My Bad....

I know..... I know..... Darren reminded me "somebody hasn't been blogging". I have so much to tell you because I have been negligent in writing. We left South Dakota and headed east. We stopped in Nebraska at the Blue Ox factory to have our yearly Tow Bar maintenance. They have a lovely campground and treat you like royalty. Susan, you should go visit  because they have a quilt patch path. Homes and businesses throughout the town display different quilt patterns.
From there we went to Indiana, the Elkhart area, where 80% of the RVs are manufactured. Our first stop was Shipshawana where there is a large flea market (3 guesses who decided that). Unfortunately we got stuck and needed a wrecker to get us out. Proof.. people came to help, to no avail.

 

 

 

After we got out, we went to Elkhart and ordered my new couch. The one we had was original to the coach in 2003 and starting to show wear. Lambright Custom Chairs made and installed my double recliner couch in 7 days. I love it. Then we be-lined it home to Pa.

When we arrived we stayed one night at our local WalMart. A couple from Canada pulled in beside us. Sometime during the night a terrible smell woke me up. I woke up John and asked him to check it out. It turns out that the other RVs tow dolly battery caught on fire. John rushed out pounded on their RV yelling for them to get out, grabbed our fire extinguisher and got the fire out. Only after talking to the family in the parking lot, did he realize that he was doing all this in his underwear.

Here we are parked at my son Jeremy's in Sonestown. This is where the RV was parked while we were in Pa.

 

While here we put a new floor in the living, kitchen and bath areas. I'll show it to you later in another post.

After the tenants left the house we went and stayed for 3 weeks cleaning. This is what my green carpet looked like.

 

 

We ripped it all out. Here is what the back side looked like in one area. The smell had also seeped into the underlayment so we had to treat and seal it

 

 

John spent 2 days with a wire brush and special paint to restore the top of our coal stove. This is how we found it. The stove door window is also cracked. 

 

We spent our days working and our evenings catching up with friends.

On October 14th we loaded up and headed out south after attending the Sonestown Heritage Days. We are currently unwinding from our busy time at Forest Lake Thousand Trails outside Lexington, North Carolina.

 

 

 

Short Visit

Our original trip plan was to continue up the Washington coast on route 101 to the Canadian border and then go east via the Lewis and Clark trail into Montana and Glacier National Park. Well, those plans have changed. We are having issues with the couple living in our home in Pa, so John made the decision that we should start east sooner. We traveled into Washington as far as Ocean City and then headed east. We stopped for 2 days at Lake Easton to dump, do laundry and get water. It was a very  nice little park.

 

We used Camp Wal Mart across Washington, Idaho, Montanna and Wyoming until we reached the Hart Ranch in Rapid City South Dakota. We are staying here for a week to make some phone calls and arragements for some unexpected issues. Two problems have popped up.... or should I say down. The dash board air conditioner freon level is down and needs more gas. In addition John's side of our sleep number bed won't stay inflated. We are trying to find places along our way across the country to have these issues addressed, soon. In between we have managed to visit  some neat places around Rapid City South Dakota.
Custer State park was my favorite so far. Here are some pics...

 

 

We sure were glad we were driving the Jeep ( not the motorhome) when we came through this tunnel. There were at least 6 of these along the route, right thru the mountains.

 

We also visited the Badlands National Park.

 

 

As soon as we receive confirmation of appointments we will be headed east again.

 

 

 

Movin on up.... the Oregon Coast

We arrived in Florence Oregon on June 20th at a Thousand Trails resort called South Jetty. The town of Florence is located on a bend of the Siuslaw River, where it turns north to flow to the Pacific. It is the northern gateway to the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area, 47 miles of coastal dune habitat rich in unique plant and animal species. We spent time exploring the waterfront shops and docks, watching sea lions fish and play and the locals crab. Here is John treging over the sand dunes to the ocean.

 

We visited the Darlingtonia Gardens to see the carniverous plants that grow wild there.

We visited the Heceta Lighthouse and climped to the top to see the inner workings.

 

As we were driving thru town one day we were treated to the antics of a mother black bear trying to get her 3 cubs to the other side of the road. By the time John got his camera out and functioning we were only able to get a picture of the last one scampering across.

 

On June 20th, we moved further up the coast to Newport to a preserve called Whaler's Rest, also a Thousand Trails Resort. We ran into 2 couples who had been at the previous park with us and discovered that it is a common route for people from this area. Al and Frances Young from California told us about all the neat things to do and see like the Sea Lion caves. Unfortunately none of my pictures turned out, so I just have the memories.

Newport is the largest town on the central Oregon coast with a population of nearly 10,000. Bayfront, the older part of town, is home to Oregon's largest commercial fishing fleets. We walked the docks and smelled the fish as long as we could. We found a good place for chowder called the Chowder Bowl.

There was an aquarium that we visited, and John got up close and personal with the tide pool creatures. The colors were spectacular.

 

He also had to joke around with the sharks.

 

 

And here is the official picture of my feet in the Pacific Ocean.

 

We visited a place that Al told us about called the Devil's Punchbowl. It was neat. We arrived at low tide so we saw it empty and then watched it start to fill as the tide came in.

 

These are some kids that climped into it at low tide.

Here is the tide coming back.

We did some tidepooling (looking for sea ceatures in the pools left when the tide goes out) along the shoreline.

Our next stop was Seaside, in the northern part of the coast. We went with Bill and Pat Wheeler (the 2nd couple referred to earlier) to the town of Astoria on a day trip. Astoria is where the Columbia River meets the Pacific. We drove around to see some old victorian homes.... I think the Williamsport mansions are more impressive. We walked around an outdoor market that was very nice. A wide variety of items from fruits, vegtables, arts, crafts to flea market stuff. There is a tower in Astoria that has the history of the town engraved in the stone all the way up to the top. Pat and I walked up the 164 steps to the top while Bill and John sat on a bench.

That's Pat in the right hand corner.

 

Here is where the Columbia and Pacific meet. I took this from the top of the tower.

 

This is the bridge we need to cross to get to Washington state, our next stop.

 

On July 3rd we said goodby to Al, Francis, Bill, Pat and our Seaside next door neighbors, Ron and Cathy and headed toward that bridge and another state.

 

 

 

BEND....

Bend..... a city in central Oregon. Population 80,000 plus. Known for it's micro breweries.
Bend..... an alteration or change in the direction of the path. When you think you're going in one direction and something happens to bend your plans.
Bend.... or is it dent... when money flies from your wallet unexpectedly. A bend in your budget occurs due to circumstances.
Now let me tell you how these three bends go together. When last I wrote, we had arrived in La Pine Or, just south of Bend, the city mentioned above. We were going to spend 4 days exploring the city and the area. Our first day was scheduled for the lave fields. This was a volcanic area and there are lava fields, lava tubes in among the ponderosa pine forest. We went to see the 2 lakes (Paulina and East ) that were formed by the collapse of the volcano after it had erupted and spewed out all the lava. Paulina is the largest of the two and has falls at one corner.

 

On day two we toured Bend and did some shopping. Day 3 we went to the lava fields. They run for miles. We went to the visitor center and guess what happened. The jeep wouldn't start. John had purchased another relay switch and he replaced it and it started. We decided to go back to the campground instead of going through the lava tube....just in case we had more problems. On the way back, just as we were making the turn into the road where the campground is we heard a loud thunk under the jeep. I thought we ran over something. We continued to the campsite and I asked John to look under the Jeep to make sure there wasn't any damage underneath. Look what he found sticking out of the rear tire.

 

So he changed the tire and put the spare on. The next morning we called around and found a repair shop with the type and size tire we needed. On the way to the tire shop the Jeep stopped running again, but we were able to restart it. The repair place, Mike's tire and auto care, said they would check out our problem after they put the new tire on. Two hours later they said that they tested the Jeep and it didn't stop and it started every time they started it. They crimped some wires around the relay switches in case that was causing a short. On the way back to the RV it stopped again.

The next day we went to Crater Lake. We stayed at the park campground. Not many people there so we had our pick of spots. Sydney found a patch of snow and settled in.... he hasn't seen it in years.

The next morning we took of for the lake about 5 miles away. Yep........... you guessed it, the Jeep stopped right in the middle of the road. After sitting for a few minutes we were able to restart it... but we went right back to the campsite. I refused to risk getting stranded again. For the next 2 days we stayed at the campsite (we has already paid for the days). We had no phone service and no Internet. I used the GPS to find the nearest Jeep dealer. That was Lithia Superstore in Medford Oregon about 80 miles away. Sunday morning we hooked up the Jeep (it started... we didn't have to push it) and drove to Medford. The dealership was open (without the service department) and a spokesperson told us where to park the Jeep for service in the morning. He told us where to park the RV for the night (right at the dealership) so we didn't even have to go find a campground. The next morning they put it on the computer and found a cam sensor and a crank sensor were faulty. They replaced them and we were back on the road by 2PM on Monday ($414.00 later).
We drove to Klamuth Ca just 20 miles inside the California border to the Redwood National Forest. Just beautiful trees.

 

We found an over look along the coast and watch the sunset over the Pacific Ocean.

 

Now it's back to Oregon and up the coast....first stop Florence.

 

 

 

 

SCENIC SNAKE RIVER...... IDAHO

Hello again. I told you I would type at you soon so here I am. I have much more to say when we are on the road than when we are sitting still. Wendy and Millie, do you remember me telling you that I had seen on TV that solo was coming out with wine glass and champagne glass versions of their red solo cups? Guess what I found in Moab... yep... and I had to have a pair ( of the wine... we don't do champagne). Here they are.

 

All I need now is a bag of wine, some Ritz crackers and a can of cheese whiz for a real red-neck happy hour. 

We left Moab on May 28th and spent 2 nights at Camp Walmarts on the way to Idaho. In Perry Utah a late afternoon storm blew in and provided us with some interesting photo ops.

 

We arrived in Wendall Idaho on the 30th of May and stayed for 3 days. We explored several areas and we both got to see things interesting to each of us. John got to see the only bridge in the US where Base Jumpers can jump (at Twin Falls across the Snake River) and the place beside the bridge where Evil Knevil made his jump attempt across the river.

 

I got to see and enjoy the beautiful Shonshone Falls and the remaining 1 of the twin falls for which the town of Twin Falls is named after. They damned one up for hydroelectric power.

 

We had a picnic lunch at Three Island State Park where the early settlers traveling the Oregon Trail crossed the Snake River. What a nice place.
We left there on the 2nd of June and hit Oregon that evening. We stayed in a rest area overnight (you can do that in Oregon...... but you can't pump your own gas). We are now about 20 miles South of Bend Oregon for a few days waiting for the snow to melt at Crater Lake. Yes, I said snow.... in June, still on the ground at the campground.

 

 

 

 

Magnificient Moab...... Utah

If you are an outdoor enthusiest.... hiking, biking, kayaking, 4-wheeling... than Moab is a must for your bucket list. Throw in beautiful scenery and you are in heaven. But first let me tell you about our not so heavenly trip to get here.
I left you when we were sitting in Show Low Arizona waiting for better weather for traveling north. Sorry Nick but we weren't impressed with your town. The highlight of my stay was a visit to my hummer feeder by a pair of Bullock Oreoles. Here is the male peeking in the window.

 

We left on the 13th of May and traveled to Chinle Az to the Canyon de Chelly (pronounced d shay). Archeological evidence shows that people have lived in these canyons for nearly 5,000 years - uninterupted. That's amasing. It is part of the Navajo reservation so access is limited to some parts of the canyon. Here are some pics. Note the pueblo ruins on the rock ledge.

 

 

 

Here is a pic of the Jeep... dead in the visitor center parking lot.

 

On our secong day we went to the center to check out the gift shop and when we came out it wouldn't start. Upon inquiry we found out that the closest AAA service was 3 HOURS AWAY. Thank goodness the campgrounds were 200 yards away so we left the Jeep in the lot and walked to the MH. John decided to take the motorcycle into town (5 miles away) to see if he could find a local mechanic to help us. At about mile 3.5 the motorcycle stopped and wouldn't restart. John pushed it to the closest gas station. No mechanic. He found someone with a flatbed willing to bring the motorcycle to the campground at the end of the day. Cost $85.00. He then hitched a ride with an Indian family in the back of their pick up truck back to the campground. We then packed up the MH and went up to the visitor center and hooked the jeep up and towed it back. We had to stop in front of our campsite, unhook the Jeep, push it out of the way, back into our site, push the jeep back in front of the MH on our site. In the morning (we had plans to leave that morning), we pushed the jeep out of the way, drove the motorhome into the road, pushed the jeep behind the MH, hooked it up then loaded the dead motorcycle onto the dead jeep. We were off with 3 vehicles but only 1 that worked.

On our way into the town of Moab we found a mechanic who "knew" jeeps so we dropped it off with him. The town and campgrounds were busy because of an ATV weekend. We ended up at a BLM campground 20 miles outside of town. We spent 3 days with no way to go anywhere. Good news.. the 3rd day..  it was a $12.50 relay switch with total labor cost of $37.00 to get our jeep back. John found a collage kid at the campground willing to take him into town to pick it up so we didn't have to pack up the MH once again. John bought a new battery for the motorcycle but it still doesn't work.

Here is a pic of John flying a kite while waiting for the car. Who but John would do it sitting down?

The funny part was that it ended up 25 feet up in a tree.... no way to retrieve it. The camp host was not happy.

Since we were there for another week, after getting working wheels, we had time to see Canyonland National Park

 

Arches National Park...

 

The town has an Arts Festival every Memorial Day weekend... so we went. What a good time.... music, crafts, art, food... what more could you ask for.

 

This group is called Sister Wives and they were really good.... BLUES. They were excellant both vocally and instramentally.
We left Moab..... vary reluctantly.... on Tuesday the 28th and headed north. Next stop Idaho...along the Snake River and the Oregon Trail. Type at you soon.... I promise.