Casa Grande, AZ - Part II

Well, we have been here a little over three weeks now and have been pretty busy. This is a very nice resort with a lot of activities for the folks who spend all winter here. For the most part, the only regular activity in which we have participated are the Texas Holdem games. They have regular Wednesday night and Saturday afternoon games and we have played in most of them. There is a $10 buy in and they are played tournament style down to the last four players, who are then paid out of the proceeds. The Wednesday night game is low stakes - limited bets, while the Saturday game is no limit. We have not won any of the tourneys, but I did make it to the last two tables on one Saturday game.

One afternoon we set out to visit the Coolidge-Florence Elks Lodge, located about 20 miles NE of Casa Grande. When we got the lodge it appeared to be abandoned. We started to drive off when Jackie noticed a small sign that said the Lodge was temporarily located in the American Legion Post in Florence. We called the number we had for the Lodge and found that they were building a new building and were in the American Legion currently. We drove to Florence and visited the Legion post, talked to a couple Elks and were able to get a Lodge pin for the Coolidge-Florence Lodge for our lodge pin banner.

On Sunday, the 25th of November we drove up to Phoenix to see my mom, who is in a care home suffering from advanced Alzheimer's. These visits are always very sad for me because it is not the mom I remember. We met my brother Dennis there and visited with mom for a little while. After our visit we drove up to Cottonwood, Arizona, where Dennis lives. We spent two nights at his house just visiting and having a good time. Monday we spent most of the day in Jerome, an old mining town perched on the side of mountain about the Verde Valley. The town dates back to the 1880's and still has a lot of the original buildings. It is now an artist community with a lot of shops and galleries to wander around in. We had a great time. On both Sunday and Monday nights Dennis and I spent hours singing Karaoke. Oddly enough, both of us have become very involved in karaoke, although he actually makes money when he puts on shows. I do mine mostly for drinks and tips and because it gives me a chance to sing. On Sunday night we stayed up until one in the morning singing in Dennis' living room.

On the drive back to Casa Grande on Tuesday we were able to get a photo of the "magical" Christmas tree on I-17. The tree is a large Juniper located in the median of the freeway out in the middle of nowhere. It is miles from the nearest town or other road. Every year for at least the last 20 years someone - never publicly identified as far as I know - comes in late November and decorates the Juniper as a Christmas tree. Shortly after Christmas in early January the decorations disappear until the next year. There have been several stories in the Phoenix paper about the tree but no one claims to know who is responsible for the tradition. After we got back to Casa Grande I submitted the photo and story to "Roadside America", a website dedicated to the odd and unusual around the country. I had noticed that the tree was not mentioned on their site. A couple days later I received an email letting me know that my "sighting" was published on the web site. This is really a fun website to look at, and can make traveling like we do much more interesting because there really are a lot of odd and amazing things in this country. The web site is http://www.roadsideamerica.com/. Take a look.

One afternoon we took a drive over to Coolidge to visit the Casa Grande National Monument. This is an ancient Indian pueblo that dates back to about 800 years before the first Spanish explorers discovered Arizona. The adobe great house is protected by a large roof to help keep the weather from further eroding the mud walls. The visitors center had some very interesting and informative exhibits regarding the earliest inhabitants of the Southwestern deserts. Having grown up in Arizona I have been to most of the Indian historical sites and find the history very interesting.

On the third of December be took another drive up to Phoenix, this time to see my kids and grandkids. My oldest daughter, Tye had arranged for all but one of the grandkids to be at a park, along with my son, Roy Jr. My other daughter Tracie has moved to Illinois. We had a very nice visit with the kids. Hard to believe that I have grandkids who have graduated high school and that all but two of them are in high school now. We also found out that Crystal, my oldest granddaughter is pregnant again, so in about seven months I will be a GREAT granddad for the second time. I can't be that damn old!

This past weekend we made yet another trek up to Phoenix to visit my youngest brother Ken who lives in Goodyear. We had been invited to his wife Susan's 40th birthday party. The party was beach luau themed and we had a good time. It was nice to see Ken and Susan again. We were not able to stay too late because it was a 70 mile drive back to Casa Grande.

This coming Saturday we have to pack up and leave Casa Grande. We are going to head down to Tucson on Saturday because we have an appointment at an RV repair facility to have some work done on our rear view camera system. It has never really worked properly and Monaco is still trying different things to make it work right. We hope to only be in Tucson through Monday, then we head to our old stomping grounds in Indio for a couple weeks.

Will update again after we get back to the California desert. Bye for now.

Casa Grande, Arizona

November 14th we finally left our newly adopted "home" town, Pahrump. The night before we had completed the process of changing our Elks Lodge affiliation from Indio to Pahrump, so we had completed our assimilation as Nevada residents. Besides, we had been there over five weeks! Time to move on. We spent the night at our Western Horizons membership park in Ehrenberg, Arizona, just across the Colorado from Blythe, California. Didn't even unhook the car - not much to see and do in Ehrenberg, or in Blythe for that matter. Left early the next morning and arrived at the Palm Creek RV Resort in Casa Grande mid afternoon. This is a beautiful resort and it is huge, about 2,000 spaces. They have a very large clubhouse with all kinds of activity rooms, including computers, pottery, metalsmithing, sewing and cards. They have tons of activities listed on the daily schedule. About half the resort is small park models with the remainder being RV sites. With all the clubhouses, the golf course and the activities, it reminds me of Sun City, except with RVs instead of houses.

Last night we went to the ballroom in the clubhouse for an informal pizza night/dance. Before the dancing they put on a spoof of "Deal or No Deal" with one of the Casa Grande City Councilmen doing a pretty funny Howie Mandel. We had a good time visiting and dancing.

We don't have any big plans for our stay here. We will be going up to Phoenix at least a couple times to visit with Roy's family. We may also have to take the coach down to Tucson for a couple days to get some warranty work done on the camera system.

We'll keep you posted on our activities from time to time.

Bye for now.

October in Pahrump, Nevada

We have now been here in Pahrump for three weeks. Most of our "residency" work has been completed and we are just enjoying the peace and quiet of the desert. A couple weeks ago we took a day trip to Death Valley, which is less than 100 miles away in California. We went through the visitor's center then spent the afternoon driving around National Park. Very impressive - I certainly wouldn't want to break-down on some of the back roads we were on. Of course, we had to stop at the lowest spot in the continental United States and get the obligatory photo! We may come back here during the Death Valley Days Encampment for a day, but not to camp. The Death Valley desert makes the desert around Quartzite look like Manhattan.

The weekend of October 19th our good friends Barry and Colleen came up from Indio to visit. They drove their car rather than their motorhome since they were only going to be here two nights. They stayed with us and we had a great time. Went out to eat one night, had a BBQ the second night. Barry loves to do karaoke with Roy so they spent hours in the back of the coach singing.

That Sunday we had to move the coach from the Western Horizons park (Charleston Peak) to another park in Pahrump. We were only able to stay in Charleston Peak for two weeks, then we have to be out for one week. We moved over to an ownership Park called Seibt's Desert Retreat. It is located about six miles north of Pahrump on Highway 160. It was a fairly nice resort, but the spots were kind of small for individually owned sites. The resort has a spectacular clubhouse with a fully equipped spa, restaurant and bar. The restaurant and bar are not regularly open until after the first of the year when the real snowbird season starts. The rates for the resort are very reasonable so for that reason I would recommend it for a short stay, week or two perhaps, for anyone passing through the Pahrump Valley looking for place to stay.

On Wednesday, the 24th we took a drive into Vegas, about 60 miles one way. Jackie's brother Dennis was in town so we went in and had lunch with him at Caesar's Palace. Had a nice visit with him, then went downtown to say hi to my brother Russ who is a floor manager at the Golden Nugget. Did a little gaming then drove on back to Pahrump. We did see a glorious sunset as we came over the mountain into the Pahrump Valley. The smoke from the California fires was blowing into our area and it made for a golden sunset. The next couple days were really bad with the smoke. You couldn't see the mountains at all. It finally cleared up on the weekend.

We can certainly empathize with the people dealing with the wildfires because it was exactly one year ago Saturday that we were trapped at Silent Valley, near Banning, in the Esperanza fire. That was a very worrisome time, something I don't want to have to deal with again.

On Saturday, the 27th we went up to Beatty, Nevada for the Beatty Days celebration. Beatty is an old mining town located on Highway 95 about 60 miles north of Pahrump. The population is about 1,500 and the town is in the middle of nowhere. They had a great little celebration in the park with food booths, games, and crafts and other vendors. They also had bed races down the middle of the street. When given the signal to go, the team had to make the bed up with full linens, then one person would get on the bed as the "driver" (although most had no functional steering) and the other five would push and pull the bed down the street. When they got to the end of the block they had to change "drivers" and then race back to the starting line. The race course was two city blocks long, so they were racing a total of four blocks. Most of the teams were pretty whipped by the time they finished the run.

They also had mock gunfights in the street as well as a car show and motorcycle show. All in all it was a pretty good time for a small town in the desert. There were several hundred motorcycle folks there, mostly from the Vegas area who rode up for the day. Ran into a bunch called the Marine Riders who were all former Marines and members of the Vegas Marine Corps League.

On Sunday the 28th of October we moved back over to Charleston Peak RV Resort for another two week stay. We were going to leave Pahrump on the 11th of November, however, we found out that we need to be at the Pahrump Elks Lodge on the 13th for the meeting so we can be introduced to the Lodge as new members. We applied for a transfer from the Indio Lodge to the Pahrump Lodge so that we could keep all of our resident eggs in one basket. The dues for the Pahrump Lodge are also lower than those at Indio and since both Jackie and I are Elks, the level of the annual dues is an important issue. Anyway, when our two weeks at Charleston Peak are up we are going over to another Pahrump RV resort called Preferred. We will be there three nights. It is located right in the middle of town, behind one of the casinos, and is said to be a very nice resort.

We'll probably next update the blog when we move from Nevada down to Casa Grande, Arizona in mid-November. Unless something interesting happens before then, we'll talk to you in a couple weeks!

Free At Last!

As of Thursday, October 11, 2007, we have been freed from the clutches of the People's Republic of Kalifornia! We are now officially residents of the Great State of Nevada, Pahrump, Nevada to be exact. After getting a Pahrump mailing address we obtained our Nevada driver's licenses and registered to vote here in Nye County. We then spent most of Friday doing address changes from our old Indio address to the new one here in Pahrump. You don't realize how many places have your address until you start to make a change.

Once we pay our 10 months of California State income tax for 2007 we will have no more state income tax returns to file! YEA! Also, unlike gun-hating California, Nevada actually has a simple and quick procedure in place to qualify retired out of state law enforcement officers to carry concealed weapons under the 2005 Federal law. For two years I was unable to get any California law enforcement agency to allow me to qualify with my weapon at their range. Here, it took me ten minutes to set it up and I will be on the range next Tuesday.

We are enjoying our stay here at the Charleston Peak RV Resort. We have wandered around town, visited a few casinos, and had a good stay so far. Lots of activities here at the resort. We are doing karaoke in the clubhouse on Sunday. Will let you now how that went later.

Bye for now.

Migration Part 2 - Adventures In Nevada

On Sunday, September 30th we left the Carmichael Elks and headed east on I-80 towards the Silver State. Two days prior the Donner Summit had been closed for a while due to a snow storm, however, the skies were sunny and clear for our travels. I-80 between Sacramento and the Nevada State line is, by far, the worst stretch of roadway we have travelled in our two years on the road. From about 30 miles east of Sacramento all the way up the Sierras to the state line the road is concrete which has been broken down by traffic and weather. I have driven on gravel roads that were smoother than this highway. Once we crossed into Nevada the road was nice smooth asphalt that was being well maintained. The People's Republic of California should be ashamed of their roadways.

Sunday and Monday were spent in Fernley, Nevada at a very nice little RV park called the Desert Rose. The park is about 40 miles east of Reno and kind of out in the middle of nowhere, but it is a Passport America park with pull-throughs, full 50 amp hookups, and nice facilities for $14 a night. (Passport rate) During our stay we drove over to nearby Fallon, Nevada to visit the Elks Lodge. Small but friendly lodge located in downtown Fallon. They have very limited RV facilities not suited for large rigs like ours.

Tuesday morning we headed south on US-95, known as the loneliest road in the country. It is 400 miles from Fernley to Las Vegas and there are only a couple small towns along the way. Spectacular desert and mountain views, but you can't help but think about what would happen if you had vehicle problems along the way. Very Very Not Good! Fortunately, we had no problems and arrived in beautiful downtown Tonopah mid afternoon. We stayed the night at the Ramada Hotel and Casino which has a small RV park in the back. Tonopah is exactly half way between Fernley and Vegas, so it is the logical place to stop if you are not in a hurry and want to limit your travels to a couple hundred miles a day as we do.

The next morning we saddled up and headed for Las Vegas. We had scored a coupon at one of the rallies for five free nights at the Las Vegas Outdoor Resorts. We wanted to spend a few days in Vegas so we could visit with my brother Russ, who is a floor supervisor at the Golden Nugget. The Vegas Outdoor Resorts is a nice property, but the lots are much smaller than the lots at the Indio Outdoor Resorts. It also does not have the amenities that Indio has, no golf course and a much smaller clubhouse with no restaurant or bar. Nonetheless, the listed price for the lot we were parked on was $180,000. My brother and his daughter came over to visit while we were there. We went out to dinner and had a nice visit. Russ is also a former Marine.

On Saturday night we went to the clubhouse for an open house put on by the resort's homeowner's association and Monaco Corporation, which is the developer of the resort. They had light snacks and an open bar - yippee! They also had entertainment, a very nice band made up of homeowners and employees of the resort. They also had a couple of local professional session musicians sitting in with them for the evening. They were quite good, playing mostly contemporary soft rock in with a bluesy/jazzy style. Apparently this group formed a couple years ago and entertains regularly at the resort during the winter season.

Sunday morning found us making the gruelling 50 mile trek from Vegas to Pahrump, Nevada. Our intention is to relocate our official residency from California to Pahrump. We will be staying in Pahrump for five weeks during which time we will be trying to get a local mailing address, drivers licenses, and voter cards. We have never been to Pahrump, but most people we have talked to have told us it is a nice friendly little community with just about everything you would need.

We are staying the first two weeks at a Western Horizons Resort, the Charleston Peak RV Resort and Winery. Imagine our surprise to have our fellow 100%ers, Bob and Bette T pull into the parking lot right behind us. We knew that they were going to be here during the same time period, but were surprised to see them right behind us. They are now parked right next door. They are more familiar with Pahrump so they should be a nice resource for information while we are here.

Talk to you all again in about a week. Bye for now.

Southward Migration - Part 1

Not too much to report since we left Salem. We left the Monaco rally and went down to Canyonville, OR and the Seven Feathers Casino. We had won a night in the hotel there at a charity event back in May at the Grants Pass Elks Lodge. The local firefighters had a casino night. Roy managed to parley the initial $100 in play money into about $45,000 by the end of the night and was the biggest winner. Played wild and crazy on the craps table! Anyway, the prize was a night at the Seven Feathers along with dinner in their gourmet room. So that's where we spent last Friday night. Hotel and casino were nice (but no winning here!) and the dinner was excellent.

We left there on Saturday and traveled down to Phoenix, Oregon, just south of Medford, about 25 miles north of the California border. We spent a couple nights there catching up on laundry, shopping, and other chores. Monday we headed into California, stopping at the Red Bluff Elks Lodge for a couple nights. We have stayed here several times in the past. The Lodge is nice, although the freeway noise can get kind of loud at night.

On Wednesday we headed down to the Carmichael Elks Lodge, near Sacramento. Jackie has a girlfriend (Kathy) who lives here and she wanted to visit for a few days. We had dinner with Kathy and her husband Bill on Thursday night at the Lodge. On Friday night we met up again with Bob and Gloria, our friends from Indio with whom we had been on the cruise. They were down in Sacramento visiting their daughter. On Saturday we went to Kathy's house for a big cookout.

On Sunday we are leaving to head into Nevada. We will stay a couple nights near Reno, a night in Tonopah, and then down to Las Vegas for four days. After that we head for Pahrump where we will be for five weeks. More on that later. See Ya'll.

Monaco Come Home Rally, Salem, Oregon

On Monday the 17th we left Seattle early headed for Salem, Oregon. We arrived at the Salem Fairgrounds early afternoon and got parked quickly. Even though most people arrived at the rally on Sunday, we were still able to get a spot with electric service. This rally is sponsored by Monaco Coach Corporation and is for all of their motor home brands, Monaco, Beaver, Safari and Holiday Rambler. There are over 500 coaches in attendance. The usual rally activities, such as seminars and classes, vendors, and new coach displays are up and running.

This is a nice rally in that the rally fee includes breakfasts (which we don't do) and dinners, an open bar each evening, and entertainment each night. The first night's entertainment was a group called The Marlins. It was four brothers who had a Branson sort of show with a wide variety of music types, from country to rock. Very good show. The second night was a comedian who put on a very clean, but funny act. After that there was a session of karaoke which was a lot of fun. Of course, I got there early and sang last! There were only a half dozen singers so the rotation was fast and I got to do a number of songs. Thursday night's entertainment was Lee Greenwood, the country singer. He put on a very good show with a very patriotic theme.

Both Jackie and I went to several classes and seminars and we did a little shopping at the vendor barn. We were able to resist buying a new coach, but they did sell 25 new coaches at the rally. We met a lot of nice folks, including a number of other full-timers. We also saw a few old friends from the road and other rallies. We had a great time, learned a little, and even got a couple minor things fixed on the coach. This is our fourth rally in about two months, so we are pretty much rallied out for a while. We don't have anything planned rally-wise now until February.

On Friday we begin our trek south, working our way down through Northern California and then over into Nevada, headed for the little town of Pahrump. It has been a great summer in Oregon and Washington but it's time to head south for the winter. We'll write more on this fall's migration later on. Bye for now.

The Alaskan Cruise

On September 3rd (Labor Day) we moved from Moses Lake to Bothell, Washington. Bothell is a northern suburb of Seattle. Picking Labor Day to move was not the brightest decision since the traffic on I-90 over the Cascades was horrible. We finally settled into the Lake Pleasant RV Park in Bothell late in the afternoon and relaxed. The week before the cruise was spent doing some last minute shopping, packing meeting with the pet sitter who would be watching over Smokey the Cat while we are gone. As you can see, Smokey felt that he should be allowed to go on the cruise, even if it meant going as cargo.

On Sunday, September 9th we threw our somewhat over-packed bags into the car, kissed the cat goodbye and headed for the cruise terminal in downtown Seattle. Parking was a breeze and we were on the ship within an hour of arrival at the terminal. The ship departed at about 5 pm and we spent the afternoon getting to know the ship and the bartenders. We were on the MS Noordam, the newest of the Holland America Line's big ships. Had a very nice veranda cabin. Interesting how living in a motor home for two years makes a cruise ship cabin seem not as small as they did on past cruises.

Monday was a day at sea so we busied ourselves with the usual shipboard activities, eating, drinking, gambling, more eating, more drinking, a show, more eating, etc. etc. There are three other couples from the Indio Elks on the cruise with us, Bob and Gloria, Travis and Gail, and Roy and Mary.

Tuesday we arrived in Glacier Bay National Park and spent the entire day slowly cruising the narrow fiords of the park. The weather was cold and foggy in the morning but gloriously clear and sunny in the afternoon. The ship's crew commented several times that we were experiencing the best weather they had seen in months. The views were outstanding, snow topped peaks, ice filled valleys and several large glaciers. At the Pacific Glacier we watched a number of "calvings," chunks of the face falling off into the water. The chunks of ice in the water were a lot smaller than I expected, the largest no bigger than a Volkswagen, but the sights were breathtaking. Spotted one bear along the shore and a lot of sea lions.

Wednesday morning we woke up to a foggy morning docked in Juneau, Alaska. We went out for some shopping and had lunch at the Red Dog Saloon, which has been around since the 1800's. In the afternoon we took a three hour bus tour of the area, including the city, a salmon hatchery and the Mendenhal Glacier. While Juneau is the capital of Alaska, it has only a little over 200 miles of paved road and can only be accessed by air or sea.

Thursday morning brought us to Sitka, Alaska. Again, a foggy morning and a clear, comfortable afternoon. We took another city tour which took us to the Sitka National Historic Park and a Russian Dance show. Lots of totem poles at the park and a very entertaining show put on by the Russian dancers (who were not Russian, but pretty good anyway). The eight of us from Indio, who are all members of the Indio Elks Lodge, then visited the Sitka Elks Lodge which was within walking distance of the waterfront. Had a drink, visited with some local members and got our Lodge Pins. After lunch we did a little local shopping.

Friday morning we awoke in Ketchikan, Alaska. We were only docked there for the morning so we went out early for some shopping and walking around. All three of the Alaskan cities we visited were perched on very narrow pieces of land between the mountains and the sea. They all had a rugged, "frontier" look to them, although t-shirt shops seemed to be the most prevalent industry. The wilderness areas, mountains, forests, and fiords surrounding these cities were very dramatic and beautiful. It was easy to tell you were out in the middle of nowhere.

Saturday we were at sea until about 6 pm when we pulled into Victoria, B.C., Canada for the evening. Victoria was a fairly large, modern city with very clear British influence. We took a bus tour of the city that including a tour of an old 1800's mansion. Since we were only there for the evening we weren't able to do any shopping.

Sunday morning we awoke already docked back in Seattle. Disembarking was as easy as the embarkation process and we were off the ship and headed back to the RV park by 10 am. This was our first cruise on Holland America and I will say that we would cruise with them again. The staff on the ship was very attentive, the ship was beautiful and well maintained, the food was good, and the service was excellent. We had a busy but wonderful week and enjoyed every moment.

No time to relax though - we got off the ship on Sunday and Monday morning we left for Salem, OR and another rally. We are headed for the Monaco Corporation's "Come Home" rally. More on that later. See ya!

Moses Lake, Washington

We have been at the Suncrest Resort in Moses Lake, Washington since August 24th. This past Monday through Thursday we have been the Wagonmasters for a rally of the 100%ers Chapter of FMCA. It was a small turnout, only three other coaches besides ourselves, but we had a great time. Monday evening we got together for cocktails, hors devours and a brief business meeting. On Tuesday evening we had a pot luck dinner which was very enjoyable and topped off with ice cream topped with your choice of several different very nice liqueurs. Wednesday evening we all got together for a very nice dinner at one of the local restaurants which was located on the lake shore. The food and company were excellent.

On Thursday three of the couples drove to Leavenworth, Washington, a little community about 85 miles Northwest of Moses Lake. The town sits in the foothills of the Cascades and has reinvented itself as a Bavarian community. The downtown area looks like it should be in the Alps. We spent several hours shopping in the local shops and also had lunch in a very nice German restaurant. This is very cute little community and I would recommend that anyone who is in the Central Washington area should stop by for a visit.

On Friday the other three couples left on their continuing travels. Like us, all of the other couples are full-time motor home travelers. Most of them are wintering in the Southwest this year, so I would imagine we will cross paths later in the year. We are staying here until Labor Day (Monday) when we leave to head for Seattle. We leave on our Alaskan Cruise a week from tomorrow and are getting very excited!

The Suncrest Resort where we are staying is a very nice park. It is family owned and operated and very well maintained. The sites are large and well laid out. The pool and spa complex are the nicest I have seen at any RV resort. There is a kiddy pool with two water slides, a very nice large pool, and the biggest hot tub I have ever seen. All of them are well taken care of. The resort is a Good Sam park, as well as a Passport Park in the off season, and I would highly recommend it for a stay for our RV friends who are traveling through this part of Central Washington.

Moses Lake is a water sports oriented community set on the shores of a large, meandering lake. There are several nice restaurants in town. There is an Elks Lodge here, one of the few in Western Washington, but they don't have a lot of activities. No meals are served except for special events, but the bar is open every day.

Adios for now mi amigos.

Le Page Park, Rufus, Oregon

We just finished a wonderful, relaxing five day stay at the Le Page Corps of Engineers RV Park in North-central Oregon. This park is located on the banks of the John Day River, a few hundred yards from where it flows into the Columbia. The park is located on I-84 about 30 miles East of The Dalles, Oregon. It is a small park, only 22 spaces, but the first eight are parallel to the river, right on the river bank. You step out of your RV and are 15 feet from the river. Best of all, with a U.S. Park Service Golden Age Pass it was $7 a night for 50a electric and water. We arrived here on Sunday, August 19th and settled in for a restful stay. We are pretty "rallied" out.

On Tuesday afternoon we took a drive to The Dalles to walk around town and have dinner with our Friend "No Fish" Jim. Jim lives in White Salmon, Washington, a little town just across the Columbia River from Hood River, Oregon, about 30 miles West of The Dalles. We met Jim last Winter while staying at the Imperial Spa RV Resort near the Salton Sea. Jim hosted karaoke every week there and we became pretty good friends. We stayed in White Salmon for a couple days in July and visited with him. Had a very nice dinner.

Wednesday afternoon we took a drive up into Washington to try a little fishing. Again, no fish, but we did enjoy a quiet few hours on Rock Creek. The rest of our stay at Le Page was spent just hanging around the coach, enjoying the quiet. One evening we were sitting our enjoying a cocktail when a herd of squirrels came to visit - must of smelled the Cheez-its we were munching on. Smokey was sitting by the screen door enjoying the show - and probably day-dreaming about squirrel nuggets.

Friday morning we leave for Moses Lake Washington. We will be there for ten days, including three days for a rally of the 100%ers Chapter of FMCA. We are the hosts for that rally.

More in a few days. Enjoy your days!

Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA) Rally, Redmond, Oregon

As we said in the previous entry, we settled into the Deschutes County Fairgrounds in Redmond, Oregon on Saturday afternoon, August 12th. The parking areas here are all in gravel parking lots, so we don’t have to worry about getting stuck like we did at our two previous FMCA rallies. In both Minot, ND in 05 and Charlotte, NC in 06 we were parked in grass fields and it rained. In Minot we (along with most everyone else) got mired and had to be pulled out by a tractor. In Charlotte we were able to get out on our own, but it was dicey. We are also much closer to the rally activities here, within reasonable walking distance.
The rally itself started on Monday and we both went to a couple of seminars. None of the vendor areas were open for shopping until Tuesday, but in the afternoon we did go to the new coach display area and look a few new motor homes. Some very nice coaches, but still no floor plans that we like as well as the one we have. We found it remarkable that some of the larger, more expensive coaches, had very poor in-coach storage. They would not be very good for full-timing in our estimation. The Monday night entertainment was a "sock hop" with a local band. We didn’t feel like hopping in our socks, so we stayed at the coach for the evening and did a little BBQing with our friends.
One thing we noticed at this rally was the cost of food at the concession booths. The concessions are all controlled by the fairgrounds, and the prices were outrageous. Nearly $11 for a sub sandwich or BBQ and $16 for a plate of nachos! The cheapest thing available was a $4 cheeseburger. We ate a lot of cheeseburgers for lunch this week!
Tuesday we went over for a few more seminars and spent some time shopping around the vendor booths. Fortunately, we have been at this lifestyle long enough that we have bought most of the expensive toys, so we didn’t spend too much money. A little jewelry here, a shirt there, that sort of thing. We went to meetings of two of the FMCA Chapters to which we belong, Elks International and MIME. Elks International is one of the larger FMCA Chapters. It is not an Elks Lodge or otherwise affiliated with BPOE, but one member of the couple must be an Elk in good standing with a Lodge in order to belong to the Chapter. We went to the Chapter business meeting on Tuesday and a social gathering on Thursday. Many of our friends and acquaintances from other Chapters we belong to are members of Elks International as well. We also went to a meeting of the MIME Chapter which was also a pot luck dinner. (Yea! Cheap food!) MIME stands for "Mouse In Motorhome Experience" and originally meant you had to have had a real mouse at one time or another in your coach. They have since opened it up to anyone and it is strictly a social Chapter with a couple small rallies each year. Fun group of people.
Tuesday evening we went to the arena for the Nelson Brothers show. These are the twin sons of the late Rick Nelson who now tour doing a tribute show to their dad. They had been at the FMCA rally in Charlotte as well, but the entertainment there was in an outdoor venue and two songs into the show the skies opened up with a torrential downpour. This time we got to listen to the entire show. Good music that sort of took you back in time. After the show we walked back to the coach because it was a beautiful cool evening and only about a half mile walk.
Wednesday more of the same - a couple seminars, a little shopping at the vendors, and looking at a few more new motor homes. For those reading this blog that are not familiar with FMCA or other RV rallies, the organizers usually schedule a whole series of seminars and classes - everything from crafts to lifestyle hints to educational seminars on engines, transmissions, cooling systems, electrical systems, you name it. After a half dozen rallies we have been to a lot of them, but we always manage to find something new and interesting to attend. The vendors are people and companies who set up booths - at the larger rallies like this one there may be 200 or more vendors. They include people selling RV supplies, campgrounds, membership parks, jewelry, clothing, gizmos, gadgets and anything that might be of interest to the RV community. Finally, the new coach exhibit at this rally has well over 200 coaches of every make and model. We did find one new coach that peaked our interest. It was a limited edition Monaco Diplomat (one model above our current coach, but with the same basic chassis) called the Tommy Bahama Edition. Great interior with a lot of wood and rattan decor. Not yet in the market for a new coach, but if we were, this one would get a serious look. We also learned that our floor plan, with the rear sitting/office area, is no longer offered in the Monaco line, but is still available in Holiday Rambler and Safari coaches. We also drove down to Bend (about 15 miles) to pick up or mail and our documents for our cruise next month. YEA!
Wednesday evening’s entertainment was Debbie Boone. Interestingly, she didn’t sing any of her father’s music, but rather did a tribute to Rosemary Clooney, her mother-in-law. She has a decent voice and put on a pretty good show, but most of the music was a little older and slower than I like. Jackie was disappointed she didn’t do any Pat Boone stuff.
Thursday, more seminars and strolling around the vendor area. We had a meeting of 100%ers Chapter in the early afternoon. This is the chapter that is restricted to families living full-time in a motor home - in order to stay in the chapter you can’t own a house. This is the Chapter that Roy is the Vice President of. Late Thursday afternoon we went to the Elks International social - food and drink and meeting with friends and acquaintances. Thursday evening’s entertainment was Tony Orlando (sans Dawn) who put on a great show - best of the rally. He was very interactive with the audience and sang a wide variety of songs. He also had a very talented band and let the various members perform as well. This was the official end of the rally.
Two of our caravan left on Thursday. Bill and Lynette had to leave early to get to a service center in Bend because their front wheel bearings started leaking and messed up the brakes. They were lucky to get an appointment for Friday, provided they could get there early. They decided to simply leave Thursday afternoon and park in the repair facility’s lot overnight. We found out later that they were able to get the stuff fixed that same day and they were able to get back on the road. Steve and Gail also left Thursday because of a family commitment.
On Friday we awoke to the sounds of hundreds of diesel engines as people started to roll out of the rally. We were not in a hurry to pack up because we were only going to Prineville, a little town about 20 miles NE of Redmond. One of our friends in the 100%ers Chapter had told us of another Chapter called the "3 Ts" which always holds a two day "relaxation" rally immediately after the FMCA rallies. The three Ts stand for "To dump, To rest, and To wash." This little post-rally was held in the Crook County RV Park in Prineville. This is a very nice park with full hookups.
On Friday night they had a happy hour and pot luck dinner for the group - about 12 rigs. They also had a business meeting, and OF COURSE, we joined the Chapter. Good thing, because we weren’t members for five minutes until Jackie was elected "Designated Delegate" for the Chapter. This means she will represent the Chapter at the next FMCA Board of Director’s meeting in the summer of 2008 in Minnesota - IF neither the elected National Director or Alternate Director can attend. Every FMCA Chapter (there are nearly 500 now) has one representative on the Board, the National Director. National Directors are elected by the Chapter. An Alternate Director is also elected and represents the Chapter if the National Director cannot. If neither can make it, the Chapter can elect a temporary Designated Delegate - that’s Jackie! We are planning to attend the rally in St. Paul next summer anyway and if Jackie represents the 3 Ts Chapter at the Board meeting, we get our rally fees refunded. FMCA pays the rally fees for all the National Directors or other Chapter representatives.
On Saturday we actually got up early and went to breakfast with the group! I know those of you who have camped with us will find this amazing and astounding, but it is true. We then went into town to do laundry, wander around downtown for a while, and visit the Prineville Elks Lodge. Nice friendly little lodge located right downtown. That evening the Chapter went to dinner at the local country club’s restaurant. Pretty good dinner at a reasonable cost. The service was excellent, even though we had 26 people dining. After dinner we went back to the park and visited with Dick and Mary Moore for a while, then back to our coach for the evening. The Moore’s were staying at the same park, but not with our Chapter group.
We will be leaving Prineville on Sunday morning heading for the La Page Corps of Engineers RV park near the confluence of the Columbia and John Day rivers. Its about 30 miles East of The Dalles, Oregon on Interstate 84. We will be there for five days, so more on that adventure later. Bye for now.

Monaco International Rally - Salem, Oregon

We got settled into our spot at the Oregon State Fairgrounds in Salem early Sunday morning, August 5th, and finished setting up our site after returning from the davenport races in Silverton. We are here for the Monaco International pre-rally. Monaco International is a chapter of the Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA) which is restricted to owners of Monaco brand coaches. Although not the sponsors of the rally, Monaco Coach Corporation is a big supporter of Monaco International. They provide sponsorship for many of the rally activities, provide a couple dozen service techs to do work on owner's coaches, and bring down a couple dozen new coaches for display and sales. Monaco is real big on customer service.
We have a nice end parking spot and they left lots of room between the coaches - not always the case at rallies. Best of all, the power was already on - at most rallies you have to wait a day or so for the electric to be turned on. A couple days before we came to Salem the front air conditioner decided to quit working. Fortunately, it is not too hot here in Salem so we can get by until the service guy can come around.
Monday there wasn't too much going on at the rally so we went to downtown Salem to do some shopping. Among other things we went to the Verizon store to get new phones. We were eligible for upgrades and Jackie's old phone hasn't been quite right since it accidentally went swimming in a glass of wine while we at Spectacle Lake.
Tuesday was the first full day of events. We went to a couple of seminars and did some shopping in the vendor area. I also reported the malfunctioning A/C unit to the Dometic representative at the rally and he came out that same morning and fixed the unit. He had to change a part and it has been working well since. It was still under warranty so it didn't cost us anything. We are also waiting for the Monaco Coach technician to come by to take care of the service needs we reported when we arrived at the rally. At the Monaco rallies the company will have techs come out to fix two items. Labor is free but you have to pay for parts if you are not under warranty anymore. The last couple rallies we have had trouble finding things for them to look at - the problem with having a fairly trouble-free coach I guess!
The next four days were spent primarily going to classes, looking through the new coach display and hanging out. The nice thing about the Monaco International rallies is that the rally fee includes breakfast and dinner for four days, as well as nightly entertainment. We don't do mornings, so the breakfasts are no big deal, but the evening dinners are excellent. There is an open bar for an hour before dinner starts. Monaco brings in a catering service from Florida that they have used for years. Their food is excellent. Nice salad bar every evening and a buffet with two choices of entree. One does not go thirsty or hungry at a Monaco rally. On Friday night they introduced all of the new coach buyers - they sold 33 new coaches at this rally - and had drawings for them. The new coach buyers could win amounts ranging from $1,000 to $10,000 in the drawing. They had two $10k, two $5k, a few $2k and the rest were $1,000. The goal of Monaco corporation is selling new coaches to 10 percent of the attendees and they came very close on this one. There were about 350 coaches attending and they sold 33 new ones.
Friday afternoon they brought a water hose by so we could fill the fresh water tank and the "honey wagon" came around and dumped our tanks so we would be all ready to move right to Redmond to the FMCA rally without having to stop along the way to dump tanks. About half the coaches are going to caravan from Salem to Redmond. We went with the caravan last year in North Carolina and it was a pretty dramatic sight, almost 200 coaches going down the highway nose to tail. This year we are not going with the caravan because we are meeting five other couples from the Desert who are going to the FMCA rally.
We got up early on Saturday morning and were on the road to Redmond by 7:30 a.m. The drive was very easy, little traffic and only modest mountain grades even though we were crossing the Cascades. It took us exactly three hours to make the trip. We met our other traveling companions in the Wal Mart parking lot just outside the Redmond fairgrounds. We met up with Bill and Lynette, Bob and Gloria Baron, Steve and Gail Schmidt, Dick and Mary Moore, and Ken and Judy, friends of the Baron's. The six of us then had our own little mini caravan into the fairgrounds to ensure that we would all be parked together. After a little snafu with the rally parking people we got settle in by mid afternoon. It seems that when we pulled out of the Wal Mart parking lot we managed to stick our little group into the middle of the "formal" caravan of the American Coach Owners Club. The parkers got confused and had to pull us into a holding area for about 20 minutes until they figured out where to put us. No power until Sunday morning, but the generator is working fine so we have A/C - it's quite a bit hotter here in Redmond than it was in Salem.
Barry and Colleen Cohen, our best buds from the Desert are on their way to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho and planned the trip so they could spend a couple days in Bend, just South of Redmond, during the time we are in Redmond. They called us late Saturday afternoon to tell us they were in Bend, so we and Bill and Lynette drove down to see them. We all went to the Bend Elks Lodge for dinner and had a good time visiting.
Barry and Colleen came up to Redmond on Sunday afternoon for a pot luck picnic with the rest of the Desert Rats and we had a grand old time. We BBQ'ed burgers and had a lot of other side stuff. Chuck and June McCubbins also came over. They are vendors, selling plaques and frames for RV owners, but used to live in the Desert. They are old friends of Barry and Colleen, and Jackie and I have known them for a number of years. We see Chuck and June at most of the rallies we go to, but Barry and Colleen had not seen them for about six months. After the BBQ a number of us partied in our coach. Barry and Colleen ended up staying the night on our hide-a-bed rather than drive all the way back to Bend late in the evening. They got up early Monday morning, drove back to Bend, and left for Idaho.
Monday starts the FMCA rally and I will write about our fun here later in the week. Bye for now.

Silverton, Oregon

Silverton is a very nice little community in the Pudding River valley. Very “small town” feel with a Victorian downtown area. On Wednesday we wandered around town doing a little shopping and then stopped in at the Elks Lodge. Nice little lodge right in the middle of town. On Thursday we took a drive around the surrounding countryside and found out that this part of Oregon is a prime Christmas tree growing area. Everywhere you look you see fields of little evergreens. Another interesting sight are fields of vines tied in huge vertical “V”s reaching about 12 or 15 feet high. We initially thought they were some kind of grape, but then decided maybe beans or peas. Found out later that they were hops and that this part of Oregon was a prime hop growing area. Next beer I have I will think of Silverton!
We visited Silver Falls State Park, located about 15 miles South of Silverton. There are nine waterfalls in the park along almost nine miles of hiking trail. Three of the falls are either visible from the main road, or are only a short walk from the road. Very pretty park and very much worth a visit, even more so if you enjoy hiking. The trails looked very well maintained and not especially strenuous.
We also drove up to Mount Angel, a very small Bavarian community about four miles North of Silverton. The town recently built a new senior home in the middle of downtown that looks like it should be in the Alps. In the corner of the building they built a huge Glockenspiel that goes off every four hours. Supposedly the largest in the United States. Our timing was off, so we didn’t get to see it operate. There are a number of other Bavarian looking buildings in town and they are primarily known for their Oktoberfest Weekend (which is in September, go figure).
Friday started the official Homer Davenport Days weekend in Silverton. We learned that Homer was a famous political cartoonist in the early 1900's who was from Silverton. Among other things he is associated with President Theodore Roosevelt’s nickname of Teddy, based on a number of his cartoons of the President with teddy bears in the picture. He died of pneumonia contracted while he was covering the sinking of the Titanic.
Friday we went to the fair in the park which included various craft booths, food and local entertainment. Most of the craft booths had very nice goods at very reasonable prices - far less than we have seen at similar events in larger tourist towns.
Saturday morning we went to the parade. About an hour long with the usual small-town trappings - local dignitaries in old cars, high school band, floats from local businesses, and lots of fire trucks. The parade participants threw candy out to the people on the street. We kind of saw this coming when we noticed before the parade that all the kids had plastic sacks in their hand. Probably the cutest thing was the local hospital’s Bed Pan Brigade, a group of nurses doing close order drill with bed pans. Very Do Dah for those of you who have been to Pasadena for that event. After the parade we went to the car show the local car club put on in the park. I was amazed to see that there were more restored cars and street rods than I used to see at the events in Palm Springs! Very nice group of cars. Saturday night we went back to the Elks Lodge for Karaoke. Not a real big crowd, but some very good singers. The ER, Jim Christensen, has his own band and does a lot of the oldies. Spent the evening sitting with the ER and his group. Very friendly folks.
On Sunday we got up very early and drove the 15 miles into Salem to the fairgrounds. We got right into the rally site with no wait and got the coach set up. We then drove back to Silverton for the davenport races. They have been putting on this event for the last 24 years. They close off Main Street right downtown and race couches down the street. (Well, technically, most of them were love seats) Local businesses sponsor race teams who put sofas on wheels with some sort of steering mechanism. One person rides on the coach to steer and other team members push. They have a variety of races with four man push teams, two man teams, only male, only female, over 40, etc. They race about hundred yards and the sidelines were packed with spectators. Only in a small town!
If you are ever in the Salem area I would strongly recommend a visit to Silverton, it is a charming little place. If you happen to be around during the first weekend in August, check out the Homer Davenport festivities. Makes you feel good about small town America.
We are now set up at the Salem, Oregon State Fairgrounds for the Monaco International motorcoach rally. We will be here until next Saturday when we leave for Redmond and the Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA) International rally. We should have a busy week and I will report on our activities here later on.
Adios Amigos

Sherwood, Oregon

Had to say goodbye to our friends, at least for a while. Our friend Russ, and his daughter and son-in-law, had gone out on a fishing boat early Saturday morning and caught their limit of salmon. Saturday night we had a salmon feast over at the Purscell’s park. Bill and Lynette were there also. Nine people and there was still salmon left over.
We arrived at the Sherwood, Oregon Elks Lodge early Sunday afternoon after an uneventful three hour drive from drizzly Long Beach. The Lodge is located on a hill with a great view of the wooded hills surrounding Sherwood. Sherwood is a suburb of Portland, located about 15 miles south, just off I-5. The Lodge has 22 RV sites and when we arrived there were only a couple open sites. Normally the Lodge is closed on Sunday and Monday, but they were having a "Family Day" on Sunday afternoon, so we were able to visit. Very friendly and fun Lodge. The First Lady, Tina, was behind the bar and went out of her way to make us feel welcome. The ER, Tony Baker, spent quite a while chatting with us. At one point a squirt gun fight broke out - this is apparently a relatively common occurrence. In fact, their newsletter has a blurb about their first lodge meeting in August being held outside after a BBQ, and has a note at the bottom, "Squirt Guns Optional!" If any Elks are in the area, you should definitely make a visit to the Sherwood Elks Lodge.
Monday we took a ride into Portland to do some shopping and to visit a nice little restaurant called "Pause Kitchen & Bar." During most of my period as a professional home owner association manager I worked for a lady named Lynn Gilliam. Her son, Capron, moved to Portland and recently opened Pause. We were there, along with Lynn and her husband Tom, back in June, and we wanted to stop and say hi to Capron since we were in the area. Unfortunately, Capron was not in on Monday, so we just had a drink and headed out. Our experience from June brings a strong recommendation to try Pause for dinner if you are in the Portland area. It has a very eclectic menu and the food is excellent. Pause is located at 5101 N Interstate. Towards the North end of town on the East side of the river. Say hi to Capron for us.
After visiting Pause, we stopped by the Tualitan, Oregon Elks Lodge, located in (surprise!) Tualitan, just East of Sherwood. We had visited this lodge twice while we were here in 2005 and never could get a lodge pin. This time we did. Only people there were the bartender and one member, but they were quite friendly. Worth a visitation by traveling Elks.
Today is Tuesday, and we left Sherwood at about 10:30 this morning to drive down to Silverton. Silverton is located about 10 miles East of Salem. We have to be in Salem at the fairgrounds on Sunday morning for the Monaco International Motorcoach Rally. We are staying at the Silver Spur RV Park. A very nice park with pull-through spaces, free cable and wifi, and full hookups with 50 amps. Its also a Passport America park so we got three of our days at half price, only $14 a night. Friday and Saturday are full-fare because this weekend is Davenport Days in Silverton. Supposed to be a fun small-town celebration. Will report on the festivities after the weekend.
Over and Out for Now.

Astoria Elks Lodge

We finally were able to visit the Astoria, Oregon Elks Lodge yesterday afternoon. Astoria is about 25 miles south of Long Beach across the Columbia River. We have been to Astoria a couple times during our stay in the area, but the Lodge is closed on Sunday, Monday and Wednesday and doesn't open the other days until 4:00 pm. Yesterday we had to go into Warrington (suburb of Astoria) to get our mail from the UPS center and we went by the Lodge, arriving right at 4:00.
Trish, the bartender, was very nice and showed us around the lodge since we were the only ones there at that time. The Lodge owns a large three story building right in downtown Astoria. The bottom floor is mostly rental space, the second floor is the club room and dining room, and the third floor is the Lodge room. There is also a four-lane bowling alley in the basement. Trish took us up to the Lodge room - very beautiful, probably one of the top five we've seen in our travels. Very ornate columns and ceiling and the formal thrones for the stations.
Best part of the visit - Jackie put ten bucks in one of the slot machines (most Oregon Lodges have State-run video slots) and hit four deuces for $170. She switched machines, put in ten bucks and hit a royal flush for $300!! YIPEE! $300 went into the cruise kitty for our September Alaska cruise - party on!
If you're an Elk, try to visit the Astoria Lodge if your in the area and ask to see the Lodge Room.

Long Beach, Washington

Well, we have seen marginal improvement in the weather. The rain has stopped, but the sun is still usually hiding behind a coastal overcast. On Tuesday we had a nice sunny day but the wind was blowing about 35 mph. I suppose that’s the reason they have a kite festival here every summer. Tuesday we tried fishing at Black Lake, just south of here in Ilwaco. Worked (sic) at it for a couple hours but didn’t get any bites. First time I have fished in at least 10 years.
Since we will be leaving here in a couple days I will devote a big part of today’s dialogue to “Recommendations for the Long Beach Peninsula.”
Long Beach Elks Lodge - Located right in downtown (all of three blocks) Long Beach. The bar is open everyday but there is not much more going on there. We (us, the Purscell’s and their friend Russ) did have dinner there both Friday and Saturday, the only times they serve meals. Friday was a buffet which was surprisingly good for five bucks. Three different entrees, salad and sides. We had heard that Saturday night was normally steak night, but this past weekend they had prime rib. Not bad, but kind of small portions for $12. Both meals were well attended, but (as would be expected) mostly visiting members and guests. The few regular local members who were working the lodge were pretty friendly. All in all, if you’re an Elk worth at least one visit.
Marsh’s Free Museum - Also located in downtown Long Beach, Marsh’s harkens back to the “good old days” when the main highways were two lane and the tourist traps abounded. The place is a “gift shop” with the ususal beach-town souvenirs and tourist kitsch, but it is packed to the ceiling (quite literally) with a variety of collectibles and oddities. Among the things you will see: A shrunken head from Jivaro Indians in South America, "Mary Lou," a complete human skeleton discovered in someone's closet in Aberdeen, the Wyoming Werewolf (a cleverly modified deer butt), and a baby lamb with eight legs and one head. Around the shop are a variety of mechanical peep shows, old carnival type Test-Your-Love-Power coin op machines, and a rather large collection of rare antique music players. Also look for "Morris the Cat" - Named after the TV pet food commercial feline, Morris was the store pet until he died. Then he became the store's stuffed pet. The oddity most advertised is Jake the Alligator Man. Purported to be a mummified half man, half alligator, he resides in a glass case against the back wall. You can buy Jake shirts, Jake cups, Jake glasses, Jake bumper stickers, and Lord only knows what else. Worth a visit. By the way, some of the info in the above description was “borrowed” from Roadside America, a most interesting web site which describes all that is weird along America’s highways. If you’re into the odd and interesting, be sure to check their web site (www.roadsideamerica.com) to research the interesting places and things which might be near your destinations.
Chen’s Chinese Restaurant - Located on the main highway at the north end of Long Beach. We had noted that there were always a lot of cars in the parking lot. The Purscell’s told us the food was good, so on Tuesday night we went there with our little group. We got dinner “A” for $9.95 a head for five people. Soup, egg rolls the size of burritos, fried rice, and three entrees. There was enough food for ten people and it was some of the best Chinese I have had in years. Jackie and I took home the leftovers and had a full meal the next day as well. Highly recommended, even though my fortune cookie had nothing in it! Not sure what the cosmic meaning of that was, but I worry a little.
Ocean Park Eagles Lodge (Aerie) - Karoke on Wednesday night. Our new friend Russ is an Eagle as well as an Elk, so we went for the Karoke last night. Started and ended early (5 - 9) but they had a lot of people there with about 20 singers in the rotation. Some pretty good, some not so much! Very inexpensive place to party - they sold big orders of french fries for a buck and wings for two bucks. The drinks were cheap too, although strangely variable in price. Jackie (Absolute rocks) and I (bourbon & 7) had several rounds and the price was never the same. First $5, then $4, then $5.25! Since the average was under $5 I didn’t complain. Dave the Karoke guy was a friend of Jim (Nofish) Anderson, an friend we met “on the road” this past winter. Nofish lives in White Salmon, Washington and we stopped to see him before we went to Long Beach. Jim shares my love of Karoke and we had gone to the White Salmon Eagles for some singing during our visit. He told us about Dave and the Ocean Park Aerie. Dave signed us in as guests. I am considering joining an Eagles Aerie since there seems to be a whole lot of them around (at least here in the Northwest) and they appear to be very active, more so than most of the Elks Lodges. Very friendly place, recommend you stop in if your in the area. Ocean Park is about ten miles North of Long Beach.
World’s Longest Beach - The only beach in Washington on which you can drive, there are a number of access roads along the peninsula. We took a little drive on it shortly after we got here, but the weather has not been conducive to spending much time on the beach. I have this thing about driving on beaches - must be some hold-over from the beach-party movies and my crush on Annette Funicello in my early teen years. We drove on several in Florida last year and again in Pismo Beach, California earlier this summer. (The only California beach you can still drive on)
Neptune Theater - The only movie theater in Long Beach, the Neptune is a two-screen box with what have got to be the most God-awful theater seats I have ever sat in. They look ordinary, but when you sit down you immediately rock back on springs to a reclining position only a few degrees short of horizontal. I felt like an Apollo astronaut preparing for take off. Very friendly staff, but the popcorn was cold and you need a cervical collar to enjoy the movie with those seats. NOT recommended!
Tomorrow Bill and Lynette arrive so I suspect that there will be some major partying to report on in a couple days. Peace out, as the rappers say!

Wet Wet Washington

We have been parked at the Pacific Holidays Resort in Long Beach, Washington, since July 15th. It has rained for six days straight with little let up. The rain is not generally very hard, just a constant drizzle. The whole coach feels slightly damp. Late this afternoon the sun finally peeked through just before sundown and right now we can see the moon out the window!!! HOORAY!
We have spent a lot of time with Ray & Anita Purscell, friends from Indio, who are staying at a park just down the road. On friday Bill & Lynette, also friends from Indio, will be arriving and staying in the same park we are in. Although we will be leaving on Sunday it will be nice to see more friends. It's been a couple months since we crossed paths with any of our Coachella Valley friends.

The History So Far

In June 2005 we sold our home in Indio, California and retired. After the sale of the house closed we moved into our new 40' Monaco Knight motorhome. We had been planning this course for about three years prior to the sale of the house and had carefully selected the coach based on what we thought we needed to be "full-timers" on the road.

We moved into the coach on June 4, 2005, and left the Coachella Valley on June 21st. Our first summer was spent in mostly in Oregon, the Dakotas, and Wyoming. Winter 2005/2006 was Florida and summer 2006 was primarily in the eastern portion of the country. We spent this last winter mostly in southern California. In April 2007 we headed for the great northwest and have been in Oregon and Washington since May.

In our first two years on the road we put 21,000 miles on the coach and another 25,000 on our Jeep touring around. Most of the first two years we were truely "on the road" only staying in one place for a week or less. We have since slowed down somewhat and are enjoying a more relaxed tour schedule, staying in most places at least two weeks.

Web Publishing At Last

After two years on the road we have finally decided to start a web log so that our family and friends can keep up with our travels. I look forward to posting entries at least every couple days.