Eclectic Views

    
Anza Borrego is a great place, though I haven't been there in too many
years.

I am logging in from Salmon Arm, BC. I'm on a roadtrip, touring, car
camping and eating road food. Details when I have collected my
thoughts.
(I had details, but they became scattered when I braked suddenly)
  

    
Can't you get Mavis to retrieve them for you?
  

    
Car camping = sleeping in the car? Pulling directly up to a tent
space? Or a flexible term meaning either one?

Maybe a silly question, sorry. But it suddenly occurs to me, I never
questioned my understanding of it. We're backpackers, so "car camping"
is just what other people do.
  

    
I think of car-camping as excluding the carrying of a tent, etc. on one's
back into a site but not much else.  Sleeping in car, trailer, motel,
campsite, all included.
  

    
That's how I use it. I can't really carry a pack anymore, so I'm limited to 
going where my truck can take me (which is quite a lot of places). But once 
I get there, I haul out my gear and set up camp much as I would if I were 
backpacking.
  

    
With car camping you can have cold beer.
  

    
Well yeah, you can carry all kinds of stuff a pack can't :). It's a 
definitely different experience.
  

    
Oh, now, wait, wait, wait.

I was with you right up to the word "motel". 

Your secret is out, ya buncha weinies!  "Camping", indeed!
  

    
I am a proud car camper and do not stay in motels when I am in this
mode. My backpacking days are long over, but I do camp all-year-'round.

Although I was visiting friends in Blaine who have a big, nice house,
I slept in the VW camper anyway. Blaine is right along the border with
Canada. It is a major border crossing and somewhat of a travelers
bottleneck.

The townspeople are likely to work for the Border Patrol or US Customs
because there is little else to do. My friends are employed with
neither. Tommy has a VW shop in town and is the only game in town for
many stuck travelers. It is right along Peace Portal Drive, the main
drag into town, right along the water. A bald eagle hangs out on an old
piling near the shore about 75' from in front of his shop.

His wife drives a schoolbus for the local school district.
Her school district includes a curious part of the United States that
is accessable only from Canada, Point Roberts, WA. She makes four
border crossings a day, every day, in a yellow school bus. She carries
her passport with her everywhere, but she is never asked for it.

Instead of the Blaine boder crossing, I went a bit south and crossed
over there. Canada Customs was non-plussed that and old guy with a 33
year old rusty VW bus was driving up to Salmon Arm.

While driving up the Frazier Canyon yesterday, I saw an adult bald
eagle hanging out on a snag near a "Watch for elk" yellow roadsign. 

I stopped for fuel in Hope (CAD$.79 a litre) and then stopped at a
cafe and  had the "Loggers Breakfast" (which comes with six sausages).

Just outside of Hope I picked up a hitchhiker and dropped him off a
few kilometres away in Yale. He was a bit whiffey. More than a bit.

Up in Cache creek, I then picked up another (cleaner) hitchhiker, an
Ecuadorian rock climber. I dropped him off in Kamloops. He liked the
Rickee lee Jones cassette that I was playing in my VW as we drove up
the canyon at 100 kph.

Just before Salmon Arm, I picked up a third hitchhiker, a cute Belgian
20-something gal who was working at the nearby youth hostel, but on
her way to Salmon Arm to see a play. She laughed at my jokes and took a
phot of me as she got out at a Husky gas station in town, right next
to the theatre.
  

    
> It is right along Peace Portal Drive

Well, that will have to be renamed along with those foreign fries.
  

    
I mean by car camping what <jnfr> means.  I do not count staying in motels
as a form of camping.  Usually I sleep in a tent, if weather or privacy
issues require it, or just in a bag on a ground cloth, if they do not.
These days I travel alone.
  

    
> I was with you right up to the word "motel"

Maybe I should say that what I meant was en route; presumably staying in
motels from start to finish is an, er, expansive definition of "camping".
  

    
I have been known to stay in a motel en route to car camping. I also love 
road trips.
  

    
Likewise.

TFTP
  

    
Salmon Arm was lovely. Of course, the whole Okanagan Valley is
beautiful. If you have not been there, go. Nice people, great scenary,
low prices. http://www.okanagan.com/

I went to cheese factories for aged gouda, I went to garden centers
for flower seeds, I took naps and drank wine (not in that order).
BTW, Canadians are just darn nice. 

The Langley border crossing was a snap, the sole Customs officer
seemed satisfied with my explanation (visiting old BMW m/c friends) as
to what I was doing in BC. After crossing, I skirted along the road
that runs parallel just a few yeards from the border. It was about 9:00
pm. With my H4 headlamps on highbeam, I spotted the Border Patrol
officers parked at regular intervals along the border. Their cars'
reflective green logos alerted me to them, as I drove by I could see
that they were reading newspapers. In additon to heat detection
devices, the border there now has a line of video cameras and they
watch everything. People coming through the woods with backpacks get
caught daily. 

Back in Blaine, I hung out with the locals at the "locals only"
breakfast cafe. Out of work fishermen, intentional slackers and
early-retired folks all encouraged me to move up to Blaine and hang out
with them. Very tempting. 

I left Blaine yesterday, taking the time to toodle down Chuckanut
drive http://www.chuckanutdrive.com/ and taking a nap at a roadside
pulloff. I am, uh, "camping" at my brother's condo in Edmonds now.
  

    
Sounds great, Joe. Wish *I* were there. 
(instead of watching the war on tv)
Thanks for checking in.

Re: Canadians are nice. Yeah, my Dad's one. 
  

    
I remember a car trip up through the Okanagan Valley in summer, and
the wonderful fruits available. Thanks, Joe.
  

    

Chuckanut Drive's gotta be one of the most spectacularly beautiful
stretches on a road.
  

    
The Society of American Travel Writers polled its members about their
favorite American highways and roads. The Top 10 list is accompanied by
comments from some of the writers.

1. Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia and North Carolina -- "A road along
the mountain crest -- marvel at changing vistas and suddenly yawning
chasms."

2. Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway in South Dakota -- "This 70-mile loop,
including Iron Mountain Road, Needles Highway and Custer State Park,
winds through tall rock formations and tunnels, offering occasional
views of Mount Rushmore."

3. Port Townsend to Neah Bay on Washington's Olympic Peninsula --
"This sensory drive experience includes a Victorian seaport,
19th-century general stores and an island lighthouse."

4. Mount Cheaha in Alabama -- "A very straight road with a 30-degree
angle drop from the mountain -- for 3 miles."

5. Going-to-the-Sun Highway in Glacier National Park, Montana -- "A
narrow winding road over the top of the Rockies. . . . Hugs the side of
the mountains up and over the Continental Divide."

6. Great River Road near Baton Rouge, La. -- "This path snakes along
the Mississippi River through the old plantations, many of which are
open for tours -- you'll swoon like Scarlett O'Hara."

7. Great River Road in Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin -- "Crisscross
the river via many bridges, dams and locks to take in the beauty and
cultural flavor of these states."

8. Kancagamus Highway in New Hampshire -- "A wilderness drive
stretching from the Pemigewassat River to the Saco River, filled with
gorges, waterfalls and mountain overlooks."

9. Overseas Highway through the Florida Keys -- "Unspectacular is the
road itself, which tethers the scattered isles from Key Largo to Key
West. But Route 1 serves up the dreamiest views of crystalline waters
and tropical life teeming above and among the reefs."

10. Acadia National Park in Maine -- "I grew up in the area and I'm
still in awe of the changing mountain, lake and ocean views."

http://www.startribune.com/stories/1513/3967996.html
  

    
#4 goes through my Forest.  come visit.
  

    
I would only visit if the Major's wife has some unmarried friends.
  

    

got one, static.  come on down.
  

    

I've been on 1, 8, 9 and 10.   I'd love to see the others.
  

    
3 and 5 are among my favorites.
  

    
How can they fail to include hwy 395 from Mono Lake to Owens Lake?
Astonishing desert vistas plus the soaring Eastern Sierra, the steep sideof
the range of light!