On our way East

On August 23, Craig and I celebrated our Anniversary with his parents and brother and sister-in-law.  We have been married 29 years and together for 39.  Had a great time in Olympia at Anthony's HomePort.

On August 24, we headed south and stopped to spend Sunday afternoon with my nephew and family celebrating the three kids' summer birthdays.  Then we headed south to Eugene.  We needed to have a couple of things checked out in the motorhome and we decided that while we were there, that we would have the tapestry couch reupholstered along with redoing our storable ottomans.  So glad we took the time to finally get this done as we had been wanting to get it done since we bought the coach.

Before:

After:

Then onto Estacada on Saturday morning to enjoy the Labor Day weekend with friends.  We were hoping it would be nice, but experienced downpours, but still enjoyed our visit.  On Monday, we went to the Portland zoo with Mathew and family and then he barbecued trout for dinner -- what a treat!!!































Tuesday, Sept. 2 we took off on our 9 month trip, heading east. Traveling everyday until we got to Hardin, Mt, where we stopped for two nights.  More traveling than we are use too, but wanted to get east before we hit any bad weather.  We stopped in Kennewick, Coeur d'Alene, Anaconda, and then Hardin.

We enjoyed seeing the Little Bighorn museums and National Monument around Hardin.  We visited the Custer Museum, that has the second federally recognized Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.   So far we've had really great weather.  Highs in the 70/80s, and lowest temperature was about 35.  (The first picture is of the Tomb and then the rest were taken at Little Bighorn Battlefield, to include the National Cemetery, the Last Stand Monument and the newer Indian memorial monument.

Today we arrived in Belle Fourche, SD and then tomorrow we will travel to the Badlands in South Dakota for 3 nights.  Once we arrived, there was a beautiful  cloud formation, see picture below.  We had to stop today to watch the SF and Dallas football game - let's just say that I enjoy watching the SeaHawk games a lot better!!!   I was hoping that Dallas could hand SF their first loss - oh well!!

Short Stop back in Chehalis - then heading East

We arrived back in Chehalis on August 11 after spending 3 weeks in Oregon.  We needed to get the generator and diesel motor serviced and then a few additional checkups to the motorhome before we head out for about 9 months of traveling.  Once we start moving, I'll update the blog a little more regularly.

We were able to get around Oregon and see all but one of Craig's and my aunts and uncles.  We also did my 40th Class Reunion in Dallas, Oregon.  It was so good to see so many of the classmates as we had a good turnout of about 40 classmates.  We have lost 29 already, which out of about 190, seems like a lot.

Then our travels took us to the Oregon Coast which we always enjoy spending time at Pacific City.  Friends came and spent four nights with us and then we convinced my friend's mother to spend 3 nights with us in the motorhome.  My friend died in April after a very long sickness from diabetes.  So it was good to finally able to give her mother a good vacation, as she never takes time for herself.
She especially enjoyed the ride to Tillamook with Craig on the Harley.

We then did a family picnic and was able to convince Craig's parents to come to Salem early on Saturday and spend two nights with us to attend the picnic at the Dallas City Park.  We've been saving the section of the park that we have the family picnics at for 25 years, so Craig had his Dad's company this year.

Since being back in Chehalis it has been overly busy, getting everything we need from storage to restock the motorhome, getting the Explorer serviced, Vet appointments to include Lexie's platelet shot later this week and our last doctor appointments until we return in May.

We also have had friends come in to camp with us and day visits and we always enjoy their furry friends.  Below are two of them who learned quickly where the treats are kept - Hopps and Bently.
We had a barbecue on Saturday evening with 6 others and then took the left overs to Mom and Dad's on Monday when Mom had foot surgery.

Moving again

We have now been in Chehalis almost two months and haven't moved the motorhome.  We will be leaving here on Monday to spend about 3 weeks in Oregon; going to Eugene, Salem, Pacific City, back to Salem and then return to Chehalis.

We've just been living the "normal" retirement life, doing projects around camp, getting together with friends and family and are looking forward to this weekend, spending time with family and friends.  Last weekend we enjoyed a visit from our nephew and his family which included 2 extra kids so a total of 7.  They brought a tent for the night as 7 additional people and 1 dog is a little much for the motorhome.

I experimented with paints and spruced up my cement raccoon that sits in the site.  I've also been sewing things for Craig - mirror covers for the motorhome and also reenforced the tire covers for the motorhome.  I also finished my first knitted sweater.  I have done lots of scarves, but decided to get back into knitting which I used to do when I was in elementary and middle school.  Craig continues to work on his "garage or enclosed trailer" and has done a lot of work in the site.    We've also been spending 2-3 days at his parent's house trying to help them with various projects.  Keeps us busy!!!

We attended the nephew's birthday dinner:

We went to Wolf Haven in Tenino, WA with Craig's parents:






























And have been enjoying all the wildlife in the park at our site - bunnies, birds, chipmunks, red squirrels and deer.  Here is one of our most frequent visitors:

Lexie continues to have issues, her 8 shots for the arthritis didn't really help her from what we can tell so when we return after our Oregon trip, we'll get her scheduled for another platelet shot.

Back in Chehalis

We arrived back in Chehalis on May 23.  We spent Craig's birthday with his family and then the last couple of weeks we've worked around the campsite, planted flowers, had lots of appointments with doctors, dentist, hair, nails, etc. and have spent time with Craig's parents at their home.

We started Lexie on a series of 8 shots for her arthritis.  She gets two shots a week and she has now had 5 and still not seeing too much improvement.  As soon as we got back into Washington in the dampness, her limp came back.  I'm sure that the arthritis is acting up and her last platelet shot has probably worn off.  She is so patient with everything and doesn't seem to mind sitting in her stroller as we walk and getting carried by Craig on really short walks.  

Everyone knows that I enjoy fresh flowers and prior to full timing we never spent a day out in the motorhome without fresh bouquets of flowers - either out of my garden or from the store.  Now, I try and keep a potted plant of violets inside but they are not always blooming.  So I was really happy to get flowers from Craig's mother (she brought me some of the dutch iris that I had given her when we moved) and a good friend brought me some of her peonies.  Also on Father's Day when we were doing a barbecue with Craig's family, Craig went out in the field below our campsite and surprised me with some fox glove and daisy's.




















When our friend's came to visit for about 5 days, we went on many walks, christened their new motorhome and they taught us to play pickleball.  Lots of fun so before long we were out buying paddles and balls.  Just need drier weather to get in some good playing.

And this last Saturday, we celebrated Craig's parent's 60th Wedding Anniversary at C I Shenanigan's in Tacoma.  Had a great dinner and enjoyed the time with his parents and brother and sister-in-law.

On Sunday we had a great Father's Day barbecue for Craig's parents, brother, sister-in-law and nephew.  Weather didn't totally cooperate, but Craig was able to smoke and barbecue the spareribs on the grill along with corn on the cob under the awning.  On Saturday, we baked the cake and chuck wagon beans on the grill to get a head start on preparations.

Plans are to stay around Chehalis til about mid-July when we'll head to Oregon for about 3 weeks.  Hoping to see family and friends around the area before we head back out the end of August.

Sunriver, Oregon

We met our friends and my brother and sister in law at the Thousand Trails park in Sunriver on Monday, May 12.  We had been to the park a couple of times, but had never stayed in the park.  We found two long spots next to each other with 50 amp service, not far from the site that my brother and his wife lease.  Once we got set up, we found out we could only get one satellite tuned in of the three we need for full service.   We hadn't been carrying our portable system as the LNB had broke so my brother and Craig went to town and got one and we tried that, but we were in too many trees.  So limited taping of shows this week, but that's OK, we have lots of other things to do.

Craig also took the Explorer in and we had a nail in one front tire and a sliver in the other.  That's fixed now as well.

We had group dinners around the campfire every night with 8 - 10 people.  On Friday, Craig and I did pork spareribs for everyone on the smoker.  I have to say, they were the best that we've done so far.

On Saturday, we took the Kayaks to South Twin lake and spent the afternoon with our friends.  We finally got Lexie out in the kayak and she did very well to our surprise. Kyna is getting to be a pro, so relaxed.   She also let our friends new miniature Aussie try out her life jacket.  "Whiskey" is only 6 months old and after going into the water a couple of times, once at shore and once in the lake, he settled down and enjoyed the ride, but a little wiggly throughout.  Whiskey now has his own life jacket.

On Sunday evening, 8 of us went to the Cowboy Dinner Train out by Silver Lake.  Very interesting place and the food was great - but way too much.  Craig and I made two meals off of one steak and shared the bake potatoes and we still have one steak (really the size of a small roast) in the freezer.

We also had the chance to vista our friends from Phoenix's new home in Redmond.  When we were in Phoenix they were just moving out and when we got to Sunriver, they were in the process of just moving into their new home after cleaning, painting, etc.  Their new home is very nice and we enjoyed them taking some time off and doing dinner with us.

We went up the Deschutes river one day and then on Wednesday before we left, we went back to South Twin Lakes.  Our sister-in-law Kathy spent the day with us and again Lexie let their six month puppy Kiowa use her life jacket.  Ki did great.

On May 22 we headed to Salem to visit friends and family and then made it back to our leased campsite in Chehalis on May 23 to celebrate Craig's birthday with his family.

Utah to Oregon

We took our time traveling to Sunriver, Oregon after leaving Utah, traveling about 200 miles each day.  We found some really nice campgrounds that we would definitely go back to.  First stop was Declo, Idaho, east of Twin Falls at Village of the Trees RV park.   From our campsite we could see the Snake River.  Once we got set up, we went down and sat on the boat dock, thinking about getting out the kayaks, but we decided against it.  On our way back to camp, we met this little colt and enjoyed watching it play in the field.  It was about 70 degrees on Monday afternoon and when we got up the next morning to travel, it was about 34 and snowing.

We travelled in snow and rain for about 37 miles and then it finally dried up.  As we were traveling, the motorhome had an oil light come on and then the tire pressure on the Explorer came on saying we had low tire pressure so we stopped and Craig had to check both out.  Everything OK so we were on our way after he changed because he was soaked as we hadn't reached the dry area yet.  So glad he is mechanical and can take care of these type of things!

We travelled to Caldwell, Idaho and spent two nights at Country Corners RV park.  No pictures of the campground bur very nice and out of the city so it was very quiet.  Got the doggy ride bicycle tires fixed and did a couple of other errands.  We also checked out one of the wineries of Southwestern Idaho called Ste. Chapelle.  The wines were more reasonably priced than anywhere we had been and was very good.  As I reviewed their wine list, I thought the prices listed were for a glass of wine as they were priced at  $10 and $12, with their reserves at $15 and $25.  They did turn out to be bottle prices so we restocked.

Then on the road again on Thursday, traveling to Crane, OR about 25 miles south of Burns.  I had found the Crystal Crane Hot Springs resort on the computer and read the reviews and decided this would be a fun place to stop.  All the reviews were positive but mentioned how rustic it was and there were only 9 RV spots with additional dry camping spaces.  Regular price for the RV spots with hookups was only $18 a night which gave full access to the outdoor hot springs pool (picture below). There were also cabins, apartments and the TeePee below for others to stay in, as well as private hot tubs people could rent by the hour.  We went in the outdoor pool everyday, rain, snow or sunshine and the pool ranged at about 102 - 104 degrees.  The water coming into the pool was about 150 degrees so once the wind stopped and the sun came out, they had to run cold water into the pond to manage the temperature.  It was a wonderful find and we will definitely go back when in the area.

This is the outside hot springs and the view from when we were in the water.  The entire pond was at it's deepest only 7 feet.  Very relaxing with a great view.






















More tire pressure issues with the Explorer so that will be one of the first things we will have checked once we get to Sunriver on May 12 since we will be there for about 10 days.

Utah Lake State Park in Provo

We arrived here at the State Park on Monday, April 28th, without reservations as we were not sure how we would fit in their sites.  It worked out great, with a little confusion from the staff as to what sites were available for the entire week, but after a few hours of making arrangements and moving the motorhome once, we were able to stay in the same site for the entire week.  Next time we'll make reservations as we now know what sites we can fit in.  Here's a view of our campsite from the lake.

This week we were not going to do site seeing but just enjoy getting our kayaks out into the water.  Once we arrived and after some of the cold weather we experienced in Cedar City, we fired up our Aqua Hot system (diesel system that provides hot water and heat when we only have 30 amp power). Since we hadn't used it for a couple of months it was clogged so we spent Tuesday getting it fixed.  There was only two authorized dealers in the state and one was only 50 miles away.  They were very busy, but squeezed us in.  Then of course the weather changed and got warmer and we were running air conditioners rather than heat the rest of the week, but at least it's fixed.  Lesson learned we need to fire it up whether we need it or not at least monthly.

We had windy weather on the lake until Friday morning, (again blowing about 25-35, with 45 mile an hour gusts).  But Friday was so calm the lake looked like glass so finally out came the kayaks.  We decided to leave Lexie in the motorhome as her leg is starting to bother her again, but Kyna went out with us two of the three days we spent on the water.

We also found a bicycle path that we went out for a ride, "girls" in tow.  Everything worked great until we turned around at the end of the path and Craig is having to work like crazy to pull the girls for the last two miles.  Not till we returned to the motorhome did he realize it wasn't the up hill climb, but he had two flat tires on the doggy ride trailer.  Those darn goat head stickers!!!  We'll find a bike shop to get repairs when we get into the Boise area later this week.

Today after our kayak ride, we are putting things away to get ready for traveling in the morning.  I was suppose to help Craig with getting the kayaks back in the trailer, but when I checked on him, the kayaks were already stored and put away.  Thanks to all that helped on the "e" track and trolley system, it's working out great.  Craig doesn't even need my help 😄.  We are off again in the morming, we'll spend one night in Declow, Idaho and then two nights in Caldwell.  Then off to eastern Oregon to spend four nights at the Hot Springs before spending 10 days in Sunriver.