At the 'Pub'

We always enjoy a lunch and a pint at Jack's Pub in Richmond and Ruth's visit was a good excuse.
Four cousins: Fran, Bea, Ruth and Bill.




Grant, Fran, Kathy, Bea, Rex, Ruth and Bill.

Ruth's Visit

Bill's cousin Ruth flew in from Phoenix, Arizona for a weeks visit and we had a wonderful large family dinner at cousins Bea and Rex's.
From left, Bill, Yvonne, Nancey, Ruth, Rex, Bob, Bea, Bruce, Grant, Fran.

Closing the loop

We closed the loop at Pacific Border RV Park on our trip around North America on the 6th June, 2009, one year and four days after leaving Pacific Border RV Park on the 2nd June, 2008.


We had almost a years worth of mail to sort through on our return. We had received two mail deliveries while away, one delivered by John and Peggy to Nova Scotia in September and the other by Yvonne who joined us in Florida for Xmas. Nancey had been sorting, saving and forwarding this monstrous pile the whole time for us.

Trip log books

Just as a matter of interest we kept several log books of our trip. Kath kept a day by day log book of where we started from, and where we ended each day. Also in this book were kept special events, weather, mileage, where we camped and the costs involved. At the same time I kept separate log books for Dutchess and Granny showing fuel and maintenance costs.

During the year we visited 8 Provinces, 32 States, the District of Columbia, New Zealand (Flying) and Mexico. The two week trip into Mexico was in Granny only, but the rest of our North American tour saw Dutchess towing Granny on the 'long hauls' and Granny then being utilized for local visits and sightseeing.

The following information has been compiled using several separate spreadsheets, and a few of the details have been summarized below.

Number of camping nights at different types of facilities.
RV Parks. 143
Flying J Truck stops. 8
Walmarts. 16
Provincial and State Parks. 24
Passport America. 122 nights, this club card saved us over $2000.00 in camping fees!
Other. 53

Average cost per night camping was $17.56 the least expensive being $9.00 and the most expensive was $53.00.

Kms. traveled in Dutchess 26823 using 7406 liters of diesel for an average of 27.3 L/100kms. Or if you wish 8.6 miles per US gallon.

Granny on the other hand traveled 19402 kms and averaged 9.8 L per 100 kms.

In the year the 2 vehicles traveled 46225 kms.

Western Maps

The map of western North America shows the states and provinces that we drove through. New Mexico was only briefly visited before spending time in Arizona. Actually Dutchess remained here with we flew to New Zealand and drove by car to Mazatlan Mexico. Our route was North West heading into Nevada, Utah and in Yellow Stone Park we were in and out of Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana. Crossed again into Idaho then Washington before arriving in British Columbia.

Osoyoos and Cara Casa

On the way to the coast from Vernon we stopped to have lunch with friends Tony and Ruth in Kelowna then continued on south to Osoyoos where we visited with Roger and Carol who are up on top of the hill east of Osoyoos. They have developed three RV sites on their property complete with a Mexican style pumphouse. Evenually they hope to build their own home on this ten acre property with great views over the Osoyoos valley.

We spent two very enjoyable nights with them before heading to Princton and the coast.

Leaving Herongate

Dutchess and Granny are ready to leave Herongate after five weeks.