Well we are well into the planning and route picking stage for the winter season, and just for everyone else’s sake we classify years into only two seasons, Winter & Summer and our seasons run basically from October to May and then May to October, So we are now planning our travels for roughly the next six months, the level of detail increases as we get closer to the time. The only thing that we know for sure is that everything changes from day to day. And this is where we spend hours trying to pick our destinations carefully, as you know by now we are not big into the tourist traps, but we love nature and the beauty that nature provides, and we love exploring those areas off peak tourist seasons. The map above is just a beginning point, to give us an idea of where we are headed and the distance and time required to get there. Next we start researching areas along the route for highlights or points of interest, and we then see a totally different map view, because the good stuff is not on the interstate highways. But this gives us our start, so we have 1600 miles roughly to cover and if we average 150 miles a day we are 11 travel days to get there. We will have 20 days after entering the United States, to meet our present target of being in Yuma by the 28th of October, and with those guidelines the route planning starts.
Always keeping in mind our on the road by ten and off the road by two guideline.
Next we start breaking the season down to events, ok for example this winter here is a list of our main events:
- Final exploration of Vancouver Island
- Ferry passage back to Washington State
- Exploration of the Pacific Coast of Washington
- Visit friends in Portland Oregon
- Explore Pacific Coast of Oregon
- Explore Pacific Coast of Northern California
- Then we have a big question mark as to our route and direction?
- Complete the southern trek to Yuma Arizona by October 28th
- Meet fellow caravanner’s, and old friends
- Cross Mexican border November 1st
- Explore the Mexican Baja on the Sea of Cortez
- Enjoy an earned vacation on the beaches around the Los Barrilos area
- Early December start the trek back north to Arizona
- By Christmas we plan to be back at Boyce Thompson
- Spend the balance of winter season volunteering at Boyce Thompson and meeting up with some of our RV family to enjoy another winter in the desert
- In early May start our trek back to Ontario and plan to meet up with more of our RV family along our route.
Then we repeat the plan for the Summer season of 2023.
And that my friends is how it all starts, then with the outline of our winter season, we start to add details to the plan as we work out logistics of where each day will take us, leaving of course enough flexibility built in to allow for extra exploration of any area that we find interesting enough to need some more time at.
Now comes the detailed list of the actual where and when of our travels, so we start another list with more detail, including dates, times, exact locations, with distances we expect to travel and what we hope to see or accomplish. Any reservation numbers we may need at our finger tips, and any information that we may need as we move along.
Wednesday September 28th 2022:
- Depart Country Maples Resort (by 8:00 am)
- Empty tanks fill with water
- Drive to repair shop on north side of Ladysmith (25 kilometers)
- Planed two days of repairs on Thunder (parking brake pads, brake hoses, suspension bushings)
- Expect to be here two days, will boondock two nights in parking lot
- Try to explore the Ladysmith area, while there
Friday September 30th 2022:
- Depart repair shop early morning (7:30)
- Destination Thunderbird Campground in Campbell River (178 kilometers)
- Check in time is 1:00 pm (water view)
- Reservation three days to explore northern areas of the island
Monday October 3rd, 2022:
- Check out time is 11:00 am
- Empty tanks and fill with water
- Destination Royston Refuge Cumberland (35 miles)
- Boondockers Welcome Host
Thursday October 6th, 2022
- Departure time 10:00 am
- Destination L&K Ranch Black Creek (23 miles)
- Boondockers Welcome Host
Friday October 7th 2022:
- Departure time 11:00 am
- Destination Living Forest Campground Nanaimo (89 miles)
- Check in time after 1:00 pm
Saturday October 8th 2022:
- Check out time 11:00 am
- Departure 11:00 am
- Empty tanks fill with water
- Destination is the Coho Ferry dock in Victoria (109 kilometers)
- Desired arrival time at the dock in downtown Victoria is 2:00 pm
- Ferry crossing Victoria to Port Angeles Coho departure time 3:00 pm
- Reservation # 1144352 (90 minute sailing time)
- Landing at 4:30 pm
- Walmart stop for supplies (4 miles) (east toward Seattle) (survey for overnight boondocking)
- If a no go for boondocking at Walmart then Elwha River Casino (22 miles)
- No card required (check in with security) Update: note on webpage possible parking issue because of new construction
- Research needed for alternate overnight!
Sunday October 9th 2022:
- Departure by 10:00 am
- Route US-101 west along western coast
- Destination Willapa Bay Heritage Farm Long Beach WA (168 miles
- Harvest Host
Monday October 10th 2022:
- Departure 10:00 am
- Destination Elks Lodge 1862 Hillsboro OR (182 miles)
- Meet up with
Tuesday October 11th. 2022:
- Departure 10:00 am
- Destination Florence Golf Links Florence OR (
- Harvest Host – Pending
Wednesday October 12th, 2022
Tuesday November 1st, 2022:
- Departure from Yuma Arizona
- Destination San Felipe Baja California (286 kilometers)
- Cross into Mexico at Mexicali (MX-5)
- Arrive
Wednesday November 2nd, 2022:
- Departure from San Felipe
- Destination Puertecitos (86 kilometers)
October will be a total month of travel, as we make our way down the Pacific coast of the United States, highway 101 appears to be the route that we are looking at as we start to lay out our route as well as look for places to stay. And by the 28th we need to be in the Yuma Arizona area to met up with the Mexico caravan crew.
Remember this is a work in progress, and is changing constantly as we continue to plan
Blog 443
The Buchanan's Rolling Down The Road 
Very detailed itinerary for your travels- you could own your own travel company to help others.
Another curious question- do you use a program (I.e. excel) to keep track of your plans?
You do have an intense travel plan ahead for the next couple of months.
PS – thanks for answering the question about the pine cones.
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I actually use Microsoft Word on my iPad, it is quite easy to add or delete as required, so I can bring it up on my phone as well. I have used Word for years and recently found that they had improved it to now work well on my iPad as it used to be brutal.
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