-op RV park in Chimacum, Washington.

We plan to visit Vancouver Island for a month and then meander down the Pacific Coast to San Diego (of course seeing lighthouses).  Then we will head east thru the Grand Canyon (north rim) and Canyon de Chelly on our way back to Texas for the winter.

Winnewissa Falls in Pipestone National Monument in Minnesota

Bison in Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge in Nebraska

Yellow mounds in Badlands National Park

Part of the Indian Memorial at Little Bighorn National Battlefield Monument In Montana

Red rocks in Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area in Wyoming

Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area (view to the north from Devil Canyon overlook in Montana - accessed thru Wyoming)

Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area (view to the south from Devil Canyon overlook in Montana - accessed thru Wyoming)

A hot springs terrace at Mammoth in Yellowstone National Park

Distant photo of grizzly bear and vultures in Yellowstone National Park

Our campsite after a light overnight snow at Craters of The Moon National Monument Campground in Idaho

The new Clover Island Lighthouse in Kennewick, Washington