Here we are, on the road

Update from Blaine, WA

2011-12-31T12:52:00.001-08:00

Saturday, December 31, 2011 Lorraine’s report

Well, here it is, the last day of 2011. We would like to wish all our family and friends a very Happy, Healthy New Year. May God’s Blessing pour down on each and every one of you this year!

Hello once again from Latitude 49 in Birch Bay, WA. It’s not a bad day so far, there’s no rain or snow, and the clouds are stable. It’ 39 degrees outside, with the low’s tonight forecast for 36. Hopefully the sun will burn through this afternoon.

Actually it has been a really dry, cold December so far, with Seattle news saying that this December has been the second driest since they started keeping records years ago. The weather man said we were six inches below normal as of the day before the 24^thof December. The past 2 nights it rained lots, so we aren’t as far behind, with the rivers rising a whole bunch.

Now the temperature has been below normal this whole December, averaging the mid to low 20’s at night, with day time being around 37. If only the sun came out everyday, instead of the gray clouds we’ve had most days. There were a few days when the sun came out, showing off the beautiful white capped mountains around here, but those days don’t happen often enough for me. I miss the nice sunny, blue skies of the southwest in the winter time.

Since last I wrote, Chuck has been working most days 10 hours a day, 6 days a week. His company didn’t know how far behind they were when he first started. He’s put in a lot of hours, trying to catch them up enough to see daylight. One day he was given 37 new projects to handle; way too much for just him. And he’s asked for help, but no one has been hired as of yet. Maybe after the new year starts.

I went to see Susy and Kaitlyn on the day before Thanksgiving, coming back the following Tuesday. We had a wonderful time together, with Kaitlyn not wanting me to leave. She wrote me the most beautiful, heartfelt letter, saying how thankful she was for her Nana. She said I should just live there by her now; we truly have a wonderful time together playing, coloring, just about everything. It tears me up to leave them. Our time together just flies by too quickly. Thanks Susy for a fun time.

We just returned on the 28^th evening, spending Christmas with Susy and Kaitlyn. Chuck was able to go with me in spite of his claustrophobia when he flies. I was able to go on early, save him a seat, and then he would be the last to board the plane. Thankfully the crew was able to let us have the first row of seats on the airplane. I must say Allegiant was pretty cooperative about this, and did their best to accommodate him.

But Allegiant needs to work on boarding people in a more timely manner; they had only one worker checking people in. It took us almost 2 hours to get our boarding passes. It didn’t help that there were three different flights going out of Bellingham about the same time either. But I am grateful that Allegiant flies directly to Oakland, CA, thus by passing the dreaded Seattle traffic and all that mess.

The week before Christmas I made up about 12 pounds of fudge to give to family and friends, and of course, I had to make up Susy’s sugar cookies, and Chuck’s favorite chocolate chip. I packed them in my suitcase in tins and they made the trip okay.

Since our son, Rick is up on the North Slope again building the Ice Road, I didn’t do his peanut butter chocolate balls, or as he calls them, hockey pucks since I’ve learned to make them bigger for him. He went up on the 17^th of December, 10 days later than last year. He’s up there for at least 6-8 weeks before he gets a week off.

Christmas was very low keyed and wonderful! Kaitlyn had written Santa Claus with a list of what she wanted. I thought it was great she asked Santa for stuff for her Mom and for her dog, not just herself.

Her favorite gift was a big wooden Barbie doll house. She was so excited, she said she didn’t even ask Santa Claus for it but it was her favorite gift. Thank you Susy for a wonderful Christmas, good food, fun and family time…loved it, you too Kaitlyn.

Now that Christmas is over, I hope to rest up a bit. Seems to me like there has been lots to take care of; like oil changes, car tires, paper work, etc. hopefully things slow down.

With that I would like to say to Rick/Joy, Rob/Norma and Barb/Dennis, hope you stop by before you head south to Quartzsite and AZ for your fun in the sun. Wish we were going with you, but maybe next year. I know you will have a blast! Be sure to enjoy the oranges at the Orange Grove RV Park for me; they are the best right off the trees!

Until next time….Hugs,

Lorraine

12/31/11 Chuck’s report

First off, I hope everyone had a Very Merry Christmas with family and/or friends. And of course, wish you a Happy New Year too.

Just a quick update from our winter hang out back here in Washington. As we said in our last blog, we are back here because I accepted a job to work (now that’s a four letter word) with a contractor back here. I’ll be working until probably June so we are pretty well settled in here. We’ve taken the coach out one time to “exercise” all the systems, plan on doing that once a month or so. Once again, thanks to Joe and Alice for renting us their extra space here in the park, it’s nice to not have to move every two weeks within our membership parks here.

I’ve been working some longer hours than expected, 5 or 6 days/per week and 10 hour days. What a shock to the system after being on our own schedule for the past few months. But once again, I know it’s only temporary and then we will be back on the road again this summer. As far as the work is going, I’ve been pretty busy trying to get caught up and meet the deadlines the company wants, not much time to goof off.

I got my little work car out of our shop and it’s been running ok except I’ve had trouble starting it a couple of times. I finally got the battery checked out and sure enough, it wasn’t holding a charge very well so we replaced it. Other than that, it’s been a great little car and serve my needs very well.

Lorraine has been busy doing all the things necessary to live here, shopping, cooking, keeping our car going (it needed a set of tires and she got those installed) and taking care of me. She was able to fly down to Susy’s place for Thanksgiving, I found out I could have gone too but I didn’t know what my work schedule would be so I didn’t get a ticket in time. I think they had a good time down there, I know I was ready for Lorraine to come back and she was only gone a week!

Lorraine cooked a couple batches of cookies and fudge for Christmas, like I really needed the calories but they were good just the same. She also put a few Christmas decorations about the coach and a small tree on the steering wheel table. She said it made it feel more like Christmas but she still missed all the decorations she used to put out. We still have them stored in our shop but no place to put them in our much smaller living space.

We haven’t done much visiting with family and friends since we’ve been here, I’m just too tired after getting off of work, getting old I guess. Lorraine is willing to sit with me but I know she would like to be out a bit more. Usually I get home, we eat and watch a movie or whatever then I head to bed and do it all over again the next day.

I was able to take a week off this week and we flew down to spend Christmas with Susy, Kaitlyn and Mark. Boy what a mess at out little airport here in Bellingham. There is a small airline flying out of here and they had three flights leaving the morning we were and only one person at the check-in counter. We waited in the check-in line almost two hours and the line still was strung all the way past the baggage area and out the door. And to make matters worse, there was absolutely no line at the Alaska counter and they kept announcing that if you were on an Alaska Airlines flight and in a long line, you didn’t need to be there and just come up to their counter. But we made it on time and the flight was a direct into Oakland so we didn’t have to change planes in Seattle.

We did have a great time with Susy and Kaitlyn. There was lots of play time with her, boy does she love to play with Nana. We went out for a few meals, had a couple at home too. Christmas was great, especially “seeing” it though the eyes of an excited 6 year old who still believes in Santa. But soon enough we had to head to airport for our trip back here. The check-in went much smoother even though we were in a full service airport, we both had to go through the full body scanner, not sure why but our number must have come up.

We been BUSY since we got back too. Lorraine took down the Christmas decorations, boxed them up and they are ready to go to the shop. She also cleaned the place from top to bottom and found a few more items for the shop too. I had to change out the controller for our select comfort bed, second time our display has gone out. This time they sent us a remote control type VS a wire one, made the installation a bit easier. I also ordered a new entry door handle but haven’t gotten it installed as yet. And just because things come in three, our clothes washer is acting like the pump isn’t working again and I have to check it out. Oh well, we still had a good year, can’t let the small things stop us.

There is a band at the club house here at the park tonight, don’t think we will go however. We will probably just watch the New Year’s Eve ball fall in New York on TV and call it a night. Boy what party animals we are (not).

Like I said, we will here until June or so and my South Dakota driver’s license expires in April, what to do, what to do. We finally decided to just get a license from Washington, seeing as how I’m working here but will get a South Dakota one after we’re done here. So guess that makes South Dakota one of our first stops once we leave here. Other than that, we don’t have any destinations but we have plenty of time to work on that. And the plans we had for this winter, spring and summer may just carry over and we’ll use them next time.

So that’s been our life since we last posted, not too exciting. Not sure when we’ll update again but will send out a note when/if we do. Here are a few pictures to complete the blog.

Susy’s Christmas tree up Thanksgiving at her place.

A handwritten note from Kaitlyn to Nana. The quilt Lorraine knitted for Susy’s Christmas present.

Our place all decorated for Christmas. Notice the sun is shining!

Kaitlyn’s Christmas tree.

Out to dinner before Christmas.

Christmas morning. And the stockings were hung - - That’s a big doll house for a little girl!

A Charlie Brown Christmas tree. Kaitlyn enjoys Christmas morning.

Showing Papa the doll house and accessories. Love the smiles!!!

One happy little girl.

And that’s all folks. Until next time, enjoy life and keep smiling.

We’re in Blaine, Washington

2011-11-06T09:01:00.001-08:00

Sunday, November 6, 2011 Lorraine’s report

Hello again from our old spot in Birch Bay, WA-Latitude 49; yes, we are back in the cold Pacific Northwest for the winter. I never thought we would be spending another winter back here, but here we are. Chuck took a job back here with a main contractor working on the major turn around at his old company-British Petroleum. It looks like we will be in Joe/Alice’s lot until the end of the turnaround in June or so.

They are predicting a very cold, wet La Nina winter, like they had last winter. Our spring was pretty non-existent. I heard a report on KIRO 7 TV saying they had 1 day of sunshine in April, 6 days in May, and 4 days in June; only 11 days out of 91 days-pretty sad for those that live here full time.

I have to say I really enjoyed our time away, and I loved the hot, dry weather of the southwest, Utah and the great parks, all unique; seeing Katie, Joe and the boys in Salt Lake City. Nevada and the new places we went to, the casinos, the buffets, meeting up with Joe/Alice and all the fun we had there with them.

I loved spending time in California with our daughter, Susy and granddaughter, Kaitlyn. We spent 11 days with them, way too short a time for me and Kaitlyn, she didn’t want me to leave. She said Nana should live there all the time now.

We would pick her up after school on school days, bring her back to the rig and have FUN. She is in a growing spurt and I had a hard time filling her up. Her favorite food is Nana’s macaroni and cheese, plus lots of fruits and cheese.

We did lots of art work, she is getting so creative in her drawings, and I love to watch her while she works on her art work, she really gets into it. She loved putting it up on Nana’s refrigerator. And of course all the chatter; she loves to share secrets with Nana. She spent 4 weekend nights with us over the 11 days we were there.

For Halloween, Kaitlyn was a Mermaid Fairy, a costume she thought up herself. Susy found her a mermaid dress and ordered fairy wings with matching crown and scepter. We went over to her old classmate’s home, Grace. Gracie’s parents decorate their home every year in a theme. This year they did Mulan, from the Disney movie. Gracie’s parents sure do get into decorating their home. Kaitlyn has Trick or Treated with Gracie for the past few years in Gracie’s neighborhood. She was really liking Trick or Treating and getting all the goodies.

Earlier in they day on Halloween we went to Kaitlyn’s school for the schools yearly Halloween Parade. All the children dress up and parade around the school yard, with all the parents on the sidelines. It was so hot and sunny that morning, everyone had a great time.

We got to go to her dance class the 2 Saturdays we were there, she was taking Hip Hop and we saw her dance recital. She had fun, but I don’t know how much she actually learned. It was cute and fun for her anyways.

Afterwards, Chuck wanted to hit the San Jose Outdoor Flea market. It was a beautiful hot, sunny afternoon and we all enjoyed our outing. Susy and I found some great fresh fruit and several dresses for Kaitlyn.

I forgot about Kaitlyn’s ear incident. She had her ears pierced in June and somehow, one of the ears swallowed up the back of the earring and she couldn’t turn it. The ear got infected and Susy took her to the doctor for antibiotics. Then 3 days later another doctor, a surgeon, had to pull the earring back out with a needle nose instrument. That doctor didn’t even numb it or anything. It sure was barbaric the way the doctor did that, Kaitlyn didn’t like that one bit. It was all I could do to hold her hand and dry the tears. To help her get over that incident, Susy and I took her to Build a Bear and Panda Soup for lunch.

One day the 3 gals, Susy, Kaitlyn and I went for a manicure/pedicure. Chuck stayed at Susy’s new condo and worked on putting up her TV on the wall above the fireplace. When we got back, Susy helped Chuck lift the TV so he could finish up. We then helped her unpack some boxes and Chuck cleared out the boxes.

One day Chuck had to go to a tire place for tire stems for the car. He had them ordered, but they never called to say they came in.

Next door to the tire place was a Fry’s Electronic store. We checked it out and I found the camera I had been looking at on line in this Fry’s. We ended up buying and I now have a new Nikon P 7000 Coolpix. I must say I am pretty happy with it, it still has a view finder as well as a back screen, and it’s not too heavy to carry in my purse.

The day after Halloween we got word Chuck had gotten his job and we left Santa Clara and started north. That first day the wind was blowing so hard, we ended up in the next lane in our big rig. That is some hard wind and so scary to be blown around like that.

We took 3 days coming back, driving 4 hours most days, then parking the rig and then scrambling after we stopped, taking the car and gathering the things we needed for back here. I was pretty tired each day and I know it was the same for Chuck. So we are off the road for a while.

It was 34 degrees last night-high of 52, about half of what we were 3 weeks ago. We put on the heavy winter weight down blanket, Chuck bought some heated water hose and we are hunkering down for a long, cold wet winter. So that’s it for me.

Until next time…

Lorraine

11/6/11 Chuck’s report

Yes, that’s right, we are back in Washington for awhile yet again. Last time I posted I said there might be something that could change our winter plans and that happened. I accepted a job offer to work for a contractor back at the refinery where I retired from 4+ years ago. I actually start work tomorrow and will find out exactly what my duties will be but I do know they will be using my operation experience. I will be helping with the planning of the work until the actual shutdown and associated work start in Mid-April.

We didn’t post our blog as normal last week, we both were too busy being grandparents and having fun with our grand daughter who stayed overnight with us. We are going to miss our scheduled stay with them over Thanksgiving and Christmas but will see about flying down for a visit.

The reason we were in Santa Clara was to spend quality time with our daughter and grand daughter. We were able to pick Kaitlyn up from school most days and spend the afternoon with her. Plus she spent the night at our rig 4 nights while we were there, she loves to be with her Nana, that’s for sure.

We were there to help her pick out some pumpkins, helped carve them into jack-o-lanterns, go to her school for their Halloween party and go with her when she went out trick or treating. We also spent time with her while she did her art work, school work and watching some kid shows on TV.

Lorraine was able to do some shopping while we were there, a couple of time with Susy, which they really enjoyed. Lorraine found a new camera to replace the one that broke when it accidently got dropped. Susy had to move to a new condo about a month before we got there and I was able to help her finish some move-in projects too.

But as all good things, our time with them had to end. We were able to stay there through Halloween but on Tuesday I got the official call offering me a job opportunity and accepted it. I had been in communications with them but didn’t get the offer until the day we were leaving, not sure if we were going South to continue our scheduled itinerary or change our plans and head North. So when we got the call the decision was made and we were on our way a couple of hours later.

We had a couple of stops we wanted to make on the way up so we knew we wouldn’t be driving straight through but still we did travel on four consecutive days. This may have been a first for us, we rarely drive more that two days in a row without at least staying in one place for two days. The driving parts weren’t too bad, probably averaged 4 –5 hours per day but we did have errands and shopping at each stop, after all, we were in sales tax free Oregon for most of these stops.

We had heavy winds the first day out of the Bay area, the gust were 60 MPH in a couple of places and I had some trouble keeping in our lane when they hit us broadside. We hit a couple of places that were wet but didn’t get any rain until we were in Washington, just what we expected. The sun has been shining since we’ve been here but clear skies mean cool/cold nights, below freezing both nights we’ve been here. This morning I got up and was greeted to a heavy frost and cold temperatures in my early morning walk with Misty. The forecast is for rain starting tomorrow and continuing for the rest of the week, welcome to Western Washington in the winter!!

So here we sit for the next few months. We are in the same lot we rented from our friends, Joe/Alice, who are down South right now. Joe might be offered a position up here too so we still may be able to spend some time with them this winter, ha.

I know we won't live a very exciting life while we are here so I don’t plan on posting a blog very often. I will continue to send out a note when/if we update.

We had made some long range plans for next summer, those of course will not happen. We were going to travel up the Mississippi from New Orleans to the headwaters in Minnesota, stopping to visit family and friends along the way. Sorry, but those visits won’t happen this time but that trip is still in our bucket and something we would like to do, just can’t do it this time as planned.

Also, we were going to meet with some of our Canadian friends down South, that won’t happen either. I’m sure they will have a good time even if we aren’t there with them, keep it touch and let us know what we are missing. And for our friends who will be in Quartzsite, enjoy yourselves and think of us as you are having your 5:00 gathering around the campfire.

I’ve already got my work car out of the shop, had the oil changed and drained/flushed the antifreeze. We picked up a couple of heated water hoses for our water supply so I don’t have to unhook the hose every time the temperature gets below freezing. I have two trouble lights set up and ready to turn on in case of cold temperatures to keep our wet bay from freezing. We have two electric space heaters ready to turn on if needed to keep warm inside too. We both need to get our blood “thickened” to get used to the cooler temperatures too.

So guess we are pretty well set up for our time here and we’ve spent enough winters here to know what to expect. Not that we are necessarily looking forward to it but at least we know what’s coming. Plus we should have some time to spend visiting with friends and family in the area too, that’s always a good thing.

So now guess I’ll add the customary pictures and get this posted. Not sure when we will update next but as I said, I’ll send out a note when we do.

Kaitlyn, Susy, Nana and Papa at the pumpkin patch.

I’ll pick this one. Now see, if you just stay away I can pick it up by myself.

This one would make a good horse. You say I have one too many and have to leave one?

Helping carve and the finished product.

At school with friends.

Boy, can I Hula-Hoop or what.

Now you know the truth behind those motorhome drivers.

After dance class at the fountains.

The gals getting pedicures.

In their costumes at school.

Gracie’s house, that’s a false front made out of cardboard. Gracie and Kaitlyn.

On the road from California to Washington.

Pictures from the park where we are staying.

This will be our “home” for the next 8 months, nice lot with all the services we need.

Thanks Chuck

We’re in Santa Clara, CA

2011-10-23T10:57:00.001-07:00

November 23, 2011 Lorraine’s report

I’m having too much fun being a grandma to write right now, maybe next week.

Thanks Lorraine

10/23/11 Chuck’s report

We are here in California close by where our daughter, grand daughter and son-in-law live. We have found an Elks lodge in the area that has a small RV park where we can stay. We only have 30 amp electric power and water with a sewer dump available but it works for us because it’s close to where they live.

We spend Sunday thru Wednesday at Laughlin with Joe and Alice, going to the casinos, eating at buffets and just chilling out. On Tuesday we drove about 30 miles to the town of Oatman. This used to be a big mining town, now it’s just a small tourist trap type place with it’s biggest draw the “wild” burros that roam the town. Years ago the burros were used in the mines but when the mines were played out, the people moved on but left the burros. Over the years, they have increased in numbers and now come to town every day because the tourist feed them.

The burros are wild only in the sense no one owns them, they are pretty tame as they roam the streets, looking for food handouts from the tourist. The males are rounded up and sold as pets once they are at least a year old because they can be too rough on the tourist. Most of the shops sell bags of carrots and these burros know who has something for them and they really crowd around them.

There is also a shoot out with 4 or 5 cowboys twice a day. Afterwards they pass the hat for donations to the Shiner’s Hospital, a very good cause. It’s pretty hooky but fun none the less. And of course, there are those shops with Tee shirts and stuff. Lorraine was able to find a couple of things she wanted.

There is a free slot tournament every weekday at one of the casinos this month. We tried our luck but didn’t even make the cut off at 6000 points until later on Wednesday. Joe was able to finally break the 6000 point barrier with 6200 but Lorraine got 7412, both winners for sure we hoped. We had to return after the tournament was over to check their standings, sometime after 7pm. We stopped by and found neither one were in the money, Lorraine missed being in 6th place by less than 200 points, close but no winners this time either. Oh well, at least it was free except for the money we lost of the real slots. You don’t think that’s why they have these tournaments in the first place, do you??

Thursday we left Laughlin and headed West. We had a great drive, almost perfect weather, sunny and not too hot. We stopped for the night at Bakersfield Orange Grove RV park, our usual stop when we make this drive. The trees were pretty loaded with oranges but of course they are still very green this time of the year. The oranges ripen in December and folks can pick then when they stay here, we have gotten some good oranges in past years.

Friday we got here to Santa Clara, got checked in and set up in time to head to Kaitlyn’s school to pick her up. She was really excited to see Nana but I think Nana was even more excited to see her. They played games, colored and just had fun the rest of the afternoon. Susy came by after work and they all continued playing together, a good time was had by all, I think.

Kaitlyn spent the night with us, sleeping in our bed between us. She sure squirms around when she sleeps, she kept Lorraine from getting a good night’s sleep, from the squirming, kicking and snuggling.

Next morning Susy came by and we headed off to Kaitlyn’s dance class in Sunnyvale. She has taken Ballet lessons and now is taking Hip Hop dance lessons. Our son in law joined us while we were waiting and we made our plans for the rest of the afternoon. Susy had bought tickets for the Stanford football game later in the afternoon so we knew we would all meet up there. Mark and Kaitlyn took off to eat and go to the game early, they have a place for kids to play with bouncy houses and such.

Susy, Lorraine and I had to come back to our place to walk the dogs, eat a sandwich and get some snacks and water for the game. We took off for the game, lots of traffic but Susy knew where she was going and wasn’t affected too bad. We were surprised when she got a phone call, it was from Mark and he happened to be right behind us in the traffic, they hadn’t gone to the park as early as planned after all.

We got parked and walked over to the stadium to find a place to sit. Our tickets were general admission, allowing us to sit in any seats in three given areas, we chose the area under the overhang so we would have more shade while the sun was still out. I can’t say it was a good game as Stanford won in a blowout, I think the final score was 65 to 21, Stanford had more rushing yard than the Huskies had in total yards. Stanford is still undefeated this season, they haven’t even been behind at any time in their 7 games so far. Guess they really were the better team! But the Huskies still have a chance to have a good enough record this season to make it to a bowl game again this year, here’s hoping for that anyway.

Kaitlyn spent the night at our place again last night, this time I think she was pretty tired and she wasn’t as squirmy and we all slept better. Kaitlyn and I spent some time this morning doing some projects then she and Lorraine have been playing, watching kids shows on TV and such. I think the plan is to meet with Susy for brunch later then shopping for the gals and more football for me.

The weather in Laughlin was really nice, upper 90s in the afternoon, upper 60s at night with plenty of sunshine. The forecast for this area is for upper 70s for a couple of days then cooling off to lower 70s for the rest of the week, pretty nice for us. I often say we are chasing the 70s, both in lifestyle and temperature.

Our plans are to stay here until after Halloween then head down to Santa Barbara for two weeks. There is some thing happening that might change our plans but more on that if/when it happens.

Now to add some pictures, get this posted and get on with our day.

On the road to Oatman.

Yep, that’s the real Route 66 we are on.

One of the salons in town with dollar bills stapled to all the walls.

Joe and Alice on the left, Chuck and Lorraine on the right.

The wild burros or donkeys are the big draw in Oatman.

Be careful when you feed them, they will crowd around you.

A quiet afternoon on the right.

Lorraine and Chuck in front of our coach.

On the way from Nevada to California.

The road seems to go on forever.

Borax stored outside the mill, at 20 Mule Team.

That’s oranges on the tree on the right, at Bakersfield Orange Grove RV park.

Cotton field on the left, covered grapes on the right

Sheep on the left, a lizard on a motorhome on the right.

Kaitlyn right after we picked her up from school. Lorraine, Kaitlyn and Susy on the right.

Susy and Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn at dance class.

At the Stanford/Washington football game.

Kaitlyn rooting for her team, a future cheerleader??

A jet contrail at dusk on the right, once again pictures doesn’t do it justice.

Kaitlyn and Nana at the game.

And now to get this posted.

Thanks Chuck

We’re still in Laughlin, NV

2011-10-15T21:16:00.001-07:00

Sunday, October 16, 2011 Lorraine’s report

Well, we are still at the Riverside RV Resort/Casino/RV Park in Laughlin, Nevada.

The days here have just been flying by, and I can’t say we have been doing that much.

The weather is again hot, into the high 90’s to low 100’s, sunny, blue skies with wispy white clouds. Every now and then the wind blows, sometimes hard enough to shake the coach, to just enough of a breeze to cool the hot desert air. The temperatures at night are about 66-69 degrees. Our time here has been wonderful!

Last Sunday we took a drive to Lake Meade and Davis Dam, just your Sunday type of drive. It was so beautiful out we needed to get out of the house. We walked the River Walk along the Colorado River and enjoyed the warm weather.

I felt like we accomplished a lot on Monday. I had wanted to go through my closet and purge, clean and reorganize it. I spent the morning doing just that as well as the laundry and I also cleaned out the storage space under our bed. Chuck had the coach washed and waxed as well as the car. The guys did a great job and the coach looks good, as does my closet.

Finishing up, we then went to find a casino to watch the Monday Night Football game. The first one was too crowded and we couldn’t find a place to sit, and no one was around to help us, so we left.

We then headed over to another place, the Tropicana. We went to sign up for our players cards, and then got an entry for the drawings they have every time a team makes a point. You have 2 minutes to get to the announcer in the lounge to claim your prize, its various amount of $$, depending on the points made, and they draw for the end of each quarter. You can earn extra entries for playing on the machines. So we played a bit, and learned we had earned enough for the buffet so that it was free; and the buffet turned out to be very good.

Joe and Alice, our friends from Bellingham were coming into this park on Tuesday, so we were off early to get our chores done. They called just before we finished them and we stopped on our way home to make plans.

Since then we have been busy doing things everyday with them. We have gone to the casinos, to slot tournaments and of course we have eaten with them. I think we have all enjoyed each others company. Saturday the guys went to a gun show while the gals went shopping. The time flies by quickly when we are together.

Guess that’s it for me, I’m enjoying our time here in Laughlin with our friends and am looking forward to heading to the bay area to see our daughter, Susy and granddaughter, Kaitlyn for Halloween.

Until next time…

Lorraine

10/16/11 Chuck’s report

We’ve had a much quieter week, slowing down and catching our breath. The pace at Laughlin is much slower and we don’t feel the need to see/do something everyday like we did in Vegas.

The casinos are along the Colorado river on the NV. state side and the town of Bullhead City, AZ. across the river. Bullhead City has more folks living there but lots drive over and work on the NV. side. We are around 500’ elevation here so we aren’t having any problems with the air except when it gets too hot.

Sunday we walked the boardwalk along the Colorado River but it was too hot to really enjoy ourselves. Later we drove up to Davis Dam, just a few miles upstream from here. Lake Mead is formed behind the dam, a large lake with lots of recreational opportunities, from boating to fishing. We just drove around the marina and checked things out, didn’t rent any boats or anything.

There is a boat service that runs to Lake Havasu everyday from here in Laughlin, goes to London Bridge and back. It’s a 6 hour trip with a couple of hours layover at the bridge and all it’s tourist shops. Don’t think we will be taking a 6 hour boat ride from here either but it is an option if we get really bored.

We have gone to a couple of the casinos here in town, watched Monday night football at one of them. We have only gone to the casinos here three or four times in the first week for a few hours each time. Both Lorraine and I play the penny slots so can’t say we’ve win or lose a lot but I am still playing with their money. Lorraine is about ready to start a big winning streak, last place we were she came away a winner.

Our friends, Joe/Alice, got here Tuesday. They couldn’t get in the same area of the campground as us but we’ve still been able to spend lots of time with them. We’ve gone to a couple of casinos with them, played at two free slot tournaments (none of us won anything) and had a couple of buffets too.

Saturday Joe and I went to a gun show while Lorraine and Alice went shopping at the mall. Joe and I returned to watch a football game before the gals got back then we all watched the Washington Huskies beat Colorado. We then went to a restaurant across the river in Bullhead City for dinner.

After dinner, Joe and Alice went to their rig to watch the baseball playoff game while Lorraine and I watched the Stanford football team beat Washington State. Next week Washington plays at Stanford, should be a good game if todays’ games were any indications. We will be there a couple of days later and are thinking of changing our plans a bit, leave here two days earlier and possibly go to the game.

This morning we are going to a breakfast buffet using our free tickets we got for staying here at this campground. I don’t know what we will be doing afterwards but I’m sure the gals we have something for us. (Can you say CASINO?)

The weather has been about 10F warmer than normal, it’s been in the high 90s and even into triple digits twice. It only cools off to the high 60s at night but it’s nice to sit out in the mornings before it gets too hot. The temperature is too hot to be outside too long during the afternoon but everywhere you go is air conditioned. I’ve talked to a couple of folks who just got in and they were in freezing weather in Yellowstone and had some snow in Utah. All in all, I’ll take this hot weather over that. Lorraine said it was down to 33F in Bellingham on Friday night, glad we missed that too.

Like I said earlier, our plans are to head to the Bay area after here, we just have to make up our minds when we leave. We will be staying there until early November when we will head down to coast to Santa Barbara to a 1000 Trails place. We haven’t been down there in a long time, looking forward to exploring the area once again. I was stationed near there at Oxnard for about 6 months back in 1969, before I was transferred to Washington so I used to know the area a little bit. I bet it has changed some in the past 40 years!

We didn’t take too many pictures this week but I’ll go through what we have and post a few.

One of the casinos at Laughlin and the Colorado River directly behind.

Ducks on the bank and fish in the river.

Pictures outside our front windshield of Laughlin at night.

Some Koi in a pool at one of the Casinos.

Davis Dam and Lake Mead.

Some of the Houseboats at the marina.

The marina on Lake Mead.

And that enough of that, I think. I’ll get this posted and then we will be going out for breakfast soon.

Thanks Chuck

We’re in Laughlin, NV.

2011-10-09T08:20:00.001-07:00

Sunday, October 9, 2011 Lorraine’s report

Hello from Laughlin, Nevada, the Riverside RV Park. We left Las Vegas Saturday and headed southwest to Laughlin on the Colorado River just across from Bullhead City, AZ. It was an uneventful trip down, about a couple of hours, from Vegas. But the pace here is so much quieter, you just want to slow down and take it easy. It is a whole world of difference than Vegas.

Chuck decided not to take that gun class in Pahrump, it was going to cost a bit more than we wanted to spend right now. The guy running the class said the gun the guys from “D” shift gave him when he retired was not the right type of gun to use for his class. That meant besides the stuff he needed to buy for the class, like 600 rounds of ammunition, he would have to get a different type of gun. A lot more expense than he wanted right now, so he decided not to go to the class in Pahrump; and we came to Laughlin instead.

Well, I need to say that the hot weather headed south this past week. We had big thunder/lightening and rain storms on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. When it rained, it just poured, the weather man said on Monday afternoon it dumped over an inch and a half in under 30 minutes. All the roads and underpasses were flooded, and cars became stuck in the deep water. The temperatures were in the high 60’s to low 70’s with the lows down to the high 40’s. Chuck had to turn on the heater each night for me. It sure was big change from the 105 degrees we had been having.

The rain didn’t keep us from doing our thing this past week. Sunday we did our blog and I went to the pool afterwards.

We went through two time share presentations on two different days to get free show tickets to the Vegas Show on Tuesday evening and toured the Polo Club for free $$, slot play and food. Ken the repairman finished the microwave installation. We had normal errands to run, laundry, just your everyday living stuff.

Tuesday found us going into the Strip for the free show, the story of Vegas. It was a great show, they had singing, dancing, your show girls with all their feathers, just your all around Vegas variety show. It was well worth our time spent at that time share presentation. I wanted to take pictures, but at the beginning, the announcer said no pictures allowed or they would throw you out. He was joking, but they didn’t let you take any pictures. We had a great buffet dinner before the show that was also included.

Wednesdays at the Boulder Station Casino is senior’s day. All buffets are half price all day and they have a free slot tournament. We went over and entered the slot tournament. Chuck did well, me not so good.

The next day I went into the Wal-mart 3 blocks away and had my hair done. The gal did a bang up job, and I would definitely go to her again. I also had my flu shot that day, I hate to get a flu shot, even though they say it won’t give you the flu, I still don’t feel well for a few days after I get one; and I haven’t felt that great since I got it, but my doc says I need it-I can’t win.

Chuck stayed home and did some chores and bathed Misty. He was taking her for a walk to dry off when he turned the corner to the next street when he saw Alice of Joe and Alice from Birch Bay. We rented their extra lot this past year while Chuck worked at BP. Anyhow Alice squealed and Joe came out. They had forgotten that we were still going to be here in Vegas and were surprised to find that we were still here and just around the corner from them, and in the same park.

I was happy and surprised to see them when I got home, also. We took off with them to check how Chuck did in the slot tournament. It turned out that Chuck came in 24^th place for some free $$. From there we went with Joe and Alice to see the new casino, the Cosmopolitan, where we headed to on Sunday, but never made it. Well it turns out that Chuck was again lucky and won a small jackpot, I went down and Joe/Alice also left some seed money. We came back to Boulder Station for dinner, having Mexican food that was very good.

On the way down town, we ran into that Wall Street Protest that has been going on all over the country. They had one in Vegas on Thursday and we hit it just as they started marching in front of the Bellagio Casino, where we were going to park. What a coincidence; it stopped us for about a half hour there, with no one moving in their cars.

Friday morning found us all Joe/Alice, Chuck/I headed down town again. This time Joe and Alice signed up for a time share tour, and were planning on going to see Jersey Boys Show on Saturday evening. Alice was excited to be going. I loved it-great show.

We all went into the Casino Royale to use all the free $$ that was given us by the time share people. What a big rip off! They had only 20-30 slot machines you could use, and you had to win the jackpot to get any $$ out of one of them if you did win. Live and Learn.

By the time we were all done, we were hungry, so we used the buy one get one free buffet tickets. It was a nice buffet, and we all decided that it was best to eat buffet early in the day. We didn’t eat again that day.

It was Joe/Alice’s turn to decide what to do next and Joe wanted to go play at Caesar’ Casino. We headed over there, but went into the mall and walked most of the mall before we found the casino. I think we all left a bit of $ there, but had a nice time. We went back home to let Misty out and rest up before we headed out again, we were all tired

Friday evening we decided to go to Sunset Casino where Joe/Alice wanted to play cards. They had never been to that casino and enjoyed it being so open and so smoke free.

Saturday we packed the rig; Joe/Alice came by to say see you on Tuesday. They are going to be coming to the same RV Park here in Laughlin that day. Sure is a small world.

I forgot to say that on the 3rd of October was the start of our 5th year “On The Road”. Happy Anniversary to us! It sure flies by fast when you’re having fun!

Until next time…

Lorraine

10/9/11 Chuck’s report

We have been on the road as full time RVers now for four full years, as of a couple of days ago. We have driven the motor home about 51,000 miles, towed the car most of those miles and driven the car another almost 69,000 miles. We been to all but four states West of the Mississippi and a bunch East of the river. I think we’ve stayed at least one night in at least 30 different states during that time.

We been able to spend some quality time with our grand daughter, probably more than we could/would have if we weren’t living this lifestyle. We have spent about 6 weeks a year each fall in California with our daughter, she’s come to visit us in Minnesota and of course back in Washington. She and Kaitlyn rode with us in the coach to Los Angles to go to Disneyland and we’ve met them in Reno once too. We drove to Alaska to see our son, also saw him in California and happened to be in Florida the same time he was and had a good visit there too. Lorraine has flown back to California three times to be there for Kaitlyn’s birthday.

We have spent a week out of the coach, Lorraine won a cruise and we left the coach at a campground while we were on the boat. We’ve had some repairs/painting on the coach and had to spend one night in a hotel three different times. We left the coach in Alaska for 5 days when we flew back to Bellingham to attend the wedding of our friends Richard and Sandy. Other than that, we’ve been in our own bed every night, just the locations have changed.

And Lorraine and I have grown even more close, we weren’t sure about being together 24/7 but it works for us!! We’ve managed to adapt very well, learned a lot, seen lots, explored lots and just enjoyed life to the fullest. I know Lorraine misses some of the “stuff” we got rid of and I miss our shop but we’ve managed very well, I think. We decided to try it for 3 – 5 years and both of us now say we will continue for probably another 10 years, God willing and our health and money holds out. Yes, even this lifestyle isn’t free and it’s getting more expensive with the price of fuel and campgrounds going up.

We’ve met some great people who have become great friends and we manage to see or meet up with them in different places. We’ve found that most people we met on the road are very nice folks, be they in a campground or someone we meet working wherever we go. We’ve managed to change our preconceived ideas of different parts of America although we both say we spent way too much time in Liberal Washington, ha. We still manage to get back there at least once a year for doctor visits and to see family and friends. But now we come and go when we want or when the weather says it’s time to go, ha.

I think I’ve worn shorts and sandals more since we’ve been on the road than I have since I was a kid back in Missouri on the farm. We didn’t know anything about motorhomes before we started, can’t say we’re experts now but we sure know a lot more that when we started, that’s for sure.

We’ve gone through three GPSs, thanks to Costco, we were able to return the bad ones and buy newer, cheaper ones. We’ve never been lost but a couple of times we had no idea of where we were or how to get to where we wanted to go. We both say the interstate roads needs some serious work and the bridge approaches are horrible in a lot of places. We’ve found some states have very good secondary roads, others need to spend some money on theirs.

So all in all, we’ve had a very good four years on the road and here’s to a possible 10 more. Wish us well!!

Ok, we spent the past week in Las Vegas, doing the Las Vegas thing. Some of what happened in Vegas will stay in Vegas, however.

I think I mentioned that our microwave decided to quit working. I called a repair guy to check it out for us and the repairs would have been more than it would cost to replace it, or so we thought. So we checked prices at Sears, Best Buy and online, they ranged between $500 – $800, wow. The repair guy suggested we check out a local furniture/appliance store and we found a Frigidaire that was the same size and had more power. This was new, in the box and on sale for $299 so we bought it, took out the old one, changed out the mounting bracket and hung the new one in its place. I had the repair guy cut back the wood trim as I don’t have my woodworking tools with us. All in all, it turned out ok and it works fine, Lorraine cooked a nice steak, halibut dinner one night just to check it out and that turned out very nice too. The road from Vegas to here wasn’t too rough but it seems to ride ok, hope I don’t need to add more support later.

So within the past three months I’ve had to repair the dishwasher and clothes washer and we changed out the microwave. Maybe these appliances are just hitting the end of their lifespan, I don’t know. But its pretty much like living in a sticks/brick home, things happen and we react/fix them. They say driving a coach is like your home being in a large earthquake everyday, things get shook around pretty good so that’s probably the biggest reason for these things going bad than just time and usage.

Now that we are retired, Lorraine and I have gone to time share presentations for free show tickets and such. There are lots of those in Vegas and we signed up for a couple. We have become pretty good at telling them early and often that we don’t plan on buying and so far we’ve been successful.

This trip we ended up with tickets to “The Jersey Boys”, a show about Frankie Valli’s career one night and tickets to “The Las Vegas Review”, a history of Las Vegas, on another night. Plus we got some free slot play, some actual money, free drinks and free buffets. If you have time and are able to say “No” many times, maybe the time share thing is for you too, ha.

The Jersey Boys was pretty good, lots of action, quite a presentation, almost like something on Broadway. The Las Vegas Review was more “off Broadway” in my estimation. They had 20 or so people in the production, changed sets often but it wasn’t as “nice” as the Jersey Boys. Even though we had free tickets, we still ended up with very good seat locations, both shows we were only 6 or 7 rows back and just off center section. The only bad thing for me was when the shows ended and the crowd started for the exits, I got a bit claustrophobic and had to find a different way out. So for the second show, I just left early and waited for Lorraine outside the lobby, worked much better.

On Thursday, Lorraine was at the hairdresser and I gave our dog, Misty, a bath. After drying her, I took her for another walk in the campground. Was I surprised to see Alice a few spots away from us. Joe was still hooking up and very soon we were greeting each other. They had been in Utah and decided to head to Las Vegas and thought we were already in Pahrump and were just as surprised to see us as we were to see them.

We spent most of the next two days with them, going downtown, eating at a buffet, hitting a couple casinos and exploring the area. It’s always fun to be with friends and these are some of our best ones. We seem to enjoy lots of the same things and we know if one couple wants to do something the other doesn’t, that’s no problem and no feelings get hurt.

We had some free slot play from one of the time share presentations and asked Joe/Alice if they wanted to go with us. We managed to get more free slot play for them too, Lorraine and I both had $150 each, Joe and Alice had $50 each. Oh boy, we were on our way to great riches, or so we thought. The slot play was only on a few select machines and you had to win a top prize jackpot in order to keep anything. Any smaller prizes had to be played off, you couldn’t take out any money except for the jackpot. Well, as you might expect, none of us hit a jackpot and we walked away wiser but not richer. So if you go on one of the time share presentations and they award you free slot play, be very suspicious or you may end up at the same place we did. But we still had fun, got two margaritas for $1 too.

Lorraine and I played in a free slot tournament the other day and I came in 24th, won $25, yea. And for the first time ever, I am leaving Las Vegas with more slot money than I started with, big YEA. So I guess you can say they paid me to have fun and enjoy our time there. We have found we like the slower pace at Reno or Laughlin so we purposely don’t add Las Vegas to our itinerary every year, I think we were last here three years ago. Plus there is more to see/do in this great country and we need/want to do other things.

We had been planning on going to Pahrump for this week, I was scheduled to take a handgun training class for four days. There were a couple of issues with taking this class at this time, I just wasn’t ready with this short notice. So, we cancelled for this week and told them we would re-schedule at a later time, maybe next year or even later. They were ok with this and I will be more prepared and know what to expect then too.

So with the training cancelled, we decided we didn’t need to go to Pahrump this trip. We were there last year with Dennis/Barb before they headed to Las Vegas and had a great time but didn’t need to return at this time. So, once again we changed our plans, just like we do all the time. So instead of Pahrump, here we are in Laughlin instead.

The weather has been HOT, high 90s and into triple digits, in Utah and here in Nevada but it started to cool off this week. One afternoon we had a downpour for about an hour. Lorraine heard on the radio that we had over 1 1/2” in a half hour. We were out and about and have some pictures of the flooding that followed, amazing stuff. The highs now are in the 80s, much better for sitting around outside.

We probably will stay here for two weeks, we like this area a lot. Then we will turn and head West, heading to the Bay area to see our daughter and grand daughter, Halloween is coming up soon you know. And Joe and Alice are scheduled to meet us here on Tuesday so we will be able to spend more time with our friends here too.

Ok, and now for some pictures.

Bellagio water fountain show during the day.

Inside one of the casinos.

More Vegas pictures.

Notice the two buildings on the right, yes they are built that way.

Some of the flash flooding in town and on the highway.

The “Wall Street” protest in Vegas. What a bunch of characters were here.

Inside the newest casino on the strip, the Cosmopolitan.

Joe and Alice on the left, Lorraine and Chuck on the right.

Bellagio water fountain show during the evening.

Dick Butkus signing autographs.

Om the road from Las Vegas to Laughlin.

That’s Laughlin in the distance.

Ok, enough of those pictures, let’s get this posted.

Thanks Chuck

Still in Las Vegas, NV

2011-10-02T08:31:00.001-07:00

Sunday, October 02, 2011 Lorraine’s report

We are still in Las Vegas, and still enjoying the hot weather, it has been in the triple digits here this past week, 100 to 105 degrees, with the lows down to 67 to 73 or so, not bad for this time of year, especially when you consider the weather this time of the year back in Bellingham.

So this past week has been a bit slower than when we were playing the tourist role while touring Utah. It was nice to slow down, gave us a chance to rest, swim, shop, take care of business, that type of thing.

Last Sunday found us hanging around the rig waiting for the guy in the spot we were moving to leave; he didn’t leave until after 1:30. We wanted 50 amp instead of 30.

We spent the rest of the day setting up, just hanging around, and of course Chuck watched football all afternoon.

Monday found Chuck calling around to find a repairman for the microwave. Ken came and confirmed that the microwave was indeed broken, and would cost more to fix it than to replace it. So off we went looking for a new one. We checked Sears, and they had only one model that would fit the bill. Ken said it was too much for the model, so he took us to another place, RC Willeys. We found one there, the same model as Sears, only over $250 cheaper in price. We bought it, brought it home and Ken, Chuck and the helper put it back in the rig. I can’t believe I wore out the original microwave and had to get a new one. Ken is coming tomorrow to finish the wood work around the microwave.

After that, we headed over to Sunset Casino for the football party being held in the ballroom of that casino. They were having food and beer specials while you watched the game on all those huge TVs. It was fun.

Chuck was busy on the phone the next morning making more reservations, so I took off to the pool. When we were done we headed over to Fremont Street to explore that area. There were a lot of people doing the same thing we were doing. Of course the light show was worth seeing. I think the theme was musical decades, we saw the 60s and 70s before we had to leave. We enjoyed a T-Bone Steak buffet at Main Street Casino. We had an enjoyable day.

While I was in the pool Sunday, one couple from Minnesota had said we should go to the Boulder Station Casino for the breakfast buffet on Wednesdays; that it was only $4.99. We decided to do this so off we went. We were surprised at the very long lines for the buffet. I discovered I could get in the handicapped line, since we have the handicapped license plate, so we waited in that line. We got into the buffet just in time to get one of the last omelets before they closed the omelet bar. We didn’t eat again until the next day.

From there we came back to the rig for Misty, then headed over to Ethel Ms Chocolate Factory and cactus garden. There wasn’t much to the chocolate part, but the cactus garden was pretty nice, with so many different kinds of cacti, I was amazed at the various kinds.

We then headed over to Caesars Palace to look for one of those tours that gives you free tickets to go see one of their properties. We found one and signed up for the next day.

We scored tickets to go to see the Jersey Boys show. Two years ago when we tried to get tickets to this show they were really pricey, and we felt we couldn’t afford to go get them, so we didn’t.

Returning to the rig, we found the guard shack where you come through the gate had received the mail Chuck had ordered on Monday. That meant the evening was spent opening and going through the mail. It’s really nice to have to deal with bills only once a month, and then not worry about them for another month, one of the benefits of getting mail only once a month, instead of daily.

The following morning I paid the bills that needed to be paid, and then we headed off on the tour. We were going to Wyndham Resorts to see their property. The tour was nice, the rooms they rent out were beautiful, but we said no to buying, this just didn’t fit our needs. It was time to get our promised package, the tickets to the Jersey Boys Show.

This time the tickets were within reach so we got two ticket vouchers, which we had to take to the theater to get the tickets. We headed off to the Palazzo Casino to get the tickets. It turned out we could get great seats for Saturday’s show, so we got them for Saturday’s 6:30 show.

We tried our luck at the Palazzo, but no luck so we headed home, home never closes.

Friday I had to work on my retirement package from when I worked for the Bellingham School District and WWU. I was getting a small pension from them, but it required a bit of running around. Chuck helped me fill out the required forms, then we headed out to find a notary to watch us sign the forms and other errands

We went to look for the supplies Chuck will need for the gun class he is taking, found a gun store and got the information he needed.

It took 3 tries to find a notary, the bank and credit union wouldn’t do it, you needed to be a member, but we found that the notary at the UPS Store would do it for a fee, and you could mail it there, too.

Upon completing those errands, I asked Chuck to take me to the Outlet Mall down from the Strip so I could start my Christmas shopping. He took me there and I was able to find a couple of things for Christmas. We spent a quiet evening home.

We spent a quiet morning home, I cooked an early dinner of Steak and Halibut for us, then we left to see the Jersey Boys Show at the Palazzo. What a show!!! It was sold out and by the time the show ended, everyone was on their feet clapping and singing along with the boys. We had great seats, Row G, seats 11 and 12 right on the isle for Chuck; this was 7 rows away from the stage, right side, and it cost us only $5 and 2½ hours of our time on the tour.

The only disappointing thing was the people next to me were late coming in and the guy on my right was HUGE. He was very tall and very heavy, and took up his seat and hung over mine.

So that was our week. I would like to wish our niece, Kerri a Happy 45^th Birthday on the 6^th as well as Patsy, a very Happy Birthday that same day, too.

Until next time…

Lorraine

10/2/11 Chuck’s Report

Ok, one week down and one more to go here in HOT, sunny Las Vegas. We mostly stay in air conditioned areas here, except for in the early morning when it’s really nice.

Last Sunday we moved to the spot we now are in, only problem with this one is it faces the South so the sun really heats up the front area in the afternoon. Closing the blinds help but both air conditioners are working hard most of the day.

Monday I contact an appliance repair place, turns out it was a “broker” and they call a local guy, didn’t know they worked like that. Anyway, the guy we got called and came right over to check out our microwave. Of course, it turns out the repairs would be too expensive compared to purchasing a new one so we took off to see what we finds.

We checked on line before we left and found the price range for Microwave/Convection ovens in the $500 – $800 range, wow are they proud of them. Our first stop was at Sears, not much selection and the prices about the same as on line and we would have to order and wait at least one day.

The repair guy suggested a local place, RC Willey’s so we put it in the GPS and took off to find it. Turns out to be a large furniture/appliance store with lots of stuff. We find the appliance area and talk with a salesman, seems they only have three styles of microwave/convection ovens but one of them is on sale and they happen to have it in stock, new and in the box. So we are now the owner of a Frigidaire microwave VS. Sharp plus it has more power.

The size is the same but of course we had to change out the mounting plate, not too bad. At first I thought the vent wouldn’t work but once it place it works fine, yea. I had to have the wood trim pieces trimmed as this one is just a bit taller but once I get that piece back and installed I think we will be happy with it. Lorraine has already cooked a full meal in it and it worked just fine and the meal was good too.

We have been pretty good about not living in the casinos but we did go down to watch Monday Night Football. I’m a Dallas fan and used to really like the old Washington/Dallas rivalry games and this one was another good one. Dallas won a game maybe they shouldn’t have but it was a win.

Lorraine has been going to the swimming pool here most mornings. I’m not much on swimming so I stayed around the coach taking care of a few things. We had one of our shades that had a broken spring that I repaired and stuff like that.

Tuesday afternoon we decided to visit Fremont Street or Old Las Vegas. This is the area where the first casino boom in Las Vegas was located, way before “The Strip”. Like most towns with and old downtown, this area didn’t keep up with the glitz and glimmer of the new section. So they decided to fix up this area to get us visitors to come back. They’ve blocked off the main street for two blocks, pedestrians only, and put a canopy over the whole area. This canopy has millions of computer controlled lights and they put on a show every hour after dark.

The show we saw was a medley of songs from the 70s with coordinated light show. This brings most of the folks out of the casinos so they don’t last too long but while it’s going on it is pretty crowed under the canopy, for sure. Lorraine took some pictures, I’ll see if they turn out and maybe add a few here.

Wednesday morning we drove a few miles to visit the Ethel M. Chocolate factory near us. They have a large botanical garden, mostly with different types of cactus (cacti ?) from around the world. It takes about 20 – 30 minutes to walk through this and we were both ready to head inside the air conditioned area after that.

The factory tour is self-guided, takes about 10 minutes, not much too it but they do give you a free sample at the end. And of course, you end the tour at their store. We were good, only bought a couple of candy bars. They did have some M&M dispensers that would go with Roy’s collection but I didn’t get one as I don’t have to bribe him (that’s for the guy’s at work, they know what I mean).

Later we decided to go to one of the bigger casino on the strip and try our luck. We decided to give Caesar's a try and while we were in there we were approached to see if we wanted tickets to a free Las Vegas show. Well, Lorraine has been talking about wanting to see Jersey Boys so we discussed it with them. All we had to do was go on a time share presentation and we would get two free tickets. Lorraine bargained with them and we ended up with free slot play, two by one/ get one free dinners, tickets to two “less popular” shows and other stuff. Our time share presentation was the next day and we were to get our tickets after the tour.

We ordered our mail to be sent here, it’s been over a month already. So Thursday morning we spent some time going through the stuff, had a couple of bills from the doctor and other stuff that needed attention. It’s amazing just how little of the mail we get that we really need and we have cancelled all the mail stuff that we could and do most of our correspondence via the computer.

After going through the mail we headed downtown once again, this time for our time share presentation. This one (Wyndham) was 2 1/2 hours long, not very high pressure and most importantly, we didn’t buy at this time. Of course, if you don’t buy then, you can’t buy for at least 6 months and the price will be higher then, ha. But we did get our tickets and other stuff so it was worth while to us.

We then went to the casino to turn in our vouchers get our actual tickets and seat assignments for the Jersey Boys Show. We decided to get them for the first show on Saturday evening, 6:30. We were able to get very good seats, on the left sides, 7 rows back and on the isle. At least, the seats looked good on their seating arrangement pictures, we’ll see.

Friday morning we spent working on stuff around the coach. Lorraine was on the phone and filled out some 401K/retirement papers that needed a Notary to witness and sign them. So off we went to find a Notary person, can’t be too hard, there’s one in every bank and/or credit union that I’ve been too. So we try a bank, NO, you have to be a member. So we find a a credit union, they are more friendly but once again, without being a member, no joy there either. Finally we find a Fed X place and they can do it, only $5 per stamp and we needed two stamps, boy what a racket. But we got it done and sent off, another item completed.

I wanted to stop by a local gun shop to get prices for what I need for my upcoming gun class. This was a nice place and the folks were nice, gave us all the information we needed. We’re still not sure what we’ll do for the stuff for the class but at least we have more information to help make our minds up.

Lorraine wanted to shop at the Outlet Mall so that was our next stop. We got a bit of a walk and she found a couple of items she needed too.

Yesterday we had another quite day at home, didn’t have much to do so we watched a movie and part of a football game. Lorraine had our clothes ready so I just changed and we headed out to see our show. We got there in time to hit the slots for while before they started seating folks. Once they opened the doors, we got to our seat and yes, they were as good as we had hoped, very close to the stage and not directly in front of the huge speakers.

The show is about the rise of Frankie Valli and 4 Seasons, four guys from New Jersey and the trials and tribulations they went through. Of course, all of this was done as a musical show with lots of singing, dancing, costumes changes and props. I think there was 20 people in the production, some playing different parts. I have to admit, I didn’t think I would like it but I did enjoy it, very well done and the two hours passed by quickly.

After the show, the crowd got to me, there must have been 5 – 6000 folks exiting the theater and I don’t do well in crowds. So I found an “unused” exit and went out that way. Once I got out to the casino, it took a few minutes for Lorraine and me to find each other and then we waited for the valet to bring our car around. After fighting the crowd, we didn’t spend anymore time on the strip than we had too, way too many folks and the traffic wasn’t fun either.

As I said earlier, we are here in HOT, sunny Vegas. It’s been getting to 100F most days, down in the 70s at night. We did have one storm pass through on Thursday night, we got lots of lightening and some rain. The forecast is for a cooling trend, they say the high on Wednesday may only be in the 70s, we’ll see.

We are going to stay here until Saturday, we have a couple of things we still want to do. Then we will head out to Pahrump for a week. We went there last year with our friends Dennis/Barb. After that, we are planning on going to Laughlin for awhile. After Laughlin we will head back to the Bay area to see our daughter and grand daughter so all the above stops depend on how long Lorraine can wait before we head to the Bay area. Kaitlyn, Nana’s on the way, see you in three weeks.

And now to add some pictures, not as many to pick through this week.

Old Las Vegas on Fremont Street. The following are of the canopy light show, it’s about two blocks long and 30 feet wide.

Hey Manny, they have nice eyes!!

Ethel M. Chocolates botanical garden, lots of cactus.

Driving down the strip.

Ok, I’ll post this now and get back to living.

Thanks Chuck

We’re in Las Vegas, NV

2011-09-25T12:59:00.001-07:00

Sunday, September 25, 2011 Lorraine’s report

Just think, in three months it will be Christmas Day, time has sure been flying by quickly. Hello from sunny, hot Las Vegas, NV, 1000 Trails. When we got in yesterday the thermometer on the coach said 100 degrees. We have gone from the high mountain temperatures of the mid 80’s during the day, lows at night in the 40’s to high 90’s with the low of 67 degrees here in Las Vegas last night. And I love being in the lower altitude, it was hard to breathe up higher; I guess your body just has to adjust slowly over time, more time than we gave it. Sure glad we had the oxygen.

So this week has been more of the same, chores, packing up, moving and sightseeing. We left Jacob Lake on the north rim of the Grand Canyon last Sunday and moved to Bryce Canyon RV Park about a 3 hour drive. Thanks again Brad and Dolly for driving so far to meet us and spend time with us.

Chuck set up and washed the bugs while I did the inside. We rested a short time so he could cool off and we headed out to drive on Route 12, reported to be one of the most scenic routes in the USA. We were not disappointed. Every area of that drive was each unique in its own way, the vistas breathtaking and the colors unreal.

The road took us up through the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument with its petrified forest close by, the Dixie National Forest and the Boulder Mountains where we were at the highest we have ever been on this earth; the car GPS said 9750 feet above sea level. The narrow roads with the sheer drop offs was pretty scary; sure glad the wind wasn’t blowing that much. We ended up at Torrey before we started back west, then south to go home. It was pretty dark and late, 8:45 pm, by the time we got back to the rig. We stopped by a Subway, one of only 2 open places there in Panguitch, for a sandwich to bring home to eat.

The next day we started off to see Bryce Canyon mid-morning. I have to agree with Dave and Sandy. This park was the most spectacular of all the parks we have seen in Utah, with its Hoodoos, Fins, Monoliths and many colors of red rocks, cliffs, canyons, etc. It’s hard to describe so much beauty and colors and shapes; this park needs to be experienced in person it’s so unbelievably beautiful. We loved the first 3 stops after the visitor’s center the best; Sunrise Point, Sunset Point, and Inspiration Point. You could see people hiking on the trails beneath you. This was truly a unique experience!

That night Chuck needed O2 all night, the park was so high.

The following day found us off to hike up to see the Mossy Cave and waterfall. This was about a half mile hike up a steady incline. But to see the waterfall was well worth the effort. From there we went looking at all the tourist traps, I mean shops.

When we got home I put on a pork loin roast for dinner with baby red potatoes. I then went back into town to look at the several shops we missed. I didn’t find anything we needed. Returning home, I kept checking on the roast in the microwave. The timer on the microwave went off, saying it was done. Well low and behold the roast wasn’t even done, so I put it back in to cook more. Come to find out the microwave is broken. The turntable won’t turn and I can’t even heat water in it. We need a new microwave convection oven, since I don’t have any other oven to cook with, and only two burners on the stovetop.

Also forgot to say that back at the Four Corners last week, I dropped my Nikon Camera and broke it; I’ve had to use my old Cannon this past week for taking all the pictures, since there are no camera shops to fix it or buy a new camera. Bummer. I needed O2 that night.

We left Bryce Canyon area and went down to Hurricane, UT the next day to the Willowind RV Park. This was a really nice RV Park, grass, 50 amp etc. and we were back in civilization. Chuck did the windows and I set up inside, we then drove to find a car wash, the whole car was so dirty you couldn’t see out the windows. We found one, the little gal did a bang up job of washing it before it went through the machine-one less job for Chuck-yea!

We found a DQ for burgers for dinner, then drove into St. George to see that town. This was a really big town, lots of everything there, including a huge Mormon Temple.

The next day we headed into Zion National Park. We stopped by the visitor’s center, and we asked about driving through the park. You see, they encourage everyone to take the shuttle buses in the park, since Zion is the most visited park in Utah over all the rest. Well, I told the ranger Chuck’s doctor had given him O2 and we didn’t feel comfortable carrying it so he gave us an all park driving pass. This meant we could drive anywhere in the park.

We loved Zion Park and I think it is second on my list of best parks in Utah after Bryce. I felt like I was in the holy land by where Moses came down the mountain with the 10 Commandments in his arms. As I said before, all the parks in UT are unique, this one invoked a feeling of being in a sacred place.

We got home by 3:45 and rested, Chuck was taking me to dinner to the Texas Steakhouse in St. George for our anniversary. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner there and headed back home to watch the GOP debate. What a wonderful day we had. Thanks to all our family and friends who sent their good wishes to us.

Friday we took off and rested; I fell asleep on the couch watching an afternoon movie.

Saturday we were off to Las Vegas. It was a great visit to the national parks, but I didn’t like the feeling of not being able to get enough air into my lungs, they hurt, even with the O2. Vegas was hot-100 degrees when we got in.

So that’s it for me…Until next time….

Lorraine

9/25/11 Chuck’s report

We’re here in sunny, HOT Las Vegas. Our friends Richard and Sandy were planning on flying down to meet with us but they will be unable to make the trip, bummer. Guess we will just have to have enough fun for all of us, let us know how you liked it, ha.

We started the week off with a rare travel day on Sunday. We left Jacob Lake, the stopping off place for visiting the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, and headed out for Bryce Canyon. We elected to stay at Ruby’s RV park, just a few miles out from the entrance of Bryce Canyon National Park.

Because we had a short travel day, we decided to drive one of the most scenic drives in the US, at least according to some. We were not disappointed for sure, with all the different types of scenery we really enjoyed it, from the desert with all the rock formations, up in the mountains to almost 10,000’. We drove through what just might be the largest stand of Aspens I’ve seen, large trees when I’m used to seeing much smaller ones. All in all, a very nice drive although it was much longer than what I thought it would be, we didn’t get back to the coach until after 8 pm, a long day of driving.

Next morning took off to explore Bryce Canyon. This National park is set up with lots of stops along the way with the overlooks just a short walk away, in most cases. We decided to drive vs. ride the free shuttle so we could keep our own schedule and ride the shuttle on our next trip the next day. We think that was a great decision as we were able to stop at places the shuttle didn’t and were able to park closer too.

The only negative I would have about anyone visiting this park would be the altitude, otherwise this is probably our favorite National park in Utah. The rock formations are varied and spectacular with all the colors.

Next morning we took the advice of the waitress we talked too at dinner the night before and hiked out to a waterfall. All these formations were formed by rain, freezing temperatures, running water and of course, wind. It was different to see a stream with a waterfall out here in what looks like a desert but there it was, and cold too, as Lorraine found out.

We like to visit the downtown of these small towns, never know what you might find. We didn’t find anything too special here in Panguitch but enjoyed the look around anyway. Lorraine stopped in a couple of the stores but couldn’t find anything she just had to have so we returned back to the RV park. There are lots of visitors to this area and the shuttles and tour buses stop here so there is a large tourist shop here. We managed to find a couple of items here but didn’t break the bank too bad.

Wednesday we drove into Hurricane, UT, our planned stop to visit Zion National park. Once we got set up, we drove into town to explore it a bit, a nice town we both thought. Later we drove into the much bigger town of St. George, found the Mormon Temple and drove around it. It’s pretty hard to miss the temple here as it may be the tallest structure in town.

Thursday was our anniversary, can you imagine anyone putting up with me for 39 years? We toured Zion all morning, another great National Park. This one has very large, high mountain type formations that you see from the bottom vs. from the top like most the other parks, sort of like driving on the bottom of the Grand Canyon vs. seeing it from the rim.

All of the parks we visited while in Utah are different but all are worth seeing. We spent almost a month in Utah and could have spent longer and seen more. We need to return to see a couple that we missed, most notable Monument National but that will be for a different trip. This is the first time we headed South for the winter and didn’t go down the Oregon Coast or follow I-5 and we are really glad we got to see this part of the country. There are sure lots of things to see and areas of this great country to visit.

Friday we changed our plans and just stayed around the coach all day, I think we made a short trip to town but that was it. We both sort of needed a day off, we’ve been acting like tourist, on the go each day.

Saturday we made the trip to Las Vegas. We had never come down I-15 before, once again there were many sights to see, mostly the rock formation and mountains. It was a nice drive and we were rewarded with a view of the city in the distance with a storm above it. We saw some lightening but we were never in the storm, just saw it way off in the distance. I heard parts of the city got a good soaking, they needed it.

After we got set up, I walked outside and found our water hose had sprung a leak, off to Wal-Mart for the repair parts. We got back and I fixed the hose and then we went out to dinner and of course we had to give the slots a try. Let’s say we had a good dinner and leave it at that, ha.

Once we got here to 1000 Trails, I asked to be assigned to a site with 50 amp service, there aren’t too many here. There weren’t any available but they put us on the waiting list and said we would probably be assigned one on Sunday morning. Well, this morning we waiting around for them to tell us it was ok to move and finally I walked up to the ranger station and asked about our chances. Seems we were going to be assigned a spot but the guy that was in it didn’t check out by 11:00, I guess he had some problems. Anyway, Lorraine finally went to the swimming pool and I started getting things ready for the short move. Finally about 1:30 or so he pulled out and we moved over.

By now it was pretty hot, probably near 100F and we both were hot and tired by the time we got set up. So here it is, late in the afternoon, I’m writing this and watching a football game. I guess I should add the pictures and get this posted.

We are scheduled to stay here for the next two weeks then are planning to go to Parhump for a week. I’m sure we won’t have as many pictures to post for the next three weeks or maybe for any of the posting for the remainder of the winter. I don’t know how many pictures Lorraine took over the past month but it’s over 2500 I know. That makes it harder to pick out which ones to add but I do my best.

Part of the drive from Jacob Lake to Bryce.

Red Rock Canyon, just off the turn off to Bryce.

Part of the drive on Highway 12.

Bryce National Park.

On our walk to see the waterfall.

The water was too cold for Lorraine to put her foot in it, just her hand here.

On the road towards St. George.

Here is the Mormon Temple in St. George.

Inside Zion National Park.

We are enjoying our anniversary dinner.

On the road to Las Vegas.

That’s Las Vegas with a storm moving over it.

Ok, that’s enough, I'll get this posted now. Until next time - - - - -

Thanks Chuck

We’re in Jacob Lake, AZ

2011-09-17T20:08:00.001-07:00

Saturday, September 17, 2011 Lorraine’s report

Hello from Jacob Lake RV Park on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. I’m writing tonight because tomorrow, Sunday, we will be headed out of here to another spot. We have sure seen a lot of different, but kinda the same National Parks; each unique in their own way but all of them spectacular!!

Last Sunday found me cleaning the rig before we headed out to not even a mile away to look at the petroglyphs on a rock cliff, pretty neat to see how close they were to a main road, and not even protected, and not ruined by the public and their tagging.

From there we went on a long drive into the back country; through the La Salle National Forest. The couple in the rig next to us had just come back from that ride and said we should take this drive first south then north of Moab, it gave you a different view of the area. It surely did; we were over 7800 feet, up and down narrow windy roads with amazing views; well worth the trip.

Monday found us packing up the rig and head out of Moab to Cortez, CO to the Ute Mountain RV Park eleven miles out of Cortez, in Towaoc. This was a very nice park, quiet, not your park by a freeway, railroad track, or airport. It had grass for Misty without burrs and it gave you a discount when you got your players card; it had 50 amp, water and sewer and we could get TV and internet, all important things to us.

We set up the rig and Chuck had to wash the bugs off the windshield. We then headed into the Super Wal-Mart in Cortez for supplies. We spent a quiet evening home watching TV.

Tuesday was more chores around the house before we headed out to see Mesa Verde National Park. This park had a lot of cliff dwellings. We hiked down to one of the major villages, Spruce Tree House which is the 3^rd largest of the cliff dwellings after Cliff Palace and Long House at this park. It was built between A. D. 1200 and 1276 by the Anasazi Indian Tribe. It has 114 rooms and 8 kivas (kee-vahs), which are community meeting rooms, built into a natural cave that is 216 feet long by 89 feet deep. They think it was home to 100 people.

It was amazing to see such old ruins, in fairly good shape, manned by the Park Rangers, talking about the ruins. I found the entrance to go into the lower rooms to be incredibly small and narrow; the straight down ladder was daunting to me and I didn’t attempt to go down. There was plenty to see above ground. And the walk down, about 700 feet, was okay, but coming back up in the heat was harder for me, especially at the altitude of over 7000 feet.

After that we took the driving tour of the rest of the area, stopping at the overlooks, the pit houses, and the Cliff Palace. It was a long day, but well worth our time.

There was thunder, lightening and rain all night long and Wednesday morning we woke up to the hard rain continuing. Chuck spent the morning checking out stuff for our schedule and I puttered around the rig. About noon we headed into Cortez to go to the museums there.

The 1^st museum in town wasn’t much; I can’t even remember its name. We then drove out to the Anasazi Heritage Center about 10 miles out of Cortez, north. Now this was a wonderful museum; we watched two short movies on this area and the peoples and spent a lot of time going through all the exhibits. There was an amazing amount of artifacts to see.

By the time we were through, we were told it was just a short ways to see one of the Anasazi villages, so off we go. We were able to find our way down this terribly bumpy, unpaved road; it reminded me of some of the old unpaved roads back home in Ketchikan.

We found the Lowery Pueblo empty of people and cars and extremely quiet; in fact you could hear the wind blowing. Lowery Pueblo is over a thousand years old and is on the Trail of the Ancients Scenic Byway. The Ancestral Puebloan People occupied this pueblo for over 165 years and struggled to survive in this arid landscape. They farmed corn, beans and squash and supplemented their diet with small game. Theirs was a hard life.

There were thunder and lightening storms all night long again when we returned home, so we stayed in.

Thursday morning Chuck was out walking Misty, when someone called to him. He didn’t recognize this person. It was his brother, Brad and his girl friend, Dolly. They had arrived at the Casino/Hotel/RV Park we are in around midnight after a long drive from St. Peters, Mo. I hurried and got ready and we went to eat breakfast at the Ute Mtn. Casino Restaurant.

From there we took them up to Mesa Verde to see all those wonderful sights. We stopped at Spruce Tree and they hiked down to the ruins. We drove the whole same route we had just done, and enjoyed it all again showing them all we had learned. They said they liked it all.

We got back, took Misty out and headed over to see Four Corners, where Arizona, Colorado, Utah and New Mexico meet. When we headed out, it looked like we would hit thunder/lightening and rain, and we did. But by the time we got there, it had stopped long enough to go through the shops and have our pictures taken. We finished just before the storms hit again, and the shop keepers were packing up their wares.

We got back to Ute Mountain in time to eat dinner at the restaurant. We had time to play a bit before and after dinner. Chuck and I left seed $ but Brad was pretty lucky. He played a short time after they got in the night before and won a jackpot, then got lucky while we were waiting to eat, and so did Dolly, she also won.

Friday we packed up the rig and left a bit earlier than we usually do. Brad and Dolly headed out early. They had more places they wanted to see and since they are driving a car, they were able to do so. They went into Monument Valley, took a tour on Lake Powell and arrived at Jacob Lake Lodge to meet us for dinner.

We plugged on and made it to Jacob Lake, the Kaibab Campe RVillage in this national park. We had rain, wind and really narrow rough crooked roads to contend with. Chuck said on the way up, he looked over at me and I had my eyes closed and I was hanging on for dear life.

This park is over 7900 feet above sea level, and Friday night I used O2 all night, I just couldn’t catch my breath and I was really feeling it. This park is only an hour away from the north rim of the Grand Canyon, and it doesn’t have an address, since it is inside this national park.

We unhooked at the campground for this national park and the car wouldn’t start, so Chuck got out the jumper cables, got the car going and we took off to find this RV Park. We found it, went back for the rig, came back and set up. We only have 30 amp and water, no TV but can get internet and some phone service. Last night the temperature was down to 46 degrees, and Chuck had to turn on the heater for me.

While we were driving out, Chuck and I saw a gray squirrel with a long, white bushy tail. These squirrels are unique to this area, and are a pretty rare thing to see.

Today, Saturday, we went over to meet Brad and Dolly after they got back from going to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon to see the sun rise. Brad said on their early drive up they saw bunches of Deer.

We both headed up driving our cars, since Brad had booked a room for them at the Grand Canyon Lodge that overlooked the canyon and had a balcony. The climb up was over 8900 feet.

We enjoyed a very nice lunch with them at the restaurant overlooking the canyon. We shopped, went to the tavern to have a drink in honor of Alicia’s 50^th birthday; Alicia is Craig’s wife, another of Chuck’s brothers; the party was today. And then it came time to say our ‘Byes”, it was sad to see them go their way, while we went ours.

Thank you Brad and Dolly for driving so far to meet us and spend some quality time together. We appreciate you doing that!

This Thursday will be Chuck and my 39^th wedding anniversary. Thank you Chuck for so many wonderful new memories, ticks off the bucket list, this great trip and all you do for us…I love you….

Lorraine

9/17/11 Chuck’s report

This week will be Lorraine and my 39th anniversary. We have had our share of ups and downs, same as most folks, but the last 4 years we’ve been together almost 24/7 and had a great time and seen lots of our great country. Thanks for being there and sharing your life with me. Happy Anniversary honey, I LOVE YOU.

Another busy week for us, I’ll probably add lots of pictures again so maybe I’ll keep the written report shorter than normal.

Last Sunday we were still in Moab, UT. We decided to take a Sunday drive, up in the mountains. But first we drove over to see the Petroglyphs that were about 1/2 mile from our campground. These were right next to the road, just pulled over and there they were, pretty interesting. Of course, there was some graffiti there, being that accessible but I was please to see most of the area was intact.

Next we headed up to drive the mountain, not sure what we were going to see. All we knew was it was a loop of about 60 miles and the scenery was supposed to be nice. The drive brought us up to about 8500’, with trees up there! Most of the drive was through the top of the mountain but towards the last part we had a good view of the valley, very nice. Then we drove down into the valley and followed the Colorado River for awhile too. All in all, a nice drive, lots of nice rock formations and the drive along the river was nice. There were lots of folks rafting the river too, looked like some pretty good rapids for them.

I have been in touch with my brother, Brad, and he was going to be in the four corners area so with both of us changing our plans a bit, we made arrangements to meet in Cortez, CO. We had picked out a campground in the area but further research showed an Indian Casino with a nicer campground, at least what we could see on line. So Monday morning we hooked up and took off. Just a bit out of town, to the South, we ran into road construction, stop and wait for the pilot car type. As we were being escorted through the area, Lorraine noticed a big, nicely formed arch right along the road, probably the closest we had been to a big one like this. Unfortunately, we couldn’t stop so all we could do was take a picture out the window as we drove by, darn.

The drive down was nice, lots of scenery and plenty of rock formations again. We are really starting to like this area. We decided to check out the RV park at the casino first and once we got there, decided it was good enough so we got set up and I washed the bugs off the front of the coach then we took off to explore the town. We found the other campground that we were considering and definitely made the right choice this time, yea. Town was nice, had a nice downtown and a Super Wal-Mart on the East side of town.

Next morning we got caught up on “stuff”, Lorraine did laundry and such, then we took off to see the Cliff Dwelling in nearby Mesa Verde National Park. We drove over there, watching the altitude on our GPS and everything was ok, that is until we started up the mountain. It wasn’t long until we were above 8000’ and climbing. We stopped at the very well done visitor’s center, went through their tour and information. They have guided tours through some of the Cliff Dwelling but they advised us that it would be very strenuous and shouldn’t not be attempted by folks who were having trouble catching their breath at this altitude, that would be us. So we decided to take the self-guided car tour and stop by the less strenuous visit at Spruce Tree House Cliff Dwelling.

Boy what a time we had, we loved it. Imagine driving along a sort of flat topped Mesa, lots of sage bush and Juniper scrub brush type trees. You couldn’t even tell there were deep valleys just a bit away until you were right upon them. We parked the car and toured the information about Spruce Tree and then walked down the very steep walkway. They said it was only 100’ change in elevation and about 1/8 mile walk to the dwellings. I agree that was the route down but boy did it change on the way up, I think it was over a mile up and at least 1000’ up, ha. But the ruins were just short of spectacular, well beyond our expectations of what we were going to see.

Once back to the car, we continued with our driving tour and stopped at many overlooks to see many more dwellings. They said that over this area was one of the most populated in the area for about 75 years, then everyone left. No one is sure why they left, drought is suspected but they never returned. The dwellings were mostly undiscovered for hundreds of years and are now being cleaned up, shored up as needed and preserved as close to original as possible. What a sight to see, if you ever get the chance, make this one of your stops and see these Cliff Dwellings, we certainly weren’t disappointed.

Brad was due in on Thursday afternoon some time, we talked via cell phones a couple of times and he was on the way. So Wednesday we took off to visit another museum we had read about. This had to be one of the best we’ve been to, not too busy and lots of information, very well laid out. We spent a couple of hours there and had to leave because we were going to visit some ruins about 30 miles out of town and we wanted to make sure we weren’t too hurried.

The ruins we went to were just out in the open although the park service has put a cover over them to help preserve them. It really wasn’t to spectacular, I think we both would have rather stayed at the museum longer instead but you just never know. We had to return to the coach to check on Misty and then there was a big thunderstorm that blew up and it rained hard so we stayed close by. We did finally make it over to the casino but neither of us had any luck so we called it a night.

Thursday morning I was outside about 7 when a couple of folks walked by the coach next to us. I waved and went back inside and they came right over to our coach. I was mixing Misty’s food and didn’t pay too much attention but as they were sort of hanging around, I looked out the window and was surprised to see it was my brother and his girlfriend, Dolly. They had driven straight through from Missouri, about a 19 hour drive, to get there in time to tour Mesa Verde National Park based on what we had told them on the phone. What a good surprise for us, they wanted to make sure to catch us before we started off on some sort of adventure and to see if we wanted to return to Mesa Verde with them. We, of course, said we would love to go back so as soon as we got ready we took off for basically the same tour we had made two day ago. This time we got to play tour guides and therefore we didn’t stop at some of the, shall we say, more uninteresting stops.

All of us enjoyed our day together, after Mesa Verde and the Cliff Dwellings, we stopped by to check on Misty then drove out to the Four Corner’s monument. This is really just a large cement area with a large plaque in the center, signifying where the four states come together, Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico all share a common spot, the only place in the US where four states touch. It was a really a pretty cheesy affair but one of the reasons we wanted to be here so another bucket list item marked off. We had thought about continuing on another 60 some odd miles to see Monument Valley but it was getting late and another afternoon thunderstorm was brewing to the West so we decided to put it off until our next visit.

We went over to the casino, where Brad and Dolly were staying at the hotel, for dinner and another attempt on the slots. Brad had some good luck, Dolly was a winner but no joy for either Lorraine or I, once again I have to say we left some seed money there. Wish I could harvest sometimes rather just just leave seed, maybe next time. But thanks to Brad, he did buy our breakfast and dinner and told us to thank to casino, not him, ha. Thanks Brad, glad you won and thanks for all the lunches and dinners you bought us.

Friday Brad and Dolly got an early start in their car, headed out to Jacob Lake. They were able to stop by and see Monument Valley and Powell Lake while we slowly made our way here. They had reservations just up the road from our campground and once we got here and set up we called them and they were still a couple of hours out. Once again we had trouble with the car not wanting to start, this time there seemed to be plenty of juice in the battery, it acted like it wasn’t getting any fuel. I hear that is a common problem up here with cars that were towed, seems they don’t know they are in a higher altitude and the computer doesn’t adjust for it. But once we got it started, it’s been running fine since.

We met Brad and Dolly for dinner at the restaurant where they are staying, the only place in “town”. Jacob Lake doesn’t show up on our GPSs, the campground we are at doesn’t exist according the the GPS either. The addresses for these are just cross roads, no street address plus our campground is inside a park.

This morning Brad and Dolly wanted to head to the Grand Canyon, North Rim and be there by sun rise. It’s about 35 miles away so they left around 5 am, way too early for us. They got back and we met them at the restaurant but decided to eat at the Grand Canyon Lodge, they said it was right at the rim of the Canyon and very nice. So off we went to the Lodge, they were spending the night there with a room that opened right to the rim and we were returning to our coach. Brad and Dolly had already walked the short walkway out to the lookout point so this time Brad walked it with me, he being the tour guide for me. Lorraine decided not to attempt the walk out, over 1/2 mile with a couple steep inclines and narrow pathways with no guardrails to keep you from falling. Dolly, having already made this walk, stayed back with Lorraine and they managed to hit the gift shop.

Lorraine and I have been to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon and didn’t know what to expect from our trip to the North Rim. It was a good view of a large hole in the ground but there are more vantage view areas on the South Rim and I think we could see more colors due to the location of the sun, behind us when at the South Rim and showing off the rocks much better. There is only one access point to the Canyon here from the North side, nice enough but I understand why there are much fewer folks coming here vs. the South side. But we are glad we made it and once again, another item in the bucket list marked off.

Lorraine and I have both had a couple of breathing problem experiences while up here, glad we had the oxygen with us. Lucky for them, neither Brad or Dolly have had problems they said. We said our so longs to them at the lodge before we returned to the coach. They are going back to Page and then on to the South Rim tomorrow while we are going to be headed NW to Bryce Canyon back in Utah. I found the campground we were planning on staying had an internet special, stay one night and get 1/2 off the second night if you make reservations. So I called and told them to sign us up and we will see them tomorrow. Because we will be traveling on Sunday, a somewhat rare occurrence for us, we wrote our blog on Saturday night and I’ll get it posted, if I have good enough service here, that is.

The weather has been really nice this week, even though we’ve had thunderstorms brew up almost every evening. At least I haven’t heard of any fires resulting from the lightening and everyone says they can use the rain. We had high temperatures during the day vary depending on where we were, 80s in Cortez and 70s up here in the high country, sunny every day.

Ok, enough of this, I’ll get some pictures added and try to get this posted.

Petroglyphs about 1/2 from us in Moab.

The one of the right shows a sleigh being pulled by reindeer, and yes, they say it’s over 2500 years old.

Overlooking the Moab valley from the mountains.

This arch is just out of town and right next to the highway.

Mesa Verde National Park and the Cliff Dwellings.

Inside the visitor’s center.

Spruce Tree House Cliff Dwellings.

More views during our car tour.

More dwellings across the canyon.

Pictures of more Petroglyphs. The one on the right looks like holy figures.

The one on the left look like some religious ceremony, the one on the right look like space aliens.

Family portrait??

The ruins out of town in the middle of nowhere.

Four Corner Monument.

Dolly on the left, Brad on the right being in 4 states at the same time.

On the road to Jacob Lake, very nice area to drive through.

Here is the Grand Canyon National Park, North rim.

Dolly, Brad and Lorraine on left, Chuck and Lorraine on right.

Dolly and Brad on left, Chuck and “little” brother Brad on right.

Ok, another week gone by. Hope you had a good one too, we sure did. Thanks for making arrangement to meet with us, Brad and Dolly, we sure enjoyed our time with you two.

Thanks Chuck

We’re in Moab, Utah

2011-09-10T16:06:00.001-07:00

Sunday, September 11, 2011 Lorraine’s report

Hello from Moab, UT, the OK RV Park about 5 miles out of Moab. We came here on Wednesday morning, leaving good friends, Katie & Joe in Tooele. Thank you Katie, Joe and boys for all your kindness in sharing and showing us your beautiful area; we appreciated it very much!

Do you remember where you were 10 years ago “When the World stopped turning?” and our old way of life ended, without your permission? So much has changed since then! I kinda miss our free, easy, innocent, and not so complicated way of life we lived in those golden days. What a terrible way for all those innocent people to die, my heart and prayers still go out to all the families that lost loved ones.

As is often the case with us, we have been busy as ever. Last Sunday found me up and ready for Katie to pick me up at 8:20 to drive into Salt Lake City to go to church and hear the Spoken Word and music by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. The service is recorded and the live broadcast is open to the public every Sunday at 9:30 am. They close the doors to this service and you need to be in your seat by 9:15. We were there with time to spare.

I was not disappointed as the choir and orchestra started with one of my favorite hymns, “How Great Thou Art” all done in their perfect harmony and precision; it made my heart soar, it was so beautiful! To worship in such a great place exceeded all my dreams.

Following the service, Katie took me by a couple of the buildings we hurried through to hear the choir practice on Thursday evening. I again marveled at the way the artisans from the olden days did their beautiful work, without all the modern day tools and technology to help them.

Completing several chores, Katie took me home while she went home and then to her local church to teach her Sunday School Class. In the meantime, I started preparing dinner for Joe, Katie and the boys. Katie remembered having my potato salad at a party while we were still in our home, and while we were visiting, she asked if I would make it while we were with them. I told her I had planned on making fried chicken, potato salad, fresh corn on the cob, watermelon and apple pie, and having them for dinner. She mentioned that her boys were not into that food, so I also made them macaroni and cheese, which wasn’t like what Katie made for them, so all for naught. Oh well, the adults all enjoyed everything else.

We spent a fun evening following dinner teaching Joe and Katie how to play Pass the Love. Katie was a fast learner as she was the evening’s big winner.

Labor Day was a lazy day for Chuck and me. We stayed around the rig; I did laundry, shopping that sort of stuff. Katie and Joe asked us to go with them to the zoo in Logan, but we just wanted to take it slow. They had a very long day, leaving by 9 am and didn’t get back until after 6:30.

Tuesday found us going to the walk in clinic just down the road from us. Chuck had had a hard time with his breathing the previous night, and we went into the doctor’s to ask for O2. The altitude is so high for us at over 4500 feet, as well as the much higher temperatures we were not used to, and we were heading into even higher country, going to the National Parks, Moab Arches, Canyonlands, Bryce, etc.

Ask and ye shall be given, so we headed off to find a place to pick up the oxygen to take with us. No problem getting it; Chuck used it that first night and slept very well; he really needed that extra oxygen.

We took Katie and Joe and boys to dinner that last evening to a Mexican place, La Fuentes. They served huge portions and a take out box was in order. We said our good byes to Katie and Joe shortly after, and headed home to pack up the rig. Again, thank you Katie and Joe for all the many kindnesses you showed us, we greatly enjoyed the time with you!

We were up and off the following day at our usual time. Traffic wasn’t bad through Salt Lake City, the weather was mild, the roads pretty good so we pulled into this park around 4 pm. We set up the rig and headed back into town to try and see what we could see.

We stopped at a visitor’s info place, and the guy there told us what to see and do on our visit to this area. He mentioned that there was an experienced ex-deputy-sheriff that had been head of the search and rescue team for 22 years and he was taking another couple out for a sunset tour to the desert on a Polaris 4 wheel rig, and he could take us on a Polaris Ranger 4 wheel rig.

He told us the price, which was quite a bit off the normal price and said it was leaving at 5:30. We thanked him for his info and brochures, went back to the car. I said to Chuck we should take this tour, so we went back inside to take the tour, even though we hadn’t eaten dinner or seen anything else.

This was a good move on our part, even though when we first got to the desert part, we went up what Kent, our guide called “The Rattlesnake’s Back.” I don’t know how I managed to stay inside this rig, or even keep going on farther. We were driving on huge boulders, some places only 3 wheels touched the ground and the angle was over 45-50 degrees; one place we were at a 60 degree angle. I pulled my hat down over my closed eyes and prayed hard.

It was so scary, yet so exhilarating, and the views were magnificent. Kent kept asking me did I love this tour? I told him it was okay, I was enjoying it. The sun slowly dropping over those red colored canyons was absolutely breath taking. It was a glorious trip, one we can mark off our bucket list, well worth our time and effort. Chuck said while we were out on the tour that this tour was what he wanted to see/do/experience when we were visiting this area of Red Rock Country. We both slept well that night!

We have been to Arches National Park, Canyonlands-Islands in the Sky National Park and Dead Horse State Park, these past several days. All our tours to each park have been absolutely wonderful! This must be experienced to capture the full value of this incredible area, the beauty is beyond words.

To see all those exquisitely carved out canyons, cliffs, buttes, mesas, fins and arches all created by water, gravity and the weather is pretty amazing. Pictures don’t do it justice, even though the movie industry did use this area for many major movies.

I can’t say which park is my favorite so far, I have loved them all, the parks are unique in their own way and such a joy to view; I would say if you can go see these parks do it, it’s well worth your effort!

Congratulations to our niece, Samantha, for being homecoming royalty, way to go! That’s it for me.

Until next time….

Lorraine

9/11/11 Chuck’s report

Today is the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attack against our country. I hope everyone stops for moment to remember all those who lost their lives and to everyone in our military who are trying to protect us from another attack. Without getting political here, let’s hope we keep all the fighting over there and not inside our borders.

I know we will have lots of pictures on this blog so I will keep my written report short, at least that’s my plan.

Last Sunday Lorraine and Katie went into Salt Lake City to see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir preform and hear the Spoken Work at the Conference Center. Lorraine was thrilled to see the Choir preform. I remember when my sister, Corliss, graduated from high school and got a bus ticket to come to Washington to visit with us. She had a lay over in Salt Lake City and was very disappointed to not be able to go into the Temple or see the Choir. The only thing we couldn’t see on our trip was inside the Temple so we were not disappointed at all.

After services, Lorraine fried up chicken, we had a good dinner at their house. After dinner we played a good game of Pass The Love, which Katie won (Beginner’s luck??). Another good day with our friends.

Monday was sort of an off day for us. Joe/Katie and the kids headed off to the zoo in Logan, we decided to stay close to home and rest up, the altitude is still affecting us I think. On Tuesday, I went to the walk-in clinic to see about getting some oxygen, it takes a prescription from a doctor for them to let us have it. We are getting used to the altitude but know we will be going higher and wanted it as “insurance” when we get higher. It wasn’t too much of a hassle and soon we had an O2 concentrator and a 6 pack of portable O2 bottles, on loan to us for a month.

Later, we met with Joe/Katie at a Mexican place for dinner then back to their place for one more visit before we leave. We had a good time visiting with them and sure appreciate them being such good hosts and guides for us.

Wednesday we were on the road at our normal time, headed SE to Moab. We got to our park, OK RV Park, another Passport America membership park, got set up and headed into to town for a look around. We stopped by a place that said they were a visitor’s center to get some information and advice on the area. They had 4 wheel tours into the mountains just to the East of Moab three times per day, Sunrise, afternoon and Sunset tours. We happened to be there just in time to get on the Sunset tour so we signed up. There was a couple from Holland who elected to drive their own Polaris 4 wheeler, we elected to ride with the guide in a bigger one so there was only two 4 wheelers and 4 of us, plus our guide.

Lorraine and I are not experienced in 4 wheeling and didn’t know what to expect when they said we were going to explore “Hell’s Revenge” area. We started of with a steep climb that almost was enough for us to say stop right there but we hung on. We went over lots of hills and ridgebacks, down some steep hills and gullies. The guide was very good, explained a lot about the area and his experiences there. He was a retired deputy sheriff and the head of the local search and rescue so he had lots of stories to tell.

We had a very enjoyable time on this tour, it was just over 2 1/2 hours. We were in awe of the beauty of the area, something we haven’t seen except for pictures and movies. The rock formation and colors was just amazing. And to think, all this happened due to rain, wind and erosion over millions of year.

Next morning we decided to explore Arches National Park via our car. Once again we saw lots of rock formations, high mountains, deep valleys and of course, the Arches. The colors were mostly all shades of red with almost every other color found in a large box of kids crayons. Too pretty to describe and the pictures sure don’t do it justice. It’s something you would have to see for yourself to understand. We spent about 4 hours on our tour, didn’t see everything but our senses were almost on overload so we headed back to the coach for dinner.

We had a bit of a problem with the electrical power at our coach that afternoon, I think there were too many people running their air conditioners for the wiring in the park to handle. Our voltage got low enough for the surge protector to trip off, twice. I then hooked up our voltage controller or autoformer. We use this appliance when the voltage to our coach gets too low, it boosts the voltage enough to allow our surge protector to keep the power going through it. So we were set but I talked to our neighbor who didn’t have an autoformer and he couldn’t run his air conditioners for the rest of the afternoon. Sure glad we have all this electrical stuff, we don’t need it every time or place but when we need it, it sure is nice.

The next morning we had trouble with our internet connection, not sure what happened or why it stopped working. I was on the phone to the help desk with the folks who sold us our router for over 45 minutes before I gave up and hung up. Amazingly, it started working while I was on the phone, like I said, I don’t know what or why but “I fixed it”.

We also had a spring break inside one of our window shades. I have a part on order, it will be sent to us at our next stop. That’s three things that have gone wrong so here’s hoping we’re set for awhile.

Afterwards we took off to tour Dead Horse State Park and Canyonland’s National Park. I think I liked the formations and views in Dead Horse the best of all we’ve seen here so far. Once again, the pictures don’t do it justice but we still took a bunch. These two parks are somewhat in the same area so we decided to see Canyonland after Dead Horse. We went though the visitor’s center and started driving to one of the overlooks when we decided to head home instead. The dark storm clouds were building up with lots of lightening strikes all around us and some large rain drops. Not wanting to be caught out there in a bad storm and us being at some of the highest points in the area, we left and made plans to return the next day instead.

Once we got back, Lorraine drove back into town to walk the shops and see what was there. She came back a couple of hours later, having enjoyed herself and bringing Subway sandwiches for our dinner. While she was gone, I did some more research on our next stop, the 4 Corners area. I need to make a couple of phone calls yet but think I have our RV park picked out.

Saturday we got a bit earlier start as we didn’t want to get caught in another afternoon storm while up there. Once again we saw lots of sights we had seen in pictures or movies and were in awe once again. What a nice area of the USA this is and we haven’t even been to all the parks in the area. As I said earlier, our senses are on overload, there is so much to see and experience around here.

We are sure liking this weather we’ve been having, high 80s with low humidity. It’s even cooler when we get up in the hills, I think we actually saw some low 70s yesterday at about 6000’ elevation. Both Lorraine and I have trouble catching our breath at 6000’ but haven’t had to use the O2 yet.

Tuesday we will be heading to Cortez, CO. for a few days. While there we will visit the cliff dwellings and the 4 corners area plus another National Park in the area. I think the town is big enough to have a Wall-Mart too. We will then drive on over to Jacob Lake, AZ., a few miles away from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We’ve been to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon but want to see it from the other side this time. Both of these stops will be above 6000’, hope we don’t have any breathing problems due to the altitude but we do have the O2 just in case.

I said I would try to keep my written portion short due to the large amount of pictures I would add so guess I’ll get started on them now.

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir and orchestra on Sunday. Lorraine and Katie went to the service in Salt Lake City.

Lorraine and Katie. The picture on the right is where the Choir used to preform and still does during the winter months.

Lance, Katie, Jared and Joe at their home. Jared lost his first tooth while we were there too.

On the road from Salt Lake City to Moab.

Notice all the horns and antlers in the driveway on the right.

This is the Polaris 4 wheeler were rode in. That’s our driver/guide, Kent.

Dinosaur footprints in the rocks, lots of them around here once we found out what to look for.

The setting sun and the rising moon.

Now we’re in Arches National Park.

We saw one of these in Alaska, this is the transportation and mobile hotel for about 20 adults.

Now were are in Dead Horse State Park.

Yep, that’s Lorraine out on the point all by herself, pretty brave don’t you think?

Notice the storm clouds on the right, lots of lighting and some rain.

Here we were in Canyonland’s Island in the Sky National Park.

Whew, lots of pictures like I thought but not even close to the amount Lorraine took this week. You can see the formations, canyons, and such but the colors don’t show up at all, sorry.

Thanks Chuck