EASTER BRUNCH AND HEADING HOME

The neighbourhood Easter Sunday brunch was a huge success with great food, conversation and fun.  New to us was the process of making an omelette in a bag.  You put a scoop of beaten raw eggs into a plastic zip bag (with your name on it) and then add items like chopped ham, peppers, ground beef, onions, etc. and then place the sealed bag in a pot of boiling water.  It cooks for 10 to 15 minutes, depending on how much egg mixture you had, and then your omelette is ready to go on your plate.  It was recommended that the cheese be added afterwards which seemed to work just fine.  In addition to the egg dish, there were bowls of fruit, a variety of hash brown style potatoes, muffins, Danish and Bloody Mary’s or Mimosa’s to drink.  The timing of the brunch was great as we were able to say “goodbye” to everyone before leaving the next day.

NICE OUTDOOR KITCHEN

We had quite a few things to bring home and filled up the box of the truck, the back seat and put the bikes on a rack attached to the receiver hitch.  Some of the stuff we brought is to be left at home and we certainly won’t be as loaded down when we return in the fall.  We had to manage our fresh food carefully as we had to pack anything left in the fridge into a Styrofoam cooler.  We made ice blocks by freezing water in milk jugs and they kept everything cold for the entire trip.

We left Surprise on April 1 at 8:15 and drove to Ely, NV going on highway 93 through Las Vegas.  I was quite different travelling without the trailer, which we left in behind on the lot that we had rented for the winter.  We couldn’t go on the route north of the Grand Canyon as there was a big sinkhole that destroyed part of the highway near Page, Arizona and the detour around would have added a few hours to the trip.  We did take a slightly different route than usual and went on a section of highway 93 through Caliente, NV rather than on Highway 318 as we did before.  It was scenic but it added half an hour to the trip and there were a lot more corners and steep sections.  It wouldn’t have been a good towing road at all.

BIG RAIN CELL NORTH OF CALIENTE 

On our second day, we drove to Pendleton, OR (950 km) and celebrated Stuart’s birthday by ordering pizza.  It was really good and they delivered it right on time, not like our Christmas Eve pizza experience.  The third day got us home and we by-passed Spokane on the west by taking highway 95 that goes past Lake Roosevelt up to Kettle Falls.  We wanted to stop in Colville for fuel so we took a cross road to get to highway 395.  It was an interesting route, not much traffic and we still managed to get good fuel economy.

LAKE ROOSEVELT

Our border crossing was easy—the agent asked a few questions and then waved us through.  We arrived at home in the early afternoon and all was in good shape here at our Grand Forks home.  It was so nice to be home again and the unpacking didn’t take nearly as long as it usually did with the RV.  Overall, the whole trip was easier without towing so we’re glad that we made that decision.

Now we’re getting back to the home routine and have already started on some yard work.  I’ll save the details for next time.