RV Adventures with Dave and Connie

Summer's eve.

2011-09-30T10:20:00.000-07:00

Our time at the Escapee’s Evergreen Coho RV Park has come to an end for this year; we have made some new friends and learned a whole lot about running an RV park. We look forward to coming back next year in May for five months; we hope you will join us.

Our first stop was Portland, Oregon for a couple nights stay at the Columbia RV Park. Connie bought a McIntosh desktop computer, she had wanted to get back to Mac for a long time; and we saved state tax by buying it in Oregon.

We plan on being home in Festival about the 14th of October giving me two weeks to get ready for Halloween. I am just a big kid at heart; I love setting up my village of graveyards, ghouls, skeletons, witches and all things that go bump in the night. Next month it will be pilgrims, pumpkins and brightly colored vegetables, and we will be giving thanks for all the good things in our lives.

Coming up in mid-November will be Disneyland with Bryan, Gary, Blanche, Blanche’s kids Julie, L. Kae, and Raymond. Between now and then we will be having our fall brunch, hoping to see a lot of you there.

Christmas takes about two weeks to put up the tree, ornaments, an army of dolls and a little mistletoe. You can be sure St. Nick will be standing watch over packages wrapped in shiny green and red paper, tied up with bows of golden ribbon, each with a promise of something special inside. We will be wishing all our friends and family another year of good health and well being.

Dave

History, art, wood, water and friend.

2011-09-09T17:36:00.000-07:00

Today we went to the Wooden Boat Show in Port Townsend, Washington. People from all over the world come to this event. An entire building is dedicated to the craft and art of wooden boats. The smell of fresh sawn wood and linseed oil brings back my fondest memories of my Dad; him and me building a small boat from scratch.

The biggest draw is boarding and viewing wooden boats of all description. The most intriguing of all was the Destiny with its storied past. Built in 1934 for Randolph Hearst and later sold to Howard Hughes, two of the wealthiest men of their time.

We came aboard and wound around below decks until we came to the kitchen in the forward most part of the ship. There we met Dawn, the new owner (pictured), we had a great time comparing notes; we were very much alike and quickly became friends. She and her husband sold their five coffee shops to buy Destiny and go see the world.

2011-09-07T12:13:00.000-07:00

Port Townsend Washington is home to the Blue Moose Cafe, it is down by the dockyards
and looks very seedy. Inside is very small and very old, not what you would associate with
good food. Recommended by some locals we discovered a real gem. The sandwich I had was a double decker with toasted raisin bread, sliced apples, ham, cheddar cheese and sweet hot mustard, it was de-lish, as Rachael Ray would say.

Road trip to Joyce and Sekiu.

2011-09-01T13:36:00.000-07:00

C.B. Cara and I took a road trip to Sekiu, an old fishing village from way back.

As a boy of about 12, I accompanied my Parents, Dad’s Cousin Harold (Sy) Syverson and Shiela his wife, fun people, to Sekiu, the ultimate place for Salmon fishing. This was the one and only time my Mother would ever get this close to nature, something less than a five star hotel was to her “roughing it’. She would also go clam digging, but that is another story.

Highway 112 just west of Port Angeles is designated a Scenic Byway and it sure fits the bill. Running parallel to the Straits of Juan de Fuca, a large body of water separating us from Vancouver Island, Canada. It also leads to the San Juan Islands and the Puget (pewjet) Sound. Ships of all sizes, U.S.Navy surface ships and Trident Submarines regularly use these waters as well as Killer Whales, other types of whales, Salmon, Halibut etc. Here I go getting hungry again.

The original Clallam County Seat was New Dungeness (yes, the famous crab name), named by British Royal Navy Captain George Vancouver. That area is now called Sequim (skwim). In 1890 the County Seat was moved to Port Angeles where it remains today. Logging is key to the survival of the area; it is also where to board the Ferry for Victoria, Canada, they even have a Dairy Queen.

The most interesting place along our way is Joyce, Washington. The Joyce General Market is celebrating 100 years of continuous business. It is all original; parts of the inside came from the Markham House Hotel which was in the now extinct town of Port Crescent. After failing to capture the Clallam County Seat, the town was totally abandoned by 1893. John Joyce opened the store and promptly named the spot Joyce, clever.

Inside are treasures beyond belief. Post office boxes claimed from the old Markham Hotel; one old character behind the counter said it was circa 1850, before the Postal Service came into being and was run by a private company. Among the vast assortment of past memories was a Chain Saw, hanging from the ceiling, it was about 10 feet long. After the old guy told me it was the world’s first chainsaw I did some research. A German engineer named Emil Lert invented what was called the first chainsaw and opened a company called Dolomar which flourishes to this day. The chainsaw hanging from the rafter was indeed one of these beasts. The engine looks a little like an early Volkswagen, it put out 8 horse power and weighed 128 pounds, ugh!

We found Sekiu, a speck on the map, with lots of boats and fishermen. We had a crappy lunch and headed home. We stopped half way back to let Cara have a run on the beach, the waves petrified her, what a wimp.

Old Town Tacoma, Washington

2011-08-26T13:17:00.000-07:00

We have driven past here for years and only have seen the Tacoma Dome. Along with the ultra modern Chihuly Museum of Glass, the old Tacoma Train Station across the “Bridge of Glass” is a refreshing sight; old opulence puts concrete and glass to shame.

The trains still roll down the rails but no longer stop, the massive building is now home to the Federal Courthouse since the station was closed in 1984.

The "Bridge of Glass" is full of Chihuly's work, this is looking up as you walk across.

Chihuly's Museum of Glass

2011-08-26T12:53:00.000-07:00

Connie had been wanting to go to the Chihuly Museum of Glass for years. Thursday morning we drove to Fox Island where our friends Dean and Diane are staying (read "What a site" on this blog). Cara the wonderdog needed a playday with her old friend Poco Kleinsmith; Connie and I needed some alone time (the museum takes a dim view of dogs inside).
The museum's Hot Shop has room for several furnaces, artists (from around the world) and a gallery for visitors. The room was hot and full of activity, a furnace door would open, a pole would be inserted and would emerge with a red hot glowing orb of molten glass. The worker would place the pole onto two supports and continuously turn it while beginning to shape the orb with wooden ladles just brought out of a bucket of water. Several other tools would be used and the piece would from time to time be reinserted into the furnace.
We have watched this process performed at the factories that make Kosta Boda in Sweden, Waterford in Ireland and the Corning Glass Museum in New York, using the same technique. For our money the Corning Museum was far and away the best.
The Tacoma Dome and an artistic bridge added to the beauty of the high dollar marina next door to the museum.
Cross the bridge from the museum to the old Railroad Station and you will see more of Chihuly's art work than in the museum, and it is free.

Keep reading the next blog for more.......

What a site!

2011-08-26T09:59:00.000-07:00

Dean and Diane wake up to this! Puget Sound in the foreground and Mt. Rainier surrounded by blue sky in the background. You think this is great? Just walk down the concrete steps to a large pier that juts out into the water for fishing, crabbing or just watching the tide change. All this for just opening a gate in the morning and closing it at night; gosh, I'm tired just thinking about it, aren't you?

Will work for site.

2011-08-16T10:36:00.000-07:00

Well we survived our first weekend at wrrrrrrk. Dare I say we liked it? Except for the “having to be there” we had fun getting to know some of the “locals”; many come up to us and say how great it is that we are the new Assistant Managers and that they have heard such good things about us. Feeling wanted makes our tasks easier and seems to lighten the load. Not that what we do is difficult.
Connie has the hardest job, she is in charge of the office and has to learn how to check in new arrivals, check out those leaving, take in money, balance the books and a myriad of things that are required to run an RV park. She also has to interact with the lease holders, board members, volunteers, advisors and phone calls; some of the aforementioned good and some not so much.
We must sort and distribute mail for the 175 lease holders; that in itself is a job.
My duties entail driving around in my golf cart checking to see what spaces are unoccupied, making sure there are no water leaks or other disasters, moving garbage bags from the club house to the dump and my favorite job operating the backhoe. We have a diesel tractor with a backhoe (boys toy) and I use it to tamp down the garbage bags in our three dumpsters. So far I have managed to not damage anything. I also make sure the bathrooms have paper products as required, and clean up any spills or litter (I let them know I do not do toilets). At 5:00 I close the sheds and garage (man caves). The sheds contain a wood working shop, metal shop, paint storage, tractors, lawn and garden implements, wood chippers, chain saws, Gas and diesel storage tanks. If we had McGyver here we could easily build a nuclear power plant.
Volunteers do most physical labor jobs in the park, they form committees to do regular maintenance, cutting down trees, planting flower beds, mowing lawns, cleaning the streets, painting, repairing, you name it, they do it. So, if I find something that is a problem I let them know and they come out and fix it.

Buddy can you spare a dime?

2011-08-10T08:30:00.000-07:00

As Alfred E. Newman may have opined “What, me work?

Well it is a sad story; here we are on Social Security and Medicare working in an RV (trailer) park and going to bingo on Wednesdays. I suppose next it will be food stamps and “Will work for food” signs. We have changed Cara’s name to “Killer” in hopes of getting her guard dog duty, it only pays dog biscuits but I understand with a little hot sauce they are not bad. By the way, do you have any change you can spare?

We are really having a ball here, lots of nice people, beautiful COOL environment. After seven years of letting our brains idle in neutral it will be good to put them in gear and let out the clutch.

Extra, Extra, read all about it!

2011-08-08T16:03:00.000-07:00

Big news bulletin …………………..Beckes’ working………………. Stop …………..at Escapee Park…….. stop……………..Oh No!

Yes, you heard it here first. Connie and I are the new Assistant Managers here at Coho Evergreen Park.

I had received an e-mail Saturday asking if we were still interested in the job. This morning as we were literally pulling out to head to Seaside, the managers took us aside and wanted to let us know what a great job this is. CB and I decided that even though we could have gone down the coast for free camping @ TTNs, this was too good to pass up. We will take over for the managers on Saturday and Sundays. Connie will be in the office; I will park RVs coming in and roam the park in my golf cart, checking to make sure there are no leaks of major proportions or catastrophes that need immediate attention. I don’t fix the problem I just make sure the job gets done by the appropriate maintenance person.

For this we get a free space, electricity, propane and $6.50 an hour, what is not to like? Maybe next week we will tell you!

hot rod parade

2011-08-07T14:03:00.000-07:00

Coho Days here in the park includes this hot rod parade after dinning on bisquits and gravy. Life is good. We will be leaving here tomorrow for Seaside on the Oregon Coast.

Timing is everything

2011-08-06T12:56:00.000-07:00

Here we are getting ready to leave Evergreen Coho Park on Monday. A few months ago I saw an add for assistant manager's for this park and I sent in a resume, would you believe I just received an e-mail asking me if I would be interested in being the assistant manager for the rest of the summer! Go figure!

flip for pancakes

2011-08-02T09:17:00.000-07:00

Pancakes are one of my favorite things, a few months ago I went to a pancake breakfast at the fire house in Festival, those firemen should not be allowed around food, the cakes were white and tasted like cardboard. Yesterday we had a pancake breakfast here at Coho Evergreen Escapee RV Park, Rachael the cook just had her ninetieth birthday! Her pancakes were some of the best I have ever had, golden brown, tasting of buttermilk and butter, fluffy with the edges a little crispy, it was almost a sin to put syrup on them.

Last night after dinner we took Cara out to the dog run; she ran with the pack and had a ball. We all miss Harry, but we know he is better off.

Today we awoke to a light rain, CB is going to high tea with Dianne and the girls here at the park, last year she and Fran had a ball. They were served by some of the girls husbands dressed in their finery. The food was good, plentiful and free!

The high tea is the start of Coho Days, a week full of activities. Everyday will be hot dogs for lunch, yeah!

Quilcene

2011-07-28T16:45:00.000-07:00

Dean, Diane, Connie and I left Chimacum and headed south to Quilcene, Washington. If I had a license I could dig clams and hunt for oysters, Hood Canal Oysters are some of the best. We stopped at the headquarters for the East Olympic National Forest to get maps to the places I wanted to see.
Falls view Canyon Trail challenged us to walk about .1 of a mile of flat trail to get the shot you see above. Somehow we managed.

Farther south on 101 we took a steep narrow road that wound around Mt. Walker climbing 2.000 feet. From the view points at the top we were treated to views of the entire Puget Sound and Hood Canal. On a cold clear day you would be able to see Mt. Baker, The Olympic Range, downtown Seattle and Mt. Rainer. We could see it but not very well.
Lunch was the best yet on this trip; The Olympic Timber House Restaurant is five star for food and ambiance. Log Construction and rock walls sent us back in time to the days of lumberjacks and Miners. We came home tired from all that hiking but our tummies were full and happy.

Harry Beckes 7/15/96-7/27/11

2011-07-27T17:46:00.000-07:00

Saying goodbye to an old friend for the last time is hard to do, but my little buddy had reached a point at which I decided to end his suffering. He had kidney failure and cancer, and he was hurting. I could feel it when I held him, he would involuntarily quiver. A year ago he weighed over 16 pounds, today he was less than half that, just skin and bones. He never complained and kept up the good fight but it was time. Just a month ago he had caught a rabbit and brought it home to us, now he was having a tough time jumping up for his food and water.

He had just celebrated his 16^th birthday. I remember bringing him home from the pet store, he was skinny and scraggly and Connie thought I had lost my mind. Little did she know what a handsome, loving cat he would become. I named him Harry after Harry Houdini; he was a great escape artist. Except for the sliding door, there was no door in the house that he could not open and he always kept us laughing with his antics. When our dog Poco would walk down the hallway, Harry would jump out in front of him, looking like Kato, the sidekick of Inspector Clousieu in the Pink Panther series. Every night he would warm my lap and my heart; I loved him very much.

Extremes

2011-07-19T16:24:00.000-07:00

Yesterday there was another sandstorm that raced through the Phoenix area with temperatures 110+, ugh! It sounds more like Afghanistan.

In order for that to happen in Western Washington, some dust would have to be found first, most dirt here is wet and has something green growing on it, especially since the Northwest is having a cold wet summer, so far, temperatures here range between 50 and 60 degrees. We have had about one day of sunshine about every third day or so.

You RV’rs still in Arizona had better dump your stuff and pull up your sewer hoses; what the hell is wrong with you? Have you lost your compass or just your way in life?

Port Townsend residents claim to have 500 resident black-tailed deer, they are everywhere. Some folks are none too happy; it’s hard to grow any food item that makes it to harvest. There is also a large herd of Roosevelt Elk and in the higher elevation are mountain goats. Predators include well fed bob cats, majestic bald eagles, wiley coyotes, rascally raccoons and several cunning cougars; last year, Jefferson County Animal Control had to put down seven of these beautiful creatures due to their wrong choice of diet (sheep, cattle, rancher, poodle), even a mountain lion has to watch his diet!

Life in the slow lane

2011-07-16T12:07:00.000-07:00

Summer time and the livin’ is easy (and very slow). This is not because of the heat but because of the rain, most here are hunkered down inside, staying warm and dry. If you are where it is hot, you stay inside with the A/C on, here, the fireplace is king.

Folks around here are in no hurry to do anything, a bit like molasses in January. CB and I have recorded our best blood pressure readings in years, it is kinda like being in hibernation. It is so nice to crawl into a soft bed, pull up the down comforter and snuggle together. We have been sleeping like that for 8-9 hours every night, Cara too. The quiet here is total save for the rain drops tapping on the roof, such a soothing sound.

Temperatures here are in the 50’s at night and the 60’s during the day. All that rain makes for lots of green, and leaves the air smelling clean. It hasn’t rained so long that we can’t get out and walk, it is totally flat so it is perfect.

There are no fast food places anywhere, but lots of neat little places with great food. Downtown’s buildings are just as they were a century ago, only the wares have changed.

Built along the ocean makes for a backdrop of sailboats hoisting brightly colored sails billowing in the wind, against the greenish blue of Admiralty Inlet, which is the inlet to Puget Sound. The MV Chetzemoka (named after an Indian Chief), is one of the new ferries in the Washington State Ferry System and can be seen coming and going not far away. If you are very lucky, you may get a glimpse of a monstrous black steel hull rising from the deep, one of the several nuclear submarines that call Puget Sound their home. The other black thing you may see rising from the deep would be killer whales, always an amazing sight. Many sightseeing boats take people out to view them up and close, the crew can tell the names of each whale due to their markings, and which pod (family group) they are with; we have been and will be going again.

our site

2011-07-13T17:27:00.000-07:00

Our large lot, surrounded by nature.Perfect! Got fresh berries, carrots and focacia bread at the local farmer's market. Let's eat!

Totem Pole

2011-07-13T17:21:00.000-07:00

More pic's from the Escapees park.

A lucky Totem by the club house.

You can hear a pine cone drop.

Chimacum Escapee Park

2011-07-13T17:16:00.000-07:00

Anyone like living in a garden in the middle of a forest? This is it, the Evergreen Coho Escapee park is about as perfect as I could ask for. The cost of staying here a month is about what the RV park in Creed, Colorado cost for just one week! You can hear a toad fart, that's how quiet it is.
Tonight is hot dogs, popcorn, ice cream and Bingo! What's not to like?

Port Townsend

2011-07-12T18:17:00.000-07:00

The Fountain Cafe, is one awesome eatery. Just a block off the main drag in downtown Port Townsend , always close to full, mostly with locals. This is my favorite town, bar none. They don't believe in tearing down the old to make room for the new and improved, they celebrate the old and the heritage it represents.
In the 1860’s it was a busy hub for commerce, the tall ships came here to load and unload. Today the seagoing vessels are pleasure craft and the Port Townsend to Coupeville Ferry, the one we took from Whidbey Island last Friday.

Upchuck

2011-07-09T13:11:00.000-07:00

Upchuck

This was the name of a restaurant in Wisconsin, the UP stood for Upper Peninsula and that brings us to the Upper Peninsula of Washington, Sequim, Port Townsend and Port Angeles being the largest towns ( too small to be called cities).
This part of Washington is both cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter, thanks to its proximity to the Pacific Ocean. This area is also in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains, meaning substantially less rain. Sequim (skwim for you non-natives) averages only 17” of rainfall per year; I think Seattle can do that in one month. In fact, Sequimians  boast of 300 sunshiny days per year. The sailors of old called this area “the blue hole” as in the only blue sky out of a lot of gray. Cold, yes, in January the coldest month averages 44 for the high and 30 degrees for the low. I guess that is what wood stoves are for; besides, we would probably be off pillaging in the lower 48 for a few months.
If we lived here we would have a small boat to fish for Salmon and Halibut, both plentiful. On the way out we would set crab pots in 20 to 30 feet of water in hopes that on returning we would have several Dungeness crab, the chances are very good since Dungeness Bay surrounds Sequim. A short drive gets us to Quilcene and Quilcene Oysters. My favorite way to eat them is raw with a little hot sauce and a small chunk of lemon rind, my second favorite way is fried; my mother would poach them in milk and eat them with crackers. Vikings do love sea food, I am partial to crab, eaten while still hot and dipped in melted butter and lemon juice, num num. I almost never order fish in a restaurant; I have been spoiled by having it just out of the water. Halibut is like lobster, Salmon done in wine, onions and grapefruit slices on the barbeque is sublime. I love to smoke salmon; the Indians had a good idea there. Anybody hungry?

Aye, aye Captain, full speed ahead!

2011-07-09T10:34:00.000-07:00

CB and I met Fran and JC in La Conner, browsing in all the myriad stores; artsy things from a few dollars to several thousand. We love to look at the latest creations of those fortunate enough to be able to envision and make such beauty. Some are local craftsmen; La Conner has been home to artisans since the thirties. The local arts committee just held an auction and collected over $400,000, Wow!

I thought the La in front of Conner was French; I am happy to say it is not! John Conner founded the town in 1869, just four years after the Civil War, and named it after his wife Louisa Ann Conner. Several of the buildings are over 100 years old and of historic significance.

Lunch at Calico Cupboard was less than usual but still pretty good. We said our goodbyes and headed for Mt. Vernon, on the way we got a call from Dean and Diane; they had gotten a monthly spot at Chimacum, an SKP park second to none. Cb called the park and they said there was no one on the list and there were two sites available. Up early in the morning we headed to Coupeville on Whidbey Island, Deception Pass along the way was running fast and furious; white swirling froth had danger written all over it. My Dad and I went thru it with his boat on our way to the San Juan Islands, it can get very exciting; in the sailing ship days it was the cause of countless shipwrecks.

We were on standby for the 10:15 sailing, the best I could get on the phone was 1:30. Cara was on the dash of the motor home and the women in charge of loading the ferry took a shine to her, she let us on first. What a great ride, on the front row it was like we were driving across the water, Cara loved it, Harry was bored by it all.

Beauty to Boomer's

2011-07-05T18:13:00.000-07:00

Drive from Burlington, Washington and you will be treated to flat farmland surrounded by majestic mountains, some capped with snow. The city of Bow has two cafe’s, if you take Bow-Edison Road for a mile, you will come to Edison that has a bakery (awesome) and a saloon, there used to be another café there but it is boarded up. Continue on Chuckanut Dr. and you will love the view, all the way to Bellingham; lucky people in homes with views to die for, high on a cliff overlooking Bellingham Bay all the way to emerald islands called the San Juans (they must have barrowed the name from California). We were driving down a street connecting a few waterfront homes when three deer posed for us alongside the road; these were bucks with large sets of antlers. I want to live here!
After we got our Trader Joe’s fix we went to Boomer’s, an institution here in Bellingham. Their combo is a cheese burger, waffle fries and a milk shake. CB and I both got combos with root-beer shakes. Suddenly we were teenagers again, hanging out at Mel’s; we hadn’t had root-beer shakes in forty years.

Happy Third of July

2011-07-04T11:38:00.000-07:00

I have seen my share of fireworks displays, but last night was the best I have seen; not bad for little La Conner Washington!

We started the evening at my ex-Sister-in-law’s Skagit bay Hideaway. The consummate hosts, Kevin and Earlene, welcomed us to their stunning home on the water. Earlene, an architect, designed a masterpiece of stone, iron, concrete and whimsy. From the parking area you descend on a path that would be the envy of any landscaper; vivid green punctuated with dark lacey branches, among flowers of every description and hue. It almost makes you want to skip along. The house seems to appear out of nowhere, tucked into the hillside, reaching thru towering trees and resting some forty feet above the sparkling blue of Skagit Bay.

Inside, high ceilings and walls of glass, take advantage of the breathtaking view. Walk out from the living room and you are suspended in mid-air by a wooden deck, itself a piece of art (built by my Nephew Tom). It took me back to my days of tree houses as you literally walk among the evergreens.

After Kevin made his basil martinis, we were ready for the Fresh crab, salad and crusty sourdough bread, all paired with a good white wine, or a cold coke.

It had started to get dark, so we drove in to La Conner. We had been invited to join friends on the deck of Hellam’s Winery Shop, on Swinomish Chanel. We were directly across the water from where they set off the fireworks. These were professional fireworks that were paid for by the local Chamber of Commerce and private donations. This was the best fireworks display I have ever seen; it went on and on with spectacular arrays of color and a cacophony of sound. The last one went off and covered the sky with a canopy of what I can best describe as flowing rivers of gold, it transported me out of my body and into that gold covered world; yea, it was that good!

As Connie and I drove home we remarked about how wonderful it was to have re-connected with someone who was so much a part of our lives, many, many years ago.

Harry the Beast

2011-07-03T12:51:00.000-07:00

While sitting here at our site in the Mt. Vernon TTN Preserve, the wild life here is fun to watch, especially the cute little cottontail rabbits. You can imagine our horror when our cat Harry appeared at the screen door with one in his mouth, yes, our cat is a murderer. As old as Harry is, 15 years, and hampered by the fact we have put plastic covers over his claws, catching that rabbit must have been quite a feat.

All cats are the same, some are bigger than others but they are all, first and foremost, predators. Cats don't want us to know just how smart they are, especially at getting out. We named him Harry after Harry Houdini; he could get out of anything. At home we tried to keep him out of our bedroom by closing the door, it has a lever handle; he pulls down on it and he's in. Talk about a cat burglar, he’s perfect; black, quiet and sneaky. They are also known to keep slaves to take care of the more mundane things like cleaning the litter box, or putting food and water in nice little bowls for their convenience. They also like to have a warm lap to curl up in and “oh, by the way, scratch behind the ears and smooth out the fur, about fifty times ought to do it”.

When Harry was younger he would scare the hell out of our dog Poco by jumping out from behind a door, we started to call him Kato (the housekeeper at Inspector Clousieu’s home, in the Pink Panther series). If you haven’t seen the series you absolutely must. From then on Poco would growl at him whenever he walked by. When we picked up Cara and brought her home in the Motor home, Harry would leap from one high spot to another; Cara wanted to play, Harry, not so much. When Harry goes we will miss him a lot, but the slave thing, no.

2011-07-01T18:26:00.000-07:00

Two V.I.P.'s contemplating the virtue of sculptures and the great outdoors.

2011-07-01T15:07:00.000-07:00

The Seattle Space needle viewed thru an artist's panel at the Olympic Sculpture Park, Bill and Melinda Gates were major contributors. My own opinion is that I could have done at least as well and I am sure for a lot less $$$$$.

Seattle

2011-06-30T09:47:00.000-07:00

INDIANS!
Duckabush, Dosiwallops, Kittitas, Klickitat, Puyallup, Kitsap, Sekiu, Sequim are all places in Washington State - and you Californians thought San Jose was bad. This is my ancestral home. My Father’s remains are with Davy Jones, somewhere near the San Juan Islands. It was hard for me to find closure without a body; one day when I was up here visiting I realized that if I were close to the ocean, I was close to my Dad. His Dad called this home; his Mother and his only Brother Ralph, who also drowned, are buried here.
CB and I have been in Washington for ten days and we are amazed at how friendly and helpful people have been to us, especially now after having such a terribly wet and cold winter. Perhaps the sun is thawing out people as well as the snow pack. The weather has been both overcast with rain showers and sunny. The temperature has been steady at about 50° for the low and 65° for the high; my Viking blood loves it. In contrast Surprise, AZ has been in the 110° + range - hell that is hot enough to roast chickens! I don’t know if I could spend an entire summer in that kind of heat.
CB and I had planned to retire up here but after some thought we decided to anchor in Arizona, that way we could enjoy the winter in comfort and visit where we want in the summer time. We can take a leisurely drive down Chuckanut Drive, between Bellingham and Mount Vernon, to get Oysters and crab; Quilcene Oysters are some of the best. Add to that the over abundance of berries, adding red freckles to the lush green flora. Colorful vegetables fill the numerous farmers markets and there are apples up the Kazoo. Small towns with historic buildings housing myriads of stuff to shop, smell, admire, buy and fill that craving for food and drink. Things move at a slower pace here and folks seem content with life in the slow lane. Things here are more like what we were used to when we were young curmudgeons.
What is not to like, you ask – the answer is rain and cold. But I think it is easier to get warm than it is to get cool, unless you happen to have a pool handy. You spend less money on antiperspirant and sun-tan lotion if you live here. However, you would have to learn to speak a bit of the Native-American lingo to find towns and get along in the Casinos.
If you have never been in a boat watching whales and killer whales, you have missed an extremely humbling event, it makes you realize just how small and sometimes insignificant we are in a world where you could be a light snack! Next to watching Grizzly Bears feeding on salmon, this would be my all time favorite on a list of life’s most amazing things.
The ferry system here is second to none; all aboard for a boat trip to Friday Harbor. Here you get a glimpse of how the top one percent lives. Massive steel and fiberglass floating beauties pulling in to the dock, carrying Neiman Marcus clad (beautiful) people. His hair silver (dirty old man), her long blonde curls descending to large, firm bosoms and coppery tan legs (hussy). Money can’t buy happiness, but it sure can buy big boats and implants.
Tuesday we drove to Seattle, my Brother Gary and his bride Blanch were there visiting her daughter Julie and son-in-law Anthony. We went to Pike’s Place Market a block up from the Ferry terminal. This place is quite well known throughout the world. Actually a composition of old buildings with several floors, all attached with row after row of business - open air markets, restaurants, artist galleries, and a huge fish market where they are famous for throwing very large fish to customers. Splashed along this shopping bonanza are hundreds of flower arrangements for sale, both fragrant and food for the eyes.
We had window seats on the second floor of Lowell’s Restaurant (there are three levels). Other than Gary’s Reuben we all had fish; everything was excellent and we left happy and full. A short drive from the market is Olympic Sculpture Park, a couple of acres financed by my old friends Bill and Melinda Gates (we went to different schools together). Art is in the eye of the beholder but am I wrong that a palette of bricks glued together and painted with different color splotches seems to me to be nothing but a very large paper weight. It was interesting to learn the names of some of the flora planted there, and there were chairs where you could sit and watch the ocean or the freight trains that run between the park and Puget Sound.
After a great meal at Julie and Anthony’s house, we were entertained by their dog Guinness and our Cara playing Mutt and Jeff, seeing who could sniff who and where. Guinness is a BIG dog, outweighing Cara by about 60 lbs, but he prefers to be with small dogs because small dogs like to play. We were amazed at how gentle he was with Cara. He seemed to be fully aware of just how much bigger and more powerful he was.
We said our goodbyes and headed home to Mt. Vernon. We had been gone all day and it was dark as we drove in so Harry the cat was not a happy camper and he let us know that, after all, we are here to serve him (we sometimes forget).

Picture, we hope.

2011-06-28T08:04:00.000-07:00

This is the view out our window to the nine foot stump, if this site is working properly.

9 foot stump/ Mt. Vernon, Wa

2011-06-28T08:01:00.000-07:00

This is the nine foot stump I was talking about. This is our favorite site at the Mt. Vernon TTN RV Park.
Snug as a bug in a rug!

How high can you reach?

2011-06-25T15:46:00.000-07:00

We saw some cute little chipmunks in this tree stump so I thought I would go outside and put some animal food on top, not hardly! This tree looks to be only about four feet in height from inside the motor home, but when you step outside you discoverit is really about nine feet tall. Duh! This is our favorite site and I hope you can see why. The surrounding berry vines provide all the berries you can pick, jam and cobbler to name a couple.

Land of my Forefathers

2011-06-21T08:42:00.000-07:00

My Dad left Yakima, Washington as a young man and hitch-hiked his way to Southern California to look for a better life. His Dad was struggling, working at the sawmill as a carpenter, His Mom had died when he was young. He had also lost a brother to drowning. When Dad retired he and Mom moved back to Washington, this time to La Conner. After enjoying several years of retirement, he went out fishing in his cabin-cruiser and never came back; eventually his fate was that of his brother's. I have five years to go to be as old as my Dad was; there are no boat trips in my future! I feel at home here, I also feel cool here, it's 55 degrees and 100+ in Surprise. We are in our favorite spot here at Mt. Vernon TTN park, surrounded by the green of trees, grass and raspberry bushes. We just used up the last of the raspberry jam we had made last year from this very spot.

Venus fly trap RV Park

2011-06-19T08:49:00.001-07:00

Last night we stayed at Eagles Hot Lake, a very nice park by most standards, green grass, full hook-ups, 50 amp power and the little old lady that runs it was very nice. But, I did not like the park or the little old lady because; she failed to tell us the whole story about this park. First of all, after about a block off of the freeway the pavement ended. The gravel road that continued on for two and a half miles was not wide enough for me to turn around, or I would have done so before getting the motor home and the car dirty enough to plant potatoes on, but of course since we had no choice but to go the distance, the damage was done. So we paid, parked and got ready for the night. It was a little while after that when we heard what sounded like a train. It got louder and louder, and this is no exaggeration, the whole motor home shook, the ground below us shook, we were about 50 yards from the tracks! And the train was pretty regular, I know, after we went to bed I counted lots and lots of them!

The next day we were 400 miles from our final destination, but I took no chances, I drove the 400 miles knowing we were going to spend the night in a very nice peaceful RV Park, no trains!

A dog by any other name.

2011-06-16T16:02:00.000-07:00

Everybody has cute little nicknames for their kids. Most people have nicknames for their animals; Cara, our dog, has several. She is an Italian Volpino, volpino is Italian for little fox, she looks the part. Her name had to be Italian so we named her Cara-Mia, Cara for short. She does many things, some we like and some not so much. One such is licking the plates in the dishwasher (before being washed), we then call her Pre-rinse. Her favorite thing is a bully stick, it looks something like a cigar, when she has chewed enough on one end she likes to put the other end in her mouth and walk around the house, we call her Winston (after Churchill). To say Cara is neurotic is to put it mildly; she is constantly afraid we are going to leave her so when she see us getting ready she is Velcro; yup, like glue. She stands up on her hind feet for long periods of time, usually to beg, she is now Care-Bear. When she has done something bad I usually call her......well, let's just skip that part. Harry our cat is black so sometimes we call them ebony and ivory, just to prove we are not racist. By the way, Harry likes to ride in the back!

No spuds here.

2011-06-16T15:41:00.000-07:00

Provo, Salt Lake City, and Brigham Young City all merge into one very long metropolis. I say long because they are sandwiched in between the mountains and all that salty water. Freeway 15 runs the entire length and every inch is under construction. They have moved the usable lanes around and made them very narrow; the cars don't have any problem but us big guys feel like cats in a room full of rocking chairs.
Entering Idaho we see large fields of green and big farms. There seems to be water everywhere; lots of rain, is my guess. We are surprised by the distance we have driven, 354 miles, more than a hundred miles more than usual. We are glad we did, Village of the Trees RV Resort is one of the nicest we have seen, and for Passport America members only $16 per night. Less than half the price of Shady Acres and 10 times as nice. And it is blessedly cool here, about 40 degrees difference. Maybe a good night's sleep tonight.

Gimme cold and wet.

2011-06-16T15:03:00.000-07:00

We left Elk Creek, Gunnison, Colorado and headed our movable menagerie northwest, we wanted out of the constant wind and even here it was hot. Would you believe we wound up at Shady Acres RV Park in Green River, Utah. In brief, $35 after a 10% discount, old, dirty, ant filled and hotter than the hubs of hell; both a/c's were on until we went to bed at 10:00. We got up early and continued on the coarse I had set. We were surprised by several things; after several miles we began to notice that Colorado missed sucking up all the green in Utah. Highway 6 from Green River to the Great Salt Lake is awash in greens, browns, greys and that red for punctuation. Water falls and lush little valleys had us wondering what it would be like to live there, until we started to see all the church spires; we sure don't need to give up 10% of our hard earned income, we gave plenty when we were working. Besides, one wife is all I can handle.

This is a lost post from Creede, whoops!

2011-06-15T07:07:00.000-07:00

Creede, Colorado. The 360 degree panorama of 14,000' white capped mountains can be seen from every window. The town is small quirky and super friendly with an abundance of restaurants, a live repertory theater with some big name actors, a very good grocery store, new medical facilities and lots of fun events. Walk or ride five minutes and you are in wilderness, Rocky Mountain style. A million miles of ATV, Jeep or walking trails. Mountain streams alive with Brooke, Golden, Rainbow and German Brown Trout or ride a raft down the Rio Grand River, need I go further?

2011-06-15T06:47:00.000-07:00

The Black Canyon of the Gunnison in Colorado.

Awesome, one notch below the Grand Canyon.

Colorado sucks!

2011-06-14T19:54:00.001-07:00

I think of Colorado as a giant vacuum; it sucked up all the green out of New Mexico, the mountains from the plains states, the trees from Nevada and the blue skies from the atmosphere above.

The steep roads are sucking the fuel out of my tank! You can’t travel to any town here without going up and going down some very steep roads; the up is just a matter of pedal to the metal, the down gets much more difficult. Driving a motor home weighing 32,000 pounds with a 5,000 pound car pushing from behind requires a lot of concentration when heading down a twisting mountain road at a 5 to 7 percent grade. I have a book that gives me all the grades for mountain roads, Anything over 7 percent I try to avoid. Unlike a gas vehicle, the diesel has an exhaust brake to help slow down all that weight, depending on which of the six gears selected; first gear has the most braking power but must be initiated at just below 35 m.p.h., second is next at just below 45 m.p.h., third has the least holding power and after about 55 m.p.h. it is hooweee! So, when you see the signs about trucks you look for the percent of grade, most roads tell you, some, not so much. If the grade is 5%, I will slow to about 50 m.p.h., 6% - 43 m.p.h., 7% - 33 m.p.h. and then engage the exhaust brake, if the speed holds I’m good. If the speed continues to the next threshold, I have to firmly apply the main brakes to get the speed down below the speed that will shift into the next lower gear. There is no falling asleep going downhill!

But when we do stop it sure is green and gorgeous. We stopped for a couple nights at Elk Creek campground, its proximity to the “Black Canyon of the Gunnison, National Park” and being on the largest lake in Colorado made it ideal. Next morning we drove the rim of the canyon, it was unlike the Grand Canyon, instead of limestone this canyon’s walls were dark rock. Not as deep and a lot narrower, some of the walls were dark rock. Not as deep and a lot narrower, some of the walls seemed almost vertical, definitely a Wow!

Miner's relief and the "Black Canyon".

2011-06-14T19:52:00.000-07:00

Would you believe?

2011-06-12T14:12:00.000-07:00

Last night we went to town, Creede, Colorado. Population 413 full time residents including the family of groundhogs, 230 miles to the closest Costco (lots of anxiety there), wal-mart, 79 miles; yes we are in B.F.E.. They have a very small theater here that holds maybe 100 to 150 people, it cost us $32 each, and it was absolutely amazing! This little town theater has somehow become one of the 10 best places to see Off Broadway Plays. We were treated to “How to succeed in business without really trying.” What a delight!

We have decided that today will be our last day here, Connie is having some serious problems with the wind; it has been blowing hard since we got here. It is truly a wonderful place but the wind makes it miserable, besides, you can’t get fresh crab or live oysters here. You guessed it, we are heading for Washington. Fuel will cost about a month’s campground fee’s but we will make that up by staying in our Thousand Trails parks; we have 50 days free and after that it will cost only $2 a night. And we truly love Washington!

I do not know what happened to the pictures that I posted on the last blog! Sorry!

Mines, Creede, Co.

2011-06-10T12:43:00.000-07:00

John Denver keeps floating thru my mind as I take in all that surrounds us. Today the puffy white clouds are drifting thru navy blue skies, throwing shadows across jagged multi-colored rock, jutting straight up thru the greens of pine and yellows of aspen, how can there not be a God.

Driving North thru Creede, Colorado brings us to the Bachelor loop road. The road was of small red and black shale, and was close to being 4-wheel drive only so we go up it very carefully. I would say the grade is about 12 percent, if you aren’t careful the tires will start to spin, not a good thing. We encountered several Silver mines, an abundance of panoramic beauty and a herd of Mule Deer, and then continued on to the Creede Cemetery. Sadly it has fallen into a state of disrepair; weeds, fallen head stones and dry-rot; a sad legacy to those interred in this drab, colorless piece of history.

“Holy Moses” was what came out of the mouth of Nicholas Creede when he accidentally stumbled (literally) upon a piece of silver; the name stuck and the town was named after him (because he was rich as heck). The silver mines here were the largest producers in the United States and still have twice as much silver left as was taken out; they know exactly where it is and how to get it. I suppose they are waiting for the price of silver to be enough to make mining it worthwhile.

Wherever you find silver you will not find gold; gold is found by quartz deposits and silver by amethyst. Now that you know, get out there! Don’t forget your mule.

The Volunteer Fire Department is partially housed in a large cave; I will refrain from any caveman jokes. Next to that is an opening that goes back into the mountain about 500 yards in a semicircle and comes back out further along the mountain. We went on a tour with a miner who had worked the local mines from 1964 until the mines were closed in the eighties. Brutal would be what I would call the conditions the old miners encountered; hours on end pounding on a chisel to open holes long enough to put in a stick of dynamite. Later they had pneumatic drills which were responsible for the deaths of many miners until they started using water to stop the dust that claimed so many lives. The holes were drilled in a circle, and loaded with dynamite. Then they would light the fuse and run like hell. After the rocks were blasted loose, they would be loaded into ore carts and pushed to a location to be removed from the mine for crushing and chemical treatment to remove other materials from the silver.

After a full day of chiseling, blasting and moving rock, the miner would then leave the mine and go get himself blasted. The only guys that got rich were the mine owner, and the purveyor of mood altering refreshments (booze).

One interesting practice in the mine was used when the vein they were mining was real wide and deep, this was to start at the top, remove a layer of about 8 feet from one side to the other of the vein. Then fill the void with cement and sand. This provided a solid roof under which they could safely remove the rest of the vein.

Treasure Falls, Wolf Pass, CO.

2011-06-08T08:31:00.000-07:00

Our friends who are working here are enticing us to stay and go to work at the RV Park. Would you believe we are actually considering it? The 360 degree panorama of 14,000' white capped mountains can be seen from every window. The town is small quirky and super friendly with an abundance of restaurants, a live repertory theater with some big name actors, a very good grocery store, new medical facilities and lots of fun events. Walk or ride five minutes and you are in wilderness, Rocky Mountain style. A million miles of ATV, Jeep or walking trails. Mountain streams alive with Brooke, Golden, Rainbow and German Brown Trout or ride a raft down the Rio Grand River, need I go further?

Treasure Falls, 108'

2011-06-06T15:58:00.000-07:00

2011-06-06T15:10:00.000-07:00

Sixty Five years and two days old, I have made it to medicare. There were times when that was a very unlikely prospect, so, Thank you God, and those of you who put up with me.
Unbelievable, the change from New Mexico (The land of enchantment?) to the Rocky Mountain High of Colorado. From the border it has progressively gotten greener and prettier, at 8,000' we saw the magnificent Treasure Falls, 105' of straight vertical drop, rippling white against the dark green background of lush foliage. Farther up Hwy 160 we reach the summit of Wolf Creek Pass, at 10,000' it was all about skiing, in fact there was quite a bit of the white fluffy stuff. We would have stopped for snowballs if I were 25, not!
We are at our destination for the week, Mountain Views Resort is on the Rio Grande River (yes, we are still in Colorado), set in a small valley between snow capped mountains, as if we were in a bowl, and this is at over 9,000', Wow, this is Colorado!
The fires from Arizona have filled the skies with smoke, eliminating any long photo shots, hopefully it will improve before we leave. We also hope that the winds that plagued us the entire trip will soon die down, at 30 to 50 miles an hour they are disconcerting to say the least.

no res for me

2011-06-05T16:59:00.000-07:00

Northeaster Arizona and Northwestern New Mexico are made up of Native American Reservations, we drove about through 285 miles of it today. What I described about Durango, Colorado was the total opposite of what we saw; Deserts can have some very pretty scenery, but this was like a total wasteland. Every so often we would see a habitat, which is being charitable; trailers in various stages of returning to the earth as a rust stain. You could usually tell they were at one time one color or another, but after years of sand blasting they had assumed the color of their surroundings. A lawnmower salesman would starve out here, green does not exist. Depressed and depressing, it appears as if the world had ended 50 years ago. How lucky we are, how blessed.
Cross the Colorado Border and green becomes part of the landscape again, we stay the night at Sundance RV Park in Cortez, Colorado, tomorrow we will drive the scenic Colorado Mountains to Creede; the high there for the week is 65 degrees the low 31, ahh!

Next!

2011-06-04T17:37:00.000-07:00

The Elks camp ground in Show Low, Az has been nice but the wind is going to blow us out of here and north, we will be in Creede Co. on Monday, @ 9,000', it should be a little cooler, my Viking blood will appreciate it. Creede is a small town from Colorado's colorfull Silver mining past. Two couples from our Festival RV Club are working up there and talk highly (no pun intended) about Mountain View RV Park and Resort, Creede and the surrounding area.
What we know about Colorado comes from a trip to Durango with our good friends Edie and Roger. From Durango we took the Durango-Silverton steam train to.....yes, Silverton. The Scenery along the way was of white barked birch trees, shrouded with yellow leaves, falling on large granite boulders that hold up the mountain, that reaches for the bluest of blue skies; a picture for the mind and soul. All that bodes well for our next stop.

2011-05-30T12:01:00.000-07:00

Last night the wind was blowing so hard that I put in the slides and stowed the satellite Dish; I woke up this morning and thought I had gone deaf, but it was the lack of howling gale force winds. These people need windmills and kite festivals!
Cara and Harry in close quarters is something to watch; Cara likes the chase, Harry...... not so much.
June 1, 2011..........I am now officially old, my Medicare starts today; it saves me big bucks on health care, it will be even better when Connie gets there in 15 months! This will be the last age increase we will look forward to, ugh, can you remember 18, 21, 50, 62? I can remember the last two. I have a new song for Billy Rae Cyrus; "My achy breaky self"!
Moving to the Elk's today; shade, trees, quiet, dog friendly Show Low Elks Campground with full 50 amp hookups. Our good friends Doris and Terry will be heading to their place in Overgaard, Az. today and we will get together for my 65th on Saturday. Doris and Terry were the first couple we met when we went full timing, we've been all through Mexico with them and had some wonderful adventures.

2011-05-28T13:11:00.000-07:00

Saturday the 28th of May, Show Low had a traffic Jam. We were headed to the weekly Farmer's Market when traffic suddenly came to a halt; they were re-routing us. I thought to my self the farmer's market must really be something! Not! It took us about five minutes to look at the six or seven tables! The traffic jam was caused by the local parade and the Elk's Lodge had a huge auto show and about fifty booths! It would have been more fun if the wind wasn't trying to blow us over. We have had wind here every day, and it doesn't help that sites at the Venture Inn RV Park are like living on a parking lot, and they are not dog friendly; oh well, I screwed up again (#376 this year). J.C., you were right! Next week we will be moving to the Elk's RV Park (no wind); I might yet redeem myself with an atta boy (#16).
We are thinking about reserving a site for next year, $400 a month, includes electric.

Show Low & North AZ.

2011-05-27T09:07:00.000-07:00

When one is no longer living in the motor home full time, the expense of using it for short periods of time is much greater. Not only does all the normal expense of upkeep, insurance etc. etc. continue, but the expense of having the house also continues while we are gone (I am sure the spiders appreciate it). We were shocked when we took a long look at what we have been spending these past few years; we had to question the affordability of keeping both.
June in the Valley being too hot for comfort we escape and head north for better weather and new adventures. We would normally head for Washington and its cool climbs, but trying to be a little more frugal, we thought we would try closer to home. Show Low is a long uphill climb (6,000 feet) from the valley floor, we can really feel the weight of the Buick wanting to go downhill but the Cummins is up to the task.
On the Mogollon (Mo-ge-yon) rim a 30 degree temperature difference from Phoenix is perfect. Pine trees are a welcome change from all the cactus and sage brush, this is like night and day between Buckeye and here.
Several RV parks dot the area and after checking out most of them, our choice would be the Elks. Centrally located but like camping used to be, in the woods, lots of shade, but some open sky for satellite. Just $14 a day with no time limit, full 50 amp hookups, quiet, Elks for neighbors, food and activities at the Lodge a short distance away; what's not to like?
Coming in second would be the Indian Hon-Dah RV Resort for $380 a month if you stay the season; with 50 amps, cable tv, shade and the Casino across the street with buffet's etc..

2008-08-31T13:25:00.000-07:00

On July 20, 2008 we were seeing the sights around Rapid City, SD. When we returned to the motor home we smelled the acrid smell associated with electrical fires. We noted that nothing inside the motor home was working, the 110 volt outlets were dead and the batteries were loosing their power. I called the maintenance people from Hart Ranch, where we were staying, and they checked the power connection and said it was OK. I then called Dennis RV service; they will be out the next morning. We spent the evening in total darkness and went to bed very early.

July 21, 2008, Dennis checked out our system. The inverter was not functional. Dennis removed the inverter and jury rigged electrical lines so we could have power. He also tried to repair the inverter by replacing a blown fuse; when that failed to work, he said the inverter had been “fried.” We subsequently found several appliances were non-functional; we removed the TVs and found the plugs were OK but the TVs were truly dead. The other appliances we lost were a convection oven (portable), 3 fans, and a bread maker (brand new). To make matters worse the electric toilet would not work and I had to kneel down and turn a knob in the back of the toilet in order to flush - no, we were not having fun. I then called Bonnie at National Interstate to report the loss; she took my information and gave me a claim number.

July 22, 2008, I talked to Jason the bean counter at the insurance company regarding our claim, who promptly told me our disappearing deductible had only one year with no claim because of a replacement of one-half of our windshield a year and 10 months earlier. He went on to say that none of the appliances were covered and they would depreciate all of the affected electrical equipment. I was real happy about this since we had been paying money for replacement coverage on contents. When I asked Jason about this he emailed me the small print stuff in the back of the policy that says these items are only covered in the event of flood, fire or natural disaster! And here I thought they were there to help me.

July 23, 2008, I talked to Jason the Hun regarding the purchase of a new inverter, about how important it was to the overall function of the motor home and our ability to stay in it. Surprisingly, he agreed and approved the purchase. Right after my conversation with Jason Connie received a call from the family that her Uncle Lester had died. We prepared for the trip home to Woonsocket, SD.

July 24, 2008, I called Jason the geek and told him about having to go home for the funeral. We traveled the 300 miles to the farm, traveled another 150 miles to pick up Connie’s parents and sister at the Sioux Falls airport, and prepared for the funeral on Saturday.

July 26, 2008. We attended Lester’s Funeral, a very sad time for our family. Lester was Connie's youngest uncle - a kind, warm, wonderful guy who will be missed. His death leaves a huge void in our family.

July 27, 2008, 2:00 a.m., we woke up to the motor home being buffeted by wind and rain. A loud crashing noise forced me to go outside in torrential wind and rain to discover that our awning was attached to the motor home at the roof line only; the arms were a useless, bent pile of metal. By the light of constant lightning I lassoed the awning and tied it to the car, all the while feeling like Moses parting the Red Sea. That next day we read about the three tornadoes in our area and thanked God we weren’t waking up in Kansas with Toto.

The next few days were spent with family and working on the motor home. The new inverter arrived and I installed it, I also bought and installed a surge protector. We are finally able to charge the batteries through the inverter - no more using the portable charger. I was able to duct tape the awning in such a way as to facilitate driving down the highway. I figured 80 mile an hour duct tape was sufficient.

August 4, 2008. After saying our farewells and returning Connie’s parents and sister to the airport in Sioux Falls, we headed west. I called Jason the jackal regarding the awning damage, he said to call the main number and report the incident; I called and got another claim number. I also called Monaco Coach Works in Harrisburg, Oregon. Monaco is the only facility I feel I can trust to fix my motor home and do it right the first time. They were very nice when I described what had happened to us and after a few words with a supervisor we got the go ahead to bring the motor home in for repairs. The other reason to drive the almost 1700 miles to Oregon was the specialty cabinet makers near Eugene who I new had experience in changing motor home cabinetry to fit the new TV’s. This needed to be done because the old tube-type TVs are no longer made and the new ones are wide aspect ratio type (longer and less height).

August 8, 2008, we arrived at the Monaco service facility in Eugene; it was too late to see a service writer or to call that so and so Jason.

August 11, 2008, I talked to a service writer and he came out to the motor home and assessed the damage. I gave him all the insurance information, claim number etc. I then called and updated you know who.

August 13, 2008, Kustom Coach Works came out, took measurements and gave me a bid.

August 14, 2008, I called Jason the rat regarding the bid for the cabinetry and then faxed it to him.

August 15, 2008. Slime Jason called and stated that the cabinetry was too much and that he thought we were just trying to gain from our loss. He also stated that he was going to depreciate the wind sensor to the awning. I was so dumbfounded I told him he was stressing me out, and that any further communication from him should be in writing. It was then I asked myself the question about why I paid insurance - it certainly was not to be told that I was a thief!!

August 18, 2008, I was told by Ronnie at Monaco that the work had not been approved. I called Jason the arrogant little -----; he said he was having a problem with Monaco getting in touch with him so he left a message on Ronnie's phone. Later that day Jason called me about the need to paint portions of the motor home; I explained to his satisfaction that they no longer made the awning arms that were on our coach and the newer style replacement arms were shorter, necessitating a patch and paint job on one side of the motor home. He then stated again that he did not like the cabinetry bid and was going to send an adjuster out to look at the damage. I am beginning to think the insurance company should be paying me for my time.

August 19, 2008. Gene the adjuster came out, took some pictures and left without comment.

August 20, 2008. Jason called with the figures for the awning replacement. He than went on to tell me that he had called Kustom Coach Works and the phone was not working, I later called and found it to be working just fine. My service writer told me he had given a bid for the cabinetry to Jason.

August 25, 2008. I called Jason regarding the cabinetry; he said he needed the bid from Monaco and he was waiting to hear from the adjuster. I am getting confused, how about you? I then talked to Ronnie at Monaco and she said she had spoken to Jason and had given him their bid and he had mentioned to her that he would be sending the adjuster back out to talk to them about the bid. He never mentioned this to me. This is strange because I had asked him why his adjuster had not had the time to get back to him!!!

I am finding it very hard to be civil to someone who has suggested that I may be a thief and has lied to me on more than one occasion.

August 25, 2008, I went to Davis Cabinets and got yet a third estimate for the work, it was less than the other two. I faxed this to the dirt ball.

August 26, 2008, I called Jason the maggot to see if he had gotten the bid from Davis; he said that he had. I then asked him again about the cabinetry work and he then tells me that he needed a notarized affidavit from Monaco regarding the cause of the electrical problems before he could approve anything. Monaco had already told him the cause by phone and told him what the affidavit said; he said he was OK with it, but he needed to see the affidavit itself before he could do anything regarding the cabinetry. Monaco had sent the notarized affidavit in the mail 10 days earlier, does he not believe Monaco? At this point I am thinking maybe he has pigeon holed the affidavit to further drive up my blood pressure. Every time I call he gives me another excuse to delay giving me what I need.

August 27, 2008, I called Jason the weasel and was told that I can’t keep calling him every day; he has told me what he needs and will contact me when he gets it! This is absolutely the last straw. I asked for the claim supervisor's name and number and received both. I then talked to Carry, the little shit’s supervisor, and briefly described my problem with this moron and asked for her help. I also called Gene, the local adjuster who came out and took pictures, and left a message with his secretary to call me. No one has returned my call, big surprise.

The next morning I got a call from Jason the low life, egg sucking poor excuse of a human being, asking “Where do you want me to send the check?” Thank you supervisor!

Hallelujah, we have escaped the clutches of the evil Jason and he has been vanquished from our lives; Ding Dong the witch is dead, etc., etc., etc..

Tuesday the second of September we go to Davis Cabinetry for the final chapter in our “Midsummer’s Nightmare.” By the way, our soon to be ex-insurance company is National Interstate, also known as Great American Assurance, which we got through an agent at Explorer RV Insurance. If you are insured with this company, I suggest you investigate others before you have a claim.

Jason and Gene the insurance adjuster trying to pick my pockets!

2008-08-13T19:39:00.000-07:00

July 7, 2008

After a week of meeting old friends and making some new ones, the Escapade is over and we move on heading out to our next destination -- the Black Hills of South Dakota.

As we leave Gillette we are immediately awe struck by the thousands of ore cars and locomotives on the railroad tracks all around the town. At last count we saw eight trains, each one had over one hundred ore cars and four locomotives; some were full and others empty. After a few more miles we saw the reason for all these trains -- a monstrous hole in the ground. The green grasses on the edge of this chasm are in stark contrast to the red earth along the top five or six feet. The rest of this giant pit is black (coal). This scene is the rationale for all the young men we have seen around town, with the soil of hard work on them and their clothes; they are working the mines and energy is coming out of the ground headed for power plants across this nation. I am glad I own shares of Burlington Northern because it looks like the railroads will be busy for a long, long time.

The wind blew us out of Wyoming and continues to whistle through the awnings of our motor home. We are staying for a week at Rush-No-More Campground, about seven miles south of Sturgis, South Dakota, where the infamous motorcycle rally is held every year in August. In just a few weeks from now every wannabe biker wearing dew rags, leather chaps, greasy t-shirt, denim vest, heavy boots and chains attached to wallet and keys will be roaring up and down the road with a similarly dressed female attached to his back, covering up the words on his t-shirt: “If you can read this, the bitch fell off.” I guess you can’t blame her for covering up what he thinks of her. Don’t get me wrong, I dearly love riding bikes, but aspiring to be a bad-ass Hell’s Angel goes against my law and order self. Besides, I don’t like my woman smelling of grease and exhaust.

Drive down the main street of Sturgis and you will see biker bars, tattoo shops and curio shops selling trinkets from china with Harleys, skeletons and slutty women emblazoned thereon. You must get off the main street of town to find that this is really a nice little town with schools, playgrounds and neat, tidy homes. From Main Street to the back streets it seems like a parallel universe showcasing good and evil.

July 7, 2008

After a week of meeting old friends and making some new ones, the Escapade is over and we move on heading out to our next destination -- the Black Hills of South Dakota.

Spearfish, South Dakota, is the westernmost city of the Black Hills. Small town atmosphere and friendly folks is only part of what makes this our favorite city so far. The D.C. Booth Historic National Fish Hatchery is part of the Spearfish City Park. If you like peaceful streams flowing through green meadows, and ponds full of monster size rainbow trout, this U.S. Fish and Wildlife nature center is a free gem. I did not know that our government was into rearing fish before the turn of the last century and that there was ten Pullman railroad cars converted for the transportation of fingerling trout throughout the nation. These fish cars were abandoned due to road system improvement and the fact that trucks were cheaper.

We dearly love to find little eateries that serve up charm along with good food, and just such a place was Two Pine Lodge off Main Street in Spearfish. A large outdoor patio for dining made our day as a thunderstorm dumped buckets of water on the surrounding vegetation. The food was terrific and the prices were cheaper than ‘Crapplebee’s’.

“Rapid,” as it is called by the locals, is short for Rapid City. Major infrastructure construction has the roads throughout town all cobbled up. On one trip we made a complete loop of town three times due to road closures, only to finally come to the realization that the empty lot in front of the town’s only mall is where a Dairy Queen once was. No Blizzard fix for us.

Rapid is a very nice Midwest town, spread out over several miles there are about four different areas and folks are very proud of their particular area. We hope other restaurants in town are as good as the Fire Station in downtown Rapid where we found good food and service and a great outdoor area perfect for people watching. Friendly faces abound here, always there to help you in any way they can which is typical for Dakotans. The tour trolley is $1 for all day; we rode it to get the lay of the land and get some background. Rapid was nearly wiped off the map in 1972 by a sudden, unexpected flood. After burying over 200 dead residents went to work cleaning up and implementing plans to make sure nothing like it ever happened again. Today the areas close to the river are restricted to use as golf courses and parks -- miles of parks.

Initially we thought three weeks would be plenty of time to visit the Black Hills, but, wow, were we wrong! This is beginning to feel like work! But someone has to do it, right?

Hot Springs is a quaint little town squeezed between rock walls. People used to come here to be cured by the “healing” waters, but it appears the only real healing that went on here was to the land owners’ wallets. Today merchants sell Chinese goods and

T-shirts in every little shop in this interesting, historic town. The real gem here is the VA hospital and retirement home, situated above the rest of the town and adjacent to a National Cemetery. The well-kept, manicured yards and buildings here stand in tribute to the much maligned Veteran’s Administration.

Have you ever had several donkey heads sticking through your car’s windows? We were stopped by the side of the road in Custer State Park when these freeloaders decided we should give them the apples that I was cutting up. Connie almost choked one when she tried to role her window up. The donkeys are greedy but harmless -- now that was a fun experience. Later on that day we marveled at the three tunnels on Highway 16A and 87 that look out directly at and perfectly frame Mt Rushmore’s fab four. The tunnels were all one lane and varied in height from 10’ to 12’. Needless to say the tunnels are not RV friendly. At one point we ran into an RVer on his way towards one of the tunnels. I jumped out of the car and waved him down. Lucky for him because he was about to pass the point of no return, but fortunately I was able to flag him down in the only area where he stood a chance of being able to turn around. The poor guy had to unhook his tow vehicle and do a lot of jockeying back and forth on a steeply curved road in order to get turned around, but at least he could do it. If he had gone a short distance further he would have had to back down that steep road for a long way. The signage here is definitely not what it should be, particularly for drivers of oversized vehicles.

While we were visiting the Black Hills we learned of the death of Connie’s uncle Lester. We had planned to visit Lester and the other South Dakota relatives in Woonsocket in another week or so, after we completed our visit to the Black Hills. Losing Uncle Lester, a warm, gentle soul and our personal favorite of all the uncles, was incredibly sad, but it brought Connie’s Dad back to the farm for a visit with his one, remaining brother. We loved connecting with our family in South Dakota, but we have decided we won’t ever do it again in the summertime. NEVER!!!!

No one has ever seen a thunder storm unless they have experienced one in the great Midwest. We have had several during our stay here and the one last night went on from dusk ‘til dawn. I swear that at one point the thunder lasted for ten minutes, and about 10 seconds later it started all over again.

Hold the presses, that last storm was just a precursor of what was about to happen to us at 2:00 A.M. Yes, there is a two o’clock in the morning. We awoke to the sound of high wind and a loud flapping noise. I threw on pants and a shirt and went outside to locate the source of the noise. The second I stepped out of the RV I was instantly wet and having a hard time seeing or standing up because of the high wind. The awning on our RV was whipping up and down like a giant serpent, and lightning was dancing all around me, adding a surreal look to the scene. It was then I saw a vision of me looking like Charleton Heston as Moses in “The Ten Commandments.” Getting hold of myself, I finally realized that the only thing I could do was to move the car close enough so that I could tie the awning to it. The car was the only thing that could possibly hold the awning down so it didn’t rip off the side of the RV. After a quick tie-down job I went back in the coach and tried to get my heart rate down to something under 300!

The next night we witnessed a tornado. Fortunately for us it was a few miles away, but the sight was something akin to Disney’s “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.” In non-stop fashion, lightning seemed to spin around clouds that were at one instant white and then black and again white. We watched, mesmerized, as it went on and on, and we knew we had witnessed something totally awesome. In the morning we learned that we were in the center of not one, but three tornados around the county. The one we saw was reported to be 200 yards wide and to have stayed on the ground for several minutes. I, for one, am happy to be alive and in one piece, and GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!!!

With the proper amount of duct tape applied to the awnings, we quietly crept away from Woonsocket headed south and west. Entering Nebraska we found humidity and 110 degree weather; this was definitely not enjoyable, especially while spending the night at the ‘Wal-Mart Astoria.’ This was probably one of the hottest and noisiest stops we had ever made, and I shall certainly let Sam know of my displeasure!

At last we made it out of the Nebraska heat but, unfortunately, we found that Colorado was more of the same – heat and humidity. We spent two nights at a state campground on Jackson Lake which was also another unique experience -- I called it ‘West Nile.’ Oh yeah! Have you ever seen mosquito carpet? Mosquito carpet is large spider webs with about a million mosquitoes spread evenly across. As I was removing the spider webs from the sides of the RV I realized the mosquitoes were all alive -- imagine lying there waiting to be the next meal of a spider! Well, I guess everyone has to eat.

Finally, here we are in Idaho traveling the same route the pioneers traveled on their way to Oregon and California. We are going to Oregon hoping to fix our “wagon” at the plant where it was manufactured. Along the way we stopped to tour The National Oregon/California Trail Center in Montpelier, Idaho, a living history museum with beautiful paintings depicting the trials of those brave souls who first journeyed from the east in search of a better life out west.

Initially we thought three weeks would be plenty of time to visit the Black Hills, but, wow, were we wrong! This is beginning to feel like work! But someone has to do it, right?

2008-07-05T16:07:00.000-07:00

June 23 to July 5, 2008

Driving around Yellowstone from west to east is measured in animal encounters instead of miles. Today it was sixty buffalo (bison), ten elk, two deer and other assorted critters. Of course there were hundreds of humans driving vehicles, most of who seem to forget they are behind the wheel when a buffalo appears; not getting off the roadway when stopped creates problems for those of us who drive a large vehicle. Some of them forget that the animals they are watching are not in a zoo, behind cage doors and bars; these animals can be very dangerous. We saw a film of a little girl being thrown around like a rag doll by a six foot tall, 1,200 pound buffalo. Apparently for some people common sense flies out the window with the excitement of seeing their first wild animal up close.

The scenery changes very little once we leave the park on our way to Cody, Wyoming. Beautiful scenes, one after the other, this is a very unspoiled land. We stop in Cody for the night, thanking Sam Walton for our space by spending mucho dinero in his establishment. The Buffalo Bill museum is a do not miss attraction. We have been before and if we had enough time we would have gone again.

Continuing on our way to Gillette, WY, wondrous mountain scenes turn to more flat land with sage brush and tumbleweeds. Herds of cattle graze behind rusty barbed wire fences with old, wooden ranch houses to take care of both. We stop for the night in Buffalo, WY. Indian Campground has obviously been here for a long time; Cottonwood trees tower above shaded campsites, and white fluff falls like a heavy snow cleverly working itself into every crack and crevice in our motor home. Our satellite can not find an open spot, so there is no internet or TV for the night, oh my God!

After we leave the campground we discover we have some stowaways as gigantic moths seem to appear out of nowhere keeping Connie and Harry busy for several days. Harry talks to them like a duck hunter with a duck call then launches himself through the air in an attempt to catch one.

In between Buffalo and Gillette we meet up with Roger and Edie Houston, our very good friends from Lodi. Roger and Edie were the motivating force that got us to register for the Escapade. No sooner had we arrived at our destination then they got a call that we all dread - one of their best friends had lost her battle with cancer. Rallying around a friend in time of need supersedes everything else so Roger and Edie left for North Dakota and their friend’s farm; we wish them God speed. A couple days later we learn that a brother to our cousin’s husband was killed in a motorcycle accident. We are constantly reminded of just how precious and delicate life is.

The Escapade is a once a year RV rally for Escapees, a club formed years ago by people who worked on large construction sites moving from one to another in some type of RV. Thirty years later the club is over 100,000 strong, past and present. “Sharing and caring” is the Escapee motto, and hugs are the favored greeting. We will have six days chock full of seminars designed to be helpful to the lifestyle of living on the road and/or spending a great deal of time in some style of recreational vehicle. People come from all over in everything from a 13-foot trailer to a 45-foot long, gleaming piece of rolling technology costing over a million dollars. There are a lot more of the former than the latter; the “Captains of Industry” types that have to show off their money just don’t much fit in with us “regular folk.”

Last night we were treated to one of the Great Plains grand shows. Thunder and lightning roared overhead like Zeus wanting to make his presence known. The weather here is warmer than expected, 80 to 90 degrees and then we will have a respite at 70 for a day or two. They say the W in Wyoming stands for wind, and I am here to tell you I believe it. Several antelope play in and around Gillette, running and jumping to delight us all.

The people here in Gillette are some of the friendliest and most helpful we have run into in a long time, and it seems as though most of the residents here are young (in their 20’s and 30’s). We see a lot of young men who have obviously just gotten off work, their faces and clothes heavy with grease, dirt and coal. Coal mining is a huge industry here, and natural gas wells and pipelines are sprouting up everywhere -- this part of the country is hard at work.

Holy fireworks, Batman!!! The Fourth of July fireworks in Gillette were absolutely was the best fireworks display we have ever seen! It started just before dark and continued until well after 11:00 p.m. Everywhere we looked there were myriad flashes of multicolored light; a cacophony of sounds and the acrid smell of gun powder instantly transported me back to Vietnam. It was a bit unnerving, especially with the radio next to us playing The Door’s song “Come on Baby Light My Fire,” popular during the Vietnam era.

Today, July 5, as I write this I put together last night’s visage of Vietnam with our country’s celebration of freedom and remember that “Freedom” is not free; it comes at a very high price. I hope you didn’t celebrate the fourth without giving thought to those that gave so much; I am very proud to have served alongside some of them.

The rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air!

2008-07-05T06:24:00.000-07:00

Happy Fourth of July!

Freedom is what the fourth of July means to me, free to make choices in most everything we do; but sometimes we hold ourselves back from some of those choices. Choosing not to steal is controlled by morality, not to jump off a bridge, commonsense, not to speed, the law, at least sometimes. Freedom to do as we please comes with a cost; a missed birthday, holidays without family is a big one.

Fortunately for those of us who live the Vagabond life in an RV, we have family everywhere we go. Caring and sharing is the motto of an RV club we belong to, and that is the life that most of us try to emulate. After a while, people become friends and eventually your extended family.

We love all, miss some and enjoy those we are with.

2008-06-21T17:28:00.000-07:00

Highway 12 from Bryce Canyon north to Capitol Reef National Park in Torrey, Utah is designated an “All American Scenic Byway,” which is an understatement. Each turn of a corner on the somewhat winding road brought about a new vista of beauty we had not seen before, from box canyons to sharp outcroppings reaching to the sky; the pictures simply cannot do it justice, but they are still better than words can describe. The area called “Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument” is along this route, as is the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. The walls here are multiple shades of red, from an intense dark brick color to tan and every hue in between. The striations in the rock walls are so precise they look as though they were machine-made, and giant, black balls of lava rock seem to be everywhere. The landscape along the route changes from red sand and rock canyons to desert to green pasture lands with grazing cattle followed by a pine and aspen forest rising from fields of small, yellow flowers. The scenery along this highway is an incredible sight to behold.

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Torrey, UT is a one mile strip of motels, cafes, a grocery store and a couple of gas stations, all of which service the tourists who come to see Capitol Reef National Monument. One of the areas in Capitol Reef rises up out of the valley and looks like a capitol building; the reef name came from the early pioneers who had to take their covered wagons around this area of jutting rock and limestone. The Navajo called this area “the land of the sleeping rainbow” – a strange, beautiful landscape of multi-hued rock in the heart of Utah’s canyon lands.

Connie and I drove to the end of a paved road in the park and continued on a dirt road to its end. We then hiked into a canyon that took us into an area filled with prehistoric history. Petro glyphs carved into the rock made me wonder about the people who took such time to make these curious figures that have lasted such a long time. They called these early people the Anastasie which when translated means “original people.” The Anastasie were here prior to all others. Other lasting remains of these people are their rock houses built under overhanging rock outcroppings, which we have seen on trips to other areas, including parts of Arizona.

After an extended stay near Capitol Reef National Park we traveled north through more of Utah’s differing geology, although a lot less colorful than what we had already driven through. Dinosaur National Monument was a total disappointment. The main visitor center was closed due to extensive structural damage. The ranger we talked to said it would be many years before funds were available to build another visitor center equal to the one that was originally built but is now damaged beyond repair. There were no dinosaur discovery sites to see unless we wanted to go on a lengthy and strenuous hike. We are still at the easy/slightly moderate hike stage, so we felt that our visit was a total bust.

Northern Utah and Southern Wyoming are home to Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, which includes a lot of steep climbs and downhill grades at eight and ten percent. Grades like that are not a lot of fun when you have a motor home and tow vehicle at a combined 35,000 pounds wanting to do the exact opposite of what is required to keep life and limb safe. But our coach is sound and the beauty of the surrounding area is well worth the trip. We spent two days without hookups in one of many wooded campsites in Flaming Gorge.

Pushing further into Wyoming takes us through Rock Springs, famous only for the fact it has a new Wal-Mart and a Flying J truck stop. The next part of our journey took us through sagebrush and tumbleweed, but we were fortunate to see herds of antelope along the way. We did have one close encounter with a male antelope, but a combination of my good brakes and his quickness saved the day. Connie said she saw a Momma and two baby antelopes nearby. The antelope are magnificent animals and had us singing strains of “Home, Home on the Range . . .”

As we traversed the land, the Rocky Mountains started exposing their rugged, white snow-capped tops. The blackness of their barren rock is a striking backdrop to the green of the plains and the jagged edges rising vertically out of soft turf. This area is a land of extremes.

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The small town of Pinedale is home to the Museum of the Mountain Man. The size of the museum and the scope of its exhibits surprised us. This museum is a real gem and not to be missed. Would you believe the Mountain Men were brought about by fashion? At the beginning of the 19^th century the beaver hat and men’s best suits made of beaver fur were supreme in the world of fashion, so popular in fact that the poor beaver’s skin became very sought after and expensive. As the supply of beaver in Europe dwindled, a group of frontiersmen, trappers and entrepreneurs set out to make their fortunes by traveling to the new frontier to find beaver and bring back their pelts. They brought with them skills learned in the East and adapted those skills to the rugged environment of the Rocky Mountain area and learned to survive in the harsh western environment.

What was known as the mountain man “rendezvous” grew out of necessity. Rather than having to travel the great distances required to bring their pelts to market, the mountain men would gather together and sell them to agents from the various fur traders. At first only a handful came to the rendezvous, but when somebody had the idea to bring liquor to the rendezvous, the number of attendees swelled into the hundreds. The Indians also came to these gatherings to trade what they had trapped.

Unfortunately, many of these men were never heard from again, but those who survived the weather, Indians, bears and other predators became known as Mountain Men. Their ability to hunt, trap and stay alive made these men into a legend, and they planted a firm American claim to much of the territory of the American West. Alas, another fashion whim – the silk hat and clothing – ended the demand for beaver in the 1840’s. Many of the Mountain Men subsequently became the scouts who led wagon trains to the West. The museum houses an extensive collection of artifacts and memorabilia of the Western fur trade, and chronicles the travels of such Mountain Men as Jim Bridger and Kit Carson, along with many others. The museum also chronicles John Jacob Astor’s formation of the Pacific Fur Company to conduct fur trade in the far West, and his plan to send ships around the horn to the mouth of the Columbia River to establish a trading post called Astoria, which we now know as Astoria, Oregon.

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Yellowstone National Park! Everyone the world over knows about this land set aside long ago as a place people can go to see what wilderness looked like before man left his mark. Yellowstone was the world’s first national park, established in 1872. It is one of the largest national parks in the United States at just over 2 million acres. A giant caldera, the entire park is alive with volcanic activity from “Old Faithful” to fumaroles to pots of bubbling mud, all smelling of sulfur. The park is also home to aqua blue lakes, thundering waterfalls, beautiful vistas, and one of the world’s foremost wildlife sanctuaries.

We discovered that Bill Joyce and Diane Melde, two of our full-time RVing friends, were also staying in West Yellowstone. Together we set out to see the sights, sounds and smells of this fantastic landscape. Of course the first thing we had to see is “Old Faithful.” Every 90 minutes or so this geothermal geyser erupts with plumes of steam and hot water about sixty to seventy feet in the air, and this show is the main event at Yellowstone. The Old Faithful Inn is almost as legendary as fascinating as the geyser. It is said to be the world’s largest log and wood structure, and inside it looks like a giant tree house. We ate lunch at the Inn; the food was very good and not too pricey.

Throughout the day we stopped and walked the many other geothermal areas of hot, bubbling, boiling water with the most brilliant colors imaginable coming from bacteria. These bacteria thrive in this most hostile environment. Steam is everywhere and adds to the mystical aura of this land of enchantment. We stopped at Mammoth Hot Springs to check out the visitor center and to see a couple of videos about the park and its inhabitants. We had planned to take a walk around the area, but black skies and raindrops quickly changed our plans.

The buffalo are everywhere in Yellowstone. Twice we have had a slow escort as these shaggy behemoths walk onto the roadway and proceed at their own pace which is always S-L-O-W, but who cares since we were not in a rush! Several herds wander here without a care in the world. Numerous elk roam the area also and they, too, seem unaware of our presence.

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2008-06-15T16:49:00.000-07:00

From Surprise, AZ to Zion National Park in Utah.

To view pictures click on a picture and then navigate
using arrows and options

I think I am beginning to hear old Willy Nelson extolling the virtues of being “On the Road Again.” We have been so busy with our new casa that heading out in our old home on wheels is going to feel like we are on vacation. Yeah, they call it retirement but it has seemed a bit more like work these past few months with all that we have had to do to furnish our new home. But it truly is worth the time and effort. We have a very comfortable place to be in the winter, and having all of our family history around in a permanent setting gives us a sense of well being. I know now that Mom is happy that her stuff is all snugly and warm. Every once in a while the people in those old photographs seem to smile just a little more, and that old steamer trunk that my great grandfather brought to America from Sweden eons ago seems to like its new home. Life is good and we are very fortunate.

After having waited four months for two leather chairs to be made and delivered, the furniture store again promised that they would be arriving sometime “next week,” which was three weeks after the last time they told us that. After telling the salesman where he could put them when they came (literally), we said enough is enough, we are leaving town and the chairs will have to wait until our return. We will head north to Mund’s Park, which is just south of Flagstaff. The best part of Mund’s Park is the six friends from Happy Trails RV Resort that greeted us on our arrival. They are all working at the RV Park for the summer and they showed us all around the campground and later showed us around Flagstaff. In the evenings we played Mexican Train and had a lot of laughs. We are very fortunate to have friends like these.

Mund’s Park is at 6,700 foot elevation, which means cooler weather for folks from the Phoenix area trying to escape the heat. Just about anything you could want is here, a small grocery store, a very large hall with a stage, tables and a complete commercial kitchen. The pool and spa were not open but looked to be very nice. The park is mostly park models (12’x40’ manufactured homes); you can buy one of these for between $40,000 to $85,000 with porches and an attached family room. Open from May to October, the park models are summer quarters only due to the heavy snows in the wintertime. They are small but complete with everything one needs to live. You own the park model but not the lot it sits on – that comes with a yearly lease which currently runs around $3,000 for the season. There are no property taxes or other expenses associated with ownership, but not knowing from year to year how much the lease is going to be is not something I would do. There are also leased sites for those who want to bring their own RV for the season, and regular nightly rental RV sites like the one we are in.

The City of Flagstaff started out as a pole with a flag attached and it has grown a bit from that day. The University of Arizona campus sets the tone for this still small town, lots of young person hangouts, hippy shops etc., but there are also some very nice shops and art galleries to keep an old downtown area thriving. Anything and everything you could want is here also. We plan to come back some day when we have more time to visit the museums, art galleries, etc. but for now the open road awaits us -- after all, we have to be patriotic and spend our Government rebate check. We also must keep the oil companies from going under. Hah! Luckily I have some oil stocks which are doing quite well these days, so I think everyone should get out there on the road and put the pedal to the metal.

Driving past the road to the south rim of the Grand Canyon was difficult but thanks to a certain furniture company, we do not have reservations there ^%$#&*!! We hope to visit the Grand Canyon on our way back to Arizona in the fall.

Highway 87 winds through an area with some remarkable geologic formations. During a millennium of time, different layers of earth settled at different times, with very different colors -- red, white, brown, grey and everything in between. At some point all of the canyon lands were under a great sea, and the terrain was as flat as a pancake. Then somebody pulled the plug and drained the sea, leaving all the sediment to become land, and then came the rains which created rivers which eroded away and made canyons, including Zion and the Grand Canyon -- wow!

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The Canyon Lands we saw yesterday were just a hint of things to come. Zion National Park is one of the most remarkable places I have ever seen. We entered the park from the east side and made our way down a road some thought would be impossible to build. Hanging tenuously to the vertical faces of sedimentary rock, the narrow, steep and winding road traverses most of the park, but not before it runs thru two tunnels dug into the rock mountain, one of which is 1.1 miles long. Unfortunately these tunnels were built in the 1930’s and are only 13’6” at the crowned top. Our motor home is 12’9” so we must pay an extra fee because the park rangers have to stop all traffic going the opposite way while we drive down the center of the two lane tunnel. I loved blasting my air horn inside the tunnel -- I guess I am still a kid at heart.

After finally reaching the other side of Zion National Park, we checked into Watchman Campground. We have electric hookups here and being inside the park is great, especially having views out our windows that any artist would envy. Just a short walk away is the visitor center where shuttle buses pick up visitors and ferry them throughout the park. Some of the best hiking trails anywhere are just a shuttle ride away, and in the morning we have tickets for a shuttle ride and interpretive tour led by a park ranger.

We saw a movie about how the canyons came to be - 600 million years ago sand began creating dunes, one upon the other until weight and moisture cemented them into rock miles deep; then geologic forces (tectonics) pushed them up thousands of feet, creating what is called the Colorado Plateau. About 160 million years ago rain began falling and created rivers that cut their way down through the sedimentary rock to create what we see today.

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We are up early the next morning and arrive at the visitor center for our interpretive tour of the park. The only problem is that we did not realize that Arizona and Utah are in different time zones, so we are an hour late and the tour has left without us -- rats. So today we take a shuttle bus on our own. The shuttle is the only way to get to many areas of the park. It is convenient, extremely efficient and free, something we tend not to think of with a government run entity. Traveling up Zion Parkway brings to mind words like monolithic, grandeur, incredible, holy ____, and oh my God! This place defies logic. How could all this have at one time been at the bottom of the ocean and now be at 10,000 feet? Most of all it reminds us of just how small and insignificant man is with a life span of just 100 years. These rocks towering thousands of feet in the air used to be a desert that would put the Sahara to shame, then they were under the sea and now they reach up to the sky and they are 600 million years old! It is difficult to comprehend.

We traveled to the end of the shuttle road and then hiked for a little more than a mile into an area known as “the River Walk.” The canyon walls are separated by the Virgin River, which gets narrower with each step. At the end of the paved walkway along the river we reach the beginning of the area known as “the Narrows” where our trail ends. The past winter brought lots of snow so to continue our trek we would have to wade in chest-deep, 48-degree water. We decide it’s time to turn around and go back. A few brave, young souls don waders and other gear and head into the water, but they quickly return.

It feels good to be once again hiking in an area full of nature at its finest. On the way back from our first hike we stopped at the famous Zion Lodge and had a terrific lunch. Our waitress was from Poland. We see a lot of foreign-born workers in our travels through national parks. We are hopeful tomorrow we will be able to do more hiking if our bodies are willing. We have not hiked in some time, and this area is truly a hiker’s paradise. Zion is the opposite of the Grand Canyon as here you are at the bottom of the canyon instead of the top. Zion was named by a Mormon, and according to scripture the name means quiet sanctum. Massive canyon walls ascend toward a brilliant blue sky. Sheer, vividly colored cliffs called “the Great White Throne, “the Court of the Patriarchs” and “Angels Landing” tower above as you follow the road along the floor of Zion Canyon. It has been said one can worship here without any temple. This does indeed feel like a sacred place.

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Kolob Canyon is reached by going outside Zion Park and driving 45 miles north. Although not as large as Zion, Kolob Canyon is an incredible sight. More colorful earth shoved thousands of feet skyward into fanciful shapes of monolithic rock. Here we took a hike along a ridge to the edge where you can see forever, almost 360 degrees. On the way up I stopped and took pictures of some desert plants giving birth to beautiful bouquets of bright, colorful flowers, a stark contrast to the prickly skin of the plant and drab brown of the earth. Our bodies are telling us we should have kept ourselves in better shape. There is a lot of climbing on the trails here, and some trails are beyond our capacity. George Burns said it best: “If I had known I was going to live this long I would have taken better care of myself.”

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All the towns along our way have visual reminders that this is Mormon country. Most towns have a statue depicting a man, woman and child representing the early settlers of this land. Our first outing to get some groceries was quite a surprise. We stopped at a gas station that had a mini mart and I asked the attendant if there was a ‘regular’ grocery store nearby; he said the closest was 18 miles. Disappointed, we bought some bologna, milk and a near stale loaf of bread from the mini mart. On the way back to the campground we happened to look to our right and there was a new looking grocery store that we could have walked to from our camp!!!! Grrrrrrr!

It has been very warm here, in the 90’s, so it will feel good to get to Bryce Canyon where the temperatures are about 15 degrees cooler because it is at a higher altitude.

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Leaving Zion with lots of good memories and pictures we head to Bryce Canyon. Ruby’s is the place to be whether you stay at Ruby’s Inn or Ruby’s RV Park. Ruby was a man (Reuben). He and his wife started the place about 90 years ago and, today, Ruby’s has everything -- grocery store, restaurants, Laundromat, RV Park, arcade, ice cream store, western art gallery, horseback rides, helicopter tours, and a rodeo that runs five nights of the week.

Zion was hot, about 90 degrees. A mere 75 miles north, Bryce Canyon is a chilly 40 degrees; it’s raining and blowing 20 to 30 mph! What a shock! It will be good to sleep with the blankets on. I am sure we will be kept even warmer with our furry friends, Harry and Poco, snuggled up close. From our front windshield we can see open meadows and green stands of pine trees. It is very quiet and our motor home surrounds us like a cocoon; this is the life, old Riley would have been envious.

I am at a loss of words to describe Bryce Canyon

so I will let the pictures above and

below speak for me.