The Trip South – Part 1 – AC

After a couple days of packing and repacking, we had finally compacted Davon’s belongings down to ¾ of a truck full, compared to my 1 and a half suitcases. (She had all these frivolous things like dishes and bedding!) We woke up on Monday morning at 4am to begin the trip south, loaded the last of our belongings into the truck, picked up Davon’s mom and Tim, then hit the road. We made it as far as Starbucks and the gas station to fill up Tim and the truck. After a 3h drive to the southern tip of Vancouver Island, we arrived in Victoria ready to catch the Black Ball Ferry into the USA. (yes, it really is called the Black Ball Ferry). The US customs guys come along, car by car, to check your paperwork. Davon looked a bit dodgy so was asked to step out of the vehicle and place her hands on the hood of the vehicle, much to the enjoyment of everyone else. Just what you need at a US border crossing, a wise-guy customs officer who you can’t read as being serious or joking with anything he says.

Washington State was a bit of a blur as we drove down towards the Pacific coastline. There was a lot of green and abandoned houses intermingled with large mounds of oysters shells from the local shellfish fishery. Davon had the GPS set to the ‘shortest’ rather than the ‘fastest’ route at one point in Oregon. This resulted in a detour off the main highway and through beautiful farmland onto a narrow gravel road. At the end of the road, the GPS told us to turn right into a farmer’s field to cross the remnants of an old wooden bridge to get back to the main road. For the crystal glassware’s sake, we backtracked to the main road.