Russ and Rob's Travels: Crossing the Border

Crossing the border into USA was reasonably simple although there was a long delay having to wait 40 minutes to get through customs. This border crossing was amazing, having a large duty free store, lots of open park and gardens surrounding it, 8 lanes and a nexus lane ( express lane ) which is for those US citizens holding a card. Even though it was a short drive to the border from the RV Park it was a lovely drive passing areas of farmland and seeing blackberries being picked.

After crossing the border into Washington state we followed interstate 5 down to Seattle, the city built on 7 hills where Starbucks and Microsoft are famous names. We spent a couple of nights here. We had prearranged a one and a half hour behind the scenes look at aircraft manufacturing, at Boeing - future of flights tour. The tour started with a 15 minute video before we boarded a bus, our guide giving us a commentary as we made our way to the factory. We walked under ground in one of the 12 tunnels that are within the building , then took an elevator to a viewing platform where we could see the 737 and 747 airplanes in various stages of construction. It was back on the bus to go futher down the factory where we viewed the 777 and 787.

This undercover production shed is the worlds largest building – larger than Disneyland and all its car parking areas. It is 472 million cubic feet by volume.

Once we returned we went for a look through the exhibits in the aviation centre and up to the rooftop to view the planes and the mountain backdrop.

The closest RV park was only 3 mile away so we headed there for the night. RV Sales outlets lined the streets along either side the park so after dinner we walked through them admiring of course what we could not have.

The following morning we had a lazy one, having a sleep in, doing the laundry before filling part of the afternoon in at the outlets mall. We were invited to dinner at Geoff and Kienny’s friends so we made our way there stopping at Sunset Hill Park on the way. We had a really nice night, enjoyed a beautiful home cooked meal with some really nice people. Sharing travel stories and gathering information on what we should try and see while in the US. Our camp site for the night was in the street where we had parked our RV. Geoff and Kienny parked troopy alongside their friends troopy in the back lane. Yep! They have the same vehicles. The neighbourhood was quiet so we had a good sleep.

The following morning we had a coffee before heading out of town. On our way through the city we stopped off at the REI store, before continuing on route to Mt Rainer National Park.