Saturday, May 31, Hells Gate State Park in Lewiston, Id. has some great mixed use trails. We started the day with a 21/2 mile hike along the river and up the hills. Beautiful views of the river and city. We seemed to have chased Spring up from the Southwest to the Northwest. There have been beautiful wildflowers along the way, and Idaho's did not disappoint. The hike was fairly easy with a few steep areas which give you a chance to stop and admire the view. Luci seems to have recovered from her "flu", going full speed up the hills. We did do some shopping, we have been shopping for tires for the Jeep. The Costco in Clarkston, just across the river in Washington, did not have the size we need so they special ordered them to go to the store in Spokane. We waited to get to Washington because we didn't want to pay sales tax in the other states. Guess what, we had lunch at a Brew Pub, good food and enough for take home. There is a large grassy common area which makes our space feel huge. Our neighbor gave us a enough firewood for a couple of fires so we sat by the fire watching a bunch of kids play kickball, dodging errant balls. Luci caught a couple of balls, she thought it was great sport. The kids were very polite, every time a ball came into our camp they would apologize.
Sunday, June 1, we started the day with an 8 mile bike ride up the river, quite a feat for me but Gary could have gone miles farther. I was proud, I didn't fall over and only had to push the bike up one hill. The campground filled up over the week-end so they are heading home and we are enjoying the quiet park again. We met a couple from Newberg Oregon who will be camp hosts there this summer. We had a lot of questions, they have South Dakota plates, a lot of full-time RVers choose to make SD their home of record to save all kinds of money in income tax and license fees. All you have to do is visit the state and open a mail box for forwarding. We'll see, I hate to lose my Oregon identity. I BBQ'd a pork loin for dinner, it came out perfect then we spent the evening sitting around the fire. No balls came our way.
Monday, June 2, we left at 9 for our short drive to Fairchild AFB in Spokane to spend just one night. The AFB fam camps have a type of frequent camper program, after you spend 5 nights at separate AFBases you get coupons for five free nights, what a deal! We had quite an ordeal getting onto the base. Normally you pull up to the gate, show your ID then continue onto fam camp. First of all we went in what we thought was the only gate only to discover we needed to enter through the Rambo Gate, aptly named we found out. There was just a very narrow turn-around, Gary said I can't turn around there. He said to continue on into the base then turn around at the round-about. Okay??? We turned around, exited the base and drove down to the "unmarked" Rambo gate. The military police came out, asked a lot of questions, one of which was, do you have a gun? Gary said yes, a small handgun, well you'd have thought we had towels on our heads. We had to open all the cabinets underneath, he had to go inside, which is tricky when we are all closed up tight. He was a big guy and he had all the stuff on his belt that made him even wider. I didn't go in with him so I don't know what he looked at, you can't see much when the coach is collapsed and you can't even get past the bathroom unless you climb over the bed. After what seemed like was a superficial once over they called the Military Police over to escort us to the armory to check in the "weapon" while we stayed on base. It took us over an hour to get settled when it usually takes us 15 minutes. I think the next time we are asked that question a little white lie might be in order. After the "stress" of it all, I drove into Spokane to get a mani and pedi. Gary was able to take Luci across the street to a big grassy field to let her run of leash. After dinner in the coach we decided to go to the market, just as we got there the promised thunderstorms popped up. The rain was coming down, lightning was striking and the thunder rumbled. On our way back to base we needed to stop for gas so Gary was outside pumping gas as the lightning bolts flashed all around us. I hate lightning.
Tuesday, June 3, the ninth month anniversary of our RVing. Where does time go? I seem to ask that all the time. After the stop at the armory to pick up the gun we were escorted off base by the Military Police. We must look like dangerous terrorists. (Was that redundant?) We pulled into Stacy and Barbara's about 11:30. It took some doing to squeeze the new RV into the space he made for us, we are 5 1/2 feet longer than last September when we were there. Another nasty thunderstorm popped up with heavy rain and hail. Enufff!!!
Wednesday, June 4, Gary and Stacy went into Spokane to get the tires put on the Jeep while I worked on Patti's quilt. Patti was receiving an award that night from the Chewelah City Council, the first of many awards to come.
Thursday, June 5, I finished Patti's quilt! Yea! Tyler and his girlfriend with her two kids (1 1/2 and 3 1/2) arrived from Salt Lake City about 2. That afternoon I went to a Mother's Tea for the graduating seniors. It was quite the affair, fancy tea pots, table cloths, lovely food and we were entertained by the choral group. They were excellent even though Jenkins High School is very small. At each table we played an ice breaker game, one of the questions was who came the farthest for graduation. I won! Essentially I had come from Texas. After the tea, Barbara, Margaret (her Mom)twin sister (also a)Stacy, cousin Brenden who was also graduating, Patti and I went to Mondo's for dinner. Excellent food especially in a small town. After dinner we were off to Senior Awards. In addition to her 4 year full-ride scholarship to Eastern Washington University she earned $2600. more in community scholarship monies. She is also in the National Honor Society. Later that night Barbara had to go to the Spokane Airport to pick up one of her sisters and family. She has 5 sisters, one of which is her twin.
Friday, June 6, I helped Margaret prepare food for the joint graduation party. We worked all day making salads and appetizers stopping to go out to lunch in Deer Park and pick up some more groceries. I got home in time to have pizza the guys had picked up.
Saturday, June 7, The big day! Patti is so excited and so ready for this day. She has been in our family since she was in the 8th grade, what a wonderful addition. Graduation was nice, since it is a small school the ceremony wasn't too long. I think atleast half of Chewelah must have come to the party. The kids have 40 acres about 13 miles out of town, lots of room. Stacy BBQ'd burger, dogs and chicken and lots and lots of food. Margaret is a part-time cake decorator so she made a red velvet cake for Patti and a whipping cream cake for Brenden plus a couple of cheesecakes. (and I helped) We finished the evening sitting around a bon fire. Barbara and Patti left for the all night party at the Y in Spokane.
Sunday, June 8, our last day with the kids. We didn't do much, cleaned up after the party and took it easy. Barbara got home from the party around 6 and Patti rolled in about 4. I gave her the present, telling her she had to give it back to me. She was confused. I still need to have it quilted and finish the binding. I made a pork loin dinner for the group. Tyler and Ashley and kids will be leaving Monday too.
Monday, June 9, Tyler and Ashley left a couple of hours before us, Anthony was already in his car seat, just as they were starting to put Briella in hers they "smelled" something. As Ashley was changing the baby, Anthony was throwing up. Better now than down the road I guess, but they did have a dramatic departure. Ours was much calmer, we didn't puke or poop. We took off for Kennewick about 9:00 to spend the night with old friends Mary and Gerry. It is always fun to see them. They have two boxers, Bert and Molly, when we first arrived Bert was wanting a "piece of Luci", he settled down after a bit and the 3 of them had a great time tearing about the yard. We went out to dinner at one of their favorite haunts. It was such a lovely evening we had after dinner drinks on the patio.
Tuesday, June 10, my sister Judy's birthday. We were on our way to Bend to visit with Talena and family and friends Dan and Charlene who have space for us to park. It was over 200 miles through some hilly rural areas, the drive along the Columbia was beautiful as always. Charlene made a lovely dinner then we took the dogs for a walk.
Not too many pictures this time, but enjoy.
TTFN
Gary and Pam
View from hike of Snake river
Oops!
Mother's Team Margaret, Brenden, (twin) Stacy, Patti, & Barbara
Senior awards
Gary, Patti and I
Patti's Quilt
