14 July ‘08

Monday

Up early this morning to take the coach over to Aubrey’s RV to get a little work handled.  Fortunately the list of work to be preformed is short so let’s hope the bill reflects it.  In filling another part of our day, we have the laundry to thank… With Leslee at work and Lena and Vinny doing their things, we took over their air-conditioned house. 

This is the first time that we have ever traveled over Chinook Pass on our way to Yakima and we found it was well worth taking.  The pass takes us around the eastern side of Mount Rainier and offered us some of the most spectacular views on a perfect traveling day.  I don’t remember just how many stops we made to marvel at “The” mountain

and all the valleys surrounding it, but each stop was even better than the last. 

With the exception of last Wednesday, the weather here in Yakima has been fantastic…mid 80’s to low 90’s and cooler in the evenings.  Now all that is wonderful, but just after checking in at the campground, receiving our parking site AND directions as to how to get there, I headed out.  First of all, this campground is small and TIGHT…second, the streets to and from the sites are very tight…third, if you have to take a corner, you had better watch the swing of the tail of the coach AND any obstacle that might jump out and bite…yep, it did and I wasn’t a happy camper !!! 

The object that “jumped” out to get me was a small picnic table…right in the middle of the second bay door.   Two 2” round dents and a couple of small scratches.  It could have been worse, but at the time it was like a knife in the heart.

Yesterday, Leslee and Lena joined Louise and me on a kayaking adventure.  Close to the White Pass summit is Clear Lake, which is completely surrounded by beautiful mountains and tall trees.  It is fed from and feeds too the Natchez River, which then feeds to another larger lake below which again, continues to the Natchez through an earthen dam.  OK, all that said (written), we pulled out both kayaks and spent about 4 hours just having a great time

in a neat little campsite that we found down a very rough dirt (dusty) road (track).  It’s amazing how you work up a large appetite from all the fresh air, water, and a good paddle.  Fortunately we had a ton of chicken waiting at Leslee’s place all ready to hit the barbecue. 

24 June ‘08

Tuesday

The day after we arrived at our campground, and as I was setting up our internet and TV dish, I was approached by this guy that seemed to come out of “no-where”.  We had met Terry at a wedding about 12 years ago, and at that time he was a newlywed himself.  He and Linda (a long time good friend of ours) were at Linda’s son’s wedding.  Now, all of a sudden, we are parked right next door to them.  Even if it has been quite a few years since our last get together, we were able to enjoy each other’s company as if it were common for us to run into each other at every other campsite.

Another couple here in Seattle, that we always try to get together with, finally was free enough to come out to the coach for a little while.  While here, they took us out to a wonderful Tai lunch…How good is that????  Carl and Mario are some very special people in our lives and it is always good to get together with them.  They also invited us to their spectacular Seattle penthouse condo for the “4^th of July Spectacular”.  Where they live, they have an unobstructed view of the two largest fireworks displays in Seattle.  Fireworks or not, it is ALWAYS great to get together with them… 

First, what do you think of my photo of our "visitor" in the last posting???  Two of these beautiful Owls flew in together and one of them landed on the tree right next to our coach...lucky break.

19 June ‘08

Thursday

We called Bonnie and Doug last week to see what they had been up to in Mount Vernon, but when Doug answered the phone I found out that he was in Cabo San Jose.  Apparently he has found a way to take his “house phone” to Mexico and still receive the calls that are directed to their home here.  They are getting to the finishing touches on their new condo down there so he went back to make sure all goes well and make sure they don’t find any unwanted surprises when they go back this next winter.  I finally got a hold of Bon through her cell phone so we kind of invited ourselves up for a couple of days  It worked out great because Doug decided to fly home tonight as well.  About 9 we all headed out for Sea-Tac to save Doug from having to take a 3 hour bus ride home.  Friday we just kind of played it easy, enjoyed their beautiful yard,

had a spectular Salmon barbeque.

Saturday morning Doug and I took the kayak out for a paddle in Clear Lake.  Clear Lake is located just northeast of Mount Vernon, or about 5 miles from their home.  What a perfect day for a paddle and what a perfect lake to do it on…  Apparently Clear Lake was used as a staging area for the logging that was prevalent in this area many years ago.  On the shoreline, there was this large stone circular wall that stood about 6 feet high.  This was apparently used as the foundation for a wood smelter.  Then there were the hundreds (well maybe not hundreds, but a lot…) of log pilings in the lake.  I believe these were to hold the logs that were brought down from the heavily forested hills all around the lake…well that’s my guess anyway.   Saturday night we took in a movie.  Quite honesty I don’t remember the name of it, but it was about a young couple and a single man that were caught up in an illegal immigration bust…it was a great movie and a great subject for this time in our lives.     

16 July ‘08

Monday

Saturday night I (and Louise) was invited out to dinner to celebrate “Fathers Day”.  Mikleane is a bachelor-ette this week while the rest of the family is visiting Texas, so it was just the three of us.  I really enjoy the food at PJ Chang so when asked where I wanted to go…  Again, I wasn’t disappointed.  Sunday, Fathers Day, I started with the process of getting ready for Mondays colonoscopy so that’s why we enjoyed dinner on Saturday.  Early Sunday morning I took two little pills and just sat back and waited for nature to take action…all day long you’ve just got to stay close.  6am this morning I was up and started with my next step before going into the hospital later in the afternoon.  As all of you know that have had to drink the full bottle of Halflytely/Golytely, things really get going now. 

A fortunate distraction this morning is the play-off between Rocco Mediate and Tiger Woods.  With Tiger having the bad knee and not playing up to his “norm” and Rocco playing pretty well for his position in the world’s standings, it’s making a pretty interesting match. 

Well we’re back…  I can’t believe how easy that was.  We were asked to be there an hour early so I walked into the front desk at 2:45, checked in, immediately called back to visit with one of the nurses, answered a few questions, and was given my beautiful gowns…one for the front and one for the back.  About 10 minutes later my doctor walked to introduce herself, making me feel comfortable, and looking beautiful (a very good looking young lady).  I was then asked to follow her back to another room where I was asked to lie down on.  An IV was inserted into my hand and….  I was sleeping so hard when Louise told me it was time to head back home and we’ll make something for dinner.  Boy, that was something I would love to have available on some of those nights when I find it tough to get to sleep!!!

13 June ‘08

Friday

Well we’re through with one of the doctor’s appointments now and are ready to move onto the next.  Yesterday was just a follow-up for me and to start my Hep A shots.  For Louise it was to get her final shots for Hep A & B.  I had to feel sorry for her as the nurse that gave her the shots really did a number on her…”ouch, that hurts”…  The shot given to me was by my nurse and it was hardly felt and I’m one that really doesn’t like shots.  We were supposed to “fast” from 6 the night before but we forgot so we have to make another appointment for next week for our blood work-ups…nuts! 

Today we traveled into downtown Seattle to see our dermatologist.  I had a couple of spots frozen so that they will hopefully just drop off, and Louise had a couple that she had removed by knife…all are fine.  Tomorrow I’ll pick up all the material to start doing the program for my colonoscopy.  I’m looking for a volunteer to do it for me, but so far no one has stepped forward. 

The other day I was on-line looking to see what inverter other full-timers might suggest or have gone to after having a need to replace theirs.  It seems that the top two are just about split down the middle, so I made a “command decision” and ordered a 2000 watt MagnaSine pure sine inverter.  The product line is carried by John at Palmer Energy Systems, who just happens to be a full-timer.  I called him in Florida to order and he told me he would make sure that it was sent right out…I received a phone call from the main gate here at the campground this morning…”we’ve got two boxes up here and they are so big….”.  John wasn’t kidding he would get them right out, it was less than 9 hours.  What I didn’t know was that Magnum is manufactured right next door in Everett…surprise, surprise.  Now to get it installed.

5 June ‘08

Thursday

Back on the road again.   This afternoon we will be checking into our “home” campground.  We joined Western Horizon at Tall Chief RV Resort just 2 years ago and have found it to be one of the best “investments” we have made since.  I wished we had kept a journal of our nightly camping expenses.  I am sure we would have found our expenses more than double what we have paid though Western Horizon.  We have “dry camped” a little and know that the more we can do that the more we will be saving, and that’s one reason that we are getting ready to up-grade our inverter and add a couple more solar panels.  Well that’s getting a little ahead of myself.

One of the main reasons that we have in coming back to Seattle is that our Doctors are here and it’s time to set appointments again.  I’ve got a follow-up from the Hep-B episode and to start the Hep-A shots.  Along with that, I have to go through the colonoscopy exam I had to cancel last October….fun, fun, fun.

On the bright side we are able to spend time with some more of the family…Coeur d’Alene, Yakima, and now Woodinville. 

2 June ‘08

Monday

We both hate to leave Coeur d’Alene but today was our check out day.  One thing is for sure, CDA is still one of those places that will give you any and all of what you may be looking for while on vacation.  You just can’t miss while here.  Right now we are planning our return for August and giving a lot of thought of work-camping or a camp host position at Farragut State Park until the end of October. 

Unfortunately we have found that this spring has been one for the record books…for wet and cold!!!  We had a great time in CDA but we were hoping for a little more sun and warmth.  Well, we are heading now to spend a few days in Yakima and we sure would like to see a little more of that sun while there.  Leslee, Lena, and Vinny have “guaranteed us that we will find the hidden Garden of Eden were the sun shines 24/7.  The drive from CDA to Yakima was under broken skies and thank God, the wind was blowing with us all the way to Ellensburg.  At that point we took the road alongside the Yakima River and enjoyed the views and serenity through this long canyon.  One of these days we are going to get our kayak into the Yakima.  It has been one of our “must do’s” for some time and who knows, maybe this is the year.  Well right now we are going to make it into town, re-stock our grocery supplies, call Leslee and the kids and set up for dinner with everyone.  We also want to see if we can make an appointment with our favorite RV shop.  We want to have a fair amount of work done and we have total respect for this little company here in Yakima. 

1 June ‘08

Sunday

Well “Graduation Day” has come and passed…  As grandparents it is wonderful for us to see the grandkids going the distance and graduating from high school and then take the step into the world of “higher education”.  Now Trevor Joel had a couple of things going for him this weekend. 

First he turned 18 (on Friday) and then he followed that up with the graduation.  Trev has played the bass and guitar off and on with a couple of rock bands in St Maries over the last couple of years, so we bought him one of those electronic games called “Rock Band”.  Hell, I wish I had one of those when I was playing in our band back in the late 50’s early 60’s.  I just had to try it out, and to tell you the truth I was terrible at it. 

Saturday afternoon Louise, Joelle, and I drove down to St Maries from Coeur d’Alene.  Trev went down Friday night and unfortunately left his graduation cap and gown behind.  Well, no problem…we’ll bring it down with us.  Unfortunately I was a little slow in getting away to St Maries.  As we were about 35 minutes away we started getting the phone call…”are you close yet???”.  I could feel Trev starting to sweat…we were going to be late and his cap and gown were with us. 

Fortunately we did make it on time.  Trev was waiting out on the street when we pulled up.  Grabbing his gear and saying hi to all of us, he was off to immerse himself into the mass of graduates.  There are a couple of good things about going to a graduation at a small school and having a small graduating group is just one of them.  The ceremonies were great, short but great.  We were but just a couple of spectators in the auditorium but we were very proud spectators to say the least. 

29 May ‘08

Friday

We finally arrived back at River Walk, “our” campground in Coeur d’Alene.  Just a year ago we were here for Amy’s graduation, our oldest granddaughter, and now we are here for the Trev’s, our oldest grandson.  It’s amazing how fast time has passed and the grandkids are already graduating from high school. 

Leaving the campground in Rapid City was almost more exciting than we had wanted.  The last 2 days while we were there were rained like hell and unfortunately made the soil all around our motor home really soft.  We had no more than started our turn out of the site and the right rear duels started to sink into the grass.  You could immediately feel that things weren’t looking so good.  Fortunately for us, I was able to back out of the hole and get another start forward.  It was a go slow and as straight as possible until we got up enough momentum to carry us forward and out of the trouble area.  We stopped by the office to apologize only to find out that it was an “expected” happening after a rain…hell, they could have warned us…  Oh well, we made it.  The rest of the trip West through the remainder of South Dakota, Northeastern Wyoming, and across Montana was uneventful. 

We did have a fair amount of rain to travel though and of course a head wind.  Isn’t it amazing how as soon as you get out on the road, the wind direction changes and decides that it has to blow directly in your face???  Our first stop after leaving Mt. Rushmore Shadows was the parking lot of Toys or Us in Billings.  We were heading to the Wal-Mart parking lot, but found that it was completely covered with “shoppers”…what the hell happened so that there wasn’t any room for those of us that want to park our “big motor homes” in OUR Wal-Mart parking lot???  It just happened that Toys or Us were right next door and their parking lot was empty, save about 4 cars in a lot that would hold well over 2 or 300.  It was about 6pm when we arrived and I went into the store to ask the manager if it would be possible to park around back or on the side of the store for the night.  Her reply was “the store policy is no overnight parking”, but…I think it would be OK.  The next stop was in Missoula.  There is a large dirt area in front of “The Largest RV Dealership In Montana” that we had thought before would work for a night of dry camping.  After checking at the office and getting their approval, we set up for the night.  There has been something bothering me lately, with the fuel prices climbing like they have, that the “un-locked” fuel doors on the motor home could be too inviting to the unscrupulous.  Well Britz RV had the perfect locks so we bought and installed them right there in the dirt…just kidding, it was great of them to open the lot for a night.  The total ride from South Dakota to Coeur d’Alene was beautiful.  We couldn’t see the snowy mountains because the rain clouds were so low, but the green rolling hills, the wild and the cultivated flowers, and of course the swollen rivers were outstanding. 

The unfortunate thing of course was the flooding that was accruing because of the rain and heaving melting of the snow in the mountains.  We went pass the Wolf Lodge Campground that is located about 10 miles east of Coeur d’Alene and found that it was about 5 or 6 feet under water.  We were there last year to visit and camp with Bruce and Peggy who were doing a stint of “work camping”.  We were given a grand tour of the campground and saw all the work that they had accomplished to get it looking so good and now...well it just isn’t the same. 

21 May ‘08

Wednesday

Tuesday was going to be our last fully sunny day for the next couple of weeks so we jumped into the car and headed over to see the Badlands National Park. 

 We were about 75 miles west of them so making this drive was going to be an all day affair. 

Badlands National Park consists of nearly 240,000 acres and made up of some of the most beautifully eroded buttes, pinnacles and spires that blend with the largest mixed grass prairie in the country. 

In 1939, the government designated this area as the Badlands National Monument, and then in 1978 it was established as a National Park.  The Badlands are a type of “arid terrain” where softer rocks and clay rich soils have been extensively eroded by wind and water.  Fact is, these softer rock/clay soils on the buttes, pinnacles and spires, lose about an inch of soil each year.  Louise and I have had a chance to hike a number of canyons, ravines, gullies, and hoodoos in the last few months, but the canyons and all here are very difficult to navigate by foot.  The soils just will not hold…it’s just like hiking on a soft sponge while on flat surfaces and the sides they just crumble at the touch.  The Badlands don’t have the colors of those down south, but they definitely are mesmerizing as they stand there before you.  They have their own beauty… 

Today we spent the day searching out and finding the DMV Office so that we could apply and pick up our new drivers license.  It took no longer than 40 minutes and $8 a piece and we were officially licensed for the state of South Dakota.  Next stop was the courthouse.  There we were directed to the 2^nd floor and the vehicle licensing department.  Just like the first stop this morning, we were in and out in 30+ minutes and had written a $180 check for the motor home and the “toad” registration and plates.  OK, time left over so what do we do now???  Geesss, a movie…  we took in Baby Mamma.  It was just “good”, you know, a movie that you would pick up at Safeway or someplace like that for the night.

The rain has finally caught us…I mean REALLY caught us…  We are just about ready to pull up stakes, but with the water rushing all around us, we just might put up “sail” and hope for a trailing winds.  Now it’s onto Coeur d’Alene, Idaho for Trev’s graduation.

18 May ‘08

Sunday

Our stay here in the Rapid City area has given us a little time to stay close to the coach.  After our travels through Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah in which we seemed to be on the go 24/7, it feels pretty good.  Now that’s not to say that we haven’t been out.  As I wrote the other day, we saw Mt. Rushmore, the Needles, and Custer the city and the State Park which we totally enjoyed even though it was our second visit in 2 years.  We have spent more time close to the “couch” but just about every other day we also found ourselves heading down the road as well.  Most of those trips were to Safeway, Wal-Mart, or Lowes, and with quick stopover at Starbucks (yes I know, I’m selfish and want my coffee…).  Well with the weather being so wonderful, we decided today was going to be a great day for a “Sunday Drive”…  Our route took us west to the end of Hwy 16 and then a large circle route back to Rapid City via. Hwy 44.  One thing that we have found that really has surprised us…they, South Dakota, have a lot of water.  That is, water as in lakes, rivers, ponds, and large reservoirs.  One of those bodies of water that we saw Sunday was Pactola Reservoir.  This reservoir seemed to go on forever and the fishing must have been pretty good as there were fisherman all over it.  The setting was pretty nice with Pine trees lining the shoreline, covering the rolling hills and continuing all the way up the surrounding mountain sides.  Further down Hwy 44 we came across a site that we had been reading about…”Chapel In The Hills”.  The chapel is an exact replica of the 12^th century Borgund Stavkirke (stave church) in Laerdal, Norway.  It is adorned with intricate woodcarvings, beautifully hand split cedar shake roofing, and clear cedar siding that we all would love to have surrounding our home.  A beautiful piece of architecture, a copy or not… 

15 May ‘08

Thursday

Yesterday we got right at the reason that we came to Rapid City.  We are here to establish “residency”.  We’ve lived most of our married lives in Washington, set up an LLC in Montana, and feel that this is the best route for us…South Dakota.  Actually I was born here, but that was many, many years ago.  We met with the people that will help us establish our needs and then spent the rest of the day checking out Rapid City.  Rapid City is very clean, has a good selection of stores for all our shopping needs, and is easy to get around in.  It also offers a ton of options for those wanting to explore hiking trails, kayaking, or sightseeing some fantastic sites, natural or man-made.  Today we went exploring…  a couple of years ago, we were here but we still wanted to re-visit a site or two and visit some new.  As we left this morning we had in mind to do a little hiking, but as the day went on, hiking soon became something we would be putting off for another day.  Our drive took us on one of the most twisting and winding roads we have been on.  At a couple of the curves, we found ourselves facing a single lane tunnel that had been carved out of solid rock.  Directly through and at the other end were the faces of Mt. Rushmore in the distance. 

Over the next 20 miles of hills and dales, we saw Mt. Rushmore from 6 or 7 different angles. 

Taking another route that would take us through the Needles we came upon the Lodge at Sylvan Lake.  The original lodge was built in the early 20’s, but with a little remodeling and enlarging, it has still maintained its true character.  It sits above Sylvan Lake and is shadowed by the highest peak in America east of the Rockies.  We were hoping for a place to have lunch, so having the lodge in front of us we ventured in.  As we walked into the entry of the lodge, we were met by the General Manger.  Now it was either that we looked like we were VP’s or maybe it was that they haven’t started their “season” yet, but he was there to take care of us PERSONALLY. 

He gave us a lot of information on the area and answered all of our questions like we were family.  When it came time to head into the dining room, he escorted us to the entrance and introduced us to the hostess…nice huh???  Yep, we had a very nice lunch and will go back again.  Following lunch, we headed for the Needles. 

These rock formations are really unbelievable and have been worth our while to make it back again. 

 We ended our drive with a coffee break at a restaurant/bakery in Custer.  It was a very full day and when we got back to the coach we were more than ready to just crash…

13 May ‘08

Tuesday

Leaving Moab, Arches and Canyon National Parks behind, we headed north.  The roadway north was on secondary roads but we found that they had less traffic and the scenery was wonderful.  We left with the sun shining and ended the day with the sun setting.  Our first stop north was actually east (of Moab that is).  We stopped at Grand Junction, Colorado.  We had been camping without hook-ups for over 8 days and we just wanted to “plug-in” for a night.  In doing that, we were able to charge the batteries, do some laundry, and find some reasonably (I hate to use that term) priced diesel fuel at $4.12 p/g.  Just after 10am the next morning we pulled out and headed north again.  We took 10 east to Rifle and then turned due north up 13.  About the time we passed Craig we encountered rain mixed with snow and carried that with us all the way into Wyoming.  About Rock Springs, the weather changed to heavy clouds so we decided to hit Rawlins and stay the night.  We knew the night temp was going to get into the 20’s so again we opted for plug-ins again.  When we woke the next morning we were somewhat surprised to find 3 to 4 inches of fresh snow covering the cars and trucks around us.  We were fortunate to have cable at this campground so we got the local weather stations.  They told us that the weather pattern was going to be more of the same, but as we looked north on their map, it showed that we would most likely have it better traveling north than if we were to stay another day…so off we went.  What we saw was it was even better than “advertized”.  Again the roadway was a nice 2 lane road, but we also found that this was a passage way for the big trucks…oh well.  Our route was to take us to Casper and from there to Rapid City, South Dakota.  We normally don’t travel the long distances, but we decided if we were going to stop in our “normal” day of travel time, we would only be 60 miles from our next day and final day destination of Rapid City.  Fortunately it wasn’t dark yet when we got to our campground, but they had already closed the office.  We had a great drive, although a little longer than I like, but traveling the roads and scenery to get here were great.

11 May ‘08

Sunday

This morning we were out on the trails by 8.  We wanted to hike out to see the Landscape Arch in Arches National Park before we were to meet the ranger at 10am for our hike through the Fiery Furnace.  We’ve really been fortunate, the weather has been great for hiking and we’ve sure been doing a lot of that in the past weeks.  The fact is, when we missed a couple of days on the trails we really feel the difference, and that isn’t a good difference.  We had heard that yesterday a hiker came across a pigmy rattlesnake while hiking the trail to Landscape, so we kept our eyes and ears open while out there.  Well we still haven’t seen our rattler, but we did see the Landscape Arch and it was as advertized, amazing. 

 In 1991 a rock slab 60 feet long, 11 feet wide, and four feet thick fell from the underside of Landscape Arch leaving behind an even thinner ribbon of rock.  Even before reading about the slab coming off of Landscape, I’ve wondered if another arch might “calf” some rock while we’re walking across or under one of them…we pray a lot.  Ok, it’s 10am and we’re meeting 23 other hikers to meet and another hike to make.  The hike through Fiery Furnace isn’t for everyone.  If you are bothered by small tight places,

 or drop-offs, this may not be for you.  Louise joined more than half of the group by squeezing through one of the smallest “arches” in the Furnace…we saw a lot of butts while doing it. 

 But I think it is one of the greatest adventures I have ever been on.  Besides the beauty and the fantastic colors, it is a great challenge to get through.

  I watched many people doing things that they had never done before and being very proud that they accomplished them. 

Hike finished and our last day in the area, we decided to head into Moab, do a little window shopping, and have lunch.  Where we decided to have lunch happened to be the hot spot for bikers (the peddle type of bike).  The micro-brewery, Moab Brewery, was a good choice.  Both of us happen to like a good IPA and they had one, and besides they also had a good Ruben...