In This Post: What's new with us: Our Alaska Trip -- July 25 - Wednesday - Seattle to Cache Creek We are on an Alaska RV trip. We'll try to update you at least once a week about our adventures. It has been a few years since we last drove north on I-5 from Portland, Oregon. So, we were sort of surprised when we encountered very heavy traffic all the way from Portland, through Seattle and into Everett, Washington. Especially around Seattle. Our first day's journey (on a clear, sunny day) took us from the Seattle/Tacoma KOA to the Brookside Campground in Cache Creek, British Columbia. We left I-5 at Exit 256 and followed Highways 539, 546 and 9 to the border crossing at Sumas, WA. There was only one car in line when we arrived at Canadian Customs at 1:00 pm. The courteous officer wrote down our license plate numbers and entered them into a computer. Then he asked for identification (we gave him our passports). A number of questions followed: "Where do you live, How long will you be in Canada? Are you carrying any firearms? How much tobacco and alcohol are aboard? Any commercial products? Gifts for Canadians? Surprisingly he did not ask about food products, nor did he enter our RV. We continued north a short distance and turned east onto Trans-Canadian Highway 1. Highway 1 is a pleasure to drive. As it leaves Abbottsford it crosses relatively level farmland, moves into tree-covered hills, and then through mountainous terrain with many curves and a number of brief 6 and 7 percent grades. The route follows the Fraser and Thompson Rivers. This is a spectacular scenic drive. The Fraser Valley is better described as a canyon with vertical, tree-covered cliffs. Building the highway and two railroad tracks along this route is an engineering marvel. Traffic on the highway was extremely light. We arrived at the 97-site Brookside Campground in Cache Creek at 4:00 pm. There were only a few vacant sites when we arrived. The campground owner said we would take the last big-rig site he had available. A level pull-through site with 30-amp electric, water and sewer hookup cost $28.00. WiFi was also available for an additional $2.00. There were a lot of rental RVs in the campground. Most, if not all, were occupied by Europeans. All the Americans we spoke with were heading south. There were mixed reports about the condition of the Cassiar Highway. Read a detailed journal of our Alaskan journey in "RVing Alaska: Insights and Observations" Return To RV Know How ======================================================================================

In This Post:

What's New With Us: Life on Wheels and The Rally
Brief Article: Going Places
Vicki's Quick and Easy Recipes: Zucchini with Shallots
RVing Tip: RV Storage Tip


What's New with Us

We presented our RV lifestyle classes at the Life on Wheels Conference from July 16 through the 20th. This annual event has been held at the University of Idaho in Moscow Idaho since 1994. We particularly enjoy teaching here because we get a chance to teach serious RV students in an educational atmosphere. It is also an opportunity for us to get together with other RVing instructors with whom we have become good friends over the years.

Next, we presented seminars for five days at The Rally in Redmond, Oregon. This year's rally had 3,800 RVs of all descriptions camped on or near the grounds of the Deschutes County Expo Center. Most of those attending The Rally were members of the Good Sam Club. Our column, RV Insight, appears in "Highways", the Good Sam Club's monthly magazine. So it is no surprise to us that each of our seminars attracted between 250 and 700 people.

One of the benefits of attending a big rally is that some of the RV manufacturers provide minor repair services on their brand of RVs right in the rally campsites. We took advantage of this perk by asking Country Coach to replace both windshield wiper arms on our motorhome. Country Coach graciously complied and only charged us for the windshield wiper arms.

Monday the 23rd we leave Redmond and head for an RV park in Seattle, Washington where we will attend to some housekeeping chores before beginning our Alaska adventure.