Monday, July 9, 2018
Day 25
165 miles
Daisy and I spent two nights (July 7 and 8) at the Fort Steele
RV Resort in Fort Steele, British Columbia. This gave us time to rest, do
laundry, and clean the RV—household tasks that are necessary even if you are
taking your home on the road! Then we crossed the border back to the US and
spent three nights in northeastern Washington. These photos are from our
travels on July 9 and that night’s stay at the Gillette Campground in the
Colville National Forest.
Before
we left our campground at Fort Steele, Daisy took this photo of our truck camper
with the MacDonald Range of the Rocky Mountains in the background.
Traffic was light with cars and logging trucks to share the road with.
We also had to share the road with ongoing construction and maintenance projects. At times, this meant stopping and waiting for pilot cars to lead us through the one-lane areas.
As we
drove south on Highway 3 through British Columbia on a beautiful clear day, we
had this great view of Moyie Lake.
We
crossed the border back into the United States at 11:15 Pacific Daylight Time.
We had spent 20 days in Canada and had driven 2,489 miles through Manitoba,
Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia. Our time visiting our northern neighbor was wonderful, but it was also good to be back home.
We had our passports, and our listing of consumables on board, available as we approached the border station. Signs were directing non-commercial traffic to a specific portal area but I went to where the commercial trucks were going much to the consternation of one border guard. There was a 11'6" height restriction there. We need 13'. When I stopped in the main lane and got out to indicate my height needs, he only then directed me to another area and another less stressed customs agent who asked about alcohol quantities we might be bringing into the country. There were no questions about produce or meat transportation this time.
It is
always good to be welcomed into another state, and we would certainly certainly see lots of
evergreens in Washington.
One of my early positions in the U.S. Forest Service was at the Colville National Forest, where I was the Other Resources Forester, responsible for all activities and resources other than timber management in this particular area.
We were, for the sake of nostalgia, going to spend this night in one of the campgrounds that I had managed several decades ago.
My responsibilities included recreation areas. I drove into one of my favorite places and stopped at the entry sign.
I told Daisy that seeing this sign that needed rehabilitation would not have happened on my watch! We set up for the night and went on an orientation hike.
Just before I worked at Colville, this sign was put up in the Gillette Campground to
observe the felling of a record-setting Larch tree.
The photo below shows me with the trunk of this 638-year-old tree around which I had given many nature interpretation talks in the past. It is amazing to
think that this tree started its growth in the early 1300s, nearly two
centuries before Columbus laid claim to “discovering” America.
I also told Daisy about the tall stacks on the outhouses here in the campground. Vault toilet odor was the number one forest recreational visitor complaint in 1990. Extensive work went into the development of passive vault toilet ventilation principles to reduce odor in the toilet user compartment. Passive ventilation of toilet buildings (nicknamed SST toilets) is very effective in most applications at removing odors from the toilet user compartment. They are designed to conduct air down from the baffled, vaulted collection chamber and convecting warmer waste collection smells up and out.
My first work task when I worked summers with the USFS in 1967 was to install, clean, and maintain early versions of these often smelly structures that we called pit toilets. I've got lots of stories about these. Ask me sometime if you have a strong stomach.
I
started the description of this day with a photo of our truck camper and I’ll end with another
one—this time surrounded by tall lodgepole pine and larch trees of the Colville
National Forest.
Tuesday, July 10
Day 26
28 miles
The next stops in northeastern Washington for Daisy and I were two nights (July 10 and 11) at the county fairgrounds RV park in Colville
then one night (July 12) at the town park campground in Omak. Highlights were
that we got to visit with friends old and new!
There were lots of log trucks on the highways as we traveled through northern Washington...
...so of course there were places where the logs were processed and transferred. Daisy took this photo to show something she had never seen before. The wood yard crane for the efficient handling of logs was amazing to watch.
It moved huge logs around like they were match sticks.
It was
important for me to visit people who had been instrumental in my early U.S.
Forest Service career and family life. Lynn (second from left in the photo below) was my mentor on the Colville Ranger District of the Colville National National Forest as I learned to be a District Forest
Ranger. He taught me by example how to lead and to work with people who depended on the
forests for their livelihood. Larry was the Forest Fire Management Officer. He trained me in the use of prescribed fire to renew the health of the forest
as well as gave me early skills in fighting wildfires. Lynn's wife, Johanna,
and Larry’s late wife, Lillian, were role models for the family side of
life.
We went out to eat at a place they recommended. It was called Stephani's. Of course they told Daisy a lot of humorous stories in which I played a key role.
Wednesday, July 11
Day 27
The next day, we got to spend the evening with Joseph M. de Leon. Joseph was a new friend we had first met on our RV caravan to Baja California, Mexico, last February. Through our continued friendship on Facebook, we learned that he had a seasonal job this summer on the Colville National Forest, so we made arrangements to meet him while we were there. I asked Joseph to wear his Forest Service uniform when he came to see us at our campground.
Joseph came by to pick us up for dinner and we went back to the same place we had eaten the night before - Stephani's. It was good to be able to visit about his experiences with the USFS and his dreams for the immediate future.
Thursday, July 12
Day 28
117 miles
The next day, we headed west to Omak, Washington to visit two more of my friends, Don and Sally Morgan Brecht.
Don was the family physician for Valorie and me and he brought Michael into the world.
A common interest was that both the Brechts and I owned and piloted private
airplanes from the Omak airport.
We also have in common another type of travel: truck campers. This photo shows our Host and their Arctic Fox in their driveway.
Sally prepared a great dinner for us that we shared in their lovely back yard.
Daisy says it seems appropriate to end this post with dessert! Huckleberry shortcake was another first for her, and it was delicious.
Prior to returning to the campground for the evening, we took a tour around Okanogan, the little town in which I had my first Ranger's Office. Our daughter Shannon, who was born in Colville, wanted me to go by the house that we had lived in, so of course we did. Then we were off to the campground for the evening. I have very special memories about my family then, this English tudor home, and the town in which I got to be a Forest Ranger.
I was blessed then and even more so now.
We returned to the campground to prepare for the next phase in this adventure--traveling across the North Cascade highway.
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