I'm fed up. The weather this summer has been poor. We had a lovely May, the first week in June was nice; we had a couple of days this month, otherwise there's been nothing but rain. Looking out, it's dull and drizzly, more like autumn. On top of this my hip has started to play up this week. Earlier in the week I could hardly move and started on the strong painkillers I have. I rested a bit and it's now improving. I rang the hospital to find out where my name was on the waiting list as I was seen last November. They told me I would probably be in before Christmas. Between the weather and pain I'm note good company at present.

Hi Ann,

Sorry to hear you are in pain, it is no fun,especially if it is so restrictive,it sounds like the weather is not helping you, maybe it will improve when we get home. Our weather has been fabulous in fact St. Catharines was the hottest place in Canada at least twice this week, we have only had 2mm of rain for the whole month of July. I checked the 14 day forecast this morning and the hot weather is to continue. Hope you get pain relief sooner than later,thinking of you.

Beano

Ann, Hope your pain has eased somewhat, I don't understand why you cannot be treated in the Emergency room including an operation if necessary if the pain is so bad. Mauri

Thanks for all your thoughts. Beano, I am still looking forward very much to meeting you and Doreen soon. Donald, glad your complaint was only a bruise. Mauri, we have the National Health Service here. It has gone to the dogs. I have little pain compared to others on the waiting lists. Mine only flares up now and again. Others are in constant pain also have to wait a year, unless they go privately. I am not too bad now but will be glad to get the op over with. This ageing thing is no joke!!!!

This summer we went on a delayed tour of the North Western States, I say delayed because of a few setbacks to our health, which prevented an earlier departure. Frances was recovering from a fall that had broken her hip and that was brought on by an attack of shingles and I was tied up, having a cyst removed from my bladder.
We both got over these wee afflictions, as we like to call them, about the middle of June. Frances is still suffering from the affects of the palsy induced by the shingles, which has left her with a balance problem. On top of this she had difficulty closing her right eyelid, this was rectified by implanting a gold weight in her eyelid, to allow her to close same.
Anyhow we found a gap in our incessant medical appointments and booked a trip to our favourite resorts.
We set out July 1st and caught the Black Ball 10:30 am. ferry from Victoria to Port Angeles WA and from there we travelled the 101 to a little town called Sequim, pronounced Squim.
We always stop here at the Black Bear Restaurant as their breakfasts are fab.
Heaping plates of bacon, eggs, hash browns, toast and coffee for a reasonable price, just right after a two hour drive and one and a half hours on the ferry.
From there we drove through Olympia to the Holiday Inn in Chehalis WA and stayed there the night. Nice place but expensive this time of year.
Next morning we drove down the Interstate 5 through Portland, Salem, Eugene and Roseburg before arriving at Seven Feathers Hotel and Casino in Canyonville OR. This place was still excellent but more expensive, due to the summer traffic. Their casino was kind to us however, and we enjoyed our stay there.
After a couple of nights there we ventured SE on 5 through Grants Pass, Medford, Yreka and branched off on to Hwy 89 which took us to Susanville. This highway is lined with tall pine trees most of the way and is refreshing to drive through, after the heavy traffic of the Interstate. Eventually after about 6 1/2 hours we arrived in Reno NV and were lucky to get parked on the third floor level of the Eldorado Hotel and Casino parking structure, which is the same level on which their skywalk takes you into their reception desk.
We enjoyed three nights on the 15 th floor of their Luxury Tower, special deal of course, and were very lucky at their slots. Their buffet is fabulous and it was a splendid experience.
After a wonderful three days here. We headed NE on Interstate 80 through Lovelock, Winnemucca, Battle Mountain and finally Elko NV where we stayed a couple of nights in the Red Lion
Elko is a quiet little western town where tourists and local Cowboys meet. We were out in a local McDonalds and saw four of these clean cut guys, one with spurs even, still they seemed to fit in.
Again we fared well at the slots, the hotel was not in the class of the Eldorado, but what the hell, we took off north for Boise ID after a couple of days.
From Boise we left the Holiday Inn, nice place, and travelled to Wenatchee WA. We had not been there for about forty years and boy had it changed. I had trouble locating the HIE but eventually got there.
Then on to Kewlona BC where we stayed a couple of nights with a friend from Calgary before returning home.
Altogether we travelled 3908 kilometres in 13 days, a memorable trip. Don't know if we will be able to repeat same next year, but will try.
40

Hello Fortycoats, great to hear from you and read such an interesting and vivid report of your travels. First of all, I'm glad to hear that you are both well again and on the go. What a holiday you've had. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about it and was almost there with you because you described it all so well. I loved the casinos when I was in Reno although wasn't as lucky as you seem to have been. We need more posts like yours, taking us to other parts, and giving us a glimpse of different lifestyles. Thank you for giving my day a lift. Keep well both of you.

Hi Stan, Enjoyed your description of your motoring trip, reminded me of some of the long trips by automobile that Joy and myself done while we were working and then into our retirement.
While working and on vacation one summer we drove down to New Orleans,same year we drove down to Mexico then one year out to Vancouver upteen times to Florida especially after we retired and had a condo down there, going to Vancouver we went across Canada and home across the USA. "Memories"??. Mauri

Fortycoats and Mauri

Thank you for your amazing tales of travelling in the US. I have had the pleasure of visiting Canada and the States once, will hardly see these places again, so for me well, I'll just wander down the line with Donald............!

Ann, Mauri, Liz, we are delighted you found our recent trip so interesting.
Because of the length of my posting, I refrained from adding the following.

There is a graveyard near the Seven Feathers Casino in Canyonville which I sometimes visited, mostly to get a breath of fresh air and to get away from the poor paying slots, on some occasions. It is an old graveyard and there are veterans of the American Spanish war buried there, which makes reading the headstones interesting. One inscription caught my attention with a verse I had never heard before, which read:

If tears could build a roadway,
And memories a lane.
I'd march right up to heaven,
And bring you home again.

I always thought that was a moving tribute to a deceased wife, in this case.

In Susanville, Lassen County, California there used to be a Black Bear restaurant which we frequented, unfortunately it went on fire a few years ago and has been replaced by another, not in the Black Bear chain.

Susanville used to be named Roop Town after an early settler but eventually was named Susanville, after his daughter, Susan Roop. A little bit further south is Janesville, don't know anything about this town as it is a little off Hwy 395, but guess she was another strong pioneering woman.

A little further east of Janesville is Honey Lake, some lake, sometimes you might even see water in it, but it is a vast expanse of dry mud most of the time.

And a little further along 395 is what we call " The Shoe Tree ", this is a lone tree by the north side of the highway, on which people have slung pairs of laced gutties, tennis shoes, athlete's shoes , all tied together by the laces and flung up in the high branches of this tree. Most of this footwear is of good quality and anyone so inclined, could help themselves. There must be hundreds of pairs up there.

Further on is Halleujah Junction, and you can imagine the early settlers calling it by this name when they crested a ridge to the east and saw the flat plain ahead.

Then on through Red Rock Canyon, a vivid red canyon to the east of 395 and on to Reno. Self named " The Biggest Little City in the World "

We will stop here.
40

Fortycoats, enjoyed the additional posting, but my battery is VERY LOW so I'll comment later as we're going out.

Reno used to be a rough and ready Nevada gambling town, in some ways it still is, but they have done many things to improve the city. Twenty years ago, the railroad ran through the heart of the city at street level and it was a one busy railway. You could not escape the sound of the train whistles and the rumble of the freight cars, day and night. Now they have buried the tracks and the trains run quietly underground.

Near the Reno Arch on North Virginia Street, which reads, The Biggest Little City in the World, there used to be an Irish themed Casino named Fitzgeralds. Today this huge building seems to have been converted to apartments, Whitney Peak they call it, no more Fitzies. The Hilton has also disappeared and been renamed the Phoenix, a fitting name for modern day Reno.

Travelling from Reno NE on Interstate 80 towards Elko, the road follows the Humbold River a lot of the way with its twisty turney course and many ox-bow lakes. It is a particularly fast highway with a posted speed limit of 75 MPH which helps get you through the long journey in a hurry.

We spent a couple of nights in Elko before heading north on Nevada Highway 225

This scenic two lane mountain road takes you up through some high elevations and the scenery is beautiful, especially the peaks to the west, still clinging to traces of snow. We went over posted elevations of 5000 feet at some points and passed through Amerind villages, some with their old buildings still standing, these had been built using the dark brown rock, native to the surrounding hills.

As 225 crosses the Idaho border it becomes Hwy 51 and eventually takes you into Mountain Home and on to Interstate 84, where the speed limit is 80

I remember a couple of years ago travelling this same stretch, we had just turned on to this road and as I was getting the car up to speed, I noticed mile marker 84 fly by. Funny I thought, here I was on Interstate 84 at mile marker 84, and I was 84 years old at the time. Glancing at the digital speedometer of the Prius, it read 84 !

That'll be one of yer co - in - see -dents, so it will !

40

Fortycoats,

What a description of your travels, first class in English I assume. Love the names of places you visited, like reading a book long ago with strange sounding names & wishing to visit them.

Gives me hope for going to Canada as most of the family were against it on account of my restricted walking & "pending" knee operation, but I am not for retiring from travel to my favourite country yet. Joe maintains this is definitely his last visit but I say, " WWWELLLLL welll see"

We shall probably stay at Bronagh's new place most of the time or the Cottage in Muscoka, but wherever, I am looking forward to it. Raining today again so hopefully Autumn will be good in Canada.

Pat
.

I have a photograph of ourselves taken in Reno with the sign you mention in the background. We drove there from Seattle with Dominic's brother and his wife. It was a very long drive and I think we set of at about 4 am. After driving for about an hour, Pat remembered that he had forgotten his tablets, so we had to drive all the way back; then set off again. While staying for a few days in an hotel there, I had my video recorder stolen, even though we left it in Reception, as advised. Nobody knew anything about it and I was very upset as we had all our travels on it. Never got it back although the hotel did compensate us.

About ten years ago, we had just checked out of the Eldorado, had an early start and after a 1 1/2 hour drive were enjoying breakfast in the Black Bear, Susanville. This is when I remembered I had left my camera in the room safe.
So we set off, the whole cut as they used to say, back to Reno. Luckily the room had not been serviced and I recovered the camera intact.

A couple of years ago we were checking into the Red Lion in Elko, when I discovered a gambling ticket from the Eldorado, which we had just left. The ticket was for $20 and expired in 30 days. We thought, not worth while driving all the way back to Reno so I just put the ticket away till I returned home. I then mailed off the voucher to the hotel manager explaining what had happened. To his credit, he promptly mailed me a cheque for the amount on the ticket. Having a lot of these Senior Moments lately.

See Pat is still awaiting her knee replacement, hope they can fit her in soon as it must be painful for her, flitting over the fields of Clare. Wouldn't recommend Frances' method of getting to the head of the line for your hip replacement Ann, again hurry up and wait, seems to be the order of the day.

40