We’re in La Conner, Washington

 

Sunday July 17, 2011                                                                                                                                            Lorraine’s report

Hello from La Connor 1000 Trails, a wet, rainy, damp day.  It’s a good thing all the people here from Lewis & Clark are so nice and friendly, they make up for the bad weather. 

Well, we came here from Blaine on the 13th with Tim, Steve & Sandy.  Tim waited for us on the road behind our rig in Latitude 49 and drove down ahead of us and we met Steve and Sandy at the Farmhouse Inn off of Highway 20.   We hooked up with them and Tim led us to this RV park, we haven’t been here before. 

We came here to attend the Lewis & Clark La Connor, WA. Rally.  This is a group we joined 2 years ago in Seaside Oregon.  This is only the second event we have attended since joining. 

This year there were 25 rigs that attended.  We came in on Wednesday, expecting to be early and found that most of those attending were already here.   The volunteers in charge arranged to have one area of the park reserved for those attending.  We didn’t know that, so Chuck and Steve found an area just a road over to park our rigs. 

We were fortunate to get a site that is satellite friendly so we have TV.  Steve and Sandy found a site that is internet/phone friendly for their cell coverage.  I guess it’s pretty hard to get both in this park.  Tim was over in the trees and was only able to get local TV on his bat wing antenna.  The park has free Wi-Fi that works, as long as there aren’t too many using their site.  You need to go to the clubhouse to get access. 

Thursday found Sandy and I headed into La Connor to walk though all the quaint shops.  La Connor is what you would call a tourist trap.  Sandy and I made it though all the shops and had a lot of fun.  Chuck drove Steve and Tim to Oak Harbor so Steve could pick up his Dad’s Cadillac.  Everyone had a nice day, with the guys doing their own thing and the gals having fun too.  The group here at L&C had hamburger/hot dogs for everyone, they were very good, thank you. 

Friday morning was the potluck breakfast with the group meeting together.  As is usual for these type of affairs, there was way to much food.  If anyone went away hungry it was because they wanted to. Chuck and I headed over to the clubhouse to check our email.  Following that, Sandy and I went into Burlington for a few things we needed.  We came back and rested.

Dinner that night was at the Farmhouse Inn with over 50 people in attendance.  I was unhappy with my meal, I had ordered the turkey dinner with all dark meat.  It came with one chuck of the last piece of the turkey and bit of scraps like pulled pork, all while meat.  Sandy had the same dinner only all while meat, she received 2-3 slices of white meat, no chunks and no pulled type.  Mine was pretty dried out.  Oh well, the double high Lemon meringue pie made up for it. 

Saturday we headed out to go to the Anacortes Shipwreck days.  Steve drove the four of us into town.  The Shipwreck days were a lot like a big garage sale with the stuff that could have been confused for the garbage dump.  It was at least 6 blocks long with the streets being blocked off, of course. 

Dinner that night was potluck with the whole group from L&C.  One bunch of the people had been going out crab fishing and brought enough fresh Dungeness crab for the entire group.  I want to say “thank you” to Sue and all the rest that brought the crab.  Also, thank you all the rest of the group for the good food. 

Everyone went off to either play games, cards or sit by the fire.  We went to the Swinomish Indian Casino to see Joe/Alice and her brother and sister in law.  It was nice to see them all.  Both Chuck and I were up for the evening. 

Sunday morning found us attending the final Continental breakfast.  It was nice to see most of the group before they headed out to their homes.  The ones that stayed on were again treated to another helping of freshly made ice cream and cake. 

That is it for me.  Happy Birthday on the 17 to Rob and his twin brother and again to Richard and Sandy, also on the 13th to my nephew, George. 

Until next time, Lorraine. 

 

July 17, 2011                                                                                                                                                      Chuck’s report

We are at 1000 Trails in La Conner and for the first time in a long while, I don’t have cell phone or internet coverage with Verizon but Lorraine has some cell service with AT&T.  Therefore I am writing this offline at our coach and will be posting it later when I walk over to the lodge building where there have WI-fi.

The first part of this week was more of the same, gathering information so Lorraine could sign up for the best (for us, anyway) coverage with her Medicare.  My brother sent me an e-mail reminding me that he was an insurance salesman and he understood Medicare coverage and would help us with our decision.  I called him, told him our needs/wants and picked his brain about coverage.  He is licensed in Texas and Missouri but checked prices in South Dakota for us.  Turns out our decision to “move” to South Dakota when we retired was also a good choice for insurance, about half price for identical coverage compared to Washington, almost the same savings compared to Texas and/or Missouri, yea. 

We had made plans to attend a rally with our Lewis and Clark chapter of FMCA.  We happened to be in a 1000 Trails park in Oregon two years ago when they were having a rally there.  We met a few of the members, liked them and joined there.  Our fiend, Tim, happened to be in the same park the next week and met some of the members who stayed on after, met them and joined also.  This was the first time either of us have attended a rally since.  Our friends, Steve/Sandy who stay on their lot at Baker Lake for the summer, asked if we would mind if they came along to the rally.  We, of course, said yes and made plans to meet them along our route. 

Wednesday morning Tim stopped by our place just about the time we were ready to leave and waited until we got ready and hooked up the car.  Lorraine called Steve/Sandy as soon as we were on the road and we met them at a local restaurant and caravanned the rest of the way to the campground.  The rally was for Thursday through Sunday, we wanted to get there early and find a good spot.  Well, not having been to a rally with them before, I sort of under planned, we were one of the last to arrive but we still managed to find a good spot, although not in the same area as the rest of the group, but close. 

Once we got set up, we walked over to meet with the rally hosts and see what was happening for the weekend.  Nothing was planned for Wednesday so we accepted Steve invite to tour La Conner with them.  We ended up having dinner at a local restaurant then returned back to our coaches. 

Thursday Lorraine and Sandy took off for a shopping spree in La Conner, lots of little touristy shops and such there.  Steve, Tim and I took off for Oak Harbor to pick up Steve’s car that was at the shop.  We all returned back in time to go to the first planned event of the rally, a hot dog/hamburger feed at the clubhouse. 

Friday we had a pot luck breakfast before the gals took off to town once again for a short shopping trip.  When they got back we went to dinner at a local restaurant with about 50 people from the rally.  Even with that many folks, everyone had good service and food except they ran out of dark meat turkey so Lorraine didn’t get exactly what she wanted. 

One of the small towns here had an event planned for Saturday, Ship Wreck Days, that the gals wanted to attend.  Steve volunteered to drive so we took off, he dropped us off at the front of the blocked off street fair while he found a place to park the car.  (He found a spot about 1/2 block away, lucky)  None of us realized this was really a lot of folks who set up tents to try to sell their JUNK.  We walked the area, didn’t find much of interest to us and left just as the rain started in again. 

We then made a trip down to the Deception Pass, it’s been awhile since Lorraine had been there.  We stopped on the North side, took pictures, drove across the bridge and stopped on the South Side.  We then returned back to the park and headed over for our potluck dinner. 

This morning we had a continental breakfast with muffins, rolls and such along with coffee and juice.  Tim left shortly thereafter, headed for home.  Lorraine and I went over to the lodge to use their WI-fi and catch up on our email and such.  There was one last planned even for the rally, an ice cream social this afternoon.  When we joined this chapter two years ago we met all the folks who were there, but only two couple who were there showed up for this one so we got to meet a whole new group of people.  Once again though, we had a good time with good folks, had plenty to eat and enjoyed ourselves.  Tim and Steve/Sandy said they had a good time and enjoyed themselves too. 

Saturday evening Lorraine and I went to the local casino to meet up with our friends Joe/Alice who were staying at the campground with her brother.   I dropped Lorraine off at the casino to meet up with the gals who were already there while I went over to visit with Joe at his rig.  Later he and I went over to the casino and played for a awhile too.  This was one of the good trips for us, both Lorraine and I left with some of the casino’s money in our wallets, yea. 

The weather this week hasn’t been very nice, lots of gray, rainy days and heavy rain almost every night.  I heard on the news the other day that this is the latest in the year that we haven’t seen 85F for at least the last 30 years.  And we haven’t hit 85F yet, not even in Seattle I don’t think.  I remember one year like this when we took off on vacation once with the destination of just trying to find the sun!  I’m about ready to do that this year.  We have had a few sunny days and about half the days have some sunny afternoons but all in all, the weather has been crappy.  It’s raining as I write this but the forecast is for better weather tomorrow, we’ll see.  I’ve told people for years that summer around here starts on July 5th but that sure wouldn’t be the case this year.  The major signs of summer so far has been the rain is a little warmer.

Our plans for the week are to leave here Tuesday, heading back to Birch Bay.  We’ve got a couple of birthday parties to attend, I’ve got a couple doctor visits to get out of the way too.  Other than that, no great plans for us for the upcoming week.  Here’s hoping for some warmer, sunny days however.  If we get some good weather I would like to wash the rig, clean out some of the storage compartment and get everything ready for when we leave and head out.  We are still working out our route and timing but are sure leaning towards going through Utah for our way South this time.  Our friends, Dave/Sandy are there now so we are probably going to pick their brains once they get back home to Minnesota before we firm up our plans. 

So there you have it, our WET week in review and our look ahead for a quiet week upcoming.  Guess I’ll add some pictures and have this ready to post when I walk over to the lodge later. 

And a note for our grand daughter, Kaitlyn.  She had her 6th birthday in April and Lorraine flew down to be with her.  I asked Lorraine to have Kaitlyn give her a call every month on the 15th, the day of her birthday.  I don’t know if she tried this month but so far we haven’t heard from her.  Kaitlyn, don’t forget to give Nana a phone call, please.   Thanks, Papa. 

Entry gate to the park. 

 

 

The boat launch area inside the park.  We are very close to the salt water here. 

 

Steve and Sandy with one of their dogs, a border collie, Andy.

 

La Conner.

 

 

Deception pass and Deception bridge. 

 

 

The gatherings at the rally.  Lorraine painted and decorated our coach cut out, middle of the top right hand row. 

 

 

 

Notice the fresh caught crab on the table, Lorraine really liked that. 

 

And now to walk over in the rain and get this posted.  

Thanks   Chuck

We’re back in Birch Bay, Washington

 

Sunday, July 10, 2011                                                                                                                                            Lorraine’s report

Hello again from Latitude 49. We got back here after a very nice trip into Oregon for shopping. Of course, coming back into Washington, it rained and was about 10 degrees cooler, so I guess it wouldn’t feel like home if it didn’t rain on us while returning home and was cold. Oh well, such is life.

Our friends from Canada, Rob and Norma and Barb and Dennis had come down for a holiday and to visit over Canada Day and through the fourth of July and after. They stayed over at Beachwood a few miles from us.

That first day the gals wanted to go shoe shopping, Barb had found a pair of flip flops that had built in arch supports, and Norma wanted some like Barb’s. I hadn’t seen them, so I wasn’t sure what they looked like, so I took them to down town Bellingham to Hiltons to see if they were there. While we didn’t find them that is not to say the gals didn’t find shoes; in fact, both found a pair each. We had lunch and went to several more stores. Good thing I was busy with them, since the fan in the bathroom and hall way went crazy again and wouldn’t work. Tim had talked with Chuck and came over to fix it again. That took the guys most of the day. Thanks Tim.

The next day, Joe and Alice came over for a visit; I invited them to stay for brunch, since it was mid morning and Chuck and I hadn’t eaten. We shared a nice meal. They stayed here for a meeting with an Insurance man, who was coming at 1 pm to give us information on Medicare.

I have to say that the whole Medicare system is a totally, extremely confusing system. I don’t know how anyone, especially older people, can figure it out. The agent was very helpful in explaining what it was and what we needed. Unfortunately, we were not eligible to buy from him since we are no longer Washington residents, but residents of South Dakota. Joe is also going to be eligible for Medicare this year and they both found him to be extremely helpful.

Chuck spent the next day on my phone calling agents in South Dakota. I don’t know how many people he talked to, but a good amount, I suspect. I had a hair appointment, which I kept.

Upon returning home, I fixed up my turkey salad to take over to Barb and Dennis’s for a Canada Day party. I never counted how many people showed up, but there was no shortage of food or fun. Dennis had a nice bon fire that evening, as he did most evenings they were down. We stayed until it started getting damp out and then headed home.

Saturday found us running errands until later on in the afternoon. Barb and Norma had to get Norma’s new puppy some chew toys, so when they were done with that, they came over to see where we were parked.

We were visiting and I mentioned that Saturday evening down at the Skagit Casino by Mt. Vernon, was Prime Rib and Dungeness Crab Buffet for about $16 per person. The gals liked that idea and called the guys, and before you knew it, we were on our way to dinner, with Chuck driving us all in our car. Everyone enjoyed a very nice buffet, with everyone getting what they liked. After dinner, we played for about an hour with Norma being the big winner. I forgot to mention that Saturday, July 2 was our 1^st 82 degree day of the year.

Sundays I like to go to the church just down the road. My friend, Gale, whom I met a couple of months ago, but had gone home to Seattle area, came that day. After church we visited for a while, catching up on each other’s lives.

Chuck and I spent a quiet afternoon and evening home.

Monday was the 4^th of July and our friends from Canada wanted to go to the small town parade in Blaine, and invited us along. We went and picked them up by 10:30 and found our spot to watch the parade. My goodness, there were a lot of people that had the same idea and were there early. After setting up the chairs, the gals and I walked a couple of blocks to where they had set up the food stands and such. We all got hot dogs and walked back for the start of the parade.

The Blaine parade was your normal small town parade, with one band, tons of cars, fire trucks and horses. I enjoyed myself. Afterwards, Chuck and I went home for a rest. Rob/Norma and Barb/Dennis headed back into the hundreds of people going to the booths.

Rob and Norma came over late afternoon for dinner. I cooked steak and potatoes, with apple pie for dessert. Chuck then took Norma and I to the fireworks in Bellingham, they were very nice, a fit ending to a wonderful day.

Tuesday found Chuck and I headed south to Mt. Vernon. Chuck had business to take care of.

Wednesday found us headed south again, this time with Joe and Alice, and this time into south Seattle. We left at 9:30, went and dropped Misty off at Rob and Norma’s for them to watch for the day. The guys finished their business in a little over 15 minutes and we headed back north, before the traffic got too heavy. Chuck stopped at Northgate mall and Alice, Joe and I headed into Macys’ for a 30 minutes shopping break. Both Alice and I found a couple of things.

We stopped in Marysville for lunch at a Mexican place and enjoyed a nice lunch. We got home around 4:15, in time to rest a few minutes, and then head back out.

Our friends from when we lived on Barnes Road in Bellingham were having their 65^th wedding anniversary at the Moose Lodge in town. It’s hard to believe that Russ and Millie have been married 65 years, that’s as long as I will be on this earth next month on the 6^th. They had a great turnout, and even though Millie is starting to not know what was happening, Russ did and really enjoyed all the people in attendance.

Thursday was Rob/Norma and Barb/Dennis’s last day at Beachwood. They were leaving on Friday, Barb headed to her sister in law’s cabin and Norma headed home to by Pender Harbor. We went over in the afternoon, and were invited to go to Chinese Buffet in town for a last time together. We had another great meal with everyone and a lot of fun.

Friday found us taking the day off until about 5 pm, when Chuck took me into town for Bellingham’s Race for the Cure Walk. This walk made it my tenth walk since I got cancer. Richard and Sandy came by looking for me, but we didn’t hook up till we were leaving. They went to 5 Guys Burgers and Fries with us for dinner and we spent several hours catching up. It was so good to see them since their Vegas trip. They had a blast. Thanks Richard and Sandy for the Pink goodies. Love you both.

It was nice to spend a quiet day at home except for the run to the grocery store on Saturday. Chuck spent the day on the phone.

That’s if for me. We want to wish Crystal a Happy Birthday on the 16^th, Sandy a Happy Birthday on the 20^th and Richard a Happy Birthday on the 23^rd.

Until next time

Lorraine

7/10/11                                                                                                                                                                  Chuck’s report

Let’s see, last time we published our blog, we were in Woodburn, Oregon, doing some shopping and running some errands.  We spent two more days in Oregon when we moved to the Elks lodge a few miles down the highway.  We got all our “stuff” completed and headed back to our spot here in Birch Bay on Tuesday. 

Since we’ve been back, we’ve spent lots of time visiting with our friends from Canada who came down for a break, they stay at Beachwood resort just down the road from us.  Lorraine has gone shopping with the gals a couple of times, we’ve gone over there for campfire, gone out to eat a time or two and even stopped off at the local casino.  Both couples have returned back to their homes and we probably won’t see them until sometime in January when they are planning on coming down South to Arizona.  Have a good summer and hurry down South. 

Tim also came back to work on the wiring for out lights and fans in the bath once again.  They quit working back in February and he tied in a new ground wire and they were working fine once again.  This time it was the hot wire that wasn’t making good contact so he used a spare hot wire, tied it into a bundle and once again everything works good.  I will have the factory re-wire this mess once we get back to them, maybe sometimes next spring. 

Lorraine is turning 65 next month and will be eligible for Medicare.  We don’t know too much about how that works so Tim had his broker come by to help explain our options to us and our friend Joe.  It isn’t real straight forward as to what we need to do so I’ve been making calls, reading brochures and scouring the internet trying to get the right combination of insurance coverage for her.  We’re getting closer but still have a couple more plans being sent to us that I will need to review and then hopefully we can make an informed decision and get that step over. 

On the 4th of July our Canadian friends joined us in Blaine where we watched the parade.  There were probably more politicians than bands but at least the weather cooperated and it didn’t rain.  Rob and Norma came by our place later for a Bar-B-Q and more visiting.  Later, Lorraine wanted to go to Bellingham to see the fireworks over the bay so we took Norma and headed out.  We managed to get a spot along the shore close to where we used to live, made it safely through the crowds and back home.  

This past week it seems we been doing lots of traveling in the car, seeing my doctors or whatever.  I had an appointment in Mount Vernon on Tuesday, about 60 miles away.  Wednesday was a trip to South Seattle and back for another long car trip.  At least for this one Joe and Alice rode along with us.  Gas is too expensive to be doing these “Sunday drives” that often. 

Later Lorraine and I went back to Bellingham to the Moose Lodge where our friends, Russ and Millie Westhaver, were celebrating their 65th wedding anniversary.  They were married exactly one year to the day after my folks were married.  They had lots of family and friends in attendance, a pot luck dinner was served and a bad played music for dancing afterwards.  It was good to see them once again, we’ve known them since about 1973 or so. 

Thursday I spent most of the morning working on the computer and phone getting more information about Medicare while Lorraine paid some bills we got in our mail shipment a couple of days earlier.  We don’t get our mail very often, this time it was almost two months since our last mail delivery.  It’s amazing how little of the snail mail sent to us is really necessary, most of it is receipts for bills paid or monthly statements.  Still, we have to spend some time taking care of some of the issues that come with the mail, just like everyone who lives in a sticks and brick. 

Friday afternoon Lorraine attended the Cancer Walk in Bellingham.  This was the first one she ever attended and it’s been 10 years so she wanted to make this one again.  She walked the survivor’s lap plus a couple more and as we were leaving she got a phone call from our friends Richard and Sandy.  They had just gotten to the Cancer Walk and were looking for us.  It happened we were both parked in the same lot so we waited for them at the car.  We made plans to meet them at 5 Guys for a burger and fries where we continued our visit with them. 

This week we will be traveling down to LA Conner to attend a rally with one of the FMCA Chapters, Lewis and Clark, that we joined a couple of years ago.  They have stuff planned for Thursday thru Sunday, it will be good to see some of the friends we’ve made through that group too. It’s only about 50 miles South of here so it won’t be a big trip but still, it will be good to be on the road and doing something different.  We will be retuning back to our lot here in Birch Bay after the rally and may make one more short trip before we leave the area in in August to start our trip South. 

We plan on celebrating Lorraine’s birthday, her birthday is Aug. 6th, the day after with our friends by going to a buffet at the casino, sort of like what we did for mine.  Our daughter, Susy, and grand daughter, Kaitlyn, will be flying up to help us celebrate too, really looking forward to that.  That weekend is also the company picnic at the refinery so we will will probably attend some of the festivities with them too. 

Saturday I spent most of the day with a calendar, map, campground books and the computer trying to get a better handle on our plans for the remainder of the year and an rough idea of our itinerary for next year.  I think we’ve nailed down the next couple of months pretty well as we need to remain around the area for doctor visits and such until late August.

For our trip South this year we are planning on going through Eastern Washington, Eastern Oregon, Southern Idaho,Utah and Nevada, a more circuitous route to California for sure but we will be covering some parts of the country we’ve not seen yet.  After all, that’s why we are living this lifestyle, to see and experience new areas of our great country.  I’ve heard some folks say that Utah has the best scenery in the US, guess we’ll find out. 

For our longer range plans, we are looking on being around our daughter and grand daughter for a couple weeks at a time for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas before we head East for the winter.  This winter we will probably be in Quartzsite for RV week, then stop at Yuma for a week or two before heading to South Texas for the remainder of the winter.  Next spring we will probably continue our journey to the East, stopping by the factory where our coach was built to get some work done on it.  We are thinking of traveling along the the Mississippi River from New Orleans to the head water in Minnesota with a couple of stops along the way of course.  But as I say, these are long range plans and they have a habit of changing a lot with our lifestyle.  And it’s always good to have a plan so we can change it too. 

Well, enough of that, how about a few pictures and then get this posted and get on with today? 

Chuck and Dennis visiting at his place.     Dennis putting Chuck in a straight jacket.

 

Blaine’s July 4th Color Guard                    Nice Horse

 

Flower basket in Blaine                             Nice flowers

 

Old fire truck                                           Tractor carrying American Flag       

  

Norma and Barb at the parade                  Lorraine by metal totem pole

 

Had a couple of wagons pulled by draft horses.  Pretty girls on a float. 

 

That’s Mt. Rainer in the center                a closer shot of Rainer

 

a close up of Rainer                                 Mt Baker, our mountain

 

Russ & Millie at their 65th wedding          Close up of Russ & Millie-they look good

anniversary

 

Lorraine’s bag at the 10 year cancer walk  Lorraine at the opening ceremonies

 

Vicky was crying over loosing her friend this past year.  Lorraine took

her arm and walked with her

 

Thanks   Chuck

We’re in Woodburn, Oregon

 

Sunday, June 26, 2011                                                                                                                                                   Lorraine’s report

Well, we are away from Birch Bay and at Woodburn RV Park by Woodburn, OR. It was a wonderful day on Saturday. Our first high 70, close to 80 degree day. The sun was out, fluffy blue clouds, and for the first time in a long time, we saw Mt. Hood.

It was nice to head back out this past week. Sunday we packed up the rig and headed out to Thousand Trails Grandy Creek RV Park. We met up with Tim, Chuck’s friend, who had been camped there for a week. I have to say, that it rained on the nice clean coach through the pass by Lake Samish; all that work cleaning the rig, undone by a short bit of rain.

I called our friends, Steve & Sandy, and made plans to meet up with them for Father’s Day. They stay at their lot at Lake Tyee, near Baker Lake.

On the way there to TT, we drove by the Outback Steakhouse and I called and asked if they took reservations; they did, so I made some for the five of us, not knowing if we would keep them.

Steve and Sandy were okay with going there for dinner, as was Tim. We made plans to meet up for dinner at the Outback, and all of us enjoyed a great meal. We went back to our rig for dessert of Rhubarb crisp.

Steve’s dad, John, had been doing poorly health wise, and Steve and Sandy had been driving from Lake Tyee RV Park to Oak Harbor, nearly everyday to see him, a two hour drive each way. He passed on Wednesday, June 22, he was 96 years old, and Sandy wrote “a wonderful father and husband”. Our heartfelt condolences go out to Steve, Sandy and the rest of your family, and you are in our prayers.

Monday Chuck and I drove around the area, after I did some laundry and some chores. We came back and I cooked dinner for Chuck and Tim. Steve had gone to Oak Harbor early in the morning, and had called Sandy to go there since his dad was headed down hill.

Tuesday we packed up the rig and headed out to Angel of the Wind Casino for two nights. Tim went home to Lynden.

If you have ever been to Angel, you know that they have a row of RV sites across the back of the property with 30 amp, no water/sewer, and the sites are not level, to say the least. We pulled into one site we used before, went in to pay for it and found it had been rented for the second night. We had to move to another site, started to set up, but again we had no satellite. So we moved to the 3rd site; found we had only spotty satellite reception and only on the lower stations, but we stayed there.

I went in to play for a while after setting up, and Chuck came in later. He reset the antenna for the satellite, hoping to get better reception, but alas, he lost what we had before. That was the first time we had no TV since we went through Canada on the Alaska trip in 09.

Wednesday, Chuck had a doctor’s appointment in Mt. Vernon. Afterwards we went to Wal-Mart in Marysville for supplies. It was fun playing at Angel; I went up one day and down the next, so overall, even.

Thursday we headed south to Lucky Eagle Casino by Rochester, WA. We were in a traffic back up that went at least ten miles, all lanes, for over an hour, south of Seattle. A big truck had been run into by something, and was totaled.

There used to be an RV Park behind the hotel and casino, but the Chehalis tribe is expanding their hotel and took the park away. But they built a new RV Park just down the road on the way to their casino. We found it and pulled in. Chuck tried to hook up to the electricity and the water, but no luck; they have no sewer. We had to move sites, again. History repeating itself so soon, who’d have thunk it?

We moved two sites over, set up and headed over to the Lucky Eagle. Both of us had a little bit of luck, and we enjoyed a very nice buffet dinner.

Friday we packed up again and drove to Woodburn RV Park here in Woodburn, OR, by the outlet mall.

On the way, Chuck took the coach in to Speedco Oil to get the rig’s oil changed etc. Chuck unhooked the car and I drove to the Outlet Mall for shopping.

Saturday was shopping for shoes day for Chuck, one thing most guys hate! I have to say that Chuck hung in there, even though we had to back track to the first store we went to in Tigard, OR. The gal that helped us there the first time was awful. She didn’t know her stock, she couldn’t suggest anything, and was just worthless when asked questions. We ended up going to another store to try and find Chuck’s size. The salesman there was helpful, knew his stock and sent us to find shoes for both of us. We both ended up happy campers. I found out they have a shoe store that carries only wide shoes for both men and women, and I have never seen that many nice shoes in wide widths in one place before.  I was excited!

Tomorrow is our son, Rick’s birthday, Happy Birthday again to you, son! Also Happy 2^nd Anniversary to Richard and Sandy, hope your having a blast in Las Vegas.

Hugs,

Lorraine

 

 

6/26/11                                                                                                                                                                   Chuck’s report

Tomorrow is our son Rick’s birthday.  Happy birthday to you and I remember being with you a couple of years ago when we toured Alaska, just missed your birthday that year though.  Hope you have a good day.

Also happy Anniversary to Richard and Sandy, the couple we stood up for two years ago.  Hope you enjoy your day too. 

What a change it’s been to be back on the road again.  Life is good once again, no alarm clocks, not wearing a watch, planning our route and enjoying being with Lorraine. 

Sunday we pulled out and headed down to 1000 Trails at Grandy Creek, by Baker Lake, about 1 1/2 hours away.  It felt good to be on the road and we were meeting up with our friend Tim who had already been there for a few days.  We were expecting good weather but caught more of the liquid sunshine we’ve been getting, our coach isn’t so nice and clean once again.

Everything worked fine on the trip, no mechanical issues from sitting so long, whew.  I didn’t know what to expect but I know everything works better if it’s used more often.  This is the longest we’ve set since we bought our coach in April, ‘07.  Only thing was one of the hydraulic jacks didn’t want to retract all the way, a little help with a 2x4 as a lever and it went up just fine.  I may have to change out the springs on it, time will tell. 

We set up in a spot next to Tim and we were able to get some satellite reception through the huge cedar trees, good thing.  This place is also a KOA, some sites are reserved for KOA, some for 1000 Trails.  Only thing different is KOA spots cost $40/day vs. our 1000 Trail price of FREE (or at least part of our yearly dues).

We have friends that spend their summers at Lake Tyee, just up the road from where we staying so Lorraine called Sandy to see if we could meet with her and her husband, Steve.  They were actually on Whidbey Island at Oak Harbor visiting Steve’s father who has been ill.  They agreed to meet with us for dinner at Outback Steakhouse in Mt. Vernon.  We had a good time visiting with them and Tim before calling it quits and heading back to our coach for desert.  Lorraine had made a rhubarb crisp and she shared some of that with our friends. 

The next day Sandy stopped by for awhile, she was heading back to Oak Harbor to see Steve who was back at his father’s bedside.  Lorraine and I wanted to do some exploring around the area and Tim decided to wait at his coach until we returned.  Later Lorraine fixed a fabulous pork steak dinner for us that we enjoyed.

Next morning Tim headed out a bit earlier than us, he was heading home and there was some work being done on the freeway and it was down to one lane of traffic for about 15 miles or so.  We got on the road about our usual time and heading down to a Casino south of Mt. Vernon, Angle of the Winds.  They have a small RV park there with 30 amp power, no water or sewer.  We ended up moving to three different sites, first one was reserved (we didn’t even know you could make reservations much less for a certain site), second was because the trees were completely blocking our satellite reception.  The site we ended up on was very un-level, I used every piece of wood I had under the tires and jacks to get it done.  Plus they managed to screw up our credit card and tried to charge us twice for the same nights, luckily Lorraine checks this every night and caught it so they could correct it.  Don’t think we will be staying there again, other places are better.

We stayed there for two days, I had a doctor’s appointment in Mt. Vernon on Wednesday morning and needed to fast for my blood test, that was a major reason we headed down there in the first place.  My appointment went well so we made plans to head out on Thursday, head somewhere to the South. 

Once again we managed to pick a travel day when it was raining.  Oh well, we are in Western Washington after all!.  We decided to stop off at Rochester at another Casino.  Lorraine gave them a call as we were traveling down and they are expanding their hotel so their campground was closed but the tribe has built a new one just a couple of miles up the road.  This campground is unattended, just pick your site and pay at a Kiosk.  We picked out our site and got partially set up when I went over to pay.  Appears the site we were in had some utility problems and it was out of service.  Shoot, sure hope it’s just growing pains with the new park and not something they have to deal with all the time. 

Put stuff away and moved to another site, paid first and then got set up.  Nice place with 50 amp and water but no sewer at the sites, just a common dump on the way out.  Once we got everything set up and we were resting, the power at our site went off.  I called the Help number and a guy came by about 1/2 later.  He had no idea of what to do so I asked him to unlock the breaker building so we could reset the circuit breaker.  It appears they have a computer system for the water and power, nothing works until it’s paid for and they have been having problems with the computer on the row we were in, just our luck. 

The attendant did turn on the power and water at the site next to us, in case we had any further problems and wanted to move during the night.  Luckily we had no more power problems but we did lose water.  Just added a length of hose, hooked up to the site next to us and spent the rest of the night using water from one site, power from another. 

We did have a very good meal at the casino however, a good buffet.  They had some crab for Lorraine and a roast beef at the carving station for me.  We both managed to walk away with some of their money too, about $0.90 for me but at least I was ahead, Lorraine managed to do somewhat better. 

Once again, we decided we had enough of this campground and headed further South.  This time we knew where we wanted to stay, here at Woodburn.  A few miles North of here is a Speedco service center where we have had our coach serviced before.  I pulled in there, unhooked the car so Lorraine could go to the Outlet Mall and waited for them to finish.  Once again, I was very pleased with the service they do and will continue to have some of our service done there when we are in the area. 

I left Speedco and headed to the campground we usually stay when we are in the area and checked in.  We weren’t sure how long we were going to be in the area so I told them we wanted two nights with an option to stay for two more.  They gave us a site in the middle of the place, tight area to get in and very close to the neighbors but we do have 50 amp, water and sewer.  They have raised their prices here too, pretty proud of the place I guess. 

Lorraine was able to get caught up on our laundry while we were here, plus we did some shopping.  I got a new water fitting from Camping World and changed out the black tank flushing connection that had been leaking every time I hooked it up.  It doesn’t get the whole bay wet now and the spray nozzle gets full pressure once again.   

Saturday Lorraine wanted to buy me a new pair of shoes, yeah shoe shopping was in store, not one of my favorite things to do.  Four shoe stores later we returned to the original one and got a different salesman who knew what was happening and bought my shoes.  We also found a good shoe store for Lorraine, she needs wide shoes and the name of this place was Jay’s Wide Shoe Store.  She said she had never seen such a good selection of shoes in her size before.  We had to return to the coach to take our dog out for a break and then headed back to Costco for a resupply before calling it a night and watching Lonesome Dove.  

At least the weather has been showing signs of improvement, about time.  We almost broke 80F here today, the warmest we seen since we left Yuma last year.  We are running the air conditioners for the first time in a long time too.  The temperature still drops to the high 50s at night but has warmed up nicely as soon as the sun comes up.  I am liking this warmer weather!!

We plan on heading further South again today, all the way to Salem, Oregon to an Elks lodge we’ve stayed at before.  We still have a couple more items to take care of before we head back to Blaine.  We will be there over the 4th, I have another doctor appointment on the 5th and we are working on plans for something after that.  It’s good to be making plans and doing things again, that work stuff was getting in the way of having fun. 

Lorraine has a big birthday coming up this year, she will be eligible for Medicare.  Her birthday is on August 6th, we are working on plans to have some friends get together for dinner the day after her birthday. 

Hey, how about some pictures?

Grandy Lake Campground, the sun was shining the second day we were there. 

 

At dinner with our friends.

Baker Lake dam, lots of water going over it and the Lake behind it. 

  

 

Some of the area we toured while up there. 

 

   

Skagit River at Rockport.

 

Little town of Concrete.

  

 

 

Lorraine’s bowl of Salmon berries I picked at the campground.  They are similar to raspberries. 

 

Mount Hood to the East of us here in Oregon. 

 

And once again, that was our week.  Hope you had a good one too.

Thanks   Chuck