My New Rangie!

I am now the proud owner of a 1991 Great Divide Edition Range Rover!

On Monday I flew from Victoria down to Portland, Oregon where I was met by Doug Shipman, owner of Ship's Mechanical. The Rangie has been stored at his shop for the last few months and he went over it for me with a fine tooth comb. After some new bits and pieces, he deemed it not only fit for me to pick up but more importantly a fine example of a classic Range Rover! And take my word for it, if Doug says its good you can believe it! His shop specializes in Rovers and both he and his wife are avid off-road drivers as well as members of the Pacific Coast Rover Club.
Doug and Jean showed me around Portland a bit then took me to Henry's 12th Street Tavern for dinner and a couple of pints. It is an incredible place located in the 100 hundred year old Henry Weinhardt's original brewery building. It is the perfect place to take visitors as it combines both the history of the area with the modern upscale feel of the recently rebuilt oldtown Portland. Te food was amazing and the beer even better! And the billiards room - I do not have words to describe the billiards room, you have to see it to believe it! The room made me wish I wasn't completely hopeless at billiards...maybe I will practise before the next time I vist the city.
I left Portland after a few final adjustments to the Rangie Tuesday morning and headed north to Glacier, Washington. My friend Stuart had borrowed the keys to a friend's cabin at Snowline - a peaceful community near the base of Mt. Baker. The cabin was perfect and the hot tub even better! It was probably good for me to be away from both my cell and internet access for 48 hours although I was getting a bit twitchy by the time I could download my email to my cell (yes, I am that much of a geek...).
Customs went smoothly and we dropped the new Rangie off at Silk Cat Automotive for the provincial inspection. Keep your fingers crossed!
Sadly I did not take a single picture of Portland, Glacier or my Rangie - I guess when I take a couple of days off my brain decides that even photography is included in that. Stuart thankfully did take a pic of Kelsey, the white GDE Rangie beside Buttercup, his yellow '97 Trek Rangie in front of the cabin.
My heartfelt thank you to Doug and Jean Shipman for a wonderful evening and putting me up for the night, for George Balzer for loaning us the cabin, for Stuart for helping me get Kelsey home and Greg at Silk Cat for hopefully completing the provincial inspection!