Here we are, on the road: 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.