Escape Road Trip - Day Five

Our first night in the trailer was peaceful and very comfortable. It had been extremely hot during the afternoon and early evening, but we opened up all the windows and ran the Maxxfan all night. It actually got a little chilly. I'll take that over being too hot any day!

The campground has quite a bit of green space. This little park is situated near the office and pool.

The sites on this side of the lake were still relatively empty, but by Friday they were completely full.

Lots of beautiful, tall trees providing plenty of shade.

The RV on the right is my dad and stepmom's Airstream Land Yacht motorhome. Very roomy, but I'm not quite ready to drive something that large!

I like that our awning doesn't have the extended arm supports. Those are too easy to walk into, if one weren't paying attention to where one might be walking...

Pretty cute!

Another shot of the lake. It was very peaceful as people were just beginning to wake up and start cooking their breakfasts.

The ducks were awake and busy.

The day flew by very quickly. Grocery shopping, walks around the campground and more organizing inside the trailer. Time for a cocktail!

Pretty content just relaxing in the shade before starting dinner.

This is an awesome little propane grill! Thanks, Amy!

The makings for chicken tacos. Mmmm.

Livin' the dream. All he needs is a beer and his fishing pole.

I love all these trees, which remind me of Sequoia and the Redwood National Forest. The smoky sunset is due to the fires in British Columbia. 


August 3, 2017
Lynden KOA, Washington

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Escape Road Trip - Day Three & Four

Tuesday, August 1st - We took the ferry from Kingston over to Edmonds and headed for the Canadian border. To say we were excited is quite an understatement! We were also a little bit nervous. After all these months of planning, would the trailer be everything that we envisioned? Would we have all the essential "stuff" to camp for the next five nights? Did we have all our paperwork, cashier's check, passports, etc. for the actual purchase? Ok, maybe Rod wasn't nervous, but I was. Not only have I never backed up a trailer, I've never even pulled one!

I'm not sure why this shows such a long passage, but it's really only about 30 minutes from terminal to terminal.  It was a pretty crossing, although a bit hazy, and Mount Rainier was hiding.

We stopped for lunch at Coconut Kenny's in Bellingham and I was pleasantly surprised. I expected a mediocre sandwich shop, but my Boogie Board sandwich was delicious! The Hawaiian bread they bake fresh every day is to die for. Next time, we'll have to try their pizza!

Not too much of a line. We may have waited 10 or 15 minutes total.

We were bringing in the limit of allowed alcohol (2 bottles of wine per person), we weren't carrying any firearms, and we had our passports and yet, I was still nervous. These guys never smile and don't take off their sunglasses. I was actually surprised that the Canadian guard was more hardcore than his U.S. counterpart. I was driving, so I had to answer all his questions. I can't remember what he asked, but the subject of bear spray came up. I wasn't sure what we had since Rod had purchased it, so I had to look. I felt like saying, "I'm reaching down for the spray now." I didn't want him to think I was reaching for a gun! We also had to explain why we visiting Canada and how long we would be staying. He wanted to know how we were planning to pay for the trailer. Guess he wanted to know if we had a bunch of cash on us. I was glad when he waved us on.

After checking into our hotel, we decided to drive by the factory and take a little peek. We didn't stick around since our orientation appointment wasn't until the next morning. 

Wednesday, August 2nd - After a long day, we are finally proud owners of a 19 foot Escape Trailer! And, more importantly, I drove it from Sumas, Washington (where the Escape folks transferred ownership to us, so we wouldn't have to take it through customs) to our K.O.A. campsite in Lynden, Washington. All of 18 miles. Thankfully, our site was a pull-thru and not one I had to back into. Baby steps.

We had a very thorough two-hour orientation with the folks at Escape and after making our final payment, we headed back to the border crossing. All went well going back into the U.S. (phew!) and we met the delivery driver with the trailer in Sumas. I backed the truck up to the hitch without any trouble and we were on our way! It was very hot (96 degrees) and smoky (from the fires in British Columbia) and that beer tasted really good. 

Two out of three are Canadians.

2 propane tanks in front. Electric trailer jack. Rock guard over the dinette window. Side windows are in the dinette and bedroom.

Another bedroom window at the back. Small window by the door is over the kitchen sink. Rod is hooking up the water and has a pressure regulator to attach to the hose.

There's a receiver on the back of the bumper for a bike rack, which we'll eventually get. Nice to have bikes to ride for fun, as well as scout out areas for boondocking before actually pulling the trailer down an unknown road.

This K.O.A. is so pretty. Lots of trees and a couple of nice lakes for fishing or paddleboats. The ducks and geese seemed to enjoy the cool water. There's also a miniature golf course, a pool, a playground and a sand volleyball court. We arrived on a Wednesday and it was surprisingly peaceful, in spite of all the small children and dogs. It really only began to get noisy on Friday afternoon when the weekend crowd started to show up. We could put up with that for a night since we knew we were leaving in the morning, but we agreed we wouldn't want to make a habit of camping at a K.O.A. on a weekend.

Our site with full hookups for three nights. The back window is where the bed is. We didn't really need the awning, since we were in the shade, but we wanted to test it out. It has a wind sensor and retracts when it gets too windy.

You didn't really think he was retired, did you? Maybe from his 9-5 job, but he's picked up some freelance work and had a deadline. At least he doesn't have to wear a suit and tie anymore!

August 1-2, 2017
Kingston, Washington to Chilliwack, British Columbia to Lynden, Washington

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Escape Road Trip - Day One & Two

It's been almost a month since we picked up our Escape 19 travel trailer in Chilliwack, British Columbia, so I thought I'd share some pictures from that trip. Enjoy!

Since we were planning to spend five nights camping once we picked up the trailer, we had to haul all our gear to Canada. We had lots of storage tubs in the cab and bed of the pickup, the latter of which had to be moved into our hotel on the night prior to getting the trailer! What's in those tubs? Water hoses, black tank hoses, wheel chocks, kitchen gear and dishes, non-perishable food, clothes, guitar, camp stove & grill, chairs, table, heater, fishing gear, etc. Did we need to bring everything? Well, pretty much! No time for fishing, but we were prepared.

I'm pretty sure this is Mount Hood. I need a map with all the mountains in our area!

My partner in this exciting adventure. We have been counting the days for this moment! 

Call me a Luddite, but I still like maps on paper. What you don't see in this photo is the RV stand-alone GPS, as well as Rod's cellphone running Google Maps. In spite of all these maps, we still managed to get lost when we decided to get off of I5 to avoid a traffic delay due to bridge work. 

Spotted this cutie on I5 near Olympia where we were pretty much stuck in traffic for what felt like several hours, but was probably only one or two.

Love this view! Mount Rainier was much more visible than my photo depicts. The ferry goes from Kingston to Edmonds and sounds its horn very early in the morning. Guess it makes for a nice alarm clock.

Beautiful boats in the Kingston marina. 

Love their mini doughnuts fresh out of the oil and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. Yum! (No photo since they were rapidly devoured.)

Such a gorgeous day on the peninsula. I could gaze at this view for hours.

Relaxed and ready for our adventure!

Delicious dinner at this new-to-us restaurant. The fish sliders are worth returning for (which we did later in the month).

Our fellow travelers and camping experts/advisors. 

Evening shot of Mount Rainier and Kingston/Edmonds ferry.

Amazing how it dwarfs Seattle. I can just make out the Space Needle.

It wouldn't be a vacation without ice cream, right?

July 30-31, 2017
Depoe Bay, Oregon to Kingston, Washington

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Wordless Wednesday

Cascade Head

Nature reserve in Tillamook County, Oregon

August 15, 2017

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Wordless Wednesday

Excited new owners!

K.O.A. in Lynden, Washington

August 2, 2017

Lunch with a Blogmate!

I met Juli, (also known as SuziQ of Whimpulsive) online over 10 years ago when we were both fairly new to blogging. Whenever either she or I would post pictures of our travels down the Oregon coast,  particularly to The Chowder Bowl in Nye Beach, we would tell each other that someday we would have to meet there for lunch. Well, it wasn't the Chowder Bowl, but we finally got together in Nye Beach at The Taphouse. And do you know what? It didn't feel at all strange meeting a longtime blogmate. Surprisingly, we didn't talk about books, but rather about travel, retirement, and life in Oregon.  And our husbands enjoyed getting to know each other, as well. Now that Rod & I are living on the coast, we hope to see Juli and Jeb again sometime soon, especially if there's good beer involved!

Sadly, we didn't get a photo with Rod. Next time!