Sunday, July 24, 2011 Lorraine’s report
Well, we made it back to Latitude 49 safe and sound, last Monday. We had a nice time at TT La Connor, although it was wet and cold last Sunday. In fact, the weatherman said that Sunday’s temperature had broken a 30 year old record for that day for being cold, the high was only 62 degrees/wet and gray. It feels like it’s fall here at times, not summer.
We enjoyed the company of the group we were with and the park-well; that left a lot to be desired. Like true 30 amp; we had to turn off a good bit of electrical stuff so I could dry my hair. While we were there they kept dumping gravel/rocks to fill in all the ruts in the road, which turned the roads mucky when it rained, which it did. It felt like we were roughing it and not smoothly like it says on the motto on our coach, roughing it smoothly.
We had a lot of fun with Steve and Sandy-thanks for going with us; it was great to catch up.
Monday was a busy day, packing up the rig to go home. Once home and after setting up, I decided to take all the laundry over to wash all at once. Chuck took me over and helped me get the laundry started, then came back to finish setting up. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to use the 3 washers/dryers I used. There are signs posted on the walls in the laundry room that you can use only 2 machines at a time. But it’s cheap, only a dollar a wash and a dollar for an hours worth of drying.
We had stopped at the Swinomish Casino for lunch, so I didn’t have to cook that evening. The lunch buffet was very good. They had roast beef, fresh baked salmon and fresh shrimp.
Harry Potter’s last movie had come out over the weekend and I went on Tuesday to the matinee to see it. It was very good, but it’s been over a year since I read the last book, so I can’t remember the book. Popcorn was free and my membership card gave me a free drink, too.
Wednesday Chuck had more appointments at the VA in Mt Vernon. He had his eyes checked, ordered new glasses; saw a doctor about his claustrophobic tendencies, and had a prescription added to his list so he could receive refills. For a very late lunch we stopped at a burger place-Chuck’s Chuck Wagon there in Mt Vernon; they have great burgers, fries and shakes. I called Sandy and wished her a Happy Birthday when we got home.
On Thursday Chuck washed and cleaned the car. We then had running to do that took us to late afternoon. I fixed us fried chicken for an early dinner. Also, while I was cooking dinner, I signed up for my supplemental health insurance carrier I will need for the other part of Medicare. Talk about being busy. But I sure am glad that Medicare is done with!
I had read in a local paper that the various tribes of the area, with their homemade tribal canoes were making their yearly journey and were coming into Birch Bay at 5 o’clock that day. This has been going on about 5 years, with the Journey to Lummi being the first journey. I went down to the bay to see them arrive. This journey trip started as a way to try and help troubled youth find their way back to sobriety and to stay off drugs.
The paddlers ask each tribe they visit if they can land their canoes on the beach. After they are welcomed by the host tribe, the paddlers and everyone attending is invited to share a meal. The Nooksack Indian Tribe was the host for this landing. The tribe then fed over 200 people, with their salmon cooked over an alder fire spit, hamburgers/hot dogs/ribs/chicken and of course, fry bread, all kinds of salads, fruit and lots of desserts, as well as water, coffee and soft drinks.
Following dinner, they have traditional songs and drumming called protocol. I didn’t stay for that since it was getting chilly out with the wind blowing off the water.
Friday we were working on cleaning up paperwork files, when I received a call from Sandy. She asked if we could meet them for lunch at the Silver Reef Casino. We agreed and went in to meet them. Richard and I enjoyed the sea food buffet while Chuck and Sandy ordered off the menu. We played a bit afterwards, and I think we all came away winners.
Dinner was in Blaine for Alice’s 60th birthday party. Eleven of us attended and had a wonderful Mexican Dinner with tons of food, (and I wasn’t even hungry,) laughter and fun. Happy Birthday Alice!
Saturday, Chuck was up and out washing the roof on the coach from 9 am. I went out at 10 to help. He did the front end and when I arrived, he just kept going. I fed him leftover chicken for lunch, and by then the sun had moved so that the last side-the drivers side and was in some shade. We finished about 2 o’clock and rested outside in the shade. I have to say that this was one of the best days of the summer; it hit 74 according to the weatherman.
Since Saturday was Richard’s birthday, we were invited over for dinner. Sandy’s brother did bar-b-q, hamburgers, hot dogs, salads, beans, and a special treat of Elk sausage as well as cake and ice cream-2 kinds each. A bunch of family and friends came and went throughout the evening. We left a bit early; both of us were pretty tired from washing the rig-it’s big when you are washing and hand drying. The dinner was fun for us and I hope Richard enjoyed it too. Happy Birthday again, Richard and Sandy!
I didn’t sleep too well, sore from doing the rig, but I made an extra effort to go to church. It was well worth the effort. I arrived home to find Chuck finishing up his part of the blog.
Tonight we are going to The Steakhouse at Silver Reef Casino. Sandy works for the reef and gets a complimentary birthday dinner for two. Her friend didn’t want hers so she sold it to Sandy and they invited us to go with them. The Steakhouse at the reef is one of the best steakhouses we have eaten at, if not the best. The service is impressive!
That’s it for me…Until next time….Lorraine
7/24/2011 Chuck’s report
Here we are, back at Joe’s extra lot at Latitude 49, back with full hookups, 50 amp electrical service, water and sewer and back in the land of full service with Verizon cell and internet service. Although we really liked La Connor 1000 Trails I think they need to spend a few dollars to upgrade the utilities and maybe even cut down a few of the trees to make maneuvering easier.
I had to run over to the doctor at Mount Vernon on Monday morning early, Steve decided to go along and we stopped to pick up Joe from the RV park at the casino where he was staying. While we were gone, Sandy and Lorraine checked the weather forecast and decided it might be a good idea to leave on Monday vs. driving in the rain on Tuesday. So when we got back we started putting things away and getting ready to leave. It was no problem checking out a day early, we just had to stop by the dump station to empty the holding tanks and we were on our way.
Steve/Sandy decided to drive on back to their lot at at Lake Tyee, we had a good time visiting with them once again. Lorraine and I decided to stop off at the casino for a buffet and played slots for awhile. We had a good meal there and played a few slots but it was good to be heading back. We got back and set up by around 4 and Lorraine decided to go over to the very good laundry facility here to do all the laundry at once rather than one load at a time at our place. I finished setting up and putting things away then went over and waited with her until the laundry was done.
Due to the rainy forecast on Tuesday, Lorraine decided to go to a movie, the new Harry Potter one, I think. As I don’t care to go to the movie house, I elected to just hang around the place until she got back. I managed to finally make a final decision on which route to go for Lorraine’s Medicare coverage. Thanks to my brother, Craig, who helped us with some good advice too.
Wednesday was back to the Veteran's office in Mount Vernon for another doctor visit and an eye exam and get new glasses ordered. We stopped by for a hamburger at the Chuck Wagon in Mount Vernon on the way back, a place we’ve had good burgers before. Once we got back, Lorraine talked on the phone with Sandy on her birthday, Happy Birthday once again to Sandy.
Thursday was forecast to be the start of some nice weather, finally. I washed the car in the morning before we headed in to town to run some errands. Once we got back, Lorraine fried up some chicken for our dinner, very nice. While she was cooking, she also signed up on the phone for the final plan for her Medicare, talk about multi-tasking. She is now all set for Medicare coverage starting the first of August, the whole thing will actually end up costing a bit less per month than what we are currently spending for our private insurance and with better (I hope) coverage. Now we hope the politicians don’t change things this week for her as they try to set a budget for our country. (Rant here, I wish they would do the same thing we all have to do with our budgets, if we don’t have enough money, we cut back on our spending rather than try to just bring in more money. Maybe we shouldn’t have all the rich folks in congress and put more regular folks there, ya think.)
Friday morning Lorraine got a call from Sandy inviting us to meet her and Richard at the casino for brunch buffet. We agreed and had a good time with them and their daughter, Kelsey, was even our waitress. Later, Lorraine had a good run on the machines and I even left ahead to, $0.10 on my part but at least I didn’t lose.
We had already made plans to meet with Joe/Alice for dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Blaine to help celebrate Alice’s birthday. There were 11 folks there and all had a good time with much laughter and good conversation. Happy Birthday once again to Alice.
The forecast for the weather on Saturday was once again favorable so I got an early start and started to wash the roof of our coach. Of course, once I got started, I continued on by washing the front. About that time, Lorraine came outside and said she would help me wash the passenger side if I wanted to get it done while it was still in the shade. So together we washed and dried the passenger side and then the back of the rig.
We decided to stop there for the day and Lorraine brought out some leftover chicken she had fried the other day for our lunch. After sitting for 1/2 hour or so, we checked and the driver’s side was now in the shade. Lorraine suggested we just go ahead and finish up and be done rather than wait for another day so in about 45 minutes or so I was putting away our ladder and all our cleaning supplies. So, as soon as I get the tires and wheels done, we once again will have a clean coach, yea.
After washing and drying the rig, we took a break, cleaned up and then headed off to a Bar-B-Q at Richard/Sandy’s house to celebrate Richard’s birthday. Once again we had a great time, visiting with family and friends of both Richard and Sandy. Happy Birthday once again to Richard.
This morning Lorraine and I both took a couple aspirin for our aches and pains, she got ready and headed out to Church. I decided the tires and wheels could wait at least one more day so I got caught up on the blogs and forums I read and started this blog. Once Lorraine gets home I’ll let her add her portion, if she wants to that is, and get this posted.
We have one more birthday celebration, this afternoon we meet with Richard/Sandy at the Steakhouse. This is one of the best steak places in the area and we are looking forward to this meal and good times with our good friends. So lets see, we celebrated three birthdays this week and it took us four meals to do that, ha.
Lorraine has a birthday coming up, on August 6th she will be eligible for Medicare. I know we have plans to celebrate her birthday at the casino with family and friends on the day after. We have made reservations at the Silver Reef Casino for buffet on August 7th at 5:00. Our daughter and grand daughter will be here, they are flying up from California on the Thursday before to spend a few days with us. Our son called this morning and he is looking into getting some time off and flying down from Alaska to be with her also. So it’s possible we might all be together on her birthday for the first time in a very long time.
The plans for the rest of this week is to just hang around and do not much of anything. We don’t anticipate going anywhere with the coach but I’m sure Lorraine will have to do some shopping/resupplying. She also needs to let me know what she wants for her upcoming birthday although I think I have a pretty good idea already (something shiny that fits on a chain around her neck). We have to head to town on Monday and she’s already said something about stopping off at the jewelry place, hint, hint.
The weather has been better this week, we almost hit 80F for the first time this year yesterday and might make it today. Maybe we are now getting the summer we’ve been waiting for although the forecast is for the rains to come back on Tuesday. I don’t mind the rain so much but would gladly share some it with Texas and the rest of the country that is experiencing draught and very high temperatures. I guess, given the choice, I’d rather have the rains and temperatures in the 70s like we’ve had instead of the the triple digits most of the rest of the country has been experiencing. I was raised in the mid-west and remember those very hot summers on the farm, sure was miserable putting up hay in those hot temperatures. And of course there was always the crops and garden to take care of plus the animals that always needed attention too, didn’t matter if the weather was hot or cold/snowing, we had to take care of them.
We haven’t taken many pictures this week, in fact, none that I’m going to add to this post. So that means, I’m done.
Thanks Chuck
No comments:
Post a Comment