Note that there are TWO blogs in this entry, so be sure to scroll all the way down!!
Day 37 - Merritt BC to Pasco WA
We left Merritt BC this morning with our sights set on the border, as we were only about 150 miles away. Before reaching the border we again saw lots of logging and a huge saw mill just outside of Merritt. Our route took us from Keremeos to Osoyoos BC, which to our delight is a huge fruit and vegetable area. There were massive orchards of apples, peaches, and cherries along the way, in addition to fields of various vegetables. The road through Keremeos was lined with farmer’s market stands where we picked up some cherries and apples. In short order, we approached the border where there was a fairly long line. When we got up to the booth one of the things they asked was if we had any fruit. Oops - the answer was yes, which of course triggered a secondary inspection. Luckily they didn’t take anything and we were on our way. All total it took about half an hour to get through the crossing. As soon as we got into Washington, we started noticing smoke, and before long we were really in thick smoke from all the forest fires. We stopped at the Grand Coulee Dam but the smoke was so thick you couldn’t see much. We continued across Washington before stopping for the night at Hood Park in Pasco WA which is a really nice park right on the Columbia River.
We are glad to be in the land of pounds, gallons. and miles. The gas prices are also kind of nice…won’t be complaining anymore when the price goes up a few pennies, now that we know what our northern neighbors deal with!
Logs waiting to be made into lumber
Some really nice Farmer’s Markets along the way
A few more inches and we will be back in the USA
Lots and lots of smoke
The Grand Coulee Dam is quite a sight
Todays Stats:
| Miles driven: | 383 miles |
| Hours on road: | 10 hours, 15 minutes |
| Gas prices: | $3.96 |
Route:
Day 38 - Pasco WA to Glenns Ferry ID
In addition to a travel day, today was a day that proved out some new technology…. Several years ago we had a number of tire blow outs on our old trailer. That prompted me to build a tire vibration monitoring system to give early warning to pending problems. The system uses a number of accelerometers to measure the vibration of the tires. The theory being that most blowouts are caused by tread separation which usually starts with a bubble forming on the tire making it out of round. The information is processed by software that displays the vibration level on a display on the truck cab and also sounds an alarm if it detects what could be a problem. Well today - shortly after leaving this morning - as we were flying down the interstate, the system detected a possible problem with the right rear tire on the trailer. We quickly pulled over, and sure enough there was a huge bubble about 3” in diameter on the side of the tire. The bubble would most certainty blown and caused the tread to separate. Who knows what damage it could have done had we not stopped before it blew. We quickly changed the tire and were on our way in search of a tire store to buy our second new tire of the trip. The Alaska Highway sure does takes a toll on the tires. After getting a new tire, we continued on - finally stopping for the night at Glenns Ferry, ID at the Three Islands Crossing State park which is another really nice park.
Todays Stats:
| Miles driven: | 371miles |
| Hours on road: | 8 hours |
| Gas prices: | $3.76, $3.86 |
Route:
Sure glad your system worked and warned you about that bubble. Much easier to change a tire than to recover from a blow out. Welcome back to the States.
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