We’re in Seaside, Oregon

 

Sunday, September 26, 2020                                                                                               Lorraine’s report

Hello from Seaside, OR Thousand Trails RV Park. Well, we left Rochester, WA and headed just a bit south on Tuesday. We stopped at Woodburn RV Park by Portland, OR.

We left and stopped to pick up Chuck’s new lazy boy rocker/swivel recliner in Tualatin, OR. The strip mall where we had to go was challenging, since the parking lot was not large enough to turn around both the rig and car hooked up. Chuck had to unhook the car, and then hook it up again. But I think he likes the chair a lot, and it looks good in our rig.

We traveled on down to Woodburn RV Park. We got a site for two days, and then Chuck took the coach back to Speedco to get the oil in the rig changed as well as other maintenance work done. He had the oil changed there last year and was happy with the work they did.

I headed over to Woodburn’s Outlet Mall to do some Christmas shopping. Shopping was good, and I found some great buys for the kids. I got tired before Chuck was done getting the oil changed, so I headed over to the park to wait for him. He came in a short time later and I followed him into the site.

Wednesday was a great day. It was our anniversary and we had a very nice day together. I did laundry in the morning since we had 50 amp, water, and sewer. Chuck was busy on his computer. We had errands to run, so we hit a truck supply place, Camping World, Target, Costco and then home to let Misty out, then back to the Outlet Mall.

I called the front office there at the park and asked the gal for the name of a good place to eat dinner. She sent us to a place called Vitality. She gave me directions and off we went.

It was hard to find, no signs outside the building it was in, giving any clues to that it was inside a walk in immediate care facility. The menu was small with only a few items, but I have to say the food was delicious. We had the prime rib with two sides. Dessert was white chocolate cheese cake with raspberries. I want to thank all the family and friends that sent us their good wishes for our anniversary. We appreciated them all!

The next day we were off before 10 am, heading out in the rain to Seaside; the farther west we went, the dryer the weather became. We set up and I made up beef barley stew for dinner, since it was blustery outside.

Friday I decided I needed to have my hair done. I asked at the front office for a place to go and headed over. The gal used a product that hasn’t been used on my hair before, and it’s darker than I thought it would be, but that’s the way it goes sometimes. You never know how things will turn out. Chuck washed to coach’s windows and bathed Misty while I was gone.

Saturday found me waking up not feeling very well. I took some Dayquil which helped my watery eyes, sore throat and headache. Hopefully it’s nothing more than a cold, since I got my flu shot on the 13^th of the month. Sometimes though the flu shot makes me susceptible to whatever is going around before it starts to work, my immune system being next to nil.

We watched a football game; Stanford beat Notre Dame-yea! We went to Safeway for more medicine for me afterwards and I picked up a baked chicken for dinner.

Today was my Mother’s birthday, I miss her a lot…

So that’s it for me. Until next time……….Lorraine

 

9/26/10                                                                                                                   Chuck’s report

Boy is it good to be back on the road!  Not sure where we are going or for how long, that’s the good life.   Well, at least for us, I know it’s not for everyone.  

Let’s see here, last Sunday we were at the Lucky Eagle casino campground in Rochester.  We stayed in all day, watched the Seahawks lose and ate the roast dinner Lorraine cooked.  A nice, quiet day.  Monday we went to the casino for their buffet lunch, Lorraine played the slots while I returned to the coach.  We met the couple, Jim/Dee, who were parked next to us and sat outside getting acquainted for a couple of hours, nice folks.  They live in Vancouver, Washington and spend most of their time in the coach at one casino or another. 

I think this time we both won at this casino, pretty unusual for me for sure.  Plus I took third place in the free slot tournament, nice.  The only negative about the place is the sites are so narrow and they don’t have a sewer dump available.  We were told they are planning on expanding the hotel and will close the campground.  There is a new campground of theirs about 3 miles away that has a dump station so we could check it on the way out of town.  We found it to be laid out the same as this one, narrow sites with grass strips between each.  They do have a dump station available.  At this time, they aren’t charging anyone to stay in this park but we were told they will start charging $25/night starting this week.  I’m not sure if they will allow folks to get compted for staying there like we did here, however.

Tuesday was moving day, continuing on our way South.  After going to the dump station and hooking out the car we were on the road.  First stop was in a suburb of Portland to pick up the Lazy Boy recliner we ordered.  Their parking lot wasn’t that big and where they needed us to park the rig meant we had to unhook the car.  It took all of 5 minutes to load the chair, then back to the side parking lot to hook up the car again.  We’ve become pretty proficient at doing this so it wasn’t too big of a deal, just took a bit longer.  So far I really like the new chair and it fits just like we thought it would. 

Next stop was to check in at the RV park in Woodburn, Oregon.  Once we got checked in, Lorraine took the car and went to the outlet mall for some shopping.  I took the coach back up the road to have the oil/filters changed and the chassis lubed.  I went to a place called Speedco, at place that changes oil on big trucks, sort of a Jiffy Lube for big rigs.  They didn’t have all the filters I needed in stock so it took almost two hours vs. the hour they advertise but that was fine with me, as long as they do a good job. 

As I was leaving the shop and heading back to the RV park, Lorraine called and said she was heading there too.  We got to our site, set up and called it a day, went over to Arby's for dinner. 

Wednesday was our 38th anniversary, yea.  We didn’t have a big day planned, just some things we wanted to pick up while we were in town.  Lorraine asked the gal at the main desk for a recommendation for a good dinner place.  She suggested we go to a place called Vitality up the road about 3 miles.  We entered the name in our GPS and still couldn’t find it.  As we were driving around trying to find it, I finally asked a gal coming out of the urgent care place if she knew where the restaurant was.  She said it was in the medical building, not a good sign I say to myself.  We parked the car and decided to walk in and give it a look-see and if it wasn’t nice, we would leave. 

After looking it over, we decided to give it a try.  The waitress was new and didn’t know the answers to our questions but at least she admitted so and went back to get good answers rather than give us bad info, good for her.  We ordered our meals and enjoyed being together, had a very good time.  Later it was movie night, just sitting in our coach enjoying the company of each other.  We got lots of Happy Anniversary wishes from family and friends and thank every one that sent them to us.  

Thursday was moving day once again, we were heading toward the coast.  The forecast was for a sunny warm day, the best kind for traveling.  But as we were getting everything put away and getting the coach ready for travel it started clouding up.  Just as we started to leave, the rains started, so much for the forecast.  It stopped raining after about 10 miles, whew.  But as we started going over the coastal range, it started pouring hard enough I had to put the wipers on high speed.  A wet, miserable travel day and the coach and car got dirty again. 

It was about 1:30 or so when we got to the 1000 Trails/Leisure Time park here in Seaside, Oregon.  We were here last year and had an idea of where we wanted to set up so once we got checked in, we drove across the street to the North side of the park.  As luck would have it, we pulled into the same site we were in last year. 

Last year when we were here, we met some folks from the Lewis and Clark chapter of the FMCA.  We actually ended up joining this group and had a great time with them.  We also spent some time with other friends of ours, Bill/Barb, who gave us our first experience driving on the beach.  We had a lot of fun at this park because of all the friends around us. 

The rain slowed down but didn’t stop, we set up in the rain.  Lorraine made a stew in the slow cooker that smelled so good I was hungry all afternoon.  Later the rain did stop and I was able to take Misty for a walk.  I met a couple of the neighbors but didn’t get to know them yet. 

Friday morning the skies were clear and the forecast was for good weather for the next few days, yea.  We are getting tired of the rain.  It rained too much while we were back home, while we were at the Lucky Eagle casino and Thursday on our travel day, we were looking forward to some nice sunny days. 

Lorraine wanted to find a hairdresser, called the main gate for recommendations.  She ended up finding one just up the road and they could fit her in that afternoon.  I elected to stay home and clean the bugs off the front of the coach, wash the windows and give Misty a bath.

After Lorraine got home, we decided to drive out to the beach.  Lorraine kept saying she loves the ocean and the waves.  The tide was out so it was a good walk to the water but Lorraine wanted to get her feet wet.  We misjudged the waves and she got more than her feet wet, see the pictures following this.  I’m not sure that is what she meant when she said she loves the ocean, ha. 

We drove around town for a bit and decided we would put off exploring the beaches until this weekend as the weather forecast was for good weather.  We returned back to the coach, ate some of the delicious stew and watched a movie, another good day.

Saturday morning dawned nice and clear, blue skies were the order of the day.  We puttered around, ate breakfast, Lorraine did some laundry, you know, just stuff.  She did mention she wasn’t feeling good, took some medicine and rested for awhile. 

About the time we decided to head out, it started getting cloudy, the wind picked up and the temperature started dropping.  We made a stop at Safeway and while we were there, it started raining.  What’s this, I thought it was supposed to be good weather.  When we got back to the coach, Lorraine checked the forecast and it had changed.  Rain for Saturday, Sunday and Monday!

So we didn’t go to the other beaches in the area yet.  We watched Stanford beat Notre Dame and watched a good game between Boise State and Oregon State later.  But it was raining outside. 

It rained all night, hard enough at times that it woke me up.  The winds have died down but its still raining.  How did we put up with this for all those years we lived in Washington?  I’m tired of all this rain and ready to head South until we get out of it!  Usually we have good weather in September, last year we were here and the weather was really nice.  Oh well, I just misjudged when the fall rains were starting, I guess. 

Our plans have us staying here until Tuesday morning, then we want to head down the coast.  We really like the area around Lincoln, having stayed there many times before.  We will probably stay around there for a few days before we head out, not sure if we will continue South to Coos Bay or inland to Eugene.  Lorraine does want to make a stop in Medford for some shopping before we leave Oregon so we have to head inland somewhere.  Guess we will play it by ear and watch the weather.  Did I say it was raining and I’m tired of the rain?

So with our plans for next week firmly set in jello, I’ll stop, add some pictures and get this posted. 

 

Just some pictures Lorraine took while driving South.

Our new chair in the motor home.

On the beach in Seaside, Oregon.

Boy the water is along way out.

But coming in fast, run!  Too late.  In the second one, I’m taking the picture over my shoulder as I scurry away.

Water was deeper than she thought.  And cold, she said. 

 

Some of the Canadian geese at the park here in Seaside. 

So another week is over.  Until next time - - -

Thanks   Chuck

We’re in Rochester, Washington

 

Sunday, September 19, 2010                                                                                           Lorraine’s report

Well, we left Bellingham on Tuesday this past week. I was sad our time had come to an end there in B’ham and very sad to leave my sister and her family and our other friends behind. But as I say, “we’ll see you down the road, again.”

This past week has sure made me appreciate the sun. I’m tired of the rain already. Last Sunday found us staying home all day due to the heavy rain and cooler weather.

Chuck called our friends, Ron and Toshi and asked to see them; they said Monday at CJ’s there in Birch Bay. We enjoyed a lovely lunch together, catching up for the past year. It was great to see them again.

We had lots of running to do afterwards. We dropped off the windows that we were having replaced just before we left town on Tuesday. Chuck needed a new prescription and had asked his doc for it over a week before, with no results. We stopped by and reminded the doc that Chuck still needed it. The doc’s office called it into WM for pick up the next day.

I dropped off some pants I bought that needed hemming. I also had heard there were flu shots in at Walgreens, so we stopped in and I got one.

We got home and rested a bit, then headed over to the Silver Reef for their free Monday Night Hot Dogs. Chuck watched the games on the big screen with a bunch of other people. Joey/Sharlene came in after they had dinner, while I hit the machines. I was lucky that evening, making back the $ I had lost at the Skagit. We all had hot dogs, all free, and everyone enjoyed the games, and each others company.

We were up early to get the coach in to Al’s RV Repair shop for the window replacement. Our appointment was at 10 am and we were there well before that time. Chuck filled up the propane tank on the way into town.

Mickey D’s provided us with breakfast, then more running. We headed over to WM for Chuck’s prescription; then back to the mall for my pants.

We stopped by one of our friend’s business to drop off the pop can tabs I had been saving for Ronald McDonald House through the Moose Lodge. We discovered from his two children that he and his wife were in an assisted living place, and that Wednesday was his birthday.

Chuck decided we should go see him at this home, so off we went to find this place. We were in luck; we found Russ and Millie having lunch in the dining room of his assisted living home. We met this couple while we lived in our house on Barnes Road in the early 70’s, they were our neighbors.

While they have their health problems, they were both happy that we had stopped by to see them. They are both in their 80’s and it may well be the last time we see them.

From there, we went back to Al’s and picked up the coach. Chuck wanted to fill up with diesel at Fred Myers, so back we went. He filled up the coach while I ran back inside for supplies.

We left Bellingham about 2:45 and headed south to Angel of the Wind. I called our friends, Steve and Sandy and asked them to meet us there after we set up. Again, we enjoyed a good dinner and catching up time with them. We all played a bit, none of us winning.

Wednesday we left Angel of the Wind and headed south. Seattle traffic was scary; a hazardous material big rig kept swaying into our lane until Chuck was able to get by it. I’ve learned to close my eyes and pray when I get afraid like that; it helps!

We saw a sign on the freeway for another casino, so Chuck asked me to look it up on the GPS. I called it and it was about 10 miles away and had RV parking. We headed there getting in just before it started raining hard. We went in and paid for two nights, then went home and stayed in for the evening.

We are at Lucky Eagle Casino in Rochester, WA. This casino is owned by the Chehalis Tribe. Chuck learned from a neighbor the next day that if you play in the casino for two hours, you can get up to five nights free.

This RV Park is small, along the edge of their hotel in back, but the sites are level and they have water and 50 amp; the sites are narrow on concrete with grass in between. They charge $14.00 a night.

We went on in to play in the afternoon. They had a free slot tournament and we entered. Chuck was lucky and took third place for $100. It was fun. We also had enough time between us to qualify for the five free days of parking the rig.

Friday was a quiet day; I did laundry, Chuck worked on planning I think. I went over to the casino and went up a little bit, then home to make dinner.

Saturday found us watching the WA Huskies as they lost their football game. We went into the buffet to have dinner; Seafood and Prime Rib-really good food. Again, I was up while playing the slots, this has been a lucky place for me.

It has been raining for the past three days here a lot. We saw the sun for three hours on Saturday afternoon. I’m ready for the nice, warm, sunny days in the desert again.

Wednesday is our 38^th anniversary. Chuck gave me an Alaskan Ivory bracelet when we got married. It has both thick and thin strips of carved Ivory between golden beads. He said it represents both the fat times and the thin times we would be going through; he was right.  As I’ve said before, I would be lost without him. Happy Anniversary Honey, I love you.

Lorraine

9/19/10                                                                                                                              Chuck’s report

After a couple of not so subtle hints, I remembered it will be our 38th wedding anniversary this week.  We aren’t too sure where we will be staying that night but we will be together.  Thanks for putting up with me for all these years Hun, I love you. 

At least we are on the road and not in Blaine this time!   We didn’t make it back on the road before the fall rains started however as it rained on us Monday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and today this past week.  And this time when I say rain, I don’t mean the typical Washington drizzle but heavy rain for most of those days.  I would guess we’ve had over 4” of rain in the past three days while we were here.  I’m ready for the dry desert weather, tired of this rain already.  Come on sun!

We met with our friends Ron/Toshi on Monday at lunch.  I worked with Ron for a number of years and we saw them at the refinery picnic but didn’t get a chance to really visit, therefore we we took this time to do just that.  Once again it was good to catch up on their lives and we had a good visit. 

Later that afternoon we headed to the casino for Monday night football.  They have a big screen and about 6 small screens, free hot dogs and drawing at the end of each quarter.  We didn’t win any of the drawings but the hot dogs were good.  We also met up with Joey/Sharlene and asked them to sit with us.  As luck would have it, Sharlene had her name drawn at the end of one of the quarters, yea.  We also saw James and his girlfriend who were there to watch the game also.  Lorraine didn’t watch too much football, there were slot machines to be played, you understand.  She did come out a winner so that was good plus she had a good time.

Tuesday found us getting on the road before 10 with mixed feelings, glad to be on the road but sad to be leaving home for who knows how long.  We had been in the area for 7 weeks, had good times and good food with family and friends and took time to clean out all the storage areas in the coach.   But it was time to move on down the road.

We stopped at a RV repair shop to have two windows replaced, I had the new ones shipped to us a few weeks ago.  There were no problems with the change out and while we were waiting we tried to track down another friend of ours, Russ/Millie.  We just missed him at his place of business but his son told us where to find them.  They seems surprised to see us when we walked in and said “Hi” but none the less they were pleased we had stopped by, they don’t get too many visitors.  We only stayed for about 15 minutes as they were getting ready to eat lunch.  When we returned to the repair shop, they had finished and had our coach waiting outside for us.  We had sure put the new windows to a leak test for the past three days, so far so good. 

Our plans for that day were just to get on the road, we didn’t need or want to put too many miles behind us.  As usual, we didn’t have any reservations for the night and as we were driving, Lorraine called Steve/Sandy to see if they could/would meet us at a casino down the road.  They were able to meet with us over a buffet and once again we were able to catch up on their lives.  Sandy does write a blog but she doesn’t update it when they are home for the summer so we had a lot to catch up on.   After dinner we all went out to play the slots for awhile but I don’t think anyone came out a winner.  We said our “see ya later” to Steve/Sandy and hope to meet with them this winter once again, probably in Quartzsite, Az. 

Wednesday we got everything set and back on the road, heading South once more.  This time we had plans to stop in Chehalis at 1000 trails.  But as we were driving, the skies started getting dark and it looking like it might start raining at anytime.  We saw a sign for a new (to us anyway) casino a couple of exits down the road so Lorraine called then to see if they had a RV park associated with their holdings and they said yes, first come, first serve.  Seeing as how we were so close and it looked like it would start raining we decided to try the Lucky Eagle casino RV park.  They said just pick out a spot then come inside and register. 

They have about 20 sites, water and power only, no sewer or even a dump station.  The sites are long enough but are very narrow, only about 10’ of cement and a 3’ strip of grass separating the sites.  As soon as we unhooked the car and got backed into our site, it started raining so we drove over and got checked in.  We decided to stay for two nights as the forecast was for continued rain then returned to the coach for the rest of the day and night.  Boy did it rain that afternoon and most of the night, glad we stopped when we did. 

Thursday we did go to the casino for a couple hours of slot play and a lunch buffet.  We checked at the registration desk and they told us we could get up to five nights free camping if we wanted so we made a quick decision to stay until Tuesday morning because rain was forecast for all weekend.  After lunch they had a free slot tournament so we signed up and waited for our group to be called.  I happened to get on a good machine and got a lot of points (300,000 +) and hit a jackpot too (200,000 points).  The tournament wasn’t over until 8 pm so we went back to the coach with plans to return and see how I fared. 

We returned about 7:45 and waited while they finished with all the groups that had signed up then tallied all the scores.  They started out by having three drawings for prizes before announcing the slot winners.  They paid the top 5 winners and I came in third, won $100, not bad for a free tournament huh?  I missed coming in second by only 30 points but I was very pleased to win third place.  As I don’t usually win or lose that much in a couple of stops, that was a large amount for me. 

Friday Lorraine wanted to go over to the casino but I had enough casino time so decided to stay at the coach and watch the rain.  She played for a couple of hours then we spent the rest of the day/night at the coach once again.  It was nice to have a couple of days of doing nothing but watch TV, read books and just take it easy. 

Saturday we watched the Washington Huskies get beat (badly) by Nebraska, a real downer for us.  We don’t usually get to watch them play as we haven’t been in the area for the past three seasons and would have liked to see a good game.  Oh well, maybe next time. 

When we checked in on Wednesday they gave us coupons for $5 free slot play and 25% off any meal at the casino.  We decided to use the coupon for the seafood buffet on Saturday afternoon.  We headed over and had a very good meal then played the slots for awhile too.  I wanted to watch football so I left and Lorraine continued to play for another hour or so.  Once again, she was a winner on the slots, she’s up quite a bit this week and even though I didn’t play that much, I am up also.  And that doesn’t count the slot tournament where I came in third. 

I actually saw a couple of breaks in the clouds this morning but it wasn’t long until it was very cloudy once again.  We’ve had a couple periods of rain with more forecasted so today might just be a football watching day once again.  The Seattle Seahawks play the Denver Broncos, I want to watch that one. 

We are scheduled to leave here on Tuesday, have to stop by in a suburb of Portland to pick up a Lazy Boy chair we bought to replace the “Euro lounger” that came with the coach.  Most people who have set in the Euro chair have found it to be uncomfortable and hard to get out of, it sits too low.  It also has an un-attached foot stool that takes up floor space too so the new chair should give us a bit more room, hope so anyhow. 

After picking up our chair, I need to have the oil/filters changed on the coach.  We don’t put on enough miles to have the oil changed because of mileage rather we just have it done once a year.  I’ve had good luck getting service at Speedco, sort of a Jiffy Lube for big rigs so we will go there.  The one we’ve gone to in the past has two bay set aside just for RVs plus they carry all the filters we need.  We were in/out in just over an hour last time.

After that, we will head down to road to Woodburn for Lorraine to go to the outlet mall there.  She really likes this place plus there is a RV park right next door.  (There is also a nice RV park at the Elks in Keizer, just down the the road.)  She finds they have good sales this time of the year and of course, there is no sales tax in Oregon so that helps too.  She usually is able to get the majority of her Christmas shopping done while we are there.

I want to go down to Cobourg, down by Eugene, to visit the Monaco and Marathon RV factories.  We aren’t in the market to buy one but I still want to visit their factories.  And there are lots of RV places around the area we can visit and get ideas.  Never hurts to just look, especially if I leave the wallet at home. 

And after all that, we want to head to the coast, one of our favorite camping places.  We usually try to hit the Oregon beaches each year if we can and we do have time this year.  Here’s hoping this rain we’ve had this week isn’t an indication of what we will see once we get to the coast.  But even in the rain, we like the Oregon coast area.

So with that, I think I’ll try to add a few pictures and get this posted. 

Toshi/Ron

 

Traveling South, two nice days.

You can just make out Mount Rainer in the background on the picture on the right.

Seattle in the distance.  One of the boat harbors on Lake Washington.

The Space Needle.  

Two sport building, one for football, one for baseball, what a waste of money.  That’s a better picture of Rainer on the right. 

And with that, I’ll close and get this posted. 

Until next time - - -  Chuck

Once more from Blaine, Washington

 

Sunday, September 12, 2010                                                                                               Lorraine’s report

Hello again from Beachwood RV Park in beautiful Birch Bay, WA. Yes, we are still in the Great Pacific Northwest, enjoying the final days of a wonderful summer. While we loved the east coast, the high temperatures there were in the mid-to upper 90’s with humidity in the 95% range for June and July, way to hot for our liking.

We arrived here in Blaine on July 28 and the temperatures were in the mid 70’s, with nights cooling down to the upper 50’s. This was a vast improvement for us; there really is “no place like home” for the summer. We didn’t have to have the NOAH radio on for storm warnings or tornadoes. We had one thunder storm come in on us, not the nightly thunder, lightening and heavy rain/hail storms we had from Hershey, PA clear through to Idaho.

The best part is we got to see and spend quality time with family and friends. I don’t know about Chuck, but I really needed this. I needed the visiting, sharing and feelings of love I felt with everyone who took the time to see us. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart! It was like being with our friends in the southwest, how they welcomed us into their homes and meeting their families.

Now, on to the week; last Sunday we spent the day at my sister, Thelma, BIL, John’s home for our final big party before we leave to head south. What a grand day, and the food was wonderful. John had BBQ hamburgers, hot dogs, and I brought salmon. There were six or seven salads, snacks for before, and our niece, Kerri made cheesecake for dessert. Everyone over ate, I’m sure and we all had fun.

The next day we went to Silver Reef for their Old Farts luncheon buffet for $4.50 with Joe and Alice. We had good food, great company and a really fun time playing the machines. I was up for the day, with Chuck, Joe and Alice being down.

The following day found me paying all kinds of bills; by phone, in person and on-line. We stopped by Costco and brought home their chicken for dinner.

Wednesday found me cleaning the shelves on the passenger side of the coach above the sink. I took out everything I hadn’t used in a year, two boxes full of stuff; I figured if I hadn’t used it in a year I didn’t need it in the coach, so out it went.

I had read in the local paper about a seminar for veterans, and called to see what it was about. We decided to go, and since we were having Joe/Alice over that day for dinner, asked them to go with us, since Joe is a veteran also. They agreed.

We picked them up and headed to the place the seminar was being held. We got there in plenty of time. While looking for the way into the parking lot, we saw Joey/Sharlene, a co-worker of Chuck/Joe. They had heard about the seminar and were going to see what it was about.

While sitting there, waiting for the seminal to start, a representative from the USA Veterans Administration came in and started talking loudly. He said that this seminar wasn’t being put on by the real VA; that this seminal was being put on by the owners of the retirement home where it was being held, and that they wanted your personal information. He didn’t say why they wanted the information, but there had to be a catch. That man encouraged everyone to leave. The manager came forward and said the VA man was causing a disturbance, and they asked him to leave, and that the police had been called to remove him.

We left the meeting, all six of us, Joe/Alice, Joey/Sharlene and Chuck and I, as well as a bunch of other veterans. Our group headed over to Dos Padres to get a bite to eat and for more visiting. We had a great meal and enjoyed catching up with more friends.

Thursday was my final doctor test, a mammogram. I asked the gal doing the x-ray to see if a doctor could read the test and give me results, since we would be leaving this week and if there was anything out of the ordinary, I wouldn’t be around to follow up.

She got it done and came back with good news. Nothing was new or out of the ordinary, and I should come back in a year. Yea!!

After that we had a ton of running to do and then get back home since Joe/Alice were coming to dinner. We got back in time for me to get everything ready to BBQ; and once again we enjoyed a wonderful meal with good friends, followed by a rousing game of Pass the Love. Joe ended up being the big winner for the evening.

Friday found me once again sorting, storing and clearing out, this time I went through the new movies and put them into travel cases to use on the road. Then it was over to the shop to store the containers and everything else I emptied out this week.

We stopped by Richard’s res home to visit them for the last time before we leave the area. It was great to see Richard/Sandy, Coreen/Brandon and baby Maddie. Sorry we missed seeing Crystal, Jazzy and Kelsey. Next time!

Saturday I picked up my sister, Thelma and we took flowers by my parents and brother’s gravesite here in Bellingham.

Afterwards, we were suppose to go to the Catholic Church’s Harvest Festival, only I got the dates mixed up, its next weekend. So we headed over to Macy’s to pick up my face cream, ended up using the gift cards my two nephews gave me for my birthday, buying a nice outfit for me. Thanks, Carl and John/Michelle/Joey.

Later on, we picked Thelma/John up and headed down to the Skagit Casino for their Prime Rib and Dungeness Crab buffet. Of course we all ate too much and was it ever good.

We stayed for about an hour or so, and all of us donated to the cause, except Chuck. He was up $5.00, because he kept the $ they gave him for signing up for a new card, he was the wise one. That’s it for now.

Until next time…………..Lorraine

 

 

9/12/10                                                                                                                                 Chuck’s report

I hope everyone continues to remember what happened to our country on 9/11/01, when our country was attacked by the plane hijackers who piloted them into the twin towers.  We must never forget!!  I know our country has changed and will never be the same.  I was proud of the way our country pulled together after this attack!!  Some are now claiming the Holocaust never happened and some are even saying the attack on Pearl Harbor didn’t happen either.  I wonder how long it will be until they try to say the attack on the Twin Towers was only in our imagination too.  LET’S NEVER FORGET!!

Yep, we’re still here at Beachwood enjoying life.  We had another quiet week and I think we are pretty much prepared to leave next week.  We’ve had a couple days of rain but I don’t think it’s the start of the fall rains - - - yet.  It is raining now on Sunday morning but I haven’t heard the forecast, sure hope it quits by Tuesday. 

Last Sunday we went over to John/Thelma’s for a Labor Day Bar-B-Q.   Their whole family was there so we had a  nice visit with all of them too.  Plus there was too much food as is usual when the sisters plan a get-together.  

Monday was laundry day for Lorraine, as usual, some things didn’t change when we moved into the coach.  Later we met Joe/Alice at the casino for senior day buffet.  We had a good visit with them plus Lorraine came away a winner once again.

We had our mail forwarded to us and got it last week.  We have automatic pay for some of our bills, others Lorraine takes care of on line.  This mail delivery had some doctor bills that Lorraine needed to take pay and I had a couple for insurance that took my attention too.  Later we made a trip to town for a Wal-Mart/Costco/Fred Meyer trip. 

Wednesday we started out by cleaning out the last bank of cabinets.  We went through everything and put it into stacks of: throw away, give away, store in the shop and take with us.  We have now gone through all our storage spaces and cabinets and lightened our load a bit. 

Later we had plans to pick up Joe/Alice and go to a Veteran’s Benefit seminar in town.  We got there in plenty of time and as we got out of our car, we met Joey/Sharlene, an ex-coworker of mine going to the same seminar.  We sat at the table before they got started and talked over old times.  Just before the seminar started a man from the real Veteran’s Office came in and explained to us that we were there to listen to an insurance pitch not sanctioned by the Veteran’s Administration in any way.  They, of course, asked him to leave and most of the folks at the seminar followed him outside and didn’t attend the seminar.  What a deal, trying to rip off veterans by using a similar name.  Glad he showed up and informed us.  As we were standing outside, the manager of the place came out and said we were creating a “disturbance” and they were calling the cops if we didn’t leave. 

So we went down to Fairhaven to a Mexican place and continue with our visit.  We had a good time, nobody wanted to be the first to end it.  But after a couple of hours, we finally left, having eaten ourselves full and talked ourselves empty.  We haven’t seen Joey/Sharlene since he retired a year before I did and it was good to see them once again. 

Thursday Lorraine had her last doctor visit, everything was good.  I waited outside in the car and when she came out she had another ex-coworker of mine with here.  Scott Baker was waiting for his wife, recognized Lorraine and came out to the car to say Hi.  Scott is still working, has another three years before he can get out and enjoy using his 5th wheel like he would like.  He said he reads our blog every week and sort of gets his travel bug fed via us.  Hurry on out Scott, this life is good!!

We had a number of other errands to run so it was a long day.  Later we had a Bar-B-Q with Joe/Alice at our coach and played cards afterwards.  After a busy day, it was good to spend some quiet time with our friends.  We probably won’t see Joe/Alice again until sometime in January, down in Arizona. 

Friday Lorraine took all the movies we had that were still in their jewel box and put them into a CD holder.  Once again she was able to clean out more space.  We took the jewel cases over and stored them at the shop in case we every want them.  I have a feeling we will just throw them away when we clean out the shop but that will be sometime later.

After we met with Richard/Sandy at their house for a couple of hours.  We visited until his daughter Coreen got home from work then said our “see ya laters” to them.  There was some talk about maybe meeting Richard/Sandy in Las Vegas sometime this fall but no firm plans were set, we’ll see. 

Saturday Lorraine picked up her sister, Thelma, and headed to the Greek Festival in town.  Turns out it was too busy and crowed so they just spent a couple hours shopping at the mall instead.  While she was gone I waxed the front of the coach (makes it easier to remove the bugs, ha) and started writing our blog. (Actually all that is a lie, I watched college football.)

Later we picked up John/Thelma and headed to a casino a few miles South of town for a buffet.  Everyone seemed to get enough to eat, the food was good and the conversations were better.  Only problem was the service was non-existent, even for a buffet.  Afterwards everyone hit the slots for awhile, no one came out a winner but everyone enjoyed playing the different slots. 

Lorraine and I are very seldom on the road after dark, even in the car.  The drive home was in the dark and we had some rain.  I can tell I’m loosing my night vision, even with my new prescription and glasses.  It’s hell to get old.  They say memory is the second thing to go, I forget what’s first. 

Well, that was our week in review once again.  Hope you had a good week too.  I’ll now add some pictures and get this posted. 

 

Snack table on Sunday before Labor Day Bar-B-Q.

Some of the food at the Bar-B-Q.

Thelma, Lorraine and Kerri.  Karri, her husband Paul and Michelle.

Michelle and John.  Son John, Kerri and Paul.

Son Carl, daughter Ashley, Thelma and grand daughter Rose, that’s Josh peaking in the second one.

Grandsons standing behind John, Patrick, Joey and Joshua.  Lorraine and me. 

Sharlene/Joey.   Alice/Joe.

All of us at dinner. 

A nice sunset.

Ex-coworker Scott. 

Grand daughter Maddie with Richard.  Brandon/Coreen

And with that, I’ll close now.

Thanks   Chuck