Friday was buy-the-camper-move-out-of-the-old-camper-into-the-new-camper day.  The buying part went really well and really quickly.  People are extremely friendly and helpful when you are giving them money.  After payment it was time to hook up and check that everything was OK.  Of course this is where it got a little sticky.  Because of this and that the hitch part of the camper would hit the tailgate and sides of the truck when turning very sharply.  Sooo, I had them install the pinbox from the old camper on the new one.  All better.  Then it was time to move our stuff.  The campers were next to each other, but there’s a reason I’ll never move out of our house.  There was an amazing amount of stuff – good, bad, & ugly – that had to be moved.  For some reason the dealer didn’t want any of our treasures.  It took about four and a half hours.  We finally hooked up and travelled 2.6 miles to the campground for the night, but not before moving out of Katie’s house and fridge.

Today was a travel day on the way to Glacier National Park.  We drove north from Puyallup to meet U.S. 2 near Everett, WA, then turned east for the first time.  The road goes over the Cascade mountains at Stevens Pass, an easy crossing.  The changes in terrain and vegetation are amazing.  On the west side of the Cascades the land is flat and fertile with trees, plants, and people.  In the mountains there are pine forests and crystal clear rushing streams and rivers.  Shortly after crossing the pass the forests start to thin with trees giving way to sagebrush.  The valleys are irrigated and are covered with orchards.  As we continued east the topography changed to rolling hills covered with millions of acres of wheat.  Now we are camped at Little Diamond Lake KOA near Newport, WA on the Idaho border.  Part way through the trip we stopped at Leavenworth, WA.  This is still in the mountains, and they have transformed the commercial part of the town into a Bavarian theme village.  Lots of shops selling pretzels.  It’s also a center for rafting and kayaking on the white water rivers.  We had lunch, bratwurst and kielbasa and beer.  One for the road. Tomorrow we’ll be at Apgar, Glacier park, hopefully we’ll be able to get a site in the park campground.

 Leaving western Washington

Entering Spokane, eastern Washington