tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-186646442024-03-21T18:15:32.540-07:00The RV Travels of Earl & LindaEarl and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10968459545823411846noreply@blogger.comBlogger736125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18664644.post-88504978016263346332013-03-07T15:42:00.001-07:002013-03-07T15:42:55.793-07:00Update on Truck Problems and Other Things<p><font size="3" face="Arial">With all the problems we’ve had with the truck this fall, we’ve been thinking about buying a different RV</font></p> <p><font size="3" face="Arial">We visited several of the RV lots around Quartzsite and found several used motorhomes that we liked.  Most of them had the older analog TVs and either no satellite dish, or an old one (or a dome), so not only would we have had to replace both TVs, we would also have had to install a new Winegard Trav’ler on the roof.  $$$$.  Not to mention lack of solar which we would have to add.  More $$$$.</font></p> <p><font size="3" face="Arial">Using our fifth wheel as a trade in really isn’t an option since we still owe money on it…we’d have to try and sell it ourselves and then use the money from the sale of it and the truck for the down payment.</font></p> <p><font size="3" face="Arial">We finally decided to refinance the fifth wheel.  When we first bought it back in 2007, the interest rate we got was 7+ percent.  We were able to refinance it at 4.99%, a savings of around $100 per month!</font></p> <p><font size="3" face="Arial">Earl made an appointment with a dentist in Algodones, Mexico, to have some extensive dental work done, so we left Gateway Ranch RV Resort on January 21, and drove to Gold Rock Ranch RV Park north of Winterhaven, California, just off Ogilby Road.</font></p> <p><font size="3" face="Arial">The dental work consisted of one extraction, eight root canals, and 13 crowns (including a bridge).  Total cost was just over $4,700!  Expensive, but I’d hate to think what the cost would have been in the U.S. – I imagine it would easily have been triple that, if not more!</font></p> <p><font size="3" face="Arial">After spending a week at Gold Rock Ranch RV Park, we moved to a BLM boondocking area just south of there on the east side of Ogilby Road north of the railroad tracks.</font></p> <p><font size="3" face="Arial">While traveling around Yuma, the engine check light came on again!  Earl took the truck to Fisher Dodge to have it checked out.  Turns out we needed more work on the transmission! <img style="border-bottom-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-left-style: none" class="wlEmoticon wlEmoticon-sadsmile" alt="Sad smile" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-1glEFHIHDCo/UTkX7iNj6iI/AAAAAAAAHoE/sreWyOplPz8/wlEmoticon-sadsmile%25255B2%25255D.png?imgmax=800" />  </font></p> <p><font size="3" face="Arial">Everything that the guy in Alturas and the guy in Coachella did was done correctly – they just didn’t do a complete job.  This time, Fisher Dodge replaced the torque converter and the pump for the transmission.  </font></p> <p><font size="3" face="Arial">The guy at Fisher Dodge said that if the transmission had gone out in Yuma, they could have put in a brand new transmission and given us a 3-year warranty for around $5,000!  As it is, doing it piecemeal like we had to do, it cost us a total of over $8,000!  That includes the $500+ we spent at Peterson Stampede Dodge in Nampa, Idaho.  While the ABS module going out may have been just a coincidence of timing, I believe that it was all tied to the transmission problem.  Why do I believe that?  Because when we got in the truck the night of October 30 and found that the dash lights weren’t working, our PacBrake quit working and never worked again UNTIL we had the final piece of the puzzle done at Fisher Dodge.  Now the PacBrake is working just fine!</font></p> <p><font size="3" face="Arial">After we got done with everything in Yuma, we drove to Tucson to visit Blaze’s breeder, Tari Parrish, and had a really nice visit with her.  We then moved to Casino Del Sol and dry camped in their parking lot for a couple of days so we could have lunch at Takamatsu with a friend from our New Horizons days, Lloyd Treichel.</font></p> <p><font size="3" face="Arial">While in Tucson, we found a really good Mexican restaurant, Don Quijote.  We’ll definitely go back there again!</font></p> <p><font size="3" face="Arial">We spent time in both Yuma and Quartzsite visiting with friends Mike & Mary.  While in Quartzsite, we had lunch at our favorite places:  Times Three Family Restaurant (good fish & chips) and Silly Al’s Pizza (some of the best pizza we’ve had anywhere).  We also ate at Dos Amigos east of Brenda for their fish taco special on Wednesdays and, on our last trip into Blythe for shopping, we stopped at Popeye's for spicy chicken and red rice and beans.  </font></p> <p><font size="3" face="Arial">We left Quartzsite on the morning of March 5, arriving at Government Wash in the Lake Mead NRA in the afternoon.  Before heading out to Government Wash, we stopped at Camping World to buy a new lube plate for the fifth wheel because the old one had caught on the hitch and broken.  I don’t know why…it was only six years old!</font></p> <p><font size="3" face="Arial">I don’t know how long we’ll be in Las Vegas…just depends on when the weather warms up farther north.  I’d like to be back in Spokane by at least the middle of April, but we’ll have to wait and see how the weather is.</font></p> Earl and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10968459545823411846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18664644.post-54630018034254684972012-12-17T16:13:00.001-07:002012-12-17T16:13:12.949-07:00Truck TroublesWe were having a good time visiting my mother (Gracie and Blaze have lots of fun running around in her fenced back yard, too). One night after dinner, Earl and I got in the truck to return to the fifth wheel, started the truck, turned on the lights only to discover the dash lights were <strong>out</strong>! The map lights and the ceiling lights didn't work, either.<br />
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OK, easy fix...just replace the fuse, which Earl did the next morning. Lights all back on except <strong>now</strong>, the ABS light and the brake light continued to be illuminated, and the speedometer, cruise control, and PacBrake didn't work. Earl took the truck to Stampede Dodge in Nampa where they diagnosed the problem as the ABS module, which they had to order.<br />
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The next day...the day we were <em>supposed </em>to leave...Earl took the truck back to Stampede Dodge so they could replace the ABS module. Everything now worked...ABS and brakes lights off and speedometer was back to working (everyone claimed that the ABS module had <em>nothing</em> to do with the speedometer, but they also couldn't explain why it started working again after it was replaced...curious, eh?).<br />
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The PacBrake apparently still wasn't working (and the Dodge dealer didn't have the knowledge to fix it), so when we left the next day (Friday, November 2), we were headed for Reno where we hoped to be able to find a PacBrake dealer...if not, then we'd continue on to Las Vegas where we knew there was a dealer. Heading south on US-95 there is about a 2,000' gain in elevation between Marsing and the Idaho/Oregon border near Jordan Valley. We made it up the grade just fine, passing a semi while doing so. However, sometime after that, Earl said that second and third gears were intermittently not working...then they stopped working altogether. We were headed for Winnemucca, but because Burns was closer, we headed for there. We dropped the fifth wheel at the casino's RV park and drove over to the Dodge dealer, Teague Motors. They put the truck on their computer and claimed it showed nothing wrong with the transmission. Say what?! They called Chrysler who said it sounded like a plugged fuel injector, so we set up an appointment the next day.<br />
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Returning to Teague Motors the next day, before they did anything, two of their mechanics hopped in the truck to take it for a test drive. When they returned they declared that the PacBrake was the problem...when they drove the truck with the PacBrake off, the transmission worked just fine, but with it on it was missing second and third gear. Unlikely, but we could see we weren't going to get any help here, so the next morning we continued south on US-395, spending the night at the casino in Alturas, CA.<br />
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When we left Alturas the next morning continuing south on US-395, we were south of Likely and starting up the grade to Sage Hen Summit when the transmission light came on. We pulled over at a wide spot in the road to let the transmission cool down. Once it did, Earl tried to move the fifth wheel and said the truck just didn't have any power...we certainly wouldn't be able to make up over the summit and into Susanville, the next large town. Fortunately, we had cell phone service (just barely, but it was usable) so I called the tow company and had them send two tow trucks out...one to tow the truck back to Alturas to Alturas Tire Center (a BF Goodrich dealer who had a transmission specialist on staff) and the fifth wheel to Sully's RV Park in town. (The tow truck they sent for the fifth wheel was a pickup set up with a fifth wheel hitch, driven by a young man who had his wife with him...nice young couple.)<br />
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We ended up having to have the transmission rebuilt and a new planetary gearset installed. The transmission specialist at Alturas Tire Center, Frank, said we were lucky that we stopped when we did because the transmission fluid was so hot that if we'd tried to drive much farther, it probably would have caught on fire!<br />
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The transmission was rebuilt using heavier duty parts and, instead of the aluminum 4-speed (or 4-gear) planetary gearset that came from the factory, we had a 6-speed steel one installed. All of this stuff had to be ordered from Los Angeles, so we were stuck in Alturas for eight days...without any transportation. Fortunately, the managers of Sully's RV Park had an old beater pickup they let us use for those times when we had to do grocery shopping or have a propane tank refilled. <br />
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It got cold in Alturas while we were there...one night, the low was 8 degrees! And it snowed a couple of times. Here's what it looked like one morning when we got up and took the dogs for their first walk:<br />
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Finally, the day came when we could leave (cost us a much larger arm and leg)! We made it to Fallon and stayed at the Churchill County Fairgrounds, where we usually stay when we stop in Fallon.<br />
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The next day we were going to turn off at Scotty's Junction off US-95 for Mesquite Springs Campground in Death Valley National Park, but there was a sign at the junction that said the road was closed about 25 miles down the road (around Scotty's Castle), so we continued on to Beatty RV Park in Beatty where we found out the road into Death Valley from Scotty's Junction has been damaged by a flood several months ago and hadn't yet been repaired.<br />
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The next day, Thursday, November 15, we made it to Las Vegas Bay Campground in Lake Mead NRA, east of Henderson, NV. On Friday, we drove into Henderson to do laundry and do shopping at Wal-Mart.<br />
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On Saturday we went to Sears to buy a compressor (since our PacBrake wasn't working...it has a small air compressor on it that we use to fill tires). While we were driving around, the engine light on the truck came on. We had to drive a long way north on Boulder Highway to get to Chapman Dodge in Las Vegas. One of the first things they did when we came in was to enter the VIN number into their computer where they found out there was a recall that we had never had done. The recall came out about the time we'd moved to Spokane in May 2010, so we must have missed it. It brings up the question, though -- <strong>why didn't the other Dodge dealers find this out???</strong> Apparently, neither Stampede Dodge in Nampa, ID, or Teague Motors in Burns, OR, bothered to enter the VIN number into their computers or they would have found out the same thing! <br />
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Being Saturday afternoon, they would not be able to get to the truck until Monday. Fortunately, in Las Vegas -- unlike Alturas -- one can actually rent a car! Which we did.<br />
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We got the truck back on Tuesday with the recall done...that, apparently, was why the engine check light had come on.<br />
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At that late date, we decided to stay in Las Vegas for Thanksgiving. We left on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, spending the night at Burro Creek Campground off US-93. We got back to Gateway Ranch RV Park on Sunday.<br />
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Frank, at Alturas Tire, had recommended that we have the transmission oil changed again once we got back so Earl called Larry Green Dodge in Blythe, CA, where we had bought the truck. When they found out about our transmission problems and that we'd had a 6-speed steel planetary gearset installed, they said "Oh, that's wrong, the guy who did the work didn't know what he was doing. Bring the truck in and we'll redo the work and put it back like it's supposed to be." Yea, right...we didn't just fall off the turnip truck! <br />
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Since the transmission was still giving us a bit of a problem at low speeds (hunting between first and second), we checked around and were finally referred to Marcelo's Auto Repair in Coachella, CA (just south of Indio). Earl drove the truck over there where they replaced some additional parts. The mechanic there said that Frank in Alturas did a good job...everything he did was 100%, but there were some additional things that needed to be done which Frank, not being a Chrysler engineer, probably wouldn't have known. We had the valve body, press switch, and safety neutro switch replaced (don't ask me what those are...I haven't a clue) as well as another transmission flush and new oil. <br />
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In the meantime, we've had new front brake pads installed and a front-end alignment. Whew! I hope that's it for awhile!<br />
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The only thing remaining is the PacBrake which works on and off. The guy who installed it, Eric at Eric's RV Performance Center, will be in Quartzsite in January and February, so we'll have him take a look at it.Earl and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10968459545823411846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18664644.post-21111508447223324932012-12-17T14:55:00.002-07:002012-12-17T14:55:29.828-07:00Catching UpBefore we moved into our new house, we had the tub in the downstairs bathroom resurfaced. A bit expensive at around $300, but much cheaper than having the tub torn out and a new one installed.<br />
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We also had Sears out to give us a quote on redoing the downstairs bath...new cabinets, including a medicine cabinet which it didn't have, new sink and faucet, new toilet (old one was badly stained and I hadn't been able to get rid of the stains, plus it was an old fashioned high-flow toilet), and new flooring. Our jaw dropped when we were quoted over $5,000 for just one bathroom!<br />
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We ended up going to Lowe's and buying all the stuff we needed and then hiring a contractor recommended to us by our realtor...we got <strong>both</strong> bathrooms done for less than Sears quoted us for one! (The upstairs bath is a half bath and had much the same problems as the one downstairs: old toilet which was badly stained and very low counter tops...on me they came to about where my hips and leg bone meet!)<br />
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All of the new appliances we'd bought were delivered and installed. That is, except for the stove since it turned out that the old <em>yellow</em> stove, which was original to the house, was <strong>hard wired</strong> into the house. We had never heard of such a thing, but had to hire an electrician who came out and installed a plug for the stove. We also hired a plumber to install both the dishwasher and sink we'd bought. The sink is a large single-bowl sink which I <em>really</em> like! Oh, and we got rid of the plastic (yes, plastic) kitchen faucet and replaced it with a nice high crook-neck faucet that pulls out and sprays. We will probably, at some time in the future, replace the kitchen cabinets since they're the cheap fiberboard cabinets. We were planning on doing that this coming spring when we return to Spokane, but considering the amount of money we spent fixing the truck (more on that later), we may postpone that little bit of remodeling.<br />
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We also replaced the back door to the garage. I don't know if it was the original door, or if a previous owner had replaced it, but it was an interior <strong>hollow core</strong> door! We replaced it with an exterior steel door. We bought the door at Lowe's and were going to have them install it, but they wanted $400! We installed it ourselves for the price of the door and miscellaneous supplies.<br />
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Only one wall of the garage had sheetrock (the common wall between the house and garage)...the rest of the walls only had insulation, but no sheetrock. So we bought sheetrock for the rest of the walls and put it up...it sure looks a lot brighter in there now! Earl also installed a couple of electrical outlets over the area where he'd used the old bathroom cabinets to make a workbench. We painted the old garage door, too. It will probably be replaced at some point, but it's far down the list of things we want to do and it looks much better once it was painted.<br />
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On Monday, July 23, the movers we'd hired came and moved all the furniture out of the old house and moved it into the new one (we'd already moved all the "little" stuff...clothes, dishes, food, etc.). It only took them a couple of hours to complete, so didn't cost all that much...and we had some heavy pieces that Earl and I would not have been able to move by ourselves.<br />
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The next day we went back and cleaned the mobile home in preparation for the new owner.<br />
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That Friday was the homeowner's annual meeting which is a potluck, so we were able to meet all of our new neighbors. On Saturday, we had a going away party at our old neighborhood.<br />
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We both had our annual wellness exams at our respective doctors as well as eye exams. We both had shingles and whooping cough vaccines (the whooping cough vaccine for adults come as a combo vaccine -- tetanus/diphtheria/pertussis). <br />
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One thing we learned: Don't have the shingles vaccine given to you at the doctor's office! Instead, go to a pharmacy to have it done. I had called the medicare insurance company to find out if they covered shingles and they did...with a $90+ copay. <strong>My</strong> doctor's office didn't give shingles vaccine because it requires careful refrigeration and has a limited shelf life which they were not equipped to handle. So I went to Safeway, paid the $90+ copay, had the shot, and they took care of submitting the paperwork to my medicare insurance company (shingles shots cost $265, so they're not cheap). Earl, on the other hand, had his shingles vaccine at his doctor's office. Big mistake! It has to be submitted under Medicare Part D, which for some unfathomable reason, a doctor's office is not able to do (my doctor's office said the same thing). So we are waiting for the reimbursement forms from Earl's Medicare insurance company so we can get the amount over and above the copay back! Fair warning for those of you who are on Medicare and need the shingles vaccine. At least contact your doctor's office (if they're set up to give the shingles vaccine) to see if they are able to submit it under Medicare Part D. Of not, go to a pharmacy!<br />
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Russ, Dani, and Cameron came to visit us the first weekend of September. We had a good time visiting and had dinner at Tomato Street (an Italian restaurant not too far from us with <strong>great</strong> food...we had our 37th wedding anniversary there, too, later in the month) and at Canaan Buffet, a Chinese, Thai, and Mongolian food as well as a sushi bar. <br />
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In preparation for leaving to head south for the winter, we replaced the old analog TV in the fifth wheel bedroom with the 19" one we'd been using in the mobile home's bedroom (we bought a larger one for the office in the new house). We bought a hanger that has a movable arm at Best Buy, attached it to one wall of the cubicle where the TV goes, and installed the TV on the arm. Now I have a nice HD TV to watch while Earl is downstairs watching sports!<br />
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While we were out at the RV installing the TV, I noticed that the toilet didn't have any water in it and wouldn't hold water when I did fill it with water. So on Wednesday, October 4, we took the RV to R&R RV Service Center in Airway Heights to have them replace the seals. We also had them take out the washer and dryer since the washer had given up the ghost the previous winter, was not repairable, and cost too much to replace (a new one would have been $1,000+). Additionally, the front jacks were really hard to put back up so we had them clean them, which consisted of them completely disassembling them, cleaning them, and putting them back together.<br />
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We got a call about the toilet...they didn't have the parts to replace all the seals. They could be ordered and there was an 80% they'd be there by the next day...but the next day we had reservations at Alderwood RV Resort north of our house...and would cost almost as much as a new toilet. So we had them install a new toilet. I'm glad we did...the new toilet is taller, making it easier on old knees, and doesn't have the rim that the other toilet had which was very difficult to clean under.<br />
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On Thursday, after paying for the repairs on the fifth wheel (a small arm and leg), we took the rig up to Alderwood RV Resort for 3 nights while we loaded everything into it.<br />
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We left Spokane on Sunday, October 28, spending the night at Wildhorse Casino RV Park near Pendleton. The next day we arrived to visit my mother, parking the fifth wheel at Celebration Park a few miles south of where she lives ($5 per day, 3-day limit...we ended up staying four days because of truck trouble...see the next installment for that sad story).<br />
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Earl and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10968459545823411846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18664644.post-9783304168990823802012-07-07T12:15:00.000-07:002012-07-07T12:15:57.385-07:00The house didn't close at the end of the month; in fact, we were being to think it might never close! We've bought lots of houses since we've been married, but never has it taken so long to get to closing.<br />
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But, closing day finally came yesterday, July 6. We went in at 8:30 AM to sign the mound of papers and then, since the July homeowners association dues needed to be paid, we drove out to the house and met with the Treasurer to give him a check.<br />
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This morning, we went by the house to sweep out the garage and sprinkle ant killer around the edges, both inside and out. After we finished that, we headed to Lowe's and bought the appliances that we're replacing (all of them, including the washer and dryer). <br />
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Soon after we got back, our Realtor came by with a full-price offer for our house from a viewing that took place yesterday evening! So, not only did we close on the house we bought, but we now have an offer on the one we're selling...all within the space of a little over 24 hours! It's great when everything comes together!Earl and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10968459545823411846noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18664644.post-6576090776013216172012-06-06T12:46:00.000-07:002012-06-06T12:46:54.420-07:00Wow, it's been a long time since I've updated this blog. My only excuse is laziness, plus we've been really busy since returning to Spokane...more on that later.<br />
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We spent a week boondocking out at Government Wash east of Henderson in Lake Mead NRA. We made a few trips into town to do shopping and laundry, including checking out the Smart & Final in Henderson. It puts the Smart & Final in Blythe to shame! <br />
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We left Government Wash on Tuesday, April 3, and headed to Las Vegas Bay Campground where we dumped tanks. After dumping tanks, we headed north, stopping in Ash Springs to fill up with gas, diesel, and propane before getting to the city park in Pioche. <br />
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We were planning on staying in Pioche a week, but we were having trouble with both our generators and our propane blue flame heater (probably because of the altitude of over 6,000 feet), so we stayed only two nights.<br />
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On Thursday, April 5, we left Pioche for our home park in Delta, Utah, Antelope Valley RV Park where we can stay for free up to four weeks per year. Once we got set up at the RV park, Earl took both generators down to Delta Sports Center to have them serviced...something that hasn't been done since we bought them.<br />
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We were going to leave the following Thursday, but the weather turned bad with thunderstorms in the forecast, so we ended up staying an additional four days.<br />
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When we left Delta on Monday, April 16, we spent that night at the Grantsville Reservoir, a county park a few miles south of Grantsville, Utah. The following night we stayed at one of our Passport America parks west of Wells, Nevada, Welcome Station RV Park. This is your basic, no-frills RV park, but the owner is very friendly and there are nice places to walk the dogs.<br />
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On Wednesday, April 18, we continued north on US-93, stopping in Jackpot to have lunch at Barton's Club 93. We then continued on to Rock Creek RV Park, a city RV park in Twin Falls, Idaho, where we spent a couple of nights. While in Twin Falls, we shopped at Costco and Sportsman's Warehouse where I bought a new pair of hiking boots, since my old ones were being to fray around the edges!<br />
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When we got to Nampa on Friday, we checked in at Leah's Landing. This is a new RV park near the Interstate at Exit 36 (Franklin Road). Originally, it was set up for manufactured homes, but it apparently went bust before any homes were moved in. The new owners have set it up as a combination manufactured home/RV park. The daily fee is more than we usually spend ($33.74 including taxes), but there is good space between sites and lots of places to walk the dogs. The monthly fee isn't too bad...as I recall it was around $350 including electricity. We spent three nights here while visiting my mother who lives in a small town south of Nampa. <br />
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When we left Nampa on Monday, April 23, we were planning on staying at our usual stop north of La Grande, Oregon...Hilgard Junction State Park...but it was still closed for the season, so we continued north and stayed at the Wildhorse Casino RV Park near Pendleton. <br />
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The next day we arrived in Spokane and spent the night at the Quest Casino in Airway Heights. The next morning, we dumped tanks at the Chevron station just south of the Casino and then parked the fifth wheel in front of the house while we unloaded it. After getting everything out that we needed, we took the fifth wheel down to the storage lot where it will stay until this fall when we head south again...or until we take a trip somewhere.<br />
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When we sold our camper in January, we got a big chunk of money. We were going to use that money to upgrade our house...change out the remaining aluminum windows for vinyl ones, new carpets, linoleum, and window treatments. However, as we thought about it, we realized that we could sink $10,000-$20,000 into upgrading the house, but we'd still have a 40+ year old aluminum box that wasn't worth the money we would have put into it. So we began thinking about buying a different house.<br />
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We looked at newer manufactured homes on leased lots, manufactured homes on their own land, single family homes, and condos. <br />
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The problem with a manufactured house on a leased lot was, if we could get one cheap enough to pay cash for, we'd be in the same boat as we our with our current house...an old one not worth fixing up. While we could get a personal loan (not a mortgage) for a newer, more expensive manufactured home on a leased lot, the interest rate was high (8+ percent), making the loan payments plus monthly lot rent expensive. So we discarded that idea.<br />
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We checked into getting a mortgage on manufactured homes with their own land, and while that was possible, they had to be no more than 20 years old and be a double wide. We saw one we really liked and would have bought, but it did not meet these two requirements. Another few were ruled out because they were in really poor shape, needing several thousand dollars worth of repairs/upgrades. One was a really nice house except the people who had lived there had been smokers and the inside smelled like an ashtray...we made one circuit around the inside and left!<br />
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We also looked at several single family homes, but found that most of them in our price range needed a lot of work. While we wouldn't mind doing simple stuff like painting, maybe even have carpets replaced, we weren't interested in spending the money on major repairs. We did see one really nice place that we liked a lot...it wouldn't have needed much work at all, but it was on a busy corner and it was a short sale. We weren't convinced we wanted to get involved with a short sale.<br />
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We looked at a couple on condos. The first one we looked at was nice on the inside, but after walking around the complex, we could see where things just hadn't been kept up like they should have been, which is often indicative of a condo association that is underfunded. The second condo we looked at was really nice. It's what we would call a townhouse or even a duplex, since there are two units together with a common wall. However, unlike the first condo we looked at, there is no unit above it.<br />
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We decided to make an offer on this condo...it was countered, and we accepted the counter offer. We've had the place inspected and it does need a few minor things fixed, like a new water heater, but there is no major work that needs to be done. So now we're waiting for the appraisal and a new water heater installed, which the bank insisted be done before closing. We're not sure exactly when it'll close...it was originally scheduled for June 18th, but that's not going to happen since the water heater we wanted won't arrive until the 19th and then it has to be installed. Hopefully, it'll close before the end of the month!Earl and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10968459545823411846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18664644.post-18177495251904609412012-03-28T11:18:00.000-07:002012-03-28T11:18:45.386-07:00Ben Rush from On Site RV Repair came out and replaced our water pump on the 20th (it had stopped working when we were spending a couple of days at the Ajo Roping Arena). Hopefully, nothing else will go wrong before we get back to Spokane!<br />
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We had Gracie groomed on the 23rd. While we were in town, we stopped by the vets office to pick up more heartworm pills.<br />
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The next day, we were back in Quartzsite having dinner at the Grubstake with friends Mike & Mary. We'll see them again when they return to Spokane in a couple of months.<br />
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We left on Monday, driving to the Wal-Mart in Parker to pick up Earl's prescription for his cholesterol-lowering medication. Our plan was to continue north on AZ-95 through Lake Havasu City, on to I-40 and, from there, to Las Vegas. However, just before we got to the Bill Williams Bridge, we ran into a road closure where all traffic was being turned around. Don't know what the reason for the closure was...an accident, I assume...but it meant having to go all the way back to Parker and heading west from there over to US-95. So we ended up boondocking at our normal spot west of Searchlight for the night.<br />
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In the morning, we filled up both vehicles with fuel and headed to Las Vegas. We stopped at Camping World and Smith's before heading out to Las Vegas Bay Campground where we filled up with fresh water. We then drove out to Government Wash, a free area in the Lake Mead NRA overlooking the lake. We'll stay here until our fresh water runs out, or one of our tanks need to be dumped. Depending on the weather farther north, we may hang around the area longer.Earl and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10968459545823411846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18664644.post-30927843597836699812012-03-17T15:24:00.000-07:002012-03-17T15:24:32.976-07:00We've seen some bighorn sheep on the hill in front of our rig, but I've never been able to get a picture of them since my camera doesn't have a viewfinder and, at maximum zoom, it's almost impossible to tell exactly what I'm shooting at, especially on a sunny day...plus they'd wander around, making it even more difficult to find them.<br />
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Well, today is overcast, and the two bighorn sheep are laying down in a shallow cave. It took me several shots, but I finally got a picture of them! <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaBtMibOcIA_Jai023Gg0MxgqBdkcn96v5fGKMdXsvFENmAJjOUWv_W0Htd3SO_yKwP-MYC7CIq50mcj625mlqqbYF98ATl4jquJCzO2pheZ591WgH5xoff8WjjwAQbG8xgs9V/s1600/2012.03.17+008.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img aea="true" border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaBtMibOcIA_Jai023Gg0MxgqBdkcn96v5fGKMdXsvFENmAJjOUWv_W0Htd3SO_yKwP-MYC7CIq50mcj625mlqqbYF98ATl4jquJCzO2pheZ591WgH5xoff8WjjwAQbG8xgs9V/s320/2012.03.17+008.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzm5NnrtMUhkMM234lPddsl6Q1nqVeppZPQwqdI-iwQIiTMJI8v08Wt8L7dlfapFgyjxo1A3U_Z-K1-3nwRroXc06QpTJLKcZxBLmd1uK4fUp9jQ63wxJ3rZ-awzmaaQP87mt5/s1600/2012.03.17+016.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img aea="true" border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzm5NnrtMUhkMM234lPddsl6Q1nqVeppZPQwqdI-iwQIiTMJI8v08Wt8L7dlfapFgyjxo1A3U_Z-K1-3nwRroXc06QpTJLKcZxBLmd1uK4fUp9jQ63wxJ3rZ-awzmaaQP87mt5/s320/2012.03.17+016.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Here is a picture of both Blaze and Gracie doing what they do best...sleeping:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4NBAMc9aSBBS-N85C7hj7gx9GImrOjmItJn5-p6jmZ9LoUCSqsXNe1FzFETPGgbf7wlXf_JNDsAGnI_OxQjaXMppgBX715D0q3gjZ1XFYM_Gk5lnrWLzC6OFhmgQINnBtpF0b/s1600/2012.03.17+002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img aea="true" border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4NBAMc9aSBBS-N85C7hj7gx9GImrOjmItJn5-p6jmZ9LoUCSqsXNe1FzFETPGgbf7wlXf_JNDsAGnI_OxQjaXMppgBX715D0q3gjZ1XFYM_Gk5lnrWLzC6OFhmgQINnBtpF0b/s320/2012.03.17+002.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9KQXhYcMydvuNKge8yi2Q2OiWJ48tnDn-nTiurqz1I6EEtcKx0ALy28AwbIq-mSV9QzoKU1d1lPOC00-oDR_bi-e_GIFdxXgErAkQsBU9EGA-Wps8MALsy_lNKFGbhfe9xUj0/s1600/2012.03.17+007.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img aea="true" border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9KQXhYcMydvuNKge8yi2Q2OiWJ48tnDn-nTiurqz1I6EEtcKx0ALy28AwbIq-mSV9QzoKU1d1lPOC00-oDR_bi-e_GIFdxXgErAkQsBU9EGA-Wps8MALsy_lNKFGbhfe9xUj0/s320/2012.03.17+007.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
We took off last Friday, March 9, headed for Tucson to visit with Blaze's breeder. We spent Friday night at Jim Kortsen West Pinal Park west of Casa Grande which is free.<br />
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On our way into Tucson on Saturday morning, we stopped at Costco and then headed on to Tari's house where we backed up the fifth wheel into the space she has set up just for that purpose. We had a great visit with her, and a delicious steak dinner that night. Blaze had a chance to run the fence with some of her dogs, most of them showing more interest in Gracie than in Blaze (they were probably wondering if she was a small snack we'd brought along for them...LOL!).<br />
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On Sunday morning, we had breakfast and coffee with Tari, and then headed to Justin's Diamond J RV Park just down the road, where our long-time friend, Lloyd, was nearing the end of his 3-month stay. We got together for happy hour and had a nice visit with him. <br />
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Monday after breakfast, we headed to Wal-Mart to pick up groceries and a cap for our sewer pipe which had gone missing.<br />
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We left Tucson Tuesday morning and spent the next couple of nights at an almost-free area in Ajo ($3 per night). <br />
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Wednesday we were back at our space near Brenda, where we will spend a little more than a week before heading on our trip back north for the summer. We've allowed a month for the trip...route and destinations unknown at this time.Earl and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10968459545823411846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18664644.post-30068515156233092372012-01-30T14:21:00.000-07:002012-01-30T14:21:27.850-07:00When we were in Spokane this past summer, we went by the DMV to get our fifth wheel licensed, since the South Dakota license had expired in May. We found out that, because the fifth wheel is less than 7 years old, we'd have to pay the difference between the taxes we paid in South Dakota (3%) and what Washington State charges (well over 8%), albeit on a reduced value...which would have ended up costing us over $4,000!!! Since the fifth wheel wasn't on the road, we decided to forget about registering it in Washington and register it in Arizona, instead (where it's been parked since early 2010). Arizona has expensive auto registration fees, but the $400+ it cost us to register it here is certainly a far cry from what we'd have paid in Washington! We'll wait two more years and then register the fifth wheel in Washington, which, at that time, should cost us only around $50, perhaps less.<br />
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Bill and Janet Adams came out on the 22nd to install the Winegard Trav'ler satellite TV dish on the roof of our fifth wheel. I had no idea how long it would take them, but figured they'd be here most of the day. Well, they arrived at around 10 AM, had the dome off and the Trav'ler installed and up and running by lunch time! Janet was the one who did all the installation work...Bill acted as the "gofer" getting supplies up to Janet. Me? You wouldn't find me anywhere near the roof, let alone on top of it walking around!<br />
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The truck box I'd ordered came and Earl installed it. We then went through all the stuff in the shed deciding what to throw away, what to keep, and what to take with us. Earl got the two Honda generators that had been sitting in the shed for two summers started and we'll take one with us. We have decided to pay for one more year here and will probably put the shed up for sale when we return.Earl and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10968459545823411846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18664644.post-24775924161345887122012-01-15T15:30:00.000-07:002012-01-15T15:30:24.329-07:00It's been a long time since I've make any posts to this blog...guess I should do so!<br />
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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!<br />
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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. <br />
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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.<br />
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Blaze had his first birthday on December 23. Here's a recent picture of him:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMjWt2IBlLBUkj51Y-q7QCFhfU6l1mHV-Y7GkuF4FAL2zgXtJfLqNBHgYUVxgYt7l430LZsL8gUlKTatd5YjH7LpzLmh_TXbHmrLE4Ub7FVGSxXrEpniHlxNkBIqqk4-YNc1VC/s1600/Blaze+019.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" kba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMjWt2IBlLBUkj51Y-q7QCFhfU6l1mHV-Y7GkuF4FAL2zgXtJfLqNBHgYUVxgYt7l430LZsL8gUlKTatd5YjH7LpzLmh_TXbHmrLE4Ub7FVGSxXrEpniHlxNkBIqqk4-YNc1VC/s320/Blaze+019.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">And one of Gracie:</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAjajTCZ3Q5im95c1Owxp-9ZYUhSucdx_KI5OUxSQ_awBIJ50KESthT_w5VkAta8jbj9-wzy0XYE6mx-uXi3sGtlNbJkLAeQsWPaBaZ6c-V9L1pgU4psPMoixkEbYHu4NBRCCT/s1600/Gracie+015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" kba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAjajTCZ3Q5im95c1Owxp-9ZYUhSucdx_KI5OUxSQ_awBIJ50KESthT_w5VkAta8jbj9-wzy0XYE6mx-uXi3sGtlNbJkLAeQsWPaBaZ6c-V9L1pgU4psPMoixkEbYHu4NBRCCT/s320/Gracie+015.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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!<br />
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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!<br />
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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. <br />
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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!<br />
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Here are some pictures of the area around the RV park where we stay:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAGjI8xFjqJn5knM3ul5-qCcEarvtUtKMi0lHWF8foRHBzcgxDSJlmie3N3dFM1SOibUYS_usUNP0padzCU-zfLsD0-c1Hz3pZyVx7IaKfv4qIRRLTStKuQ7VjSdT_j9ald46f/s1600/Brenda+Tree.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" kba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAGjI8xFjqJn5knM3ul5-qCcEarvtUtKMi0lHWF8foRHBzcgxDSJlmie3N3dFM1SOibUYS_usUNP0padzCU-zfLsD0-c1Hz3pZyVx7IaKfv4qIRRLTStKuQ7VjSdT_j9ald46f/s320/Brenda+Tree.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">An old, gnarly tree we pass on our morning walks with the dogs.</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBbgHSm4N7XoeLx05k6Ue5GXNRMb0vFJjcF7U0siJdSEJrZTVdsrDV890WrFmDGbo8NrGHO8pZU08SMnqORsVFgC07AzMzqwiJxVgkzRZbnZJEjpOJAbVJwKwpmqD0ooF_00M6/s1600/Brenda+View.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" kba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBbgHSm4N7XoeLx05k6Ue5GXNRMb0vFJjcF7U0siJdSEJrZTVdsrDV890WrFmDGbo8NrGHO8pZU08SMnqORsVFgC07AzMzqwiJxVgkzRZbnZJEjpOJAbVJwKwpmqD0ooF_00M6/s320/Brenda+View.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">View from our RV site</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIwW1V1qib-TjubLqVYf1BM8wwJNw0EzdHZjsWrfSakVRTWMPPRQBpE0cAboDd27tWVLE-B1_Ge5LQxc56Ji8GlffcvgbO4ZcLngbrygYoxihEH8U1llS9kQOXqJVd9X6T-zgd/s1600/Brenda+View+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" kba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIwW1V1qib-TjubLqVYf1BM8wwJNw0EzdHZjsWrfSakVRTWMPPRQBpE0cAboDd27tWVLE-B1_Ge5LQxc56Ji8GlffcvgbO4ZcLngbrygYoxihEH8U1llS9kQOXqJVd9X6T-zgd/s320/Brenda+View+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Another view from our RV site early in the morning just as the sun came up.</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifmo7cHkbeJieuCF-c816VtKMqrQmVxwkabnlHGtUagC47GZV9K08T2n_VnT4sxVng3vYWN34A3GOolL0FNZ0cxePV6meUc6TsCoo3iPhzMah4qRsww1qQYEbs9w63tmTTQUDI/s1600/Full+Moon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" kba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifmo7cHkbeJieuCF-c816VtKMqrQmVxwkabnlHGtUagC47GZV9K08T2n_VnT4sxVng3vYWN34A3GOolL0FNZ0cxePV6meUc6TsCoo3iPhzMah4qRsww1qQYEbs9w63tmTTQUDI/s320/Full+Moon.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div align="center">Full moon setting over the mountains early in the morning.</div><div align="center"><br />
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</div>Earl and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10968459545823411846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18664644.post-55273311819918992772011-11-10T14:13:00.000-07:002011-11-10T14:13:18.997-07:00On 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.<br />
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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. <br />
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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.<br />
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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! <br />
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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! <br />
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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!<br />
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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. ;-)<br />
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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, <a href="http://2009eaglecap950camper.blogspot.com/">http://2009eaglecap950camper.blogspot.com/</a> . 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.<br />
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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. <br />
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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.Earl and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10968459545823411846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18664644.post-22592884889040544772011-10-19T17:54:00.000-07:002011-10-19T17:54:07.038-07:00Earl 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. <br />
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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.<br />
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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! <br />
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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.Earl and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10968459545823411846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18664644.post-50058376606455615342011-10-18T06:46:00.000-07:002011-10-18T06:46:44.447-07:00We 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.<br />
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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!<br />
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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!<br />
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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: <a href="http://www.petco.com/product/113025/Petco-Black-Reflective-Sport-Harness.aspx?CoreCat=LookAhead">Reflective Sport Harness</a>. 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)!<br />
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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.Earl and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10968459545823411846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18664644.post-10690918455698846802011-10-17T06:31:00.000-07:002011-10-17T06:31:16.880-07:00We 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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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). <br />
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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.Earl and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10968459545823411846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18664644.post-52576926682602502012011-09-28T08:46:00.000-07:002011-09-28T08:46:26.935-07:00August and SeptemberI'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.<br />
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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:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLaGDRF_Yw1NIKD-Ugf1RVvZZelAl_FEmztT6AIcS5acEl_rPBCmXzQMMNG8pQ0bhALTMbgTObzVwZdyePoo_0uyKQpj5OJMWutipYUPiXjJwFXhTCMpELJsxqKInXBphc0CBf/s1600/Blaze+at+DDC0001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="156" kca="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLaGDRF_Yw1NIKD-Ugf1RVvZZelAl_FEmztT6AIcS5acEl_rPBCmXzQMMNG8pQ0bhALTMbgTObzVwZdyePoo_0uyKQpj5OJMWutipYUPiXjJwFXhTCMpELJsxqKInXBphc0CBf/s200/Blaze+at+DDC0001.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">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.<br />
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</tbody></table> 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.<br />
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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):<br />
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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!<br />
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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.<br />
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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. <br />
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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. <br />
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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.<br />
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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.Earl and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10968459545823411846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18664644.post-33408132252037100602011-08-01T10:18:00.000-07:002011-08-01T10:18:16.871-07:00JulyWe 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.<br />
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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.<br />
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As the vet was examining Gracie, she noticed that she has <a href="http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2+1569&aid=457">luxating patellas</a>, so she referred us to a veterinary surgical specialist. The specialist took x-rays and found that she also has <a href="http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2+1569&aid=444">hip displasia</a>. 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.<br />
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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.<br />
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Earl's birthday was on the 19th and we went to The Old Spaghetti Factory to celebrate. <br />
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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.Earl and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10968459545823411846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18664644.post-66621716128292862502011-06-30T08:36:00.000-07:002011-06-30T08:36:29.167-07:00JuneWe 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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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).<br />
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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:<br />
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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):<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjST-SQCOU7A_zr_QVwcDaEph-68KzMWCV32D2OQNuUMTGZiV9Rb8VXmbwX2cX6ilZehx2cbgdstyUVjoT1DKyeWSlSIX2oLFAPBi3u1NXhjVRBbdA-uj3ZlIk-KoDkbU3UUy0w/s1600/Suiter+Iris+-+Forever+Spring+4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjST-SQCOU7A_zr_QVwcDaEph-68KzMWCV32D2OQNuUMTGZiV9Rb8VXmbwX2cX6ilZehx2cbgdstyUVjoT1DKyeWSlSIX2oLFAPBi3u1NXhjVRBbdA-uj3ZlIk-KoDkbU3UUy0w/s200/Suiter+Iris+-+Forever+Spring+4.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">FOREVER SPRING</td></tr>
</tbody></table> <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiEefdYfuBh5uhSPKBGqrA4AXsuAgiREUDROoTZHKEzav5HUeoIhWW4JC0vZOhxZwo-b7LwT1apwm1UEh2GQLHbBHuf4S00pGqr3W6qLYN1Pm1zjzJ0qY0Llwzstf4ghB5LPAj/s1600/Suiter+Iris+-+Lavender+Lace+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiEefdYfuBh5uhSPKBGqrA4AXsuAgiREUDROoTZHKEzav5HUeoIhWW4JC0vZOhxZwo-b7LwT1apwm1UEh2GQLHbBHuf4S00pGqr3W6qLYN1Pm1zjzJ0qY0Llwzstf4ghB5LPAj/s200/Suiter+Iris+-+Lavender+Lace+2.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">LAVENDER LACE</td></tr>
</tbody></table> <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyY0QPA4V3ZWp2ibezI_B82XNoTsH_XrmfORKusT4INzvThyphenhyphenJVjvkE2eeA57W5ZQNX0g9YyLp7Luhyphenhyphenw3psT4n7qvVXizQx2camYsu-ufo8pNZs0GPsqAgdwra4_05qI-A_f6dd/s1600/Suiter+Iris+-+Lilac+Frills+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyY0QPA4V3ZWp2ibezI_B82XNoTsH_XrmfORKusT4INzvThyphenhyphenJVjvkE2eeA57W5ZQNX0g9YyLp7Luhyphenhyphenw3psT4n7qvVXizQx2camYsu-ufo8pNZs0GPsqAgdwra4_05qI-A_f6dd/s200/Suiter+Iris+-+Lilac+Frills+1.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">LILAC FRILLS</td></tr>
</tbody></table> <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCpQpSD00e-Dz0ERiJXstgUUumf54WEIWDOTTUnP-fTz2KbO8loLR7sV5b3IdeXCYfTpa9Ldtb5C1JgKK_8VEMjkgSvE9_WKRLjuYhKszcaD8KB6Vgry46vTC2__dhBouNUPTl/s1600/Suiter+Iris+-+Orange+Crush+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCpQpSD00e-Dz0ERiJXstgUUumf54WEIWDOTTUnP-fTz2KbO8loLR7sV5b3IdeXCYfTpa9Ldtb5C1JgKK_8VEMjkgSvE9_WKRLjuYhKszcaD8KB6Vgry46vTC2__dhBouNUPTl/s200/Suiter+Iris+-+Orange+Crush+2.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">ORANGE CRUSH</td></tr>
</tbody></table> <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixoXmhv8_D7JPeOA_SBoc3eUWx-sTqqvSJ2TQzE5_TwxwJjJIlIQaUGknu8O80UdryN_cZ_kIzzEHJ4E0HeZQJr30SYqJ925m_fwiy00IZ4YrgevXNW5sgdDmHrtN68Kv23koq/s1600/Suiter+Iris+-+Sky+Hostess+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixoXmhv8_D7JPeOA_SBoc3eUWx-sTqqvSJ2TQzE5_TwxwJjJIlIQaUGknu8O80UdryN_cZ_kIzzEHJ4E0HeZQJr30SYqJ925m_fwiy00IZ4YrgevXNW5sgdDmHrtN68Kv23koq/s200/Suiter+Iris+-+Sky+Hostess+2.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">SKY HOSTESS</td></tr>
</tbody></table> <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX1sgVS0h60PDkdhXuGi_N7YLwz4z2hPsFoJVqF9188ZkAt-76kDM_i8FjTtRbxk8ymkhqSAq1lsZQnlKXYFmknmoXgnojBrEgveTWNiyY_MYUmHhwVwmUbK8zfI8ilqSo1xqD/s1600/Suiter+Iris+-+Tomeco+4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX1sgVS0h60PDkdhXuGi_N7YLwz4z2hPsFoJVqF9188ZkAt-76kDM_i8FjTtRbxk8ymkhqSAq1lsZQnlKXYFmknmoXgnojBrEgveTWNiyY_MYUmHhwVwmUbK8zfI8ilqSo1xqD/s200/Suiter+Iris+-+Tomeco+4.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">TOMECO</td></tr>
</tbody></table> <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTV3t0IrTb4Txx_1YwoyQaFAYzrAJ4-ULOb4YHhKfH15IdPAxwi_2WNwpTXAZbQp9YTWHl4qWiFo_rjMWqq70nqcmaPmwdv0x8y_tUi9TrbGCU1BuSZUxMAJ1VXa5yoelgZ8G4/s1600/Suiter+Iris+-+Wicked+Witch+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTV3t0IrTb4Txx_1YwoyQaFAYzrAJ4-ULOb4YHhKfH15IdPAxwi_2WNwpTXAZbQp9YTWHl4qWiFo_rjMWqq70nqcmaPmwdv0x8y_tUi9TrbGCU1BuSZUxMAJ1VXa5yoelgZ8G4/s200/Suiter+Iris+-+Wicked+Witch+1.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">WICKED WITCH<br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Earl and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10968459545823411846noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18664644.post-88764095052035406622011-05-31T11:12:00.000-07:002011-05-31T11:12:13.326-07:00MayToday is Gracie's first birthday! For her birthday, we took her (and Blaze) for a long walk through <a href="http://www.palisadesnw.com/">Palisades Park</a>, 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.<br />
<br />
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:<br />
<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2oJZ4CIUA0EkreQF36KP1LRCbMBazimvk8MVKS5c5o7h1XHer-kIZgXKEFej0hyphenhyphennoiSCKJ7aUC1Jxs9u2q8sJyeCKn1Aab4MpXhrnJUIbufo2f6rvhSKMdt_qrETjJ7QMUg3R/s1600/Gracie+Before.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2oJZ4CIUA0EkreQF36KP1LRCbMBazimvk8MVKS5c5o7h1XHer-kIZgXKEFej0hyphenhyphennoiSCKJ7aUC1Jxs9u2q8sJyeCKn1Aab4MpXhrnJUIbufo2f6rvhSKMdt_qrETjJ7QMUg3R/s200/Gracie+Before.JPG" t8="true" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Before</td></tr>
</tbody></table> <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ1n8vtJbHS-z7Bzavf_RVk6-YDwdbLHYZuHL8O7mouOOqMEXIKQiVG5v4tvEqJeY6Rq7CQMpaQwTXZu8F87DbiZy04ncj6wh7qxy7UlXHk6DF_o8ApJxQ3Z57cEarcyOBSIYS/s1600/Gracie+After.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ1n8vtJbHS-z7Bzavf_RVk6-YDwdbLHYZuHL8O7mouOOqMEXIKQiVG5v4tvEqJeY6Rq7CQMpaQwTXZu8F87DbiZy04ncj6wh7qxy7UlXHk6DF_o8ApJxQ3Z57cEarcyOBSIYS/s200/Gracie+After.JPG" t8="true" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After</td></tr>
</tbody></table> Here's another picture of our birthday girl:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOv28Ci2MgiQrj4k-hC9v2rPwchksKJ2EezQSW5NmEOXpwZCxBFh5uSrP7Q0vi7GuopXYrXiiV-ziAApMV78ng2DaIrAJAy0hzahRHweT4eYVfx-bv9Ituc17vvz_lmoi0f16U/s1600/Gracie+4+042.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOv28Ci2MgiQrj4k-hC9v2rPwchksKJ2EezQSW5NmEOXpwZCxBFh5uSrP7Q0vi7GuopXYrXiiV-ziAApMV78ng2DaIrAJAy0hzahRHweT4eYVfx-bv9Ituc17vvz_lmoi0f16U/s200/Gracie+4+042.JPG" t8="true" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sound asleep in Blaze's pad that's been pulled out of his crate</td></tr>
</tbody></table>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! <br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPVzS30F_dSOXk7ZGbecMqMzKYFV38kGgb-7So_fV8X4uXu6xqjJhAcQojKKkd9FGsgQ451CrsSjDrjK3TpfFygvH2OqAM8tlS_GCgRXGoBSakRXB5v2pLIy-nFpO5HemN7UO3/s1600/Blaze+3+001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPVzS30F_dSOXk7ZGbecMqMzKYFV38kGgb-7So_fV8X4uXu6xqjJhAcQojKKkd9FGsgQ451CrsSjDrjK3TpfFygvH2OqAM8tlS_GCgRXGoBSakRXB5v2pLIy-nFpO5HemN7UO3/s200/Blaze+3+001.JPG" t8="true" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The recliners are his favorite places to sleep</td></tr>
</tbody></table> <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8pK2o9CAd2DHIx4X-HUmD-b0MDwxGnI_mt8nNJnOjV91gHR74dafOenhGg9fds7pw_edwU1O3SMk0ZeBbPPLauO5Ll1w5-fHjaeJRCuw-0uOX9l3dAnVw7Y2XiOorh6grsZrD/s1600/Blaze+3+043.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8pK2o9CAd2DHIx4X-HUmD-b0MDwxGnI_mt8nNJnOjV91gHR74dafOenhGg9fds7pw_edwU1O3SMk0ZeBbPPLauO5Ll1w5-fHjaeJRCuw-0uOX9l3dAnVw7Y2XiOorh6grsZrD/s200/Blaze+3+043.JPG" t8="true" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Do you love me mommy?</td></tr>
</tbody></table> 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:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXvQ76JoYL1U3fvYn8ivcGJJFjjMRTssqa2LwJNw71RuD-5ymXBtcFVFqZ7fOgZSDAw6kVhThlvEOZ6xbR7MxtbSyd5U46PtZWIKN18P4uoZhFTf1KnUH8_fXxZZ5T_Y_hTqI7/s1600/Jap+Gardens+006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXvQ76JoYL1U3fvYn8ivcGJJFjjMRTssqa2LwJNw71RuD-5ymXBtcFVFqZ7fOgZSDAw6kVhThlvEOZ6xbR7MxtbSyd5U46PtZWIKN18P4uoZhFTf1KnUH8_fXxZZ5T_Y_hTqI7/s200/Jap+Gardens+006.JPG" t8="true" width="200" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRjxb0qzQxBk-TQO1STV4tviVGC3q7mC4DByKoi313Mb2Q4k-D4BVxIrvRVYNs65c7b80dx1xpyGVRvsOQ7khoLSmcc9VGpmUzN2K78XNsRJ0ZgCJygFCphh5VTdx4FgiK8-M6/s1600/Jap+Gardens+009.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRjxb0qzQxBk-TQO1STV4tviVGC3q7mC4DByKoi313Mb2Q4k-D4BVxIrvRVYNs65c7b80dx1xpyGVRvsOQ7khoLSmcc9VGpmUzN2K78XNsRJ0ZgCJygFCphh5VTdx4FgiK8-M6/s200/Jap+Gardens+009.JPG" t8="true" width="200" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg93iCdsS7W3HR0i5y_V3DLjD2TrrmIVLnNXqc-e8Usobokb1_23YSmOsDsTzRipbCVfakSYpfN-3SxPIwzHLfhwLEhwOdDk6cKNovM-YoWZpIqkqisQw2C3UtESyrYkNoiIhWn/s1600/Jap+Gardens+012.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg93iCdsS7W3HR0i5y_V3DLjD2TrrmIVLnNXqc-e8Usobokb1_23YSmOsDsTzRipbCVfakSYpfN-3SxPIwzHLfhwLEhwOdDk6cKNovM-YoWZpIqkqisQw2C3UtESyrYkNoiIhWn/s200/Jap+Gardens+012.JPG" t8="true" width="200" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPlK_c6jononzOOayMK8ljUqDZ3S7yJc7RcmFUCXtw3NzfdrbEe7ZBQYru-rLWiATu9RXOnTcMHSJz_FOp6o8U03qkaYuHCUHBfXxL2DcGrwWkt0XX7WZzyGCwvOfl0q9BDXjb/s1600/Jap+Gardens+014.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPlK_c6jononzOOayMK8ljUqDZ3S7yJc7RcmFUCXtw3NzfdrbEe7ZBQYru-rLWiATu9RXOnTcMHSJz_FOp6o8U03qkaYuHCUHBfXxL2DcGrwWkt0XX7WZzyGCwvOfl0q9BDXjb/s200/Jap+Gardens+014.JPG" t8="true" width="200" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioFoFpxwfV7bVaEoaIeOCjK0HDdFj3vu_iLlLm7_JQDwIt-_qJtt9OZmdH6K9V7zDxucRmq-gmn_sP1dxZcGHVJkjCLE6cgau5vFwpoRzDmdetLGj6Nh1o4Alok6xwIyEAirbZ/s1600/Jap+Gardens+018.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioFoFpxwfV7bVaEoaIeOCjK0HDdFj3vu_iLlLm7_JQDwIt-_qJtt9OZmdH6K9V7zDxucRmq-gmn_sP1dxZcGHVJkjCLE6cgau5vFwpoRzDmdetLGj6Nh1o4Alok6xwIyEAirbZ/s200/Jap+Gardens+018.JPG" t8="true" width="200" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">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):</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBiMmKapOjZIyFYBMgirm1-XW7ElggA4LMiKURTh1_e0mg7-BJ2_N_A1QY_s3MkFZKFDIR-BwodyPbPqNoNyRu8FBLzj-cfR1wDwp6sNbhn2y0ZURKth_37fDHvc23RlXjvwbs/s1600/Spokane+Garden+2011+021.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBiMmKapOjZIyFYBMgirm1-XW7ElggA4LMiKURTh1_e0mg7-BJ2_N_A1QY_s3MkFZKFDIR-BwodyPbPqNoNyRu8FBLzj-cfR1wDwp6sNbhn2y0ZURKth_37fDHvc23RlXjvwbs/s200/Spokane+Garden+2011+021.JPG" t8="true" width="200" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwi1MN-TFWwDWtReHBU9V7Y69abl4Sjj1KTDSyo7fZ6wgObcDRonL1BIOBrorQFhAZW-M6h4JtdJm0Kk_lUC3VhA3k8meNP_v0vtn_LgHSxORIAWWFyasUz_YYIrO1oOIJs8eV/s1600/Spokane+Garden+2011+034.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwi1MN-TFWwDWtReHBU9V7Y69abl4Sjj1KTDSyo7fZ6wgObcDRonL1BIOBrorQFhAZW-M6h4JtdJm0Kk_lUC3VhA3k8meNP_v0vtn_LgHSxORIAWWFyasUz_YYIrO1oOIJs8eV/s200/Spokane+Garden+2011+034.JPG" t8="true" width="200" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJzFH6LrjoVugmVgo2hBHWuAzBYAQsFbvth_rsSajiwQdWd6o67F-T9_LIDqtI9ZnD6CNlx0JhjRJ2ycOYJc_qVzKsyhOWCuaNk5Oqe_wfYylBT05Bvgjku0YgTchlRTGuhPVN/s1600/Spokane+Garden+2011+036.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJzFH6LrjoVugmVgo2hBHWuAzBYAQsFbvth_rsSajiwQdWd6o67F-T9_LIDqtI9ZnD6CNlx0JhjRJ2ycOYJc_qVzKsyhOWCuaNk5Oqe_wfYylBT05Bvgjku0YgTchlRTGuhPVN/s200/Spokane+Garden+2011+036.JPG" t8="true" width="200" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div>This is one of my grandmother's iris that bloomed in our garden, <em>Forever Spring</em>...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!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjDMutLAgHgQVQvX1L9Te2o4hkzqkn_zS0NGGB7X7DI2_j51sk3YDWD3IKOO3ko751CVqQU1wEAq0QMkGd34FXLhuScKGeDsdr3si3RgeZmoGUncBcsjWKRyhD48Bu3WAMmNvm/s1600/Suiter+Iris+-+Forever+Spring+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjDMutLAgHgQVQvX1L9Te2o4hkzqkn_zS0NGGB7X7DI2_j51sk3YDWD3IKOO3ko751CVqQU1wEAq0QMkGd34FXLhuScKGeDsdr3si3RgeZmoGUncBcsjWKRyhD48Bu3WAMmNvm/s200/Suiter+Iris+-+Forever+Spring+1.JPG" t8="true" width="200" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-YugDFPQhmLFodrcw_pq45UvdhV5a1g-8y7XHKCWtIVKaI9b8QBPIeJAo2W3lXBIAyhWymu7ZT8-O8-cxaoHtF-BEaE4KMtZGXL0CWNmoFGbTY5AhMeazy66NyGUGfoEerKC6/s1600/Suiter+Iris+-+Forever+Spring+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-YugDFPQhmLFodrcw_pq45UvdhV5a1g-8y7XHKCWtIVKaI9b8QBPIeJAo2W3lXBIAyhWymu7ZT8-O8-cxaoHtF-BEaE4KMtZGXL0CWNmoFGbTY5AhMeazy66NyGUGfoEerKC6/s200/Suiter+Iris+-+Forever+Spring+2.JPG" t8="true" width="200" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjtQCXHy3YHiTyqFRWUt75sNQs9rJzAelLldQGi5dBVI2p_z0nhHPa93idj_WuNa2_WQyDEZWym15yKDcZLlIJ-ezT8nfQhnjpbAbKcsO_Lb97inSnr7DsWrD85L5ve_3CfHT3/s1600/Suiter+Iris+-+Forever+Spring+3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjtQCXHy3YHiTyqFRWUt75sNQs9rJzAelLldQGi5dBVI2p_z0nhHPa93idj_WuNa2_WQyDEZWym15yKDcZLlIJ-ezT8nfQhnjpbAbKcsO_Lb97inSnr7DsWrD85L5ve_3CfHT3/s200/Suiter+Iris+-+Forever+Spring+3.JPG" t8="true" width="200" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIkqNEY-e00eZqPpaDszzdZN6Mg_C9ydX34lv11D1obpG17FeheK-f3_f4_CTtyVWrnPEPjXguMga8gkX2hp1q_iyWeeDLAgKZ_QggL7XDVqtIexcS4hblHqdWwaX7YoJEXgfn/s1600/Suiter+Iris+-+Forever+Spring+4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIkqNEY-e00eZqPpaDszzdZN6Mg_C9ydX34lv11D1obpG17FeheK-f3_f4_CTtyVWrnPEPjXguMga8gkX2hp1q_iyWeeDLAgKZ_QggL7XDVqtIexcS4hblHqdWwaX7YoJEXgfn/s200/Suiter+Iris+-+Forever+Spring+4.JPG" t8="true" width="200" /></a></div><br />
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. <br />
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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! <br />
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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.Earl and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10968459545823411846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18664644.post-7760188895167127562011-05-06T10:52:00.000-07:002011-05-06T10:52:57.203-07:00We'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!<br />
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We bought a <a href="http://www.kia.com/#/soul/explore/360-views-and-colors-exterior/?cid=sem&ppc=y">Kia Soul</a>. 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. <br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.Earl and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10968459545823411846noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18664644.post-36131823333377974062011-04-28T12:24:00.000-07:002011-04-28T12:24:40.781-07:00Earl 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!). <br />
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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.<br />
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We stopped in Nyssa, Oregon, to visit my Aunt Ilene for a couple of hours and then had lunch in Ontario.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.Earl and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10968459545823411846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18664644.post-84534367968431304522011-04-22T09:51:00.000-07:002011-04-22T09:51:52.155-07:00We'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!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaSsb79wSXHFbMdNf9lnR03zDXG6n-CuBTsA629Y9eMBkwYn4yh5K90bDmmpEQmWe75s260DfVprG0ZnUaLdygNaluuKz2kx9wpGzFtEkgup39CLvAvTZbvQxSTmK7qI_BpKC7/s1600/Blaze+2+004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" i8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaSsb79wSXHFbMdNf9lnR03zDXG6n-CuBTsA629Y9eMBkwYn4yh5K90bDmmpEQmWe75s260DfVprG0ZnUaLdygNaluuKz2kx9wpGzFtEkgup39CLvAvTZbvQxSTmK7qI_BpKC7/s200/Blaze+2+004.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We went over to my brother's house to see his new pigs:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigUrTxJgmbAP-I5ZK3kzxxT6zHIjsFZmAwlAoUbo_GwmH-WCXwGtXZ8TeFyHU2i3z_AkAA_diW8hErhF88uLVO9dcL3t3WxUNVvkpw7oC78fP-Lzh3YNycNEjs3TBUlUJzdYne/s1600/Andys+Pigs+009.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" i8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigUrTxJgmbAP-I5ZK3kzxxT6zHIjsFZmAwlAoUbo_GwmH-WCXwGtXZ8TeFyHU2i3z_AkAA_diW8hErhF88uLVO9dcL3t3WxUNVvkpw7oC78fP-Lzh3YNycNEjs3TBUlUJzdYne/s200/Andys+Pigs+009.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">And his chuckers:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Blaze will be four months old tomorrow. Here are some pictures we took of him today:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0eEmcSnQx5QfM-mX1n-2qHEfMMdtkBHgt2vXLGVbgDcmJTj8mUN9Jg42ZuxdY8E-rnErrPRvdxepWuW1wOZYuMfNnovABLqZkM8iOw9b9WpxOPojjY_twxuuj8qQRQPQN-BhA/s1600/Blaze+2+017.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" i8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0eEmcSnQx5QfM-mX1n-2qHEfMMdtkBHgt2vXLGVbgDcmJTj8mUN9Jg42ZuxdY8E-rnErrPRvdxepWuW1wOZYuMfNnovABLqZkM8iOw9b9WpxOPojjY_twxuuj8qQRQPQN-BhA/s200/Blaze+2+017.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEts3_VTyF_EDHP7r2Pwxt5-AAJUt5HV06IyhZOSlxQULt4PgSVxmzUP4b1p6AoO_1NQ1oyq5v2-KQ8sC_amFGcG85f9hAL48YDLNzAKY6MuyzW88ks4Cu3ihyphenhyphen3hWz2KnsYqvM/s1600/Blaze+2+022.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" i8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEts3_VTyF_EDHP7r2Pwxt5-AAJUt5HV06IyhZOSlxQULt4PgSVxmzUP4b1p6AoO_1NQ1oyq5v2-KQ8sC_amFGcG85f9hAL48YDLNzAKY6MuyzW88ks4Cu3ihyphenhyphen3hWz2KnsYqvM/s200/Blaze+2+022.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj61GbEOS2yC1TlhbzdSzpdGjeoZ1aUgtPxtNJ8NvLCQ8auSecmR3zUYbfm8rAndW5f2ZeKpwEvCBBj0BkyCVSd8MiByWPGFnCpy2qI1ASqvj2LnZfbnRswN86OkyRczItwYu-B/s1600/Blaze+2+026.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" i8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj61GbEOS2yC1TlhbzdSzpdGjeoZ1aUgtPxtNJ8NvLCQ8auSecmR3zUYbfm8rAndW5f2ZeKpwEvCBBj0BkyCVSd8MiByWPGFnCpy2qI1ASqvj2LnZfbnRswN86OkyRczItwYu-B/s200/Blaze+2+026.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Here's a picture of Blaze when we brought him home:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7Q2-jATJ1wkuPGzcqHLJYhenGrvk_Vx-tjGK8KnrtSXE9pORmEdl9_7iUtB9JNWKwi71xGsiX98NBmwTj1qpqd3JoZVr_wkXOxZTbZR49hiM_Oi3JTC5hqInkYize1V0Kyw0p/s1600/Blaze+1+012.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" i8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7Q2-jATJ1wkuPGzcqHLJYhenGrvk_Vx-tjGK8KnrtSXE9pORmEdl9_7iUtB9JNWKwi71xGsiX98NBmwTj1qpqd3JoZVr_wkXOxZTbZR49hiM_Oi3JTC5hqInkYize1V0Kyw0p/s200/Blaze+1+012.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div>Earl and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10968459545823411846noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18664644.post-86645444636742342902011-04-20T09:45:00.000-07:002011-04-20T09:45:36.590-07:00After 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!<br />
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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.Earl and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10968459545823411846noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18664644.post-15073574311354258882011-04-20T09:22:00.000-07:002011-04-20T09:22:46.802-07:00Jean Baptiste CharbonneauThe 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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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: <a href="http://www.pbs.org/lewisandclark/inside/jchar.html">http://www.pbs.org/lewisandclark/inside/jchar.html</a> .<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkq3Xc8pC3F7GY3qc2unbKPyfb7nIL6An4Wy4FxUz-yHZrabUWZU4Sc-4keYEMO7qrp7lX6ssUcsm552RMbT2gACPEl16i0lCYReNvEesHp2WUoWFrexfrjg1dvXRu8OhwNBXE/s1600/Charbonneau+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" i8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkq3Xc8pC3F7GY3qc2unbKPyfb7nIL6An4Wy4FxUz-yHZrabUWZU4Sc-4keYEMO7qrp7lX6ssUcsm552RMbT2gACPEl16i0lCYReNvEesHp2WUoWFrexfrjg1dvXRu8OhwNBXE/s200/Charbonneau+1.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWsWzAVny9ITrebj2RZql55gZ3OxrL6437Htbsf-8Ch7c5dTZI7lNzK7JchOaiWOo9AE2sDkXul3ip1LEYMPHw3X2_MvQtEMvswCjZc8f_Xu0_NXf_ydpbDrRy_fnqYtrmhGy-/s1600/Charbonneau+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" i8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWsWzAVny9ITrebj2RZql55gZ3OxrL6437Htbsf-8Ch7c5dTZI7lNzK7JchOaiWOo9AE2sDkXul3ip1LEYMPHw3X2_MvQtEMvswCjZc8f_Xu0_NXf_ydpbDrRy_fnqYtrmhGy-/s200/Charbonneau+2.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWyFVhrrXIrZQxM9FxDHjzf1t_SYTJPzqD2Y1BCgrcqoQcYslJcX9fKRQ_QshJ4OBa_r7ZqvV1lCiMS1BYlvzS7PCIcZGj4O_Ks_PtY9rDHx-4ijr-H80INrNhgHeu6byx559I/s1600/Charbonneau+3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" i8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWyFVhrrXIrZQxM9FxDHjzf1t_SYTJPzqD2Y1BCgrcqoQcYslJcX9fKRQ_QshJ4OBa_r7ZqvV1lCiMS1BYlvzS7PCIcZGj4O_Ks_PtY9rDHx-4ijr-H80INrNhgHeu6byx559I/s200/Charbonneau+3.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGr7t6TSQPf_OCU2fNjk4Oy4G_Rqfv4Gvwq83aJ6H9w0YwD6nH8Ur5mvoNb6Fmy8tYsPOrhit5bMedEyaW7pHeWg0zhdzlTIJMMmjgZU7tgsVPdhWpIlw6LGyNg3FJap3YbmSZ/s1600/Charbonneau+4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" i8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGr7t6TSQPf_OCU2fNjk4Oy4G_Rqfv4Gvwq83aJ6H9w0YwD6nH8Ur5mvoNb6Fmy8tYsPOrhit5bMedEyaW7pHeWg0zhdzlTIJMMmjgZU7tgsVPdhWpIlw6LGyNg3FJap3YbmSZ/s200/Charbonneau+4.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFxM-1mebDFq-UJ2unwqQn5gvyFHo5r_nCsgNUnNe8pkqobSQaFsiRM0MfKlUv6qu_GvgsMEBRk1MCTwGBnDILZsfig2KgsGf9XRQOCU2S5StGVOm145P1SiAkwd8wvvZ2sqWz/s1600/Charbonneau+5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" i8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFxM-1mebDFq-UJ2unwqQn5gvyFHo5r_nCsgNUnNe8pkqobSQaFsiRM0MfKlUv6qu_GvgsMEBRk1MCTwGBnDILZsfig2KgsGf9XRQOCU2S5StGVOm145P1SiAkwd8wvvZ2sqWz/s200/Charbonneau+5.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">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 <strong>humongous </strong>birds...or flying cows!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Earl and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10968459545823411846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18664644.post-36775637268805332212011-04-20T09:01:00.000-07:002011-04-20T09:01:43.315-07:00On 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. <br />
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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.<br />
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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. <br />
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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 <a href="http://www.thundermountainmonument.com/">http://www.thundermountainmonument.com</a> .<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVzQiOcFWg05xzjTB2zc8s7Bc3dIxoLFbqmocSYggAE1s0Z96M3_Z4GTbZR43aE_g1OOctkqZlZYrx-yLaoX-cLdLd9agUjumUIFU8gE1yGcF2MnJb5MrFWVu3H3-uStTCWfuQ/s1600/Thunder+Mountain+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" i8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVzQiOcFWg05xzjTB2zc8s7Bc3dIxoLFbqmocSYggAE1s0Z96M3_Z4GTbZR43aE_g1OOctkqZlZYrx-yLaoX-cLdLd9agUjumUIFU8gE1yGcF2MnJb5MrFWVu3H3-uStTCWfuQ/s200/Thunder+Mountain+1.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiII22PmuuPY2g9RqYEhSEJGNGqcCzt6H83J3EK0bU1pXtj9wswc9VoqokiOYrf7q6WYgtxfb2KyHfvrtGQBGvcOD34jLV1-rBNSVyrbrspDh2JnUrearY9UPLWG2snyClqDI1I/s1600/Thunder+Mountain+4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" i8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiII22PmuuPY2g9RqYEhSEJGNGqcCzt6H83J3EK0bU1pXtj9wswc9VoqokiOYrf7q6WYgtxfb2KyHfvrtGQBGvcOD34jLV1-rBNSVyrbrspDh2JnUrearY9UPLWG2snyClqDI1I/s200/Thunder+Mountain+4.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf9pFoG831qOYsiSB0JEnUXJxx69G_afKRgGpbjZXB2UITrN-WoZMHFh2HfBSY1Jpg3ApuroRB2tZUQSq0gNFQhvp5wh4rKQJmYtHIeNUjkVfU2DPz4NyG9BGisj0GBj_IoZqO/s1600/Thunder+Mountain+5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" i8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf9pFoG831qOYsiSB0JEnUXJxx69G_afKRgGpbjZXB2UITrN-WoZMHFh2HfBSY1Jpg3ApuroRB2tZUQSq0gNFQhvp5wh4rKQJmYtHIeNUjkVfU2DPz4NyG9BGisj0GBj_IoZqO/s200/Thunder+Mountain+5.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">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. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">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!</div>Earl and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10968459545823411846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18664644.post-10746820142636167662011-04-18T11:06:00.000-07:002011-04-18T11:06:55.824-07:00US-50 (The Lonliest Road)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, <a href="http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/nv/jacobsville.htm">http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/nv/jacobsville.htm</a> . 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.<br />
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The next day, we continued west on US-50, stopping to see several ruins of Pony Express and Overland Stage stops.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjheh_AiaEBnggyEHjFIMOsynVAYPZ1HAjD7mmrwvXptg_BPMsfBQzUgM-S_LEI089DW1i-GLDmMGXdn-cfA_mzL4-JPP41JLCiKmx37sT9dGteLPBlrainJj4Kl_6XWU__WPnf/s1600/Pony+Express+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjheh_AiaEBnggyEHjFIMOsynVAYPZ1HAjD7mmrwvXptg_BPMsfBQzUgM-S_LEI089DW1i-GLDmMGXdn-cfA_mzL4-JPP41JLCiKmx37sT9dGteLPBlrainJj4Kl_6XWU__WPnf/s200/Pony+Express+1.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhriV_z0dEWhRAAfloPaikn0UfPCaci6XwkCKZcTWkIBgqZSBQPVZwF7HqQ3o4sSn6uXWokcQ7ymz7uiclOvFgU4REWubGUAC49EQKlG2M5XfJqZq6a00vzRqLelZ_N_Qjlxrny/s1600/Pony+Express+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhriV_z0dEWhRAAfloPaikn0UfPCaci6XwkCKZcTWkIBgqZSBQPVZwF7HqQ3o4sSn6uXWokcQ7ymz7uiclOvFgU4REWubGUAC49EQKlG2M5XfJqZq6a00vzRqLelZ_N_Qjlxrny/s200/Pony+Express+2.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvYOM36nuISiDdVz3vySqp1bdb4Zx7PSe7QVuZcPz-C9nlk0u4KKP4z3GtzkyeDSDwMyPa3lUUyuk_vPawh3yCbApBe6THu6idYVH8O61mL-ixHNXk4ejhLS_3-P7D-zAiAq0q/s1600/Pony+Express+3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvYOM36nuISiDdVz3vySqp1bdb4Zx7PSe7QVuZcPz-C9nlk0u4KKP4z3GtzkyeDSDwMyPa3lUUyuk_vPawh3yCbApBe6THu6idYVH8O61mL-ixHNXk4ejhLS_3-P7D-zAiAq0q/s200/Pony+Express+3.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP8DY6MIvtkLnYjk9YuTBdi_zCJEkQpFhIuPz6PRrvTR-f2ry995qsO5EDoVKnnagZxDMcAWazMfB09yH31SHakFLO6xj1tfZisgXD1tBPeY36Ej1LUHD4AaWzBCbnXS0T_-Nq/s1600/Pony+Express+4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP8DY6MIvtkLnYjk9YuTBdi_zCJEkQpFhIuPz6PRrvTR-f2ry995qsO5EDoVKnnagZxDMcAWazMfB09yH31SHakFLO6xj1tfZisgXD1tBPeY36Ej1LUHD4AaWzBCbnXS0T_-Nq/s200/Pony+Express+4.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgchm2wJRFg1EPqxBMX5XQGI483sXnYkOSB_wv8K7CEbcGJ8iiMrwS-B89IAMDTUG_aNUHOrGBbI0YhC4VZ4V7pgHqOb79ERuWyTFeHRr43Bx9brcQ_s4zRZ_UCuEsoO0dSOrs6/s1600/Pony+Express+5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgchm2wJRFg1EPqxBMX5XQGI483sXnYkOSB_wv8K7CEbcGJ8iiMrwS-B89IAMDTUG_aNUHOrGBbI0YhC4VZ4V7pgHqOb79ERuWyTFeHRr43Bx9brcQ_s4zRZ_UCuEsoO0dSOrs6/s200/Pony+Express+5.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirecn4uL76hC9LDNjCFzy8DFz6kTiPWr6CS_TP85kIGjIu4plN1GiO6oj_XrR0ARb7wy0Ac9bMJ4_yRi7uIyMTOrnltVl7yWkqcjOmuDZ8TehO_K2sjccYKbBH7GYQDkAyZsqY/s1600/Pony+Express+6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirecn4uL76hC9LDNjCFzy8DFz6kTiPWr6CS_TP85kIGjIu4plN1GiO6oj_XrR0ARb7wy0Ac9bMJ4_yRi7uIyMTOrnltVl7yWkqcjOmuDZ8TehO_K2sjccYKbBH7GYQDkAyZsqY/s200/Pony+Express+6.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">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:<br />
<a href="http://www.xphomestation.com/rhaslam.html">http://www.xphomestation.com/rhaslam.html</a><br />
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<div align="left">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.</div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9DcG8WRGffVYgS_nIBGq0R4mqL8nhA6putUOJlhUTWc5_mqL-2UO3P9mFgpQpEtIbGevMYUQVNRqpgOOAMF7G11RSI7RfSlG3jO_ky0552fBJQ_RIqe0bm5eu56RoevyAvxDq/s1600/Shoe+Tree+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9DcG8WRGffVYgS_nIBGq0R4mqL8nhA6putUOJlhUTWc5_mqL-2UO3P9mFgpQpEtIbGevMYUQVNRqpgOOAMF7G11RSI7RfSlG3jO_ky0552fBJQ_RIqe0bm5eu56RoevyAvxDq/s200/Shoe+Tree+1.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicdLqt1cXe5CjPW93NdkbkliY5oN74iAveExhIOVkvlR92i4Lq5vnxhDcnKk62NQ0-sn74JDPIrLaZVNBKCF3L_S-5B-nPAgzrmxJIXgoNtdn0B7eg4DwGC4lRiRfd3r3F1LAI/s1600/Shoe+Tree+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicdLqt1cXe5CjPW93NdkbkliY5oN74iAveExhIOVkvlR92i4Lq5vnxhDcnKk62NQ0-sn74JDPIrLaZVNBKCF3L_S-5B-nPAgzrmxJIXgoNtdn0B7eg4DwGC4lRiRfd3r3F1LAI/s200/Shoe+Tree+2.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><div align="left"> </div></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div align="center"><a href="http://www.travelocafe.com/2011/01/rip-nevada-shoe-tree-may-your-murderers.html">http://www.travelocafe.com/2011/01/rip-nevada-shoe-tree-may-your-murderers.html</a></div><div align="center"><br />
</div><div align="left">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.</div>Earl and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10968459545823411846noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18664644.post-64857212517734814062011-04-14T20:09:00.000-07:002011-04-14T20:09:18.222-07:00Manhattan, NevadaTo read about Manhattan's history, and to see more pictures, go to <a href="http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/nv/manhatten.html">http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/nv/manhatten.html</a> .<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc60go0BZOwaTd1DEvjYTZs9v3XqHm6dOiCnFHnNMp9FPq90WXLpmbS-BgVi0Z0aIneC5n8p-PvuRvJWQwzXziYxYsCCHreQuEMakOXSMiiTLQVyeg68YVvdt-JiKbTLA9HFO_/s1600/Manhattan+4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc60go0BZOwaTd1DEvjYTZs9v3XqHm6dOiCnFHnNMp9FPq90WXLpmbS-BgVi0Z0aIneC5n8p-PvuRvJWQwzXziYxYsCCHreQuEMakOXSMiiTLQVyeg68YVvdt-JiKbTLA9HFO_/s200/Manhattan+4.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>Earl and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10968459545823411846noreply@blogger.com1