Monday, December 5, 2011

Day 1 - At Home on the Road

Longest day in history.  Up at 5:30am to finish packing up the last of my belongings. Did I mention I was moving out of my rental the day I left for the trip?  Most of the cleaning was done, just a few touch-ups here and there, and one more load for the storage locker.  Managed to get everything done in time for the 9:00 inspection - which went until about 9:45 (chit chat, yackity yack).  Got that done, then it was off.  Except that I still had to squeeze 3 months worth of 'must haves' into the truck.  Not a big deal for most, but I was taking a mountain bike, a road bike, and a dual sport motorcycle.  Plus, all the appropriate riding gear & tools.  The truck was packed to the gills.  Left my home for the past 4 years for the last time at 11:15am.

An hour later I'm at the border.  I won't go into details here, but it was not an easy crossing.  "Why you got so much stuff".  Took me an hour to get through, but off I went.  Quick stop at Ship Happens to pick-up some bike stuff I had ordered - including a new set of tires for the moto (more crap to pack into the overly full truck).  It's now almost 3, so I book it down to Bellingham and get to the task of trying to find a used travel trailer to look at on route.  The plan was to buy one, come back to BC to register it, then head back down south.  Not ideal, but it would save me about $500 in taxes.  Due to the border issues, I thought it best not risking going over again.  I'd buy one on route, and just keep on trucking.

Free WiFi was now the prize I coveted.  Time to hit a Starbucks or McDs - most locations have it.  Got a call into a guy around Seattle and left a message to call me back.  My mobile service doesn't work in the US, so I'd have to find more free WiFi to retrieve the message.  No point in waiting around, as this was the only possible deal until I hit the Oregon border.

Arrived around 8:00 in the guy's town, and was able to talk to him.  He wouldn't be home for another hour, so it was dinner time.  One of the 'bucket list" items is a 5 lb burrito, so I figured some training was in order.  Fired up my GPS an hit "Chipotle".  Mmmm, one just a few miles away.  Perfect.

Met the guy at 9:00.  Saw the trailer, looked perfect.  Now comes "the haggle."  40 minutes of back and forth (and both he & his wife trying to find the title), and we agree on a number.  We sort out the paper work, load some stuff from the truck to the trailer, hook it up, and I'm gone at the unimaginable hour of 11:30pm.  Let's see how far we can get before Mr Sandman comes knocking.

At about 1:30 it was game over.  Pulled into a rest stop just south of Olympia, WA.  By 2am I was in bed.   That was a loooooooong 21hr day for only 260 miles of driving.  A late morning departure from the rest area was imminent.

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