Hi All: We are now in the good ole' USA.. WE got here in Mount Vernon, WA about 1400. Trip down was interesting. We came down an 8% grade for about 8 miles. Had to go to gear 2 to keep me slow enough that I didn't have to burn up my brakes to keep me within the speed limit. Beautiful country. All mountains covered with pine trees. A lot of them have the Pine Bark Beetle damage. Sad to see a full grown Lodge Pole Pine "Brown". Dead....Coming down the hill there was an area that was covered over the road as on the picture above, making a tunnel, as shown in the yellow colored photo. It is where they have a lot of avalanche trouble, so they built the cover over the road and the snow just roles off the side of the road, and the road is saved. Pretty interesting to see that, AND drive thru it.

Me made it to the border, and it was good to see a sign saying we were going the right way.??

When we got to the border crossing they were already a line of vehicles waiting to get thru the gate. We got there at 1130 and we got thru at 1230. It was almost as bad this time as last time. Of course our line had all the RV's in it and it was the slowest, as there was only one lane for them, and about 5 lanes for everyone else. took an hour this time. Took 1 1/2 hours last time. All he asked me is when I retired from the USMC??? then we were gone in to the USA.

Above is the one lane for RV's that caused the long wait. Also, there was a entrance gate for the RV's that gave me about a foot on each side of the rig to line myself up to get in to. Had to do that from a turn also, and other cars in the way. A Customs agent was out there telling me how to line up to enter the area. It was clear to me what I had to do, but I'm sure he has found a lot of folks that need instructions....

We are now at the Mount Vernon campground in Washington State. Beautiful campground, AND the allow me to wash my motor home. Amy has been washing clothes since we got there. She says it's the cheapest laundry since Tom and Judy's where she washed clothes in Delaware. I think it is $1.25 per washer load here. We were paying $2.50 per washer load in Canada.. Not sure what Tom charged Amy to wash there???? hee hee.

We will be here tomorrow and tomorrow night, then on to the Seattle area to visit with Joe and Judy for a couple days.....

Semper Fi.

Don, Amy & Pharoah..