Sizzling in Fresno!

We are in Fresno.  It's a bit warm, it's been over 100 degrees!  I felt bad for Ted having to set up the RV yesterday afternoon in the heat!  But he did it!

I had texted Chip and Stephen, two of the three nephews to see if they were available for dinner.  Chip has been working out of town so didn't know if he would be around.  Stephen answered and we thought we were meeting he and Marissa for dinner.  We had a nice surprise, Chip was there too!  It was fun catching up with the kids and what they have been doing since we saw them in May.  Marissa surprised me with a Starbucks card for my birthday...my favorite!

This morning we were supposed to meet Chip for brunch but he cancelled on us.  We had a good breakfast at Huckleberry's without him!  After Stephen gets off work today he and Chip are driving to San Francisco.  They will pick up Craig and Claire from their honeymoon trip and spend a few days in San Francisco with them.  Stephen said they called from the ship and said they were having a great time but sounded a bit homesick too!  Can't wait to hear about their trip!

We head out tomorrow.  We will be in Menifee tomorrow night and have an appointment at our Ford Service place that we like for the first oil change and to have them take a look at a couple of things.  We have 6,000 miles on our truck which means we have driven over 5,500 miles since June 13th!  Wow!

Spending time with Chip, Stephen & Marissa..."Ain't Life Grand!"

A nice 60th Birthday!

I had a very nice birthday!  It was nice to be able to easily slip into 60 years old! 

Ted and I ran some errands and I had a white chocolate mocha for lunch (my favorite)!  We visited with our friends Joel and Lale who live in Sacramento and we went to a local Italian restaurant.  We had a good salad and shared a pizza!  All very delicious!

Today we went to see the new Harry Potter movie and really enjoyed it!  It's a wrap and done very well!  To me it's amazing at how they made those movies.  I'm sure they couldn't do it without computers, but it is very impressive!

Tomorrow we leave Sacramento and will be down in Fresno tomorrow afternoon.  Craig (oldest) is still on his honeymoon.  Chip (middle) may be on the road working so we may only see Stephen and his girlfriend!  We will be there until Sunday morning.

Turning 60 years old..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Back in California!

On Sunday we headed south on the Redwood Highway 101 into California.  It is such a beautiful drive along the coast!

Our destination was Arcata, California, to visit our friends Denny and Sherry.  Sherry picked us up yesterday and we went to the town square for lunch at the Big Blue Cafe.  After lunch we walked around the shops in the square (skipping the several local taverns)!  Then we went to the movies to see "Midnight in Paris".  In the beginning of the movie they show you all around Paris and it brought back some great memories!  We really enjoyed the movie! 

We then went to see the new house Denny and Sherry recently purchased.  Denny is a professor at Humboldt University.  Sherry has her own computer business.  She installs software for her clients and handles their computer problems.   They are both planning to retire at the end of the next school year and now have their "retirement home"!  It is a lovely two story home nestled in the redwoods.  We took some pictures off of one section of their several decks overlooking the forest!

We then went back to the square and had a delicious Italian dinner with them.  It was great visiting with Denny and Sherry for the day!

This morning we were back on the road south on Highway 101, headed for Sacramento.  It is a twisty, winding road.  You see some ocean, then mountains, trees and the Eel river!  We turned east on 20 over hills and past Clear Lake (I was driving so no pictures).  The lake is the largest natural freshwater lake entirely in California!  It is 19 miles long by 8 miles wide!  It seemed to have a lot of algae around the edges of the lake.

It was a lovely drive and we are now in Sacramento.  We have some friends we will visit here for a few days.

Enjoying the California coastline..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Sightseeing in Florence!

Yesterday we visited the Oregon Dunes, about a mile down the road from our campground.  The dunes are so large you can't even see the ocean!  At the end of the road is the inlet to the Suislaw River and about 4 miles east is the bridge and Old Town Florence.  50 years ago European Beachgrass was introduced to help keep the sand from blowing away.  Unfortunately, it takes over and is hard to get rid of.  They can't dig it out, it grows back.  They can't burn or flood it out.  No animals like to eat it and it is impervius to bugs!  It is keeping the sand in place however, and there were people out enjoying the dunes with ATV's and dune buggies!

Then we drove north up the coast of Oregon to see the Heceta Head Lighthouse.  Pronounced “Ha – SEE – Ta” by most, “HECK – ah – Ta” by others, yet everyone agrees Heceta Head is one of the most beautiful lighthouses in the world. The Heceta Head Lighthouse and Light Keeper’s house are circa 1894. Both are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  The lighthouse is closed for a year or two to visitors for rennovations but is still a working lighthouse.  It is 205 feet above the ocean and casts a beam some 21 miles out to sea, the brightest light on the Oregon coast. 

It is a beautiful drive along the coast.  As we came back in town Ted noticed the Hot Rod Grill!  Had to take a picture!  Have no idea if the food is any good, but it sure is fun!

Seeing the "light of the seas"..."Ain't Life Grand!"

A day in Florence

Yesterday was a fun day in Florence.  We took off from the campground crossing the Florence Oregon Bridge that was built in 1926 by Conde McCullough.  The bridge is celebrated for it's Art Deco arches and romanesque design. Gracefully reaching across the Siuslaw River, the bridge is 4 miles inland from the Pacific.  We had lunch in Old Town Florence right on the river at Traveler's Cove.  I had the crab caeser salad with beer bread, yum!

We walked off our lunch with a little shopping!  They have some great little shops.  Ted bought me a pretty and unique pair of earrings and neclace for my birthday, we found a couple of gifts for friends and enjoyed talking to the shop owners.  We ended up our shopping with coffee for me and a smoothie for Ted! 

One of Ted's high school classmates, Ben Hatheway and his wife Diana, live in Florence.  We gave them a call and they were available to meet us for dinner.  We had dinner at the Firehouse Restaurant in Old Town Florence.  We had a good dinner and then had a visit in their lovely home.  They have beautiful gardens both in their front and back yards.  Ben has a super duper communications center set up with ham gear and more.  Diana creates beautiful greeting cards in her lovely studio and sells them at two stores in Old Town.  Ben took us for a drive and showed us around town.  They are really enjoying retirement in Florence!

Spending time with old and new friends..."Ain't life Grand!"

Florence, Oregon

Yesterday we got two new tires on the RV and then headed to Florence.  It was another beautiful drive! We drove by Fern Ridge Lake which has six parks, including Perkins Peninsula, and offers a variety of day use recreation  such as picnicking, swimming, sailing, powerboating, jet skiing, skiing, fishing, and hunting. The lake and surrounding extensive wetlands provide habitat for several species of wildlife and waterfowl. This Wildlife Refuge is home to an assortment of fish: crappie, bass, trout and catfish, carp; over 200 varieties of birds; and a lot of beavers, muskrats, nutria, otters, raccoons, opossums, deer and ground squirrels.

We drove through many beautiful pines, saw a deer on the side of the road and caught up with the Suislaw River.  The river followed us all the way to Florence and to the Pacific Ocean.  We are about 2 miles south of Florence and our campground is very wooded with lots of pine trees.  I was reading the campground info and they had two notices about bears; what to do if you run across one and how to keep the garbage bins closed so they can't get in.  This surprised me, and Max and I will not be out walking at night.  We will also make lots of noise when taking our walk!

Ted and I are going into Florence and will look around the town today.  We will be here until Saturday and we are so thankful to be in a cool part of the country.  We feel bad for those suffering the heat around the country!
 
Watching out for bears..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Harrisburg Oregon

We left Sunriver Oregon this morning and traveled over the Cascade Mountain range toward Eugene.   It was sunny one minute and then cold and cloudy the next.  It rained on us several times.  It was such a pretty drive over the mountain.  Lots of pine trees and the McKenzie River runs along side a lot of the highway!  I found out that Oregon has 51 covered bridges, the most of anywhere west of the Mississippi River.  We actually saw one of them today and I captured a picture as we drove by.

We got to the River Bend campground in Harrisburg.  It is a nice campground right on the Williamette River.  When I was walking Max, a lady walking her dog mentioned seeing a muskrat eating grass.  Max and I found it eating away!  It wasn't even too bothered by us.  I didn't get too close but did get it's picture.  The Freightliner chassis that is in the picture, is parked in an RV spot.  Apparently they are having some sort of class so it is set up for the demonstration.  The RV park also has a hotel and lots of banquet rooms!

Tomorrow morning we go south to Junction City, about 5 miles, to Camping World to get two new tires for the RV.  From there we will go back down to Eugene and then west to Florence on the coast!

Taking a beautiful drive over the mountains..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Sightseeing in Sunriver Oregon

Today we went sightseeing.  Our first stop was the Lava River Cave.  This is the longest lava tube in Oregon at one mile in length and carried 2000 degrees fahrenheit of lava approximately 100,000 years ago.  It is 42 constant degrees cold and very very dark!  The cold hits you before you even enter the cave!  We went in and were surprised at the amount of ice inside the beginning of the cave.  There was a lot of dripping water that formed the ice pyramids!  Ted has twisted his knee so we didn't walk too far into the cave because it drops straight down and you are walking on a jumble of volcanic rocks!  We figured that was too much for us but enjoyed what we did see!

 It was now lunch time so we decided to take the scenic drive up through Sunriver to  Mt. Bachelor and around to Elk Lake before heading back to the campground.  Mt. Bachelor has had 665 inches of snow this year.  The highest since the last La Nina winter in 1998-99 of 606 inches.  It was about 50 degrees up there and still had quite a bit of snow.  We dropped down to Elk Lake at 4893 feet.  There is a small resort and 390 acres of lake with a depth of 75 feet.  There is a small marina and boat ramp!  It was drizzling so we sat in the truck and looked out at the lake while we ate our lunch!

We will leave here on Tuesday and are going west to Junction City to Camper World to purchase two new tires for the trailer.  From there we are going over to Florence Oregon on the Coast.

Snow in July..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Our 11th anniversary in Bend/Sunriver Oregon!

Yesterday we started our anniversary off with a lazy morning then took off for the Old Mill District in Bend.  A recommendation by our friend Kittye Wallis.  She loves this area and gave us lots of great suggestions.
The "old" mill is really all new shops of all kinds such as REI and Orvis; and shops such as Talbots, Chicos, Coldwater Creek (my personal favorite) and more.  They have movie theaters and lots of restaurants throughout.  During the summer they have free concerts, fundraising bike rides and more.   I can imagine how packed they must get because the area was very busy yesterday in the early afternoon.   And, it is along side the Deschutes River, a huge recreation area.  We saw people in canoes and kyaks from Sunriver north to Bend.  In the back ground is Mt. Bachelor that still has lots of snow.  It is all very beautiful!

For nearly a century, timber production was the unchallenged king in Bend, most of it taking place in the Old Mill District. Hardy men used axes, crosscut saws, horses, and "high-wheel" rigs to cut down huge Ponderosa pines in the surrounding forests.   "Mill B" site makes up the largest portion of the current Old Mill District. At the peak, Mill A and B were the largest pine sawmills in the world, running around the clock and employing more than 2,000 workers each.  In 1950, facing dwindling timber supplies, the area was reduced to Mill A which closed in 1983 and was in a state of near ruin before being restored in the early 1990s. The old brick powerhouse buildings and their three towering smokestacks still stand, silently testifying to the district's colorful past.

After wandering around the Old Mill area Ted and I went south to Sunriver.  It is a planned community and a huge resort area of 3300 acres.  They have four golf courses with one running throughout the resort itself.  They have a spa, fitness center, an airport for small planes and a marina where they rent kyaks and canoes.  They have tons of restaurants and a little shopping area.  There are 35 miles of pedestrian and bicycle walkways, 26 tennis courts, two pools and more.

We chose to go to dinner at the Trout House, a small restaurant right on the Deschutes River at the marina.  We were there early and got a seat right on the river where we could watch the kyaks and canoes returning to the boat ramp next to the restaurant or to the marina.  We had a great server.  I ordered a strawberry margarita and it came in a small hi-ball glass with a silver milkshake container for the rest of it!  It was huge!  Ted had wine.  For happy hour they had a lady making small homade cheese stuffed tortillas right there in the restaurant.  They were delicious.  We had a delicious dinner (I had shrimp stuff empanadas) and the waitress brought us icecream drizzled with fresh strawberries for our anniversary treat!

Watching out the window it was getting darker and darker so we headed back to the campground...just in time.  We got inside and the skies opened up.  It was pouring rain, thundering and lightning!  It even started to hail for awhile!  Max got scared with all of the thunder!  Luckily it stays light until after 9:00 p.m. and the sky cleared up, not a cloud anywhere!  Max and I went out for a walk along with all the other dogs! 

Loving my husband..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Happy Anniversary to Ted & Susan (and Larry & Carol Wallis)

Today Ted and I are sharing our 11th year of marriage!   Larry and Carol...a lot more!

The last two days we have spent at the RV rally in Redmond.  They have seminars, exhibits, stuff for sale and a ton of RVs to look at!   I had to forcibly restrain Ted from buying a new Monaco Motor Home!  LOL!  Anyway, we've tried to take it all in!  The rally continues through Sunday but today we are taking the day off to go sightseeing in the area.  Not exactly sure what we are going to see today but there are lava caves, museums, the old mill area and the resort area!  I'm sure we will find something to see!

The mountains are beautiful around here and still have snow.  I haven't gotten a good picture yet but I hope to soon!  Our campsite is among the pines as you can see:

Enjoying our anniversary..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Made it to Oregon!

On Sunday in Idaho, Max and I walked down to the river before lots of people showed up and I stood on the seawall!  The river is really full...as you can see!

We got to Bend late yesterday afternoon and were not able to arrive early to our campground so we parking lot camped at Walmart along with 12 other RV'ers!  We got to our campground this morning and got set up.  I was glad we were early because there were 40 campers coming in today and we found a good spot this morning!  There are lots of pines and you really feel as though you are camping out in the woods.  There is also a lot of space between campsites. 

We had to go to Bend to get a certified check for our Ford South Dakota registration and looked around town a little bit.  We came back to the campground and visited the "Town Square"!  They have some cute old buildings they use for the cafe, the book exchange and country store!

Tomorrow we will go north about 30 miles to Redmond for the RV ralley.  There are lots of things to do in the area so it will be a busy week!

Yesterday we had a rock hit our windshield and put an 8" crack in it.  The rock hit right at the base of the windshield.  A 1/4 inch lower and it would have hit medal!  There happened to be a windshield repair guy parked across from us so we had him "fix" the windshield.  We'll see if that holds and keeps it from spreading until we can replace it.  It looks a lot better!

Enjoying the smell of pine trees...."Ain't Life Grand!"

Made it to Idaho!

On Friday morning we left Colorado Springs heading north to Wyoming.   We had a call from our mail service who is trying to register our new truck in South Dakota for us.  I needed to print the checklist and get a power of attorney notarized authorizing them to do this for us.  Ted was driving and I was calling to find a notary that was in an RV friendly area!  We found a Wells Fargo that had a notary and it was slightly outside Cheyenne so we took a chance.  There was a side street right next to the bank where we could park without unhooking the RV.  Within 30 minutes we were back on the road with a notarized document and a chocolate chip cookie!

We then headed west across Wyoming, hit some more hard rain and found a campground in Rawlins, Wyoming.  Ted had been watching the tire that was on our RV middle axle passenger side (same side as leaf spring problem).  He was worried about it so yesterday we looked for a tire place.  They wanted about $100 more than Camping World for each tire so Ted had them switch tires around and we will get the tires later on.

I didn't post any pictures of our leaf spring so decided to do that this morning as follows:

Yesterday after getting our tires moved around we kept heading west to Ogden, Utah and then north into Idaho.  We have seen bison, antelopes, llamas and alpaca's along the way!  We arrived in Declo, Idaho around 5:30 and called it a day.  We are now less than 500 miles to Bend, Oregon (our destination) and have decided to spend two nights here.  It is such a pretty campground, lots and lots of green grass, a nature trail next to the river and lots of trees.  We will recharge our batteries (bodies) and get laundry done before continuing west!

Yesterday afternoon the temperatures were in the high 80's but this morning it was a chilly, damp 53 degrees!  Lovely for a nice morning walk with Max!

Lots of green, not money, but trees and grass..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Made it out of Texas...whew!

Today was an interesting day on the road.    It was about 93 degrees this morning when we left the campground.  We made it to Dalhart, Texas and had to go under a train overpass.  There is normally a by-pass sign or Truck Route sign but we found none.  Our rig is 13'6" and the overpass was only 13'7" and very steep in the middle.  That means if we hit a bump, we could lose our air conditioner YIKES!  We found a place to pull over and we called the local police to ask for directions.  They sent a police car to our location and he drove us about 10 miles to where we needed to be without going under the overpass!  True midwest courtesy!

We continued on NW and into New Mexico.  The temperatures went down to the low 80 degrees.  Our drive through New Mexico was uneventful (for us that's a good thing)!  We stopped for fuel and I took the wheel.  I even backed up a little way to miss a rock (I don't back up very well)!  Ted spotted some antelope along the way and before we knew it we were in Colorado.  We had been climbing and our outside temperature went down into the high 60 degrees.  Such a change from the three weeks plus at over 100 degrees every single day! 

After awhile the temperature started up again and hit 93 degrees.  Then when we got to Pueblo, Colorado, we had a front row seat to a ton of lightning right in front of us!  It was quite something.  As we neared the lightning, we started hearing thunder and the rain started.  For about 3 or 4 miles it poured!  People started pulling over to the side of the road  and fortunately slowed down to a crawl.  We couldn't see very far in front of the truck!  The temperature came down again to the low 60 degrees!

We stopped again for fuel, our new truck holds 37 gallons, our old truck held 59.  We may have to buy an add on tank when we save up some money!  Diesel is running about $3.79.  Ted took over driving and then we hit some more rain.  His navigator (who is not to be named), made a change in the campground plan at the last minute and then figured out it was about 15 miles out of town so we had to do a turn around but finally got back on the road and made it to the campground here in Colorado Springs! 

The outside temperature is now 64 degrees!  YAY!  Max was getting stir crazy with a long day while RV got worked on and two long days of driving so we had a nice long cool walk after dinner!

Enjoying the cool weather and rain..."Ain't Life Grand!"

On the road again!

Yesterday afternoon we went with John and Deanna to John and Jennifer's house.  They were neighbors of John and Deanna's for several years and they've kept in touch with each other.  They have a lovely home and we had a nice visit before we all went to dinner at Poke (Pok-E) Joe's Barbeque.  I had delicious pork ribs and beef brisket with cherry cobbler and Ted had the brisket and sausage with peach cobbler.  We really enjoyed our dinner!

This morning didn't start out so well.  We got up at 6:00 and had the RV ready to go by 8:00 because the Good Sam Road Service was supposed to call at 8:00 to confirm we still needed a tow (duh)!  So by 8:20 I called them.  She called back at 8:30 and told me the tow truck would be there at 8:20 (huh?)!  I asked her to repeat that and decided she must mean 9:20!  The tow truck showed up at 9:30 and we were at the RV Repair shop by 10:00.  We took off so I could get my nails done while Ted and Max tried to stay cool in the truck (impossible) and then we grabbed some lunch and ate in the truck.  We went back to the RV place at about 12:30 and they had not even looked at the RV yet (hmmm)!  Finally at 1:30 they took a look and fortunately the leaf spring was in stock.  They got it, put it on and put on our spare brake pad (one was missing).  Fortunately the rotor was okay.  They put on our spare tire and finally at 4:30 p.m. we were on our way!  We decided to drive for an hour to make sure everything was okay, and it seems to be! 

It was well over 100 again today and we are still trying to cool down the RV down, it was 91 degrees inside at 7:00 when we got settled!  We only have 30 amps so can only run one air conditioner.  It was too hot to cook so we had cold cereal for dinner-yum!

Happy to be on the road again toward Oregon and cooler weather hopefully..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Happy July 4th from Georgetown, Texas!

Ted and I hope all of you have a happy and safe 4th of July!  Remember Independence Day is the anniversary of the publication of the declaration of independence from Great Britain in 1776.

On Saturday Ted and I took a drive to the historic downtown Georgetown square.  The Monument Cafe (bronze award winner) was highly recommended so we had lunch there.  The diner only serves fresh, locally grown and homemade food.  Boy everything was delicious! 

Yesterday  Joe and Sue the hosts for the Palo Duro RV rally we attended in June took us to Dos Salsas for lunch.  The restaurant was a gold medal winner.  We tried to get there before the church crown but it was still very busy.  Ted had soft beef brisket tacos and I had flaquitas; two flour tortillas stuffed with chicken and lightly deep fried, topped with ranchero sauce and Monterrey jack cheese, really delicious!

They drove us around Georgetown showing us the river, one of the lakes, the area where they live, the movie theaters and a nail place for me!  It was fun seeing their town and talking with them.

In the afternoon we had neighbors, John and Deanna (whom we also met at the rally) over for a glass of wine and some cheese and crackers.  It was fun getting to know them better.

This morning we went to the movies to see Transformers.  We enjoyed the movie and are home taking it easy in the air conditioning.  It is still over 100 every day and does not cool off like San Diego in the evenings.  This evening we are going out to a barbeque restaurant with Joe and Deanna.

As you can tell, we are getting plenty to eat! 

Enjoying the fourth in Georgetown..."Ain't Life Grand!"

The Kercher Saga Continues...

In the continuing saga of the Kercher RV and/or truck problems...the RV is now the problem!  We were happily on our way north, around 2:00 p.m. pulled in to a rest stop (to rest our bladders) when Ted noticed a problem.  The leaf spring had broken on the 3rd axle of the RV.  The axle was pushed forward and about 2 inches of tread was rubbed off.  We were lucky we didn't have a blow out!  There is a ton of tire rubber on the side of the RV as well.

We called our Good Sam Road Side service and they went to work on finding us some place that could fix the RV.  Of course being Friday afternoon before the 4th of July holiday weekend they found nothing until Tuesday.  Okay, now to find a tow truck.  We were between Austin and Waco Texas in a rural area and the one tow truck large enough was in the shop until Sat.  We could stay in the rest stop for 24 hours (and only 24 hours according to the bureacrats in charge of the rest stop)!  But it was over 100 degrees and we were not sure if the generator would last all night to keep us cool, not a very desireable thought.  So Good Sam kept looking and found us a tow truck, not one that had a dolly to hold the RV wheels (6 of them), but an experienced driver...Woody!

The tow truck got there about 4:00 p.m.   Woody tried to tie the axle up to no avail but he took off the tire and got the RV hooked up to the tow truck and off we went.  We followed to keep an eye on the axle as it was only about 6 inches from the ground and a large bump would not be good.  We got to the RV repair facility around 5:45 p.m. and it had closed at 5:00 p.m.  There was a locked gate right to the road so no way we could even put the RV inside the gate.

This turned out to be the good news.  Good Sam only wanted to tow us once so we were going to be towed to the repair facility and we would have to stay in a hotel.  We called Holiday Inn Express and for $99.00 per night we could stay there, oh and that would be $40 per night for Max (and he doesn't even get his own room much less his own bed)!  Since the RV place was closed they allowed us to be towed to a campground and will pick up the RV on Tuesday morning (since they weren't going to work on until then, it makes more sense to us anyway).  Now we don't have to rent a room and eat all those meals at restaurants!

When I was registering at the campground here in Georgetown TX, a woman comes in and she is one of the couples that was at the RV rally in Palo Duro Texas!  They are staying here getting their RV refrigerator worked on and since they used to live in the area, getting their doctor appts done!  They are full-time RV'ers also.  Another couple from the rally live in town but they may be visiting their kids for the holiday weekend!  They tell us there are fun things to do here such as the Berry Springs Farm and the town square which has shops and restaurants!   We'll be sure to check it all out!

So "As the World Turns" and other exciting Kercher adventures..."Ain't Life Grand!"