Travels with Sadie

2011-10-10T11:15:00.001-07:00

Every person in America needs to see this video:

Motorcycles at midnight!

2011-09-25T09:11:00.000-07:00

It was inevitable. After all it is late September.

We went to bed last night after watching the Oregon Ducks defeat the Arizona Wildcats, 56-31. As we nestled into Sadie's queen memory foam bed, ready for a good night's rest, we heard motorcycles roaring about the park.

At first I thought, "Well, somebody is coming home from an outing; they'll quit pretty soon." But the racket continued. Soon, we noticed that Sadie was doing a bit of a dance. That's when we realized that what we thought were motorcycles was actually the sound of the wind howling over, under, and around Sadie's superstructure and the luggage rack and AC units on her roof.

It had been windy in the evening, but it seemed to increase at bedtime. I actually slept pretty well, and when I awoke, I discovered that the rain had begun coming down pretty heavily. When I got up, I checked the weather report and discovered that the winds had been 20-30 mph, with gusts to 45! Thunderstorms are predicted this morning, and then the weather is expected to moderate, although rain is in the forecast for the next couple of days.

As Jill pointed out, we have been incredibly blessed with good weather on this trip. No rain dampened our spirits or our activities until now, and tomorrow we will be headed for home. We thank the Lord for a safe, exciting, fun trip and excellent weather.

Hmmm... where are the map and the calendar? When and where will we go next in our Travels with Sadie?

Destination: Yaquina Bay!

2011-09-24T20:31:00.000-07:00

Click on the photo for a slide show.

Another travel day today, if you can call it that. We moved a huge 47 miles, from Florence to Newport. Oh, the agony. Actually, our biggest concern on the trip was that we would arrive in Newport too early to check in to our RV park space. We arrived at 12:08, just 8 minutes after check out time. In any case, we were checked in and found our space without difficulty. I'm glad I made a reservation. Newport is a zoo this weekend. It is the last weekend before the state colleges start classes, and it is warm and sunny, so the people with kids in school are getting in one last trip to the beach.

We drove to the bayside attractions and found that there was so much traffic that we couldn't find a parking space, and all the attractions were overrun with people. Hence, we opted for plan "B" and headed for Waldport. On our way to Newport, we had passed through Waldport and decided it would be a destination for a visit during our stay in Newport. It is a cute town. When we got there, we discovered that the architecture is better than the businesses that line Hwy 101. There were not enough "tourist" businesses to satisfy us, although we did find a second hand store that had an amazing collection of eclectic junk. We came away with a DVD for me and some piano sheet music for Jill.

On the way to Waldport, we stopped to look at some chainsaw carvings of bears. There were a lot of cute ones to choose from, but we agreed that none of them was worthy of laying down our hard-earned cash. We have been thinking that a chainsaw bear would be a great addition to our backyard, by the waterfall. On the other hand, we are not ready to settle for just anything.

After we returned to Newport, we were feeling kind of hungry, so we went to a local eatery that is near our park. We had a snack, because we had been planning to have the remainder of our Ahi tuna for dinner. Yes, we had a reprise of last night's dinner this evening. But hey, if it's good it's good...know what I mean? And for dessert? Jill reprised her huckleberry crisp with the berries she picked yesterday evening and this morning before we departed Florence. (I'm told we have enough more berries for huckleberry pancakes in the morning!! :-)

Jill had a hard time getting good pictures from the coach along the way today. The road was narrow and winding, and the scenery was all on the left side of the coach. Nevertheless, I think you will agree that the photos in the slide show are quite good. I like the one that captures the driver...er, I mean the scenery on the far side of the driver.

Alas, this is our last stop on this trip. We will spend tomorrow exploring Newport (with luck, the weekend tourists will be leaving early!). In particular, we hope to have some of the famed smoked salmon chowder at the Stephanie cafe. Come back, and I will give you a report on that evolution!

Huckleberries and history

2011-09-23T18:33:00.000-07:00

Click on photo for slide show.

Today we explored Florence a little. The Old Town area is charming, as you can see from some of the photos in the slide show. The building above houses a couple of the local tourist-oriented businesses. It is one of many in the renovated harbor area.. You will also notice in the photos that there is a large river running alongside of Florence. It is the Siuslaw. It forms rather a large inlet just on the western border of the city. To the west of the river/inlet are some huge sand dunes.

View Larger Map

While we were in Old Town, we bought another gift for yet another nameless individual. Our breakfast began to wear off, so we stopped at the local coffee roasters for a small quiche, which we shared (Oh, wait! I'm a real man, so I didn't eat any.) and a couple of coffee drinks. It was all quite delightful.

Having used up our tourist shopping energy, we headed back to Sadie. Along the way, we stopped at the Krab Kettle, which is a small fish market right on Hwy 101. We purchased some Ahi tuna for dinner and some teriyaki smoked tuna for a snack. Next we stopped at Grocery Outlet for a few veggies and fruits, and then we headed homeward.

Before we got home, however, I spied a sign for the Harbor Vista (Lane) County Park, which I had explored online some months ago. I decided we needed to see what it looks like in person. It is now on our list of must visit RV Parks. Winding through the adjacent roads we came upon a State Park which fronts on the ocean...never did find out the name of it.

At last we were home. Pogo was glad to have a stretch of the legs and a drink of water. We relaxed for a bit, and then Jill decided she needed some more huckleberries. After she was done picking, we decided to visit a nursery we had seen that advertised native plants. It had occurred to us that we could plant some huckleberries at home for future gleaning! We were in luck and found a couple of bushes for sale at a reasonable price. We know just where we will plant them, when we get home.

Meanwhile, back at the RV park, we decided to take Pogo for a romp on the beach. The weather had turned sunny, and we were anxious to see what Heceta Beach looks like, since it had been so foggy yesterday. As you will remember from the slide show above, we were surprised to find the beach quite more densely fogged in than yesterday. It was amazing. When we returned to the road, the sunshine reappeared. At any rate, Pogo got a good run, and we returned to the coach in time for Jill to pick a few more huckleberries. Give her a berry bush with ripe fruit, and she is unstoppable.

This evening, we are planning to have grilled Ahi and grilled vegetables along with some brown rice for our evening repast. Of course, dessert will be left over huckleberry crisp...Oh how we do suffer.

Fog and huckleberries

2011-09-22T21:24:00.000-07:00

A little fog never hurt anyone! We had a lovely walk on the beach in the afternoon fog of Florence, OR.

As I mentioned in my last post, we have arrived at the Heceta Beach RV Park in Florence, OR. It is a real delight. I chose this park from the description on the park website and after consulting RV Park Reveiws dot com. I chose it because it got acceptable reviews, and it is the closest to the beach of all the RV parks in Florence.

To my delight, it is a real treasure. The folks are friendly, the sites are reasonably level, even if they are gravel covered. There is enough privacy provided by plant life, but not so much that we couldn't connect with the satellite dish.

The bonus is that the plant life between the camp sites includes mountain huckleberry plants. We were able to pick enough berries for a huckleberry crisp, which Jill made for our dessert. With a little vanilla ice cream on top, obtained at the onsite mini-mart, it is to die for. Of course, no dessert is complete without dinner. Ours consisted of vegetables marinated in Italian dressing and cooked on the grill, and boneless, skinless chicken breasts grilled with a mesquite rub and Italian dressing marinade. I have never had a better meal in any restaurant.

Another bonus is that this park is only about three blocks from the beach. We took Pogo for a romp on the beach and found that there was one other couple on the beach on Thursday afternoon. In the semi foggy state of the afternoon, it appeared that the beach went on for miles in either direction. What fun we had. Tomorrow, we will explore Florence. In the meantime, we are thoroughly enjoying our little piece of paradise on Heceta Beach Road.

At long last...wi-fi...

2011-09-22T14:40:00.000-07:00

Click the photo for a slide show.

I have missed a couple of days of blogging due to unacceptable wi-fi connections in the last couple of parks we visited. Now we have a great connection, so I will attempt to catch up.

We spent the last two days and nights in Bandon-by-the-Sea, OR, commonly known as Bandon. Originally the town was named Averill, after one of its leading families, but later an Irishman, whose name I can't remember (after all it has been a couple of days!), renamed the town after his hometown in County Cork, Ireland.

The history of Bandon is well documented in the local historical museum, which we visited. That was, perhaps, the best $2 we spent on the trip! Bandon has been around since the 1880s. It has been home to such diverse industries as fishing, dairy farming, cheese manufacturing, coal mining, logging, lumber milling and others that I am sure I missed.

The town was wiped out by fire on two occasions; once in 1914 (a kitchen fire gone wild) and again in 1936 (forest fire that could not be contained). Logically, it now has one of the biggest fire stations I have ever seen. The Old Town section of the city is lots of fun with many shops and eateries. We shopped there, but were able to resist the temptation to come home with typical tourist stuff. We did make one purchase of a gift for a person who shall remain nameless in this blog.

We stayed at the Beach Loop Village, which is an RV park with several park model trailers that are rental cottages. They are also for sale for around $110,000. The park is not remarkable, except for its quiet nature, friendly staff and the sound of the ocean surf coming through the trees.

The highlight of the stay in Bandon was, of course, the food. We had clam chowder for dinner on our first night and then went back to the waterfront yesterday for what we agreed was the best fish and chips meal we've ever had.

There are numerous parks to explore in and around Bandon. The ones we visited were Face Rock State Wayside, which has beautiful 180 views of the rocky coast line; The Devil's Kitchen State Park, which has access to the beautiful rock-studded, sandy beach south of town; Bullard's Beach State Park, which has a large campground, boat launch in the Coquille River; and is home to the Coquille River Lighthouse, the newest of the remaining lighthouses on the Oregon coast, dating to 1896.

We were a little sad to leave Bandon this morning, but we had a lovely drive through Coos Bay, North Bend, Reedsport and ended up in Florence at the Heceta Beach RV Park. The Park is lovely (pictures to come) with lots of native plants dividing the spaces. Jill has been out picking huckleberries from the bushes between our site and the next one! Mmmmm... huckleberry pie...mmmmm!

So, stay in touch, there will be more stuff to come.

They'd be wearin' their baggies; huarachi sandals, too...

2011-09-19T20:15:00.000-07:00

This guy put on our afternoon floor show.

We have been having a great time today in Brookings. This morning we exercised Pogo on the beach. We walked as far south as we could, and Pogo did her usual running lickety split up and down the beach. She is a different dog on the beach.

We met two couples during our walk. The first couple is visiting their daughter in Grants Pass. They are from Illinois, and they told the daughter, "We are this close; we're going to the ocean. Meet us there." She is expected to arrive later today. The other couple is from Shady Cove, Oregon. We stopped there yesterday for gas. It is a beautiful area along the Rogue River. We felt pretty proud that we could tell them we know where Shady Cove is.

We visited the harbor area, which has a lot of places to eat and gift shops. We did buy one gift, but I'm not going to tell you for whom! We didn't have anything to eat, because we were too full from the breakfast of cheesy mushroom eggs, cinnamon rolls and fruit that my lovely bride presented to me this morning.

After exploring the harbor area, we took a drive "uptown," which amounts to a few blocks on Hwy 101. Then we decided to do one of our favorite things in a strange town: exploring the residential areas. We discovered some really nice areas of beautiful homes.

When we came back from our drive, a surfer boy was busily trying to catch a wave and be sittin' on top of the world. So, I made a bowl of popcorn and we sat down on our patio to watch. This guy put on a floor show for us for a couple of hours this afternoon. I felt sorry for him because the beach is so steep here that as soon as the waves stand up enough for surfing to be possible, they break. He did get a few rides that, perhaps, made all of his efforts worthwhile.

I could grow to like this life!

Over the river and through the woods...

2011-09-18T18:48:00.000-07:00

Click photo for slide show. (I just love that '66 Chevy PU.)

Today was another travel day, and travel we did. This was our longest trek of this trip, but it was a relatively easy day, and the outcome was pretty wonderful. As you will see in the slide show, we traversed some amazing territory.

Leaving Prospect, and the Cascade forest, we dropped down into the Rogue River valley at Gold Hill. Jill got some great pictures along the way. From Gold Hill, we made our way to Grants Pass on the only 15 miles of interstate highway we have traveled on this trip. At Grants Pass (or as I like to call it, Grass Pants), we exited the freeway onto U.S. 199, also known as the Redwood Highway. The scenery was breathtaking, and some of the driving left me a little breathless, too!

The highway is mainly two-lane, and it winds through the coast range and eventually through the California redwoods. I had driven this stretch before in a car, going in the opposite direction, and I remember thinking, "This would be pretty exciting in Sadie." Well, I wasn't wrong.

Jill got some photos of the redwoods from our moving platform. Considering the circumstances, I would say they are quite remarkable.

We arrived at the Beachfront RV park just after 2:00PM and checked into space #82. The park itself is kind of like a parking lot, but the view makes up for the lack of ambiance in the RV spaces. As we look out our front window (actually 180 degrees) we can see the ocean. The beach access is just across a driveway from our space. It is pretty wonderful to be here.

So, those of you who have never explored this part of the world, we can heartily recommend to you not only Brookings, but the Redwood Highway and the Beachfront RV Park as well.

Happy trails, and stay tuned to most of these same stations.

The Rogue, a river with a well-deserved reputation...

2011-09-17T16:25:00.000-07:00

Click on photo for slide show.

Today is Saturday. We had a pretty laid back day. It was a bit colder last night, and we woke up early because of it. I threw the electric blanket over the bed and started the furnace; Jill went back to sleep. I was pretty awake, so I got up and switched on the coffee.

After a bit more snoozing, Jill got up and made some outstanding bacon pancakes and fried eggs. We debated about what to do today and finally decided to do laundry. There is a nice little laundromat in Prospect, which we had all to ourselves. For $2.50 we have clean clothes!

When we got back to Sadie, it was about lunch time, so we had some tacquitos for lunch, and then we decided to make a trek to visit Mill Creek falls and Barr Creek falls, which are just a couple of miles from our park. This was, perhaps, the most exciting thing we have seen on this vacation. The falls are both breathtaking, falling off the cliffs to the south into the Rogue River. I took a couple of movies with our new camera, but my internet connection is too slow to upload them. There are a few shots of the river and Barr Creek falls in the slide show above. I only got a movie of Mill Creek falls. Perhaps, I will upload it later, when our wi-fi connection is faster.

Hiking to the falls was fun, and Pogo got her exercise for the day. It is comical to watch her, when we are hiking. She tugs at the leash, until we release her from it. Then she heels as if she had been seeing a dog trainer all her life. She loves the security of the leash, and when she is off leash she wants to make sure WE are not going to run away!

After our hike, Pogo had a long drink of water. Then we drove along the highway that is the main street of Prospect and then turns into a country road. The scenery was spectacular, as it has been on this whole trip.

We returned to Sadie in time to see Nebraska polish off Washington (boo hoo...how my heart bleeds for Washington). So, try as I might, I cannot find anything to complain about today...except maybe that we have to move on tomorrow...to our reserved ocean front RV space in Brookings. Life is hard sometimes.

Crater Lake and huckleberry pie

2011-09-16T20:03:00.000-07:00

Click photo for slide show

As promised, we made a trek to Crater Lake today. The entrance to the National Park is about 34 miles from our RV Park. After a fuel stop in Prospect, we drove Daisy Mae to the lake. Par for the course, I left my lifetime senior free pass to all national parks on my dresser in Dallas. Oh, well!

The lake roads are all open this time of year, but the area averages about 500 inches of snow every winter, and we did see patches of snow along the side of the road. We had a wonderful time stopping at the viewpoints. You will notice that there are not a lot of pictures of the lake itself. It is tempting to take multiple pictures at every viewpoint, but once you realize that there is no way to actually capture the incredible, deep blue color of the water, it seems pointless to take more photos. Suffice to say, the lake is breathtaking.

What I did take pictures of were flora and fauna. Some examples are below:

Click photo for slide show

I am especially proud to have captured a photo of the rare and beautiful black-hooded chickadee, the last shot in the photo series.

After we had circumnavigated the lake, we stopped at the inevitable gift shop. The shop may have been inevitable, but the buying was not. All of the merchandise looked like the same stuff we have seen in other national parks, only the names were changed to protect the innocent!

From the gift shop, we drove a short distance to Crater Lake Lodge. The lodge is large and appears to have been updated recently. We were not able to see any of the rooms, but the slide show below will give you a feeling for the flavor of the lodge:

Click the photo for slide show.

On the drive back to the RV park, we stopped in Union Creek at Beckie's, famous for pies. Jill has been having a hankering for huckleberry pie. (I, of course, was completely neutral on the subject!) Again, we were not disappointed. The pie was delicious, the crust was flaky and the ice cream was the perfect accompaniment. A stop across the highway at the little resort store for salt, however, proved fruitless.

As we continued on our way, we came across a sign to the Rogue River Natural Bridge. This rock formation is the result of volcanic eruption creating lava tubes. The river then routed itself through one of them. The river travels underground in a lava tube for about 200 feet. Thus, the top of the lava tube became a natural bridge. Although it is difficult to do justice to flowing (nay, gushing) water in photos, I have included a few below. The series is set up so that each picture is a little further downstream from the previous one.

Click photo for slide show.

In the series above you see the water gushing into the lava tube. Next is a shot of the top of the natural bridge, followed by the water gushing out of the tube at 335,000 gallons per minute. The next photo shows a cave, which is apparently a lava tube with a blind end. And finally there is the tailrace of the whole lava tube/natural bridge/river phenomenon. God sure must have had fun putting all of this stuff together.

We returned to Sadie tired but delighted with all that we saw today. Stay tuned for more.

From pine to fir and back again...

2011-09-16T10:54:00.000-07:00

Click photo for a slide show

Wednesday was a travel day. We packed up and hit the road, heading south from Sisters. Just south of Bend, OR, we stopped at the High Desert Museum. What a treat. The museum is privately maintained and is a treasure trove of facts and artifacts of the high desert area, including eastern Oregon, parts of Nevada and Arizona.

I was not able to get too many pictures, because most of the indoor exhibits are priceless old documents and artifacts kept in low light, and flash photography is prohibited. Outdoors, our timing was bad for seeing the critters. The otters were asleep and other critters in hiding. Nevertheless, we thoroughly enjoyed our visit and would recommend this stop to anyone traveling in central Oregon.

When we had sated our curiosity at the museum, we hit the road and headed south to LaPine State Park. It is a lovely park situated on the Deschutes river in the midst of a pine forest. In Sisters we encountered mostly Ponderosa pine, but the pines in the SP are a different variety, possibly lodgepole or sugar pine. The river is beautiful, as you will see in the photos. Our campsite was situated about 50 yards from the river, although the forest blocked the view of the river.

While we were strolling about the park, we encountered a couple who had just come from Crater Lake. They encouraged us to hurry there, so as to arrive before it is closed for the winter. They recommended a campground near the lake, but it sounded like it was too small for Sadie and basically amounted to a dry-camp area.

Later we spoke with our next door neighbor, who recommended the Crater Lake RV Park, situated on Hwy 62 between Crater Lake and Bend. We opted for this park, because it sounded like a better fit. We have not been disappointed. We left LaPine SP yesterday morning and checked in at Crater Lake RV Park in the early afternoon.

Click photo for a slide show

The camp hosts, Dennis and Judy, are delightful people who made us feel welcome immediately. There is lots of hiking to do, and the park is clean and well-cared-for. It is nestled in the woods; many varieties of fir and pine trees. We hiked one of the trails yesterday afternoon and discovered a reservoir created on the Rogue river by a small hydroelectric dam. The area around the river apparently suffered a forest fire some time back, but is covered with new growth, especially Ponderosa pines. In the slide show, you will see Jill standing by our next Christmas tree!

Today, we plan to drive back up to Crater Lake National Park, which neither of us has seen in decades. It promises to be a fun day. We are paid up for three nights in the RV park, so there will be more adventures to come.

Smoke and Sisters

2011-09-14T11:05:00.000-07:00

We left Dallas on Monday afternoon. Initially, I had planned to be on the road by noon, but as we werehooking up Daisy Mae behind Sadie, we encountered a problem with thenew towed-vehicle brake monitoring system. After sometroubleshooting, I determined that the problem was in the cable thatconnects the towed-vehicle wiring to the the coach wiring. It seemsthat one of the plugs on the cable was installed incorrectly andreversed the polarity between the two vehicles. Once I changed thewiring of the plug, the brake monitor light on Sadie's dashboardstarted working just as it should. I must say it is a comfort toknow what Daisy Mae's brake system is doing, while I am towing her.

The other fly in thegetting-off-by-noon ointment was that our neighbor, kitty-corneracross the street from our home, came by to introduce himself. He isa pleasant chap and chatty. Did I mention that John likes to talk? We had not had the chance to meet him before, and by the time we weredone chatting and got the brake monitor wiring figured out, it wascloser to 2:00 PM when we hit the road.

There was a good deal of smoke fromforest fires in the air as we crossed the cascade mountains onhighway 22. Otherwise the scenery was breathtakingly beautiful. (Isuppose you could say that even the smoke was “breathtaking,” butthat is a different story.) Sadie found some of the steeper climbs abit challenging in terms of keeping her speed up, but overall, shedid just fine. It was a hot day, and I kept my eye on the water andoil temps, but we had no mishaps, and when we crested the pass andstarted down the other side, the temps dropped right back down tonormal.

We arrived in Sisters, OR (named forthe nearby Cascade Mountain peaks, Faith, Hope and Charity, whichtogether are known as the Three Sisters) about 4:45PM. Since wehadn't made any plans to stay in any particular RV park, we were abit nervous when we didn't find many RV parks to choose from. Wemade a fuel stop and inquired about parks and were directed to theSisters RV Park and/or the KOA “on the other end of town.”

Before we encountered either of them,however, we stumbled on Sisters City Park, which is not onlybeautiful, but located within walking distance of the charmingcommercial district. It is a first come, first served park, withfull RV hookups, nestled in a grove of pine trees. Nevertheless, wefound a site where we could get a clear shot at the southern sky forour satellite dish. We have thoroughly enjoyed our stay.

Last evening, we had dinner at theThree Creeks Brewing Company pub, located on the southeast end oftown. The atmosphere is family friendly, the food was spectacularpub food, and the ales, which are brewed on the premises, were quitecompetitive with the better microbrews we have encountered.

Tuesday morning, we had walked thecommercial section of town in the morning and found it to be lots offun. The people are friendly, and the architecture is all done in afun “old west” theme. Having scoped out the shops yesterday, wehad a plan for this morning. We walked into town and made a stop atthe Sisters Bakery (not to be missed; get there early for bear claws,which are to die for) and then on to the Sisters Coffee shop. We satunder the pines on the patio to the side of the shop, sipping thehearty brew and munching our bear claw, maple bar and peach scone. All in all a very enjoyable, if not the most healthful, breakfast.

The weather is cooling off. It wasnear 90 yesterday, but it's only supposed to be near 80 today. Wewill bid a reluctant farewell to Sisters, but we will be back tovisit, without a doubt. Our objective for today is La Pine StatePark.

Gearing up...

2011-09-07T20:50:00.000-07:00

Hooray! We are planning a getaway in Sadie! It has been a long summer filled with landscaping and waiting for our granddaughter, Ryanne, to be born. Now those exciting developments are behind us, and we have an opportunity to hit the road.

Of course, when we hit the road, we have to make sure Sadie is in tip-top condition. There are a couple of things that have been on my mind for a while. Sadie has had a couple of very minor oil leaks that stained the floor of her garage. I determined that one of them was coming from one of the hoses that go to the oil cooler. The other is a bit enigmatic. There has been a little oil dripping off of the drain plug for the oil pan. The confusing thing has been that there is oil in the surrounding area as well.

Today, I decided to change the oil and inspect these problems. I started by draining the oil and removing the oil filter. Removing the drain plug revealed that the gasket under the plug was disintegrating. I made a trip to the auto parts store for oil, filter and a new drain plug gasket. Having installed the plug with its new gasket and a new filter, I moved on to the leaky hose.

To my delight, I was able easily to remove the leaky oil cooler hose. I had spoken with a counter man at NAPA, who told me that the best way to fix such a hose (rubber hose with steel pipes swaged onto each end) was to remove the rubber hose and replace it with a new hose with hose clamps. When I took it to NAPA today, the same guy said that they could actually put some fittings onto the steel pipes and swage the rubber hose onto them. I left the pipe with them. It should be ready for installation tomorrow morning.

When I returned home from NAPA, I decided to install the long-overdue dash monitor for the brakes on the towed vehicle. I have had the parts, but not the gumption to install them. Since I had already been under Sadie on the creeper for quite a bit of the day, I decided to string the cable from the rear bumper to Sadie's dashboard. There was a small, red LED on the dash that I have wondered about for some time. When I inspected it today, I found that it was not hooked up to anything! That was perfect. I needed to put an LED on the dash to light when the toad brakes are applied by the surge brake system. The LED was already there; I just needed to hook it up!

After stringing the cable and hooking up the LED on Sadie, I proceeded to check out the part of the installation that involves the towed (Daisy Mae). I discovered that there are two switches that are activated by the brake pedal. I don't know yet what they do, but they are readily accessible. I just need to determine 1) which switch to tap into and 2) which wire on that switch to tap. The rest of the project will be simply a matter of stringing the wire...about 5 feet, versus about 35 feet on Sadie. I will tackle that tomorrow.

The next project will be to move the satellite dish so that it can stand up without fouling on the AC housing. When I originally installed the dish, I measured the appropriate distance from the base of the AC on the roof. I didn't notice that the housing extends a bit beyond the base. Now when I try to erect the dish, it hangs up on the front of the AC unit and stalls the motor. It requires my climbing on the roof every time I want to set it up. So, it must be moved. I will tackle that before our trip, so we can enjoy TV if we want to .

In the meantime, Jill has been loading our essentials aboard Sadie: food, clothing and various supplies. I think we will be ready for a great trip, come Monday. Stand by for more Travels with Sadie.

Of goats and toads

2011-05-16T17:38:00.000-07:00

It is good to be out and about in Sadie again. We decided that, since it has been three months since our last outing, it is about time.

After a good deal of agonizing over where to go, we settled on the Devil's Lake RV Park in Lincoln City, on the Oregon coast. The reasons we chose this park are the following: 1) it is not a long drive, 2) we have not been to this park before, 3) we like Lincoln City for its many shops and nice beaches.

The caper began last week. I was grateful to be able just to go out in the garage and get to work on Sadie. After checking all of her mechanicals, I rolled her out on the driveway and gave her a bath. That led me to do some further cleaning and polishing. Sadie looked about as good as she ever has under the current management, when I was done.

Saturday was given over to cleaning up the interior and packing the necessaries for the trip. For reasons that neither Jill nor I can now remember, we pretty much took out of Sadie everything that we usually carry aboard, when we moved into the new house. So, we had not only to load everything, but also to remember what we needed.

This morning, we put a few last minute items aboard, hitched up Daisy Mae behind and departed for the coast. We had some light rain along our route, which of course, completely negated the exterior cleaning I had done. Nevertheless, Sadie purred along as if she was happy to be on the road again.

We arrived at the Devil's Lake RV Park and checked in. After reading RV Park Reviews' website, we weren't sure what to expect. To our delight, the park is quite lovely. The spaces are paved and reasonably level, although I did have to get out the leveling blocks to keep the left front wheel in contact with terra firma. The utilities are all functional and the wi-fi service is among the best we have encountered.

While I was hooking Sadie up to the utilities, a beautiful big Tiffin Phaeton coach stopped in the road behind our space. The husband and wife were fussing with their tow bar, and Jill overheard them saying something about needing a hammer. I offered to look and see if I had one aboard (which, of course, I didn't). Then, I looked at the problem they were having. One leg of their towbar had not extended when they started to move the coach. That meant that towing their Jeep was not going to work too well.

After sizing up the situation, I recommended that Harold (the husband) drive the coach down the slight incline behind us and make a right turn, which would extend the left arm of the tow bar to full length. He did so, and everything worked as expected. Harold thanked me profusely and said, "I'd buy you a beer, but I am going home." I told him, "What are RVers for, if not to help each other in a jam?"

After Mr. and Mrs. Harold were on their way, I finished hooking Sadie up to the utilities. Next came lunch with Perry (Mason). Then we had a short walk, loaded Pogo into Daisy Mae and went for a drive. We saw things we haven't seen before.

At one intersection we saw a sign advertising the Barking Dog Farm organic veggies. We decided to see what we could find out and headed up a road that follows the Siletz river. We never did find the farm, but we found a couple of RV parks. Both are right on the river, but one looked pretty nice and the other looked kind of crummy. The crummy one charges $40 a night for a waterfront site, with water and electricity, but no sewer or wi-fi. Cable TV is an additional $2 per night. Yikes! I think we will stay right where we are, for $27/night!

We took a drive through that spendy park and the best thing we saw was a pair of goats munching on the grass.

On the way back, we stopped at the popular Tanger Outlet Mall in Lincoln City. We looked at a lot of stuff, and Jill purchased a small plastic container in which to keep treats for Pogo in our end table at home. Otherwise, we weren't even tempted.

Incidentally, I forgot to mention that we have had blue skies and sunshine ever since we arrived here this morning. So far, it has been a marvelously enjoyable trip. Tomorrow, we will do some more exploring. I hope the weather holds, so we can take a walk on the beach. But if it doesn't, we will find some other way to enjoy ourselves!

Stay tuned for more travels with Sadie.

All good things must end

2011-02-10T16:39:00.000-08:00

This post is a day late, because yesterday was our travel day. We left Cape Kiwanda RV Park about 11:45 AM and headed for Dallas. The weather was spectacular. We had a nice walk on the beach before we had to pack up and go.

Pogo was not as friskie yesterday as she had been. We think the poor old girl is not a puppy anymore and was sore from her previous days' exploits, i.e., running like a maniac on the beach. The weather was the best yesterday of all the days we were at Pacific City, but then that was both predicted and predictable, since it was the day we had to leave!

After our beach walk, we climbed over the dune that separates beach and town, and I had to make a panoramic video:

We packed up Sadie and hit the road. The drive through the Coast Range mountains was beautiful. It is difficult to capture the beauty of God's creation on film under the best of circumstances, but doing it from a traveling motor home is really a challenge. Jill rose to the occasion with the photos at the end of the slide show below, which is a recap of our entire three day adventure. (Click the photo for a slide show)

As we were enjoying the drive homeward, there was one primary question on our minds: When can we come back to this wonderful place?

What a difference a day made...

2011-02-08T19:54:00.000-08:00

Today was the perfect storm of weather, attitude, location, company, and opportunities. We started the day with a walk on the beach. It was sooooo different from yesterday's walk on the beach. The sun was out; the wind had died to virtually nothing; the tide was up. Pogo was lovin' it. She is, as Jill says, a completely different dog on the beach.

I couldn't resist a few arty shots of the surf and Haystack Rock. I never knew that this Haystack Rock existed, until this trip. Let me modify that; I knew it existed, but I didn't know it was called Haystack Rock. I grew up going to the beach at Cannon Beach, a few miles north of here. There is where Haystack Rock lives...or so I have always believed.

Jill, unfortunately, had other ideas about photographing Haystack Rock. No accounting for taste:

On the way back up to town, we encountered this guy: a California gull, lounging on one leg in the edge of the surf.

We passed him by and headed back up to the village of Pacific City, where we took a walking tour of some of the residential area. There are some really nice homes right on the waterfront, and others that are a block or two away from the water. Many of theses homes appear to be pretty new, so I conclude this is a thriving vacation community.

Pogo began to lag behind, so we decided it was time to take her home. We put her in the motor home, and then Jill and I went to the Pelican Brew Pub, which is just across the street from our RV park. We had a lovely lunch with a view of the water. The clam chowder was spectacular. I think they may have slipped some cheese in there with the clams and potatoes. We'll be back.

After lunch we returned to the coach with resting on our minds. Pogo and I got the best spot:
I promptly drifted off and didn't reawaken until a little after 5:00 pm. Jill had put on her swimsuit, so I jumped up and changed, too. We got to the pool in time to have a nice swim and relax in the hot tub. We were pleasantly pooped when we returned to Sadie. Leftover pizza from Doryland Pizza (where we ate last night) was our dinner. We are now happily relaxing after an amazing day.

Neither rain nor sleet nor dark of night nor GALE FORCE WINDS!!

2011-02-07T16:45:00.000-08:00

Today was a day of exploring and relaxing. Above is a photo of Sadie in her "berth" at the Cape Kiwanda RV Resort. This is a nice park with a combination of transient and resident occupants. It is very nicely maintained and quite comfortable. There is a store with gifts, groceries and RV supplies, and an indoor pool/hot tub area, which we have not yet enjoyed.

After breakfast, Pogo needed a little walk, so we took her on a tour of the park. That was not, however, adequate exercise to exhaust either her energy or our enthusiasm. So, we ventured out onto the beach. Unfortunately, I had forgotten the camera, but it was so windy that we may not have been able to get any decent photos anyway. At least that's what I thought, until this afternoon, when we ventured out in similar wind to relieve Pogo's biological needs and got this picture:
And this one:
And here's a shot looking out from the RV park entrance down the street to the beach:

The building on the far right is the Pelican Brew Pub,
where we may have dinner this evening.

Saving the best for last is always fun. So, in that spirit, here is my favorite traveling companion:

Edit: Jill read this post and when she finished she looked out the window, and saw this:

Pacific City, here we come!

2011-02-06T20:49:00.000-08:00

Worship service was wonderful this morning, and my Sunday school class lesson went very well. When it was over, we went home, had lunch and loaded last minute items into Sadie.

We left home about 1:20 and headed out to highway 22. The weather was very cooperative. There was actually enough sunshine, when we left home, that we had to use our sunglasses. It was good to be on the road again. Jill was johnny-on-the-spot with the camera as we drove across the Willamette valley and into the coast range west of Dallas.

The sun lit up a hillside farm.

We have driven this route before, but it thrills us every time. There is so much to see.

Although it has been in decline for decades,
Oregon still has a forest products industry.

In winter, farmers plant their fields to reduce
erosion. I'm not sure what is planted in these fields.

We continued on past the valley and up into the Oregon Coast Range. I guess we were too entranced by the beauty of the rain forest to remember to take photos. The road is narrow and winds through the hills. Driving this stretch with and 8 foot wide vehicle requires a good deal of concentration. As we crested the summit of the pass, we began to encounter some mist, which became heavier, the closer we got to the coast.

At last, we arrived in Pacific City at the Cape Kiwanda RV Resort. We were assigned to space A22, and within minutes we were parked, leveled, hooked up, and had cable TV and wi-fi internet; all in time for the Super Bowl kick off. Jill made popcorn, and we settled in for the game. We both kept remarking how much fun it is to be back aboard Sadie, with some new scenery to enjoy.

While I was checking in with the park, Jill wandered over to the store area and purchased a fresh Dungeness crab for our dinner. Can you say, "Decadence?" Stay tuned. Tomorrow, we will explore the town and, we hope, the beach...weather permitting. Yet to come is using the hot tub, dining at the Doryland Pizza Parlor and the Pelican Brew Pub.

First RV trip of 2011

2011-02-05T16:33:00.001-08:00

At long last, having moved into our new home on October 30, 2010, we are going on our first RV outing since the move. It's true we took Sadie out for a drive the other day, but that was just to exercise the engine and the generator. This time we are going to go to a destination and spend a few days.

Our destination is Cape Kiwanda RV Resort in Pacific City, OR, a whopping 45 miles from home! One thing I love about RVing is that you don't have to go far to have a fun adventure. We used to go 8 miles to Barton County Park, when we lived in Clackamas, and had some of our most memorable trips.

Yesterday and today have been given over to preparing Sadie for her outing. I am ashamed to say that amid all the details of moving into our home, I had not even washed her until yesterday. I might not even have done that, except that I got on a ladder the night before to change a light bulb in one of the marker lights. While I was up there, I could see that the roof was almost black with the "stuff" that had dropped from the oak trees under which we were parked all summer, while we were building the house. Do you have any idea how dirty oak trees are? Yuck.

After giving Sadie a well-deserved bath, I got busy repairing the damage I did to the garage door, getting her out. It seems the pull cord on the garage door opener latch snagged on the satellite dish on top of Sadie. That released the latch, and the door dropped down a couple of feet. I couldn't see that it had dropped, because it was still above the windshield. As I moved the coach forward, I heard a crunch. The good news is that, no matter how I abuse her from time to time, Sadie never lets me down. There was no damage to the coach, but the garage door panel bent just enough to pull the guide wheel out of the track. I had to straighten the panel and re-engage the wheel into the track.

Today, I checked the fluids, aired up the tires and airbags, and made sure the furnace and water heater are working. Finally, we began loading clothing, food and sundry gear aboard. We should be ready for departure shortly after church tomorrow. Can't wait to go!

Getting excited for the 2011 camping season

2011-01-11T16:16:00.000-08:00

Early today, the sun was out, so I decided it was time to take Sadie out for some exercise. She fired right up; although, I am embarrassed to say, it has been since October 23rd that her engine last ran. There has just been so much to do, getting into our new home, that Sadie has been a bit neglected. She sits, cozy, in her garage; no need for winterizing, because the garage is insulated.

Part of my motivation was that we received a ten cents a gallon discount coupon for gas at Safeway. With Gas currently at $3.119 per gallon, ten cents off seemed like a good time to fill up. We disconnected Sadie's various umbilici, gingerly drove her out of the garage and down the hill to fill up. It turns out the discount is only good for the first 30 gallons, which means we saved $3.00; not a fortune, but enough for a caramel machiato, one of these days.

The gas station attendants were very kind and washed Sadie's dirty windshield while we were there. When we were finished (40.7 gallons later), we headed for the countryside to give the old girl some exercise. We had a lovely drive out to Perrydale, a little farming community a bit north of Dallas. The countryside was gorgeous, Sadie purred, and Jill and I reveled in being on the road. In fact, we determined it is time to plan the first camping trip of 2011.

While we were on the road, I started the Onan generator for a little exercise and ran the electric heater in the coach. It ran like a top...the generator, that is...well, the heater did fine, too. We returned home, parked our venerable lady and went in to have lunch.

That's when the snow began to fall. I felt pretty smug. I got Sadie gassed up at a discount, gave her some exercise, enjoyed a drive in the country with my best girl, and got home before the snow began to fall.

It is odd how a particular day or occurrence affects one's soul. I told Jill after we got home that, somehow, taking Sadie out for a drive made me feel that we are finally settled at home in Dallas. She told me that, whenever she is feeling grumpy or having cravings, all I need to do is take her for a ride in Sadie...or give her some chocolate...or, ahem.

A new home for Sadie

2010-10-24T07:10:00.000-07:00

Our new driveway is rather massive!

Sadie all tucked into her new home.

Well, after 4 months and 6 days at the Ash Creek RV Park in Independence, OR, we moved Sadie into her new home. We have been living aboard, while we build a new home in Dallas, OR. Yesterday, we were able to put Sadie in the new RV garage! The house is not finished, but the RV garage is, and we got in just in time to avoid the first big storm of the season.

So, we are currently living in our accustomed luxury aboard Sadie, but under cover! It was so quiet last night. We had no idea whether it was raining or windy. The only downside to this whole situation is that we can't use the automatic satellite dish on the roof of the coach. I set out the portable dish, but was unable to find satellite 119W, so we have three channels: PBS, ION, and an all Spanish channel! The good news is that our Cricket internet still works great.

We expect to be moving into the house within a week or so. Then Sadie can have a good, thorough cleaning, such as we are unable to give her while we are living aboard. Once we are living in a stationary home again, I am sure, we will soon want to take a trip in Sadie. Now that she will be at home and under cover, I can do all the maintenance quickly and easily, so she is ready to go at the drop of a hat. And with an insulated garage, I won't even need to worry about winterizing!

Hello! Anybody home?

2010-09-06T18:28:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I posted. That is because we haven't been traveling with Sadie. We have been living aboard full time... in one place... while we are building a new home. We have been living in the Ash Creek II RV park in Independence, OR since June. It is a whole different experience living in one place in an RV vs. going "camping."

For one thing, we have been able to meet some of the neighbors and share in their lives, rather than just say "hello." Most of the people in this park are either full time residents or they are summering in Independence and will head south when winter sets in. Soon, there will be students at the nearby Western Oregon University moving in for the new school year.

Our tenure here is due to end on October 17th, when our rent comes due. Our able contractor tells us the house will either be move in ready by then, or close enough that we can park Sadie in her new garage and live there until move in day.

So, travels with Sadie? Yes, there will be some coming up. We have been accepted to the SOWERs ministry. So, we will be able to go on the road in service to our Lord. Our first trip will probably be in the spring, after we are settled in our new home.

How you gonna keep 'em down on the farm...

2010-08-01T14:40:00.000-07:00

We replanted the herb garden in a larger planter that we can put outside. I added a connection to the automatic watering system, and we are now farmers!

Double, double, toil and trouble...

2010-08-01T14:26:00.000-07:00

Here's an update on our star-crossed vacation. On July 22nd, we got Sadie ready for the return trip (150 miles) to Portland, where we planned to spend the night at Mom's house and meet the next day with Julie from Russellville Park retirement community.

My brother, Charlie, delivered Mom to the RV park while I was busy airing up tires and doing final checks for the road trip. Jill was walking Pogo. Charlie's daughter Laura needed to use the bathroom at the park, but we had a little trouble with the code for the lock on the door. And of course there was a little concern about getting 94 year-old Mom aboard, given Sadie's tall entry steps. Finally, we got underway a little after 1 PM.

We stopped at the Scatter Creek rest area, about 10 miles north of Centralia, WA. While we were having our lunch, it occurred to me that I had never seen anyone load Mom's luggage aboard the coach. Indeed, it was not present. Nor was it in Daisy Mae.

I tried to call Charlie, but he wasn't answering his cell phone. I was able to reach his wife, Bev, and we decided that if we couldn't get hold of Charlie, who had the luggage in the trunk of his car, we would go on home and Bev would mail Mom's stuff to her. Finally, Charlie called and confirmed the plan.

Just as we pulled out onto the interstate, Charlie called again and said, "Turn around. I will meet you at the rest stop and bring the gear." There is no place to "turn around" between the rest area and Centralia, so we agreed to meet in Centralia at the outlet mall.

It took Charlie about an hour and ten minutes to catch up to us. The transfer was made, and we continued on home, arriving about 7:15 PM. I called Bev to let her know we were home, and she said Charlie hadn't returned yet. He probably was caught in rush-hour traffic in Olympia.

This was one vacation that left us happy to be home.

On the road again!

2010-07-22T10:39:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, we arose after spending the night at the Super 8 Motel in Shelton, WA and had a leisurely continental breakfast in the motel. We updated our emails and then headed over to Vander Wal's Garage to see what progress had been made on repairing Sadie's brakes.

Marlo, who holds down the fort in the office, told us that Don Vander Wal had stayed until 8:00 PM working on the problem of why the break pedal would not firm up after bleeding the system. He finally discovered that the new master cylinder that was supplied by the auto parts house was defective. Somehow, Don managed to get another master cylinder, and then he came in before opening to install the new one; this on a day when he had to travel on business!

Marlo told us that everything was done except bleeding the system again and that we should be on the road by 2:00 o'clock. We decided to drive out to Hood Canal to the cabin where my brother and his family are vacationing. Shortly after we arrived there (about 12:30 PM, as I recall), Marlo called to say that Sadie was ready.

We went back and paid the tab, thanked all our new friends at Vander Wal's, hooked up Daisy Mae and headed for The Waterfront at Potlatch RV park. Upon arrival we were assigned space #11 and we settled in to enjoy what we came here for in the first place. The weather was glorious, the view spectacular, the fact of having the brake nightmare behind us priceless.

We enjoyed the venue until about 5:00 and then headed over to my brother's place, where we had a sumptuous feast including smoked salmon, filet mignon and pork chops, which had thawed while Sadie's refrigerator was without power. In addition, we had fresh steamer clams and sauteed oysters, shrimp pasta and cole slaw. A little vino completed the repast, which was better than any I have ever had in a restaurant, because it included so many family members and dining al fresco beside the still waters of Hood Canal.

Now that's what I'm talkin' about!

Are you sure this was our vacation plan?

2010-07-20T19:42:00.000-07:00

OK. This is not the blog post I had intended to be making, and this is not the date on which I had intended to make it. We left Independence on Sunday, July 18th, for four glorious days on Hood Canal in Washington state. On the way, we picked up Mom in order to deliver her to my brother and his family, who are staying in a cabin a few miles away from The Waterfront at Potlatch RV park.

We made it to within about 15 miles of our destination when Sadie's brake pedal went to the floor, and the brake warning light came on and stayed lit. Fortunately, we were able to stop before anything awful happened. I limped in to Sundance RV and Auto in the outskirts of Shelton. Sundance doesn't have a service department for mechanical problems, but they were very gracious in allowing us to stay on their lot for the night (remember this was Sunday.)

I called Good Sam Emergency Road Service, and they couldn't have been nicer. The first thing Antonio wanted to know was whether we were safe. I assured him we were and proceeded to tell him my tale of woe. He took my phone number and said that, since it was Sunday, he would do some research and see how best to help us. Then, he promised, we would get a call back.

After about half an hour, Veronica called me and said that they had located two possible places that could repair Sadie's brakes, but of course she wouldn't know for sure until morning. She suggested that we be towed to one of them for safe keeping. I assured her we were in a safe place and asked if it might not be better to wait until we found out for sure who could do the repairs. She agreed and promised to call in the morning.

When we woke up on Monday, the coach was cold inside.
We had no AC power for the electric heater, and I didn't want to run
the battery flat by using the propane furnace, which has
a 12V fan. Pogo wrapped up in a blanket to keep warm.

On Monday, which happened to be my birthday, Veronica called a little after 9:00 AM and said that she had located Vander Wal's Garage a mere five miles from us, and she said a tow truck would come to us in two to two and a half hours. About 45 minutes later, Mike from Nisqually Towing showed up. He was very professional, very courteous and very competent. In a matter of minutes he had Sadie hitched up to his tow vehicle. He took us to Vander Wal's, where we were met by Don Vander Wal.

Sadie's link to the Nisqually Towing truck.

Just about ready to tow.

Here's Mike, whom Jill dubbed our "angel of mercy."

Don, too, has been very accommodating, professional and competent. He took Sadie in right away and began working on her. About an hour and a half later, he reported that the master cylinder had failed. He also suggested replacing the flexible brake hoses, which were showing their age. He told us that it was unlikely that Sadie would be ready that same day, but he said we could stay aboard her in the garage yard, behind a locked gate. He even gave us the key to the gate, so we could go to my brother's cabin for a birthday celebration.

Vander Wal's Garage, highly touted among the locals in Shelton.

Don Vander Wal could not be more accommodating.

In spite of everything, we slept like tops, and in the morning we went to McDonald's for breakfast and WiFi. We checked back after a couple of hours and learned that there was a little hiccup in the works. There is a valve in the system that is designed to provide SOME braking, even when the system fails. When it is activated in a failure situation, the valve piston moves so that brakes on at least two wheels give some braking. Thank God for modern technology, even the kind that dates back to 1988.

Poor Sadie jacked up for repairs.

It turns out that when the piston is activated, it has to be deactivated, in order for the brakes to be restored to proper working order. In the case of Sadie, that meant uninstalling and reinstalling it. Once that was done, bleeding the brake system could commence. Unfortunately, that process commenced late in the day and didn't go well. At last, Don told us that we would not be able to leave today.

So, we are currently housed at the Super 8 Motel. We could have stayed in Sadie, but we really wanted to have a long hot shower and TV, which were not options with Sadie in her current state of being propped up on jacks, without electricity. We are hopeful that we will be back on the road tomorrow.

Summing things up: 1) We are incredibly grateful to our Creator that we were saved from disaster when the master brake cylinder failed; 2) we are very grateful to Good Sam Emergency Road Service for prompt and thoughtful service; 3) we are so thankful for Mike and Nisqually Towing... our angel of mercy, as Jill called him; 4) we are very grateful for Don Vander Wal and his crew for their prompt service and professionalism in taking on a difficult and unexpected repair job with no notice and for being so very gracious in giving us a place to stay.

I would be remiss if I didn't also mention the kindness of The Waterfront at Potlatch RV Park in forgiving us for not keeping our reservation. They usually require full payment if there is a cancellation less than a week before the expected arrival in the summer. They forgave the whole thing and told us whenever our coach is fixed, they will find a place for us.

We did get the chance to go to Potlatch State Park
and see what we came to see, if only briefly.

Here's the birthday boy. Not the birthday I would have
planned, but we had fun in spite of our troubles.

Pogo likes to walk on the beach.

This is not the vacation we planned, but it has been so full of blessings, that we would be ungrateful indeed, if we were to pout about the situation. It is great to be alive. We serve an awesome God!!

The Wet Carpet Blues

2010-07-01T18:34:00.000-07:00

The Wet Carpet Blues
(Tune up your guitar and strum a blues beat.)

I woke up this morning;
Got outta my bed.
Took me a shower,
And washed my bald head.

I covered my kisser,
With lots of thick suds,
Shaved off my whiskers
And put on my duds.

I went to the bathroom,
To use the fixed throne.
I suddenly noticed the socks on my feet were as dry as an ol' hound dog's bone.

Chorus:
I lost those wet carpet blues;
I lost those wet carpet blues;
I lost those wet carpet blues,
And I no longer have soggy shoes.

I fought the john and the john...LOST! (I think.)

2010-06-30T18:48:00.000-07:00

Day two of the battle against pot. Today, I got kind of mad at this whole leaking toilet situation. I got online and did some research about this plumbing, which I found is called "The Gray Menace." It turns out to be Poly-Butylene (PB), which was very popular in the era in which Sadie was built. Later, not so much. There were apparently a number of class action lawsuits about the stuff, primarily regarding its usage in home construction. Seems that prolonged exposure to heat and pressure had a tendency to rupture PB pipes. Thank goodness I always use a pressure regulator at the park faucet.

That being said, PB is what I have and I had to work with it. I removed the pot again and went to True Value with a piece of the pipe. My plan was to install a shut-off valve in the system, so we could at least use the rest of the plumbing, in the event the toilet needed to be removed.

I purchased a 1/2" X 3/8" compression shut-off valve, brought it home and installed it on the PB pipe stub. Jill turned on the pump. Hello; it leaked. I tightened the fitting another 1/4 turn and went about my business. Fifteen minutes later, I checked the fitting again...it was leaking. Tighten a quarter turn...wait 15...check...tighten a quarter turn...wait...well, we decided to go to Dallas and check on the house. When we returned, I checked again...it leaked.

OK. Now I was taking no prisoners. I turned off the water, removed the valve and...well, I had a problem. The brass compression ring that is part of the valve wouldn't come off the pipe. I got out my frameless hacksaw, and with a mighty 1/4 inch stroke, I sawed through the ring far enough that I could break it with the twist of a screwdriver.

Having removed the valve completely, I returned to True Value. Now, when you live in a small town and you go to a hardware store with 6 employees, they get to know you pretty fast. Amidst some good natured ribbing, I picked out my next array of parts for my aresenal. These comprised a PEX press-on Street elbow and a straight lavatory supply valve.

I went back to Sadie and installed said items. Then I turned on the water pressure and checked for leaks. No leak! Just to be safe, I left the system under pressure for about 45 minutes and never found a leak. At last, I felt comfortable reinstalling the toilet...until, that is, I remembered the broken sink sprayer that is attached to the toilet for the purpose of cleaning the bowl.

Alas, I was faced with a decision either to leave the broken sprayer, thus dooming myself to the possibility that I might have to remove and replace the toilet yet another time to replace it, or to endure the ribbing of the True Value guys. It was off to TV for me.

With some mild expletives and a couple more skinned knuckles, I finally conquered the john! Of course, the proof of the pudding will be in checking the bathroom carpet tomorrow morning. Will it be wet, or will it be dry?

Tune in next time to see if success is really success or if it is only defeat in success' clothing.

The Battle Against Pot

2010-06-30T07:49:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, after Jill left for a visit with daughter Tara in Denver, I noticed the carpet in the bathroom was wet. Let me back up a moment. Prior to this discovery, I had foolishly let the gray water tank get too full. After my shower, I noticed the water was not draining out of the shower pan, a sure sign that it is time to dump.

I did the dumping and thought no more about the situation, until I went in the bathroom later in the day and noticed the wet carpet. Once before I had allowed the gray tank to over fill. In that case, the carpet immediately outside the shower had become wet. In this new incident, I attributed the wet carpet to the overfilled gray tank and the coach, perhaps, sitting at a slightly different angle, causing the water to "settle" in a different area.

Ever the optimist, I tried drying the carpet with towels and a heater with a fan on it. I thought I was making progress, until I got up in the night, used the toilet, and discovered my PJs were wet, where they had lain on the floor during my "business." That was the night before last.

Yesterday, I had to leave early for the drive to the Portland airport to pick up Jill. When we returned home, I found the carpet even wetter. Some investigation showed a little dampness around the place where the supply pipe emerges from the floor behind the toilet. With a heavy heart, I concluded that I needed to remove the toilet and investigate further. (The heavy heart was the result of having removed this toilet once before for a different problem.)

I read the installation/removal instructions in the manual and went to True Value to buy the "right" tools, because I remembered how difficult it was to remove the toilet with the tools I had on hand. I have to admit that the thought of having a "legitimate" reason to purchase some new tools mitigated my heavy heartedness a bit.

Upon arriving back home, and with all due alacrity and dispatch, I attacked the toilet. After some struggling with access to the bolts and more than one skinned knuckle, I had the beast out. I determined that the fitting joining the water supply line to the toilet was leaking. Upon further inspection, it appeared that the compression fitting was slightly deformed, probably as the result of 22 years of having been compressed. I also discovered a hose loose under the toilet and replaced it on its nipple, adding a hose clamp, which was in absentia.

I reattached the compression fitting and had Jill turn on the water pump. Oops! It was leaking worse than before. "Turn it off; turn it off," I cried. I disconnected and reconnected the compression fitting. "Turn it on!" Jill complied. No leak. "Turn it off." I began reseating the toilet and reinstalling washers and nuts on the virtually inaccessible flange bolts. Good, good; that one is on. OK, I think I have... Oh! No!! One of the nuts dropped into an inaccessible recess in the plastic casting that is the base of the toilet.

I removed the one nut I had been able to get on to the bolt, disconnected the compression fitting and removed the toilet again so I could shake the missing nut out of its hiding place. On the next attempt, I got the compression fitting tight and installed the washers and nuts. At last, the toilet was back in its proper place. I picked up my tools, congratulated myself for a job well-done and sat down to relax for the evening.

This morning. I got out of bed and went in to use the bathroom. Funny! The carpet seems wetter than when I went to bed. I reluctantly felt the compression fitting, and Yes! it was drip, drip, dripping on the carpet.

Tune in next time to see if our hero can stop the leak and re-install the pot without using any curse words.

And the adventure begins.

2010-06-20T08:24:00.000-07:00

We are currently residing at the Ash Creek RV park in Independence, OR. The sale of our home will be complete tomorrow, and the construction of our new home is underway in Dallas, OR, about 15 minutes from the RV park.

We moved all our worldly possessions out of our stix and brix into P.O.D.S. (Portable On Demand Storage units), which left us effectively homeless, while we are having a new home built, complete with RV garage for Sadie!! We moved aboard Sadie in our driveway and stayed there a couple of days while we cleaned up the house before turning it over to the new owners.

Ash Creek RV park is nestled in the middle of Independence such that you might never see it, if you didn't make an effort. Our son, Patrick, works a block away and had no idea it was here. It is not fancy, but the facilities are nicely kept. Many of the residents are either full time in the park or are snow birds and stay here in the summer and somewhere further south in the winter. We are quite comfortable, and we believe we will be able to remain here comfortably for the 4 - 5 months it will take for our new home to be ready.

The one problem we have is that just about the time we moved into the coach, the fresh water pump stopped working, along with the overhead light in the bedroom and the overhead light in the kitchen. Since we are connected to city water and have other lights these problems have not been stressful, but they are in need of repair, whenever I can find the time to fix them.

Today is Fathers' Day, so we will be spending the day with Patrick and his wife, Katie. I'm sure the electrical problems will still be here tomorrow!

Final preparation for full time RVing (short term)

2010-05-25T17:52:00.000-07:00

This is a late entry. I took Sadie, shortly after the installation of the new satellite antenna, to visit our favorite mechanic. In addition to lube, oil and filter change, I asked John to investigate why, when Sadie sits for a while, it takes a lot of cranking to start the engine.

Well, true to form, John and his colleagues investigated and found that a) it is not a fuel pump problem; b) it is not a fuel pump relay problem, as had been suggested by fellow RVers on an internet forum, because the fuel pump is mechanical, not electrical; c) the 22 year old carburetor had a tiny leak, so the fuel was leaking out of the float chamber. Hence, Sadie would start fine, if she had only sat for a day or two, and she would require extensive cranking if she had sat longer.

After I recovered from the shock of what it costs these days for a carburetor rebuild, I told John to go ahead and fix it. The idea of fuel leaking on the top of Sadie's engine, was not appealing to me. It took 24 hours, but the job is now done, and I look forward to more reliable starting. That is a good thing, because we will be living aboard for about 4 months, while our new home is under construction. So, starting the engine will not happen frequently, as it often does on a road trip.

We are now ready to move aboard, scheduled for June 15th. In the meantime, all we have to do is pack up all our worldly possessions for storage and move them into P.O.D.S. (Portable Onsite Delivery System) so they can be hauled away to a warehouse for safekeeping until our new home is ready.

Stay tuned.

A new crown for our venerable lady

2010-05-07T17:46:00.000-07:00

Sadie got a new crown today. The weather was fair. We brought the old girl home yesterday. So, I got up on the roof and removed the old, non-functional satellite dish and replaced it with a newer, better one.

This one is a Dish 1000 model. When it is activated, it automatically searches the sky until it finds a satellite. When it has identified the satellite, it computes the relative position of EchoStar 119W and locks on it. Then it computes the positions of EchoStar 110 and EchoStar 129 and adjusts itself so that it is locked on all three satellites. It took about 5 minutes to accomplish all of this on the first try!

Since we will be living aboard for about 4 to 5 months while our new house is under construction, we thought it a good idea to have TV available. The new installation was not especially difficult. In fact, the hardest part was removing the caulking material that was on and around the old unit. Once that was accomplished, it was a matter of setting the new unit in place, marking the screw holes, applying some caulk to the base of the unit and screwing it down...with self tapping screws: no pilot holes necessary (or advised!).

Since this was a replacement operation, I didn't have to spot and drill a new hole in the roof for the cables. I simply removed the cover plate, removed the old cables, inserted the new ones, applied more caulk to the new cover plate, and screwed it in place.

The lower end of the installation was simply a matter of placing some F fittings on the ends of the coax cables and plugging everything in. There was one other task. It was placing the control unit through the side of the box on which the TV is mounted and which contains the power supply. By situating the new control unit through the side of the cabinet, I obviated the need to open the cabinet and fiddle with the controls when setting up or stowing the dish.

So, Sadie now has a first class satellite TV antenna. I'm jazzed. Tomorrow, I will install the new memory foam mattress. Then it is off to the mechanic for some mechanical tweaking.

And now for something completely different...(with apologies to Monty Python)

2010-05-04T19:12:00.000-07:00

I'm missing Sadie tonight. It has been some time since we have been able to get out and use the old girl. There is a reason for that. We have sold our sticks and bricks...no, we are not going full time in Sadie. We are going to build a new home in a different city that is closer to our son Patrick and his wife, Katie.

The upshot of this change is that we will be living aboard Sadie for the duration of the build time. That is likely to be about four months. There are very few RV parks near where we will be building, but we found one about ten miles away that looks suitable. That park will be within a half mile of our kids' house, so it will be fun to be able to see them without an hour and a half of driving involved. They are both school teachers, so they have a lot of time in the summer.

Before we move aboard Sadie, there are a few things we need to do to her. Jill has recently had back pain while sleeping in the RV bed. We have ordered a memory foam mattress, which we hope will alleviate that problem. In addition, our satellite antenna has failed. It is so old that it doesn't recognize all the satellites in the sky and gets so confused that it just gives up. I will be replacing it later this week, I hope, weather permitting.

I also want to have the fuel pump relay checked/replaced and the transmission checked and serviced. Once those things are done, the hard work begins: deciding what we need to live and what stuff is optional. So, there are big doin's afoot for Sadie. We are excited, to say the least. We get to have a taste of full-timing in Sadie, and we get to build our dream home. Did I mention that our new home will have a garage/shop for Sadie?

We are blessed beyond measure (with apologies to Guyanne Valentine).

A walk on the wild side

2010-03-16T16:44:00.000-07:00

Click the photo for a slide show

The weather was beautiful this morning, while we had our breakfast, but we could see that it was deteriorating. When the dishes were done, we donned our fleece and hit the trail. By contrast with the developed part of the park, which we explored yesterday, the area we saw today is almost totally wild. I say almost, simply because there are some obviously maintained trails.

In fact, there is a labyrinth of trails in this part of the park. We followed some of them and eventually wound up in someone's backyard! Well, not really, but we came upon a housing development and a beautiful new school. We headed back toward the park, investigating many of the trails we found. We saw more homes, an abandoned mill of some kind, an abandoned "ghost train" comprising a diesel locomotive stripped of almost everything, including the metal skin that once covered its framework.

As we arrived back at the park we began to notice some moisture in the air. We relaxed for a while in the coach. After lunch, we took Daisy Mae for a drive. We found some beautiful homes, which we could have coveted, had we let ourselves go. Several had RV garages and shop buildings...just what I would want in another home, if I ever get the chance to have another one.

After the tour of the "street of dreams," we headed north on the highway that runs by our RV park. It led us eventually to Scio, a town I have always wanted to visit, simply because I have passed the sign on I-5 for the Scio exit a million times. Scio is a LITTLE town, about six blocks long. There are some beautiful homes there, and there are some shacks there. We saw a number of churches, including a huge Baptist church. Judging by the size, the Baptists must have Scio wrapped up!

On the way back to Lebanon we took a little detour...of about 17 miles! We had seen an ad on the internet for the Mallard Creek RV Park and golf resort, so when we saw the sign, we had to see what it was all about. The RV park is quite lovely, with lots of level concrete pads. The golf course is very nice for a rural course, but is not by any means a world class course. That judgment, however, is the result of driving by a couple of the fairways and greens. It may be better than it appeared to me.

The thought that kept going through my mind was that someone had gone way out on a limb to build this wonderful facility in such a remote area. There were four or five RVs in the park, and we did see some golfers, but there is absolutely nothing else to do here but play golf. I wonder if there are enough golfing RVers to make this place pay. This is March. Perhaps, the place fills up in the summer. I hope so.

Pastoral beauty and stark reality

2010-03-15T16:12:00.000-07:00

Click the photo for a slide show.

We are in Lebanon, OR at Gill's Landing RV Park. The park itself is quite lovely, nestled on the shore of the South Santiam River. There are 21 RV sites, with full hookups, level concrete pads, 50 Amp electric service and restrooms that are cleaned three times a day. Currently there is one other RV in the park, not counting the park hosts, who have been serving here for over a year!

A railroad bridge and an auto bridge span the river at the north end of the park. It is very quiet here, although this morning I heard a distant train whistle. Nevertheless, we have seen only one train, consisting of locomotive and one flat car cross the railroad bridge. Later a truck on railroad running gear came across the river and slowly worked its way along the track. Otherwise, there has been no rail traffic.

We drove into Lebanon proper in Daisy Mae this morning. After a stop at Wally World (WalMart to those of you who are not RVers), we toured the city's residential areas, found the airport, and strolled downtown proper. This is a lovely little town, which has obviously fallen on very hard times. I would say that at least 1/3 of the store fronts on Main Street are vacant. There are several thrift shops still in business. The movie theater still operates, too, but given that the median income of Lebanon is considerably below the median for the state of Oregon, one wonders how long it will remain open.

I don't know what the primary industries are here, but it is obvious that the residents could use more industry to support the population. Gill's Landing is quite a beautiful park and is operated by the city, so some things are flourishing, but it made me a little heartsick to see the downtown businesses struggling so much.

The weather has been quite nice. It got up to 63 degrees today, and the sun has been shining through a high, very thin overcast. Tomorrow we intend to investigate the other side of the river and the rest of the city park, which is on the other side of the railroad and the highway. There is a path that runs under them from the RV park to the day use park. We are told there are a number of nice trails for hiking. Pogo will like that.

Lebanon or Bust!

2010-03-13T17:30:00.000-08:00

It was just after 9:00 AM when we parked in front of the Portland RV Storage warehouse, where Sadie lives, when we are not aboard. Lucien had her all ready to go. I hopped in and brought the old girl home so we can prepare for a jaunt down the Willamette (say "Will Am Ette") Valley to Lebanon.

Jill went shopping for a few last minute items. Apparently, the shopping was good today. She was gone for a good, long time. She did well, though, and we have added some new accessories, including a wall mounted paper towel dispenser, an over-the-door hook on which to hang a dish towel, a combination salt/pepper shaker, a double 12V outlet (so we can run the GPS and the Tire Pressure Monitor System simultaneously), and a clear plastic angle extension for the sewer hose, so we can monitor the progress of flushing the holding tanks.

But the most exciting new addition is our brand new, berry-colored Travasak. This amounts to a fancy sleeping bag. It is the size of a queen bed and has high thread-count sheets that are attached inside with Velcro. One side (top) has double the insulation of the other, so by turning the "bag" over, you can change from winter to summer configuration. I assembled ours with a standard double electric blanket between the upper (winter) side and the upper sheet. We usually don't leave the furnace on at night, so having an electric blanket in winter keeps us oh-so-toasty.

The reason for getting the Travasak is that Sadie, while she has a queen bed that is supposedly a "walk around," leaves us very little room for getting around the bed for purposes of making it up. With the Travasak, we will be able simply to zip up the sides and smooth out the bed. We can't wait to sleep in it tomorrow night in Lebanon.

Small town America and a world class air museum.

2010-02-20T17:01:00.000-08:00

Main Street U.S.A. Well, actually it is 3rd Street, McMinville, OR.

We are unexpectedly living aboard Sadie again for a couple of days. Patrick's varsity boys' basketball team (Perrydale H.S.) is in the league playoffs. They had a game last night, but it was in McMinnville, OR, about 50 miles from home. Yesterday morning, I said to Jill, "Here's a crazy idea. Let's repack the coach and go to McMinnville for Pat's game." After hesitating for a little while, she said, "OK. Let's go!"

So,we left home about 2:00 PM and arrived in McMinnville at the Olde Stone Village RV park a little before 4:00. If that seems a little slow to you for a trip of 50 miles, I hasten to point out that it was Friday afternoon on a sunny weekend in February, and the road to McMinnville is also the road to the beach! On top of that, you may not know about Dundee.

Dundee is a small town along highway U.S. 99. It isn't big, but it has a stop light and the highway is a narrow two lanes. A few years ago, wine making became a big new industry in the Willamette Valley. Consequently, Dundee has grown in popularity. There are a number of wine tasting rooms in the vicinity. Bottom line: traffic is always stop and go in Dundee, and when it goes, it goes at the speed of a teenager sent out to mow the lawn.

Olde Stone Village RV park is very nice, and the price is very reasonable. We got all set up and drove on in to McMinville H.S. in time for the game. Things went pretty well for about a quarter and a half, but then St. Paul's Buckeroos, who average about a head taller than the Perrydale Pirates, pulled away. At halftime, they led by nine. Perrydale made a run at the end of the third quarter and got back within seven points, after dropping behind by as many as 16. They made another run late in the fourth quarter, but it was too little too late. Pat was proud of his team. They played hard and their sportsmanship made St. Paul look a little shabby by comparison.

Today got off to a sunny start and actually got to be quite warm by midday. We decided to visit the Evergreen Air Museum, which is right next door to the Olde Stone Village. What an amazing collection of aviation history. The central attraction is Howard Hughes's Spruce Goose. This wooden, amphibious, cargo plane is enormous, boasting the longest wingspread of any aircraft in history. It is truly spectacular with its 8 (count 'em) 8 3,000 horsepower engines. It only flew once, and that for about 30 seconds. By that time, technology had passed it by, WWII ended and the old bird was relegated to the ranks of an aviation curiosity. Still it is a marvelous achievement.

Photo courtesy of Google Photos
Here is a photo of the Spruce Goose
And another. Note the size of the other planes in comparison!
Here is the tail section.
This is a Lockheed F80 shooting star from immediately
post WWII, which was used for a trainer for a couple of decades.
And what appears to be a WWII era Navy bird.
The museum has lots of military hardware, including some tanks.

Of course, the museum contains much more than the Spruce Goose. It is, in fact, the best air museum I have seen (I have not been to the Smithsonian). There are planes spanning the history of flight from a model of the Wright Flier to jet fighters used in Iraq and everything in between. I was thrilled by the number of WWII warbirds on display, and today there were several WWII veteran pilots available to answer questions. We spoke to one gentleman who flew the same model torpedoe plane as George H. W. Bush. He was about as modest as anyone I have ever met. He said, "We were just a bunch of kids. We thought it was fun!" In my estimation, this is a world class air museum (and we didn't even go in the space museum section!) and would make a good vacation destination, especially when they have added the planned water park, complete with a water tube that will pass through the fuselage of a Boeing 747!

Following our visit to the museum, we returned to Sadie and took Pogo out to take care of her business. Then we decided to go out to lunch, something we rarely do when we are RVing. We chose the Golden Valley Brewery and Restaurant. The restaurant section is quite reminiscent of the kellers I visited in Bavaria a couple of decades back. The food, was not, although it was quite good. I don't remember seeing quesadillas on the menu in Munich! Jill had a bock lager with her lunch, and I chose a porter. Both were quite respectable.

After lunch we had a nice stroll along the main drag and looked in shop windows. We had an encounter with a street magician, and finally found ourselves in an ice cream shop, where we succumbed to temptation.

Jill had an encounter with Ben Franklin!

I texted Patrick and we agreed to meet for the next game in the playoffs this evening. Jill and I met Pat and Katie at the gym and were treated to a very exciting contest between St. Paul and the undefeated league leader, Country Christian H.S. St. Paul came out on top, which was a mixed blessing for Pat. On the one hand, he would have liked to see St. Paul go down after they beat him last evening, and on the other he is glad to know that Country Christian H.S. is NOT invincible.

A glorious Pacific Northwest day.

2010-02-18T18:03:00.000-08:00

It was with great sadness that we departed Potlatch today. The weather was perfect again today. Well, there was a bit of a breeze, but the sky was cloudless and the sun was warm.

We had a relaxed morning, lounging over breakfast and coffee. Watching a little of the Winter Olympic Games and enjoying the view out of Sadie's picture windows.

At last it was time to get ready to go. Thanks to my Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS), checking tire pressures is a matter of turning on the monitor and reading the reports. I did add some air to one of the suspension airbags. Otherwise, air was not an issue. I checked the oil and coolant levels, too.

Jill has become the master of preparing the inside of the coach for travel. She stows everything that is loose, checks the cabinet doors and drawers, turns off the furnace, water heater and ice maker, locks the refrigerator door and usually has a cold soda stationed by my driver seat.

I finished up my duties by draining the holding tanks and stowing the hoses and electrical cords. After a final walk around to make sure nothing was unlocked or still deployed on the exterior of the coach, I declared Sadie road-ready. Jill fetched Daisy Mae, and we hitched her up to Sadie's tow bar. Then, off we went.

We stopped on the Indian Reservation for gas, which is cheaper there than on the economy. It turns out that we got the best mileage we have ever achieved while towing Daisy Mae! I won't mention the actual MPG, lest I offend some "greenie" who might happen to be reading this post. Suffice it to say that MPG is going in the right direction.

We had a lovely drive home in brilliant sunshine. There were two stops, other than the fuel stop. First we stopped at the Toutle River Rest Area, where we used the facilities. We watered Pogo and then had a little lunch. Back on the road again, things went well most of the way home. We both heard a noise along the way, and wondered what it was. We stopped at another rest area, and I inspected the tires, towbar, Daisy Mae and the underside of Sadie. Nothing seemed to be awry. Later, I heard the plastic wine glasses that hang over the dinette table clink together and thought, "That is a familiar sound...kind of like what I heard before we stopped."

The end of the story is that we arrived home safely and in one piece. We unloaded Sadie. Jill began doing laundry and baked an apple cake for our Bible study group, which is due to arrive at 7:00 PM. I tidied up the things we had brought in from the coach, and now we are ready to entertain.

It was a wonderful trip, and although we hated to leave Potlatch, we have a pretty wonderful life at home, too. So, being home is also a great blessing!

Lazy daze

2010-02-17T20:34:00.001-08:00

No photos today. The weather was beautiful, with a cloudless sky, after the morning fog on the Canal burned off. On the other hand, it was a bit breezy, which made it a little uncomfortable to be outside just sitting.

I spent a good part of the morning working on my lesson for our Bible study group tomorrow evening. We are studying the book of Galatians, and I drew chapter one, so I will be laying the groundwork for the rest of the study.

We talked about going out for an adventure, but the view from Sadie's picture windows was so enchanting, that we decided to just relax indoors. We watched "Singin' in the Rain" on DVD, one of our collection of movies that now numbers about 115. That is just the collection we carry on board. At home, we have a few more. We do enjoy movies, but most of those in our collection are from the 1930s, '40s and '50s.

I went out to grill a couple of steaks for dinner, and found the sky filled with stars. Just outside our door is Orion. Off our starboard bow is mars, and the sky is even dark enough that I was able to see the Pleiades off the starboard quarter.

Jill has remarked several times today that she doesn't want to go home tomorrow, and if we had a clear choice in the matter, I would stay. The weather has been beautiful, and the canal view is spectacular from our front windows. Nevertheless, duty calls. We will head home tomorrow and entertain our Bible study group tomorrow evening. This will give Jill a chance to play a hymn for the group to sing.

So, tomorrow we will head for home, but the bottom line is that the RVing season has begun. As soon as we get our SOWER membership taken care of, we will be able to plan our outings for the year. We are so excited about doing an RV mission trip. In the meantime, we can always take Sadie out for a little exercise now and then!

A day in Port Ludlow

2010-02-16T17:34:00.000-08:00

Click on the photo for a slide show of today's adventure. We had lunch at the Port Ludlow Inn. While we were eating, the Kenmore Air seaplane in the final photo arrived with a couple as passengers. They were the only other guests in the restaurant, and apparently they were celebrating the woman's birthday.

Today, we were expecting the poorest weather of our trip. So, rather than be confined to Sadie's interior, as much as we love her, we decided to make a drive to Port Ludlow, some 60 miles further up Highway 101. The further north we went, the worse the weather became. At times, we were driving in a deluge. Nevertheless, we pressed on.

We were rewarded for our efforts by finding Port Ludlow to be a very inviting, upscale community. I had been there in 1981 by boat, but what I saw today was anything but the dilapidated, light industrial community I remembered. The whole area appears to be a resort town built between my previous visit and our experience today.

In the slide show, you will see the Port Ludlow Inn, whose architect has successfully evoked the 1930s with the design of the inn. I pictured myself chatting with Scott and Zelda in the card room overlooking the bay.

The food was delightful. We both ordered the seafood sandwich du jour, which was a grilled shrimp panini with Gruyere cheese, served with real french fries and a wonderful mixed green salad with a light vinaigrette dressing. I had a Black Butte Porter and Jill had the house Pinot Gris to complete a wonderful repast.

Our trip home was unremarkable, except for the fact that we moved from heavy rain showers in the Port Ludlow area to clear skies and sunshine in Potlatch. It was a lovely visit, but we are happy to be back "home" enjoying our Sadie.

We're baaa...aaacck!

2010-02-15T19:18:00.001-08:00

IMG_1752
Originally uploaded by punomatic

We just can't keep ourselves away from Hood Canal. Today we drove to The Waterfront at Potlatch RV resort and parked in our favorite spot (#7). The weather for the drive up was pretty nice, with intermittent sun and no rain all the way!

I guess direct marketing works. The resort sent us an email saying that we could get one night free if we paid for a night's lodging. Well, that was too much for me to resist. So, we made a reservation and here we are for the first Travel with Sadie of 2010.

It was fun "de-winterizing" Sadie. We brought her home on Friday. My first task was to check all the tires and the air suspension. I got them all aired up to the proper inflation, and then I installed the senders on all the tires for my new Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS).

The TPMS I chose is from Truck Systems Technologies. It includes radio frequency sending units that screw on to the tire valve stems, and a monitor that sits on Sadie's dash board. As we drive along, I get updates of the air pressure and temperature of each tire, every few seconds. The system not only monitors Sadie's tires but Daisy Mae's (our towed vehicle) as well! That is very comforting, since we had a blowout on Daisy Mae last spring that we didn't know about, until we heard the bare rim rolling on the pavement. Ouch!!

We had some problems with TV once we got settled. First I tried to find the satellites with our roof top "automatic" satellite dish. According to the system, we found satellite #119, but we could not get any programming to come in. Next I tried our "back up" dish. I was able to find both satellite #119 and #110, which are the two satellites for Dish Network. But I couldn't get a good enough signal from 119.

So, next we tried the free cable TV. We were only able to find 12 channels on our main TV, but our cheapo "Curtis" (I bet you never heard of that brand!) picked them all up. Unfortunately, the reception was pretty awful. We asked at the office whether anyone had had similar problems. The owner came over and tried very hard to make it work. At last I realized that the problem was in our wiring. I made a couple of changes, and now we have a clear picture, but still only 12 channels on the Vizio. How we do suffer.

We are considering taking Daisy Mae, tomorrow, and heading for Port Townsend, a lovely Victorian town up the road about 65 miles. As an alternate, we might go to Port Ludlow, about the same distance in a different direction. Or... we could just have a lazy day in the coach, with books and movies and games and lounging around.

It's the choices in life that wear one down; know what I'm sayin' here??

How long is the RV off season, anyway?

2010-02-03T19:56:00.000-08:00

It has been about five weeks since I have seen Sadie. She is, I hope, comfortably nestled in her covered storage area. Jill and I are getting itchy to do some RVing. We received an invitation to stay at The Waterfront at Potlatch for half price in January, February or March. Well, here it is February, and we haven't made a reservation. Jill is going to Denver the end of the month, and we are both headed for San Diego in April. Looks like it will be March before we go, although there is a fair amount of February left yet.

There has been an exciting development in our RV life. We learned recently about an RVers' ministry called SOWERs, which is an acronym for Servants On Wheels Ever Ready. This group provides labor for upkeep, remodeling and construction projects for Christian organizations such as churches, orphanages, camps and so on. Their M. O. is to send RVers to a project for 4 weeks at a time. The men are required to provide 72 hours of work during the first three weeks, and the fourth week is free time for exploring the area around the project site. In return, the host organization, for whom the work is being done, provides the team with RV sites, including water, electric and sewer hook ups.

We haven't decided yet, whether we will apply for membership, but we are seriously considering it. Earlier, we had been contemplating an extended trip, similar to the one we did last spring. Now, we are thinking and praying about what that trip might look like, if we were SOWERs. Stay tuned.

Walking in a winter wonderland...

2009-12-04T21:10:00.000-08:00

Click the photo to see a slide show of the beauty of Champoeg State Park in December!

Although it is probably past "camping" season, well, I guess it is never really past RVing season. Jill and I decided we needed one more outing before Christmas, so last Sunday, we packed up our stuff and the dog and headed for Champoeg (pronounced "sham-poo-ee") State Park, one of our favorites.

The park is only about 35 miles from home, so the outing was not a strain from the driving perspective. The amazing thing is that, just like last year, the weather was completely cooperative. We had mostly sunny dry weather for the three days we stayed, but now, two days after our homecoming, we are expecting temperatures to drop into the 20s.

We got the coach set up and planned to settle in for the evening on Sunday. I tried to get the automatic satellite dish to find our satellite signals, but it failed. Fortunately, I carry a spare dish for those occasions when the one on the roof is blocked by trees or whatever. Unfortunately, it requires a technician who pays attention to get this dish aligned.

I "fussadoodled" with the dish for about an hour and failed to find a signal. I moved it to various locations, I tipped it this way and that...nothing. At dusk, I gave up. Jill, meanwhile, had prepared supper. We dined on turkey dinner leftovers from Thanksgiving and found ourselves quite satisfied. After dinner, we had a lovely conversation that went on and on. So, this is what people did before the boob tube took over the world!

On Monday morning we decided to take a walk, although the weather was overcast. There are so many places to walk at Champoeg, but our favorite is a paved path along the south bank of the Willamette (say "will-AM-ette") River. As you will see in the slide show, even in December on a cloudy day, the Oregon rain forest can be breathtakingly beautiful. Among the photos are a close up of some fern in full regalia, and a tree trunk full of woodpecker holes. The "mansion" is situated across the river from the park and is only one of several large (and presumably) posh homes along this stretch of the river. How these homeowners must suffer.

Tuesday morning we spent a couple of hours working on our Bible study, and then we took a walk on another path in the park. Unfortunately, we forgot to take our camera along. Pogo enjoyed her walk, as always, and Jill and I welcomed the exercise. The weather was sunny, but a chill wind came up and made things a bit brisk.

When we returned to the coach, I decided to have one more stab at finding a satellite signal. I installed the signal meter in line with the cable from the dish to the coach, just as I had before. That's when I realized my mistake from the previous attempt. I had installed the meter backwards! That is to say, the terminal that was supposed to be connected to the dish I connected to the receiver, and vice versa. I reversed the connections and had a signal in about five minutes. You may be able to fool some of the people all of the time, and you may be able to fool mother nature, but you can't fool my satellite signal meter. It knows when it is in backwards!

We watched a little TV after dinner. Just before retiring for the night, I took Pogo out for her late evening "hurry up" duty. The sky was absolutely cloudless; the moon was full, and the stars that oversprinkle all the heavens seemed to twinkle with a crystalline delight. (Sorry, Mr. Poe. I got carried away!) In my inimitable pragmatism, I realized we were in for a cold night. Fortunately, the electric blanket was reliable as ever.

Wednesday morning, the sky remained clear. The sun shone, and the wind howled. We opted not to walk. We lounged in the coach over coffee and conversation. At 11:30, I went out and took care of dumping the holding tanks. We had lunch with Perry Mason, and as soon as we learned whodunit, I disconnected the power cord and the cable, put away the dish, and we headed for home.

The fun did not end in the driveway. Jill unloaded our gear, while I winterized the coach, which mainly amounts to draining the plumbing to prevent freeze damage. It was sad to think we will not be camping for a while, although we plan to bring Sadie home to serve as a guest cottage, when all the kids and grandkids are here for Christmas. Thursday we put her back in storage, just in time to miss the first frost of the season.

L. L. "Stub" Stewart State Park

2009-11-01T19:30:00.000-08:00

Is it the last trip of the season? We hope not, but it is getting colder outside. We had to make one more trip, just to try out the furnace, you know. Well, it works just fine.

We headed out Friday with a little concern for the weather. Nevertheless, it was dry most of the way to "Stub" Stewart, one of our favorites among Oregon State Parks. It is also the newest park in the system. It is set up to cater to RVers who do not like a lot of inconvenience. Every RV site has 50 Amp electric service, water and sewer (full hook-up), and according to the OSP web site, this park has wi-fi. Apparently, it wasn't working this weekend, at least in the part of to park where we stayed.

The park is located about 35 miles west of Portland on Hwy 47, in the general vicinity of Vernonia. This area is in the Oregon Coast Range mountains, which, though not the tallest mountains in the state, are among the most beautiful. Covered with trees, laced with rivers and streams, the Coast Range is a little bit of heaven.

We arrived at the park, found our reserved site, parked Sadie and hooked up all systems. Anticipating both college football games and World Series action on Saturday, I started a search with our "automatic" satellite dish. Alas, as is usually the case of late, it did not find any satellites. As best I have been able to discover in my research of the problem, this failure is due to the fact that a new satellite has been put into orbit since our system was built, and its presence "confuses" the software, which is not expecting to find a satellite at that location.

Whatever the case, I got out my trusty DishPro 500 satellite dish and my trusty support, homemade from PVC pipe, and in a few minutes, we had TV. Having put that task to rest, we got on to the more pressing task of relaxing. The weather began to spit a bit so we holed up inside and just enjoyed each other's company.

Friday night, the wind howled, causing something to go clunk, clunk, clunk against the coach. I'd have got up to see what was going on, had it not been for the driving rain and the fact that the clunking sounded fairly innocuous. I later discovered that the cap for the sewer pipe, which had been removed in favor of the sewer drain hose, was hanging from its rubber tether and clunk, clunk, clunking against the sewer pipe.

Saturday dawned with lots of fog, but the wind had abated. As the day wore on, the fog gave way to rain...I mean serious rain at times. We were able to get out for a stroll around the campground, but later we were grateful to be inside enjoying football. The highlight of the day, of course, was watching the Oregon Ducks demolish the Trojans of USC 47-20. My Phillies didn't do as well against the Yankees in the World Series.

Sunday, the day we had to leave, arrived all sunny and blue-skyed. I am not sure why it is so often the case that the best weather happens, when we have to leave. Pogo got another walk, and I managed to get a picture of the campground and our dear Sadie.
The drive home was spectacular, punctuated by fall-colored leaves, sunshine, unseasonably warm temperatures, and the realization that the RVing season may not, after all, be over. Jill and I often remark about the fact that we are blessed with a wonderful home to return to. This final photo is of our vine maple tree in the back yard. The others Jill took along our way home.

Fire in the Hole!

2009-10-23T20:10:00.000-07:00

After we returned from Hood Canal, I removed Sadie's furnace and began inspections. I cleaned up the fan, which wasn't that dirty. Then I checked the sail switch and found that it works fine.

At that point I was stumped. Then I got on the RV.net Forum, which is the source of 95% of my RV knowledge. (The other 5% is trial and error...oh, yeah...lots of error.) Someone sent me a link to a service manual for my furnace. Included was a diagnostic routine for a furnace that has a working blower but no flame.

My time has been somewhat monopolized recently, helping Pat and Katie get their new house cleaned and painted, plumbing up to date, locks changed, and sundry projects completed. They are moving in today. The point of all of this is that I hadn't a chance to work on the furnace until Tuesday, when I ran the diagnostics and found that the limit switch was bad.

Yesterday, I picked up a new switch, and today I installed it. That was the ticket. I reinstalled the furnace and turned on the thermostat, and voila, fire in the hole. It is kind of like having one of your children suddenly get well from an ailment, to have your coach "whole" again.

Now, Jill, where is the calendar. We gotta get campin' again.

The saddest tale we have to tell...

2009-10-09T22:01:00.000-07:00

Click the photo for a slide show, including Tom polishing Sadie, and a lot of shots Jill took as compensation for the fact that we had to leave Potlatch today.

Today, our Hood Canal vacation came to an end, which is not to say that we didn't consider staying a few more days. I think the deciding factors were, 1) we get to see Pat and Katie's new house tomorrow, and 2) Saturday night temps in Hoodsport are forecast to be below freezing, and 3) the furnace is still not working. I think it is going to need to be removed and completely disassembled for cleaning.

So, we bit the bullet, packed up the coach, hooked up Daisy Mae and hit the road for home. It was a good day for traveling. The traffic was bearable; the weather was beautiful; and we have good things to anticipate after arriving at home. We stopped on the Skokomish reservation for gas, which is about 20 cents a gallon cheaper there than it is "on the economy." Sadie purred along and took all the hills in stride without a strain.

We stopped at Maytown rest area for lunch. Jill had made some ham and cheese sandwiches on rosemary/olive oil bread. Mmm, mm, mmm, mmm, mmmmm! Pogo got a short walk, so we were all happy. We hit the road again and arrived home about 3:30 pm. We will definitely return to Potlatch at the first opportunity. On the way home, the biggest question on our minds was, "Where can we go for our next trip?" When we got to the exit that leads to the Columbia Riverfront RV Resort, we talked about the idea of stopping there for another week. We were only half serious, but talking about it made us both think twice.

So, it is back to real life for the near term. Sadie needs her furnace fixed, and we need to do some maintenance around the homestead. So, look for further travels with Sadie...but not this week.

Trouble in paradise...but not very much...

2009-10-07T19:02:00.000-07:00

Today began with a bit of a disappointment. I got up and turned on the furnace, which heated up the coach nicely. When it turned off and then cycled on again, no heat came out! This was, as Yogi Berra might say, de ja vu all over again. We had a similar problem two years ago this month. That time I disassembled the furnace and found about a cup of bees and other flying things in the combustion chamber. When they were removed, the furnace fired right up and has been working fine ever since.

This time the combustion chamber was clean, and the exhaust was clear, but still it wouldn't fire. I spent some time online looking for a solution. So far, I have not fixed the furnace, but I have gleaned enough information to conclude that there is a strong likelihood that the fan and/or the sail switch (a microswitch that is operated by adequate airflow produced by the fan, allowing the gas valve to open) may be dirty or defective. Tomorrow, I will look into the possibility of cleaning them.

The difference between today's mishap and that of two years ago is that, this time, we have a portable electric heater aboard. Last time, we got so cold we went home early. We also have an electric blanket on the bed, so we can stay warm one way or another. When the sun came up, the coach warmed up to the point that we had to open the windows to cool it off. So, our day was not spoiled in the least.

After we spent some really great time in our Bible study, we relaxed and then went to Hoodsport for some grocery items. We found more fresh oysters in the IGA store, so guess what we are having for dinner. We also took a drive up the west side of the Canal, but alas we forgot the camera. It was an absolutely beautiful day with clear blue skies, and autumn leaves reflected in glassy water. The wind was still, and the smells of saltwater and forest combined to complete a veritable feast for our senses.

Our day came to a close with a pink extravaganza reflected in the water.

A hike in the woods and oysters on the reservation...

2009-10-06T17:24:00.000-07:00

View Larger Map

For those of you who may be geographers in the audience, I have included a map above showing the location of Hood Canal to Seattle and the Puget Sound. The route that is highlighted represents the trip we took today from Potlatch to Twanoh State Park. Twanoh is a beautiful park nestled in a gorge that comes down from the rain forest to the Canal. We hiked a couple of miles in the woods, which made Pogo very happy. Click the photo below for a slide show of the day's activities.

After our hike at Twanoh, we drove about 6 miles to Belfair, a town of some 3 or 4 thousand people, I imagine. There are a number of sizeable stores there, and our purpose was to find some new sun glasses for me, because, as usual, I had left mine home. On the way back, we stopped in Union (see map) and Jill took some outstanding pictures of the Olympic Mountains, which are behind us at our campsite and not very photographable from our vantage point.

We left Union and made a stop at a little farmer's market located on the Skokomish Indian Reservation. We got some sweet corn and fresh oysters in the shell. You will note in the slide show, that I opened the oysters and we will have them for dinner, shortly after I put this post to bed. Enjoy the post. I am going to cook some oysters.

Moon Over Bald Point

2009-10-05T19:55:00.001-07:00

I just had to make one more post of the beautiful moonrise. Our site in the park looks directly across the water to Bald Point. As the moon came up tonight, it was awe inspiring; and though I recognize that photos can never capture the full beauty, they can give you a little idea of how blessed we are to be here at this time.

Winsome weather, walking wife, and new neighbors

2009-10-05T17:00:00.000-07:00

Today dawned crystal clear, except for a slight layer of mist over parts of the canal. As the day progressed, the weather became more beautiful, if that is possible. It definitely felt like fall; nevertheless, it was warm enough that no jacket was required, which would not have been the case if the wind had been blowing.

As you can see in Jill's photos, the water was as smooth as glass. In my water-skiing days, I would have given anything for a day like today. Alas, I have neither a boat, nor water skis, nor the death wish that would be necessary to get me back on them. It is sometimes nice to relive the memories and appreciate God's creation just for the sheer beauty and not for the practical applications for which one might use it.

After we spent about an hour doing our current Bible study, we made a trip to Hoodsport, about 3 or 4 miles up Hwy 101, and "did the shops." There is a row of half a dozen or so touristy boutiques, although not all of them were open today. The used book store that we so enjoyed a year ago is now a tattoo parlor. Things change, and we like to see what small (I mean really small) town America is up to from time to time.

After lunch, I nodded off and then crawled into our bed for a "short" nap. I awakened about two hours later. Jill called to me, when she saw I was up, and said I needed to meet the new neighbors. They are from Tillamook, and they are Christians. We enjoyed chatting with them about many things, including the times we live in and how they fit in with Bible prophecies.

I learned that, while I was in the arms of Morpheus, Jill hiked around the RV park several laps to get her exercise. She said that the neighbors teased her some, but bless her heart, she walked for a half hour. I was not that motivated today.

On The Waterfront

2009-10-04T19:06:00.000-07:00

Click on the photo for a slide show.

Once again we are on the waterfront with our Sadie. We decided to do one last RV vacation before we put the old girl away for the winter. Since we canceled our trip to Hood Canal in August, because Jill was in San Diego looking after our daughter, Laura, before our new grandson, Judah, was born, we decided we had to make it up.

We arose this morning in Clackamas to rain and heavy cloud cover and a temperature of about 49 degrees. We were a little concerned, but we pressed on with our plan. We headed off to church, and then came home and finished the packing of the coach. We hooked up Daisy Mae behind Sadie, loaded Pogo into her crate, and took off.

The first fly in our ointment was that there was a car that appeared to have slid off the road between our house and our favorite gas station. The police were in attendance, but the street was partially blocked, so we decided to just head for the highway.

The further north we traveled, the better the weather became. We finally stopped to top off the gas tank in Kelso, WA, about 50 miles north of Clackamas. The traffic was not awful today, which it can be on the stretch of I-5 that we traveled. Nevertheless, we stopped at the Scatter Creek rest stop for lunch. We discovered that the rest stop has been refurbished and now has room for many more trucks and RVs. They have even installed 6 (count 'em, 6) RV dump stations! Now, that is significant.

From Scatter Creek we continued on to Olympia, where we headed west to join US Hwy 101. The drive is beautiful at any time, but with the clear blue skies and sunshine today, it was spectacular. We arrived at Potlatch and our RV park, The Waterfront at Potlatch, just at 3:00 PM, as early as we could check in. For those few of you who don't know where Potlatch is, it is located between Skokomish and Hoodsport, on Hood Canal. Now that we have cleared that up, I will close by saying this has been a marvelous day, and as you can see from the photos, the scenery couldn't be more beautiful.

Yet another riverside park, yawn...

2009-09-23T20:35:00.000-07:00

Click on the photo of the Clackamas River for a slide show.

Today we returned home from Barton county park, one of our favorite close-to-home destinations. It is, in fact, 8.5 miles from our driveway. Nevertheless, it is beautiful and restful. To be honest, our motivation for THIS trip was to pick blackberries. In years past, we have gleaned quarts and quarts of the sweet black jewels at Barton. In fact, I can recall one trip when we skipped dinner, because we had gorged ourselves on black berries.

This trip was not to provide such bounty. We were, I think, about three weeks late. What berries hadn't been picked had dried up on the vines, in part, no doubt, as the result of several days of summer temps over the century mark. It appeared, too, that the grounds crew had been trying to eliminate some of the vines. They didn't check with me, before they started on that quest!!

So, we didn't have blackberries...alas, there will be no blackberry jam on the table this winter. On the other hand, we had a wonderful time strolling around the park and visiting the Clackamas River, which runs along the southern edge of the park. Yesterday, it was very hot, so we spent a good deal of time enjoying Sadie's air conditioner and new TV set! Most of all, we enjoyed time together to relax. We started a new Bible study and chatted about the lifestyle changes we are choosing to make, including joining an athletic club and minding our food choices better.

We were at Barton for three days and two nights, but as is usually the case in public parks, there was no internet connectivity, so I had to wait until we returned home to post this.

Gee, the traffic was terrific...

2009-09-23T19:46:00.000-07:00

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.

On the road again!

2009-09-07T19:19:00.000-07:00

At long last we are having a chance to spend time with Sadie again. Five and a half weeks ago, we got a call from our daughter Laura. She was in the hospital with early labor. The doctors were able to get the contractions stopped, but they told Laura she needed to be on complete bed rest, and she would not be allowed to go home, unless someone was there to look after her and Josiah, her 4 year old son.

Jill hopped on a plane and was there in hours. She was nursemaid to Laura and nanny to Josiah, as well as housekeeper for the family, while Tim was at work. Laura's due date was some five weeks in the future from the time Jill flew to San Diego. Well, baby Judah could not wait that long, and he was born after Jill had been there for three weeks. (For some pictures of our beautiful grandsons, visit our blog, Pilgarlic Postings.)

As soon as I got the word that Judah had arrived, I hit the road and drove to San Diego. Jill and I then filled the role of looking after Josiah and entertaining him, while Tim and Laura got used to a new son. After a couple of weeks, they were settled in, and we came home.

So, what, you may ask, has all this to do with our Travels with Sadie? Well, after a five week hiatus in our usual routines and in our relationship, Jill and I decided it would be a good thing to take a vacation and relax and reconnect with each other. So, we are parked on the waterfront at Columbia Riverfront RV Park in Woodland, WA. The view from our coach is breathtaking; the park is quiet and well kept; and we have nothing to do for the next five days except relax and enjoy each other's company.

If you click on the photo at the top of this post, you will see a slide show of our little slice of heaven.

2009-07-05T18:35:00.000-07:00

Click the photo for a slide show of our trip to Nehalem Bay State Park. Don't ask me why there are no pictures of Jill...(she has become the family photographer!)

It has been rather strange not to post on this blog for a month. Today I reached that landmark. We arrived home on June 5th and now it is July 5th, the traditional "first day of summer" in Portland. It has been hot for the past week, which seems unusual for the end of June/beginning of July. My sense is that it usually rains through the Independence Day holiday, and then summer begins.

We were able to get away to the Oregon coast for three days last week. We stayed at Nehalem Bay State Park, which is located next door to Manzanita, OR, one of our favorite towns. This is a large and wonderful park. There are lots of level, paved trails for walking or biking. We didn't take our bikes, but we wished we had.

The weather was pretty good. It was warm on the beach, and we had sun until the morning we left. In the afternoons it got very windy, which is pretty normal, given that the weather inland was so hot. But of a morning, the weather was perfect for walks on the beach, one of the prettiest on the Oregon coast.

On our second day, we walked to Manzanita, where we bought a bottle of wine and some crackers to enjoy in the afternoon. Jill and I agreed that having a glass of wine at the beach is somehow not only imperative but completely natural.

While we were in Manzanita, we went to the sweet shop and had ice cream cones. There we met a trio of young people in their 20s. It turns out they were two sisters and a brother who have been coming to Manzanita every summer for twenty years. They were delightful conversationalists, and we were glad to make their acquaintance.

Pogo was delighted to have numerous walks while we were at NBSP. In fact, her primary activity when we were not walking was sleeping to get rested up for the next walk. We also met a group from Vancouver, B.C. They were camping in three coaches across the road from us. They had been as far south as Florence, and they were quite taken with Sadie.

My only regret about the trip was that we had no internet connectivity, so I was unable to blog the trip while it was happening. Well, the other regret was that we had to leave and come home after only three days. We look forward to our next outing. Life with Sadie is always a joy.

Home again, home again, jiggity jog...

2009-06-05T12:40:00.000-07:00

Jill loves the Columbia River Gorge. Click on the photo to see why. The two dams are The Dalles Dam and Bonneville Dam.

We are home! It is hard to believe that these past four weeks are gone, kaput, history. We got up this morning and realized that this was the final leg of our journey. The wicked weather of yesterday afternoon had abated, but it was still overcast and breezy.

I checked Weather Bonk to see what the wind forecasts for the gorge might be. The prediction was for 23 mph in The Dalles, 15 in Hood River and 10 in Troutdale. I decided we could tolerate such winds, although not without some trepidation.

We secured the coach. It occurred to me that there was no reason to make up the bed. That made me a little sad. Jill secured the inside of the coach, while I did my usual "pre-flight" inspection: checking tire pressures, checking oil and coolant levels, visually inspecting the coach and the toad, cleaning the windshield.

We hit the road about 8:35 AM, and although the winds were troublesome at times, we had no real difficulties. As the winds decreased, the weather became grayer and damper the closer to home we got. We finally arrived at our driveway at about 11:55 AM.

Reflecting on the trip, I have a few observations:

1) Sadie performed like a champ. She didn't give us one lick of trouble along the way. Every problem we had with Sadie was one I created; to wit, accidentally switching off the house power on the second day out, wearing out the light cord for the toad, because I neglected to check what "that noise" was all about when we bottomed out in Fillmore. Other than those two episodes, we did not have any problems with Sadie. She didn't even use a quart of oil in 3,000+ miles!

2) Towing a car is not as problem free as one might think. I am very glad we took Daisy Mae along, but after we blew out the right rear tire, I was less enthusiastic about towing. All things considered, having her along made the trip more enjoyable.

3) Living with your soul mate in a 240 square foot space is not only doable, but quite enjoyable. Jill and I never had a conflict during the trip. We were both sad when it was over, and we wonder what to do with all this space at home!!

4) This is a wonderful way to see the countryside. I think we both realized that we tried to cram a lot of sightseeing into a month. We agreed that we would like to make a trip to a destination, park Sadie for a week or two and just enjoy the serenity of a simple existence. Our trip to Hood Canal in August should be more like that.

5) Apparently, we spend more money at home than I thought we did. We actually did not withdraw any money from savings to cover our expenses on the road. It all came out of our day to day living money, even the fuel expenditures. I conclude that living this way, is pretty economical.

6) My wife is a magician when it comes to packing the coach, especially where food is concerned. We ate out of the food she stowed for most of the trip, only replenishing perishable items and some naughty little snacks. I can count the restaurant meals we ate on the fingers of one hand.

7) Would I do this again? I think we can be repacked by tomorrow afternoon!

Calm and rainy now

2009-06-04T18:50:00.000-07:00

The wind is now dead calm. The rain is coming down steadily. It appears the front went through, bringing with it a spate of rainy weather. Tom and Jill have done it again. We had been looking forward to arriving home tomorrow to warm, dry weather, since we have had thunderstorms since we arrived in Flagstaff, two weeks ago. Now it appears that we have brought the bad weather home with us. Sorry folks.

I just checked the temperature and the barometer. The temperature has dropped about 25 degrees from the high before the front went through. The barometer had dropped quite low, too, but it is now rising again. I'm sure all of that means something earth-shaking to meteorologists. To me it means the we had a cold front come through, but now things are stabilizing.

Weather update

2009-06-04T17:34:00.000-07:00

The anemometer on the top of the neighbors' coach has slowed to countable revolutions now, whereas it was a blur, when the front was going though. The rain has lessened, and we haven't heard any thunder in a while. The sky to the west does not look as threatening as it did.

Weather update

2009-06-04T17:12:00.000-07:00

The wind has decreased a bit now, but the rain is coming down harder and harder. We now hear thunder, although we have not seen any lightning flashes, so we don't know how far away the strikes are.

Weather watch

2009-06-04T16:50:00.000-07:00

Jill was just reading on the KPTV weather blog that a storm is due to pass through Oregon. The blog said that there is a thunderstorm powerful enough to spawn a tornado passing through the Detroit/Lyons/Silver Falls area of the state. A tornado watch has been posted and the people are being told to hide in a closet until the danger passes.

We have been parked on a hillside, overlooking the Columbia River at Rufus for about 3 hours. The weather has gone from hot (90s) and dead calm to a blow that is rocking the coach (even though we have the stabilizer jacks down) and huge rain drops pelting the weather side of the coach. The temperature has probably dropped about 15 degrees, although I don't have a reliable outdoor thermometer.

We had our awnings out on the sunny side of the coach, which is now the rainy and windy side of the coach. It took both of us and two neighbors to get the large awning rolled up.

I spoke to Patrick, our son, to wish him happy birthday. He said he heard on the radio that Portland could get quarter-sized hail today. Ooohhh, my poor plants at home! I will continue to post on the developments here in Rufus.

From conestogas to the mighty Columbia

2009-06-04T14:34:00.000-07:00

Click the wagon to see our slide show for the day. The old timey buildings and such were at our RV Park in Baker City. There are several photos that Jill took along our way today.

This will be our last night on the road. We are currently parked in the Rufus (OR) RV Park. Now, if there was ever a fly-by-night operation... We pulled in and went to the office, only to learn that this is a do-it-yourself park. You pick out your campsite, put the money in an envelope and drop it in the slot provided. Having done that, we wondered how to get WiFi, so I could post yesterday's blog post. If you read the previous entry, you will know that I did not post yesterday, due to the inability to upload Jill's photos from the previous park.

Once we got settled here, I tried to log on to the WiFi network. I was able to get as far as the log on page, but then I needed password and user name. There was a phone number for the park host, so I called and got the necessary credentials and logged right on. So did Jill. This rather podunky-looking park has far superior WiFi to the park we stayed in last night. So, don't judge a book by it's cover, you know!!

We had a lovely drive today from Baker City. We climbed to 4,600 feet from the 4,000 foot elevation of Baker City and then descended to our current elevation of about 500 feet. Rufus is situated across I 84 from the Columbia River. If we crane our necks we have a view of the river from the campground, but not from our site.

The most interesting part of today's drive was crossing the Blue Mountains. The road is not as steep as the hills we found in the Rockies. That fact coupled with the lower elevation helped Sadie actually to pass several semis today, both going up and coming down from the summit. She just purred along. The climax of the Blue Mountain crossing was coming down the 6 mile 6% grade of Cabbage Hill, just east of Pendleton. That required downshifting and running on compression most of the way.

It seemed good to catch up with the Columbia River again at Boardman. It really is an impressive sight. We have thoroughly enjoyed the scenery on every inch of this trip, but there is something pretty exciting about seeing familiar terrain. So, tomorrow, we will drive the Columbia River Gorge highway on into Portland and then home to Clackamas.

It's not over until it's over...

2009-06-03T20:58:00.000-07:00

Click the sunset to see a slide show of our travels. The sunset photos are a series we took from our coach in the Jerome, ID KOA on the evening of June 2nd. There are several of the Snake River Valley and other sights along our travels from Jerome to Baker City, OR. The buildings at the end are, in order: the city hall; another government building that houses, among other things, the water authority; an old building refurbished for office space; the recently restored Geiser Grand Hotel; and the St. Francis Cathedral. This post was actually made a day late, because I couldn't get the photos to upload at last night's park, which was otherwise lovely.

We thought we were done with sightseeing and just heading home, but today (June 3rd) relieved us of that misapprehension. We left the KOA at about 8:20 AM, heading west. The weather was beautiful, and Jill got some more great landscape shots. Sadie cruised along, much happier to be at lower altitude than the Rocky Mountains.

We arrived at the Mtn. View RV Park in Baker City, OR about 1:30 PM. Yes, we are back in our home state. The only downside so far is no more pumping our own gas. There was a thunderstorm this afternoon, but it wasn't too near us.

Neither Jill nor I had ever seen the National Oregon Trail Interpretive Center that is run by the BLM. So, we unhitched Daisy Mae and drove over there. (This gave us one more chance to use my Golden Age Lifetime Pass.) The Center is quite interesting. There are several dioramas of the lives of the people who traveled the Oregon Trail as they migrated westward in the middle of the 19th century. Perhaps, the most interesting part of the Center is the remaining ruts made by the wagon wheels of these intrepid pioneers.

On our way back to the campground, we made a tour through downtown Baker City. There are a number of architecturally very interesting buildings. The City Hall, another government bulding, several churches, and the Geiser Grand Hotel, which has been restored by the family that owns the building to its late 19th century grandeur. It is a working hotel, and it is quite charming. The restaurant serves meals that sound delicious for very reasonable prices. If we didn't have the motor home with us, we might have stayed there. We could even have brought Pogo with us!!

Back at the campground, I began trying to blog, but I could not get our photos to upload to Flickr. I will try again tomorrow or later this evening. I finally got so frustrated with that problem that I went outside and scrubbed the bugs off the front of Sadie. You gotta know I was frustrated to take on that job for the first time in a couple of weeks! Anyway, Sadie looks pretty nice for a coach that hasn't had a proper wash job for a month.

I can't say the same for Daisy Mae. She takes the brunt of everything that Sadie kicks up off the road. The LeBra nose protector that we installed before we left home has protected her from rock chips, but she is pretty dirty. Coupled with the naked wheel on the right rear as a result of the loss of the wheel cover when we had the blowout, the dirt makes Daisy Mae look pretty sad. She'll get a good wash and wax job and a new wheel cover, when we get home.

Tomorrow, we will head for Rufus and Friday we expect to make it home. Unfortunately, I have a "honey do" list (of my own making) about as long as my arm. So, as with all good things, our vacation must come to an end, but the memories of this trip we will treasure for a lifetime.

Escape from the blood suckers

2009-06-02T16:10:00.000-07:00

The photo above was taken at Los Hermanos Mexican Restaurant in Provo. From right to left are Maughn, Tom, Jill and Carol. Please read the post and then click on the picture for a slide show of our travels today.

Yesterday was fun. We started with a load of laundry. Now, that sounds a little mundane, but bear with me. The laundry facility at the Lakeside RV Park was one of its better features, but the dryer was not the most powerful we have encountered on this trip. Jill had made contact with her cousin Carol, and we had a date for an early lunch with Carol and her husband Maughn. When the time arrived for us to leave the campground and drive to the restaurant, the laundry was not very dry, but we couldn't leave it in the dryer until we returned. So, we threw it in the back of the car and headed out.

If you are in Provo and looking for a fun place to eat with wonderful Mexican food, Los Hermanos at the corner of University Avenue and Center Street is the place. The food, the service and the atmosphere were all wonderful, but they couldn't match the company. We haven't seen Carol and Maughn since 2002, but we always have so much fun just chatting with them.

Somewhere along the way, mention was made of our damp laundry. After lunch, Carol said, "Why don't you come to our house and you can dry the laundry, while we continue our conversation." So, that is precisely what we did. Before we knew it, our 11:00 AM lunch had stetched out to 3:30 PM! At last we bade this dear couple good-bye and headed back to the coach.

Arriving in the late afternoon, we were overrun by a swarm of mosquitoes. I suspect none of them had eaten in several years by the ferocity of their attacks. We had been troubled by them since we arrived, but by yesterday afternoon they were either more numerous and ferocious, or our patience with them was wearing thin. We decided we would get ready to go last evening and head out as early as we practically could this morning.

We spent most of the evening tracking down and killing the several dozen mosquitoes that came in through the door when we made our entrances and exits during the evening. By the time we went to bed, all we could think of was getting away from mosquitoes. That, however, was not to be. We continued swatting at the little blood suckers, which had that nasty habit of going, "mememememe" in our ears.

To shorten the story, we were on the road by 7:05 this morning. After a fuel stop, during which I checked the oil and the tire pressure and air spring pressure, we were underway. Things went well, until we arrived at the exit from I15 to US 89. Actually, it was just as we passed our last opportunity to exit onto US 89. The traffic came to a standstill. We were not sure what was going on, since we had seen a sign saying that there was construction ahead.

Finally, I wised up and turned on the CB radio, adjusted the squelch and tuned to channel 19, the channel the truckers like to use. This was very enlightening. We learned that, in addition to construction, there was a roll-over accident, and a helicopter had landed on the freeway to evacuate the injured passengers. We also learned that we were in the wrong lane. As you can see from the slide show, changing lanes was no mean task.

I think we were in this mess for about 40 minutes, when I saw my chance to change into the right lane. Traffic began to move a little. Then we heard on the CB that they had cleared the wreck. Before long we passed the scene. There was a Lincoln Navigator on the back of a truck. It looked as if it had rolled over several times. We said a prayer for the occupants.

The rest of the trip was pretty easy. Sadie just purred all day. We arrived in Jerome, ID just before 2:00 and registered at the KOA campground, which is very nice. It also has reliable Wi-Fi, which accounts for this post, whereas I was unable to post from the Lakeside mosquito den, due to very iffy Wi-Fi service.

P.S. We re-Christened Veronica. In keeping with the Li'l Abner origin of Sadie Hawkins, we decided to rename Veronica "Daisy Mae." You old people will recognize that name as the name of Abner's true love.

For better or for worse

2009-05-31T12:42:00.001-07:00

Click the photo for a slide show of today's travels. You will notice several things: 1) the changes in terrain, especially the colors of the rocks; 2) Jill's dad worked for the railroad, and our grandson, Josiah, is nuts about trains; 3) windmills are really big - compare the windmill vanes to the earthmover parked under the windmills!

Another successful travel day is under our belt. We left Moab Valley RV Park this morning with mixed emotions. We had a wonderful stay in Moab, and enjoyed ourselves. On the other hand, shortly after we arrived on Thursday, a travel trailer pulled in adjacent to us. When the doors of the Toyota Sequoia tow vehicle opened, people just kept pouring out of it. At the same time, another SUV pulled up to the cabin across the driveway pulling a trailer loaded with ATVs. More people piled out.

Joy, the matriarch of this clan, came over to greet us effusively and announce that more were coming the next day. When it was done there were 14 people involved - 7 adults and 7 children, ranging in age from about 1 to about 11 years of age. Guess where the hub of activity for this group was. That's right, at Grandma and Grandpa's trailer. I couldn't believe the amount of gear they unloaded.

The "shared" space between our two vehicles was about 12 feet wide and 40 feet long with a tree in the center and a picnic table on each end. Ostensibly, one end of the space was ours and the other end was theirs. Well, it wasn't long before tricycles and bicycles were whizzing past Sadie's door. There were children perched on "our" picnic table, presumably because "their" picnic table and an additional table that they had brought along were both covered with gear.

Now don't get me wrong. I like people, especially the ones I meet in campgrounds, and I adore children. But fourteen people in an area designed for about four is a bit of an overload. The clan was very friendly and not rowdy, but that many people just take up room and make a lot of noise. Consequently, we were not able to enjoy "our" yard, except when they were off "4-wheeling" or at the swimming pool. In retrospect, I think they did an amazing job of keeping the lid on things, but it would have been better if they had had an end space for their trailer, where they would not have had to "share" the yard.

We bid the park and the neighbors adieu and headed north on U.S. 191. We followed 191 all the way to I15, just south of Provo. At Provo, we exited and found the Lakeside RV Park, which is quite lovely. There are lots of trees (albeit cottonwoods, which are in the process of shedding their cotton!), and the lady who checked us in was sweet as could be. The trade off for the trees is that we are unable to get a clear view of the southern sky, so we can't get satellite TV reception. All things considered, that is a small price to pay.

Our trip today took us from 4,200 feet at Moab to 7,476 feet at the summit of Soldier Pass and back down to 4,500 feet at Provo. Sadie did amazingly well. Either I am getting used to driving her, or all this exercise is doing her some good. She purred along and took the hills in stride.

The terrain changed a great deal as you will discover in the slide show. Tomorrow, we will contact Jill's cousin Carol and see if we can get together with her and her husband. We haven't seen them for 5 years, so it will be fun to catch up with them.

Big rocks and small worlds

2009-05-30T18:05:00.000-07:00

Click the picture for a slide show that should leave no doubt why it is called Arches National Park

We will spare you about 2/3 of the photos that we took at Arches National Park today. Some of them didn't turn out, but even among the ones that did turn out, there were too many to put them all in the slide show today. Jill has become an accomplished photographer, especially when it comes to making amazing photos while we are underway. We both were carried away by the beauty and the uniqueness of the rock formations we saw today. We have seen a lot of red rocks in the past three weeks, but these formations were so unusual we couldn't stop shooting.

At the first place we stopped to take pictures, there was another car parked, and a couple about our age was just about to get in it. Jill noticed that they had an Oregon license plate and asked them where they were from. The woman said they were from West Linn, and we told them that we were from Clackamas. Then the woman took off her sunglasses, and Jill realized she was a teacher who used to work in Jill's school. We had a lovely chat with them. They are on more or less the same loop we have been on, but they are going in the opposite direction, so we were able to make some recommendations for their sightseeing itinerary. What a small world.

We got up early so we could arrive at the park for its 7:30 AM opening. Our purpose was two-fold. First, we wanted to capture the early morning light. Second, we wanted to be ahead of the crowds, this being a Saturday. We scored on both counts. As I believe you will see in the photos, we got a lot of great shots that play up the shadows against the red rocks and the blue sky. We also found that, by the time we were about to complete our exploration of the park, there was a large influx of new visitors showing up.

I don't think there is a way for photos ever to capture the essence of a place like this. It is too grand, and as I remarked to Jill, the beauty of the desert can only be appreciated by both seeing it and experiencing it first hand. There is just an indescribable feeling about walking among these wonders and feeling the sand beneath your feet as you wander among unfamiliar plants and unfamiliar sights and odors. As one woman we met at a viewpoint said, "It would be hard not to believe in a Creator once you have seen this."

After we finished exploring Arches, we returned to Moab, where we found a farmers' market underway in the local park. It was a time capsule of the sixties. There were people selling all kinds of craft items, longhaired people in tie-dyed shirts, and a trio comprised of guitar, mandolin and harmonica playing and singing bluegrass music. I told Jill, this seems like "hippy central." Later we found the KaleidoScoops and had some ice cream.

We decided yesterday to forgo visiting Canyonlands National Park. The activities that are available there seemed to be beyond what we could comfortably undertake in a day. Instead we rediscovered the joy of taking care of the mundane necessities of life: laundry, grocery shopping, exploring the town and just enjoying quiet time to read and relax.

Tomorrow will be a travel day. We have now completed the "planned sight-seeing" that we had set our hearts on for this trip. So, we look forward to the serendipitous discoveries that God undoubtedly has in store for us. Our next destination is Provo, UT, where we hope to connect with Jill's cousin Carol. Stand by for further developments.

Over hill, over dale

2009-05-28T14:34:00.000-07:00

Click the photo for a slide show of our drive from Durango to Moab, UT.

We bade a fond farewell to Durango and Alpen Rose RV Park this morning. This was not without some trepidation, because we had driven the first forty miles of the road we had to travel yesterday on our way to Mesa Verde. Right out of Durango, there is a long uphill grade, about eight miles, if memory serves. As usual, though, Sadie behaved herself and there was no strain. All systems functioned as they are supposed to, even though we rose from 6,500 feet to 8,300 in a short time.

Once we cleared the mountain grades just about at Mesa Verde, we saw before us a vast sprawl of rolling hills, very lush and green. At Cortez, CO, we turned northwest on US 491. That took us into Utah, and at Monticello, we turned north on US 191 toward Moab. From Monticello, we lost nearly 3,000 feet of altitude coming into Moab. The terrain also changed from the lush green of Colorado to the red rock formations we were so familar with in southwestern Utah.

We are set up at the Moab Valley RV Park. Which is lovely. Our space has a nice shade tree and some lawn for Pogo. In fact as I write this we are sitting on the lawn. We have spurned the jeans and flannel is favor of shorts and sandals. Pogo got a bath, and she is outside with us drying off. The temperature is a balmy 85. We look forward to seeing two more national parks in the next two days.

More ancient history

2009-05-27T18:33:00.000-07:00

Click the photo for a slide show. The first three are from our campground. There is one of Mesa Verde, and yes we drove all the way to the top of that mesa! Then we visited two sets of cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde National Park. The first set is called the Cliff Palace. There are a few flower pictures in between and then a set of photos from Spruce Tree House, the best preserved (90% original) cliff dwelling in the U. S.

Just another crummy day in paradise! I took the dog out for a walk this morning and snapped a few photos from the 1 acre off leash dog park that is part of our campground. After breakfast, we packed up and headed for Mesa Verde National Park. From the gate it is a 15 mile drive to the visitor center, and it is ALL uphill! There are a number of ruins to see here, and we didn't have time to see them all, so we chose the most famous (Cliff Palace) and the best preserved (Spruce Tree House).

These areas were inhabited from c. 750 A.D. to c. 1300 A.D. The remaining structures were constructed during the last 100 years or so of that period. The Cliff Palace is thought to have been a gathering or ceremonial area, inhabited by some kind of leaders, government or religious or both. The Spruce Tree house was more like a residential area.

In the photos, you will notice a number of round structures that are dug into the ground and lined with stones. In their original state, these holes in the ground were covered over with a roof made of beams and sticks and covered over with mud. There are two pictures taken inside one of these "kivas" that is intact. You can get a little idea of the way they were constructed. In another photo taken at Spruce Tree House, you can see some holes in a flat area with ladders protruding out of the hole. These are kivas that have been covered over and their tops make a kind of patio for the kivas and other structures built on the next level.

The kivas were dwellings for extended families and were very cleverly designed. There was a fire pit in the center, just under the hole that the ladder protrudes through. Along the side of the wall was an air shaft that allowed fresh air in to provide air for the fire and the inhabitants. You will notice in the indoor picture a small wall behind the ladder. This was a "vane" to direct the air around the room. As you can imagine, even with this clever system of ventilation, the inhabitants breathed a lot of smoke. Many of them apparently died from emphysema.

The people who lived here farmed the land on the top of the mesa, growing corn and squash. Later they also grew beans, which filled in their dietary needs for protein. It seems that corn protein can't be processed by the human body in its native state. With the addition of beans to the diet, the corn amino acids can be processed and used by the body. Prior to the introduction of beans into the diet, many of these people were malnourished. They ate little or no meat.

Now, I haven't mentioned that both of these ruins are located about 100 feet below the top of the mesa. So, you guessed it, we walked down a hundred feet and then back up 100 feet. The exit from Cliff Palace is via a number of stone steps and three ladders. It is quite a climb! At 7,000 feet it is quite a challenge, too.

We ended our exploration of the cliff dwellings tired but happy. This was what I had in mind when we began planning this trip. We snapped a few shots from the mountainside on the way down. After a quick drive through historic downtown Durango on the way back, we returned to Alpen Rose RV Park, where Pogo was very glad to see us. She got a run in the off leash dog park!

You better stop, children. What's that sound? Everybody look what's goin' down.

2009-05-26T16:38:00.000-07:00

Click the picture to see a slide show of our trip from Santa Fe to Durango.

Jill: "Do you hear something?"
Tom: "Yes. What do you think that is?"
Jill: "I don't know. Do you think we should pull over?"
Tom: "Yeah. I think we'd better. I'll just pull in in front of this gas station."

Tom pulls the coach over on a large paved area in front of a gas station about 14 miles south of Chama, NM, which is about 14 miles from nowhere. He gets out and walks around the coach, looking under and up, trying to find something that would make a metallic sound. Nothing.

He continues back to walk around the toad. About this time, Jill comes out and asks, "Did you find anything?"
Tom: "Yeah. The right rear tire on the toad is gone."
Jill: "Gone?"
Tom: "Gone! It must have had a puncture and got low on air and just blown out."

Looking at the right rear wheel, we found a ring of rubber around the wheel, and the edges of the rim were scuffed up from rolling on pavement. There was a little damage to the fender liner, but it was very minor. Ironically, we had seen a pickup we were following have a blowout some miles back, and I told Jill, "That's why I check the tire pressure on Sadie every day before we hit the road."

I got the spare out and the jack. There was a weird looking part in with the jack tools, which of course, I had never looked at before, so I got out the owner's manual to see what it was. About that time a grandfather/father/son trio, who had stopped for gas, came over to offer help. The father said he had a floor jack and insisted on using it, instead of that "piece of junk they sell you with the car."

Before I knew it, he had the tire changed and the jack back in his truck. We thanked him profusely and wished him safe travels. He did the same, and we got back on the road. Our rescuer had told us that in Chama there is a Chevron station that sells tires. We drove around Chama for a few minutes, looking for the Chevron station, and then decided to go to the tourist information center that Jill had seen as we entered the town. As we approached it, we could see the Chevron station, so we bypassed the TIC.

The owner of the station could not have been nicer. He first said he was out of the size tire we needed, but then he came back and said his employee had found one. Inside of 15 minutes, the new tire was mounted, balanced and replaced on the car. We again thanked our second rescuer profusely and hit the road for Pagosa Springs, CO, some 47 miles distant. The worst of the damage was that we lost the wheel cover. Nevertheless, we felt blessed that the damage was not worse and that no one was hurt.

We crossed the state line into Colorado a little while later. The landscape had changed a great deal from our beloved Santa Fe. It was equally as beautiful, in a completely different way. We continued on to Durango, where we are parked in a beautiful grove of aspens, nestled in a valley. I will post some pix of the park tomorrow. In the meantime, enjoy the pix that Jill took along the way today. I think you will notice the gradual change in terrain.

Incidentally, Sadie did just fine, even though we changed altitude from 7,000 feet to 5,600 to 7,800 to 8,100 and finally settled in Durango at 6,500. Veronica, not so much.

Decisions, decisions.

2009-05-25T14:38:00.000-07:00

Click the photo to go on a hike with us in William Hyde State Park, NM

Today the sun came out. (For a minute we thought we must be in Oregon, not New Mexico). I had a few little maintenance projects to do on the coach, which I was able to dispatch pretty quickly. Jill wanted to do a load of laundry, but someone beat her to the machines, so she put that on hold.

We were not sure what to do with our day. We saw most of the outdoor stuff in downtown Santa Fe yesterday, and we had planned to go to Museum Hill, which is home to four museums. But when I saw the cloudless sky, after so many rainy days, I said, "Let's find a park, where we can take Pogo for a walk." Jill was not enthusiastic, at first. She had her heart set on the museums.

There is a collection of hiking/biking trails just outside of town, called the Dale Ball trails. We thought they would be perfect for our purpose, and as the beautiful weather grew on Jill, she consented to the hike. We programmed Maggie (our Magellan Maestro GPS unit) and hit the road. Eventually, we arrived at the William Hyde State Park, named for a beloved scout master of Santa Fe.

As we puzzled over the map, the ranger approached us and asked if we needed any help. We explained that we were looking for the Dale Ball trails, and he told us that we had gone way past them, but that there were nice hiking trails in the state park, one of which leads to a waterfall. Well, that was all we needed to hear. We paid the $5 for a day pass; I threw on the back pack, and we headed up the trail.

If you have lived your whole life at sea level and then started hiking up a trail beginning at 8,400 feet elevation, you can understand that this was no mean undertaking. The beginning of the trail is quite steep, and it was not long before all three of us were winded. We stopped, had some water, caught our breath, and continued. Soon, we were wondering whether the altitude or the scenery was taking our breath away. I estimate we climbed to 9,000 feet.

This is a gorgeous park. After a number of rest breaks we arrived at the waterfall, which isn't large, but it is beautiful. Pogo had a drink from the stream, and Jill and I sat and drank in the beauty of it all. Finally, we decided that we needed to head back down.

Arriving back at the visitors' center, we explored the lodge, which sits back from the road. It is used primarily for gatherings. The ranger told us they have had two high school graduations there this year and a number of weddings. We hiked up behind the lodge and sat on a bench. From that perspective, it became clear that there is a run above the lodge that is used in the winter for sledding and tubing.

Reluctantly we packed up and left. There was still that pile of laundry awaiting us, and we needed to stop at the grocery store. We returned to Sadie very tired, but very happy. Jill acknowledged that she was glad we had not spent this day of glorious weather inside of a museum.

The town with the really long name...

2009-05-24T16:18:00.000-07:00

Click on the photo for a slide show of Santa Fe.

In case you were wondering, I took a day off from blogging yesterday. It was a travel day, which means there is always lots to do. The weather has been cool (upper 60's to lower 70's for highs), ever since we got to Arizona and New Mexico. It has been gusty, rainy, and today we had hail.

Nevertheless, we have been having a wonderful time. The drive from Gallup to Santa Fe was pretty uneventful, except that it did involve some altitude changes again. Gallup is at 6,400 feet; Holbrook is at 5,000; Albuquerque is at 5,200; and then in the 55 miles from Albuquerque to Santa Fe, we had to rise to 7,000 feet. In fact that rise occured mostly in the last 1/3 of the drive from Albuquerque.

The drive was pretty easy, if you factor out the road construction and the downpours, but Sadie is not really fond of climbing steep grades when she starts above 5,000 feet. In spite of that, she did fine. It was the people behind us that suffered. (Yes, Charlie, I do remember when you chided me for buying an RV and being the guy you always get behind on a hill with no passing lane.) Fortunately, I25 from Albuquerque to Santa Fe is 4-6 lanes all the way. Jill got some nice landscape photos that begin our slide show for today.

Our sightseeing outing for today included going to the Rodeo Road Baptist Church. Unfortunately, they had published the wrong time for their worship service on their website, so we missed that. We found the Grace Community Church and went in, but they were in the middle of the sermon. So, we went to Tortilla Flats and had New Mexican food for breakfast. It was pretty wonderful, and Jill thinks she can duplicate it.

After breakfast we went back to the Trailer Ranch RV park where we are staying, changed our clothes and caught the bus for downtown Santa Fe. What a treat. (No, not the bus, although that was not bad.)

Santa Fe is a charming town that has remained true to its Spanish/Mexican heritage. It was founded in 1608 by Don Pedro de Peralta, on orders from his superiors in the Catholic Church in Mexico. The official name given to the town by Peralta was "La Villa Real de la Santa Fé de San Francisco de Asís", or "The Royal City of the Holy Faith of Saint Francis of Assisi." Santa Fe (I'll just use the short-hand name; I think you can follow which town we are talking about) became the capital of Neuvo Mexico in 1610, making it the oldest capital city in the U. S.

The Spanish, Indian and Catholic influences are all readily apparent in the architecture of many of the buildings in Santa Fe. As you look at the slide show, you will see the Basilica of St. Francis, the Loretto Chapel (more about that in a moment) and the Church of San Miguel. There are photos of a number of other buildings as well, but you will notice the architectural themes in everything from government buldings to hotels to shops and churches.

Loretto Chapel has an interesting history. It seems the chapel was built two stories tall, but the architect somehow forgot to include a stairway from the ground floor to the second floor. The nuns who were connected to the chapel prayed for a solution. Shortly thereafter, there came an itinerant carpenter, who made a spiral staircase which uses no center post and no nails. It is called the "Miracle Staircase."

San Miguel church, as you will see in one of the photos, was built in 1610 and is the oldest church building in the U. S. We were unable to go inside, because a wedding was in progress. The same was true at Loretto chapel. So, in spite of their age, and in contrast to the Mission church in Zuni, these churches are alive and being used.

Across the street in front of San Miguel church is an area called the Barrio Amolca (I think). It is said to be the oldest neighborhood in the U. S. Across the street beside the church is a house, made of adobe, which is said to be the oldest house in the U. S. I don't know if this means that it is the first house built or the oldest house that is still standing. At any rate it is a tribute to the durability of adobe construction, as are a number of other buildings made of adobe, including the Barrio and San Miguel church itself.

In the center of the town is a square, called "The Plaza" by the locals. It is very similar to the town square, called "Zocolo" in Oaxaca, Mexico, which I visited many years ago. Given the history of Santa Fe, I was not surprised to see this feature.

Today happened to be the opening day for the Museum of New Mexico History, a couple of blocks from the Plaza. That fact, coupled with the fact that this is a holiday weekend, probably account for the crush of people we found in the downtown area. There was a line about two blocks long of people waiting to get into the museum, which definitely accounts for the fact that Jill and I did NOT go in. As much as we love history and museums, we hate standing in lines.

We also walked by the State Capitol. It's the one in the pictures that shows part of the Seal of the Great State of New Mexico. The front of the building is hidden behind some beautiful trees. In spite of their beauty, I was not happy that they blocked my view of the capitol.

Having finished our self-guided walking tour, complete with rain squalls and hail storm, we headed back toward the bus stop. Along the way, we encountered a fun art show in an alley, and then we came back to the Plaza (which just seems like it ought to be the Zocolo).

We smelled a wonderful aroma wafting across the street, so we crossed over to the Plaza, and there we found a street vendor selling fajitas and such. It was too much for our resistance. Jill had a chicken fajita, and I had a chile relleno burrito. It was the perfect end to our day of exploring this beautiful city.

Galloping through Gallup (groan...)

2009-05-22T13:52:00.000-07:00

Click on the mural for a slide show...

OK, so we have been in New Mexico for 24 hours and the rain just keeps on raining. For this weather, we could have stayed home! Nevertheless, we are enjoying our stay. Unfortunately, this has been an expensive stop, especially considering that we only chose to stay in Gallup because it is halfway between Flagstaff and Santa Fe.

This morning we piled in our little Nissan Versa, which I have temporarily dubbed "Veronica." We drove about 50 miles to the Zuni Pueblo, a living community that includes many artisans and other Indians who choose to stay on the reservation and live according to traditional Indian customs. We paid for a tour of the pueblo and one of the Old Mission of La Senora de Guadalupe.

The mission was built in 1729 by Spanish missionaries who used forced Zuni labor and then forced the Zuni to convert to Roman Catholicism on pain of torture or death. The mission was abandoned in the 19th century. It has been restored twice since then: once in 1966 and again in 2006. Nevertheless, the adobe building is sadly in need of repairs again.

After the 1966 restoration, a Zuni artist moved into the mission and took up residence. He guided tours of the mission, which today only consists of the church building and a fenced in cemetery. Apparently, he charged for the tours as a means of supporting himself. In the meantime, he painted huge murals of the Zuni Kachinas or gods on the interior walls . The practice of making images of the Kachinas is forbidden by the Zuni religion. Consequently, the artist has fallen into disrepute in the community.

The Zuni people want to restore the church building and in the process paint over the murals. The artist claims they are his private property and wants them saved before the building is restored. This controversy has held up the restoration for some years. The current tours, sponsored by the Zuni Pueblo government, are a means to pay for the restoration, when the issues have all been settled.

This is an interesting situation. For some reason, the Zuni want to restore the building, and yet only 5% of the population are practicing Catholics. The church walls are adorned with the Zuni Kachina murals above (which are not allowed to be photographed for religious reasons) and the 12 stations of the Cross below. Religious services are not held in the building, but only members of the Zuni religion can be buried in the church cemetary. It is taboo to set foot in the cemetary, except for a funeral and burial, so the grounds of the cemetary have gone to weeds and the occasional candy wrapper or beer can that has apparently blown in with the wind. Once you have trod the sacred ground in the cemetary, you must burn your shoes.

Our guide said that her father is the head of the religious arm of the Zuni Pueblo community and he is a medicine man. These functions account for about 3/4 of his time, so he is only able to work at gainful employment about one quarter time. There are many taboos about disturbing anything that has to do with ancestors; so, many buildings are abandoned after people die. About 92% of the population of the pueblo are active in the pursuit of the Zuni religion. Zuni language is taught in all grades: one hour daily in elementary school, three hours in middle school, and four hours in high school. There are also Zuni language courses available through the University of New Mexico for college credit. It appears to me that the apparent poverty among these people is in large part due to their religious and cultural beliefs and choices. That was a revelation for me, because American Indians are obviously as capable of learning, working, crafting, farming, and any other pursuit as any other Americans. So, it appears that their poverty is something they have chosen to accept as the price for maintaining their culture and religion.

Our tour also included a walk around a neighborhood of homes constructed of either adobe bricks or sandstone blocks. (There is a picture in the slide show of adobe bricks on the left next to a pile of sandstone blocks.) The poverty is evident. Every home has a Zuni oven. In the slide show there is a picture of a row of these ovens. They look like bee hives. The ovens are constructed of sandstone blocks and covered with adobe mud mixed with straw. A fire is built in the center, and then pots of food are placed around the perimeter and cooked overnight, as in a slow cooker. Alternatively, the center is cleared and sourdough bread is baked with the fire around the perimeter, like a pizza oven. Much of the cooking done in these ovens is for ceremonial purposes.

I took very few photos on this tour, in spite of paying the $10 "photo permit" fee. One is not allowed to take pictures of certain things in the community, and people can only be photographed with their permission. The tour took about 45 minutes, and at $15 a head didn't seem like a good value. Perhaps, I am just spoiled because I was not able to use my National Parks senior pass here.

On our way back to "camp," we stopped in Gallup and visited a "Trader" shop. Most of the business in Gallup seems to revolve around selling Indian wares. I must say, the artisans who create these items are very talented and creative. We saw everything from jewelry to pottery to bows and arrows to figurines (called fetishes) of animals. Some of the items are really gorgeous, and the prices attest to that fact. We bought a modest piece of pottery and a pair of earrings for Jill.

After our shopping spree, we had lunch at a little place called Camille's Sidewalk Cafe. The weather didn't permit sidewalk dining today, but the food was wonderful. It is served fast food style: order here, leave your name, pick up over there when your name is called. It was great fun.

Lunch was followed by a short, self-guided walking tour of Gallup's downtown area. We took photos of some of the architecture and several murals painted on the various buildings. One mural depicts Native American heroes from a Marine brigade in WWII.

We are staying at the USA RV Park, which I surmise is owned by a Viet Nam veteran. It is a very patriotic theme, as you can see in the slide show. There is a reference to POW/MIAs on the plaque in front of the statue of liberty. It was our patriotism and the location on the historic Route 66 that swayed our decision to stay here.

So, for a stopover for which we had no expectations, our stay in Gallup has been quite satisfying, educational, and enjoyable, even if it has been the most costly stop along our way!!

Stormy weather, but Sadie liked it

2009-05-21T18:26:00.000-07:00

Today was another travel day. We drove from Flagstaff, AZ to Gallup, NM, knowing virtually nothing about Gallup, except that it is about halfway between Flagstaff and Santa Fe, NM, which we really want to see.

It turns out that Gallup has its own charm. The architecture is really wonderful. I hope tomorrow it will be better weather for strolling the city. That brings me to the title of today's post. The weather was good and bad. It was good because we had a tail wind, but it was bad because we had some pretty exciting rain squalls, complete with lightning and thunder! The closer we got to Gallup, the worse the weather got.

It is our considered opinion that this is unusual weather for Gallup. First, the water doesn't seem to drain off the streets, suggesting that the streets are not designed to accommodate heavy rainfall. Second, Jill, who is a very curious soul, looked up statistics about Gallup on the internet. She learned that average rainfall in Gallup in May is 1/2"...for the whole month. I'm sure we got that much today!

Now, the other half of the title of this post refers to the fact that Sadie just purred all the way today. I attribute this fact to two things. First, the temperature was much cooler than Tuesday, when we came to Flagstaff from Kanab; about 20 degrees cooler, to be exact. Second, although we lost 2,000 feet of altitude as we drove from Flagstaff to Holbrook, AZ and gained back 1,400 feet between Holbrook and Gallup, the slopes were gentle and Sadie rarely had to work hard to make the grades. It seems the farther we drive, the better she runs. I think she has been needing exercise.

Along the way today, we saw some beautiful scenery, but then when have we not? Jill got a few pictures from the coach today, but the rain and the dark gray skies made for poor conditions for making photos. The slide show above includes one shot of the desert terrain, one of a big coal-fired power plant near Holbrook, a couple of the painted cliffs, outside of Gallup, and one of a remarkable monolith, also near Gallup.

Tomorrow, we hope to visit the Zuni pueblo, which is a living community, and, we are told, represents a little slice of American Indian life. The pueblo is home to an Indian community of artisans. But more about that tomorrow. For now, I will end by saying that today was different, but really satisfying.

Ancient ruins and aged highways

2009-05-20T12:50:00.000-07:00

Click on the photo for a tour of Walnut Canyon National Monument...

The weather has changed. We arose to mostly sunny skies, but at the morning wore on, the clouds began to thicken. We decided today we would explore the Walnut Canyon National Monument cliff dwellings. The park is just a few miles east of Flagstaff, AZ, an easy drive.

The tour is a bit strenuous. There are 247 steps to descend and ascend again on the tour of the cliff dwellings. Descending was pretty easy, but at 7,000 feet altitude the ascent was a bit of a challenge! We made it, and we were glad we had made the effort.

This canyon is 400 feet deep, carved by Walnut Creek eroding the limestone and sandstone. The result, as you can see in the pictures is a stratification of the walls, which produced a series of rock ledges, one overhanging the next. When a local volcano erupted in about 1070 AD, the local Indian populations were scattered from the surrounding land.

Some of them moved into Walnut Canyon, so named for the black walnut trees that grow in parts of the canyon. They found the niches between the rock layers easy to enclose by building front walls of local rocks and mud for mortar. There was once a thriving community of about 300 cliffside homes in this canyon.

As you can see from the slide show, there is a variety of plant life here, and in fact, there are different ecosystems within the canyon itself. On the sunny, south-facing walls, yucca, prickly pear and other plants native to dry climates thrive. On the shady north-facing walls, Douglas fir and other species native to cooler, wetter climates abound. So, the residents of the canyon could change their climate, just by choosing a different rock niche a few dozen yards from their current home to build a new domicile.

On the plateau above the canyon, the residents pursued agriculture, including the cultivation of corn and various kinds of beans. They also hunted the native animals: deer, sheep, rabbits, and so on. The last two photos in the slide show are of reconstructions of buildings on the plateau. One was partially underground, the other was a two room pueblo built on the surface. Both were likely used as dwellings, but at different times in history.

Following our visit to the cliff dwellings, we drove into downtown Flagstaff to look around and shop for a few necessary items. It is an attractive town of about 58,000 population. We drove into town on the fabled US Route 66. The locals get a lot of mileage out of the historic significance of this old highway, once the main road from Chicago to Los Angeles. It has now been replaced by Interstate Route 40 for practical purposes, but Route 66 lives on in the hearts of the people who remember its heyday.

We returned to the J&H RV Park just as a thunder shower was beginning. So, we are enjoying the afternoon relaxing with Sadie, and nursing Pogo through her fear of the thunder.

Michael An-Jill-O

2009-05-19T15:58:00.001-07:00

Click the photo to see the artist's first one-woman show...

This was a travel day. We traveled east; we traveled south; but most of all we traveled up and down. We left Kanab, elevation 4,900 feet and headed east along US 89. After a time we turned south and crossed the border into Arizona. We had ascended to nearly 6,000 feet, but now we descended to 4,000 feet as we approached Lake Powell and the Glen Canyon Dam (A couple of the on-the-go photos will give you a little idea of the grandeur of this lake and the Colorado river running out of it through the Glen Canyon dam.)

Just past the dam, we arrived at Page, AZ, a nice tourist town, which obviously caters to the people who come to visit Lake Powell. From Page, we ascended slowly (Sadie did fine, but I was groaning as we slowed to 30 mph.) to 6,000 feet in a short few miles. I began thinking, Well, this is not so bad, Flagstaff is at 7,000 feet, and we are already at 6,000. Oops! As soon as we crested the summit, we descended down a 6% grade to 5,000. From there it was down to 4,500 and up, up and down. Until we reached our highest altitude of the day, 7,276 feet, just outside of Flagstaff. Flagstaff itself is at about 7,000 feet elevation.

But the big story of the day is Jill's photography. She picked up the camera and began shooting photos. She kept telling me, "I'm getting some really good shots." But I had no idea, until we arrived at J&H RV Park in Flagstaff and got settled. Then I downloaded them and was treated to the slide show above. I think you will agree that some of them are suitable for framing.

We are happy to be settled for the day. The weather is a little stormy. We have had a bit of rain, and the wind is blowing. Nevertheless, the temperature is in the upper 70s, and we are quite comfortable. Jill decided to do some laundry, so I sat down to blog (brag) about her photos. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have. (Remember, they were all taken from a moving vehicle.)

The extremely adequate canyon...

2009-05-18T16:43:00.000-07:00

Click the photo for a slide show.

Just another crummy day in paradise; that's what we had today. We got up early, and I did a few maintenance projects on the coach and the toad. Mainly, I cleaned the bugs off the windows and the front of the coach. I also replaced one of Sadie's headlights, which I had noticed was not burning when we arrived at the Hitch 'n' Post. I think there is a bad taillight bulb, too, but I need to check that later.

I had been on the internet earlier investigating RV parks in Flagstaff. It became apparent that the good places fill up fast, so I called for a reservation at the J & H RV park. A recorded voice told me I couldn't call until 9 AM Arizona time. Since Arizona doesn't recognize daylight time, that meant I couldn't call until 10 AM local time. So, I went about my business. Jill got everything ready for our day's outing.

At 10:00 AM on the dot, I called the park and made a reservation. That was a load off my mind, so I was now free to enjoy the day. We loaded Pogo into the car, along with our backpack, containing everything we needed for a day's outing, except, as we would later learn, the beef jerky! We headed out of town for the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

The drive is spectacular, and I was taken completely unawares by the dense pine forests that cover the hills on the way up to the park. I remarked to Jill that it seemed odd we had to climb 4,200 feet in altitude so we can look at a hole in the ground. In fact, when we reached the lodge, we were within a few minutes' drive of the highest point on the rim of the canyon.

We arrived at the park, and I smugly forked over my Senior LIFETIME Pass for the national parks. (Did I mention this gets me into any national park in the U.S. for free, for the rest of my life?) We then drove from the entrance about 35 miles to the visitors' center and lodge. As you will notice in the slide show, the lodge is a spectacular structure.

As we walked into the front of the lodge, we found ourselves in a large foyer. On the Left were the reservations desk, a desk selling mule rides into the canyon, and a large room that appeared to be set up like a theater. On the right and down a flight of stairs was the dining room, which has ringside views of the canyon. Straight ahead, and down another short flight of stairs, is an octagonal observation room with windows on five sides looking directly into the canyon.

It quickly became apparent that the architect who designed this building knew his stuff. The lodge sits literally on the precipice of the canyon. Looking out the windows of the lodge, or from the observation deck just off the octagonal room, you can look almost straight down for thousands of feet. It is breathtaking, literally. In the Visitors' Center there is a sign on the wall that says something to the effect that people are so overwhelmed by the grandeur of the canyon that they speak in whispers. Throughout the afternoon as we wandered about the observation points near the lodge, I listened, and people did speak in whispers. One fellow was trying to locate his party and was hollering their names at the top of his lungs. I must admit, it seemed irreverent of him.

With the time change, and the fact that we had eaten our breakfast early, not to mention that we forgot the beef jerky, we were getting pretty hungry by the time the dining room opened for lunch. We went in and got a table right by the window, where we had a panoramic view of the canyon as we enjoyed some wonderful burgers. At the table next to us was an attractive family of Mom and Dad and four sons. We overheard the Mom address one of the boys as Josiah. Well, the die was cast. Jill struck up a conversation and told Mom all about our Josiah. They had quite a lovely time conversing for a few minutes.

We returned to the Visitors' Center after lunch and asked the ranger if there were a place where we could walk Pogo. He told us where, and we got Pogo from her crate and had a nice stroll around the grounds, where we met a woman from Portland. She and her husband both retired this year, so they are on a five week vacation trip, similar to ours. We had another fine conversation about where they had been and where we have been, and where they are going and where we are going.

That completed we were ready to head for Sadie. We made two stops on the 76 mile trip back. One was at an observation area along the highway. There were three Navajo Indian women selling jewelry and other gift items there. They had some beautiful pieces, but we weren't moved to buy any of them. The second stop was at Honey's Jubilee Market for a few groceries.

We were glad to be home again, and we both felt that we had had an extremely adequate day.

Hymns and reunions and blessings from Zion...

2009-05-17T16:49:00.000-07:00

Click on the flower to see our adventure du jour.

The day dawned bright and clear, again. It is Sunday, so we had decided to go across the street from our little campground to attend the New Hope Bible Church. Well, I want to tell you, that we were in for a treat.

We were warmly greeted by several members of the congregation. As we waited for the service to begin, Jill looked through the church bulletin and said, "It doesn't say anything about a sermon. It is just all music." I searched the bulletin and found the same thing. Not only that, but there were many more songs listed than I have ever seen at a church service.

At last the pastor came to the front of the church (capacity about 100 people) and introduced Carl and Ruth Engstrom, who proceeded to minister to us for about an hour and 15 minutes with hymns, gospel songs, instrumentals (piano and organ), solos, duets and congregation participation. What a blessing it was to hear them sing and play some of my favorite hymns.

This dear couple will have been married for 50 years next month. They live in their motor home full time and travel cross country ministering to congregations throughout the U.S. Had we planned to find the greatest blessing in a church we were visiting, we could not have done better.

Now, never let it be said that I can't take the edge off a blessing. We have been trying to make contact with our son Patrick's birth mother, Susan, who lives up the highway a few miles and works at the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary that we visited on Friday. Wouldn't you know that, not only did she call during the church service, but I had forgotten to put my phone on silent ringing. So, just as there was a lull in the music, my phone began to ring its fool head off! I'll continue this story a bit later.

After church, we headed for Zion National Park, not knowing what to expect. Well, I can tell you, we got another huge blessing The photos in the slide show above don't do any justice at all to the beauty of this magnificent piece of God's handiwork. Jill and I agreed that, driving along the road through the park, we felt as if we were on a Disney ride. The scenery has a surreal beauty that looks almost as if it had been carved by a sculptor, which of course it has...and One greater than Walt Disney.

There is one outstanding man-made feature of the park. It is a tunnel that is over a mile long leading down to the floor of the canyon and the visitor center. Unfortunately for modern drivers, the tunnel was built in the 1930s and sized for the cars of that day. The highest point in the center of the tunnel is 13' 4" high, but the arched ceiling means that the clearance at the sides is considerably less. As a consequence, when a bus or motor home or other large vehicle wants to pass, the traffic coming the other way has to be detained until the taller vehicle passes through, because the tall guys need to drive down the middle of the tunnel straddling both lanes! Nevertheless, this long, dark tunnel is quite impressive...and a little scary for the claustrophobic, I should think.

Because we had brought Pogo along with us, and because it was 97 degrees in the canyon, we opted not to take the guided shuttle bus tour. I don't know what they could have shown us that would have topped what we saw from our own little car. We came away thoroughly satisfied that we had seen a natural wonder.

When we were on the way back to our Sadie, we stopped at the intersection of UT 9 and US 89, which is only 5 miles from Susan's home in Orderville. There was no cell phone coverage anywhere today, so we stopped at the Thunderbird Restaurant and called from a pay phone. (I thought later how fortunate we are that there are still some anachronisms left in the world!)

Well, to shorten the story, we made contact, and Susan and her husband Jim and their two youngest children, Kelly and Paul, met us at the Thunderbird. We all had ice cream delights and a wonderful conversation about all that they are doing and about Patrick and his new bride, Katie. It was the perfect end to a lovely day.

Azure skies and rufous rocks...

2009-05-16T17:32:00.000-07:00

Click the picture for a slide show. The first four slides are in Red Canyon; the rest are in Bryce.

The day dawned with another cloudless sky. Jill and I were excited, because today was the day we had set aside to visit Bryce Canyon National Park. We packed some snacks and a lunch, including water bottles, loaded Pogo in her crate and departed for the 76 mile drive to the park.

As Jill said, the drive to the park was enough to satisfy our desire for sightseeing. Nevertheless, we were very glad we made the trip to see Bryce. One of the reasons we were so pleased with the trip began yesterday at the Pipe Springs National Monument. I had heard, but forgotten, that at age 62, U. S. citizens or permanent U. S. residents can purchase a pass that admits them and anyone in their vehicle to any National Park in the U. S. for free, for life! The cost of this amazing pass? A sawbuck, two fins, a thousand pennies... ten measly bucks! I KNEW there had to be SOMETHING good about getting old.

The admission fee to Bryce is $25 per car, so the pass saved us enough to cover more than half of what we dropped in the Bryce Canyon Lodge gift shop. But I am ahead of myself once again.

There is an 18 mile drive from the park entrance to the far end of the canyon. As recommended in the literature that we received at check in, we decided to drive to the far end and then work our way back, stopping at the various observation points along the way. We proceeded to the end point, where there are a large parking lot, sanitary facilities and several observation points.

We were awestruck by the beauty of the canyon. From the 9,100 foot elevation of this terminal viewing location, you can see more than 80 miles to the horizon. I think, though, that the highlight of this stop was not so much the beauty of the natural surroundings, but rather the people that we met there.

As we were viewing the sights, I overheard a gent telling another fellow about two cannibals who were having dinner. As they enjoyed their meal, one of them said to the other, "You know, I don't like your mother-in-law." His friend replied, "Well then, just eat the noodles." Of course, I couldn't stop myself from sharing the story about the two cannibals who were eating a clown, when one of them said, "Does this taste funny to you?"

That started a wonderful conversation. Dottie and Jill connected on a number of levels, and John and I swapped awful stories and puns for about 45 minutes. John and Dottie are visiting Utah from Blooming Glen, Pennsylvania. They are Mennonites, and we enjoyed comparing notes with them on the things that God is doing in our lives.

At last, we had to part with our new friends. As we made our way back to the front gate of the park, we stopped at several viewpoints, and of course, we took many photos. The canyon is really breathtaking, and yet we found that eventually, all of our pictures were beginning to look the same. So, we headed for the last stop along the route, which is the Bryce Canyon Lodge.

The lodge was built in 1923 by the Union Pacific Railroad and became a destination point for Union Pacific passengers. It is a beautiful building in a gorgeous setting. The influx of visitors that Union Pacific provided eventually led to the area becoming a national park. And the rest, as they say, is history.

We returned from the canyon tired but happy. Jill mixed up a batch of G&Ts and I sat down to blog. I hope you enjoy the slide show attached to the photo above.

Indians and Mormons and homeless animals...

2009-05-15T17:22:00.001-07:00

Click the picture for a tour of Pipe Springs National Monument

Today was the day we thought our sightseeing would begin. That was before we started on this journey and saw so many wonderful things along the way to "the show." We are currently residing in Kanab, UT, which is a cute little town, obviously devoted to its tourists. That devotion is apt, because Kanab sits within a day's drive of an amazing array of sightseeing meccas. These include: Bryce Canyon National Park (NP), Zion NP, Pipe Springs National Monument, the north rim of the Grand Canyon, and Lake Powell, to name a few.

Today, in the hub of all of these places, we chose first to do...our laundry. It has been many years since I used a coin laundry, sometimes known as a laundromat. It was not too unpleasant. Jill and I carried our load across the street from the Hitch 'n' Post RV park, where we are camped. We took along a couple of cheesy novels and some laundry soap, and within about an hour, we had clean undies and sox and towels and PJs and jeans and shirts. Well, it was just a miracle to me, and all for the sum of $2.25.

When we returned to the coach, we decided to take the advice of the park owner and make a trip out to Pipe Springs National Monument. This is an interesting place. There is a natural spring there that for centuries was used by the local indians. When the Mormons moved into the area, Brigham Young encouraged them to homestead. Well, a fellow named James Whitmore (no, not the actor) "signed some papers" and was given 160 acres, including the spring. He began farming the area, but shortly, a band of indians showed up and ran him off the land and killed him.

Young encouraged the settlers in the region to retreat back closer to Salt Lake for protection. Later, when things seemed to have calmed down, the Mormon church bought Whitmore's land from his widow and established a "tithing farm." This was a fully functional farm, the purpose of which was to provide work for people, so they could tithe to the church. In addition, the farm produced butter, cheese, beef, sheep, and vegetables, with which they fulfilled a contract with the church to provide supplies for some 400 workers, who were engaged in building the Mormon Temple.

The current buildings at the monument site have been rebuilt on the original sites and, as nearly as possible, to the original specifications. There are two cabins, one of which housed the people who were sent by the church to work the farm. The other was used as a barracks for guards who were part of the Mormon militia that guarded the spring. In addition, there is a fortress built around the spring itself. It is called Winsor Castle, after the original occupant and overseer of the farm. This building also housed the first telegraph office in southern Utah.

The farm and all the buildings are now jointly operated by the National Parks Service and the Kaibab band of the Paiute Indian nation. It is a fascinating place, rich with history. The fortress, for example, not only protected the spring and the settlers from indian raids, but it also was used later as a kind of an underground railway to protect polygamist Mormons from Federal marshalls who were sent to the area to ensure that the Mormons abandoned polygamy as a condition for Utah statehood.

We returned from our visit to Pipe Springs and had a fine lunch of homemade soup. Then we decided to round out the afternoon with a visit to Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Angel Canyon, just north of Kanab. This operation is the largest non-euthanizing animal shelter in the U. S. It covers some 33,000 acres and is home to thousands of domestic animals, including cats, dogs, rabbits, horses, and birds which have been abandoned or injured or otherwise unable to be cared for elsewhere. The operation is impressive, and I believe is fully funded by donations.

We took a guided tour of the facilities, which was very interesting. Jill and I both felt that it is a shame that there aren't similar facilities to provide for humans who are abandoned or injured or otherwise unable to be cared for.

The facility is nestled in Angel Canyon, which is a beautiful red stone canyon with Kanab creek flowing through it. It has been the setting for more than 100 movies and TV shows about the old west, including "The Outlaw Josie Wales" and "The Apple Dumpling Gang." All things considered, Jill and I agreed that this was a satisfying day!

Click the picture for some more photos of Angel Canyon

Of iron ships and wooden (headed) men...

2009-05-14T16:43:00.000-07:00

Click on the picture to see a slideshow of the scenery we encountered between Fillmore and Kanab, UT

Today was a test of mettle: ours and Sadie's. We left our lovely little campsite at Wagons West in Fillmore this morning and crossed the street to the local Shell station. Going in the driveway, I heard a little scrape, which I assumed was the bottom of the tow hitch. I was intent on fueling, and kind of forgot about the incident.

We headed for Kanab on I-15. When we got to Utah route 20 we exited to head for Utah route 89, which is a scenic byway into Kanab. As we started to ascend the pass, Sadie was seeming pretty gutless, so I pulled over to check and make sure the toad had not somehow locked up its brakes. Good thing I checked. It seems that, when I bottomed out at the Shell station, I pulled the power cord for the lights on the back of the toad loose from the socket where it plugs into Sadie's rear bumper.

The plug on the Sadie end of the cord had been dragging for 68 miles and was sanded off at a perfect 45 degree angle. The cord was slightly chewed up, presumably from dragging, too. There was nothing I could do to remedy that situation on the side of the road, because I needed a new plug.

So, we plodded on; and I do mean plodded. I had no idea where we were going or what we would encounter. Sadie inched her way up a grade that must have been at least 6%. At times she could only muster 30 mph. In her defense, we started up this hill from about 6,000 feet elevation: not a good altitude for an unsupercharged gasser. The sign at the summit said, "7,960 ft." I gave Sadie a pat. She had struggled, but she never complained. Her engine temp stayed below 220 degrees, and the transmission temperature stayed below 200 degrees.

Well, as you know if you have ever driven a heavy, slightly underpowered vehicle over a mountain pass, getting to the top is the easy part. On the other side of the summit was an 8% grade! Yikes!! I slowed to a crawl and put Sadie in 1st gear. We slowly descended the grade, which had some hairpin turns rated at 25 mph. I tried to stay off the brake pedal. Gradually, the 8% grade gave way to a more gentle slope. And at last we descended into the most beautiful valley.

We continued on, but all the while, I was torn between praise for Sadie and self flagellation for my cockiness in not having checked what that scrape was all about. We drove on another 20 miles to a nice little town called Panquitsch. As we rolled into town we saw an auto repair shop, and we stopped to ask where we might get a new plug for our cord. The gent in the shop directed us to the NAPA auto parts store 4 blocks down.

We found the NAPA store and went in to see if by some outside chance, they might have a plug that would fit our setup. Well, it turns out, the gent from the auto repair shop had preceded us to NAPA and helped me look for the part. When we didn't find one, he checked with Mat, and Mat had one in the back, which he sold me for $5. I ran back to Sadie and started working on repairing the cord, only to find that it required a very tiny Phillips screwdriver. So, back to NAPA, and another $4 later, I was able to fix the cord. It took a total of about 1/2 hour. Thank you NAPA, thank you unknown auto repair guy, thank you Mat, and thank you Jesus!

The rest of the trip was beautiful, uneventful, and much less stressful.

The moral of the story: When I assume, I make an "ass" of "u" and "me." In this case, however, "u" were totally not involved, so guess who the "ass" was!

Thank God for a quick, easy and inexpensive fix...and for yet another lesson learned!

More serendipitous fun...

2009-05-13T16:50:00.000-07:00

Today was a beautiful day, involving more of the serendipity that has characterized this trip, so far. Because we ended up staying in Mountain Home, ID, instead of Twin Falls as we had originally imagined we would do, we ended up yesterday in Ogden, UT instead of Provo. So, today, instead of spending a second day in Provo, as we had originally imagined, we are in Fillmore, UT.

This is a very quaint little burg of about 2,000 population. Little did we know that it was the first capital city of Utah. Brigham Young, governor of the Utah Territory in 1850, located the geographic center of the state and designated the area as the Territorial capital. In a shrewd political move, to ensure that the Territory was accepted by the U. S. government, Young named the county Millard and the town where the statehouse was erected Fillmore, after the sitting president.

The scenery on the drive here was breathtaking, as we rose to nearly 6,000 feet above sea level, surrounded by snow capped peaks. The town of Fillmore, which we expected to be a stopover on the way to Kanab and the "real" vacation sights, turns out to be full of history and charm. Click on the photo above to see a slide show of some of the sights we encountered today.

Getting out of Dodge...

2009-05-12T18:07:00.000-07:00

Today, the big excitement was in hitting the road again. The weather forecast called for high winds in southern Idaho today. The camp host at Mountain Home RV Park suggested we postpone traveling for a day. It seems that a 31 foot by 9 foot motor home side represents a great deal of un-reefable sail area!

Well, my trusty sidekick and navigation officer, Jill, checked further on the weather and learned that the high wind warning was to begin at noon and last until 9:00 PM. In addition, the winds were predicted to be from the NW, and we were heading SE. So, we made an executive decision to simply arise early (not a big deal for us) and hit the road by 7:30.

We arose to light (10 + mph) winds from the NW. I had drained the holding tanks the evening before and hooked up the toad. This morning all that was required was to disconnect the water service and power cord and stop at the gas station on the way to the freeway. We got underway about 7:35 (again, not wanting to show up the airlines.)

The outcome was good. The tailwind actually made driving more comfortable most of the time. I will calculate our gas mileage after we fill up in the morning, but I suspect the wind may have helped there, too. Unfortunately, we heard the residents of the wind-affected area are expecting 45 mph winds with gusts to 60 mph. Here's hoping they are all OK.

Tonight we are staying at the Century Campground and RV Park in Ogden, UT. It is not of the same caliber as the Mountain Home park, but it is nice enough and reasonably priced. The staff is helpful and friendly, and we are quite comfortable. We are right next to the freeway, but there is a double cement wall, so the freeway noise is minimal. There is not much to do here, so we are settling in to a "relaxing evening at home."

Bruneau Dunes State Park

2009-05-11T16:41:00.000-07:00

Click on the photo above to see a slide show of a little jaunt we made to Bruneau Dunes State Park, which is about 18 miles south of Mountain Home, ID. These dunes are the tallest in the U.S. They don't cover a large area, but they are impressive. They were formed by the prevailing winds acting on sand in what amounts to a circular shaped valley formed by the Snake River.

In order, the photos are:
Snake River, south of Mountain Home, ID
Snake River, south of Mountain Home, ID
Bruneau Dunes State Park, ID. Tallest sand dunes in America.
Mesa land near Snake river, ID
Bruneau Dunes SP
A small dune at Bruneau Dunes SP
Big Dune and Big Dune Lake

Of course, photos never do justice to landscapes, but we were pretty impressed. Enjoy.

A better picture...way better

2009-05-11T07:17:00.000-07:00

The park host at Mountain Home RV Park is Bob Lankford, who is an amateur photographer. Last evening he took this photo of our feathered friend the burrowing owl and was kind enough to give us not only a copy, but permission to publish it on the blog.

Needless to say, Bob is a better photographer than I am, but then I don't have as much of my life savings tied up in photo equipment! If you like Bob's work, you can see more of it at webshots.com.

Sometimes, things are not what they seem to be

2009-05-10T18:17:00.000-07:00

Here's a feathered friend we met in Mountain Home, ID. He is a burrowing owl, who has become quite the celeb at the Mountain Home RV Park, where we are staying tonight. This fellow moved into an abandoned badger burrow a couple of days ago, according to the park host. Unfortunately, my little Sony digital camera doesn't have enough zoom to get a really close picture, so I had to crop a distant shot and blow it up.

Mountain Home is about 5o miles east of Boise. It has a population of about 11,000, and is host to an Air Force base. Our original destination for today was Twin Falls, ID. The story of how we ended up in Mountain Home is a little embarrassing.

Last evening, after a lovely day exploring La Grande and Union, OR, we settled in for an evening of relaxation. At bedtime, Jill discovered that the lights in the bedroom wouldn't come on. Then she discovered that the bedroom TV didn't work. I checked all the fuses and breakers, and nothing seemed to explain the problem.

Later I checked the monitoring panel, which tells the status of all the batteries and holding tanks. It was dead. Then, this morning, we discovered that the refrigerator was not working. I pored over wiring diagrams; checked the fuses and breakers again; and removed the bedroom TV from its enclosure to check the ground wire, because the previous owner had had a new ground wire installed. Nothing seemed to explain the problem. We looked up a couple of RV repair places in Boise and decided we would stop there.

As a result of all of this fun, we got a late start from La Grande. At the Weatherby rest stop, we opened the door on the curb side of the coach, and I realized we had been traveling with the electric step extended. After I got finished feeling embarrassed about the step being out, I flipped the switch to make it retract, but nothing happened. Was this yet another electrical failure?

The interesting thing is that it took this situation with the door to bring me to my senses, because I have had this problem before. Almost without thinking, I checked the house power main cut off switch. Bingo! It was turned to the off position. I switched it on, and suddenly, we had lights in the bedroom, TV in the bedroom, refrigerator, and monitoring panel...and the step retracted on command.

The next thing I thought of was how I would have felt, if I had taken Sadie to an RV repair facility, only to be told, "You have to turn the switch ON for it to work." Or worse, what if they had spent two days working on the coach at $80 per hour before they found the switch turned off and then presented me with the bill?

Jill and I were elated to learn that our beloved Sadie was feeling better again. The rest of the trip was a pleasure, but we were behind schedule, so we decided to stop in Mountain Home and continue tomorrow...or the next day. We love this place! Check out our "camp."

On the road again...

2009-05-08T16:04:00.000-07:00

All hooked up and ready to roll...vacation here we come!

With apologies to Willie Nelson, we are on the road again. It feels great. Sadie performed like the lady she is. We left home within a couple of minutes of our ETD of 9:00 AM. (We didn't want to show up the airlines by actually leaving on time.)

But I am ahead of myself. We arose at 6:00 AM, since we were too excited to sleep any longer. After a light breakfast we loaded all the last minute stuff (you know, cell phone chargers and the like) aboard the coach. We ran a last load of dishes and one of laundry, so that we can return to a clean house. Then I ran Sadie down to First Choice Auto for a final airing of the tires. My little compressor is just not powerful enough to put the necessary 95 psi in the tires.

When I returned to the house, I hooked up the toad, and we loaded Pogo aboard, closed the doors of the house and hit the road. On the way by her exit, we called Mom to tell her we are on our way. The weather has been gorgeous - temps in the low seventies, puffy white clouds in an azure sky - and the driving easy. We stopped for a rest break just west of The Dalles, and for another one near Boardman, where we had lunch.

From there it was an easy run to LaGrande, except for the run up Cabbage Hill at 37 mph. Still Maggie behaved, and all systems worked fine, including the new transmission temperature sensor. Heading up this 6% grade, the tranny temp topped out at 190, well within the normal operating range. I am so proud of my old girl.

We arrived at the Eagle's Hot Lake RV resort at 3:25 PM. It is a lovely park with large, level spaces, and breathtaking scenery. Pogo was happy to be done traveling and get out for a stretch of her little legs.

As I write this, we are enjoying Wi-Fi, satellite TV, and all the comforts of home. This "camping" is rough...know what I mean? Here's a shot of Sadie at Eagle's Hot Lake RV resort.
And another...

D-day, minus one

2009-05-07T07:19:00.000-07:00

Today is our final packing day. I think Sadie is all ready mechanically. Now we just need to make sure we have all the stuff aboard that we'll need for day to day living. The packing is going well, so far, and we should be able to finish without too much stress.

Tomorrow, we plan to leave about 9:00 AM...destination, LaGrande? We'll see where our travels take us. One of our parameters for this trip has been that we will make as few reservations as possible, and when we get tired of driving, we will find a place to stop for the night...or maybe a few nights.

So, a little final packing today, and we are ready to roll! Stay tuned.

This is the way we sew our stuff...

2009-05-02T14:35:00.001-07:00

Sadie is still in storage. We will bring her home in a couple of days and begin final checks and packing.

In the meantime, I have had a couple of sewing projects. The first was a canvas-edged screen which will fit over the front window of the coach. The purpose is to decrease the amount of sunlight that comes in while parked on bright days. I'm pretty happy with the finished project, in terms of its overall appearance. Unfortunately, our sewing machine is not quite beefy enough for this kind of sewing. So, there are a few areas where the stitching doesn't look great. But as a dear friend from my past used to say, "From the road it'll look good!"

The second sewing project was a bit simpler. There is a window in the entry door of our coach. At night, we like to cover it for privacy. The coach came with a snap-on canvas cover for the window, which works fine, except for one thing. In order to install and uninstall the cover, it is necessary to open the door and the screen door, exit the coach, close the screen door, install the cover, open the screen door, enter the coach and close the door. I noticed that there are a couple of snaps above the door in the interior of the coach. So, I made a canvas flap that will snap on to them and hang down over the window. I installed some extra snaps, so we can roll the flap up and snap it to itself, leaving the window uncovered.

Finally, I completed a project that I have been meaning to do for nearly a year. In order to protect our little Nissan Versa that we tow behind Sadie (commonly known as a towed vehicle, or "toad") from rock chips in the paint, I purchased a Le Bra front cover. The only problem is that, in order to hook up the toad to Sadie's tow hitch, there are some tow bracket sockets, an electric cable and some aircraft cables for the surge brake on the tow bar. In order to be able to use these items with the "bra" on the car, I had to modify the bra by cutting some holes in it and binding them with bias tape. Now, I can use the bra for protection of the paint on the toad and still access the necessary connections for towing our little car.

There are only 6 days left until our departure. We are excited, a little scared, and our heads are swimming with last minute details and packing to complete. It will be good to be on the road!

Reservations about reservations...and the reservation...

2009-04-24T08:37:00.000-07:00

View Larger Map
Here is our general route for the UT-AZ-NM journey

Yesterday, I got on the internet and located some RV parks in the area of Kanab, UT and Moab, UT, the two towns that will be the hubs for our exploration of the five national parks we hope to visit on our journey. After several hours of researching facilities, reviews, and prices, I got on the phone and made reservations at the Hitch-n-Post RV park in Kanab and at Moab Village RV park.

In between these two parks, we will need to find places to stay near Flagstaff/Sedona, Santa Fe, and Durango, CO. We also are in a quandary about where to stay between Flagstaff and Santa Fe. Along I-40 is the petrified forest, and we may try to visit that park and find an RV park nearby, but we also recently met a young man who was visiting our church. Ray works at the Sun Valley Indian School in Holbrook, AZ. He invited us to stop and visit the school as we pass by. He even promised we could dry camp in the adjacent church parking lot. It's the decisions that get to be tedious in this process!

Other than the two reservations we have, we are going to try to be pretty unstructured about our travels, so as not to be boxed in by a schedule we have to keep. The whole idea for this vacation is to get away from the hustle and bustle of our daily lives, see the countryside and be free to explore. We are planning to leave 2 weeks from today, so time is getting short and there is lots to do. In fact I had better get busy and do some of it!

Closing in on the finish line...

2009-04-19T19:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I finished installing new weatherstripping on the driver's and passenger's doors. Then I washed Sadie and began applying wax to the front cap, so that bugs won't stick so readily. I did some detailing on the dash board and on the exterior, aired up the spare, tightened the screws on the license plate light. I also cleaned out the burner for the propane side of the refrigerator and thoroughly cleaned the compartment where the refrigeration equipment resides.

Tomorrow, we will clean her inside and then take her back to the storage facility. She is pretty much ready to go for our trip to Arizona and New Mexico. When we bring her home to pack, we will top off the fuel and propane, put another coat of wax on the front cap, shampoo the carpets, and then we will be ready to roll. I also want to take her to Les Schwab and have the tires checked for adequate air pressure and the lug nuts torqued.

I think we have covered the bases on preparations, when all of those things are done. I feel confident that Sadie can make an extended trip with minimal worries about mechanical problems. Just in case, we have Good Sam emergency road service, which is kind of like AAA for RVs.

So, our job now is to finish planning the packing and the routing for our trip. That is fun. We also need to make reservations at some RV parks in the area of the attractions we want to see. A lot goes into planning a trip like this. I'm sure if we do this again, we will find it easier.

Vehicle preparations nearly complete...

2009-04-17T16:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, we finally had some nice weather, which gave me a chance to get out and do some projects on Sadie. The first was to install a shelf in the large storage bay on the port side. This bay is 4 feet by 2 feet by 2 feet. Without any shelving, it became a big jumble of stuff. I installed a wire shelf the length of the bay and 16 inches wide. Installing the shelf unit upside down gave us a lip on the outer edge of the shelf to prevent items from sliding off during travels.

Inside, under the dining table, there is a cabinet that is a foot wide, 15" deep and two feet high. It, too, had no shelf, so part of the space was wasted. I installed a shelf halfway up, which effectively doubles the storage capacity of the cabinet.

Another job I have been intending to get to is to re-secure the brackets that support the tire valve extensions on the rear dual-wheels. On the right rear, both of the brackets had come loose. I was able to secure them with 1/8" pop rivets. Easy job that I have been putting off for months.

Today was rainy, so I didn't get to the next job on the list, which is to install weather stripping on the driver's door. The forecast for tomorrow is better, so I hope to complete that job then. When it is complete, I think Sadie will be ready to hit the road.

The only other vehicle preparations concern our towed vehicle, also known as a "toad" or "dinghy." I prefer the latter term, after many years of boating. I bought a "car bra" for the dinghy last year, but I have not installed it yet. It will require some minor alterations to accommodate the towing gear attachments, so I will need to take care of that before we leave. In addition the dinghy is due for an oil change and tire rotation. Minor stuff, to be sure.

Home again, home again, jiggity jog...

2009-04-15T06:27:00.000-07:00

Sadie is home again. John found a transmission temp sender that he thinks will work. He said he got five different ones and kept trying them until he got one to work. In the meantime, I think I identified the gauge as a Teleflex. They make marine gear, among lots of other products, and they have a line of senders. I don't know if any of them would work, but we shall see what happens with the sender John installed.

I took the long way home, so I could try the cruise control switch. It worked like a champ. Now I will be able to change lanes without having the cruise control shut off, when I use the turn signal. GM is pretty proud of that switch. The price was amazing.

The bumper repair, which John paid for, looks pretty good. I am a little disappointed in the fit of the rubber strip, which is kind of bowed away from the metal. The guy who fixed it thinks it will conform to the bumper when it gets warm enough in the sun. I hope so. The bumper doesn't look bad, and I am grateful that John paid the tab. Better have Jill take some cookies over!

Next on the agenda is to install some shelves in the storage bay. I think I will do that today, along with installing a shelf in the cabinet under the dining table. That will increase our storage a fair amount. I also need to install the weatherstripping on the driver's door. Once those things are done, I think we will be ready to roll.

More challenges

2009-04-10T13:21:00.000-07:00

Latest word is the bumper can be fixed, but it will be painted not chromed. I think that will be OK, and if it isn't, I can have it chromed later.

The tranny temp gauge continues to be a challenge. John said he found a sender in a catalog and can get one today. He is not sure it will work, but it is worth a try. If that doesn't work, we will have to put a new gauge in. It is critical to know the tranny temp, when we are driving in the mountains, especially when we are towing the dinghy.

The saga continues! Stay tuned.

Out of the frying pan...

2009-04-09T22:12:00.000-07:00

Sadie went into the shop yesterday for another try at fixing the transmission temperature gauge. In addition, I asked John to look into the semi-functional cruise control.

As it turns out, the cruise control problem is a bad switch, just as John and I suspected. He wasn't able to get to the tranny temp gauge, but that will happen. The bad news is that, when they were moving the coach from its parking space to the shop, the rear bumper snagged on the side of a concrete building and bent the right end out about 6 inches. That caused a tear in the metal. John said he had a friend coming over to see about fixing it.

There has been a crease in the left side of the bumper since we got the coach, so I asked John to have that fixed at the same time. That makes the whole thing seem like a blessing in disguise. We'll see how it turns out, but John assured me everything will be fine. The good news is that I can trust John to make this good.

So, Sadie came home from the beauty parlor, then went back to the doctor. Now it looks like she will need to go back to the beauty parlor...only it will be a different one.

Our girl is home from the beauty parlor...

2009-04-07T16:34:00.000-07:00

Sadie came back from the body shop today. The areas on the doors that were rusted out now look perfect. I wish I had some before pictures so I could post before and after shots.

Tomorrow she goes to the mechanic again to see about getting a sender unit for the transmission temp gauge and to fix the cruise control. Then she'll be ready for the road.

We continue to cogitate about routes and places to see and stay. There is a lot to do when you plan to be on the road a while!

Stay tuned for more updates.

This is only the beginning...

2009-04-06T13:33:00.000-07:00

Sadie has been part of our family for about a year and a half. She is a 1988 Hawkins Motor Coach, built on a Chevy P-30 chassis with a 454 c.i.d. V8 engine. We are the third owner of this fine coach, which in its day, was a top of the line motor home. The shell is fiberglass.

Since acquiring Sadie, we have made a number of improvements. They include:
1. New tires
2. New radiator and ancillary cooling equipment (including water pump, hoses and belts).
3. New brakes
4. New front air springs.
5. New rear view camera and monitor. (The original just wouldn't work anymore and would have cost more to repair than a new unit.)

That's about it, except for routine maintenance. Today Sadie is at the body shop having some rust areas on the driver and passenger doors repaired. This will put her in tip top condition.

So, now we are planning an extended trip. We are currently in the planning phase. We hope to see Bryce canyon, Zion National Park, the Grand Canyon, the Petrified Forest, Canyonlands, and Arches. I (Tom) have always wanted to see Santa Fe, NM, so we are planning a loop through Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado. Then we will head home.

Today we sat down with a map and a pad of paper and began planning actual routes. Jill made some notes about how to pack the coach, and we are planning final jobs to do on the coach. The transmission temperature gauge needs a new sending unit. Our favorite mechanics cleaned up the old one, because they couldn't find a new one on short notice, but it has stopped working again. So, we will get that taken care of later this week. Then, I think, Sadie will be ready to go.

Tentative departure date for this caper is about May 8, 2009. In the meantime, stay tuned. We will keep you updated on stuff we do and learn as we prepare.