The Cat's out of the Bag!

Wilderness Lakes, Menifee, CA

We started this journey in the fall with the idea of doing a round trip from Ontario, to the South West and then up the West coast to Vancouver, BC and home through Canada. Somewhere along the line we changed our minds and decided to go straight home. 

The factors influencing our decision at that time were

• The huge distance
• Rising fuel prices
• Unpredictable weather going up the west coast
• The mountains and the fact that our little V6 truck would probably struggle a bit pulling the trailer.

The other day Michael was sitting outside pondering the trip and he suggested that seeing that we are already 1/2 way round the circle, we just carry on and play it by ear. After all we are not getting any younger. We plan to cross into BC by about April 20th and home in Ontario by mid May. So, here I am again, planning the trip. One little snag that I have come across is that we wanted to take CA 1 up the coast but there are sections of that road that are not open yet, due to washaways, rock slides and damage to bridges, after the big storms that hit the coast. We will try and travel the parts that are open. 

In California we want to see Solvang, The Hearst Castle, San Francisco, the Redwoods and if possible Yosemite.  I know that is a lot. 

In Oregon we will travel up the coast, staying in some Thousand Trails parks on the way and seeing our friends Jennifer and Kate in Eugene.

In Washington State, I would like to go to Sequim, which was my mother's favourite place. Of course we would like to see Seattle (I believe it is awful to drive through). 

We have friends from Africa in the Vancouver area and we would like to explore that city as well. A problem is that campground fees are very expensive, as in San Francisco, so we will see. 

I have plotted a route through the Rockies on Flattest Route to see our nephew and his wife, Daryl and Julie, who live in Lethbridge, AB. After that it is pedal to the metal to get back to our home park asap. 

If anyone has any tips or information for our trip, we are open to all suggestions. If anyone can offer us a free parking space anywhere, we will be very grateful.

This is a preliminary route map that I did to get an idea of the distance.

Thanks for following along and please leave a comment.