Gee, the traffic was terrific...

This is a belated post of the remainder of our stay at Columbia Riverfront RV park. It was delayed for a couple of reasons. First, we had a scare on Tuesday evening. After dinner, around 9:00 PM, Jill began complaining of pain in her chest. As time passed, she had nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, light-headedness, and she nearly fainted at one point. We began to fear the worst, so, I had her chew an aspirin tablet; we locked up the coach, jumped in the toad and headed for Kaiser Sunnyside hospital, about 30 miles away from where we were camped.

Jill felt pretty awful during the ride, and I think she was pretty frightened, too. I know I was. We arrived at the emergency room about 10:45. When we announced that Jill had chest pain, she got the royal treatment. They wheeled her into the ER and began doing tests and monitoring vital signs. To shorten this long story a bit, we stayed in the ER until about 4:30 AM, at which time Jill was discharged with a diagnosis of severe gastroenteritis, perhaps brought on by a virus. It was NOT her heart, thank God. We went home to our house and slept there until later in the morning, and then we returned to the RV park.

The second reason for the delay in posting, and more to the point, was that the same evening that Jill was ill, my computer died. That is to say, the battery ran down, and when I tried to recharge it, the charger would not do anything. I got out my volt meter and discovered that the AC adapter was producing about 19 volts. We found a computer repair shop in Woodland, but he had neither the time nor the parts to repair, what he diagnosed as a broken power jack on the computer where the charger plugs in. The repair would have to wait until we returned home.

So, now I have a wife who has had a stress test and was told that she has the heart of a 35 year old, and a repaired computer.

One of the joys of staying at CRRV park is the ship and boat traffic that passes by within clear view of the coach. I have included a slide show of some of the traffic that we saw. (Click on the photo.) It was a terrific show, the like of which I have not enjoyed since my days of plying the Columbia in various sailboats, the last one of which I sold in 1986.

The remainder of our trip was fun and restful. We drove up to Lake Merwin, which is a reservoir on the Lewis river, a tributary of the Columbia. It is a beautiful lake and very popular with boaters and campers.

On the way back from the lake, we stopped at a country store and bought some sweet corn and fresh mountain huckleberries. Well, we were just about in heaven. We had brought along some filet mignon for the grill, so I will just let your imagination take over here. (Hint: Jill made a huckleberry crisp.)

The rest of our activities comprised exploring Woodland and environs, walking on the beach, and watching the traffic go by. On Friday, our friends Pat and Kim, from Gig Harbor, WA, came down in their fifth wheel trailer and we had a great time sitting out in the evening air, watching the river, sharing a glass of wine, and catching up with each others' lives. Next morning we shared coffee and more chatting with our friends, before we had to pack up and go home. In all, we spent six days and four nights in Woodland (remember, we spent one night at home...and in the hospital.) This is a trip we will not soon forget.

Below is a small slide show of our beloved Sadie. Just click on the photo.