Show Low RV Lot - This years progress

We've reached a leveling off point on the lot for the moment so here are before and after pictures showing our progress thus far.

We first put an 18" culvert the full width of the lot parallel to the street and rough graded the lot. We had utility lines (power, water & sewer) to the shed location. After that we put in the concrete RV pad and an 8 x 10 pad for a storage shed. We had a big load of 'ABC' brought in and had it spread across the lot to firm things up for future work. We purchased and installed a 10 x 10 gazebo, including anchoring it to the ground with concrete piers. And, we started to frame in various planter areas with red/charcoal wall pavers. All of this in about one month.

This week we got to pull the RV on to the lot for the first time after waiting for the concrete to fully cure. So we are finally enjoying the use of the lot. We've been spending some time with our dear friends Gloria and Harriet as they work through their various issues with their new park model. We've also been getting to know our many existing neighbors.

Still to do this year.... We have a contract to have retaining wall blocks put on three sides of the lot where we currently just have rocks. We think that this will look much better and be more secure in the event of heavy rains.

For next year.... First project will be to build the shed which will be a place to store tools and stuff as well as be a laundry room area. More planter areas & low walls plus a little more final grading. We plan to put down pavers under the gazebo and into other patio type areas. Next we will be putting in a bunch of trees including irrigation. Lastly, we plan to fill in the remaining areas with gravel.

The contractor on the retaining walls can't get started until around the first of October, so we are going to leave the RV in Show Low and go down the hill in the car to Yuma for a couple of weeks. We'll come back to oversee the walls when he lets us know he is ready to get started.

Thats the latest from Show Low. Look forward to seeing everyone in Yuma this winter.

Bill and Chuck

Home Sweet Home

This update has been a long time coming. Partly because of bad internet connections, but more so because of being non-stop busy.

After the casino at Pendleton, OR we stayed one night at a Wal-mart in Twin Falls, ID, followed by a single night at a campground in Kanab, UT. On Wednesday morning we took off for Show Low via Page, AZ and the Glen Canyon dam adjacent to Lake Powell. The lake was way low, but the dam and the downstream canyon are visually quite striking.

On the way past Meteor Crater on I-40 we stopped by and spent a few minutes with Frank before he had to leave for work. Besides catching up, we discussed him coming up to see our lot and visit on either Saturday or Sunday.

We were able to get a space, at least for a few days, at the Hon-Dah Casino RV Park where our good friends Gloria and Harriet are staying for the month of August. Gloria and Harriet are purchasing an existing park model at White Mtn Vacation Village, the same community where we purchased our lot. We checked in with them the next morning and made arrangements to meet for dinner that evening.

Over the next few days we interviewed several contractors as candidates to install a needed driveway culvert and to lay down an RV concrete pad on the lot. During this same time frame, we also provided moral support to Gloria and Harriet as they interviewed contractors for various work needed on their park model they purchased that is only about a one minute walk from our lot.

On Friday, we joined the girls at the Beverage House for their weekly $2 wine tasting. Generous servings of six wines, plus roast beef, turkey, and cheese. Life doesn't get much better. Even Chuck participated in the wine tasting, but not being a regular wine drinker, he paid a price the following day with the equivilent of a hangover.

On Sunday afternoon, Frank came up to visit us. We showed him our lot and then later we got together with Gloria and Harriet for dinner at the Red Devil Pizza & Pasta House in Pinetop. It was a fun evening.

The casino RV park was an OK place to park, but the Verizon phone and internet reception was spotty at best. Also, they didn't have a space for us beyond Sunday so we moved to a different RV park in Show Low on Monday morning. We will keep the rig here while we get the culvert and concrete work done on the new lot.

We got our lot contracts finalized on Monday, so we decided to take off Tuesday and head for Yuma for a few days to check on the house. About six hours later, we arrived in Yuma where the temps were running about 105. We fired up the A/C and pretended the heat didn't matter. The house was in excellent shape. Not even hardly any dust inside, which surprised us. One of the under sink valves decided to succumb while we were gone and wouldn't turn on. Outside we had a lot of weeds and tumbleweeds but no dead trees or bushes. Yeah!! We did find one of our sprinkler valves was leaking pretty bad which explained the higher than expected water bill, so along with the inside valve we had to replace it. All in all, no big issues and it was good to get home.

We only stayed in Yuma a few days and left to come back to Show Low friday morning. We came the 'back' way through Globe and enjoyed the view of Arizona's other Grand Canyon, plus a good hard 15 minute rain storm along the way.

We had a good time this summer. The highlights were our visits with Frank, Don & Don, Kenny & Scott, Danny, Chuck & Jerry, Robb & Joe and Gloria & Harriet. That said it sure did feel good to get home to Yuma. I think we will reflect a little before deciding on our travel plans for next summer.

I will probably do one more entry to the blog for this season to show off the concrete work on the Show Low lot, but the travelogue updates are over. We look forward to seeing all our northern friends as they arrive in Yuma for the winter.

Special thanks to everyone for the hospitality during our trip visits this summer. Also thanks to everyone for the email support along the way.

Regards

Bill & Chuck

Kelowna 'Best Blooming Community'

We got into Holiday RV Resort north of Kelowna on Wednesday afternoon. The park is 25 years old so the spaces are a little tight, but everything is well maintained. We called good friends Robb and Joe and got directions to go to their house. We all got caught up on the latest news and Robb and Joe provided us burgers and fixings for dinner.

On Thursday we got to see a good part of Kelowna on a ten mile bike ride as well as a short walk around the immediate community. Kelowna appears to have more beaches and parks per capita as any other town I can remember. It really is a beautiful city with a lot of amenities. We can see why they chose this to be their home town.

Friday was our first designated shopping day and in the morning we went to about four stores. Costco, two houseware stores, and a Superstore supermarket. Robb and Joe provided us lunch and then we went visiting a couple of nearby wineries. At the first winery we encountered two dozen of Robb and Joe's interesting friends, but fortunately we were able to get away from them. After a few tastings, we purchased a number of bottles of wine, and then we all went back to the RV Park for dinner. We kind of forgot that you can't take back anything beef related when you return to the states so we ate up some steaks that we had in the freezer.

Saturday was RV shopping day. Robb and Joe are in the market for a new fifth wheel to replace their recently sold trailer, so we went at looked at their various options at nearby RV dealers. After this motored around some parts of the city that we hadn't yet seen and then we returned to the house for a belated birthday dinner for Robb and Chuck. They share the same birthday in June. The chicken cordon bleu dinner was gourmet quality and all the doo dads were on the table in addition to the great dinner. Dessert, which is Chuck's favorite part was a homemade chocolate cake that qualified as the best we ever tasted.

We can't thank Robb & Joe enough for their generous hospitality. Not only to us but to our two dogs who we didn't want to leave alone in the RV any more than necessary. Based on feedback from Rikki and Luci, I think Robb and Joe have become their god parents.

Some pictures are available at: Kelowna Pics

You'll notice some haze in many of the pictures. This is because the Kelowna area has been subjected to smoke and haze from a series of forest fires west and northwest of the city. One of the fires has been burning for over a month and is still not fully contained.

I also added some additional pictures to the previous post from Twisp, WA.

Today was a travel day as we head back to Arizona. We are currently at Wildhorse Resort & Casino east of Pendleton, OR. We are scheduled to make it to Show Low, AZ on Wednesday for a few days so that we can take care of supervising some improvements to our new RV lot there.

Our itinerary takes a Twisp

We decided to leave Crescent Bar, WA two days early and get a little closer to the Canadian border to shorten the drive to Kelowna on Wednesday. We ended up in Twisp, WA, a small mountain like town west of Omak on the Methow river.

We stayed at the Riverbend RV Park which was really quite nice with large spaces and lots of grass. We were able to get a pull-in space directly on the river. We had good satellite exposure and even though Twisp is off the beaten path, Verizon service was strong.

Unlike most private parks, they allowed us to wash the RV, so we spent a good bit of time on Tuesday doing a thorough rig washing. The weather was warm, but comfortable thanks to a gentle breeze, so we spent some time outdoors with the dogs watching the river and a few kayaks and tubers flow by. We decided we were due for a restaurant meal so we went into town and had pizza and a beer for dinner.

We left Wednesday morning for Kelowna. The border crossing at Osoyoos took about 30 minutes. The Canadian border patrol had us run the RV and car through a huge high tech CAT scan type device as well as the standard passport check and interview with the usual questions.

We are now comfortably in Kelowna at Holiday Park Resort. I’ll put up more pictures from Twisp and update on Kelowna after we get back to the states next week and no longer in Verizon surcharge mode.

Twisp Pics

Crescent Bar on the Columbia River

Crescent Bar is an oasis in a bend of the Columbia River nestled below large cliffs. Under normal circumstances this would not be a bad place to be at this time of they year. They brag about an average 24 hour temperature of 70 degrees from May to September. Don't know if this is a statistic or a damned lie, but our visit has fallen outside of those parameters. One hundred degree temperatures would have been more manageable except that for unknown reasons the pool and spa are closed for maintenance.

That said, as usual we were fortunate to find a nice parking space on the river view side of the park. Verizon service is 2nd tier so phone calls are OK, but use of the air card in the computer would incur charges. However, we are next door to the recreation room where the Wi-Fi is and we have a reasonably strong signal. Satellite is not in issue for most of the park

The Crescent Bar area has several RV parks, numerous hillside homes and a community of park models, all of which are nicely maintained. Based on the lack of 'for sale' signs, most people owning property here are very happy. Boating and water skiing are the most popular activities. The river is very inviting and we wish we had our boat with us so that we could explore the area. We may yet rent a boat or a jet ski before we leave.

In our travels we have made it to Wenatchee and Leavenworth. Leavenworth is a German alpine village with tons of great shopping and eating. They also have river rafting and tubing that was very inviting. Maybe on our next visit. We also drove another 45 minutes beyond Leavenworth to the Thousand Trails park they refer to as TT-Leavenworth. It's a really big, heavily tree'd preserve with many facilities but quite a distance from civilization. Although we love the town, we are glad that we chose Crescent Bar for our stay.

Last night the wind came up here, as we were warned that it might, and we had to batten down the hatches. I would estimate that the winds were in the 20 to 25 mph area. We brought the satellite dish down so that we didn't have to worry about it being pulled off the roof. Others here have said that they have experienced winds that caused them to bring in their slides, but we didn't feel that threatened. It was very noisy at bedtime but no issues or damage for anyone.

In a few more days we will be heading north to Kelowna. The weather forecast is for moderating temperatures which will be nice. Some pictures are available at: Crescent Bar - Leavenworth Pics

Oh Canada

This week we drove across the border for a day trip to Vancouver. We haven't been here since a memorable visit in 2002. After loading up the dogs and plugging Davie St into the GPS we headed across the border at Peace Arch crossing. The Canadian customs officer asked three questions. "Where are you coming from", "Are you carrying any guns", and "Are you going to cause any trouble?" He had a little smile on his face for the third question.

After arriving on Davie St, it was lunch time and we were hungry so we parked and walked straight to Hamburger Marys where we knew they had an outdoor eating area so that we could keep Rikki & Luci with us. After lunch, we and the dogs walked the shopping district, relaxed on a park bench at the bay, talked to a very nice vacationing lady from Toronto, and did some walking through Stanley Park before returning to the car.

The town was just getting started for Pride week so lots of activity and we enjoyed the visit. Even after seven years, it was amazing how little has changed. The return to the states took a little more time. About 45 minutes wait compared to 5 minutes coming into Canada.

Like everywhere else in the Northwest, temperatures have been on the rise. At Birch Bay and Vancouver the high temps were only mid eighties, but we finally had to run the A/C the last few days. Its going to be much warmer as we head inland, but we keep reminding ourselves how much cooler it is compared to Yuma this time of year.

We got excited about a 'screen room' that one of our neighbors had outside their rig as a place to relax bug free, so we went to Fred Meyer and purchased one for ourselves. We did a test 'explode' and a 'collapse', but we'll save actual use for our next destination.

Speaking of which, we arrived today at TT-Crescent Bar near Wenatchee. We're about 10 degrees warmer into the mid nineties, but 'still cooler than Yuma.' Anyway, more about our stay here later.

Lynden, WA

The guy in red is a sculpture across the street from our local Blaine, WA post office. Don't have any more information on 'red man.'

We remain in Birch Bay and in fact we just decided to extend our stay here for a few days and not go next to Cultus Lake in BC. We drove up to TT-Cultus Lake today to preview the park and the area is just stunning with a large beautiful lake nearby and a resort like feel. However, the park itself has small driveways and cramped parking spaces. There is some question about whether we would be able to find an open space that would work for our rig. This park is more geared for campers and smaller RV's.

We are now going to stay here in Birch Bay for four extra days and then go to TT-Crescent Bar Resort in Quincy, WA for about five days before running up to Kelowna, BC on August 5th as originally planned. For anyone who has never done it before, park scheduling requires the talents of a choreographer to make sure that mail can be forwarded, hot weather is avoided, and that you do not arrive at a park on a weekend when working people have taken all the good spaces. Crescent Bar is directly south of Kelowna off of Route 97, so it will be straight shot up to visit Robb and Joe.

Another small variable is the fire situation in Kelowna. The news media here in the states haven't been covering it, but the Kelowna area has been dealing with three different large fires over the last week. Two of the fires are now contained, but the third and largest one is still fully uncontained. The fire is northwest of Kelowna and shouldn't be a factor, but it is fire season so we are watching the situation carefully.

Last Wednesday we took the rig down to Bellingham to get our two awning problems resolved. Can't say enough good about Al's RV Parts and Service in Bellingham. They are right adjacent to I-5. They did a good job on both problems in less than two hours and bill was reasonable in both time and rate.

On a separate scenic drive, we found a really nice town nearby called Lynden. According to the local literature about 50% of the inhabitants are Dutch which would explain why the town has a feel similar to Solvang, CA. The homes and landscaping in this town are so well maintained that it's hard to believe that they go through the same winter weather as the rest of Washington. They also seem to have an unlimited budget for 'color bowl's of flowers to complete the 'Wisteria Lane' atmosphere.

I had Strawberry/Rhubarb pie ala mode at a Lynden bakery that has to be the best pie I've ever eaten. It was so 'rich' that I had to forego dinner. Chuck had Brambleberry that was good, but not as good as mine.

In the weather department, we have had mostly sun, a few clouds and the closest thing to rain was a brief drizzle a couple of evenings ago that we almost didn't even notice. We are supposed to have a major warm up the first of next week which is part of the reason we are staying here a few more days. Inland areas are going to be near 100 degrees the first of the week and we've forgotten what that feels like.

I've uploaded a few pictures from Lynden that can be seen here.

First week in TT-Birch Bay

We are very happy with this park and except for a few clouds upon our arrival, it has been sunny and in the 70's all week. Over half of the sites here are satellite friendly, Verizon is at 4 bars and elbow room is above average. TT staff are friendly as usual, as well as our RV neighbors.

Much of this week was focused on chores. Mailing, shopping, laundry, car washing, rig cleaning, rig fixing, etc. Speaking of rig fixing, our little electric awning over the door is dying again. This time blowing fuses. We have an appointment next week in Bellingham to have it fixed. The transmission problem is still gone or in remission. We're hoping for gone.

Saturday we drove to the marina peninsula off of Semimahoo and took the passenger ferry 'Plover' over to Blaine. This approach was a one hour solution to a ten minute problem, but the ferry ride was very enjoyable. As the ferry left Semimahoo, it passed by a floating dock that had nearly a hundred seals sunning themselves including a dozen or more young pups. From the Blaine harbor we walked into town soaked up a children's jazz festival and art fair. Reasonable fun and we 'got the T-shirt.' On the return voyage of the ferry, it goes out in the bay a short distance and come close to the official border with Canada before docking.

Today, Sunday we drove south past Bellingham and checked out two Thousand Trails parks that we are not staying at this trip but wanted to preview for future use. We visited Mt Vernon and La Conner. Both parks are of the heavily tree'd variety that drive me nuts when trying to find a site that will permit DirecTV satellite service. We would likely only use these parks for a short stay or not at all, but now we know.

After these two visits we drove onto Whidbey Island which has some great scenery and a couple of nice beach towns including Oak Harbor. The bridge getting you on the island from the north is a definite Kodak moment and a number of pictures are included in the album link at the bottom of this post.

We have been going for a walk each evening. Modest exercise, but better than none at all.

Heard that Yuma had a 'haboob' yesterday afternoon with winds in the 50 to 70 mph area. The sandstorm was followed up with a little bit of rain, but it was mostly about wind and did some modest damage in the downtown Yuma area. Called our good friend Andy and he graciously drove over to our house and checked to make sure there was no wind damage. Apparently we are in good shape and according to Andy the worst part of the storm was in the main part of Yuma rather than in the Foothills.

My mind was suggesting to finish off with, "That's the way it is", but this doesn't seem like the right week to steal that line.

More from Birch Bay next week and see the following web photo album for pictures from this week: Birch Bay - Whidbey Island Pics

Enumclaw wrap up

On Friday, Kenny drove us up to the Sunrise area of Mount Ranier National Park which is at the 6400' level of the mountain. This was a perfect day for this as it was sunny with only a few wandering clouds near the mountain. Even in the summer not every day on the mountain is sunny. In fact, some parts of the mountain get more than 100 inches of rain per year. From Sunrise, you become even more aware of the size of this mountain that includes 26 glaciers. In addition to the 'vista' outlooks, Sunrise has a substantial visitors center with many informational exhibits. There are also seemingly hundreds of hiking trails that would be fun to investigate on a future trip.

We were there at the right time to be able to join Ranger Brian on one of the two daily guided short walking tours to Emmons Glacier Vista. From him we learned more information about Mt Ranier and the local flowers and wildlife.

On Saturday, Kenny and Scott invited about a dozen friends over for an afternoon barbeque. We enjoyed catching up with old friends Chuck, Jerry & Bill as well as making many new friends. Great conversation and the food, that included burgers, fresh salmon and other good things, was delicious. The view from the patio down the valley to the Green River provided a great backdrop.

On Sunday morning, Kenny made us all a Bacon and Egg breakfast. The eggs were fresh from the chicken coop and more flavorful than any grocery store eggs. Later we visited brother Danny's home and Kenny's mother's home. Everyone made us feel warmly welcome on these visits.

Moreover, we can't thank Kenny and Scott enough for how they made us feel at home and we really enjoyed the visit.

We left on Monday morning for Birch Bay, WA. More on Birch Bay later. The following link has some additional pictures of Mount Ranier and the Saturday BBQ: More Pictures Here.

Enjoying Enumclaw Washington

We got to enjoy a few fireworks on the Fourth at Ocean Shores, but the the omnipresent clouds and mist reduced the enjoyment level somewhat. The seaside weather continued cloudy and rainy as we left Ocean Shores on Monday.

We stayed two nights at Midway RV in Centralia to get us closer to the Tacoma Dome so that we could attend the American Idol tour at that facility on Tuesday night. The concert lasted over three hours with a short intermission in the middle and included the top ten finalist from this years competition. Chuck and I are big fans of Adam Lambert and not surprisingly enjoyed his portion of the program the most. A few pictures of the venue are included in the picture gallery at the end of this posting.

On Wednesday morning we headed north for a visit with Ken and Scott at their beautiful home and grounds near Enumclaw that includes a stunning view of Mt Ranier. They have a 10 acre farm with a big barn and numerous goats and chickens. Next to where we are parked is an enclosed grassy pasture area that our two dogs have claimed as their own. They are having great fun chasing each other around for hours in their private dog's paradise. Ken and Scott are winter visitors to Yuma, where we met them last year. Again, some pictures are included in the gallery at the end of this posting.

On Thursday we went and visited friends Chuck and Jerry at their Enumclaw home. Chuck and Jerry are also Yuma snowbirds. They also have a farm environment with horses and chickens. We spent the afternoon eating Washington cherries off the tree and relaxing in conversation on their patio . Their property also has a great view of Mt Ranier.

It is Friday morning and the excitement for the day is that Scott just picked up his new Infiniti G37S hardtop convertible. The car is beautiful and has features that I didn't even know had been invented yet.

Since leaving the coast, the weather has improved dramatically and we are looking at 70 degree weather and sunshine so it looks like summer may have finally arrived for the northwest.

Pictures from the Tacoma Dome and Ken and Scott's home are available here.

Go fly a kite!

After starting out with two basic kites, we traded one back to the store for a 'stunt' kite, which we have been having lots of fun flying. The stunt kites can be controlled to go right, left, up, down or whatever including looping all the way upside down and around.

Chuck has been having a lot of fun with this and has the record amount of time, 20 minutes, for staying up without crashing into the sand. We'll have to see if Yuma has the necessary wind to fly these back home as well as they fly here on the seashore.

We've been spending a lot of time on the beach, flying kites, or walking the dogs. They really look forward to their beach walks. Went to the Quinalt Casino Wednesday night for their prime rib buffet. Great food and great value at $9.95.

Good friends Chuck and Jerry came by yesterday afternoon to check in and we went with them to a different beach area where dogs are allow to be turned loose. Kind of a dog park at the beach.

Our park filled up almost to capacity yesterday for the long weekend. Lots of of american flags and they have a decoration contest coming up tomorrow. For tomorrow evening, the nearby casino which is said to set off good fireworks that we will be able to see either from our rig or out on the beach.

Ahoy from Ocean Shores

We arrived at Oceana-TT, Ocean Shores, WA without any sign of transmission issues. Hopefully the last fix does the trick.

This is a fairly nice park that is actually about 5 miles north of Ocean Shores. A little tighter on elbow room than some other TT parks, but we have a space at the ocean end of the park that gives us lots of open space. We are a short 5 minute walk from the waters edge.

Both here and in Ocean Shores there seems to be deer everywhere. The real surprise was when going into town yesterday. About half way in, a medium size bear went galloping across the road about 50' in front of us. It happened too quick to get a picture.

Yesterday in Ocean Shores they had a number of events. One was chain saw wood carving. Another was a sand castle building contest. Most of the sand creations on the beach got destroyed before we got there but one of a car that they did off the beach survived.

The beaches here are less crowded than Seaside, so the dogs have been getting a lot of 'off leash' time, which they really enjoy.

We purchased a couple of kites yesterday and took them out for test runs this afternoon. They handled well and we enjoyed the activity. Some additional pictures are posted at: Ocean Shores

We've crossed over to the dark side...We're in Washington now.

We have spent the last two days at Pacific Power Products in Ridgefield, WA having them look at our intermittent transmission problems. Their diagnosis was that the transmission didn't have a good ground. So, another $1,000 and now we have new power and ground wires run from the rear of the rig where the batteries are to the front of the coach where the Electronic Control Unit lives. Sure hope that we've seen the end of this problem.

Our last several days at Seaside, OR included a lot of rain and not too much excitement.

Tonight we are in Kelso, WA for one night at Brookhollow RV Park. We stayed here about two years ago when we were headed north to Victoria BC for a week. Nice park here with good size spaces. No satellite issues. Verizon signals are weak, but the park has good WiFi so we are connected. Also lots of grass here for the dogs This park is on the road off of I-5 that goes out to the Mount St. Helens Nat'l Volcanic Monument. Not going back there this trip, but really enjoyed the exhibits and the movie at this facility when were here last.

Tomorrow we head west to Oceana-TT at Ocean Shores for about a week. It is supposed to rain there tomorrow in our honor, but hopefully it is time for the summer sunshine to kick in after that.

Coastal travels near Seaside

Today is our first day of steady rain since we left Yuma over a month ago. And, if the weather report is correct, we will have off and on rain through the next several days. Being in the motorhome, the rain seems a little more confining than when at home. We have to learn that this isn't any different than a rain day in Yuma.

On Wednesday we went all the way back to Junction City in the car to pick up an art piece we purchased last week. Its a steel wagon wheel with metal trees and an elk in the center. The artist needed a week to add 'Rainbow Acres', the name we decided to use for our Show Low lot. Theres a picture of the art piece and Wade the artist with pictures attached to this post.

We also stopped at Guaranty RV to pick up some drawer latches we need to fix ones that are failing in the rig.

On Thursday we drove to Tillamook and toured the cheese factory. Its a self guided tour with educational stations and view down into a working section of the factory. There were free samples of a half a dozen different cheeses to whet the appetite, followed by the ice cream store and cheese store. We succumbed to both. They also have a cafe restaurant in the same area. So, free parking.. free tour.. and free cheese. What's not to like.

The drive down the coast was very picturesque and enjoyable, but I'm constantly reminded that we're enjoying a part of their three months or so of summer and that it's a different world entirely during the other nine months of the year. I'm sure the winters are enjoyable as well, but probably not my cup of tea.

The following link includes some pictures from the last several days: Coastal Pics

More from Seaside, Oregon

We're settled in here at Seaside and scheduled to be here for almost three weeks. We've had mostly cloudy days ranging from the low 60's in the daytime to the low 50's overnight. A little drizzle, but no real rain. Yesterday and today have both been more sun than clouds and great days to get out and do things.

We have spent a little time doing our chores, i.e. shopping at Costco & Safeway, laundry & coach maintenance. We've also done a few scenic drives to Astoria and to Cannon Beach. Cannon Beach is the local equivilent to Laguna Beach and we're going to go back there when we have more time to visit the hundred or more small shops along the main street.

We've also been trying to go for a beach walk with the dogs each day. Rikki and Luci have never been to the beach before so they have really big smiles during these walks. Particularly when we let them off leash for a while.

Yesterday we met a retired couple on the beach who live in Phoenix in the winter and here in Seaside during the summer. They've been coming here for almost four years and love their retirement lifestyle.

A picture portfolio is available at: Seaside Pics

We are now in Seaside, Oregon

We are now at Thousand Trails Seaside, Oregon after a tough period of several days getting here.

On our second visit to Cummins NW in Coburg they were still unable to find the source of our repeated transmission failures. They cleaned our somewhat corroded chassis battery connections and traced down every power wire related to the transmission, but found no conclusive issue.

So we left for Guaranty RV Junction City on Monday where we had a service appointment for Tuesday morning to repair our small electric awning. After talking with Service in the morning we took off to Florence to pick up mail. While we were on the road we discussed my former cold and now bronchitis condition and decided to buzz over to the VA hospital in Roseburg, OR. This took over five hours of mostly waiting around, but resulted in the expected RX for an antibiotic to treat my 'bug' which I seem to fall victim to about once per year. While in Roseburg, they called to say that the awning repair was completed. We returned to Junction City late and stayed at Camp Guarantee for a 2nd night.

We originally were supposed to go to Florence-South Jetty for about 10 days, but having had the first 3 days of that usurped with maintenance issues, we decided to skip ahead to Seaside a week early. On Wednesday morning we took off for Seaside and except for an accident in the Portland area that held us up for nearly an hour, the trip was typical Oregon. Lots of green hills, a little rain and four hours later we were in Seaside.

The entrance for the TT park is very short so they have you pull around this little 200' loop and walk back to the ranger station to check in. No big deal except that after we got back to the coach it wouldn't start. Same symptoms as before, except this happened after being parked for about 30 minutes instead of while we were driving down the road.

We were blocking the parks normal traffic flow, so understandably they asked us to find a way to get the coach out of the way. First I called Cummins NW to see if they could think of anyway to push past whatever the obstacle was. No immediate help. Spent a little bit of time talking to Country Coach support. At least they answered the phone but suggested that they would call Cummins NW offline and support them anyway they could. Spent about 2 hours on the phone with their service manager and a couple of techs trying to troubleshoot the problem. No joy. Everybody basically gave up and it was time to go into tow truck mode.

We have AAA Plus RV service, so I called them first. After more than an hour of back and forth, they didn't have anyone who would take the call until the following morning. Cummins in Ritchfield, WA had given me the name of the towing service they had worked with and he agreed to come out for $1000, so in desperation I told him to get on the road, and he said that he would be to us in about 2 hours.

About an hour later, one of our RV neighbors offered that he had experienced a similar failure and that it turned out to be a problem with his chassis battery. Well we had Cummins all over our batteries, checking the out and cleaning terminals, etc., so I was sceptical. The battery voltage was only a little over 12 volts, but I figured that the dozens of attempts to start the engine would have worn it down somewhat. Anyway we put the charger on our chassis battery for about 30 minutes and after that, Presto, Chango the transmission panel lights up and away we go.

So we immediately got the rig off the street. I think at this point the RV park people had given up on us, but it was a weight off of my shoulders to no longer be the activity focal point for Seaside Resort. The tow truck driver showed and we reviewed the situation with him and decided to not get towed. He mercifully reduced the bill to $500 and hopefully we will get reimbursed by AAA.

Today, Thursday, we went to Les Schwab's and got a replacement battery. I'm not 100% certain that this is the only problem, but the alternater and echo charger both seem to operating properly and I think this is IT. Time will tell and we are not scheduled to depart from here until June 29th.

Anyway, this is our most favorite Thousand Trails park thus far. On a scale of 1 to 5....

Satellite spaces - 5

Verizon Signal - 4

Elbow Room - 4

50amp power - 5

Grass for the dogs - 5

Friendly, helpful people - 5+

Weather (mostly cloudy so far) - 4 (for Chuck its a 5)

More from Seaside later.

FMCA Update & another Total Engine Failure

First, the good news. The four days at the FMCA Albany rally -were very enjoyable overall. The picture to the right shows us shortly after we arrived on Tuesday. However, on Wednesday they located new arrivals on both our left side and directly in front of us making us feel a little claustrophobic. Since we weren't going anywhere anyway we adapted to our close quarters. It was mostly sunny on our arrival day, but mostly cloudy and some rain and thunderstorms through the rally.

We enjoyed talking with our part time Yuma neighbors Erv Fleming and his wife, and Gary and Sue Tilley. The did a great job at introducing us around and making us feel at home. We will be sending in an application to join their NW Pacers Chapter of FMCA and look forward to participating in some of their future rallies during our summer travels.

We went to all the provided meals and enjoyed the many conversations we had with people from all over the country. We particularly enjoyed meeting Jerry and Kristi from So. California and hope to meet up with them again somewhere down the road.

Then on to the 'other news' as one of my business partners always likes to say.

We took off for Florence on Sunday morning as scheduled. The first ominous sign of a bad day came when the small electric awning over the door wouldn't retract. Tried everything we could think of and finally had to partially disassemble the awning and mechanism and tie wrap the arms and the canvas to the side of the coach.

Then we got on the road and a couple of miles short of Coburg, the rig did the same thing that it did before we got to Albany. The engine went into 'limp mode' and the transmission display went totally blank. Since we were fortuitously only a few minutes away from Cummins in Coburg we crawled into their parking lot. After verifying that we only had forward motion capability, we PULLED into one of their RV slots. We kept trying to restart the engine occasionally, expecting it to start working again after about an hour like before. I was actually hoping that it wouldn't restart, but it did, this time after more than four hours. We got ourselves backed in and reparked and we will spend the night here. Tomorrow we will probably have to fight for attention competing with the other 10 rigs that are parked here. Most of them are on their way home from the FMCA rally and have scheduled appointments.

We are trying to treat this as just another part of our summer adventure, but engine reliability is one of those things that no one really wants to have to deal with. Hopefully this time they will be more successful at diagnosing the problem.

Visiting in Chiloquin

Sorry for the delayed update, but the last week has been a blur of activity.    We departed Susanville on schedule last Thursday morning and were enjoying the scenery about an hour north of Susanville on our way to Chiloquin, OR when the coach started to lose power.   The dreaded 'Check Engine' and ' Check Trans' lights came on and the rig went into what is known as 'limp mode' where it doesn't want to go very far or very fast.  We pulled to the side of the road, shut it down and began going  through our check list of what might have gone wrong.    

Nothing made any sense and so we decided to try and restart to see if the problem would clear itself.  No such luck, indeed the only panel lights to come on were the ones we didn't want to see.  The rig wouldn't even restart.  Fate put us in the middle of nowhere where we didn't have cell service so I decided to take all my phone numbers and go down the road in the tow car and start making phone calls.  

I talked to a tech at Cummins in Redding, CA who didn't have any clues and said we would probably have to be towed in for service.  So I called AAA who is our RV towing provider.  Despite being at least 60 miles from any town that might  be big enough to even have a post office, they said they would have a tow truck to us within 30 minutes.  I went looking for some gas because the tow car was low and if we needed to follow the rig into Redding we would need gas.  Never got the gas, because Chuck called me to tell me that he got the rig started and that he was on his way towards me.  At the same time, the tow truck driver called to say he was almost at our position.  I canceled him with an optimistic attitude that the coach might be OK to drive on to Chiloquin.

We couldn't reproduce any issues or see any ongoing problems with the rig so we crossed our fingers and headed on to Chiloquin.  

We got to our good friends Don & Don in Chiloquin a couple hours later than planned but without further incident.

As shown in the above picture, we parked in their front drive way as we have before.  The Don's are always the greatest hosts and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves at their house through Sunday.  Dinner with various 'family' friends in Klamath Falls on Friday, a BBQ at neighbors and good friends on Saturday and then another BBQ hosted at the Don's on Sunday.  Big Don is an incredible cook and Sunday was no exception.  We'll try and catch up with the diet later.

We had a little rain while in Chiloquin, but for the most part it occurred at night and didn't negatively affect our activities.  Rikki and Luci really enjoyed the grass yard to play in and the Don's three dogs to play with.

Thanks to Don and Don for their hospitality and we look forward to them getting down to Yuma this winter and spending some time at our place as they have before.

We left Chiloquin on Monday and had an uneventful and beautiful trip across the mountains over to Albany to get some work started on our coach.  We heard about an accomplished cabinet man who used to work for Country Coach who was now working at Lassen RV in Albany. We met up with him Monday to take measurements for replacing the wooden fascia ring around our new TV in the bedroom area, and some modifications to the computer desk.  He will be delivering a new TV ring to us at the upcoming FMCA rally, also in Albany.

After getting the measurements done, we retreated back to Coburg, OR where we had made an appointment with Cummins Northwest to look at engine and transmission and see if they could diagnose our Total System Failure last Thursday.  We spent Monday night at Cummins and on Tuesday, they got to work and told us that they only thing they could find in the diagnostic codes was a failing engine/transmission speed sensor that showed multiple failures and could be the culprit.  We had them replace it and headed back to Albany to check in at the Northwest FMCA rally for the next five days.

We were surprised to get 'parked' by several Yuma friends.  Actually they are all Washingtonians that we know from their winter visits to Yuma.  Good friend Kenny's father, Earv, parked us out in the grass lot and then other friends, Gary and Sue came over to make sure we had everything we needed.

Today was Chuck's birthday so we went out to eat at a local buffet.  The diet remains only a concept at this point.

I'll update more about FMCA Albany in the next few days.

Vegas wrap up and on to Susanville, CA

So Saturday we decided that our diets and our budget could go on hold for a day and we went over to Sam's Town for their prime rib buffet.  The buffet is $12.95 with their free slot card and that includes a beer or a glass of wine.  The buffet in general and specficially the prime rib was actually very good.

After bragging in a previous post about avoiding the slots we secumbed to a brief decadent period of gambling.  Not to worry.  On a $5 investment and ten minutes of time I hit four aces on a poker machine.  I immediately cashed out and pocketed $161.  Chuck didn't do quite as well, but threw in the towel right after me with $5.50 on his $5.oo investment.

After dinner we knocked on the door of a park neighbor that we had reason to believe were friends of our good friends in Oregon, Don and Don.  Sure enough, our suspicions were correct and we sat down with Vicki and Casey to enjoy some good conversation and a little wine.  We also got an invite for dinner the following evening.  Many thanks to these two for a great meal and some enjoyable conversation.

On Monday morning we took off for our next destination, Hawthorne, NV.  After parking at the RV lot for the El Capitan and nosing around the casino, we decided that the ambiance wasn't what we had hoped for and that since it was early enough we would push on to Reno for the night.  Still trying to get used to the fact that we are retired and that plans and schedules are open to modficiation.  Anyway, we stayed one night at the Boomtown KOA, a park we have previously visited.  A decent park, but this visit we arrived late and left early so no stories to tell.

So Tuesday morning we drove the short 1 1/2 hours to Susanville RV Park in CA.  This is a gem of a park with space for big rigs, some grass, and good satellite and Verizon signals (picture above.)  The weather is at least ten degress cooler in the day time and even more at night than we have been experiencing in our last few stops.  We are staying here two nights before we push on to Don & Don's place in Chiloquin.

Valley of Fire State Park

We decided to drive out to see the Valley of Fire state park. Most people get to this area off of I-15, but we chose to come in 'the back way' via Lake Meade's Northshore Drive. Lake Meade's water levels seem to be at historic lows. This makes the lake less attractive, but the bigger issue is what this means for water availability down the road.

Shortly before getting to the eastern entrance to VOF we stopped at a North Shore marina area called Echo Bay. About ten years ago we flew into the Echo Bay airport to participate in a flying club outing on Lake Meade on a houseboat. The airport runway is now a decent 3400 feet long and paved. When we landed there it was shorter and strictly dirt. Both then and now it slopes down toward the lake and being in the desert has its share of very windy days. Anyway, on our way out of town after the house boat trip it was an 'E coupon' ride taking off downhill with a 20 mile per hour tail wind on a short dirt runway. It was nostalgic to go back and see the area.

From Echo Bay, it was only about 15 minutes away to the eastern entrance to Valley of Fire State Park. This 36,000 acre area derives its name from the brilliant sandstone formations that were created 150 million years ago by a great shifting of sand that continued to change over time from wind and water erosion. This park provides some of the greatest scenery available in the Mojave Desert.

Like other settings of this type the extensive panoramas are difficult to capture with conventional cameras. A best attempt is included at the following link:  Valley of Fire Pictures

There are campsites available including many for RV's. One campground has hookups available for an additional $10 per night.

Viva Las Vegas

We got to Thousand Trails LV Tuesday afternoon. This is an older park with the spaces somewhat close. Even though the park is about 3/4 full, we have not had neighbors on either side for three days so it has not been a problem. Satellite and Verizon access are both excellent here. We see some coaches here who were in Verde Valle with us, probably on their northward migration back to OR, WA.

Spent the first two days on laundry, shopping and routine maintenance. On Friday we drove west on Charleston Blvd to Red Rock Canyon. The picture says it all. Very beautiful scenery. We only did the scenic drive, but really enjoyed it. They say that the hiking trails take you to sights that puts the scenic drive to shame. However, it was pretty warm and we had the dogs with us so we stayed in the car.

After dinner we drove to the strip to check out the town. We meadered through the Bellagio, Ceasars, Mirage, Bally's and Paris checking out the casinos and watching the crowds. The slot machines usually assail the wallet for a few bucks but not this trip.

Walnut Canyon Nat'l Monument near Flagstaff

On Tuesday we walked both the Island and Rim trails at Walnut Canyon with Frank.  The Island trail requires you to drop down 240 steps and then walk around the side of this area in the middle of the canyon.    This canyon provided dwellings sheltered by overhanging cliffs that were home to the Singua people about 800 years ago.  Walking around the island you get to see not only dozens of dwelling caves, but also different plantlife zones with obvious variations from the sunny side to the shady side.  The climb out via the 240 steps will definitely get your heart pumping since you are doing this at an altitude of nearly 7000 feet.

You can see other pictures taken here at:  http://picasaweb.google.com/chuckandbillweb/WalnutCanyonMay2009

Even with the 240 steps, walking the Island trail takes only a little over an hour.  This was a most enjoyable side trip and is highly recommended for anyone coming through Flagstaff  on I-40 with a hour or two to spare.  There is also a shorter, and flat trail called the Rim trail if you aren't ready to climb the 240 steps.

Wednesday morning we departed for Las Vegas.  Many thank to Frank for his hospitality and for showing us around the area.

Landed in Meteor Crater

We got to Meteor Crater RV Park on Sunday.  Our parking spot, weather, satellite and Verizon coverage are all excellent.  The park personnel were extremely helpful and friendly.

We met up with our good friend Frank Sunday evening for dinner and on Monday morning walked out to the ruins of an old building that used to be a 'trinket' store on old Route 66.  The building is in great disrepair but the bell tower is still somewhat standing and is now holding a huge nest where a family of ravens are living.

Later in the morning we took the 1/2 mile guided walking tour at the crater, which is actually five miles south of the RV park.  The tour is included with admission to the facility and it was very educational and enjoyable.  They also have a movie theatre, a museum and the prerequisite gift shop at their large facility.  The picture above is my best attempt with a regular lens to show the crater.

In the afternoon, we made a brief stop at Walnut Canyon near Flagstaff and then took in a movie, Star Trek, with Frank.

Had some scattered showers and little lightning in the distance this afternoon.   We returned to the RV park to be met by a by a power failure for the whole facility due to a failing transformer.  No problem in the RV.  We simply went to dry camp mode for the evening.  Dinner and some TV went off without a hitch despite the power failure which was fixed overnight.

Planning on going back to Walnut Canyon today.  This time we will do one of the hiking trails so that we can see the cliff dwellings that surround this canyon.

Busy looking at RV Lots, and buying one.

The last three days have been filled with looking at various Arizona RV lots in search of one that we can use 'down the road' as a summer getaway.  We re-looked at various lots in the Prescott area and likewise in Show Low, and settled on a new undeveloped lot at White Mountain Vacation Villages in Show Low.  WMVV is in a heavily tree'd area with a mountain cabin type feel.  One nice option is that in the future we could put an oversize park model on the lot if we wanted a more permanent structure.  You can see much more about the community at the following website:    www.whitemountainvacationvillage.com  

The picture above only shows a narrow view of the lot, but when we get it developed it will have a concrete pad and full hookups for our RV, car parking, a covered outdoor eating area and a shed.

While we are on the road this summer we will close escrow and get our plot plan submitted for all of our lot enhancements.  Hopefully on our way back from Canada we will be able to get the development process started to make the lot useable.

Checking out the area

Yesterday and today we've been exploring some nearby areas we have been to before as well as some new places.

While looking at a hillside house we noticed the flower in the above picture.  Actually its a weed, but has nice flowers that look like eyeballs.  Chuck said the friendly weed was 'a sign' to buy the house, but I don't think so.

We have kept up our daily walks and continue to lose a little weight day by day.   Actually, Chuck takes a long, 5 or 6 mile walk every morning and we both take a shorter walk each night with the dogs.

Temperatures have been in the low nineties with severe clear skies.  We are scheduled to make a visit up to the Show Low area tomorrow to check out some RV lots up there.

Thousand Trails Verde Valle - Our home for the coming week

Got to TT - Verde Valle about 2:30pm.  Got a nice spot with grass for the dogs.  Verizon access is excellent.  Space selection was easier than at most TT parks because about 3/4 of the spaces have good satellite access.  We parked, leveled, hooked up electric, water, sewer, put out the three awnings, put on the front window sunscreens, hoisted the 'pride' flag, put out the chairs, a table and a small dust mat, raised the satellite dish, turn on the A/C and the water heater, and tested out the Verizon connection.  Whatever happened to pitching the pup tent and firing up the coleman stove?

Anyway, we had dinner, took a short walk and settled in for a little evening TV.  

The picture above shows Chuck coming back from taking the dogs for a morning walk after we had breakfast.

Day 1 of 120 - Departure glitch

Everything was going smooth until we hooked up the car and did our 'light check' to make sure the tow car lights were working.  The left brake light failed to come on.  We had a similar problem once before and it was a fuse in the motor home protecting the tow connector.  This time it wasn't the fuse and we suspected the Honda's brake light.  We decided to go to the Fry's parking lot to diagnose.   After taking apart the tail light assembly we think it was a loose connection where the tow diodes are inserted in the brake light line.  It started working while we were in there.  We'll watch it closely from this point and see if we need to go back in there.

After all the diagnosing and messing around we got on the road 1 1/2 hours late, but no big deal as we only had a four hour trip to TT-Valle Verde.

After a busy weekend of loading the motorhome and de-activating the house, it's departure day.  We spent the night in the motorhome in the back yard and we are about to leave for TT-Verde Valley near Cottonwood, AZ, our first destination of our four month summer sojourn.  

We are leaving at the perfect time.  Starting last week, temperatures in Yuma started reaching 100 degrees or more.  The Foothills area has become very quiet.  When Chuck walked yesterday morning he said he only encountered one vehicle on the road during his 1 1/2 hour walk.  We may be one of the last to leave.  Should we turn out the lights? 

Our new blog.

We created this blog to document our RV travels in our 2004 Country Coach Intrigue.