Starting our 2nd year on the road

It is hard to believe a year has gone by since we left for our "year" of rving.  Now we are ready to be Full-Time RVers when people ask us where we live.  It was sad to say good-bye to our family and friends.  We had busy last week in Salem.

  Tuesday Sept. 2nd., Gary became an Elk member, he had to ride a goat but that went okay.  Now we have many RV camps to choose from that are very reasonable.  Jay and Sandy (Gary's sponsor) had to drive an hour and forty five minutes to be at the Elks meeting.  Well Sandy didn't, we sat in the bar and played cards. 

Wednesday,  Sept. 3rd., I went to my last exercise class with the WOW "girls" Sylvia and Judith, Cameron showed me no mercy.  He's going to miss my whining.  Jack and Sharyl, from our camp-out club invited us to lunch to show is their recent renovations inside and landscaping.  Very nice.  Ron and Sharon, who host the brick oven pizza parties on their patio came to dinner. Sharon is a PA for my cardiologist so I was a bit nervous about what to cook.  A couple of years ago they bicycled from Salem, Oregon to Salem, Massachusetts, this year they headed off to Colorado by bike, in Boise the trip was cut short due to a coffee pot incident, the lid had fallen down into the pot, when Ron reached in to retrieve it, the pot shattered cutting his hand so bad he needed surgery to put the tendons back where they belong.

Thursday morning Sept. 4th.,we dropped Luci off at the Dog Bark doggie day camp and boarding to spend the night, we were going to Seattle to the Seattle/Green Bay game.  We rode up with Brian and Susan, our neighbors on Lone Oak who are season ticket holders. After our 20 years as season ticket holders I've missed going to the games especially the night games, there is a heightened sense of excitement.  Especially this year after winning the Super Bowl the crowd was frenzied.  NFL had a special kick off week program, there was a free concert outside the stadium and in Pioneer Square they had lots of activities.  We saw Steve Largent and Cortez Kennedy signing autographs, we skipped that the line was really long.   Before the game they unfurled SuperBowl Champion banners, one covered the entire Hawks Nest, and the one on the field filled up most of the 100 yards.  Oh and we won 36-16!!!  GO HAWKS!

Friday, Sept. 5th., we left Seattle for Salem by 10:00 to get back for Luci's vet appointment.  Carol and Al, Gary's sister and brother-in-law stopped by for a "good-bye" visit.  Chris and Micah came to dinner, they were so kind to loan us Micah's pick-up to use while we were in town.  What a blessing!

Saturday, Sept. 6th., Gary went for his last group bike ride and coffee after, he's going to miss all of his "bike buds".  Meanwhile I went out to breakfast with Joan and her grandson Jake.  Joan and I took quilting classes together with "another" Carole.  Then I left for Eugene with Carol (yes another) to watch the Ducks play Michigan State.  While I was gone Gary went to see daughter Leah and family, they are moving to Olympia, her husband retired from the Army and will be attending college there.  Oh, and yes, after a stressful first half the Ducks prevailed 46-29.  I ran into Kurt (Talena's husband), Ethan, Gary Barker (Kurt's dad) and Justin (Leah's husband) at Moshofsky center before the game.  GO DUCKS!!!

Sunday, Sept. 7th we left town for Ft. McChord AFB, to spend the night at their fam camp.  It was in a forest of big fir trees, nice spots for only $18.00 a night.  We had a quiet evening, there was no satellite reception.  To get to fam camp we had to go past the end of the runway, HUGE cargo jets fly in and out of McChord, very loud.

Monday, Sept. 8th before we left, we took Luci on a 3.5 mile walk, as we passed the end of the runway we watched two of those planes rumble off, it's amazing how they can fly as big as they are.
We left for Naval Air Station Whidbey Island about 11, several people told us what a nice park it is, well nice doesn't even come close.  It is right on the water, a great beach. several miles of walking paths and amazing flowers.  Well it's not really a walking path, the sailors jog daily.  It is fun to watch the EA-18 jets take off very close to fam camp.  Smaller cargo planes take off regularly to, many touch and go's by both planes.  After dark we thought we were being attacked, the 18's sounded like they were going to come right through the roof, making the coach shake.

Tuesday, Sept. 9th, our 36th wedding anniversary.  We went back up to the Deception Pass bridge, when we crossed it on Monday I held my breath, it's only 24 feet wide.  It is almost 1500 feet long and 180 feet from the water.  Being in the coach you look over the barriers straight down to the tumultuous narrows.  Acckkkkk!  We passed a produce stand on the way to the bridge so I wanted to stop and see what they had to offer.  Good stuff.  Outside there was a large elephant that scared the pee wadding out of Luci.  Poor baby.  Our next stop was Ft Casey, we'd been there many, many years ago, I figured same old same old.  They have done extensive work there to show more gun batteries.  The initial construction on the fort began in 1897, in 1918 along with Fort Casey and Fort Worden  across the sound, formed a triangle of defense to guard the cities of Puget Sound.  Luci and I walked down toward the beach just in time to see 6 seals frolicking.  Very cute.  The Port Townsend-Coupeville ferry landing is right next to the fort, it's always amazing to watch semi-trucks being loaded on a boat.  Of course no day would be complete without a geo cache.  We'd decided to celebrate our anniversary with lunch out in historic Coupeville.  It was established in 1853 and is one of the oldest in the state of Washington.  We chose the Front Street Grill, right on the water in the historical district.  Delish! 

TTFN,

Gary and Pam                              Our home in Salem for 2 1/2 months

                                         The woods at Fort McChord

                                         Cliffside fam camp flip-flops picked up from beach in 2012

                                         Our spot from the beach

                                          Sunset Monday night

                                          Part of the gardens at Cliffside fam camp

                                         View from bridge at Deception Pass

                                           What the heck is that??!!

 

                                         Disappearing gun at Ft. Casey

                                  

                                          Admiralty Head Lighthouse

                                          Capt'n Tack and me in Coupeville

                                          Historic pier at Coupeville

 

Summer in Salem

Sept., 3, our first anniversary of full-time RVing.  When we pulled out of the driveway on Lone Oak Rd. where we lived for over 35 years, it was just for a year to try "it" out.  Five months later we'd made the decision to stay on the road.  We decided we needed a little more room and Gary wanted a diesel pusher (RV jargon) and I needed a washer and dryer.  So on Valentines day we drove home with our new home.  I think a dozen roses would have been a little cheaper.
We have traveled through 10 states and drove 11,638 miles. I didn't calculate the amount of fuel consumed, some things are  better off unknown.  Our weather ranged from 17 degrees and snow to 100 degrees and no snow.

We pulled into SunDial Mobile Home Park on June 16th, after driving through a nasty rainstorm on the Santiam Pass.  Our grandson Ethan from Bend  rode with us to spend the week with his newlywed older brother Nick.  We had a lot of things on our plate.  First we had to find a place then hold our "estate" sale.  It turned out the park was scheduled to have a park wide sale in July, next we  had to gather all of our "stuff" from about five different locations and set up for the sale.  Our space has a long driveway for us to set out our many tables and we were the first spot prospective buyers could "stop and shop". Garage sailers are an interesting lot.  A lady in the park was gathering items for her Catholic Church rummage sale so we boxed up the remaining items and she picked them up!  What a deal!

Next on the agenda was to take the coach to Allied Recreation group in Coburg, about an hour south of Salem.  Most of Fleetwood's authorized dealers weren't interested in doing warranty work it was like a breath of fresh air to have someone listen to your (RV) problems and take care of them.  Our techs, Matt and Tyler were just wonderful.  We went to Coburg three different times totaling 7 days.  At 7:30 we had to have the coach ready to go every morning, amuse ourselves all day until about 4 when it was delivered back to our space.  We had water and electric hook-ups plus with our satellite dish we weren't lacking for anything except maybe sleep.  We met some fun people there,  several people were going down to Coos Bay for the FMCA rally, our neighbor was a high mucky muck in the organization.  We did a lot of hiking, one hot day we took Luci and climbed up to the top of Skinners Butte, a fairly easy climb with views of the city and mountains.  We were pretty hot so we decided to take Luci to the river for a swim, the park was adjacent the Willamette River.  Seemed like a good idea at the time, she had a swell time.  We loaded her in the car and stinko, she smelled like sewer.  Our next stop was the rub a dub doggie wash.  Allied group does work for three companies, Fleetwood being the poor step sister, we were surrounded by Monaco's and Holiday Ramblers.  It seems from everyone we talked to that quality control in the RV industry isn't a high priority. 

We got back into the swing of things, Gary rode with his bike group 3 times a week doing 20 plus miles at a time.  (I feel good if I manage 3), I was back with my weekly pinochle group and exercise group.  I did manage to finish two quilts one of which I completed entirely in the coach.  It seemed like we were always going out to eat with friends and family, both Gary and I are feeling a little "chubby".  We have two daughters that live in Salem we enjoyed the time we were able to spend with them.  We helped celebrate Patryk's 5th birthday at Chuckee Cheese, do you know they sell beer there?  For Gary's birthday we had a pizza party for family and a few friends, they make a pizza that has 36 pieces.  Also Chris celebrated her birthday but isn't looking forward to next years.

The fourth of July we went to the national forest outside of Sisters with about 10 other families and about 8 Labradors.  Luci had a great time playing in  the creek then crossed over and found something vile to roll in, she is such a dog.   I had to bathe her in the freezing cold creek to get the stink off.  We took a hike up to little 3 Creeks Lake, a lovely walk until the mosquitos found us, they usually leave me alone but not this time. We saw 2 bald eagles circling overhead when we made the summit.  We did learn our lesson though, we won't be taking the coach out into the boonies again, it got scratched up from the low branches and we're still getting the red dust out of it.  It took Gary hours waxing to get rid of the majority of the scratches.

The third week-end in August we joined our camp out group in Tillamook at the Elks campground.  The area was having a "Step back in time" event, for $15.00 per person you could visit numerous museums from Tillamook  to Rockaway Beach, (one was a quilt museum), we took the steam engine train ride from Garabaldi to Rockaway Beach.  The weather was the usual summer weather for the Oregon Coast, drizzly and gray but one day we did see the sun.  After eating too much we would play card games and Mexican Train.  It was good to see everyone again.

The following week-end we met Dan and Charlene at Trailbridge Reservoir on the McKenzie River.  What a cool campground, the spaces were so large we were able to share a spot, $5.00 a night to camp.  We hiked a 7 mile loop (all uphill both ways) to the Blue Pool, the Mckenzie runs under the lava field, coming out from the ground making the most beautiful blue pool, hence the name.  The water is about 36 degrees, while we were there an Englishman on his honeymoon jumped from about 20 feet into the water, he didn't linger long.  The next day we did about a 4 mile loop from Sahalie Falls to Koosah Falls, a lovely hike along the rushing river.

We did make the rounds of doctors, dentist, accountant etc.  We managed to take care of all the business in town that  had to be done.  This is our last week here, very busy but I'll tell you more next week.  Tonight Gary will be initiated into the Elks club in Independence, our "buds" from the camp out group and our neighbors here at the park, told us about the great RV parks a lot of Elk lodges have at a reasonable price.  That is going to give us another option for places to stay. 

TTFN
Gary and Pam                 

Our camping spot in forest near Sisters       

Little 3 Creeks Lake

                             

                                           Luci and Cocoa playing with the firewood

                                          Our view from camp

                                         The Blue Pool

                                           Sahlie Falls

                                                  Koosah Falls

                                            Campsite at TrailBridge Reservoir, Gary Dan Charlene & Dolly

                                          Allied Recreation Group parking lot/rv spot

Lewiston, Id., Chewelah, Wa., Kennewick, Wa. and Bend

It's been a busy and fun last 10 days.  We enjoyed the Lewiston, Id area, Patti's graduation, visits with friends.

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

                                         $2600 in community awards

                                          Patti at graduation

                                         Barbara's family

                                        
                                             Gary, Patti and I

 

Patti's Quilt

Salt Lake City, Boise & Lewiston, Id.

We are slowly making our way back to Salem.

Saturday, May 23, Gary went to the Hill AFB Air and Space Museum while I managed to publish my blog and do the laundry.  I know how to have fun!  After lunch we drove into Salt Lake City about a 20 minute drive from the base which is close to Ogden.  Our first stop, as usual, was a trip to the visitor center to plan our time in the city.  The US Bus start their tours from there so we decided to hop on.  It is a 90 minute tour with 19 stops and you can  "hop on and  hop off".  Since  it was so late in the afternoon there weren't going to be any more buses that day so we stayed on for the entire trip and we were given vouchers to come back another day to take advantage of the "hopping".  So we perused the city to give us an idea of what we wanted to see more closely.  Our driver was originally from New England but has lived in SLC for over 30 years.  They play a tape as you go along listing the highlights, he would stop and make his own comments which were far more interesting.  We have never been in Salt Lake City before, we'd buzzed past it on the freeway a couple of times and weren't impressed, all you really saw were refineries and industrial areas.  The downtown area is really pretty and very clean.  When we got back to the visitor center I asked the volunteer there if they had any "fast fact" brochures about SLC that I could use in my blog.  He then pulled out a map of downtown and proceeded to tell us where the bars are.  I was a bit confused, thought maybe he'd heard bar instead of blog so I told him again what I wanted.  He then proceeded to tell us where the best brew pubs were.????????  We must have looked thirsty.  We did take his advice though and went to Squatter's Brew Pub, where they make Polygamy Porter that is so good you'll want to take it home to your wives.  His joke, not mine.

Sunday, May 25.  We decided to go to Antelope Island, the largest of the four islands in Great Salt Lake, now a state park.  You cross a causeway that was about 7 miles long  to get on the island, of course being a causeway there is water on both sides of the road.  There were a number of geo caches along the way we thought we'd pick up along the way, we'd read the previous logs about the warnings of massive bugs and to be sure to wear bug spray.  We did heed their warning, but really how many bugs could there be?  Maybe a kazillion!  Gary managed to step in some muck picking up one geo cache, his shoe stunk so bad I thought we were going to have to throw it away, vinegar did the trick, we didn't have to toss them out.  They are called brine flies, which resemble mosquitos (maybe that is just a nicer name) but they didn't bite, just pesky and icky! Prehistoric artifacts have revealed that people inhabited the land more than 6,000 years ago but in the 1800's Kit Carson was the first to explore the island in modern times.  He named it Antelope Island after seeing pronghorn antelope on the rangelands.  Great Salt Lake is the largest natural lake west of the Mississippi but started as Lake Bonneville in the ice age and was over 200,000 square miles, which now is a mere 75 miles long by 28 miles wide.  Four rivers flow into the lake which has no outlet except for evaporation.  the minerals that flow into the lake become very salty.  They say to take a swim in the lake to test the waters buoyancy, no thanks.  There are fresh water springs that can support wildlife, of course the antelope, but bison were introduced in the later 1800's, 12 were brought in, now the herd is over 500, they roam freely around the park.  Signs say to stay away from the bison they can be dangerous, well duh, have you seen the size of their heads and horns close up?  There are many trails to take from easy to strenuous, so we took Luci on an easy one.  We had a nice picnic lunch overlooking the lake and several bison grazing.  It was a nice day and the only bugs were on the causeway which normal people just drive on.

Monday, May 26, we decided to take Luci to Doggie Day Care (big mistake but more about that later) so we could spend some time in downtown SLC and not have to worry about her.  We got back on the bus, the first (and only) place we got off was the state capitol.  It was built in 1916, made of marble with a copper dome, a very beautiful building.  Did you know that there is a replica of the Liberty Bell in all of the state capitols in the US?  Theirs is located inside, Salem's is located outside on the west side of the building.    We went to catch the bus and waited and waited.  Finally we got tired of wasting time and decided to walk down the hill.  I'm so glad we did, we saw so many beautiful historic homes along the way. The LDS have a conference hall near Temple Square, it is the largest religious building in the US, they give tours but we just glanced in the auditorium, it is so big, you can put two 747's side by side in the room or another perspective, two football fields.  Temple Square, 33 acres in downtown, is beautiful.  It took 40 years to build the Temple.  Brigham Young laid out the city in a grid pattern, starting at the Temple,  each block is 1/8th of a mile long so if you walk around the block you've gone a quarter of a mile.  We had lunch at an authentic Italian pizza restaurant, the owner had the brick ovens made in Italy and imports all of the ingredients from there too.  The crust is very thin, the pie bakes in about 90 seconds.  Very good.  Gary wanted to visit the Ft. Douglas Military Museum up on the hill close to the University of Utah.  The University covers about 1500 acres overlooking the city.  Another beautiful historic building which is still being used is the City-County building which was the original capitol.  It was built in 1891 and took four years to build.  We were impressed with the downtown area, will go back there some day to take a closer look.  We prepared to move onto Boise the next day, wanted to get an early start so put away everything not needed. 

Tuesday, May 27, we wanted to get up early for our 200 plus drive up to Boise.  Well,  reveille woke us up at 7:00, much later then we planned, but glad that something woke us up.  We ended up leaving about 10 after fueling up.  The drive was a bit boring, I read most of the way.  Luci as usual was on my lap, but just before Jerome, Id., where we had lunch she got down and laid on the rug.  We thought she was acting lethargic because at day care she runs and plays all day.  Gary took her out for a potty break and she barfed her breakfast.  Remember the day care long story, well there was a sign  posted that they had some troubles with dogs getting the stomach flu but felt they had it all eradicated.  In hindsight, we shouldn't have left her there.  That's hindsight for you. We called the day care, they said it usually lasts 1-3 days, recommended a vet visit if she becomes dehydrated or seems really ill.  She barfed off and on until 3:00 am.  Gary sat up with her, what a good papa.  We are staying at Gowen Field, a joint base National Guard/Air Force.  We were following Miss Sally (the GPS), she told us to turn right when we could clearly see the airport on the left, we did as we were told, had to turn around, then when we were in the general area when we turned into the wrong gate which was locked.  HMMMM, it always makes Gary happy when we get lost.  Fortunately we had a phone number for the base and they directed us without any further mishaps. We did go out to dinner with Ben and Susan that we met in St. George, they live in Boise.  Boise is such a cool city, the downtown is very eclectic with all kinds of restaurants and of course the brew pubs.  We ate at Bittercreek Ale house, the food was delish!  Gary tried one of their beers and I had a margarita that I "slurped" down because of the stress of the day.  That too was delish!

Wed, May 28,  Luci seems a little better, she still won't eat but was up for a walk.  We'd called our vet in Salem, she told us to give her some Pepto Bismo caplets, one adult dose every 3 hours.  The first one she barfed up and we absolutely could not get any more down her.  Poor baby, every time I came near her mouth she took off.  The Oregon National Guard are at Gowen Field training for their deployment to Afghanistan, it was interesting to watch, besides all the PT, some of the exercises they were doing were packing a man on their backs then dropping them to the ground and doing medical aid.  Of course they were wearing their full gear in the hot sun running the track.  We needed to do some grocery shopping, we found a WINCO, yea, our favorite store.  The name stands for Washington, Idaho, Nevada, California and Oregon so we haven't been to one for a while.  We got back to the coach, Luci seemed more lethargic, she wasn't eating or drinking anything.  I took her to the emergency vet hospital.  We were put into a room right away then someone brought a dog in that had been hit by a car so we waited.  Finally the vet came in, she was from Salem and was the original owner of Companion Pet Clinic in S. Salem just a about a mile from our house.  She examined Luci and thought just an anti-nausea shot would do the trick.  She was gone quite a while, someone had brought a dog in that had ingested people drugs.  Anyway Luci got her shot, if that didn't work we should bring her back for tests. $$$$$$$

Thursday, May 29, We got an early start for our 300 plus mile trek to Lewiston, Id.  It was a beautiful drive along the Salmon River, it started out as a quiet meandering stream through meadow then started down in elevation and became quite a rushing river with many rapids and small waterfalls.  It is quite a tourist destination further downstream with many rafting businesses.  We stopped in the small town of New Meadows for lunch after driving 150 miles straight.  Very unlike us, we usually doddle.  We drove the last 150 miles straight through too, going over steep mountain passes arriving at Hells Gate State Park about 4. PDT, we're back in Pacific time now.  Luci is feeling much better so we were able to leave Boise without spending our kids inheritance.  What a beautiful park right on the Snake River.  We picked up our 2,000 geo cache before dinner in the coach. After dinner we took a nice walk along the paved pathway to the Visitor Center and Marina. We were going to have a fire but after much searching and probably cursing, Gary couldn't find the hatchet, we knew where it was in the old coach but that didn't do any good.

Friday, May 30,  We started out the day with a 4 mile hike along the river and up the hills here at the park.  It was mostly easy but we did have some elevation change to deal with.  We went to Bi-Mart (another store we've missed) to buy a hatchet and just relaxed the rest of the day.  The campground is starting to fill up for the week-end, many local families camp here.  I think this is the nicest State Park I've ever stayed at.

Enjoy the pictures,

TTFN

Gary and Pam

                                            The Kazillion bugs at geo cache
                                           
                                         The causeway to Antelope Island

                                         Bison grazing freely

                                         State Capitol

                                         View of downtown SLC from Capitol

                                         The Rotundra

                                          Liberty Bell replica

                                         One of assorted Bison statues around downtown

                                          The Temple

                                         LDS Conference Center

                                           The front of the conference bldg. waterfall

 

                                                   The front of the Temple

                                         The bus

Torrey, Moab and Salt Lake City

Another week has just flown by.

Saturday, May 17, we are still in Torrey (Capitol Reef NP) thanks to a screw up at LaMesa RV in Tucson. Since we were in Salem in March we have been trying to get our Oregon registration for the coach.  Just when we think everything is in order something else rears it's ugly head.  It boiled down to LaMesa not sending the proper paperwork.  In the meantime our temporary registration was expiring very soon.  The first part of the week they had assured us that the fax was sent to ODMV, then they were going to overnight the 30 day extension to us.  Hmm, did not arrive.  After another call we found out the person who was supposed to send the fax was called away from work due to an emergency.  Long story short it was finally sent Friday to arrive at the RV park on Monday by 4:30.  We had to change our itinerary, cutting our time in Moab to 2 days, with the Memorial holiday coming up the RV park in Moab couldn't extend our visit.  Enough whining.  We spent the day geo cacheing around Torrey, we picked up 28.  The area around the town is pretty on it's own with many red rock formations.

Monday, May 19,  We'd run out of "touristy" things to do so we spent the day cleaning the coach, there was a fine layer of dust everywhere plus the endless job of laundry.  The "overnight" letter arrived by 4:00.  We treated ourselves to dinner out since we'd worked so hard.  There are several restaurants in the area, we decided on a Mexican restaurant at the edge of the park.  We walked in, no one was in there (it was almost 6) the waitress poked her head out and told us to sit anywhere.  When she finally arrived at our table Gary asked for a beer, he had to go to the gas station adjacent to the restaurant to buy it.  We're starting to feel like we'd made a poor choice, maybe we should finish the beer and leave, but we didn't want to be rude.  We had some questions about the menu, she didn't know and had to go back to the kitchen and ask.  We finally ordered, at that point more people were coming in we weren't feeling so much like Maytag repairmen.  The food arrived, it was hot and delish, glad we'd stayed. 

Tuesday, May 20, We left for Moab about 9:30, a relatively short drive only 31/2 hours.  Moab, about 4,000 feet elevation, is quite a tourist town.  It is quite the outdoor recreation area, lots of hiking, canyoneering, rafting, mountain biking and of course the two national parks, Arches and Canyonlands.  Spanish Trail RV park was a sight for sore eyes, they even had green grass at each site with a lovely "tiled" patio running the length of the space.  After all the dirt and dust in the last several areas it seemed like the Garden of Eden.  We went to the visitor center first thing for advice on what to see during our short visit.  I bought a cool t-shirt and some post cards.  We checked out a doggie day care for Luci (who else?) so we wouldn't have to worry about her while we spent the day in the canyon.  We looked around town while we were doing some geo cacheing, then headed back to the RV park for the night. 

Wednesday, May 21, We left the park about 8:00, dropped Luci at day care then headed out to Canyonlands.  We skipped Arches since we'd been there 6 years ago, I don't imagine it has changed much since then.  Our first stop was outside the park to see the 600 ft tall Entrada sandstone rock formations they call the Merrimac and Monitor, Civil War ships that had somewhat the same shapes. (so Gary told me)  Canyonlands NP has three sections, Island in the Sky, The Maze and the Needles.  Since  time was short we chose the Island section.    Once we entered the park our first stop was at the Shafer Trail Overlook where the sides drop off 1400 feet to the canyon floor.  Originally a native trail, then in the 1900's ranchers used it then in the 1950's uranium miners used the road, closing in the 60's when it became a national park.  The miners changed the face of the canyon as you'll see from the pictures.  The first hike we took was a half mile loop to see the Mesa Arch.  I think Canyonlands miles are similar to a "hairdressers" inch.  It seemed much farther, a lovely walk to the arch where you could see as far as the La Salle Mtns and all the canyon land .  It was only 100 ft in elevation change but what they don't tell you, it is just the average, there are a lot of ups and downs along the way. Unfortunately it was pretty hazy that day so our pictures don't do it justice.  There were several overlooks along the way to the end, Grandview Point, elevation 6080 ft.  The hike was 2 mile RT (sure) with an elevation change of only 50 ft.  (Ha) It was a lovely walk, lovely in the sense of mother nature's beauty, you could almost see forever.  There were several sets of stone steps along the route, we were wondering who was the poor guy that had to drag these rocks up there.  We couldn't find an unoccupied picnic table so we ate lunch in the car, just as well, the wind was howling.  We headed back to the other section of  Island to the Green River Overlook (you could see how the river carved through the canyon) and Upheaval Dome.  We could see why it is called Island in the Sky, you feel like you're on top of the world with the rock formations  jutting up from the canyon floor like islands.  I skipped the hike to Upheaval Dome, (learned my lesson in Bryce) I sat in the car while Gary took the mile hike.  It was rated moderate which for me means very strenuous.  It was about an hour drive back to Moab, we had to pick up Luci by 4:45 so we had to scurry back.  Canyonlands is beautiful in it's own way but we wish we'd seen it first because the other canyons were much prettier, atleast in our opinion.  For dinner we went to Moab Brewing, of course, their special that night was meatloaf, we chose it so we could have leftovers.  The inside of the brew pub was decorated with an "outdoor" recreation theme.  Over our head was a river rafting boat complete with oars and life jackets.  The wind was really howling by the time we got back to the park, a real dust bowl.  There goes the clean coach!

Thursday, May 22, We headed off to Salt Lake City, a 250 plus drive on secondary roads through Price and into Spanish Fork at I-15, a pretty drive but no more red rock.  The trip through Salt Lake City to Hill AFB  was pretty stressful with all the traffic, Gary said it reminded him of driving through Phoenix.  Our GPS "Miss Sally" and the Military RV campground book had different ideas how to get there, we followed the directions in the book except I didn't read the complete instructions, turn R at the exit.  Well we turned left.  Bad idea, we ran into road construction and it took us a while to find a place to go around the block.  We went over a "dip" in the road that wasn't visible and tore off the clamp that keeps the generator from falling out.  Oh Crud!  My fault, I'm a lousy "nagavator" (as my sister Judy calls herself).  We made it to the base without the generator falling out, got our spot for one night, and settled in.  Our neighbor gave Gary wire to hold  the door shut, he didn't need duct tape for this job. Several years ago in the old coach on our way to the coast, the front wheel well skirt broke loose and was making a terrible racket.  So while  Gary was out there duct taping it together, a big, fancy, expensive coach  drove by.  I told him I bet it wasn't held together with duct tape. Our neighbor  Steve, from Kentucky, is a Gulf War veteran, at the age of 45 is medically retired from the Navy with a strange disease that causes tumors all through his body. The doctors have determined they are caused by the vaccines he had to take to go to the Gulf.  He and his wife Michelle have been full-timing for a couple of years.  She was a teacher and now goes all across the country giving seminars on developing curriculum for teachers.  We ate our left-overs and called it a night. 

Friday, May 23, our plans for the day were changed, Gary had some issues with the left-overs we weren't straying too far from the coach. (If you catch my drift)  I went off to the Commissary to stock up with groceries.  We needed to change spaces so we could get 50 amp electricity.  About noon he was feeling better so we "scrunched" everything together and moved.  We told Steve and Michelle it was nothing personal.  After we got settled they came by to visit, they'd purchased a 2014 Thor last September so we were comparing experiences.  Steve said he wanted to buy a Discovery just like ours but made the mistake of going to an RV show where Michelle fell in love with the Thor, it is also over 40 feet.  You know if Mama ain't happy nobody is happy so they purchased that coach.  It has a lot of windows which make it seem so much bigger.  After their first night out the slide wouldn't go back, things have gone downhill since then.  How do you spell lemon?  They have had so many problems they have to take it back to the factory in Indiana for numerous repairs.  Our "issues" pale in comparison to theirs.  Later we went to Costco just as the forecast thunder and lightning storm started, good thing I had an umbrella, we weren't dressed for rain.  As we crossed over a railroad yard I saw a bolt streak down and hit the ground.  I hate lightening!  We came back and had nice warm homemade turkey chili for dinner.

Enjoy the pictures, TTFN

Gary and Pam

                                          The Merrimac and Monitor in distance

                                         Shafer Trail Overlook

                                         Tree at Shafer Overlook

                                         Not sure what kind of flowers but pretty

                                         Mesa Arch

                                         A view of how miners changed landscape

                                          Gnarly tree

                                         Even rocks like the Ducks

                                          Formations similar to Bryce

                                         More unknown flowers growing out of rock

                                         Another view from the Grand View trail

                                         And another

                                         and another

                                          Old folks sure dress funny

                                         Green River from overlook

                                         This was all I saw of the Upheaval Dome

                                           What Gary saw