We left El Golfo, MX on the 16th of December and travelled to Emerald Cove RV Resort, near Earp, CA. The travel was uneventful, but upon arrival at the border we had to get in the lineup to the US border at Calle 17. That is 17 blocks from the border. This took us one hour and fifty minutes from the time we entered the lineup till we were cleared by customs and agriculture. The time passed quickly as we watched the vendors peddling there wares along the route. After our arrival at Emerald Cove we set up the motorhome as it was getting late. After just connecting the essentials for the night, (water & electrics) we went to the neighbors for a drink and to catch up on the latest news. After about one hour I started to get ill and for the next two days I hardly lifted my head off the pillow. On the morning of the 19th I felt well enough and we left in the car to travel to Kamloops. Marge did most of the driving as I slept as best I could in the car. We drove as far as Redding, CA that day. We stopped there for the night at a motel as we were told that the Siskiyou Mtn pass was closed due to snow. The next day we went to the closest WalMart to purchase chains, as we were told you needed chains for the pass. The overhead reader boards instucted all who travelled that chains were required. As we got closer to the pass we saw transport trucks on the side of the road chaining up. These truckers had to have chains on the drive wheels and a set of chains on all rear trailer wheels. So if he/she was pulling three trailers then each trailer had chains. We were still about 10 miles from the check point - to confirm chains were installed - and there were tractor trailers lined up dutifully installing them & we were looking for snow anywhere!! We drove within one mile of the chain check point and pulled over and installed these chains. Got to humor somebody we thought. As we approached the check point we did finally see some snow!. On the edge of the rodeway was some.... dirty from sand mixed with it. The main drive lane has about a half inch of slush and where your wheels run, water was running. The passing lane had about an inch of slush. We drove on for about 5 miles, pulled over and removed the chains. I felt sorry for all these truckers who had to put chains on. What a joke! Hard on the chains, hard on the pavement, and hard on the tires! There must have been several hundred of these truckers hunkered over putting on chains. After this we travelled on and after passing through Canadian customs we drove on and up the Coquihalla highway on our way home. We ran through a snow packed highway that would put the Siskiyou pass to shame. You could pull over & install chains in the chain up area if you so wished. Even travelling up the Snowshed http://www.th.gov.bc.ca/bchighwaycam/index.aspx?hideFramework=False&cam=2 on the Coquihalla Highway which has a 10% grade one did not require chains. We got home about 1 o'clock on the morning of the 21st. Trip length that day was 885 miles. Long... long day travelling. We run around on the 21st getting all our affairs in order and finished our Christmas shopping. After spending Christmas with the family and dinner we relaxed at home as we had planned on leaving on the 26th to return south. On the morning of the 26th ... Boxing Day in Canada ... our granddaughter wanted to go shopping for bargains. It is traditional that Boxing Day is a day to get great bargains for some of those expensive toys and electronic items one wishes for. For example .. FutureShop opens at 6 am and has tremendous bargains and mark downs for many electronic items. Our granddaughter refers to it as "percentage off day" and she does very well shopping. After saying our goodbyes to the family we left and drove to Abbotsford & stayed the night at friends. We got away the next day about 9:30 am and drove south on I-5. Once again we had to chain up through the Siskiyou Mtn pass. This time we could say that it was more justified. We travelled about 25 miles on chains. There was snow pack and some slippery/icey areas that could require the use of chains. We stopped the night at Redding, CA at the same motel we stayed at on the way up. We got away early the next day and arrived at Emerald Cove late on the 28th. All in all a very interesting trip. Round trip we travelled just over 5000 kms in 10 days with 5 days in Kamloops.
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