The RV Travels of Earl & Linda

2012-01-15T15:30:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since I've make any posts to this blog...guess I should do so!

Nothing really exciting has been happening...mostly just the usual of shopping, visiting friends, taking the dogs for a walk, and working on genealogy. In fact, genealogy seems to have taken up much of my time!

As I mentioned in my previous post, we're going to have a Winegard Trav'ler satellite TV dish installed on our fifth wheel. While we do have a dish on a tripod sitting beside the rig (one that Satellite Advantage in Quartzsite set up last year), we don't want to fool with having to manually tune in all three satellites for Dish Network...too much of a hassle when we're moving every day or two.

We went by Satellite Advantage to find out how much they'd charge for coming out and installing the dish...they wanted $1,700+, but would waive the sales tax (around 10%) if we paid cash. So we opened up a savings account at the bank in Quartzsite so we'd have the cash handy to pay them. In the meantime, I contacted a fellow Escapee who installs both satellite TV and satellite Internet dishes to see if he was going to be in Quartzsite sometime during the winter and, if so, how much he charged. Turns out he was a couple hundred dollars less expensive...and we'll have the added benefit of giving the work to an Escapee. He'll be in Quartzsite during the Sports, Vacation, and RV Show which starts next Saturday, the 21st, so we should have our new dish installed sometime within the next couple of weeks.

Blaze had his first birthday on December 23. Here's a recent picture of him:

And one of Gracie:

We had a quiet Thanksgiving and Christmas...turkey for Thanksgiving dinner, ham for Christmas dinner. We don't buy presents any more for each other at Christmas...there's nothing we really need, and there's really no place to shop for stuff around here without going 100+ miles into Phoenix, or almost the same distance into Yuma.

Ed and Jan, the Escapees who purchased our camper back in early November shortly after we'd put it up for sale (see the previous November 10, 2011 post), arrived on January 3 to pick up the camper. They arrived after dark, so we just quickly went over a few systems, had a drink with them, and let them unload what they'd need for the night and the next morning.

On Wednesday morning, we went through all the systems with them, took the camper off our truck and loaded it onto theirs. They spent the rest of the day loading all the stuff they'd brought with them into the camper, taking a break for lunch at Dos Amigos where we all had their Wednesday special of fish tacos...yum! We signed over the Title to them, had Happy Hour, and then they took off to boondock somewhere out in the desert. We'll miss having the camper...it made it really handy for a quick overnight trip into Phoenix for a Costco run and for getting into all those little places that we won't be able to get into with the larger fifth wheel...but, as I mentioned previously, we'll have much more room for the dogs (and us) traveling in the fifth wheel.

My birthday was the fifth of this month so Earl and I went to Silly Al's in Quartzsite to celebrate. Silly Al's probably has some of the best pizza we've ever had...while we've run into some great pizza, I don't think any has been any better than Silly Al's pizza!

Earl put the fifth wheel hitch back in the truck. Since the tail gate and the bed cover are in Spokane, we ordered a box to put in the bed and a "V" shaped tail gate...we found one for something like $50 on the Internet (compared to several hundred dollars for the louvered metal ones). The tail gate came, Earl put it together and installed it on the truck. I wasn't sure what it would look like, but we figured if we didn't like it, we weren't out much money, but I must say it looks pretty good on the truck!

The bed box hasn't come yet, but we're going to go through the stuff in the shed deciding what we can get rid of and what we want to take along with us. After that exercise, we'll decide whether or not we want to sign up for another year here, or just pay by the month until we leave. If we decide not to sign up for another year, we'll put the shed up for sale.

I'd like to leave sometime in March, if possible, since we'd like to take a trip down to Big Bend, stopping in Tucson to visit Blaze's breeder. Earl says he wants to travel through Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska on the way north, but that's right during tornado season, so I'm not sure I want to be in that area during that time of year!

Here are some pictures of the area around the RV park where we stay:

An old, gnarly tree we pass on our morning walks with the dogs.

View from our RV site

Another view from our RV site early in the morning just as the sun came up.

Full moon setting over the mountains early in the morning.

2011-11-10T14:13:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, October 20, we left Mesquite and headed for Las Vegas. Traveling through Las Vegas on the Interstate was worse than traveling through Salt Lake City...and we went through Las Vegas early in the morning! One thing we noticed: The drivers in Salt Lake City were much more polite than those in Las Vegas.

Before heading out to Las Vegas Bay Campground in Lake Mead NRA, we stopped in Henderson to shop at Petco (where we bought food and picked up a spare harness for Blaze), Costco, and get fuel for both the truck and car.

The next day, we were up before the sun, drove into Henderson for breakfast, and then headed south on US-95. We were originally going to go via US-93 and spend the night at Burro Creek Campground, but being so close to home, we decided to go down US-95, take the bridge across the Colorado River into Parker, and then head east on AZ-72 until we got to the road that goes south to the RV park where we spend the winter. We were back at the fifth wheel early and spent the rest of the day unloading the camper.

The fifth wheel was none the worse for wear having spent the summer in the heat of Arizona, except...sometime during the day, the hot water faucet blew in the kitchen. Earl quickly turned off the water, and called a mobile RV repair guy who wouldn't be able to come out until the next day. Fortunately, I'd already had a chance to take a shower before this happened...Earl had to take a shower in the camper!

The next day, the guy came out, but he could not repair the faucet (cheap plastic parts...you'd think that for the money we spent for this fifth wheel, the manufacturer would have used high-quality fixtures with brass parts) so he'd have to order a new one; in the meantime, he installed a shut-off on the kitchen line so that we could at least use the bathroom. Since a new faucet had to be installed, I told the guy to get one that had a pull-out faucet with a spray function, which is what I got...and, instead of hot water and cold water handles, it has a single lever handle. Really nice!

While he was out installing the new kitchen faucet, we mentioned that the electric side of the water heater hadn't been working for a couple of years now...since October 2009 when we were staying at Klamath Falls, Oregon Passport America RV Park. He tested it, and found that it needed a new control board. After nearly two weeks, the board came in, and this morning he came out to install it. We can now use the electric to heat our water...yea!

We've decided to put the camper up for sale. Trying to travel in such a small space with two dogs, particularly one very active Basenji, and having to move their cages twice a day, which included making the dinette into a bed at night and then doing the reverse in the morning, is getting really old. When we got the camper, we had Maxx. He was an older dog, didn't need to be in a crate, and slept on a pad underneath the dinette table. If we just had Gracie, she wouldn't be a problem, either, since she doesn't need a crate and could sleep in bed with us or on a pad underneath the table. But Blaze is an entirely different story! Even though he'd be OK with not being in a crate, he'd want to sleep with us...and in a queen size bed, there's just not enough room for two dogs. ;-)

Toward that end, we emptied out the camper and cleaned it. I took lots of pictures, both of the inside and outside, and created a blog to sell it, http://2009eaglecap950camper.blogspot.com/ . I then listed it on Craigslist, and advertised it on the Escapees Discussion forum, a couple of camper forums, the IRV2 Classifieds, and posted to the Boomer Bulletin Board (BBB, a Yahoo Group). We got an inquiring within a couple of days from a Boomer who'd seen my post on the BBB. After some back and forth emails, they made an offer, which we accepted. They've made a non-refundable deposit and will pick up the camper in January when they are here for the annual Boomer get together in Quartzsite.

We will go back to pulling the fifth wheel. It'll give us more room, both for us and the dogs. The only downside will be that we'll have to pay for storage when we're in Spokane since we won't be able to park the fifth wheel beside the house like we did with the camper. One thing we're going to do before leaving here in the spring is to have a Winegard Trav'ler for Dish Network installed on the fifth wheel in place of the dome that is currently there. Last year, we had Satellite Advantage in Quartzsite come out and place a dish on a tripod beside the rig, but we don't want to fool with a portable unit and the headaches it entails, both in setting it up and in trying to get all three satellites tuned in.

After going through 4 or 5 halters for Blaze, which he ends up chewing in half (and he also chewed the strap that holds him down while traveling), we've finally given up on securing him in the backseat with a seat belt and bought a travel crate to put him in! For the money we've spent on halters, we could have bought the crate a long time ago! It came yesterday, so we took the dogs for a ride to try it out. I thought perhaps Blaze would whine when put in the crate, but he just laid down and slept. Now we'll just use the halter for walks and take it off when he's put in the travel crate.

2011-10-19T17:54:00.000-07:00

Earl and I had a nice relaxing stay at Antelope Valley RV Park in Delta, Utah. We were close to a gravel road where we could walk the dogs, which made it nice.

This morning, after it got light (the dogs got us up before 6 AM!), we drove into town to fill the car and truck with fuel and then went to McDonald's for breakfast. Instead of our usual sausage and egg biscuit, we had one of their breakfast burritos...Earl had the sausage and I had the steak (hamburger, really). We both agreed that the steak breakfast burrito was the best and it's something we'd order again.

After breakfast, we left Delta and headed south on UT-257, not connecting with I-15 again until we reached Cedar City. Continuing south on I-15, we entered the Virgin River Canyon which is located on the portion of I-15 that crosses through a small portion of northwestern Arizona. We've never driven this portion of I-15 before and the scenery was spectacular! We may have to come this way in the spring just so we can drive through the canyon again!

Tonight we're at the Virgin River Casino which offers free overnight parking for RVs. While we don't gamble, we usually do partake of one of the restaurants...tonight we ate at the casino's buffet which was offering Mexican and Southwestern food. The food was pretty darn good.

2011-10-18T06:46:00.000-07:00

We left Curlew Campground around 8:00 AM and headed south to the HappiJac factory in Kaysville. I'd looked up the location on Google Maps, so we knew which exit to take and which direction to go from the off ramp. However, Google Maps showed the location on the south side of the road, but as we came to the road, a left turn would have put us in a residential neighborhood...this can't be right! We pulled over while I called the factory to find out their location. It turned out we should have turned right instead of left. After turning around and finding the correction road, we still had difficulty finding the place! The number of the building is on a small concrete sign at one corner by the road which we missed going by the first time...and, instead of a large sign on the building saying "HappiJac," no name appears at all on the building. It isn't until you get to the front door, which isn't situated on the main road, that you see the name of the company painted on the door.

But we did finally find the place, went inside, and were directed around back where an employee came out to assess the problem with our jack. He tested the motor...it was OK. He tested the jack itself (the screw part inside the casing)...it was OK, too. It turned out that the problem was in the wiring, evidently miswired at the Eagle Cap factory. Once the guy rewired the jack, it worked perfectly! And, not only did we not get charged for the work, the guy doing the work gave Earl two bits for his drill so that he can run the jacks up and down quicker than can be done with the remote!

After the jack was repaired, we went in search of a gas station to get fuel for both the car and the truck. We then had lunch at Marie Callendar and were waited on by a waitress with the reddest hair I've ever seen...probably not her real color, and as I think about it, maybe she'd dyed it for Halloween, since it was on the verge of being orange!

After lunch, we located a PetsMart and bought another harness for Blaze...the third one we've had to buy for him (the latest was bought earlier this month) because he chews through them! This time, we bought this harness: Reflective Sport Harness. He should have a much harder time of chewing through this one since it'll be much more difficult to get his mouth around it (crossed fingers)!

The time had now come to drive through the gauntlet that is Salt Lake City! Actually, driving through the city wasn't too bad...the bad part came south of Salt Lake City when we had to go through miles and miles of construction. Finally, though, we got to our exit and headed west to Delta and our home park, Antelope Valley RV Park, where we can stay for free up to four weeks each year. We're only staying a couple of days this time, though.

2011-10-17T06:31:00.000-07:00

We left Spokane on Tuesday, October 4 and headed south on US-195 through Lewiston, Idaho where we picked up US-95. We continued south to Hammer Creek Recreation Area, just south of White Bird, where we spent the night.

After breakfast the next morning, we continued south on US-95, intending to spend the night at Mann Creek Reservoir; however, it was raining most of the day so we figured that the camping area around the reservoir would be nothing but mud, so we continued on to my mother's place south of Nampa.

We spent 11 days visiting with my mother and had a great time! While there, we visited with a cousin (once removed) who has done a lot of genealogy and had dinner with an aunt and two of her daughters. We never did make it out to cemeteries in the area, though, to take pictures of relatives' gravestones. We'll have to do that this coming spring when we visit my mother again.

Sunday morning we headed out and traveled east on I-84, spending last night at the campground at Curlew National Grasslands, north of Snowville, Utah (the campground is actually in Idaho).

Today we'll continue south on I-84 to Kaysville (north of Salt Lake City) and stop at the HappiJac factory so they can repair or replace one of our jacks which hasn't really worked right since we first got the camper.

August and September

2011-09-28T08:46:00.000-07:00

I've been extremely lax in updating this blog! My only excuse is that I've become involved in doing genealogy and it's been taking up most of my computer time each day! I'm really enjoying delving into the past...it's amazing what you can find on the Internet these days, which is fortunate since I probably wouldn't get into genealogy so much if I had to travel all across the country to dig into old musty files.

Blaze has continued to go to doggy day care three times a week for half days. It's really made a huge improvement in him, both with meeting new dogs and new people. He's also much calmer around the house since he gets a chance to drain all that puppy energy! The picture below is kind of grainy because it's been encased in plastic:

I love this picture of Blaze at doggy day care and the expression on his face! That's one of his girlfriends, CiCi, "attacking" him.

The bank where we had our safety deposit box and savings account closed. Fortunately, it happened while we were still in Spokane and could retrieve the items from the safety deposit box...I don't know what would have happened had the bank's closure happened when we were in Arizona for the winter! The money, of course, is insured by FDIC, so I wasn't worried about it.

At the end of August, we loaded up the camper and headed west to visit with son, daughter-in-law, and grandson, Russ, Dani and Cameron in Tacoma. We were going to travel US-12, but we found out that there was road construction past the junction with WA-410 with up to 2-hour delays, so when we got to WA-410, we took that road instead, spending the night at one of the Forest Service campgrounds along the road. The next day, we followed 410 into Puyallup where we stayed at the Elks Lodge. We found out that this Elks Lodge is closing (in fact, the property had already been sold), and a new, smaller, lodge is going to be built a few miles away. The pictures below were taken from the rest area at Chinook Pass (except for the last one, which was taken along the road after we'd left the rest area):

We had a great time visiting with the kids. Dani fixed delicious meals and even gave me her recipe for crock pot meat loaf, which I made once we got back. We'll have to buy a different crock pot, though, because the small one we bought has a hot spot and one side of the bottom of the meat loaf got burned...that's what we get for spending only $9 for a crock pot!

Our good friends, Mike and Mary Michaels, invited us to their 50th wedding anniversary party...they'd rented the VFW lodge and had a grand party. They, in turn, joined us for our 36th wedding anniversary on the 20th of this month...ours was a much quieter get together at the Old Spaghetti Factory.

As part of doing genealogy, we've started making trips to cemeteries where relatives are buried. On Monday, we went to Pines Cemetery out in the Spokane Valley and were able to located my great grandmother, plus an uncle and aunt (my grandfather's brother and sister) and their spouses.

Today, we're going to make a trip out to Mica Cemetery to see if we can find the grave stones of two more uncles (brothers of my grandfather). This might be a harder task, even though the Mica Cemetery is much smaller. At Pines Cemetery, we were able to go into the office and ask where the graves were located...they gave us a map with each grave marked. There will be no such help at the Mica Cemetery...it is, evidently, in a state of disrepair and overgrown. There is no office to go to, nor, apparently, anyone to ask about locations of various headstones. So we'll just have to walk the cemetery and hope that the headstones are still there or that they're not hidden beneath a jungle of shrubbery.

I'm using Ancestry.com for my Family Tree and it's where I've been getting most of my information. I've also used FindAGrave.com, FamilySearch.com, and Interment.net to find information.

We're getting the house and the camper ready for our journey south, which will begin next week. We'll take our time heading to Arizona...we plan on being there by the end of October/first of November. We'll stop and visit my mother near Boise (where we'll take some trips to nearby cemeteries to look for relatives' graves) and then are planning on stopping by the HappiJac factory near Salt Lake to have them fix one of the camper jacks. We haven't called them yet, so don't know if this will happen.

July

2011-08-01T10:18:00.000-07:00

We found a new Thai restaurant in town, Linnie's Thai Cuisine. It's not too far from home; in fact, we'd driven past it numerous times last year when we were going to the hospital every day for Earl's radiation treatments. Our first visit was with our friend, Mary Doran. Since then, Earl and I have been there two more times.

We were planning on going over to the coast at the end of the month, but those plans fell through. However, if we'd gone, we would have put the dogs either in doggy day care or boarded them over on the coast since we would have been gone all day visiting with family. In preparation for that, we took both dogs to the vet to have Bordetella shots for kennel cough. Gracie also had to have her first annual booster shot and Blaze had to have his stitches taken out from his neutering and umbilical hernia repair.

As the vet was examining Gracie, she noticed that she has luxating patellas, so she referred us to a veterinary surgical specialist. The specialist took x-rays and found that she also has hip displasia. Both cases are mild and do not require surgery at this time. We have noticed that when she gets up from a laying down position, she will raise herself up with her front end first and then get her back legs under her. She also does the "bunny hop" gait described in the hip displasia article. Other than that, she really shows no signs that anything is wrong. Hopefully, it won't progress to the stage where she will require surgery.

We've started taking Blaze to doggy day care for half a day three times a week. It became clear when we took him in to have him neutered (the first time he'd been away from us since we got him), that he was way too attached to us. Our breeder suggested that we find a friend or neighbor who was willing to take care of him once in awhile, or even walk him. However, since there really isn't anyone in this neighborhood who we'd feel comfortable asking to do that, we looked around for other solutions and came up with doggy day care. We found a really great place, and Blaze has been going there for a couple of weeks now. We've already noticed a huge improvement in how he interacts with other dogs and other people, plus he's not as hyper and "nippy" around the house. It's really done him a world of good...plus, he has lots of fun playing with the other dogs.

Earl's birthday was on the 19th and we went to The Old Spaghetti Factory to celebrate.

The previous owner of our house had left a white free-standing cabinet in the kitchen when he moved out. We moved it into the office to use for storage, but really didn't like the way the office looked, so we bought a long, low bookcase to use as a credenza behind the table...it looks really nice and actually makes the office look larger.

June

2011-06-30T08:36:00.000-07:00

We started out the month taking a day trip up to Valley where my Grandfather was born hoping to find some Suiters buried in the local cemetery. While we didn't find any Suiters, it was interesting walking through the cemetery looking at all the headstones. Since it was near noon when we finished, we drove up to Chewelah to have lunch.

We've spent some money at the veterinarian this month...had to take Gracie in for an ear problem which turned out to be a yeast infection. We were given an ear wash plus medicine for the infection...her ear is all cleared up now. Yesterday (the 29th) we took Blaze in to be neutered. While under, the vet repaired his umbilical hernia (common in Basenjis) and inserted a microchip plus gave him his rabies shot. We're now supposed to keep him quiet for two weeks...yeah, well good luck with that! Of course, Gracie keeps enticing him to play, so we have to tell her no.

I had some additional medical testing done (colonoscopy and blood draw for cholesterol levels and whatever else they're testing for). The last colonoscopy I had done hadn't found any polyps, but this one found three small ones...so, instead of 10 years before the next one, I'll have to have another one done in five years (yuck...the test itself isn't bad, but the preparations for it are).

Blaze turned six months old on the 23rd. He's a big boy...he's about 18" tall (normal for males is 17") and currently weighs about 28 pounds (although he's not overweight, we have cut back on his food since we'd like to keep him around 26 pounds). Here are some current pictures:

We had a good crop of iris blooming, although not all the iris we transplanted last year bloomed (common the first year after transplanting). Here are my grandmother's iris that bloomed this year (Grandmother, Mary Melvina Evans Suiter [Mel], was a well-known iris hybridizer in her time...late '40's through the '80's):

FOREVER SPRING

LAVENDER LACE

LILAC FRILLS

ORANGE CRUSH

SKY HOSTESS

TOMECO

WICKED WITCH

May

2011-05-31T11:12:00.000-07:00

Today is Gracie's first birthday! For her birthday, we took her (and Blaze) for a long walk through Palisades Park, which is just up the hill from us. We try to take the dogs for a walk there three or four times a week, but have been lax in doing so for the past week.

Gracie hadn't been groomed since almost a month before we left Arizona, so she was in dire need of a hair cut! The breeder from whom we bought her is a groomer and she grooms the dogs she sells for $15 (costs us $30 in Quartzsite), so Gracie finally got a hair cut:

Before

After

Here's another picture of our birthday girl:

Sound asleep in Blaze's pad that's been pulled out of his crate

Blaze was five months old on the 23rd. He's getting really big: 17.5" as close as we can tell and 22 pounds the last time we weighed him, although that was at the beginning of the month when we took him in for his final round of puppy shots, so he may weigh more now (he's asleep curled up next to me and I don't want to disturb him). He's got most of his big boy teeth now and is starting to mark his territory...so, by the end of the month, when he's six months old, he'll be going in and having his cute little fuzzy balls removed!

The recliners are his favorite places to sleep

Do you love me mommy?

One day as we were out running errands, we decided to stop at the Japanese Gardens on the South Hill. We need to make another trip there soon to see more flowers in bloom:

Here are pictures of the tulips and bleeding hearts that bloomed in our gardens (the tulips are finished blooming, but the bleeding hearts are still going):

This is one of my grandmother's iris that bloomed in our garden, Forever Spring...it's the first, and so far, the only one that has bloomed, although we have scads of others ready to bloom if it would only warm up for several days in a row!

The month was taken up with doctor's appointments, both for Earl and me. In addition to seeing my doctor, I've had a whole slew of tests done and will have another one done next week. We've both been to Pearl Vision...Earl to get new lenses because his old ones were so scratched up, and me to get new frames because my old ones broke. Earl also had an eye exam while he was there, and the doctor found that he has the very beginnings of macular degeneration. So far, it hasn't affected his vision, but I did order MaxiVision (their whole body formula) that's supposed to help...we'll see.

One Sunday, Earl discovered a leak in the water line going up to the water heater. Of course, it happened on a Sunday, so it cost us an arm and a leg to get a plumber out to repair the leak!

Our oldest Verizon phone was up for the "new every two years" upgrade, so instead of a phone, I ordered the Samsung Galaxy Tab, an android tablet. I've been having fun playing with it. It should come in handy as we're traveling...I can't remember the number of times we've wanted to look something up as we're driving down the road, but can't because the computer and USB modem is in the RV. Now I'll be able to look the information up (should come in really handy to look up which station has the lowest fuel prices)...of course, we'll have to have cell service in the area, but we do for most of our traveling.

2011-05-06T10:52:00.000-07:00

We've been busy since we returned to Spokane: Grocery shopping to fill up the pantry again; new shoes for Earl (Skechers); a trip to Costco; bought a coffee bean grinder, which we ended up returning to the manufacturer because it quit working after the first whir; and, most exciting of all, a new car!

We bought a Kia Soul. We got the base model with the 1.6L engine and the manual transmission. We've been wanting a car that gets better mileage than the truck with the camper on it for trips around town (it would have come in really handy last year when Earl was undergoing radiation treatments, since we could have parked in the hospital's parking garage instead of having to park a couple of blocks away...uphill and in the snow), and for Arizona where the closest major grocery store is approximately 40 miles one way.

The reason for getting the manual transmission instead of the automatic is that the manual transmission is the only one towable four-down. We may not end up spending the money for a base plate, tow bars, and braking system needed to tow it though. It would costs us upward of $3,000...or more...to equip the truck and car for towing; however, even at $5.00 per gallon for regular gas, it would cost us only around $180 in fuel to make the trip from Spokane to near Brenda where we spend the winters...that's about eight years or more of round trips.

All the Souls come with a Sirius radio, so when we got home, I called Sirius and transferred our subscription from the truck to the car. We haven't been able to listen to Sirius in the truck since we've put the camper on because the overhang on the camper covers the "hockypuck" antenna built into the cab roof of the truck.

The weather hasn't been the best since we returned...it's been cold with some rain. But it looks like today is going to be nice and it's supposed to warm up next week. Our daffodils and some of our tulips are blooming, with more tulips to bloom in the next few days. I'm eager to see all the iris in bloom later on this spring (I planted many of my Grandmother's iris as I could last year). The Bleeding Hearts are just beginning to bloom, and we have other flowers starting to come up, although some of them won't bloom until later in the summer.

2011-04-28T12:24:00.000-07:00

Earl and I enjoyed our visit with my mother, which included Easter Sunday brunch at my brother's and sister-in-law's house (great food!).

All great things have to come to an end, though, so on Monday morning we packed up and headed toward home. Our first stop was the gas station in Melba to fill up with diesel ($4.339 per gallon) and then in Kuna to dump and fill with fresh water.

We stopped in Nyssa, Oregon, to visit my Aunt Ilene for a couple of hours and then had lunch in Ontario.

The weather was cloudy, and we did run into some rain and wind, but for the most part, the drive was uneventful. We stopped in La Grande for groceries and diesel ($4.349) at the Safeway, and then headed on to Hilgard Junction State Park north of town, the place we normally stay when we're in the area. The Oregon State Park website had indicated that the park was closed because of flooding of the Grande Ronde River; however, when we arrived, the flood waters were down and the gates were opened, so we backed into our favorite spot, having the entire park all to ourselves.

The next morning, the dogs got us up early...around 5:30 AM...so after their potty walk, we perked a pot of coffee, had one cup in the camper, put the second cup in our travel mugs, and were on our way. It was lightly snowing when we left, but we encountered heavier snow over the White Mountains...fortunately, it was very tiny, dry flakes, so didn't stick to the road.

We stopped at the Wild Horse Casino east of Pendleton for breakfast and in Colfax for lunch, arriving home around noon. We spent the better part of the afternoon unpacking the camper and getting the satellite TV receivers set up. Finally, late in the afternoon, we were done, so fixed dinner and relaxed in front of the TV.

2011-04-22T09:51:00.000-07:00

We've been having a good time at my mother's house...particularly Gracie and Blaze who have been having a ball playing out in her large back yard!

We went over to my brother's house to see his new pigs:

And his chuckers:

Blaze will be four months old tomorrow. Here are some pictures we took of him today:

Here's a picture of Blaze when we brought him home:

2011-04-20T09:45:00.000-07:00

After visiting the Jean Baptiste Charbonneau's grave site, we continued on to Jordan Valley where we stopped to have lunch at the Old Basque Inn. I was looking forward to some Basque food...maybe a bowl of lamb stew...but, to my disappointment, they had nothing on the menu that was Basque. The only lamb they had on the menu was lamb chops on the dinner menu...for $23! What we had was good (shrimp baskets), but certainly was not Basque!

We then continued on to my Mother's house in a small town south of Nampa, Idaho. We'll be here until the Monday after Easter when we'll head home to Spokane.

Jean Baptiste Charbonneau

2011-04-20T09:22:00.000-07:00

The next morning after walking the dogs and having breakfast, we continued north on US-95 to Burns Junction where US-95 heads east to Jordan Valley.

On our Oregon Benchmark Atlas, I noticed the Jean Baptiste Charbonneau Grave National Historic Landmark which is about three miles north of US-95 near the small hamlet (wide spot in the road?) of Danner. The name was familiar, but I couldn't place where I'd heard about him...obviously, he had some connection with Lewis and Clark, but I knew this only because of the signs out on the highway. We decided to take a quick detour and drive up to the grave site.

Turns out that Jean Baptiste Charbonneau was the son of French Canadian interpreter, Touissant Charbonneau, and his Shoshone wife, Sacagawea (you already knew that, right?). If you Google his name, you'll come up with lots of websites where you can read about his life. Here is just one: http://www.pbs.org/lewisandclark/inside/jchar.html .

We came across this in the path as we were walking around looking at the grave site. The area was totally fenced off with a gate that has to be unlatched to get in. So that must mean this area has humongous birds...or flying cows!

2011-04-20T09:01:00.000-07:00

On the way out of Churchill County Fairgrounds on Wednesday (4/13), we dump tanks, filled with fresh water, and then went by the laundromat to do laundry.

We then headed north on US-95 to its junction with I-80. There's a rest stop there, and we pulled in to walk the dogs. A Class A pulled in behind us and, as I was walking Gracie, I saw a man heading purposefully toward Earl and Blaze. I heard him say, "What are you doing with my dog?" It turns out that the couple had had three Basenjis, the most recent of which they'd lost a few months prior...AND they live in Spokane during the summer! We spent probably about half an hour talking with them.

We continued our trip east on I-80 (although at this point, it goes north until it gets to Winnemucca), stopping in Lovelock for lunch. We then drove the few remaining miles to Rye Patch Reservoir, a frequent stop for us when in this area.

The next morning (which was COLD!), we got back on the Interstate and stopped at the stone house in Imlay, which we'd often seen traveling up and down I-80, but had never taken the time to visit. On our Nevada Benchmark Atlas, it's listed simply as "stone house," but it's actually Thunder Mountain Monument, built as a monument to the plight of the American Indian at the hands of the White Man. You can read more about it at http://www.thundermountainmonument.com .

We went on to Winnemucca where we stopped for diesel ($4.239). After fueling, we continued north on US-95 to McDermott where we had lunch at the Say When Casino.

About 35 miles or so of the Nevada/Oregon border, we pulled over at a gravel pit (one we'd stayed at before) to spend the night. This gravel pit is out in the middle of freakin' nowhere...not a sign of civilization anywhere, except for the FAA traffic control beacon a few hundred yards to the east. Yet, I had excellent Verizon Internet access! Go figure!

US-50 (The Lonliest Road)

2011-04-18T11:06:00.000-07:00

After visiting Belmont and Manhattan, we continued north on NV-376 to US-50 and then headed west through Austin. We were headed to Fallon, but it was getting late and it was at least another couple of hours before we'd get to Fallon. Approximately five miles west of Austin, we came across a large paved area with a historical sign about Jacobsville, a town that served as a Pony Express stop and as a stop for the Overland Stage, now a ghost town, http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/nv/jacobsville.htm . We decided to spend the night there. It turned out to be a nice quiet area...not another vehicle stopped there the entire time we were parked.

The next day, we continued west on US-50, stopping to see several ruins of Pony Express and Overland Stage stops.

This is difficult to read, even when clicked on to make it bigger. It talks about Robert "Pony Bob" Haslam, a Pony Express rider. You can learn more about his story by Googling his name...here's one:
http://www.xphomestation.com/rhaslam.html

We then stopped to see the Shoe Tree. There weren't many shoes hanging from the trees...turns out that the original shoe tree was cut down by vandals.

http://www.travelocafe.com/2011/01/rip-nevada-shoe-tree-may-your-murderers.html

We finally made it to Fallon where we spent the night at Churchill County Fairgrounds, stopping first to have lunch at the Golden Rice Bowl.

Manhattan, Nevada

2011-04-14T20:09:00.000-07:00

To read about Manhattan's history, and to see more pictures, go to http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/nv/manhatten.html .

Belmont, Nevada

2011-04-14T20:05:00.000-07:00

You can read about Belmont's history at http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/nv/belmont.html .

First Courthouse, then a bank (see informational sign below)

Sadly, some didn't live too long

On the other hand, some lived to a ripe old age

Note the spelling of this person's place of birth

Warm Springs, Nevada

2011-04-12T15:22:00.000-07:00

Warm Springs is (or was) at the junction of NV-375 (The Extraterrestrial Highway) and US-6. The site was originally a stopping place for freighters and stages traveling to Eureka and Elko. It was a place where travelers could stop and enjoy the rejuvenating waters of Warm Springs.

Most likely a newer vintage than the other building here.

This may have been a corral for the horses of the stages and freighters that traveled the road.

Little A'Le'Inn in Rachel, Nevada

2011-04-12T15:11:00.000-07:00

One dollar bills attached to ceiling with names, dates, and other information. Reminded us of the Signpost Forest in Watson Lake, Yukon

Extraterrestrial Highway

2011-04-12T14:54:00.000-07:00

Our first alien encounter!

The white stuff is snow!

The "black" mailbox

Burro Creek Pictures

2011-04-12T14:40:00.000-07:00

This isn't actually a picture of Burro Creek. I cleaned off the shelf behind the couch in the fifth wheel to clean it, and Blaze jumped up on it...a great place to sun!

This place shows on our Arizona Benchmark map (it's on US-93 on the way to Burro Creek), so we had to stop and take a picture. It might have been a rip roaring place during its time:

Pictures taken at Burro Creek Campground:

2011-04-12T07:31:00.000-07:00

We left Las Vegas Bay Campground on Saturday morning and drove into Henderson to do shopping. Our first stop was Camping World, then the Shell station to fill up an empty propane tank. Our next stops were Petco, Costco, and Circle K where we filled up with diesel ($3.959).

We headed back out East Lake Mead Parkway., and then took Northshore Drive north to its junction with I-15, stopping in Overton to pick up additional groceries. A short drive south on I-15, and we got off onto NV-168 and then US-93 north. We had planned on staying at the campground along North Pahranagat Lake in the Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge, but it was full, so we went across the street and spent the night in the gravel pit.

On Sunday morning, we continued our trip north on US-93, stopping in Ash Springs to top off our tank with diesel ($4.159). We then headed west on NV-375, The Extraterrestrial Highway, which runs near the famous (or is that infamous?) Area 51.

We stopped to take a picture of the "Black Mailbox," which is now white. The mailbox belongs to the people who own the only ranch in the Tikaboo Valley. The original mailbox was, indeed, black...just a regular ol' mailbox. The story goes that people thought the mailbox belonged to Area 51, and the owner kept catching people going through his mail looking for secret documents, plus he kept finding his mail shot up. So he finally replaced the mailbox with a bullet proof mailbox and put a lock on it. (My questions: Why would a supposedly secret military installation have any mailbox, let alone one on a public road that anyone could open? And, let's assume for a moment that the mailbox DID belong to Area 51, why would they have secret documents delivered to it? Can you say, DUH?) We stopped in Rachel for breakfast at the Little A'Le'Inn where we had an excellent food.

Once we got to US-6, we headed east toward Ely, planning on driving out to Lunar Crater National Natural Landmark, but when we got to the road, which we knew was unpaved, we could see standing water in the road. We didn't want to take a chance on driving nine miles down the road and getting stuck, so we turned around and headed toward Tonopah. We'll save Lunar Crater for a time when the weather is better and the road is dry.

We stopped in Tonopah to top of our tank ($4.159) and then drove out to Miller's Rest Stop, our usual overnight stopping place in this area.

The next day, we drove up to the ghost towns Belmont and Manhattan. Not *really* ghost towns, in my opinion, since they each do have people still living there, but they're both a former shadow of themselves.

Last night found us camping at a parking area on US-50 west of Austin.

I'll post pictures later...this area has too slow Internet access to even consider trying to upload a bunch of pictures.

2011-04-08T08:11:00.000-07:00

One thing I forgot to mention in yesterday's post was our trip across the new bridge that bypasses Hoover Dam.

Disappointing. Oh, sure, it cuts miles off the trip and is much quicker, but the concrete sides are too high to see over, and there's a path for foot traffic making the distance between the right-hand lane and the side of the bridge several feet. Also, high-profile vehicles like RVs, must travel in the left-hand lane next to the barrier separating on-coming traffic due to possible high winds, so it makes it even more impossible to see over. There is a spot where you can park on the Nevada side and walk over the bridge, although I'm not sure exactly where that parking spot is...it may be at the Hoover Dam Visitor's Center, which can now be accessed only from the Nevada side. At any rate, we didn't stop this time to walk over the bridge, but we may at some time in the future.

The wind has died down this morning. If it remains calm by the time we're finished with all our morning chores, we may decide to leave. Time will tell.

2011-04-07T16:18:00.000-07:00

Tuesday morning after feeding the dogs and packing up the last-minute stuff, we drove down to Kofa Cafe for breakfast and then to Zips to fill up with diesel ($3.949).

We spent Tuesday night at Burro Creek Campground, a BLM campground on US-93 south of Wikieup. We may have stayed longer, but when the sun went down, millions of little tiny bugs started coming through the screens, hovering around the lights. So, as quickly as we could, we got ready for bed and turned out the lights!

When the sun came up on Wednesday morning, we took the dogs on their potty walk, fed them, cleaned up as many of the bugs as we could, and headed up the road. We stopped in Kingman and had breakfast at the Cracker Barrel, did shopping at Wal-Mart and Petco, and then filled up with diesel at the Flying J ($4.059).

When we got into Henderson, we stopped at Camping World to pick up a couple of chairs, and then headed out to our usual camping spot at Las Vegas Bay in the Lake Mead NRA. Our favorite spot was open, so we pulled in an set up shop.

Our favorite spot is nice because it's out on sort of a peninsula all by itself. But, as we found out, it's not a good spot when the wind blows really hard, which it started to do late this morning (Thursday). We held out as long as we could and finally moved to another spot, not only more sheltered from the wind, but also where our back end is out of the wind so we can actually get our door open!

We are planning on leaving tomorrow, but if the wind remains strong, we'll stay another day...we don't want to be driving in wind like this!

I'll post some pictures later.

On the Road Again (Almost)!

2011-04-03T14:33:00.000-07:00

We're in the process of packing up the camper for our planned departure on Tuesday, April 5...have to stay here until then to watch the collegiate championship basketball game between UConn and Butler. ;-) It's time to get out of here since it's starting to warm up...it's been in the high 90's for the past couple of days, although it looks like it's going to be a bit cooler today.

Yesterday afternoon, we had a farewell dinner with friends, Mike and Mary, at Silly Al's in Quartzsite (their pizza is tops in our book...we've rarely found pizza elsewhere that comes close to being as good).

This past week, we had our fifth wheel washed and waxed by the same people who did it last year and Mike and Mary came out with their tire pump so Earl could pump all four tires back up to 80 PSI (they were all down to 65 PSI, but we do have four jacks underneath the frame to help hold the weight of the rig just for this eventuality). While we do have an air pump on the PacBrake, it's slow. It's great for adding a pound or two, but when you need to add 15 PSI to each of the four tires, we would only be able to pump up about one tire a day without overheating the pump. Mike's tire pump does the job in about 10 minutes or so!

When we leave here on Tuesday, we'll be heading home for Spokane, but don't plan on being there until around May 1...maybe before or maybe after, depending on the weather and what all we find to do between here and there. Our plans are to explore some of the Nevada ghost towns, so we'll see how it goes.

Fortunately, both Gracie and Blaze are good riders. We put their harnesses on, hook them up to the seat belts in the back seat, and they both curl up and go to sleep. Maxx was always a nervous rider, spending most of the trip awake, standing and pacing, so it's nice to have dogs that aren't bothered by being in a moving vehicle!

Blaze (aka Flame) is Three Months Old!

2011-03-23T15:25:00.000-07:00

Blaze is three months old today! (We have decided to make his call name Blaze instead of Flame. His call name doesn't change his AKC registered name...TarSha's Mananita Flame...but we just like the name Blaze.)

He's the typical Basenji puppy...a little hellion on wheels (or should I say four paws...big paws, at that)! He and Gracie have fun playing together, although we do enforce quiet times when the playing gets a bit too rambunctious. They go in the crate at our meal time unless they're already zonked out elsewhere, so that we can eat in peace. (We have a large crate...36" L x 22" W x 24" H...which both of them can easily fit into.)

Blaze has learned to negotiate the outside steps as well as to jump up on the couch, the recliners, and...if Earl forgets to slide the dining chair closest to the couch under the table when he gets up...onto the chair, and from there onto the table! ;-) The couch has become one of his favorite places to take a nap other than someone's lap.

He's definitely a talker. He does a "roo-roo" as well as a happy, growly, sound...hard to explain, you'd have to hear it. And, of course, he's a great whiner and a noisy yawner (which Maxx was, too)!

If our scales are accurate, he weighs around 14 pounds. The breeder said he should weigh 14-15 pounds at 16 weeks, but he's definitely not overweight...he has a waist as viewed from above, and I can feel his ribs when I run my hands down his sides. However, I have asked the breeder if perhaps I should start feeding him a little less (1/3 cup three times a day instead of the current 1/2 cup three times a day), and when I should switch to feeding two times a day.

He's doing great meeting new people and new dogs...he's not at all shy or fearful like Gracie is, although Gracie has made huge improvements in that area since we first got her. He's very affectionate, giving kisses freely, and at night when we're watching TV in the recliners, he wants to crawl up on my lap and go to sleep. So I usually have two dogs on me...Gracie on the foot of the recliner between my legs, and Blaze in my arms.

He's learning to sit for treats, and I make both of them sit before I put the food bowls down. I'll be working with him on "down" and "stay."

Here are some current pictures:

Picking up Flame

2011-03-01T13:00:00.000-07:00

Earl and I drove down to Tucson on Saturday, arriving at Tari's place around 1:00 PM. While this was an exciting time for us, Tari had just buried her dog, Wave, after he had been hit by a car when he escaped from his new home, so our excitement was tempered by sadness for Wave's passing. We had met Wave when we visited with Tari a couple of weekends ago...he was a wonderful dog who greeted us enthusiastically without any hesitation because we were strangers.

Tari brought Flame into the livingroom where he and Gracie had lots of fun playing together again. We discovered that Gracie doesn't know when to stop playing, so we would occasionally have to intervene to give everyone a time out. I imagine once the newness of having a puppy to play with begins to wear off, Gracie will learn that she can take breaks once in awhile (and, in fact, this is beginning to happen as she gets used to having a playmate around).

We took Flame out to the camper with us at bedtime and put him in his crate where he proceeded to howl, scream, and whine for what seemed like hours, but was probably only about half an hour. We finally put Gracie in the crate with him, and that quieted him down so that we could get some sleep! We were awakened shortly after 4:00 AM, so took the dog out to do their business.

Our original plan was to do shopping at both Costco and PetCo in Tucson. But, as we sat there before the sun was even up, we decided that we could drive to Phoenix and be there just about the time Costco opened, plus we'd be that much closer to home. I was hoping to say goodbye to Tari before we left, but she wasn't up yet, so I called her around 7:30 AM to explain our plans and say goodbye.

We stopped in Eloy for breakfast, and arrived at the Costco at I-10 and 99th Avenue just a couple of minutes before they opened at 10:00 AM. After finishing shopping there, we went by the PetsMart to pick up some stuff for Flame.

We've now had Flame home for almost two days and he's doing well. Tari taught the puppies to do their business in an outside X-pen, so we've continued putting him in there to go...if only we could teach Gracie to go in there, too!

Flame is really affectionate...he sees you coming, and he puts his little ears back, smiles, sits down and scootches closer, and wiggles his little butt! Of course, we have to watch him like a hawk since he likes to chew on anything he can get his mouth around, and to make sure we take him out before he does his business in the RV!

Here are some pictures we've taken since we've brought Flame home:

2011-02-14T08:59:00.000-07:00

Well, we've gone and done it! Call us crazy, but we have a new puppy on the way...another Basenji! He will join our household in two weeks, February 26, when he will be nine weeks old.

We drove down to Tucson to meet the breeder, Tari Parish, and her group of Basenjis. We considered an adult that she's willing to place in a pet home, but we ultimately decided on one of the puppies from her litter born on December 23, 2010. We believe the puppy will be a better fit for Gracie.

Speaking of Gracie, she and the puppy had a great time playing together!

Meet TarSha's Manzanita Flame (we may decide on a different call name other than Flame...haven't made that determination yet, but we have a whole two weeks to think about it):

The breeder's website is at http://tarsha-basenjis.tripod.com .

2011-02-01T08:42:00.000-07:00

The article about Earl and me was published today in Truck Camper Magazine. The article can be found at http://www.truckcampermagazine.com/linda-hylton:-take-the-camper.-keep-the-fifth./

2011-01-26T11:49:00.001-07:00

Last Friday (the 21st), we had a visit from Tom and Donna Clapham, fellow Excel owners. We'd never met them in person, but Tom takes part in the Excel Owner's Forum over on the IRV2.com website, as do I. We had a very nice visit with them...it's always good to put a face to the names I know from the various groups and forums in which I participate.

The next day we drove out to Boomerville (the place on BLM land where the Escapees BoF group, the Boomers, hangs out for two weeks in January) to visit friends, Bill and Gisela Pollock, whom we haven't seen in several years. It was great seeing them again! We'll see them again during the first part of February when they'll be set up at Tyson Wells to sell some of the jewelry Gisela makes.

Since the slide on the camper is fixed, we decided to drive over to Phoenix on Monday for shopping and to spend the night. We made the trip via Wickenburg and did our shopping in the north end of the western metropolitan area (Glendale/Surprise).

Our first stop was Costco where we loaded up on meats, nuts, and various other items.

Our next stop was a pet store, Choice Pet Market, where we picked up the food we feed Gracie (Orijen, which isn't sold at places like PetsMart and PetCo) plus a new collar and toys.

We filled up with diesel at a Fry's grocery store gas station ($3.199) and, finally, had dinner at Carrabba's, an Italian restaurant. The last time we'd been there was back on February 14, 2001, almost 10 years ago!

We finally made it to our boondocking spot, Vista Point at Pleasant Harbor on Lake Pleasant, at around 5:30 PM. Great views of the lake! Unfortunately, I hadn't checked the battery on my camera before we'd left home, and it was deader than a doornail, so no pictures. :-(

The next morning, we drove back into Wickenburg and had breakfast at the Denny's and picked up groceries at Safeway, before heading back home.

This morning I was interviewed via phone by Angela White from Truck Camper Magazine, an online magazine devoted to...what else...truck campers. I'll post the link when the article is published.

2011-01-13T13:26:00.000-07:00

On Monday, January 3, Earl called the Happijac company about our slide and jack problem. The guy Earl spoke with asked that we send him the controller and the remote. Earl disconnected the controller and we went down to the Salome post office to send the items off to Happijac in a Priority Mail box. Earl talked to the guy again this past Tuesday (11th) to find out what was happening. They got both working and are sending them back via UPS...they should be here today or tomorrow. Hopefully, once the controller is reconnected, everything will be working again. Keep your fingers crossed!

We went to Dos Amigos, the Mexican restaurant near us, for my birthday on the 5th. Their special on Wednesdays are two fish tacos with rice & refried beans, which we ordered...delicious!

Here are some pictures I've taken recently:

The two pictures above were taken around the same time that all the rains were happening in California. Although we didn't get much in the way of rain, we did get these dark clouds coming over one day.

Our fifth wheel parked on our lot near Brenda

Gracie likes to find a little patch of sunshine to lay in.

2010-12-24T14:51:00.000-07:00

Here's an update on what's been going on since my last post:

We had Satellite Advantage come out and set up a tripod and dish next to the fifth wheel and get both TVs hooked up. We now have TV!

We've visited with friends, Mike & Mary, who live across the street from the house we used to own in Quartzsite...they also usually stay in the Spokane area during the summer.

We found a new restaurant, Dos Amigos on US-60 as you head east on US-60 toward Salome. It's owned by the same people who used to own Taco Mio in Quartzsite. Like Taco Mio, Dos Amigos has good Mexican food...we'll definitely be going there again! We've also gone to two other favorite places to eat...Taco Mio, of course, as well as Silly Al's that has great pizza as well as other Italian food.

We still haven't gotten the slide fixed on the camper. We ordered a new remote hoping that would solve the problem. It didn't, although we would still have needed a new remote, anyway, since the old one no longer had lights that lit up when buttons were pressed. The Happy Jack factory is closed until after the first of the year, so we won't be getting a new control board until then. No telling when we'll finally get the slide fixed!

Diesel is much cheaper here than it was in Washington! When we left Spokane on the 7th, we filled up at a station in Ritzville for $3.489 per gallon. Yesterday, we filled up at the Chevron in Quartzsite for $3.199 per gallon! However, it's much more expensive compared to last December when we filled up on the 14th at $2.699 per gallon!

We drove up to the Wal Mart in Parker this week to get fixin's for Christmas dinner tomorrow: ham, yams, rice, pie and ice cream.

Hope everyone has a very merry Christmas tomorrow!

2010-12-14T15:24:00.000-07:00

We took Gracie (aka "Sprout") into Quartzsite to have her groomed...her first time. She's as cute as a button now and actually looks like a Brussels Griffon (can you say "awwww"):

Gracie is the one without the glasses ;-)

2010-12-12T17:37:00.000-07:00

We got up early, had coffee, and headed to Needles where we had breakfast at Denny's. Stopped for fuel in Parker, and were home around noon.

The fifth wheel looks none the worse for having sat out in the hot Arizona sun all summer. We've got most of the camper unloaded, but not everything put away yet. We still have the TV to try and get set up (remember, we changed from DirecTV to Dish Network, so we have a new system to try and figure out). That will probably wait until tomorrow as it's after 5:30 PM and starting to get dark. Fortunately, there's nothing on TV on Sundays!

Gracie has been having fun checking out her new home for the next few months. I think she's glad not to be stuck in the back seat and to have some room to roam.

2010-12-11T18:38:00.000-07:00

The day didn't get off to an auspicious start...when we were getting ready to leave, we couldn't get our slide in! Tried to crank it in by hand, but it wouldn't budge, so I got the Owner's Manual out and it mentioned to make sure the lock on the slide was in the off position. Say what? What slide lock? So I called our dealer and was told it's *usually* in a compartment near the motor, maybe under the dinette seat. Earl emptied out both areas under the seat, no compartments. Called the dealer back and he said *maybe* it's on the ouside accessible only if we take the camper off the truck. Egads! Earl played around with the remote and slowly was able to bring the slide in, so at least we could leave! I'm going to call the factory on Monday to find out exactly where this slide lock is! We'll probably have to take the camper in to RV Lifestyles in Quartzsite sometime after we get back.

The rest of the trip was uneventful. We're spending the night in the Mojave National Preserve at a spot we've boondocked a couple of times in the past. Tomorrow we should be home!

2010-12-10T19:18:00.000-07:00

We had an uneventful trip today, although long...we didn't arrive at the Fresno Elks Lodge until after 5:00 PM. Driving during rush hour when it's dark is a nerve racking experience for me...glad I wasn't the one driving!

Gracie has been a great little rider! She just curls us in the back seat and sleeps (we have her secured with a seat belt harness). I feel sorry for her, though, because we've been driving such long days. That will soon change, though, as we should be back at our place near Brenda sometime Sunday.

2010-12-09T17:49:00.000-07:00

Before leaving the SKP park, I called 511 to find out what the road conditions were going over Siskiyou Pass. According to the report, the roads were clear...if they hadn't been, we would have gone over to the Coast and gone down.

Am I the only person left in the world who knew nothing about 511? I discovered it quite by accident last year when were leaving Ely, NV, and woke up to several inches of snow. While online to find out what the road conditions were on US-93 north of Ely, a website mentioned 511. Call it when in any state, and you can find out the road conditions of any road in the state...cool!

We're spending the night in Redding, CA, at the Redding RV Park, a Passport America park (50% off the regular fee). Not the greatest park or location (right next to I-5 with all the resultant noise, but the price is right!

2010-12-08T18:24:00.000-07:00

Another long day.

Took a shower at the RV park using their shower...something I rarely do, but with a wet bath in the camper, I have to remove so much stuff in order to take a shower, that it's easier to just use their shower (and we were parked right next to them). This is an expensive park...$38...way more than we would normally spend. And, to add insult to injury, they wanted $.25 for 2.5 minutes to use the shower!

We were able to make an appointment with the installer who installed our Motosat satellite TV dish last year and he was able to fix the problem in about five minutes...the dish just needed to be reset. So, the next time I encounter a similar problem, I'll reset the dish myself. Fortunately, he didn't charge us anything. So tonight we have TV!

We're spending the night at the Escapees RV park in Sutherlin, Oregon. We arrived just before their closing time of 5:00 PM, much later than our normal "get-off-the-road" time of 2 or 3 o'clock. We stopped at the grocery store on our way in because I left the dish soap at home...while we were there, we also picked up a couple of TV dinners, and we're waiting for them to get done (I know, real healthy fare).

2010-12-07T17:48:00.000-07:00

Long day (for us, anyway).

We stopped for breakfast at Longhorn BBQ and then headed out...we were well on our way by 9:00 AM. Stopped in Ritzville for diesel. We were planning on staying at a Passport America park in Hermiston, OR, but by the time we got down there, it wasn't even noon, so we pressed on, traveling west on I-84 along the Columbia River. Almost every time we travel west on this highway, we are battling strong headwinds, but it was relatively calm today.

We're spending the night at Bridge RV Park in White Salmon, WA, across the Columbia River from Hood River, OR. Although we prefer boondocking...and there are several places along the Columbia where you can boondock...we need electric hookups so we can run the space heater (it's still cold here) and we have to fill up the fresh water tank. Now, if we can just run into some warmer weather!

I set up the satellite receiver and ran though all the testing, but when I went to raise the dish, it was still ice bound, and it appears that we may have blown a fuse (assuming there's a fuse in line some place). Even after Earl went up and the roof to dislodge the dish from all the snow and ice (something I should have had him check on beforehand), the dish won't raise. We'll be going through Eugene where we had the dish installed, so I'm hoping that we can stop and have the installer trouble shoot the problem and make repairs.

On the Road Again

2010-12-07T07:09:00.000-07:00

We have some last-minute packing to do and then we're headed down the road. Destination: Arizona!

We spent the weekend and yesterday packing up the camper. Fortunately, although it was cold, it wasn't snowing, so that made moving stuff easier.

It'll be interesting to see how Gracie takes to riding for long stretches of time. We have taken her on short jaunts up to Palisades Park to do some walking, but she's never been on a road trip.

SNOW!

2010-11-23T09:45:00.000-07:00

Well, it's a good thing that we winterized the camper when we did, because there is now between 10" - 12" of snow on the ground and the high today is supposed to reach only 12 degrees with tonight's low -2 degrees! Hopefully, we'll be able to slog our way through all the snow to the hospital later this morning (getting there requires traveling up some fairly steep hills); otherwise, our departure date from here will be postponed.

Here are some pictures I took this morning of the snow:

2010-11-09T15:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, on the way home from Earl's radiation treatment, we stopped to pick up RV antifreeze.

Last year, when we put the camper in storage in La Grande, OR, and winterized it, we figured that would be the last time we'd have to do that...and it would have been had we not had to stay in Spokane because of Earl's radiation treatments.

It's not a difficult job to winterize the camper, but it does require taking the camper off the truck in order to access the winterizing valve. We got the job done and the camper back on the truck, so it's all set for whatever the weather brings.

2010-11-06T11:13:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Earl's 18th radiation treatment. On Monday, they increased the power and went from four to seven places being irradiated.

So far, so good...Earl hasn't had any side effects from the radiation treatments. We're keeping our fingers crossed that he continues to have no side effects!

On Monday, we took Gracie in to have her spayed, get her first rabies shot, and have a microchip implanted. Washington only gives a one-year rabies shot; however, we will normally be in Arizona when the time comes to renew it, and Arizona gives a three-year shot.

Another month of treatments for Earl...assuming we don't lose a day because the machine is down (which happens on occasion, apparently), Earl's last treatment will be on the 6th of December and we'll be out of here on the 7th (assuming the weather cooperates). Can't wait!

Introducing Gracie

2010-10-31T16:48:00.000-07:00

After losing Maxx, we debated: Cat? Dog? Although it really would have made a lot of sense to get a cat...and we seriously discussed it...we both really wanted a dog.

We had every intention of waiting until we were down in Arizona to start looking for another dog, but the opportunity came up to get a Brussels Griffon, a breed that we had been interested in for years. We'd first seen the Brussels Griffon at a dog show, but I don't remember exactly when that dog show was...maybe while we were still living in the Chicago area, or perhaps after we'd retired and moved to Glendale. I do know that on our way back from our 1998 trip to Alaska, we were parked near Christina Lake in British Columbia when we spotted a Brussels Griffon with the people parked behind us. We went over to talk with them...they seemed surprised that we knew about Brussels Griffons!

Yesterday morning, we drove to the east side of Spokane Valley to look at the two Brussels Griffons that a breeder had...a female and a male. Both were really cute, but the female was a lower-energy dog, which, for us, fit us better. So we brought her home!

She's 5 months old (as of today, October 31)...we've named her Gracie. She slept in her crate by the side of my bed all night long and didn't make a peep, so being away from her momma, daddy, and brother didn't seem to phase her. She seems to pick up on things quickly, so, hopefully, training her won't be a major problem!

Here are a few pictures:

2010-10-12T12:50:00.002-07:00

We met with the oncologist on Friday, October 8 to go over the options for the treatment of Earl's prostate cancer.

The first thing that happened, since Earl had expressed an interest in having the internal radiation where radioactive "seeds" are implanted into the prostate (implant radiation or brachytherapy), was that the oncology nurse, using props, showed us exactly what was involved in the procedure.

We then met with the oncologist who went over in more detail what was involved in both the internal and implant radiation options. Part of the reason that Earl had decided on the implant radiation was that he thought he'd be done and we could be out of here sooner. However, as it turns out, the implants wouldn't have been done for several weeks because there is so much preliminary work that has to be done, and then we'd have to hang around for three weeks afterward for a follow-up visit with the oncologist.

Since the time frame for each type of radiation would be about the same, and the external radiation is not invasive like brachytherapy is, Earl decided on the external radiation.

On Monday, Earl had his first visit to the radiation department...this was just a preliminary visit where they determined the areas where the radiation will go and put semi-permanent marks on the body...the first radiation treatment will start tomorrow. There are a total of 38 treatments, so excluding Thanksgiving Day, Earl will have his last treatment on December 6. We should be out of here on December 7 (fingers crossed)!

Maxx Hylton -- RIP -- 8.18.95 to 10.7.10

2010-10-08T14:09:00.004-07:00

Yesterday was a sad day in the Hylton household. After 15 years brightening our lives, the time came when we had to have Maxx put down.

We knew the time was coming: He'd had Valley Fever since 2006, although he was doing really well on the Fluconozole prescribed for it. Other than being almost totally blind, Maxx was doing pretty well considering his age...especially when he went out for a walk (always one of his most favorite things to do, other than napping), he bounced along as though he were a much younger dog. He did have a bit of a problem in the last few months of being steady on his feet, particularly when he'd been laying down for awhile.

However, on Wednesday morning, we woke up and could tell the time had come. If Earl had not already had an appointment with the surgeon who had done his prostate biopsy, we would have taken Maxx to the vet then. On Thursday morning, we called the vet nearest to us and made an appointment with them to have Maxx euthanized. We were given a chance to say goodbye to him in the privacy of one of the rooms, and then we left...we thought about staying, but it would have been too hard on us to watch him pass from this world. As it was, it was one of the most difficult things we've had to do (as it has been with all of our beloved pets).

I've prepared a separate blog for Maxx with lots of pictures taken throughout his life. It can be found at:

http://maxxhylton.blogspot.com/

2010-10-06T14:22:00.002-07:00

This has been an interesting...and busy...month.

After my gallbladder surgery on September 2, I had to be transported to the emergency room early the following Wednesday morning. I thought I was having a heart attack, but fortunately, it wasn't that...nor was it a blood clot, which was the other thing we were fearful of. I was given a catscan, but the doctor had no idea what it was...perhaps left over gas from the surgery trying to find its way out (I'd been told about that, but no one mentioned the pain it would cause)! At any rate, it was a scary few hours!

During September, Earl had a colonoscopy (his first one) which was clear (no polyps) and a prostate biopsy (since his PSA was around 11). We just met with the doctor who did the biopsy and they found early stages of prostate cancer. Fortunately, it is not the aggressive kind of prostate cancer and it has been caught early. The doctor discussed all the options with us...radiation (either external radiation or by the insertion of radioactive "seeds"), or surgery. Earl opted for the insertion of the radioactive seeds, so he has his first appointment with the oncologist this Friday to fill out paperwork and have a consultation.

We asked the doctor about waiting to do anything until we returned to Spokane in April, but he was reluctant to advise waiting. This means, of course, that our hope for leaving for Arizona around the middle of this month have been dashed. Assuming that Earl can get in for the "surgery" sometime this month, it means that, at the earliest, we wouldn't be able to leave here until the end of October...perhaps into November. Of course, if he can't get the procedure done until November, then we'll be here even longer.

On a lighter note, September 20 was our 35th anniversary and, to celebrate, we went to the Spaghetti Factory for dinner.

Adventures at the Hospital

2010-09-04T10:53:00.002-07:00

After leaving Craters of the Moon, we spent the next several days at my Mother's house and had a good time visiting with her.

We left Mom's house on Saturday, August 21st, driving up US-95 and spending the night at Hammer Creek Campground, a BLM campground near White Bird. We made it home Sunday afternoon, and that evening was when the trouble started.

I've sometimes had attacks that I've always thought were bad cases of acid reflux. But, whereas those prior attacks would only last a few hours, this started Sunday night and didn't let up. Finally, on Tuesday morning, I had Earl take me to the emergency room where I did, finally, get some relief from the pain.

While there, they did an ultrasound of my abdomen and referred me to another doctor who I saw the next day. That doctor said that the ultrasound indicated a mass within my gallbladder and inflammation around it, so he ordered a cat scan to get a better look.

The results of the cat scan was pretty much the same as the ultrasound...a mass in the gallbladder with inflammation around it. While gallbladder cancer is rare, it was recommended that I have it removed and the mass inspected.

I went into the hospital this past Thursday morning for surgery, which went pretty much as expected, except that there was apparently so much inflammation around the gallbladder that the doctor had to make a bit larger incision than normal to get it out all in one piece. Fortunately, it turned out that there was no cancer, so no further surgery or treatment will be needed...hurray! But the larger incision does mean than recovery will take a bit longer...but I've got pain pills to help me along.

It's great to be on the road to recovery, but I do wish all this could have waited a few more months until I am on Medicare! :-(

Craters of the Moon

2010-08-19T12:16:00.004-07:00

We left Yellowstone on Sunday morning and headed to Craters of the Moon National Monument where we spent the night. The next morning before leaving, we drove around the Loop Road. They had many of the side trips blocked off because of road construction, so we were only able to travel the main loop.

Last Day in Yellowstone

2010-08-19T11:47:00.005-07:00

Remember the Bison from the previous day who caused the backup on the road between the West Yellowstone entrance and Madison? Well, this morning he was headed back in the opposite direction! This time, however, the Park Service was along to keep traffic moving.

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and the Lower Falls:

Hayden Valley Bison Herd:

More Yellowstone Pictures

2010-08-13T13:52:00.006-07:00

We went back to Yellowstone today, this time driving down to Old Faithful, stopping along the way to take the Firehole Lake Drive, where many of these pictures are from.

Shortly after entering the park, traffic came to a stop for quite a while. We knew there wasn't any construction on this stretch of road, and people weren't pulled over to the side like they usually are for animal sightings, so we couldn't figure out what was holding up traffic...until we saw a bison ambling down the road (picture below). He was just taking his sweet time going where ever it was that he was headed and he didn't give a fig about all the cars stopped along the roadway!

It was lunchtime when we got to Old Faithful, so we stopped at the lodge for lunch...$30.52 for two salads, two soft drinks, a chicken wrap, and a slice of carrot cake!!!

Just as we were finishing up lunch, Old Faithful went off (bottom picture).

Yellowstone

2010-08-12T12:40:00.005-07:00

We got a late start yesterday morning...didn't leave the campground until around 10:30 to 11:00 AM. We stopped at the Madison Information Station and Bookstore to visit friends of the Monroe's who are hosting there. I got my Passport Book stamped and bought a 2011 calendar of Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks.

It took us about an hour just to get through the construction area on the road that goes from Madison to Norris, a distance of only 14 miles. In addition to the construction, there were the usual delays as everyone stopped along the road to take pictures of wild animals spotted, some going so far as to walk out into a field to get a closer picture of a mother Grizzly and her cub!

By the time we got up to Mammoth Hot Springs it was after 3:00 PM and Earl and I were too exhausted to stop and take the boardwalk...fortunately, our friends were coming back to the area today, so they'll walk it then (although we told them we wouldn't mind if they stopped to walk it then...we'd go on ahead).

Our original intent, in order to avoid going through the construction area again, was to continue on the road south of Canyon Village and go through Fishing Bridge, West Thumb, Old Faithful, and back up to Madison, a trip of around 70 miles. But by the time we got to Canyon Village, we could tell that it would actually be quicker to bite the bullet and go through the construction again to get back to the campground, which is what we ended up doing. As it was, we didn't get back to our space until nearly 8:00 PM...and then had to have dinner.

Today we're resting up. Tomorrow, Earl and I will drive down to Old Faithful and perhaps to West Thumb, depending on how late it gets. I'd like to go back up to Mammoth Hot Springs to walk the boardwalk, but we don't want to go through that construction area again, so we'll save that for another trip...either early in the spring before kids get out of school or in the fall when they've gone back. Hopefully, at those times the park won't be so crowded!

In the meantime, here are some pictures from yesterday's trip:

Views from Ruby Creek Campground

2010-08-10T11:57:00.003-07:00

We arrived at Bakers Hole Campground this morning after stopping in West Yellowstone for diesel. Met up with our friends, Donna & Ron, whom we haven't seen in several years. We do have Internet access here at the park. The external antenna and amplifier help...we may not have had a strong enough signal to get online, otherwise. We use a Verizon USB modem which is in a Cradlepoint router so that both Earl and I can be online at the same time.

2010-08-09T15:13:00.002-07:00

We're on our way to Yellowstone. Spent last night at the city park in Drummond, MT. Tonight, we're at Ruby Creek Campground along the Madison River south of Ennis, MT. Tomorrow Yellowstone!

I'll post pictures of our trip when I have the chance...we may or may not have Internet (or cell phone) service where we're going to be staying.

Miscellaneous Pictures and Stuff

2010-08-05T10:54:00.006-07:00

Russ, Dani, and Cameron visited us in Spokane this past weekend. We had a really nice visit with them...went out to dinner at The Spaghetti Factory Saturday night and then to the Longhorn Barbecue for breakfast Sunday morning.

Because we'd arrived at The Spaghetti Factory about an hour before they opened, we took a walk:

Just north of The Spaghetti Factory are elevated train tracks. This mural was painted on the wall of the underpass...this is just a portion of the entire mural, which was painted on both sides of the road.

The above two pictures are of the Spokesman-Review building. All along the east side of the building are busts of different people important to Spokane history. Directly above is a closeup of one such bust.

This is the Spokane Daily Chronicle Building. The Spokane Daily Chronicle was the afternoon newspaper in Spokane up until 1982.

This is a view of downtown Spokane from Rimrock road, above where we live.

Above is either a Cooper's Hawk or a Sharp-shinned Hawk. They both look very similar, with the Cooper's Hawk being slightly larger with a rounded tail, whereas the Sharp-shinned Hawk has a square tail. We didn't get a close enough look at it to determine exactly which hawk it is. It landed on the bird bath of a neighbor across the street and then hopped down to the ground before taking off. The hummingbird in the top picture sat on the feeder like a statue until the hawk was gone!

2010-07-12T08:50:00.004-07:00

Because we haven't done any traveling since buying the house, we decided to take a 4-day trip during the week (to avoid the weekend crowds). So Tuesday, after the 4th, we packed up and headed north.

The main purpose of our trip was not only to get out of the house for a while, but to also check out some places on which to report for the Day's End (a listing of free and inexpensive places to spend the night or longer sponsored by the Escapees RV Club).

We headed off toward Newport, first, taking a detour through Elk because someone had told us there was camping along Lake of the Woods northeast of there. We didn't find any camping anywhere around the lake...oh, there was a small pulloff beside the lake, but it's not someplace *I'd* spend the night. However, we got our binoculars out and saw several turtles lined up on an old log laying in the lake and a Belted Kingfisher.

We stopped to have lunch in Newport and then checked out Pioneer Park (a USFS campground), Skookum Creek (a free Washington Department of Natural Resources campground), and South Skookum Lake (another USFS campground), as well as a boondocking area listed in the Day's End and Kings Lake Sno Park just south of South Skookum Lake Campground, which is where we spent the night.

On Wednesday morning we continued north on Le Clerc Road (on the east side of the Pend Oreille River) and checked out Panhandle (a USFS campground), and then crossed the river to go into Ione to pick up a few items at their grocery store. We then went back across the river and up Sullivan Lake Road to check out Noisy Creek, West Sullivan Lake, East Sullivan Lake, and Mill Pond campgrounds (all USFS).

After pulling off in Metaline Falls' City Park to have lunch, we drove into Metaline and then up CR-2975 to Boundary Dam. We also drove up to Crawford State Park where Gardner Cave is, hoping to take a tour, but the park was closed (I found out later that it's closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays....bummer). We did find a campground on Boundary Lake just before getting to the dam, a free Seattle City Light campground.

We then headed back south along SR-31, stopping at a rest stop and taking a walk to view a waterfall. While neither one of us remembers if the rest stop indicated the name, we think the waterfall is on Sweet Creek from looking at Google Maps (N48.824172, W117.397177).

We turned off onto SR-20 heading west and spent the night at Lake Leo Campground, another USFS campground. We'd been here earlier in the year and it was a free campground at that time. It now costs $16 or $8 with the Senior or Access Passes.

Thursday morning, we got up, packed everything, and headed to Colville for breakfast and to get diesel.

We then continued west on SR-20, stopping at Canyon Creek and Sherman Overlook Campgrounds (both USFS campgrounds) before getting to Republic where we dump tanks at the dump station just north of the Shell station.

After dumping tanks, we headed north on SR-21 to Curlew where we headed east on Deer Creek Road (CR-602), stopping at the Deer Creek Sno Park where we spent the night.

On Friday, before leaving the Sno Park, Earl was looking closely at the map on a reader board and noticed it showed a campground just above us, so we drove up the road and, sure enough, there was a small campground there...Deer Creek Campground! If we'd known about it, we would have spent the night there instead of at the Sno Park!

We continued heading east on Deer Creed Road until we got to US-395 where we headed south, checking out Kettle River and Kamloops Island Campgrounds, both NPS campgrounds in the Lake Roosevelt NRA. After crossing the Columbia River again, we headed south on SR-25 checking out Cloverleaf, Gifford, and Hunters Campgrounds, all part of the Lake Roosevelt NRA.

We arrived home in the afternoon, unloaded the camper, took showers, and just relaxed the rest of the night.

June 2010

2010-06-30T12:53:00.002-07:00

It's the last day of the month...guess I should update this blog!

We finally got the TV in the camper working...by buying a new TV. As I'd mentioned earlier, we switched from DirecTV to Dish Network which meant that we'd have to reprogram the Nomad 2 controller in the camper to work with Dish Network. I got out the instructions for the Nomad and did the reprogramming, which was pretty easy. Couldn't get the system to work. I even downloaded an update to the Nomad, but still couldn't get the system to work. Part of the problem was that, although the TV in the camper was HD, it didn't have an HDMI port like both of the TVs in the house do. We tried a lot of different ways of hooking up the TV to the controller, but just couldn't get it to work. The solution was to buy a TV that had an HDMI port and an HDMI cable...voila! We now have a working TV in the camper!

We found a Thai restaurant that has very good food...Sala Thai in Airway Heights. Next time we go, however, we're going to order mild instead of medium...if that's their idea of "medium," I'd hate to have their "hot!"

Seeing all the iris bloom at our house got me to thinking about getting iris that my grandmother, Melvina Suiter, had hybridized. Grandmother was an iris hybridizer from the 1950's through the late 1980's and registered something like 85 iris. After doing some research online, I was able to find only four of her iris at commercial growers: Orange Crush, Tomeco, Ladyslippers, and Sky Hostess. My mother has Big Momma, my brother has Wicked Witch, and my two aunts have some of her iris, too, although the identifying tags are long gone. Mom sent me Big Momma and Wicked Witch along with an assortment of other iris that my brother dug up at one of my aunt's houses. We'll be planting them within the next few days. Hopefully, I'll be able to identify at least some of the unnamed iris next year when they bloom!

We got a safe deposit box to put stuff in...the first one I think we've ever had. I'm busy now doing an inventory...taking pictures, writing down information, copying receipts and saving everything to a thumb drive which I will then put in the box, too.

Upgrading items in the house continues: we changed out both the kitchen and bathroom faucets; bought a new stove, and just today, had new windows installed. The windows, I'm sure, were the original ones from 1970 when this house was built. While they were double pane windows, they had aluminum frames (very energy inefficient) and two of them had lost their seals. Since we'll get a rebate from both the IRS and Avista (the power company), we decided to have all seven of the big windows replaced with vinyl-framed thermopane windows that actually open (five of the seven windows were fixed pane windows that didn't open). We'll probably have them come back this fall to replace the remaining four small windows.

Pictures of the Iris Blooming at Our House

2010-06-07T13:10:00.004-07:00

OK, so this isn't an iris!

2010-05-31T08:16:00.002-07:00

Tuesday morning (5/25), we drove back into La Grande to load all the stuff from the storage room we'd rented (tail gate, bed cover, storage box we had on the back of the fifth wheel, etc.) when we picked up our camper in April. Since the back of the camper was jam packed with stuff, we made the trip back to Spokane in one day and arrived at our house in the afternoon.

After arriving home, we hung the picture my mother drew many years ago when I was a child, of a mother horse and her baby, in the bedroom. We went to Michael's and bought framing supplies for another picture we picked up at Mom's and hung that in the living room. We still have other pictures to frame and hang, but haven't decided exactly where to put them.

Below are pictures of some of the flowers in bloom around our house. We just recently planted the flowers in the last picture, so they look a little sparse now...hopefully, they'll grow and fill in nicely.

2010-05-24T14:58:00.002-07:00

Well, here we are back at Hilgard Junction State Park after visiting with my mother and attending my nephew's graduation party on Sunday. We had a great time visiting with everyone.

Instead of driving on I-84 all the way to La Grande, we decided to get off at the exit for Farewell Bend State Park and drove US-30 all the way into Baker City (except for a short section where we had to get back on the Interstate).

After having lunch in Baker City at Sumpter Junction, where we always stop and eat if we're going through Baker City at lunch time, we drove SR-203 which makes a loop from Baker City, heading east and north through Union and on to La Grande. We've driven this road a couple of time going south, but this is the first time we've driven it north...you get a whole new perspective coming from the opposite direction! Unfortunately, the Wallowa Mountains were mostly covered with clouds, so the views weren't as grand as they would have been had we had clear skies.

2010-05-21T17:25:00.002-07:00

We're spending the night at Hilgard Junction State Park just north of La Grande, Oregon. Had an uneventful trip from Spokane. Stopped in Walla Walla for lunch and to fill up with diesel, then stopped in Pendleton to dump tanks. Ran into a bit of rain north of Pendleton, but by the time we arrived at the dump station, it was dry.

It's going to be a cold night here, I think...the temperature in the truck as we pulled into the park was 43 degrees! Good thing we brought our heavy blanket with us!

2010-05-20T12:34:00.002-07:00

We are now bonifide Washington State residents...got our license plates today! The only downside was that, since we didn't pay sales tax when we bought our camper, we had to pay it here. :-( But in future years, our licensing fees will be even less than they were in South Dakota (of course, South Dakota doesn't license campers).

Our new refrigerator was delivered last week and the old one put out by the shed for Avista to come and pick up. The new refrigerator sure is a lot quieter than the old one! Plus the fact that the new refrigerator doesn't leak water into the refrigerator compartment when it goes through its defrosting cycle.

We bought a bunch of flowers yesterday to plant in the three planters out front. In fact, we got so many, that we pulled out the two rectangular planters that the previous owner had left and planted those, too, putting them on either side of the walkway.

May 18, 1980

2010-05-18T06:58:00.002-07:00

It's been 30 years since the eruption of Mount St. Helens.

We were living in Spokane when it happened. We'd gotten up that Sunday, had breakfast, and drove to the north part of Spokane (we lived on the South Hill then) to help friends build their house. None of us who were there that morning had turned on a radio or TV, so we were unaware what had happened several hundred miles to the southwest.

Sometime in the afternoon, as we were returning home, we noticed a huge black cloud on the southwest horizon. Thinking that it was a thunderstorm approaching, we hurried to get home before it broke. But the closer we got to home, the darker it became...even the street lights started to come on. Strange thunderstorm!

When we got home, we turned on the TV to find out what was going on...that's when we learned of the eruption. Businesses were closed for most of the week (as was most modes of transportation) because of the ash, which was as fine as baby powder and clogged engine filters. We spent Monday hosing off the roof of the house and the sidewalk. Everyone else in the neighborhood were doing the same thing. In fact, we all used so much water, we ran the nearby water tower dry! I don't recall how much ash we got...probably not more than about an 1"; however, places like Ritzville bore the brunt of the ash fall...they had drifts of ash several feet deep.

Experts who were watching the mountain had anticipated an eruption; however, the power of the blast were much more than had been anticipated. A 5.1 earthquake below the volcano that morning triggered the blast which blew off the top 1,300 feet of Mount St. Helens, sending 3.7 billion cubic yards of debris to the northwest. Temperatures in the blast zone were estimated to reach 600 degrees and trees along the path of the blast were broken off and laid down like dominoes. The avalanche of debris that rushed down the North Toutle River, raised the river as much as 600 feet in some spots, wiping out bridges and burying roads. The eruption killed 57 people.

2010-05-12T15:28:00.002-07:00

At last, TV! Dish Network came out Monday morning to put the dish up (the installer attached it to the rear corner of the house), hooked up both TVs, and voila! we have programming!

We changed from DirecTV to Dish Network...had been Dish Network customers in years past, and decided to make a change. We may rue the decision when it's time to move one of the receivers into the camper, since I think that our Motosat controller will have to be reprogrammed for Dish Network. I'm not sure if that's something we can do, or if we'll have to take it to a Motosat dealer to get it done...haven't gotten that far down the road yet.

Then there's our dome on the fifth wheel. Changing it over to Dish Network is an easy matter of going up on the roof, taking the cover off, and changing the position of a few switches. And I know the dome can toggle between 119 and 110, but what I don't know is if it can toggle to the third satellite that's now required for HD programming (oh, did I mention that we now have HD programming after years of just watching programming in SD?). It may require some type of reprogramming or an added "doohickey" to make it find the third satellite. We'll find out from Satellite Advantage in Quartzsite when we get back down there. If all else fails, we can always get a Dish Network multiple-LNB dish and put it on a tripod.

We are now half way to becoming Washington State citizens...we got our (temporary) driver's licenses today. Now all that is left to do is get the truck registered...and, of course, an emissions test.

Getting our driver's licenses was something of an ordeal. Thanks to the Real ID Act, you now have to jump through a lot of hoops in order to get driver's licenses. I'd gone to the Washington State Driver's Licensing website and gathered together all the documents for both Earl and myself that the website said we'd need. Among others, one of the items was something to prove Washington State residency, like a utility bill. Well, since we've been in the house for only a week, we do not yet have a utility bill; however, there were other items on the list that we could take, like a title for the house or a homeowners insurance policy...I took both.

At first, the woman who was waiting on me said I HAD to have a utility bill. I explained that 1) we do not yet have a utility bill because we haven't been in the house long enough and 2) according to their own website, I could use other documentation, which I presented to her. I'm not sure why the title didn't satisfy her, but she was going to refuse the insurance policy because, although it listed the address of the house that was being insured, it was addressed to us at our Sioux Falls address. Well, yes, it was BECAUSE when I set up the insurance we weren't yet in our house. Where else were they going to send the policy? She finally had to take the paperwork to her boss who said it was OK. Finally, someone with some sense! Of course, after I paved the way, Earl's licensing went smoothly...except for the fact that the lady (the same person who'd waited on me) didn't handle the "Jr." in his name correctly...it appeared as his middle name! I suspect that this person was new on the job.

After we both got our licenses, we stopped by Home Depot and bought a new refrigerator. We're getting all kinds of rebates and discounts...a 10% discount at the register; an Avista rebate (our electric company) for having the old refrigerator hauled away; and a state rebate for buying a qualifying energy star appliance. Our next kitchen appliance purchase will probably be a stove...Home Depot is having a sale on their stoves starting at the end of the month.

2010-05-07T19:27:00.002-07:00

Yesterday was another busy day getting stuff for the house.

We started at Target and picked up a bedspread, plus two end tables and lamps to put on them. The end tables are actually just stools that we'll probably paint black...or put a round table cloth on them if I can find the right size in a color or print that I like. We have limited space on either side of the bed (about 14" maximum) that limits what we can put there. We saw some really nice end tables at Pier 1, but they were something like $120 each, which we didn't feel like paying.

Our next stop was Pier 1 where we bought place mats and a room divider screen to cover a window in the living room that doesn't have any window treatment. I don't know the story behind the window not having any window treatment, but the guy who lived here before us had a mirrored room divider screen in front of the window. The mirrored divider really looked nice, but mirrored ones are really expensive! The divider screen we got has fabric panels which go with the furniture and can be changed in the future...plus, since the floor model was the only one they had left, we got a very good discount on it!

Third, and last, was a trip to Best Buy to buy a TV...a Toshiba 40" LCD HDTV. Now all we need is to have someone come out and attach a dish to the house and run cables (the previous owner had cable). Once we get the TV up and running, the house will really feel like home!

Today we bought a printer, but when I got it home, I discovered that it didn't come with a cable to connect it to the computer, so we'll have to go back out tomorrow to pick one up.

2010-05-05T19:58:00.002-07:00

I checked out Pend Oreille County Park online and found out that they do not open until Memorial Day, so that explains why they weren't open when we stopped the other day.

We returned to Spokane on Tuesday and went by the house in the afternoon to find that the previous owner had, indeed moved out. We also found a check he left for us to pay rent for the four days he was there after ownership transferred to us and a proration of the lot rent. This was totally unexpected (since we had told out realtor not to bother with getting any money), but we did appreciate the kind gesture. He also left a few items for us, among them the four patio chairs on the porch! This, too, was unexpected, but much appreciated. They are nice chairs and will save us a bit of money since we won't have to buy them.

We parked in the driveway and proceeded to unload the stuff we'd bought earlier for the house...silverware, dinnerware, and a combination convection/toaster oven. Since furniture wouldn't be delivered until the next day, we spent the night in the camper.

This morning after breakfast, we drove up to the Wal Mart in Airway Heights to get a bunch of stuff for the house...garbage cans for the kitchen & bathroom, kitchen utensils, cast iron frying pan and dutch oven, drinking glasses (actually, stemless red wine and white wine glasses)...in short, all the little things needed for a house. Of course, we still have more things to get, but we've got the basics for now.

We'd pretty much gotten all the stuff unloaded and put away when the furniture was delivered: 4 chairs for the living room (2 recliners and 2 "regular" chairs) plus an end table and lamp for each pair; a bed and dresser; a sofa table (which we're going to use as an entertainment center on which to place the TV (which we haven't bought yet), and a kitchen table and 4 chairs. What we weren't told when we bought the latter, was that the table and chairs had to be put together! It wasn't a very difficult job, but we only put two of the chairs together today...we'll get to the rest of them later.

Anyway, it's nice and cozy in here and we're looking forward to sleeping in our new house and bed tonight!

I'll take some pictures and post them at a later date.

2010-05-03T20:55:00.003-07:00

I just couldn't stand it anymore, so I looked up the website of the listing realtor on our house, got her email address, and emailed a letter letting her know how upset and angry we were about the situation with the house and how poorly we think she handled it. The letter wasn't angry...just a statement of facts and an expression of our feelings.

She wrote back a nice response, except that she took no responsibility for the mess...tried, in fact, to put it off on our realtor. She just doesn't get it: When the seller signed the sales agreement, it was clearly stated that possession would take place on closing. If, at a later date, the seller realized that he would not be able to live up to the contract he signed, he should have contacted his realtor (which he did) and his realtor should then have prepared a WRITTEN addendum which she should have presented to our realtor for our approval and signature. This, of course, was not done and WE knew nothing about the seller not being able to move out of the house as agreed in the sales contract until we arrived at the door of the house on Friday.

She did indicate in her email, however, that the seller WILL be out of the house on Tuesday afternoon. We shall see...I'm not holding my breath until we actually see an empty house!

In the meantime, we decided to get out of Spokane and check out some sites noted in the Escapees' Day's End listings and, perhaps, find new places to report.

Our first stop on Saturday was the Deer Park City Park...10 back-in sites with 30-amp electric for $10 per night, although we could find no place to pay and no one came around to collect. Perhaps it's too early in the year for the powers that be to think about people camping in their city park, or as someone else opined, it was because it was the weekend.

On Sunday, we checked out a few places in both Chewelah and Colville on which to report, and then ended up at the city park in Northport, about seven miles from the Canadian border. This park has six sites with 20-amp electric and water for $5 per night...this time, there was an "iron ranger" in which to deposit the money.

This morning, we waited out a wind and rain storm in Northport and then headed out for Colville, stopping at Arby's to have lunch. We pulled into Leo Lake Campground, a USFS campground about 29 miles east of Colville on SR-20. This is campground is free and has eight sites. We were planning on spending the night until around 6:30 PM or so when we realized is was really, really cold out and would more than likely get down to freezing or below overnight. We therefore, decided to head down to a lower elevation for a bit warmer weather.

Originally, we were going to stop at Pend Oreilly County Park for the night, but it was closed (not yet open for the summer season, or a permanent closure, I don't know...I'll have to see what I can find out online). At any rate, we're back at the City Park in Deer Park for the night.

SNAFU

2010-05-01T08:44:00.002-07:00

That's what we have!

We were supposed to be moving into our house today, even had all the furniture set to be delivered. We got the key to the house from our realtor yesterday morning and went by the house to see what was going on (the seller had until 9:00 PM last night to get out).

It was apparent when we drove up that something was not right...there was still a lock on the shed, and the porch still had all the chairs and stuff on it. Since the seller was there, we knocked on the door. Apparently, he had told HIS realtor that he could not get movers in until this coming Tuesday...a fact that his realtor failed to convey to us, despite the fact that everyone knew that the house was closing yesterday.

I don't really understand the situation...the seller knew when closing was way back at the beginning of April when we all agreed on a price and the terms of the sale. I find it hard to believe that at that point in time, he could not have found a moving company that would be able to move him out of the house prior to closing. Or, failing that, that his realtor never thought it necessary to inform anyone that the seller would not be able to get out of the house by the scheduled closing. If we had known, we could have postponed the closing.

As it is, he's living in OUR house, using OUR electricity (because I scheduled the electric company service to start yesterday). And I had to scramble to call the three places that were to deliver furniture today to postpone the delivery until Wednesday. Hopefully, everyone of them got the message, although I've only heard back from one of the places.

We made it clear to our realtor and to the seller that he MUST vacate the house on Tuesday because we're moving in on Wednesday come hell or high water! If that means he has to live in a motel and put his stuff in storage, so be it. But if he's still there on Wednesday morning, we'll be seeking out an attorney.

2010-04-28T17:38:00.003-07:00

Saturday evening, all of us (Mom, Lorri and Gina...who had arrived at Mom's place Friday afternoon...and Earl and I) went over to Andy's and Kim's place for pizza and a movie. The pizza was great as was the movie (Avatar), and the company was even better.

Sunday we drove over to Kuna to dump our tanks and fill with fresh water and then stopped at Denny's for breakfast. After eating, we went to Costco to buy the silverware, dishware, and convection/toaster oven we'd seen when we stopped there on Tuesday (items for the house we're buying in Spokane).

Lorri and Gina left early on Monday morning and we followed shortly thereafter, stopping at the Sinclair in Nampa to fill with diesel ($3.259/gallon). We spent Monday night at Hammer Creek Recreation Area almost due west of White Bird, Idaho. This was a very nice BLM campground...no hookups, but fresh water and a dump available.

We're now back at the Elks Lodge in Spokane. We're signing all the papers tomorrow afternoon to close on the house, but probably won't get the key until Friday, which was to have been the official closing date. We've never had to wait for a key before...have always received it on the same day as the paper signing, but I guess they do things differently here (while we have owned houses in Washington before, it's been a long, long time ago and I don't remember the details).

2010-04-22T15:27:00.002-07:00

Maxx got us up just after 5:30 AM on Tuesday morning, so we went packed everything up and drove back down the side of the mountain. We stopped at McDonalds for breakfast, and then drove out to the Eagle Cap factory to have the fan replaced, arriving there just after 7:00 AM.

While the guy who replaced our fan was on the roof, he went around and checked all the caulking and recaulked where necessary. Great service!

After the fan was replaced, we continued south, arriving at my Mom's place in Melba, ID around 4:00 PM.

Since then, we've been taking it pretty easy, enjoying visiting with Mom. We did go out yesterday intending to shop at Wal Mart, but when we got there, there were people standing around and three fire engines in front of the store with ladders going to the roof. The story we got from the checker at Albertsons, which is where we ended up shopping (it's located across the street from Wal Mart), was that the McDonalds inside Wal Mart had a fire. It was apparently a small one since we never saw smoke or flames, and by the time we were through shopping at Albertsons, people were going back inside Wal Mart. That was our excitement for the day! ;-)

2010-04-19T20:02:00.002-07:00

After doing laundry yesterday, draining our tanks, and filling up with fresh water, we left Spokane around 9:00 AM and headed south, stopping in Colfax for lunch.

Since it was a little past 4:00 PM as we neared LaGrande, we stopped at Hilgard Junction State Park planning on spending the night, only to find it not yet open for the season! So we went on to Thunder RV to see if we could get the bathroom fan fixed, but they didn't have the parts necessary. We then drove out to the factory, but by then, it was nearly 5:00 PM, so we'll come back tomorrow morning and they'll replace our fan entirely (apparently, the fix isn't as simple as a cotter pin, which explains why we didn't find any parts sitting on the screen).

Mony, the General Manager of Eagle Cap, directed us to Morgan Lake located in the hills to the west of La Grande. It's really nice up here, although the gravel road getting here was pretty steep. The lake has several camping spots around it with picnic tables...and the best part is it's free!

2010-04-16T15:07:00.002-07:00

This has been a busy week!

It started out on Monday by doing grocery shopping at Wal Mart and then going to the realtor's office to sign the papers agreeing to the counter offer made by the owner of the house we're buying.

Tuesday, we went by the mobile home park to meet with the owner and pick up the papers we needed to sign and have notarized so that he could check our credit rating. Afterward, we drove out to Furniture Row, just east of where we're staying at the Elks Lodge to look at furniture. We ended up buying a bed...spent much more than we needed to, but it's the one piece that I wanted to be comfortable. The mattress is similar to a Tempur-Pedic mattress, except less expensive.

On Wednesday, we drove around checking out some of the other furniture places in town, including some used furniture places and stopped for lunch at The Onion, a restaurant that's been in Spokane since 1978 (we lived in Spokane from 1977-1985).

We had the form we picked up from the mobile home park's owner notarized on Thursday and then went by Best Buy to talk to them about doing something so that we can listen to our Sirius radio when the camper is on the truck. The truck came with a Sirius radio with the "hockey puck" antenna built into the top of the roof. When the camper is on the truck, it covers the antenna, so we need to have it extended to the front of the truck, or whatever other idea they come up with. We go in Sunday to talk with the installer for his ideas.

Today, we met the inspector at the house. While he was busy checking out the house from top to bottom, we took measurements so that we'd know what to look for in the way of furniture. Fortunately, there were no surprises in the inspection, so the sale can proceed! :-)

After the inspection, we drove to Airway Heights (boy! has that place changed since we built our log home there back in the early 80's!) to open up a savings account at a local bank. We are going to need a cashier's check to take to closing, and it's been our experience that banks won't provide this service to people who are not customers. Since we "bank" at our brokerage firm, and they don't offer this service, we figured the best course of action would be to open up an account in the area.

This took us to noon, so we stopped by the Longhorn BBQ, another Spokane-area institution, for lunch.

Then it was back to Furniture Row to buy the rest of the furniture we'll need for the house...well, almost all. We still have to find two nightstands for either side of the bed...we're limited to about 12" in width, and Furniture Row didn't have anything that small...and two lamps, one for each side of the bed. We'll also need a couple of office chairs for the table we got for the office, but those will come from Staples (hopefully, the Staples here will have the same chairs we bought for the fifth wheel since we really like them).

OK, now it's time for a nap! ;-)

2010-04-11T10:35:00.002-07:00

Well, we've done it...put money down on a house here in Spokane.

We've been looking at houses in Spokane online for quite a few months and had three areas narrowed down (all 55+ mobile home parks). When we got to town on Wednesday, we checked out two of the parks and immediately ruled out one of them because we didn't like the location. We checked out the third park on Thursday and finally narrowed our search down to two houses...one in each location...based on the information and pictures online.

We contacted a realtor, one recommended to us by our friend, Mary Doran, and we were shown the two houses yesterday (Saturday). We were really disappointed in one of the houses...the master bedroom was very small, barely wide enough for a queen-size bed, and the other "bedroom" at the other end of the house was a jumbled-up mess (now I know why there were no pictures of the bedrooms on the web). Besides, there were a lot of little things that would have needed to be done to it and had some features we didn't like (aside from the bedrooms), such as the plastic panels at the top of the kitchen cabinets near the ceiling that hid the lights.

The other house, however, was a gem, even though it was older by 20 years or so. The owner had recently updated the entire house, inside and out...spent way more than he's getting out of it, but it is in pretty much pristine shape.

We made an offer, and he's countered our offer, so we'll go in to sign papers at the realtor's office (probably tomorrow) and start the process of getting an inspection done and whatever else we need to do. Closing is slated for the end of the month.

2010-04-08T09:24:00.002-07:00

We were watching TV Tuesday night while parked at the Walla Walla Elks Lodge when the power went out. Earl went outside to check power at the pedestal...all was OK there. Flipped the breakers on and off several times, but that didn't help. Tried the generator...it runs just fine, but doesn't power the rig. Everything worked fine off the inverter.

On Wednesday, when we got to Spokane, we went by Freedom RV, a dealer/service center we'd used back in 2004 on the Lazy Daze, although their location has moved from Sprague to out in the valley off Barker Road and I-90. Because we had done some piddling around checking out a couple of mobile home parks, we didn't get to Freedom RV until around 2:00 PM or after. They couldn't fit us in that afternoon, but would get to us first thing in the morning when they opened at 8:00 AM, so we just pulled off to the side of their lot and spent the night.

At first, they thought the problem might be in the transfer switch, but the problem turned out to be with the inverter. I don't understand all the technical aspects, but it had locked out electricity from coming into the rig...apparently because it wasn't secured securely enough and some of the connections were loose. At any rate, nothing major was wrong (whew!). While they were at it, we had them replace the under-sink water filter and the flap on the stove vent which had broken.

Once everything was fixed, we had lunch, did shopping at Costco, and checked out another mobile home park.

2010-04-06T15:21:00.002-07:00

We finished up our shopping at Wal Mart this morning after breakfast and then headed out for Walla Walla.

We ran into snow shortly after leaving La Grande, and it snowed all the way until we were about halfway down the 6-mile, 6% grade into Pendleton. For most of the way, the road was just wet, although there was some accumulation of snow around Meacham.

When we got to Walla Walla, we stopped by the Home Depot to find a few of the things that we were not able to find at Wal Mart, including a nice little Kingsford charcoal grill.

We're now at the Elks Lodge where we just went through a rain storm and a couple of claps of thunder, which got Maxx's attention!

2010-04-05T18:48:00.002-07:00

We left Mom's house around 7:30 or 8:00 this morning, stopped in Ontario, OR for diesel, and arrived in La Grande around 10:00 or 10:30 AM. Although it had rained a little bit in Melba before we left, we had dry weather all the way into La Grande.

Our first stop was Albertsons to pick up three gallons of water so that we could dewinterize the camper. We then headed over to the camper, turned the batteries and the propane back on so that we could start the refrigerator cooling.

We unloaded all the stuff from the camper that we had stored in it during the winter (the inflatable boat, all the HughesNet stuff that we no longer use, but can't get rid of, and other assorted items) and loaded it back up with all the boxes we'd brought with us. Then we took all the stuff that had been in the camper over the winter to the small storage room we'd rented, along with the truck's tailgate and the Fold-A-Cover.

At this point, we stopped for lunch. After lunch, we loaded the camper onto the truck, returned the key to the gate, and stopped at Wal Mart to pick up a few items we needed for tonight and tomorrow morning...we'll pick up the rest of the items we need tomorrow morning after we're more rested. Fortunately, although it was cold, we didn't get any of the rain/snow that had been predicted. In fact, there were even periods where the sun actually shown through the clouds!

We stopped to fill up an empty propane tank, checked into La Grande Rendezvous RV Resort, and proceeded to put away all the stuff that was piled all over the place. Afterward, I fed Maxx and us.

Now we're ready for a nap (after Earl watches the NCAA National Championship game)!

2010-04-04T16:33:00.002-07:00

We made it to my Mom's house just fine. The roads north of Ely were clear, and we encountered no problems. In fact, the farther north we went, the less snow there was.

We stopped in Buhl, ID to have lunch, but found all the fast food places and restaurants closed (Easter Sunday, you know), so we stopped at the grocery store, which was open, and bought already-made sandwiches.

Tomorrow, weather allowing, we'll be in La Grande picking up our camper.

2010-04-04T08:10:00.002-07:00

It snowed last night in Ely! I looked on the Internet and found a 511 to call for Nevada road conditions. According to the report, the road between here and the Idaho border is clear with no restrictions, so we're going to give it a try. We have a full tank of fuel, just in case we get stuck someplace.

2010-04-03T19:28:00.002-07:00

We were awake before 6 AM, so got up and loaded all the remaining stuff into the truck. Cleaned the tanks, turned off the propane, closed the slides, locked the door, and off down the road we went.

Stopped at the Coachman Cafe in Bouse for breakfast, Burger King in Henderson for lunch, and had dinner at the Prospector Restaurant in Ely, where we are staying (well, not in the restaurant, but in the motel attached to it). Earl and I took turns driving, so it wasn't too bad, although it was a long day...didn't get into Ely and the motel until around 5:30 PM...we're usually off the road by 2 or 3 PM, and always by 4 PM when we have an RV with us!

The roads in Nevada are good...unlike the roads in California. US-95 from Vidal Junction (in California west of Parker, AZ) to the Nevada border was in terrible shape!

We ran into snow on the ground approaching Murray Pass on US-6 just before getting into Ely, although the roads were dry. There is still snow on the ground here in Ely, too.

On the Road Again (Almost)!

2010-04-02T07:52:00.001-07:00

We have been busy this week preparing the fifth wheel for spending the summer in Arizona.

Besides having the rig washed and waxed, I've been busy oiling all the woodwork and cleaning windows. Yesterday we put 303 on the tires and covered them. Earl also got on the roof and put the cover on the A/C unit.

We bought several 18-gallon plastic tubs and have been busying filling them up with the stuff that we need to take with us for the camper. Clothes will be put in our "luggage" (cloth grocery store bags...hey, we're nothing if not classy!). After dinner tonight, I'll defrost and clean out the refrigerator, leaving the doors open, and before we go to bed, we'll put the Reflectix that we've cut to size in all the windows.

Tomorrow morning, I'll put plastic bags with water in them over all the drains (prevents the water from evaporating), fill the toilet with water and put saran wrap over the bowl. We'll pack up all the remaining last-minute stuff (like toiletries) and head off down the road, stopping at the Coachman Cafe in Bouse for breakfast.

Tomorrow night will be spent at a motel in Ely, NV. Sunday, we'll be at my Mom's place south of Nampa, ID, and Monday will find us in La Grande, OR picking up our camper...probably in the rain, according to the weather forecast! It'll be strange not having an RV with us for a few days!

The Public, 1; USFS, 0

2010-03-17T13:46:00.003-07:00

The Public has spoken and the US Forest Service has backed down:

WASHINGTON, March 17, 2010--USDA Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell announced today his decision not to implement proposed changes to fees charged to holders of passes at Forest Service campgrounds operated by private businesses. The Chief’s decision means Seniors and people with disabilities will continue to receive a discount at Forest Service campgrounds run by private concessions.

You can read the rest of the news release at:

USDA Forest Service Continues Discounts at Campgrounds

Yea!

2010-03-12T09:37:00.002-07:00

One of the things we wanted to get done before we leave here, is cleaning the fifth wheel inside and out.

I wasn't really excited about Earl going up on the roof to clean it. He does go up there occasionally to clean off the solar panels, but walking on a wet roof is another thing altogether...and it's a long way to the ground!

So we hired someone to come out to wash and wax the rig, including putting a UV protectant on the rubber roof. Now it's all clean and sparkly! Unfortunately, we still have to clean the inside! ;-)

2010-03-07T10:47:00.002-07:00

We finally got our shed completed yesterday and tied down! The instructions said to cut the plywood for the floor a certain dimension...which we did. However, once we got the shed together, we found that the floor was too small by about 2" in one direction and 1" in the other! So we bought new plywood and attached it directly over the old plywood...we now had a deck on which the shed would actually fit!

It appears we've pissed off our neighbors behind us...at least him. Regarding pets, the written rules for the park say, in part "All pets must be confined to your space or on a maximum six-foot leash while walking within the park. Always clean up after them." The neighbors behind us don't follow this rule...they simply open the door and let their dog out to pee and crap anyplace she chooses. Which is especially irritating since she works in the office!

I had seen the dog over on "our" lot peeing before we'd moved over here as we drove past one day, and mentioned to Earl that we'd have problems with these neighbors if they continued to allow their dog to come over on our site to do her business once we moved over here.

Well, sure enough, she came over one day and peed on Maxx's pad that we had laying outside. Earl went over, knocked on the door, and nicely asked that they please not allow their dog to do her business on our lot. So now he won't speak to us! Why? I don't know...maybe he thinks we're lying, that his dog can do no wrong or maybe he's embarrassed and the only way he can deal with it is through anger.

Of course, this situation could have been totally prevented if they'd just followed the pet rules of the park, but there are people who think the rules don't apply to them. It's unfortunate, but it's true...we run into it all the time, and not just with pet issues.

It's been raining all day so far and is dark and dreary...glad we got our shed finished when we did! Hopefully, the weather tomorrow will be better.

2010-03-03T07:33:00.002-07:00

We moved over to our permanent spot on Sunday. We now have a great view out our dining and living room windows of the mountains instead of another RV! And, for the moment at least, there is no one in the space to the other side of us. This spot is closer to US-60, so we do get more road noise, but it's not all that busy, especially at night when we're sleeping.

Chris & Pat Horst, Lazy Daze owners, came over from Phoenix to spend some time in Brenda. We had them over the first night to watch the Olympics and on Sunday we went to dinner with them at La Casa Del Ranchero in Quartzsite.

The shed that I'd ordered was delivered Monday afternoon. Yesterday, we drove into Quartzsite to pick up the stuff we'll need to put it together: a couple of sheets of plywood for the floor (which we took over to Mike & Mary's place to cut), tie down wires, gloves, and miscellaneous hardware. Today, we start the process of putting the shed together!

We also bought some jacks to put underneath the fifth wheel just as a precautionary measure in case the tires loose pressure over the summer.

2010-02-14T13:20:00.002-07:00

Idaho Delegation Fights Forest Service for Seniors, Disabled. Read the full text of the letter sent to Tom Tidwell, Chief of the USFS and signed by Senators Mike Crapo and Jim Risch, and Congressmen Mike Simpson and Walt Minnick at this New West website.

Yea, for Idaho! As you know, we spent this past summer traveling in Idaho and found it to be very RV friendly. I'm glad to know that the state's Senators and Congressmen are standing up for us seniors and the disabled in this matter!

On another note, we replaced the toilet in our fifth wheel this past week. It was starting to not hold water...we could get it to hold water if, when we pressed down on the foot pedal, we then let go of it so that the ball "snapped" shut. But, then, the foot pedal was starting to be difficult to press down and we were afraid it would eventually break, so I got online and ordered the same brand and model from Camping World. I found the toilet for a less expensive price elsewhere, but the shipping charges were outrageous, making the final price for the toilet more than at Camping World!

I was really dreading taking the old toilet off because I figured the whole RV would smell of sewer, but...surprisingly, at least to me...that didn't happen, and the replacement process was very simple.

2010-02-06T13:51:00.003-07:00

The day after we received our new TV (1/20), we loaded the two TVs that were to be returned, into the truck and drove them over to the UPS center in Blythe. This center is only open one hour a day, from 10 AM to 11 AM.

We arrived early so that we could stop by Ace Hardware to buy packing tape to use on the two boxes. We had enough time before the UPS center opened to stop at K-Mart to pick up a few items and then after we dropped the TVs off, we did shopping at Albertsons.

We moved out to our permanent site at an RV park near Brenda this past Monday (2/1). Actually, the spot we're in now is not our 'permanent' site, since there is someone currently there who won't be leaving until the end of the month. Once they leave, we'll move to that site and then begin the preparations for leaving the fifth wheel here during the summer.

We're hoping we'll be able to leave here early in April and make a beeline to Oregon where we have our camper stored and begin our summer travels. A lot will depend on how quickly we can get a shed set up on our lot to store all the stuff we carry in the bed of the pickup, including the fifth wheel hitch and the bed cover.

2010-01-19T13:05:00.003-07:00

Curlycup gumweed (Stickyheads)
Grindelia squarrosa

This past Friday, we drove over to the Phoenix area for a weekend visit with my Mother who was flying down for my nephew's first birthday.

We stayed at Sundial RV Park in Peoria which is only about a mile away from my sister's house. We stayed at the RV park several years ago and it seems to have been cleaned up since that last visit, although it is still owned by the same people.

Mom, Earl, and I went to dinner on Friday evening at the Siamese Kitchen where we had excellent Thai food! Saturday afternoon, we went to Tortas La Presa for lunch and again had excellent food...this time Mexican. Both are places to which we will return...we've eaten at Siamese Kitchen before, but never at Tortas La Presa, which was recommended to us by my sister.

My mother left Sunday morning, but before Randi took her to the airport, we drove over to visit and say goodbye. Afterwards, we did shopping at Wal-Mart and filled up with diesel ($2.899).

We returned to Quartzsite yesterday...and, fortunately, beat our new TV here.

Last year, while we were still staying at Running Lizard RV Park here is Quartzsite, I happen to mention on the Excel Owner's Group that the TV that came with the rig didn't have a good picture...from the start it had vertical lines in it which were getting worse. The President of Peterson Industries (makers of Excel) who participates in the forum, read my post and contact the people who supply them with the TVs that they put in the rigs. That company, in turn, contacted me and offered to send us a new TV. The only problem was that, by the time we were contacted, we were just about ready to leave the RV park, so we told them to postpone sending it until we were somewhere long enough for them to send it.

Finally, in December, when we landed on Mike and Mary's lot, we called to have them send the TV out. We got it, but the screen was badly scratched (it was a reconditioned unit), so we told them we were going to send the TV back to them. They offered to send out another TV, but we were again in a position where we were getting ready to leave (for the trip over to the Phoenix area), but the guy we were dealing with said no problem...you'll get it by Friday. However, once I got the UPS tracking number, I found it wasn't going to be delivered until Monday...after we'd already left, and we hadn't planned on coming back.

We did decide to leave the Phoenix area early in the morning, hoping we'd be back before UPS made their delivery...which we did. So now we have a brand new Panasonic TV (not a reconditioned unit) and two TVs to return (the original one that came with the rig and the first one they sent out with the scratched screen). The wall mount on the new TV is a different configuration that our original TV, so for the moment we have it sitting on the shelf with the stand.

2010-01-10T12:56:00.002-07:00

Pearly everlasting
Anaphalis margaritacea

On Friday, December 18, before moving to Mike and Mary's lot, we took our fifth wheel by RV Lifestyles to have the Wilson Shorty RV Through Roof antenna installed (it requires a hole be drilled through the roof...something we didn't want to attempt).

We also had them look at our water heater to see if they could discover what was wrong with it. When we stayed at the Passport America park near Klamath Falls in early October, we had smelled a strong odor of burning wires when we plugged in and turned on the water heater. We quickly unplugged, leaving the fifth wheel unplugged from electric the rest of the night. We've been using the propane to heat water since. RV Lifestyles couldn't find anything wrong with the water heater...no burned wires, no shorts.

When we got to Mike & Mary's place and set up, we turned on the electric water heater...no smell of burning wires (so the burning wire smell in Klamath Falls was probably the RV park's wiring), but also no hot water. It appears that the electric element on the water heater is out, so we'll have to have it replaced at some point in time. For the present, though, we are just using propane.

We had a quiet Christmas...I cooked a ham for dinner plus all the fixin's and Earl watched football games.

Maxx went back to the vet on Monday, January 4, to get a new round of antibiotics because of the teeth cleaning he'd had done December 1. He'd picked up a cough in the meantime, and the antibiotics helped, but they didn't completely get rid of his cough, so we'll have to take him back for some more.

On my birthday (January 5), we had breakfast at Taco Mio and then drove up to Lake Havasu City to buy chairs for our dining table. These are the chairs we bought, except we did not put the arms on them. The chairs that came with the fifth wheel keep loosening at the joints...Earl and Mike had taken both of them apart earlier this year and reglued them, but mine was starting to come loose again. The new chairs are adjustable and, since they swivel, it makes getting out of them much easier.

We ordered a water softener for our rig...the Watts M7001 Portable Water Softener, which was delivered on Friday. Saturday, we picked up salt and Earl got the softener up and running...boy, is it nice to have soft water again!

Response to Forest Service Proposed Changes

2009-12-31T07:16:00.002-07:00

As I stated in my December 4, 2009 post, the USFS is proposing that the discount at their concessionaire-run campgrounds for Senior Pass (Golden Age Passport) and Access Pass (Golden Access Passport) holders be reduced from 50% to 10%.

Suzi Dow who, together with her husband Fred, own the U.S. National Forest Campground Guide website, has just posted a response to this proposed change. Read her response at Response to Proposed Directives for Forest Service Concession Campground Special Use Permits (FR E9-28744) - as of December 26, 2009.

This is a very well thought-out and reasoned response...I encourage everyone to read it and then to contact your U.S. Senators and Representatives and also to the Chief of the USDA Forest Service, Tom Tidwell:

Mr. Tom Tidwell, Chief
USDA Forest Service
Mailstop: 1144
1400 Independence Ave., SW
Washington, D.C. 20250-1144

2009-12-13T12:44:00.003-07:00

Blazing Star

Mentzelia laevicaulis

We walked over the border again on Friday to pick up our new glasses and Earl's new partial. We had lunch again at the same place as before, and this time I picked up their card so I'd remember the name: El Rancherito Restaurant.

As we were walking back after lunch, I had an unpleasant experience with one of the vendors. Short of walking out in the road, there's no way of walking from one area to another without passing through the vendor areas...there are covers over the sidewalks and vendor booths on both sides, so it's like walking through a cave. The vendors are very aggressive in vending their wares, but up until today, a "no thank you" has been enough to make them back off.

As we were returning to cross the border after lunch, one vendor stuck out a gold necklace for me to "feel." Well, like a fool, I touched it and he immediately took his hand away leaving me holding the necklace. As I tried to give it back, he grabbed my arm and wouldn't allow me to give it back, talking all the time about how bad he needed the money. Earl finally had to intervene to make him unhand me and gave the necklace back to him. The vendor's aggressiveness...way beyond the line...had taken me by surprise, and I was just kind of paralyzed...I was also trying to extricate myself from the situation by remaining polite. However, now that I've had time to think about it, I know what I'll do next time: 1) I won't touch anything offered to me, and 2) if a vendor grabs hold of me, I'll say in a loud voice to take his hands off me, even screaming, if necessary. To hell with being polite!

We left Winterhaven on Saturday and headed to the Costco in El Centro. We had planned on staying at the RV park at the expo center in Imperial, but it had rained recently and the grounds were muddy, so we continued on past Glamis on SR-78 and boondocked off Ogilby Road.

We're back in Quartzsite now, spending a couple of days at Arizona Sun RV Park so that I can do some laundry. On Tuesday, we'll move out to BLM land for a few days. Friends, Mike and Mary (who live across the street from where we used to own a house), are going to be leaving at the end of the week and will be gone through New Years...they've offered their lot to us while they're gone, so we'll move over there once they leave.

Do Grackles Have Jobs?

2009-12-10T17:19:00.002-07:00

Each morning, very early, we've seen Grackles heading south and then in the afternoon, around 4:30 or so, we see them coming back north...hundreds, if not thousands of them, some in groups of three or four and some in group of dozens.

So we wondered...do they have jobs? Where do they go in the morning and what do they do all day? Where do they go at night?

I Googled "Grackle daily migration" and came up with this article: Travel of Birds: Chapter III, First Flights.

So, it appears that during the day, they're going to their feeding grounds and coming back to their roosting area at night. We don't know where the roosting area is, but it would be interesting to track it down in order to see the thousands of birds roosting in one place!

2009-12-09T14:56:00.003-07:00

Common Sunflower

Helianthus annuus

We left Quartzsite last Saturday and came down to the Yuma area for dental work and eye glasses over the border at Algodones. We checked into the Sleepy Hollow RV Park which is located less than a mile from the border.

Earl's appointment with Dra. Gabriela Gonzales Murillo at Dental Americano was on Tuesday at 11:30 AM. The only thing the doctor did this day was to take impressions for Earl's new partial. They will be ready on Friday and, at that time, Earl will have his teeth cleaned.

We stopped for lunch at a restaurant close to the dentist's office (don't remember the name) and then stopped at a local vendor to buy Earl a new wallet.

Today we went back over the border to have our eyes checked and get new glasses at Best Optical.

It sure is less expensive to have this work done in Mexico...today we spent about half what we've spent at each of the last two eye doctors here in the U.S. and Earl's partial was a lot less than what he would have spent had he had the work done in the U.S.

We did go into Yuma while we've been here to do shopping at Wal Mart and Staples and had lunch at Wendy's.

Forest Service Trying to Reduce Senior/Access Pass Holder Discounts

2009-12-04T13:02:00.002-07:00

http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/E9-28744.htm

Some background...I know most of our readers are well aware of the following, but for those of you who aren't:

There are currently two discount passes available from the government for federal recreation areas: 1)The Senior Pass (the old Golden Age Passport) and 2) the Access Pass (the old Golden Access Passport).

The Senior Pass is available for all U.S. citizens who are age 62 and older; the Access Pass is available to all U.S. citizens who are permanently disabled. These two passes allow free entrance to federal recreation areas that have an entrance fee (such as National Parks) and allows half-price on some Expanded Amenity Fees such as camping.

As an example, if a Pass holder were to visit the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, they could get in free instead of paying the $25 entrance fee, and at the non-concessionaire campgrounds, Mather and Desert View, instead of the full campground fee of $18 for Mather and $12 for Desert View, they would pay $9 and $6. (Trailer Village is a full service RV park run by a concessionaire, and they don't honor these two passes for half-price camping.)

The same is true at other federal recreation areas: If there's an entrance fee, pass holders don't pay it, and can camp for half-price.

Well, now the Forest Service has proposed that this 50% discount be reduced to 10% for all concessionaire-run campgrounds (and many, if not the majority, of USFS campgrounds are run by concessionaires). The entire proposal can be read at the above website.

You can see, I'm sure, where this is headed...if the USFS gets away with reducing camping fees (and other Extended Amenity Fees) from 50% to 10%, can the other federal agencies be far behind?

What's next...is the National Park Service going to quit honoring the passes for free entrance to their parks?

At the above website, there is a link to the Regulations.gov website where people can leave a comment...the direct link to the comment site for this proposed legislation can be found here.

I hope everyone will take the time to leave a comment at this site and write, telephone, or email your U.S. Senators and Representatives to put a halt to these regulations!

I don't know who's idea this was, but I can say that they can't see the forest for the trees. If this proposal is passed, we...and many other campers...will not stay at these campgrounds. So, instead of receiving 50% of the camping fee, they will receive ZERO percent from us! Now, how is that a good thing?

Maxx's Surgery

2009-12-01T14:14:00.002-07:00

Maxx came through surgery OK today...whew! He's still a bit groggy, so he's currently sleeping it off in his bucket (the vet does surgery at 8 AM before they open at 9, and since they close at noon, the animals haven't completely worn off their anesthesia by the time the owners have to take them home). The vet gave us some antibiotics for Maxx and wants to see him again tomorrow morning to check the sutures on his butt where they removed the tumor.

We'll have to pick up some more antibiotics on January 1 (I guess it'll have to be the 2nd since they probably won't be open on New Year's Day) for another 5-day round because of his teeth which were in bad shape. He may have to end up having some removed (he had three removed in 2006 at the vets in Burns, Oregon when we were volunteering at Malheur NWR).

Depending on what the vet says tomorrow, we may be heading down to Yuma soon so that Earl can go to a dentist in Algodones to have a new partial made.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T10:22:00.003-07:00

Leafy aster

Symphyotrichum foliaceum

Happy Thanksgiving everyone...hope y'all have a great day and eat lots of turkey!

We'll be leaving here (Running Lizard RV Park) tomorrow and heading out to BLM land near Quartzsite to park for a week or so. Maxx has surgery on December 1 to have a tumor (non-cancerous) removed, and while he's under, his teeth will be cleaned. Hopefully, he'll make it through surgery OK...I worry about his undergoing surgery at his age and his having heart problems due to Valley Fever, although he's doing pretty well.

We signed up for an annual spot at an RV park in Salome, about 16 miles east of Quartzsite...Gateway Ranch RV Resort. We thought we'd give it a try before our name comes up for a lot at the Escapees park in Sutherlin, Oregon to see how we like it (we're currently #33 on the list, which means we probably have at least a year, perhaps more, to wait until we're at #1).

I'm going to be cooking a turkey breast today plus all the fixin's. Since we only eat the breast on a turkey, anyway, and it's difficult to find a small turkey, the breast fits the bill for us...not to mention the oven and the refrigerator!

2009-11-14T07:55:00.003-07:00

Pussy-toes
Antennaria rosea

I've finally gone over to the dark side and set up a Facebook page! You can click on the link at the left-hand side of the page, or click here to be taken to my page.

We had a nice visit yesterday from friends Mike and Mary (who live across the street from the house we used to own here in Quartzsite). On Monday, we had lunch with Boomers Donna and Bob. We had not met them before, but it's always great to meet new friends!

Otherwise, we've had a pretty quiet stay here. We've made one trip to the new Wal-Mart in Parker...it's a bit farther to travel than going to the Albertson's in Blythe, but it's also a lot less expensive to buy food there. We do shop at the Blythe Ranch Market, next to K-Mart. It's less expensive than Albertson's, but they don't carry a lot of the stuff we usually buy.

2009-11-03T10:02:00.002-07:00

This morning we were sitting at the table working on our computers when we saw a Gila Woodpecker sitting on the fence behind us eyeing the hummingbird feeder on the back window. Pretty soon, it flew over and hung from the feeder, dipping its long tongue in the holes, lapping up the sugar water. The picture didn't come out too well because I was shooting through the window and the feeder is in the shade.

We took Maxx to the vet yesterday to have blood drawn for another Valley Fever titer...results should be back by the end of this week. We also had the vet check the lump on Maxx's rear end...he's had a lump there for quite some time, but it's gotten a lot bigger within the past month or so. The doctor said it's a tumor, most likely a benign one. So we're going to have it removed on December 1 and, at the same time, have Maxx's teeth cleaned.

2009-10-31T12:27:00.003-07:00

Happy Halloween!

Monday when we left Pahrump, we headed southwest on SR-372 (Nevada) and SR-178 (California) to Shoshone. From there, we picked up SR-127 south to Baker where we stopped to fill up with diesel and have lunch at the Famous Pancake House (which we think used to be a Denny's...or, at least, something other than a pancake house).

We then drove south on Kelbaker Road through the Mojave National Preserve, stopping for the night at a boondocking spot about a half mile or so north of I-40.

The Granite Mountains:

Tuesday, we made it to Quartzsite. No one was at the small RV park where we wanted to stay, so we called and left a message on their voice mail and parked out on BLM land west of town for the night. The next day, we moved over to Running Lizard RV Park where we'll stay until near the end of November.

2009-10-26T08:17:00.002-07:00

White mariposa lilly
Calochortus eurycarpus

Well, here we are still at the Escapees park in Pahrump!

We were planning on leaving last Monday, but the wind picked up and was supposed to blow through Wednesday, so we decided to stay another week. While we were here, Earl took the truck into town to get the oil changed at the Grease Monkey. Other than that, we had another quiet week.

This park has a nice, very large, dog run not too far from our site where we take Maxx for his "walks." The couple across from the dog run has a Boston Terrier that is often out in the run at the same time as Maxx, so Maxx has another dog to play with (although, at 14 years, Maxx isn't much into playing). Earl got to talking with the couple and told them about our plans to spend some time in Yuma this winter so that we can go across the border to Algodones for Earl's dental work. They gave us the name of the dentist they use as well as an eye doctor they've used. I will solicit other recommendations on some of the RV lists to which I belong, but this is a start.

We WILL be leaving Pahrump today...the wind is nice and calm. We're probably going to head toward Shoshone and Baker and drive through the Mojave National Preserve to I-40. From there, we'll head east to US-95 and south to Quartzsite...not all in one day, of course. We probably won't make Quartzsite until Tuesday or Wednesday.