Here we are, on the road: We’re in Blaine, Washington

August 1, 2015 Lorraine’s report

Hello Washington! Yes, we made it thought, even thought it rained on us before we hit the WA border. I want to report that while we did have problems, we managed to get them cleared up and were able to move on. Thank you Lord for that. I was sure we would/could still be stuck some where in WA headed home. But we did make it.

Of course I had to see my sister, Thelma. It was wonderful to see that they are okay, but still have lots of problems ahead of them they. Please pray daily for them, they need all the help they can get.

Yesterday we went to the Arco/BP picnic for Friday night. It was so nice to see and meet come of friends. It was like old home week for us; we enjoyed the heck out of meeting and greeting them all. Thank You for it all!

Thelma’s birthday is August 4th and my birthday is August 6 and we usually celebrate together. It should be fun.

So now I am getting us ready to go to my sister,Thelma’s home for a big get together with the family. I’m sure it will be fun, lots of food, fun times, and lots of visiting.

I am still missing Susy and Kaitlyn, but we will just have to wait until we see them again.

Chuck has a lot to do to fix up the house, but we will endure that also..

That’s it for me. Hope you enjoy the week.

Hugs to all,

Lorraine

8/1/15 Chuck’s report

Before I forget, Lorraine and her sister both have birthdays this week, Thelma on the 4th and Lorraine on the 6th. Happy Birthday to both of you. They are planning on a combined celebration tomorrow at Thelma’s house.

Last Sunday we left the Salem, Oregon area and continued our trip North. Our plan was to stay at the Rochester, Washington Lucky Eagle Casino for the night. As were were driving up, Lorraine called her high school friend and we met Judy and her husband Bruce at the casino buffet. It was nice to get caught up on their lives since we last saw them, they are sure busy folks. Thanks for taking time to drive over and visit with us, we enjoyed it.

Next morning I was out walking Misty and asked one of the maintenance guys if it was ok to wash our rig. He said it was no problem so we made plans to do that. Our experience at this park is it is mostly just for overnighters and it empties out pretty quick in the mornings. But just our luck, our neighbors on both sides decided to stay one more day so there we were, in an empty park except for the three of us.

I didn’t really want to get their rigs wet when I washed ours so we decided to move to a different site to wash the coach. Before we did that, I took all the throw rugs outside to wash them while Lorraine started doing a load of laundry. We’ve stayed there before but I had forgotten they don’t have sewer hookups at each site. Usually that isn’t a problem as our holding tanks are large enough to hold three days worth of water with no problem but with the extra water from doing the laundry we would just drive over to the on-site dump before returning back to our site.

It’s been awhile since we’ve washed the coach, the Elks lodge in Santa Clara doesn’t allow it and we were there for 4 months so the coach was really dirty. I washed the roof first, boy was there lots of chalking from the fiberglass up there, it doesn’t have a clear coat. Of course, all that chalk stuff runs down the sides and it really looks bad. But with Lorraine helping, we washed the side that was in the shade and followed the shade to do the other side. But we were facing South and unless we wanted to wait until dusk, we had to wash the front portion in the full sun. No problem as we use a squeegee to dry the windshield and dry the rest with wash cloths.

It took us just over two hours but it looks pretty good once again. I’ve said it before but the only time I would like to have a smaller rig is when we are washing it and when we are buying fuel. I took a couple aspirin as I figured I would be a bit sore but it wasn’t too bad although I did sleep well that night.

We then drove over to the dump site and emptied our black and grey tanks. We had to leave the park area to turn around and the best place was to drive through their gas station so we filled the tank while we were there so now we were almost ready to travel.

We pulled back into our original site, set up and headed over to the casino for dinner. We just went to the café as the buffet would have been too much two days in a row.

Of course while we were there we had to play the slots. The first day was a good one for Lorraine, she had a couple of machines that treated her pretty nice. I was also able to walk away with some of their money, just not as much as Lorraine had. The second day Lorraine couldn’t find a good machine but she was still up for the trip. I won $2 but better than losing.

Tuesday we were heading out for a short day’s drive, only going to Mt. Vernon, Washington. I had an appointment at the Freightliner shop to have our rig worked on. We have a Spartan chassis and they notified us of a safety recall that we needed to have done. I had it scheduled at a place in California but they went out of business. I had the part with us and I checked with the shop and they had the instructions from Spartan so we should be good to go.

We drove up to 1000 Trails in Bow Hill for the night. This was our first time there so we had to drive around a bit to find a spot that was large enough, level enough and hopefully had enough open area through the trees to get satellite reception. Unfortunately we couldn’t get TV reception, even repositioned the coach three time but no luck, it’s been a long time since we have been unable to connect. No problem however as we have a good collection of movies with us so we would just watch movies for the night. Once again, they don’t have sewer hookups at each site here but having just dumped our tanks, we were good to go.

We unhooked the car and headed out to the shop to see what their procedure for check in would be. They told us where they wanted us to park in the morning and we filled out the paperwork while we were there. They told us they are open 24 hours/day this time of the year and they had a tech assigned to us who has done this recall work before.

We needed to be at the shop by 10:00 and it was about 15 miles away. We left in plenty of time, got there about 9:40 or so and got checked in. The recall papers said it should take about 3 1/2 hours to complete this job but because this place doesn’t work on Spartan chassis often, they told us it might take longer.

We hung around for an hour and the coach hadn’t been moved into the shop yet. I asked why and was told the tech was finishing up a job that was taking longer than expected but he would get to ours as soon as he was finished with the one in the bay. So we headed out to IHOP for breakfast.

Our friends, Joe and Alice, had called to let us know they were driving down to a doctor’s appointment nearby and wanted to know if we would meet them for lunch after their appointment. I told them we would unless they finished up with our repairs and would talk with them later.

We got back and sure enough, the coach was in the repair bay. They told us he just got started and it was now his lunchtime and he would get on it after lunch. I always disliked someone standing/looking over my shoulder when I was working and didn’t want to bother them too much so we left once again and drove over to Camping World. As luck would have it, Joe and Alice were there too, they were early for the doctor and spent some time at Camping World. We had a quick visit and told them we hoped to see them for lunch.

After leaving Camping World, I drove back to the shop to see what progress had happened. The recall is to replace a power steering box and to get it out, they had to basically dismantle the whole power steering system and remove some of the front suspension parts. They assured me nothing they were doing would affect our front end alignment, I was worried about that.

Well, they didn’t even have it apart yet, it was welded in place and they were trying to figure out the “best way” to do the job. I asked what the instructions from Spartan said so they checked and sure enough, there was their answer. Bad sign, not reading the instructions.

By now Alice was finished with her appointment so we agreed to meet them for lunch at one of the local casinos. Joe suggested going to Swinomish Casino to their sports bar. He said they have a great hamburger special as well as a full menu. We got there, met up with them and headed for lunch. I had the hamburger special but Lorraine noticed they had fresh halibut so that’s what she ordered. We had a good meal and a great visit, thanks Joe and Alice.

I called the shop while we were there and they told me things were progressing nicely. I asked if they had a guess on the time they would finish and they told me if we got there by 4:30 or so, they should be finished.

We got there about 4 and checked in at the service desk. Well, they had another problem and escorted me back to the shop to show me what was happening. They had removed all the parts but couldn’t get a bracket to come off a shaft, it was seized. They tried lots of “tricks” but it wouldn’t move. The instructions said to NOT use heat so they were a bit limited but they had it in a 100 ton press when I saw it. The tech activated the press while I was there and the bracket did start to slide off the shaft, yea. They were pleased and suggested we leave again and return back in a couple of hours.

So off we went to another local casino, Angel of the Winds. Lorraine has always liked this place so it wasn’t hard to get her to agree to go there. We checked in and they gave us $10 in free slot play, good deal. Lorraine managed to turn her $10 into a hundred while I only won $7 but once again, we were both up, Lorraine way up, almost made the waiting worth it.

After playing the slots for a couple of hours, we headed back to the shop. We found they had most of it put back together but hadn’t started the welding yet. The foreman told us things were going well (a common phrase from him I found out) but he doesn’t/won’t give finish times. We went to the customer’s lounge and watched TV for awhile, by now it was 8:00. I kept checking in with the foreman and always got the same reply, things are going well. About 10:30 I asked to go back and see what was happening and found the tech was unable to get one nut back on. He said he wasn’t sure if the threads were bad on the nut or on the shaft and he didn’t have a large enough thread tap/die to clean it up.

The foreman said they would probably have to order a new piece, tie rod I think, in the morning and it wouldn’t arrive until Friday at the earliest. Now why couldn’t he have offered that information a few hours earlier so we could have made some decisions? So at 11 pm, we grabbed a few things from the coach and headed out to a hotel for the rest of the (short) night.

Next morning I called to see what was happening and the gal told me the coach was finished, had been test driven and everything was good to go. What a good surprise. But I was worried she might have made a mistake so didn’t really get my hopes up too high. The hotel had a fairly good breakfast so we ate there before going to the shop. Once we got there, I couldn’t find our coach, it wasn’t in the parking lot or in the service bay. I drove around the shop and found it on the backside, plugged in to keep the batteries charge. I checked it over and everything seemed to be back in place and the weld looked good.

We went to the service desk and they said the night tech was able to get the tie rod connected once he found a new nut. Whew, that was good deal, no more waiting. I wasn’t sure what this was going to cost us, they had worked on the coach for about 12 hours and the recall said 3 1/2 hours. When we got the paperwork, they only charged $400 something for labor, it was all covered by Spartan on the recall and all we had to do was sign and leave. I bet they don’t like those kind of jobs but except for not keeping us informed of the problems at all times, they did a good job and we would return to them if/when needed in the future. I don’t know if Spartan will pay for their extra hours or not but I do know they worked on it for a long time.

We hooked up the car and got ready for travel, again a short drive. We are staying at 1000 Trails here in Birch Bay and they have two sections here. The old section has lots of trees and have the utilities set up such that four sites share them. There is one 50 amp hook up at each set up and is taken by the first one who connects to it, the others get 30 amp. The other section is pretty open, no trees and they have it set up with the utilities shared by two people, one in each directions. But this section doesn’t have any 50 amp power, only 30 amp.

We checked in and I walked around to see what site we could get that would allow us to connect to 50 amp and get satellite reception through all the trees. The place is pretty full but I found two sites that might work and returned to get the coach. I unhooked the car and drove over to the first place I wanted to try. As luck would have it, a better site opened while I was gone and we snagged it. We are able to get TV reception, have full hookups with 50 amp power, water and sewer. So we can run both of our air conditioners and do laundry here.

Once we got set up, Lorraine called and we went over to visit with her sister, Thelma and husband, John. John has been going through some serious medical issues but was having a good day he said. We had a good visit but when John appeared to be getting tired, we left. I would like to ask everyone to put John in their prayers and we hope for a good outcome.

Friday I called the guy who had been working on our house and he agreed to meet me at the house. I drove over early but I had him change the locks a couple of weeks ago so I didn’t even have keys to get inside. I did look over the new decks he had built for us and saw he did a good job with them. He also had do a LOT of cleaning up outside, even had his wife and son working in the yard.

Tom got there at 8 and we walked through the house. I was very disappointed to find the contractor working on the fire damage repair had not been to the house in over two weeks. They have finished the major restoration in the bedroom where the fire was but haven’t started replacing the flooring, in fact, they haven’t even removed the old laminate yet. They also have to replace one window and a whole door, frame and all.

Tom has done lots of good work in/around the house but it still needs lots of work to get it ready to put on the market. The house sure doesn’t show any pride of ownership for sure but after being rented for the past 7 years, I guess I didn’t expect it to look like we still lived there.

I plan on making some hookups and moving our motorhome over there so we can get things going. I called the contractor doing the restoration and his boss to let them know I was disappointed in their work. They did do a good job getting rid/covering the smoke smell however. The boss said he would have the project manager meet me at the house on Monday to address my complaints/concerns. We’ll see how it goes, hoping they get going now that we’re here and I don’t have to get a different company.

When I got back to the coach, Lorraine told me she had made an appointment at her hair dresser. The last time she went to a salon she was not satisfied with the outcome so she really wanted to see her normal gal. We made a quick trip to town then I dropped her off. I went over to fill the car with gas then waiting until she was done, much better this time and she was happy too.

We returned to the coach to feed/walk Misty then went to the refinery annual picnic. This is a two day affair but we usually only attend on Friday, seems to be more old-timers/retirees on Friday. When I started working at the refinery back in ‘72 there was less than 200 people working there. Now they have about 1000 I heard, including the marketing department that moved in after I retired. With that many people working there, on Saturday there are so many folks who I don’t know that we are almost lost. Plus Saturday is the busiest day, they have the big BBQ. They cook a whole calf, whole pig, tons of fresh salmon, lots of salads and the like.

Anyway, we did get to see a bunch of the folks I worked with before I retired. The retirees have cooked hamburgers and hot dogs at the Friday picnic for a lot of years and it’s good to see them. Plus lots of other retirees are there too. We had a good time seeing some of our friends and coworkers as always. It’s always sad to hear the names of folks who have passed in the last year, this year being no exception.

All of the folks we talked with told Lorraine they couldn’t even tell she had a stroke a few months ago. She has a homework book but she hasn’t opened it since leaving the Bay area. But daily living is also a good therapy and she didn’t have any problem with the crowd at the picnic yesterday and of course the slots were no problem for her either, ha.

Susy is recovering well too, she is working 1/2 time now. Her work is all on a computer so she is able to do that half time at home this week so she isn’t having to drive during the rush hour traffic down there. Lorraine mentions almost every day how she is missing Susy and Katie.

We did get some bad news about one of my good friends. Glen and Jan’s grand daughter graduated high school last month and was in a car accident yesterday. She was killed in the accident. We are so sorry to hear about that and offer our condolence and prayers to you and your family. May God be with you during this very trying/heartbreaking time. I can’t imagine what you are going through but if we can help in any way, please let us know.

The weather has been very warm this past week. We were in the upper 90s in Oregon and not much less now that we are in Washington. There have been more 90 degree days this year than I can remember, in fact, the TV news said the most since ‘58. Plus they had a comparably warm winter with very little snow. Yesterday the temp was in the upper 80s and it was HOT. The forecast is for a bit lower temps but no sign of rain in the near future.

We have found that almost every time we return to Washington it rains on us as we cross the border. This time we actually got some rain in Oregon the day before we left. It didn’t rain on us as we crossed the border but it did rain on us it at mile marker 12. I guess the rain is sort of a “Welcome Home” to us or something.

Like I said, our travel plans are only to move over to our house after we get hookups there. I don’t know how long we will be in the area but do plan to see old friends and lots of family while here along with working at the house. I don’t think I can do a full days hard work but I sure plan on giving it a shot.

A couple of my friends have offered to help when I need some extra muscle, I’ll take you up on that I’m sure. Plus our friend Tim is going to meet me at the house on Monday to see what he needs to do for hooking up the electrical power for us. Thanks Tim, I’m sure not good on that electrical stuff for sure as you well know.

I’ll check our camera and add some pictures Lorraine has taken lately.

Showing the difference between an irrigated field and one that isn’t.