The rain may have stopped but last night the temps dipped to near freezing! I was warm and toasty all night so no problem there. Weather Underground predicts that the day and night temperatures will improve but things are still nippy. I put up the mansion tent yesterday since I needed to waterproof it and today I dug out the Mr. Buddy heater and put a fresh battery in the carbon monoxide sensor that I always use with a heater. I also put a battery in my new high/low thermometer so I can see exactly how cold it gets at night.

At least the rain stopped. Seriously. I would rather have this cold spell than the rainy one that preceded it.

I talked to yet another Canadian couple camping near me, and they said that BC is cold too and that I should be certain to call BC Department of Transportation to make sure roads over mountains are open! Holy Mackeral. What to do?  I like where I am in the Grand Coulee area. It is a relative banana belt compared to spots around me. I have access to a shower, stores, restaurants and a sweet little library. I am staying put another week. I don’t need to be in Prince Rupert until the night of April 30 for my May 1 ferry. I already have a reservation for that night and may stay here until just a few days earlier (900 miles to Prince Rupert from here). That is cutting it close, but I want to give BC all the time I can to warm up before I trek further north. That means I will not have much time for exploring in BC on this part of the trip, but I can make time when I come back south.

I also have the option of moving around this area. Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area has a number of campgrounds and I may just explore around here a bit.

Bottom line: I am far enough into this trip to say that I left too early! Too early for spring weather, anyway. We all knew that already, but I thought someone somewhere might get some satisfaction seeing me admit to that fact. Things could have gone the other way, with an early spring, but they didn’t. Or, I could have stayed in the desert longer, but I was eager to move on.