Another Sunny Day

Yesterday was a lovely day, around 74 degrees. I was in need of a pedicure and saw two places in the town of Benson so off I went. I sure missed my pedicure buddies (Deb and Tina), we usually chat through the whole thing but I managed just fine.

We also went to a Mexican restaurant for lunch, the place was real crowded so we thought it must be good. We had a short wait but it was worth it.

We played a cribbage match and I won 3 out of 5 and I guess I should mention that Richard won the last 2 matches.

Last night a guitarist was playing at the club house but we decided not to go. Tonight from 8-11 they are having a New Year's Eve party with kareoke (sp?) and several people have asked if we are attending. Richard asked if they had a bar since it would take a lot of libations to get him to sing kareoke, can't you just picture it? Maybe I could even get him to "wiggle dance".

I am going up to the water aerobics class and we are going to wash the motor home today. We hope everyone has a happy and safe New Years Eve.




Until next time,
Gloria

Living in the Desert

I could get used to living in the desert during the winter months, but not in the heat of the summer.  Yesterday morning it was 27 at 7:00AM, at 10:00AM it was 41 and Gorgie was in the pool doing water aerobics (at that time of the day it was the warmest place in the park).  By noon it was short sleeves weather and in the 60’s, there hasn’t been a cloud in the sky since we got here.  This morning it’s 25 as I type this but it’s supposed to be in the 70’s today.

We took a drive into town and looked around,not much there.  Then we drove down to St. David (7 miles), to our next stop in our travels to check out that park. We are going to like it there as well.

Valley Vista where we are now is a typical desert RV park, gravel, a few trees, and full hookups including cable TV.  But the staff and guests are very nice, and eager to visit.  The park is not crowded and there are lots of empty spaces, they say that by now it is normally full, but not this year.

 

 

Our site is very comfortable.

 

 

 

 

There are lots of empty spaces.

 

 

The night sky is something else, there are more stars visible here than I have seen in many years.  The headlights of the cars and trucks along I-10 as it snakes out of the Dragoon mountains about 15 miles away, into the San Pedro Valley where we are is something to see (I’ll have get a picture of that).

More Later, Rich

The Theme of Our Trip

Everywhere we have traveled the weather has set new local records, and not the way we would like to see.  I suppose the fog in the Central Valley of CA. wasn’t any record to them but it sure was the foggiest I ever drove through.  In Desert Hot Springs they set a record for the most rain for the dates we were there.  And the most snow in the hills since the 40’s.  So when we got to Tucson I thought we were through with all that, nope, they have more rain than is usual for this time of year; now record setting cold temperatures.  The last two nights it went down to 27/28 degrees.  In Benson where we are going today the temp this morning was 15.  The good news is that it is sunny and the daytime highs are supposed to be in the upper 60’s and the 70’s later in the week.  We’ll see if it’s us that’s bringing this weather down here. 

Last night Dad took us to an excellent Italian restaurant, “Michelangelo’s”.  It was without a doubt one of the best Italian dinners I have had in a long time.

 

 

A good time was had by all.

 

 

Dad and Marge were wonderful hosts and we want to thank them for all they did for us.

Thanks Dad and Marge

Today we move on to new adventures and new unexplored places.

More Later, Rich

Twas the Day After Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas with Dad, Marge, Annie and Bob.  They took us to a fancy resort (Westward Look Resort) for dinner, and it was a wonderful time.  They had a special holiday meal that was perfect.  The view out the windows took in almost all of Tucson, (I bet the lights at night are spectacular).

Today the girls are planning on taking in a movie.  And the guys will just sit around and tell lies.  Tomorrow will be our last day here, and we need to do some shopping. On Sunday we travel to Valley Vista RV Resort in Benson, AZ for a one week stay.  It’s hard to believe but we have been on the road for a month already, time flies when you are having tooo much fun.

More Later, Rich

Merry Christmas

We are having a wonderful Christmas here in Tucson at my Dad and Marge’s house.  Bob and Annie arrived on time and we have had a couple of great days visiting and catching up.  Today they have made reservations for us to have Christmas Dinner at a local country club.

Yesterday we went to dinner at the local Stuart Anderson’s Black Angus Restaurant.  A very good time was had by all.

 

 

Bob, Annie,Gorgie,Dad, Marge, and Me

 

 

 

 

They have a nice Arizona style back yard.

 

 

 

It was 62 and sunny in their back yard, not that I’m trying to make anyone feel bad that we are enjoying such nice weather, well maybe a little jealous.

The weather is changing here today, it’s supposed to rain for the next two days, this morning it’s cloudy so we’ll see what happens.

We do want to wish everyone a very

Merry Christmas

Gloria & Rich

Tucson

We arrived in Tucson yesterday afternoon.  We had a very nice visit with Dad and Marge, we went out to dinner and returned to their house and played 10,000. They are fun to play games with.

Bob and Annie are driving to Seattle to catch their flight to Tucson because the flight out of Portland was cancelled.  He said the freeway was a mess but that traffic was moving along.  They get into town at about 4:15 this afternoon if all goes well.

The storm that dropped all the snow in the northwest is here now and it is raining and it will likely rain for the next few days.

 

 

South Forty RV Ranch

Tucson,AZ

 

 

More Later, Rich

We Travel to Tucson Today

Well I did it, we were supposed to be in Tucson on Sunday not Monday.  Dad called yesterday afternoon to see if we were in town, heck I was sitting in the sun reading.  I called and told South Forty RV we would be a day late, I hope Dad didn’t have something planned, I feel bad.

This has been a comfortable place, a nice place to spend a night or two but not a destination.

 

Some of our more permanent neighbors have gotten into the holiday spirit.

 

 

More Later, Rich

Frost in the Valley of the Sun

I’m sitting in the MH enjoying a cup of tea and a cookie or two, the sun is coming up, and I can see that the roads and picnic tables are frosted over.  That won’t last long, I’ll wait it out.  The weather is supposed to change, last night on the news they said the storm from the pacific northwest is headed our way so there is a chance it may rain, gee we came all this way to escape that.

Speaking of watching TV I bought a digital converter box with the coupons that Kevin got for me (they won’t ship them to PO boxes).  I hooked it up while on the road and boy does it work good.  Here in the Phoenix area it picked up 29 stations, and the quality of all of them is outstanding.  As good as cable.

Yesterday we decided to stock up on meat and some other supplies so a trip to the local Costco store was made.  I programmed the GPS to take us there using all local roads and no freeways.  What a treat we drove through some newly developed areas with brand new (and mostly empty) shopping centers, and lots of new homes.  But the best parts were the agricultural fields with lots of cotton.  We stopped at one of those new malls and found a very good restaurant, “The Native New Yorker”, and we both had the Philly Cheese steak sandwich, very good too.  The rest of the day was spent reading, and looking around at the scenery.

The trip to see Gloria’s cousin had to be canceled, because he wasn’t feeling up to company.  We’ll try to come up in January some time.

 

 

 

Another day in the sun

 

 

 

More Later, Rich

Buckeye Arizona

We drove to Buckeye yesterday (about 240 miles), through some very scenic desert landscapes. It was a pleasant drive, it took 5 hours to get here, just right.

This park is really nothing special but the sites are level (gravel), they have 50AMP power, the people are friendly, and the sun shines. It isn’t far off the freeway so there is that traffic in the background, but it didn’t disturb our sleep. We sat outside and played cards (cribbage) until the sun started to go down.

 

 

Guess who kicked butt, he,he.

 

 

Speaking of sunsets we had a beautiful one yesterday evening.

 

 

 

Sunset at Leaf Verde RV Park

 

 

 

Today we are going to try to see Gloria’s cousin who was recently involved in a motorcycle accident. We called yesterday and he was in the process of being discharged from the rehab center and going home. He is still in a great deal of pain and we don’t want to impose.

We will surely have to explore the local area and see what is around here. There is a Western Horizon resort not far that we will probably check out for a future visit, maybe next winter.

By the way I have updated the map on the right and was able to put the pin almost exactly at our site in the park. Enlarge the map and you can zoom in, then click satellite view and see a picture of the place.

More Later, Rich

Travel Day

Just a short post today.  We went to lunch in Palm Springs yesterday and what a lovely town.  We found a place on Palm Canyon Drive that made some of the best home made burgers we had ever eaten.  Why do you find these places when you have to leave?

After lunch we strolled up and down the street window shopping, lots of fancy shops and more upscale restaurants than we could try in the time we had here, besides we would go broke.

About a block to the west of this street the mountain goes straight up, there are no foothills, just straight up.  About a thousand feet up is the snow line, the contrast with the desert is striking.  Again the camera failed to show up for this trip as well.

As I said, today is a travel day, we want to be on the road by 9:00AM, the drive is about 240 miles to Buckeye,AZ.  We need to fuel up on the way.  I saw that diesel is $1.91 at the Flying J in Ehrenburg just over the border in AZ, but it is always very crowded and slow there, so I think I’ll fill up at the Love’s truck stop in Thousand Palms just down the road for $2.15 in the interest of not having to fight the crowds with the “Pod Racer “ (nickname for our car) in tow.

 

More Later, Rich

Desert Storms

Yesterday was another stormy day.  It prevented us from going or doing anything outside all day.  Except Gorgie who went to her exercise and aerobics classes.  The exercise classes are indoors and the pool is filled with that warm mineral water I mentioned before. 

We won $2,500,000 on the slot machines yesterday and we never had to leave the MH (computer games),  we wish it was real life.

The day before (Tuesday) it was nice and we went to “The Living Desert”.  It is a zoo and botanical garden.  They have exhibits of both African and North American animals.  The displays are very well done.  The botanical sections are of different desert locations and the plants that grow there, you would never know that there are so many different palms and cacti.  Sadly, the camera decided not to make the trip with us so there are no pictures to share, sorry.

When we drove out the front gate after Monday's storm this is what the hills looked like.

 

 

There’s snow in them thar hills.

 

 

That snow is not far away and only about a thousand feet above us.  We drove through those hills on our way to Joshua Tree last week.

On one of our drives we came close to one of the many wind farms around here and their size is impressive.

 

 

 

Giant wind machines.

 

 

 

I had always called these things windmills but around here they call them wind machines, go figure.

I was not able to post yesterday because the storm had reduced our wifi signal to almost unusable and not strong enough to upload to the blog, sorry.

Today looks like it’s going to be a lovely sunny day to have another adventure.

 

More Later,Rich

Rain-Rain-Rain

I sort of poo-pooed the weather prognosticators here yesterday morning. Boy did it rain here. They showed all the snow in the hills around the area. The Grapevine had about 8” and I-5 was closed, the same was true for I-15 from Vegas. Later in the day it had all melted. But that didn’t stop the TV stations from having their Storm Teams out and about. In Desert Hot Springs it just rained allot. There was flooding on the roads and we saw several stalled cars along the roads. They don’t have storm drains here so all the runoff has to runoff into the desert. I was concerned that would stall in the middle of on of those flooded areas.

We went to lunch at a good Mexican restaurant “South of the Border”, they were very friendly, and the storm had then all excited just like people get at home when it snows. The food was excellent too.

We saw that yesterday was the busiest day of the year for the postal service, so we just had to go there. The line was long but folks visited and it was our adventure for the day. The rest of the day we watched the storm, read, took a nap,and enjoyed each other.

By the way the ladies did do their water aerobics in the rain so that made Gorgie happy. This morning they are all going walking then doing their aerobics, she is in her element. We have extended our stay here by one day so we will be rolling out of here on Friday instead of Thursday so she will get an extra with the girls, nice to be able to be flexible.

More Later, Rich

Laundry and Wal-Mart

Sunday was a laid back kind of day.  We got all the laundry out of the way (not that Gorgie lets it pile up).  A walk was taken through the park and we made notes of the sites that we would prefer to have on our next visit.  I also took the laptop to the furthest one out to make sure the wifi worked (it did).

Our next adventure was to Wal-Mart.  We needed to get some groceries (this was our first major grocery shopping trip since we left home).  We noticed that fresh fruit and veggies at Von’s didn’t look that fresh, besides Wal-Mart is cheaper.  Gorgie wanted to make a bean soup this week that called for leftover turkey, so we found a breast and when we returned she made out some Christmas cards and I watched the turkey roast on the barbie while sitting outside reading my book.  I did crawl up on the roof to take a couple of pictures of the hills as the sun was starting to go down.

This morning it is actually raining, it’s a light rain but things are getting wet.  They get excited around here when it rains.  They have issued flash flood warnings and all sorts of weather alerts.  We’ll see.

Gorgie is worried that they will cancel water aerobics because of the rain.

More Later, Rich

Windy-Windy-Windy

The wind just whistles through here at times.  It started Thursday afternoon and blew all day yesterday.  If you click on the weather sticky on the right you get the weather report for Palm Springs, well PS is tucked in close to the mountains and somewhat protected.  We are in Desert Hot Springs (about 5 miles to the north), and directly in line with the mountain pass and gets the full force of that wind.  That’s why they put all those wind machines here.  The wind died down this morning and it’s warm and nice today.

 

 

Wind Machines

 

 

 

More Later, Rich

Joshua Tree National Park

Yesterday was near as perfect a day as anyone could want.  We set out to visit Joshua Tree in the morning and the maps said it was about 40 miles away from here.  Well, we set the GPS to avoid freeways, (not that there were any) but it took us on some local streets and that was nice.  I used my disabled veterans pass so we didn’t have to pay to get into the park.  This is a stunningly beautiful place. The desert is so different than what we are used to in the NW.  At the first place we stopped to get out and look around we were awed by the silence, there was not a sound to be heard.  A coyote crossed the road in front of us at one point, it just seemed to disappear in the brush, he was too quick for a picture.

 

 

 

My first Joshua Tree

 

 

We stopped at a picnic area called Quail Springs (did not find a spring), but it was a nice place for our lunch.  The rock formations here are incredible, who piled up all these rocks?

 

 

 

Lunch at Quail Springs

 

 

Reservations were not necessary to go on the ranch tour we wanted participate in.  The guide, Pam was very knowledgeable of the history and people who lived here.  These folks had to be some tough characters.

  

 

This is the house the Keys lived in (husband, wife, and 5 kids)

 

 

So of course I’m snapping away with the camera and the battery goes dead.  I have to get another battery.

We ended this perfect day with dinner at a place called Fisherman’s Market & Grill in Palm Springs.  The evening temperature was about 65 and we ate outside on the 12th of Dec. Isn’t it wonderful?

Click on this link to see all the pictures we took.

Link to our web album

More Later, Rich

We are soooo Relaxed

As I said before we are having the time of our lives.  We seem to fill our days with lots of small adventures.  Gorgie has been going to water aerobics every morning (kick, kick, kick) at the proper time and has made some new friends.  Yesterday we went to a clothing store she had heard about that sells swimsuits, you can’t be seen in the same suit every day you know.  Also the bottom of the pool is rough and she needed some aqua socks to protect her pedicure.  I’m so glad she is having fun.

 

This is where we are living this week.

Today we are packing a picnic lunch and heading to Joshua Tree National Park.  There is an old ranch in the park “Keys Ranch”, that the only way to see it is on a guided tour.  They recommend you make reservations to get on this tour.  Well yesterday I tried to call and they didn’t answer, I left a message and they didn’t call back so I hope we will be able get in on the tour.  I’ll take lots of pictures and post them here, or maybe I’ll put them in a web album and post the link so you can see them all.

 

More Later, Rich

Cabot Pueblo Museum

We went to town yesterday to run some errands and saw a sign for the Cabot Museum. We had been told that this was a place not to be missed during our visit, so we headed there. What a surprise, this man Cabot Yerxa built his castle completely out of materials he found in the desert. In all there are 30 rooms and they connect by narrow halls and stairs. It contains 150 windows and 65 doors, 17 of which lead to the outside.

The Cabot Museum in Desert Hot Springs,CA

The architecture is Hopi Indian style.

What an amazing man. We went on a guided tour and the guide told us his story.

I told you that Gorgie was going to do water aerobics, well she marched up there only to discover it started at 9:00AM, not 10:00AM. So today she is going to get there at the proper time. Isn’t wonderful when you get your times and sometimes the days of the week mixed up? We must be having a good time.

This sculpture is by the same artist, Peter Toth that did the sculpture that is in Ester Short Park in Vancouver.

More Later, Rich

Desert Pools RV Resort

This is a really nice place.  The folks here are so friendly, and nice.  There are a lot of things to do, Gorgie is talking about doing water aerobics and maybe water volleyball.  Today the wind has come up and boy is it blowing, I’m glad I don’t have to drive in it, wind is worse than fog.  We played some miniature golf and pool today so far.  We went and picked up some things at Wal-Mart and mailed some things off.

  

It didn’t take us long to relax, after being so uptight from our problems on the way down we were ready to just veg out for a day or two.  Maybe we’ll go to the pool in a while and try out the mineral hot tubs, they have three, one is 98 degrees, the next one is 100, and the third is 105.  I saw a man get out of the hottest one and he was as red as a lobster, I don’t think I’ll get in there.

Mineral Pools

 

Landscaping in front of office

The mini golf pro

I guess I need to get back to this relaxing stuff.

 

More Later, Rich

We Have Arrived

Yesterday we had (happily) an uneventful day of driving, It was longer that we like (335 miles) and 8 hours, but we made it.  We stopped for lunch at a local diner in Boron, CA, home of the mine for Twenty Mule Team Borax.  In fact the name of the road was Twenty Mule Team Road.  What a friendly place maybe we can stop here on the way home.

The drive started out very foggy, and stayed that way until after Bakersfield.  That made for some tense moments but it was early (7AM) so traffic was light.

After lunch I wanted to run the Pod Racer for a while so we went into the local museum and talked to the lady inside she has been in Boron since 1932 what a nice lady.

It would have been great to visit longer with her, I bet she has some stories to tell.

Driving through the San Gorgonio pass there were rows and rows of windmills almost like a cornfield.

Last night we went for a walk and dropped in on the Sat. night Chicken and Steak dinner not expecting to eat but they said they had an extra.  So Gorgie ran back to our rig to get plates and silverware and a bottle of Sweet Valley wine. We shared with some folks and the wine was a hit.  Dinner was OK too.

Right now we are off to breakfast (omeletes in a bag) I’ll let you Know.

 

More Later, Rich

Valley Fog

We started our Friday in a dense fog. Once again I fell in behind a Wal-Mart truck and watched the fog line for about 40 miles. As we gained some altitude and the sun burned off some of the fog driving became much easier. We had driven about 90 miles when the warning lights came on AGAIN and the engine stalled. We were able to pull well off the road onto the shoulder. I was able to restart but the alternator light remained on. I crawled under to see if I could do something and the pulley for the belt tensioner came off in my hand. Well, we called for another tow and had to wait for an hour and a half for him to get to us. The tow was over 50 miles all the way to Fresno. Good Sam had called and made arrangements (so they said) at a place called Dan Gamel RV. Well it took them 45 minutes to find who said they could work on it, when they did he said that he thought we would drop it off and they would look at it some time next week. They didn't even have a tech on duty. The tow truck driver suggested we take it to Cummins-West. That sounded like a good idea to me so off we go. I had to call for authorization to get towed there and I told GS what I thought about that place anyway they said OK.
Well, the folks at Cummins were the opposite of the RV place. They went out of their way to get on the job immediatly and replaced the tensioner and belts. The tech stayed late to complete the job, by this time it was getting dark and not wanting to drive in the dark they let us stay in their lot. We backed up to the building and plugged into a 50 amp outlet. They gave us the combination to their gate so we were able to go to an Applebee's for dinner, and we will be able to let ourselves out this morning. But the fog is bad again. The plan is to drive the 330 miles we have left to get to Desert Hot Springs today a long day but doable. Wish us luck...

More Later, Rich

Santa Nella

Thursdays drive was very foggy. We woke up to 32 degree weather and sunshine which helped the fog stick around most of the day. Today looks like more of the same. We stayed in Santa Nella last night which is rather non-descript. There were 3 TV stations and all but one were in Spanish and we didn't feel like watching the Simpsons so we played some cribbage and Richard was the champ, (2 out of 3). Today we are headed for Bakersfield for the night and then Saturday we will arrive in Desert Hot Springs where we will land for several days.

More later,
Gloria

Red Bluff California

We drove to Red Bluff today with no problems.  The coach is running great.  It did take a while to get over my paranoia and relax but it ran great.  It has always been short on power but that's why we routinely get 10-10.5 MPG, besides we are not in any big hurry to get anywhere.  We just pull in behind the semi’s going up those long hills to get over the passes.

We stopped for the night at Red Bluff RV Park, clean and friendly, with good 50 amp power and free wifi.

They are serious about going slow here.

As you can see this is a nice place.

Today was 250 miles and tomorrow will be about the same. I did not make any reservations so we’ll see where we stay.  I called to move our arrival day at Desert Pools, CA out to Sat. instead of Thurs. and they were OK with that.  It sure is nice to be able to be flexible.

More Later, Rich

On The Road Again

Yesterday afternoon Keith from Southern Oregon Diesel discovered that he had installed the wrong fuel filter on our coach, that was causing it to suck air and prevent it from starting.  I’m glad he was honest enough to admit his mistake.  I am impressed with this company and everyone who works there.  They were professional, and knew what they were doing.  Mistakes happen.  We rolled out of there at about 3:30 and returned to Seven Feathers to do some laundry. 

This morning we are going to pick up where we left off three days ago, I’ll call and tell Desert Pools we will be two days late (we had an extra day in our travel schedule).

By the way this is what it looks like riding in the coach while being towed.  Not our favorite place to be.

 

More Later, Rich

Status Update

We decided to stay in Canyonville, OR until Monday morning since we were afraid to drive the motor home with the warning light still lit. First thing Monday Richard contacted a place called Southern Oregon Diesel. He explained our problem and they said they could fit us in. SOD is located in Roseburg which is approximately 30 miles north of Canyonville. We decided I would drive the tow vehicle behind the motor home rather than hook it up and add more weight. We had our radios and Richard said he could tell the motor home was not operating at full power but it seemed to do ok. We had to climb a hill about half way and the motor home would not do more than 10 mph so we turned our flashers on, crossed our fingers and limped our way to the shop. They were able to diagnose a crankshaft sensor problem and within about 4 hours they replaced the sensor, fuel filters and air filter. We took it for a test drive on the freeway and it did great until we took the exit (a mile away from the shop) where the engine died. We were uanble to get it started again so called the shop and they came over, checked it out and could not determine the problem. We have Good Sam roadside service so we called for a tow truck.

Sitting at the stop sign we had to direct traffic around us which gave us something to do while wating. A Sheriff finally came and asked what the problem was, we told him and said a tow truck was on the way. We had been given an ETA of an hour for the tow truck and it had already been an hour so he made a phone call and withing 5 minutes the tow truck arrived. By this time we had been sitting there for 3-1/2 hours (good thing we have a bathroom available). Now it gets even more interesting........A woman and man get out of the tow truck (she is driving) and said "No wonder nobody else wanted to come, I hate motor homes". Now this woman looked as though she could hook up a harness and pull the thing with brute strength, she was big, rough, tough and filthy dirty. Now he was much more docile with only a couple of teeth but quickly did everything she told him to do. This gave us a warm and fuzzy feeling. especially as the sheriff rolled his eyes. Since we were the first vehicle at the stop sign, they first had to pull us back so they could get in front of us without blocking traffic which they did successfully. Our owners manual said in bold letters never to tow the vehicle without first disconnecting the drive shaft because it would ruing the allison transmission. We reminded them of that and they said "oh, but we are only going a mile". Well, we insisted they unhook it and they did but weren't real happy about it because by this time it is dark. We also reminded them that the rock gaurd in back needed to be lifted so it wouldn't get ruined. That is when I looked at her and said "we are your worst nightmare". We got hooked up and Richard and I rode in the motor home as it was towed, now that was a different experience. The owner of the shop showed up and guided the driver to an area near the shop where we could hook up to water and power. We got settled, went and had some dinner and went to bed. They came out this morning, checked for more engine codes, which there are none and we are now waiting for a bay to open in the shop so they can do more tests. Since it won't start and the drive shaft is disconnected they will need to pull us into the shop. We will keep this updated as we know more.

Gloria

Houston We Have Problems

We were enjoying a mostly pleasant drive south on I-5 yesterday. North of Corvalis it was like being in a parade, there were so many vehicles that were decorated with flags, banners, signs, stuffed animals, and people wearing orange or yellow sweatshirts. They were all headed to the Civil War game in Corvalis. Traffic was heavy but not too bad.

We had the last of the Thanksgiving turkey in a wonderful sandwich at a rest stop and headed out to complete our journey to Seven Feathers in Canyonville, OR. A couple of miles from Sutherlin a warning light came on and we started to lose power. We limped to the next exit and stopped in the parking lot of an abandoned restaurant, but not before stalling at a stop sign. I looked out and saw a sign for a mobile deisel repair shop, so I called their number. About an hour later a technitian showed up and looked things over, put his analyzer on the computer port and found nothing, no codes, no indication why the warning light came on. There was a stored code that said the computer had experienced a low voltage situation but it didn't tell us when the code happened. Well, he checked all the fluid levels (I had already done that, before starting out and again while waiting) and they were all proper. He did find a loose terminal on one of the batteries so he tightened that up and said we should be ready to go.

Back on the road we go, we were about 50 of so miles out and everything ran great. We arrived at the RV resort and shut down the engine and I went in and registered. When I started the rig up to go to our space, the warning light was back on. We parked and set up, had a scotch, and decided to go to the casino and have dinner.

This morning I looked up Cummins Northwest on the internet and they have a shop in Medford about 70 miles south, but of course being Sunday they don't work today. I'll give them a call first thing in the morning and hopfully they can get us in then and get this resolved. I'm going to look to see if I can find a loose wire or something obvious in a little while. I don't know yet if we will try to limp down there today or stay here another night. This isn't the adventure we set out to have.

More Later, Rich

We're Off

Our target time of departure is 9:00AM, we'll see. Traffic is going to be a challenge down toward Corvalis because of the Civil War football game. We plan to stop at the Seven Feathers Casino tonight, thats about 220 miles just the right distance. I'll try to post more later.

More Later,Rich

Preparing for departure

I have installed a free program from Microsoft called “Windows Live Writer”.  This will allow me to write posts and save them until I can get online for those times when will not have access to the web.  It also lets you put pictures in the post where you want them and not have to edit in html. This is the first time I am using it so I’m learning.

                

This is a photo that I took when we were at Deb & Rob’s beach house, I just used it for a test but it is a nice view.

I hope everyone had a chance to look at the map and follow birthday surprise trip I am clearing it so I can start putting our route and stops on it.

More Later, Rich

Getting Ready to Hit the Road

This weekend finds us cleaning and packing the motorhome. We have had some work done and replaced some things that needed replacing like, new tires, new batteries, new shocks, we had the roof caulking removed and replaced, the awning over the slide was replaced, and two new awnings over the bedroom windows installed. The oil has been changed and we (the motorhome, Gorgie and I), are ready to hit the road.
This adventure begins next saturday morning, we hope the weather cooperates and allows to get over the pass into California. If not we may have to take the coastal route but that will add a day to our journey to Desert Hot Springs. Our style of travel is to drive between 200-250 miles a day. This is a no stress distance for us and we don't want to do any night driving.
Please follow our trip right here on the blog, we will try to post often to let you know what we are doing. But there will be times when we will not have an internet connection, but we will catch up on our posts as soon as we can.
More Later, Rich

Another Sunny Day at the Gull House

Here we are another beautiful sunny day. We plan to make this a "Jammie Day".
We are going to loaf around, reading, playing cards, and a walk on the beach, hope we don't overdo anything.

Sunrise in the hot tub with coffee

Not everyone got in the hot tub

Cards in Jammies

Pelicans are having a meeting on rock

About the only thing we did yesterday was have a wonderful japanese meal at a restaurant about a half mile from the house. The name of the place is Yuzen, we had Tempura and sushi, this place is a must for anyone coming down to this area, and in the very small town of Seal Rock. A quick trip to the grocery in Waldport and it was back to having toooo much fun. We split the games one each, one for the guys and one for the girls. See what we ncan do today.

More Later, Rich

Gull House at Seal Rock

Another wonderful morning at The Gull House. Gorgie and I got up and went out to the hot tub to watch the sun come this morning what wonderful weather we are having, with not hardly a cloud in the sky.

Yesterday after Gorgie's pumpkin quiche (and a wonderful quiche it was), we played canasta with the birthday girls winning, good move on Jerry's and My part. Later we went to Newport and stopped at a thrift store so Deb and Jerry could buy a couple of swimsuits because they forgot theirs. Then we drove up to Lincoln city and had drinks and apptizers in the Chinook Winds Casino. Of course we had to try our luck for a while but nothing much to report on that.

On the way home a birthday dinner was had in Newport at Sharks. This is a wonderful seafood restaurant. They don't have anything fried and boy was it good. I had a dish called a combo seafood roast, which wasn't really a roast at all but a rich seafood stew. Everyone else had cioppino linguini that was pasta and another seafood stew. We will definetly return here.

More Later, Rich

Girl's birthday at Seal Rock

We are at Deb and Rob's beach house to celebrate Deb and Gloria's birthday (today is Deb's special day). This morning we were entertained by a pair of eagles.

Mated Pair of Eagles

Gloria is making a pumpkin quiche for breakfast. We are going to play some cards and do some running around today. I'll get on here later today and report what we did.

Eagles in flight

More Later, Rich

Map of the birthday girl's adventure

The map on the right reflects the route the girls took on their adventure. You can see it best by clicking on the "see a larger view" button and zoom in so you can click on the balloons to read where they stopped.

More Later, Rich

Birthday Surprise

The adventure started here



As Richard stated in the previous blog my birthday surprise began in DuPont, WA (Dusty and Jedd's house). We stopped in Poulsbo, WA for breakfast, hit the road again, stopping at the Clearwater Casino for about an hour. Dusty took me there two years ago for my birthday surprise and one of the 9 clues stated that where we were going is someplace we had never been together so I knew we weren't staying there. She kept looking at her watch and about 11am she said it was time to go. We continued north arriving at a ferry terminal and I thought at that time I would know our destination since most ferry terminals go to several places. This ferry has only one destination and somehow I missed any signs saying where that was so I was still unsure. The ride only took 30 minutes and when we arrived I asked Dusty what the building was that was right by the terminal, she was surprised I didn't recognize it and it turned out to be Safeco Field. Well, I knew we were in Seattle; she did a great job of confusing me. So, the whole time I'm thinking we are staying in Seattle and was very excited. She drove to the Space Needle and we had lunch reservations at the top. It has been years since I was at the Space Needle and what a wonderful view, it rotates and makes a complete 360 degrees in 47 minutes. The lunch was awesome and I had a birthday desert of ice cream with a candle but that was sitting in a bowl of dry ice which overflowed over the entire table and down the sides, it was really awesome. She bought me a souvenior at the gift shop and back in the car we went. We got on I-5 north and drove another hour. She was busy talking and I wasn't paying attention so I wasn't sure where we were when we got off. We arrived at "Tulalip Resort and Casino" and it is an awesome 5 star resort. We had a beautiful room and when we arrived there was a birthday card, candy and bottled water for me. She even bought us matchin PJ's! We had a great dinner at one of the restaurants called "Black Fish" which had wonderful seafood. We started with raw oyster appetizer and both had Coho salmon that was cooked over an open flame and it melted in our mouths. They brought me a birthday dessert with "Happy Birthday Gloria" written in chocolate across the plate. We played some slot machines and then went back to the room to watch movies in our matching jammies.

Friday was an exceptional treat. Dusty made reservations for a 5 hour spa experience and what an experience! The spa is on the second floor of the resort and takes up the whole floor. They start with giving you a bathrobe and shower shoes and put you in a "relaxation room" with candles, fireplace, soft music and water, tea etc. The first treatment was a 40 minute soak in a jetted mud bath which is special mud from Canada that is for detoxification. Back to the relaxation room to hydrate for 10 minutes and then we went for a sugar/coffee scrub and chocolate mud rub. This was our favorite since it was so different. They actually rub a sugar/white coffee mixture all over you which you rinse off and your skin feels soft as a baby's bottom. Back on a heated table where you lie on a plastic sheet while they rub a chocolate mud (smelled like brownies) all over you all the way to between your fingers and toes. Once that is on, they wrap you up in the plastic blanket and then more cloth blankets that are heated, oh my. While you are wrapped in that, the massage therapist is massaging your scalp. The idea is to really sweat all the toxins out of your body and boy did I sweat. After about 30 minutes then you rinse that off. You get back in your robe and go back to the relaxation room to rehydrate for another 10 minutes. Up next was a 1 hour massage. Dusty made arrangements for us to be in the same room which was nice. The massage was wonderful. When finished with the massage it was back to the relaxation room where lunch was served and another birthday dessert. After lunch we went for an hour facial, I have never had a facial before and it was a real treat. After the facial we went for a hot rock pedicure which was awesome as well. By the time we got back to our room we had been gone 8 hours and so relaxed we felt like gumby.

Dusty made reservations for my birthday dinner at a restaruant called "Tulalip Bay" which is a steak house and the food was phenominal. We had surf and turf which was prawns and a 4 oz filet after sharing a salad and lobster bisque. We had a great bottle of wine from Walla Walla and of course another birthday dessert with "Happy Birthday". It will take me weeks to work off all that wonderful birthday desserts. Off for more gambling.

Saturday morning we had breakfast and we went to the outlet mall where Dusty bought a nice dress, skirt and tops for her formal Christmas parties coming up. She made reservations at a retaurant/wine bar in Seattle called "Purple" and then we were going to Pike Place Market to purchase some seafood but we both decided we weren't hungry enough to eat again (breakfast was at 10:00) and lunch reservations were at 1:00 or drink anymore wine so we decided to skip that portion of the trip. Didn't she do good?

For nine weeks prior to our trip she would give me a clue every Sunday. Below are the clues and how they related to the trip:

1-It's a place we have never been together (Tulalip Resort and Casino)
2-Bring something fancy to wear (Dinner at Tulalip Bay)
3-Bring a cooler (Seafood from Pike Place Market)
4-Bring your travel coffee maker and coffee (We never have enough)
5-Ferry tales will come true (Ferry ride from Bainbridge to Seattle) notice the play on words
6-This trip will offer you many outlets (Outlet mall)
7-You'll enjoy a ride to new heights (Space Needle)
8-There will be muddy grounds (Spa treatment-mud bath/coffee scrub)
9-Your journey will begin in DuPont

Trip Plan Part II

Gloria is off with Dusty for a couple of days, they take turns planning suprise trips for each others birthday. This time it was Dusty's turn to plan the trip for Gloria's special day. She had to leave the house at 5AM to be in Dupont by 7AM. Dusty called me at 6 to fill me in on the trip, boy are they going to have a good time. She is driving all over the place to confuse her. But to put it simply (I'll let her share it with you when she gets back), they are having breakfast in Paulsbo, followed by a brief stop at the Clearwater Casino to fool her. Then they take the ferry into Seattle and a stop at the Pike Place Market. Lunch will be at the top of the Space Needle. Then its off to the Tulalip Indian Casino. In the morning they have a FIVE hour spa treatment. Anyway I'm going to let her tell you all about it. There is more including how the clues link with the adventure.

The other day I left off at Pilot Knob in Winterhaven, CA. where we will be for two weeks. As I said this is in the Yuma area so we are going to see what it is all about.

We need to spend a week out of our membership parks so we will spend that time at a place called Big River RV Park in you guessed it Big River, CA. It's right on the Colorado River across from Parker, AZ.

Our next stay isn't very far away at Colorado River Adventures in Ehreberg, AZ also on the river. We stayed there last year and really liked the place.

From there our trip takes us to Desert Vista RV Resort in Salome, AZ for a week. I understand this is in a remote location. so we will have another opportunity to enjoy some desert night skies.

I know that it probably would have been more adventurous to not make any plans or reservations but to save $$ we had to do it this way and stay at our member parks, we are saving over $2500 in camping fees alone. Maybe another time.

More Later, Rich

Travel Plans

We have been busy making plans for our trip. While it sounded like fun to just take off and not make any reservations and just wing it, the cost would have been too high. Since we own several camping memberships that provide us with no or low cost camping sites that is what we are going to use. We have found that this takes some long term advance planning. But we think we have it covered.

Our first stay will be at Desert Pools RV Resort in Desert Hot Springs, CA. This is in the Palm Springs, and Joshua Tree National Park area. We will be there for two weeks (this is the max time at our membership parks), giving us plenty of time to explore.
The next stay will be at a commercial RV park near my Dad's house in Tucson. The name of the place is South Forty RV Ranch. On our way to Tucson we are going to stop in Quartzsite and Buckeye,AZ.

After Tucson we will be spending the next three weeks in the Benson and St. David, AZ area at two resorts Valley Vista and Western Horizons St. David RV Resort. This is in the Tombstone and Bisbee area. A visit to Karchner Caverns is also in our plans.

The next stay on our adventure will be at Pilot KnobRV Resort in Winterhaven,CA (this is across the Colorado River from Yuma). But to add to the adventure we are staying a couple of nights in the small Arizona town of Ajo (pronounced ah-ho) we'll let you know how it is.

This puts us at about mid trip we have more plans that I'll share in the next couple of weeks. My plan is to insert these stops on the map in the right column of this blog so you can see where we are on the map. I also plan to change the location of the weather sticker to show the conditions we are putting up with, probably not for the short stays but surly for the stays of a week or more.

Anyway this is a start, More Later, Rich

Shout Box upgrade

OK just for you Gail, I upgraded the shout box so now you can enter up to 300 characters (letters, numbers, spaces, etc) into a message. If you have more to say just post it (shout) and pick up where you left off in a new message. Or you can always go to the comment link at the bottom of the post. It will also tell you if anyone else is currently viewing the blog. I see that you found the smiley's. For everyone else just click the "+" at the bottom and choose a smiley to add to your shout. Have fun trying it out.

More Later, Rich

Added a weather sticker to the blog

I plan to change this sticker when we are in new locations so you can see our weather where we are. Lets see how it works.

Cool Day at Ike Kinswa

Saturday was a very enjoyable day, the temperature never rose out of the 50's. We cooked out, and played cards all day anyway. A fire was enjoyed by all, what a great day with good friends.

Our rig parked in the trees

I have been playing with the blogger to see how to enhance our posts and make it more interesting for folks to follow. Next I think I'll try to add a weather sticker so everyone can see the conditions we are enjoying. That way maybe Jerry won't feel like I'm rubbing it in.

Today we head home, I'm going to continue to post and let you know how our plans and preparations are coming along.

More Later, Rich

Ike Kinswa State Park

Yesterday we traveled from Ocean Shores to Ike Kinswa State Park to hook-up with Deb and Jerry. This is a nice park on Lake Mayfield and set in some old growth forrest. They have already shut down most of the park for the winter but the loop we are in is open all year. They have five really nice cabins they rent that overlook the lake. We are going to hang out and play some cards before heading home tomorrow. We have a really slow internet connection here because we are roaming so they limit us to slower than dialup speeds. So I may not be able to post a picture today.

More Later, Rich

Ocean Shores Mushrooms

We went for a walk this afternoon and found this mushroom, so we wanted to find out what it is, we did a search on google and found that it is a poisonous Fly Agaric. People would put this shroom in a dish to kill flys. What you can find on a walk in the woods.
More later, Rich





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Ocean Shores

We are at Ocean Shores RV Resort for a couple of days just to relax and get some RV time. We love being in our motorhome and are looking forward to the "Big Trip 2008/9". I hope everyone will again follow our adventures this year. I have come to think of ourselves as snowbirds since we will be in the south for the winter.
Our travels start on Nov. 29th. Unlike last year when we drove all the way to Tucson by driving US highways and state roads, this year we are going to jump on the interstate and head south. Our first stay will be in Desert Hot Springs California. This is in the Palm Springs area and will be new to us. After two weeks there we go to Tucson for Christmas with my Dad.
I have added some goodies to the right side of the blog, on it is a map that I will update to add our stops along the way so you can see exactly where we are. This is a live map that you can move around and zoom in on, you'll probably want to click the link to make it larger, so have fun with it.
The other new feature is a shoutbox, where you can make comments and also read what others have to say, or even talk to each other. Just please put your name on top so we know who to respond to. By the way, this is not a public blog so only our friends and family will see what we all have to say.
In the days leading up to our departure I'll keep everyone posted on our preperations and fill you in on where we are going.





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This is a picture from last year

Paulina Lake, OR





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Restarting the blog

Well this blog has sat here since last November unused and unread. We are starting to plan our trip for this year, so I think I'll use it to run some ideas and test some new toys for it. I use Google's free photo program "Picassa", they also have a web album feature that we can insert links to so you can see more pictures than we post in the blog itself.
Stand by, Rich