At Home in Pahrump - Summer is Finally Fading

Hello again. Our last chapter concluded on Thursday, September 9^th, while we were parked at home on our lot in Pahrump. Friday we left the coach about 1:00 and drove to Desert View Hospital here in Pahrump so Jackie could get her annual mammogram. After she was finished we stopped at the Gold Town Casino to game a little. We both lost our small stake and decided to quit for the day. We went back home and spent the rest of the day inside. We did some chicken on the BBQ for dinner, then watched TV until bedtime.

Saturday, September 11^th, officially Patriot Day and certainly a day to remember. In 2001 we were still living in our house in Indio and, being a Tuesday it was a work day. Jackie generally got up a little after 6:00 a.m., had a cup of coffee and then woke me up about 6:30 so we could be on the road work by 7:15. Of course, when she turned on the news the second plane had just hit and she knew it wasn't just a tragic accident. She woke me up and we got ready for working watching the news and watching as news of the Pentagon strike broke as well. At that time I was the manager of a large homeowners association in Cathedral City, California and Jackie worked for another company in an office just a couple miles away. That allowed us to carpool to work most days. Needless to say, not much work was done that day as I and the rest of the office staff were glued to the TV sets. We has a fairly quiet day, watching some of the remembrance ceremonies on TV in the morning, then going out for a late lunch at one of the casino restaurants. Terrible's Roadhouse has the best liver and onions anywhere. After lunch we did a Walmart run, then went back to the coach until around 5:00 when we left to go to the Elks for karaoke. Our friends Tom and Phyllis were there, as well as our friends Len and Debbie. This is the first time we have seen Len and Debbie as Len just had a hip replaced and is just now getting up and around and able to drive. We had a good night as there was a small crowd, which meant more singing. We all got five songs in. Yea! After karaoke ended at 9:00 we went home, watched a little TV and went to bed.

Sunday, September 12^th, we had a stay at home day. I did go out and get a newspaper first thing in the morning, but after our morning paper and coffee we just stayed home, did a few chores and relaxed for the entire day. Monday we left the coach about 11:00 and went to the Mountain Falls Country Club restaurant for the monthly lunch with the local Escapees Chapter, Chapter 14, the Lucky Rollers. This is the only Escapees Chapter in the State of Nevada, and is not technically affiliated with the Pair-a-dice RV Co-op. Most of the local members are residents in the park, but we do have a few that just live in Pahrump and are Escapees. There were a couple dozen people at the “dine out” today and we sat with some people we knew a little, but got to know better at lunch. We had a nice meal, although the food quality at Mountain Falls is not what is used to be. I think the chapter is considering finding a different location for the monthly lunches. After lunch we drove back the park and went to the clubhouse for a business meeting of the chapter. The main topic of conversation was where the club was going to go for their October camp out. The club tries to do a Spring and Fall camp out somewhere in the near Southwest, within 200 miles of Pahrump. The members finally settled on Golden Valley, outside of Kingman in Arizona and Jackie and I ended up as wagon masters for the rally. It's been a while since we put on a rally, but we will give it a go. After the meeting we went back to the coach and relaxed for the rest of the day.

Tuesday, September 14^th, we left the coach after lunch and went to the laundromat to do our laundry. It has been a little over three weeks, so we had a lot of clothes. By 3:30 we were done and had the clean clothes loaded in the car. We ran by the car wash and got the car cleaned as well, then headed home. We put everything away and, after cocktails, had a nice corn beef and cabbage dinner. I had been cooking a corn beef in the crock pot all day. After dinner we watched TV and then went to bed. Wednesday was a stay at home day. I did some outside chores in the morning, continuing to decorate our lot. About 10:00 I got a call from a delivery service that they were on their way to the park with the new air conditioners I ordered. The truck, a full size tractor trailer rig, arrived about 20 minutes later. The driver was very nice and I was shocked when he opened the truck and the only thing in the 45 foot enclosed trailer was a pallet with my two A/C's stacked on it. I asked him about it and he told me that he was the contracted Pahrump delivery guy for several national trucking lines. Early in the morning he drives into Las Vegas, goes to the various terminals to pick up large items that need to go to Pahrump. He then drives back up, does his deliveries and goes home. He said today was a light day and mine was the last delivery for today. He helped me get the boxes, which are about 130 pounds each, into the enclosed part of our patio, and then left. We spent the rest of the day doing some chores and just relaxing. We had cocktails at 5:00 and then left over corn beef for dinner. After dinner we watched TV until bedtime.

Thursday, September 16^th, I went out about noon with Tom Howell to play some golf. This was the first time I had played since were in Yuma in April. We went to Lake View Executive course, an 18 hole par 3 course located near the center of Pahrump. The course was in pretty rough shape, but 18 holes including a cart was only $20, so it was a great place to practice. I did about as well as I ever do and had a great time. We got tired toward the end and only played 15 holes, but it was still fun. After I got home we just relaxed for the rest of the day and evening. Friday we had a few clouds and a little cooler temps. We left the coach after lunch and went out to run some errands. We stopped at the bank, then picked up mail, then did a Walmart run. After finishing our errands we went back to the park and stayed in for the rest of the day. We had cocktails and dinner, then watched some TV before going to bed.

Saturday, September 18^th, we went out for a late lunch about 1:00 to a Thai restaurant nearby that we have been wanting to try. It gets good reviews on Yelp, but up until recently was only open for take out orders. The food was very good with large portions. The service was also good, although the server was a little too talkative. The only disappointment was that they didn't have any beer available. We left full and went back to the coach and relaxed for a while. About 5:00 Phyllis Howell arrived to pick up Jackie to go to the Ms. Senior Golden Years pageant at the Saddle West Casino. This is an annual event here in town, although they didn't do it last year because of Covid. Debbie Forrest was also going to be there so it was a girl's night out for Jackie. I headed to the Elks for karaoke and was joined there by Len Forrest. Phyllis's husband Tom went with her to the pageant. It was a small crowd again and we all got to do five songs. When karaoke ended at 9:00 I drove to the casino and arrived just as the pageant was ending. Jackie said it was a very enjoyable evening. Jackie and I stayed another half hour or so, gaming and having a cocktail. After that we went back home, settled in and went to bed.

Sunday, September 19^th, I got the Sunday paper and we had a quiet morning. About 2:30 we left and drove to the Lakeside Casino, not too far from the park, to attend the Pahrump Rotary Club's annual 10K drawing. We had bought one of the $80 tickets for the drawing which was held in the outside amphitheater at the casino. We got there a little early, so we gamed for a half hour or so, then went and got our seats. They also had a lot of door prizes for attendees as well as a 50-50 drawing and a bunch of stuff for a silent auction. The program lasted a couple of hours and in the end we didn't win anything, not one of the dozens of door prizes, the main drawing, or the 50-50. Oh well, we had a cocktail and had a fun afternoon. After the drawing we went back to the coach, had dinner and then watched TV until bedtime. Monday was a stay at home day. Since it is starting to cool down a little I was able to finish decorating our lot today. I put out the lights and our “flamingo family” in the front yard and everything looks nice again. Other than that, we just stayed home and relaxed.

Tuesday, September 21^st, we went out after lunch to run some errands and just get out of the house. We stopped at a local cat rescue shelter just to look at kitties. It has been over a year since we lost our last cat, Benji, and both of decided that we would wait a while before considering getting another fur kid. This shelter was just cats and they had everything from six weeks to six years, big and small, and every breed and color you can think of. A lot of the adult cats were stand-offish, but some seemed to be friendly. We spent some time in the kitten room and there were two of the several dozen that really seemed nice and jumped up in our laps without prompting. The bottom line, however, was that after we left we talked and both felt that it was fun to play with the cats for a bit, neither of us was ready for the issues that having a cat bring. The loose fur, the scratching of the carpet and furniture, the sand box, etc. We both felt that we were not yet ready to re-cat, as it were. After the cat visit we went to a couple of thrift stores. The only thing we bought was a really large and ugly Halloween wreath to put on the front of the coach. After we got home we had cocktails, dinner and then TV until bedtime.

Wednesday, September 22^nd, my buddy Tom Howell picked me up after lunch and we went to the local executive course to play some golf. Today we managed to complete all 18 holes, although I was a little pooped by the last couple of holes. I did marginally better today than last week, which I guess is good. After Tom dropped me back off at home about 3:30 we just relaxed for the rest of the day and evening. Thursday we left the park about 1:00 and went out for a late lunch at the Indian restaurant here in town. It is called the Pour House and is really a bar with a small restaurant attached. Jackie says their Indian food is great and she had a Tikka Marsala lamb dish. I don't care for Indian cuisine, but their pizza is among the best I have ever had, including being better than Round Table, my previous favorite. We both took leftovers home. After lunch we went to Goodwill again to pick up some new drapes that we had seen yesterday. We wanted to put some sort of decoration or drape on the open doorway to our patio and they had just what we wanted. We didn't get them yesterday because we needed to measure. After the Goodwill we headed back to the coach and stayed in the rest of the day and evening.

Friday, September 24^th, I went out in the late morning and installed the new drapes in the doorway of our patio. They turned out looking really nice. We had a relaxed afternoon and then about 4:15 we left to go to the Moose Lodge for dinner and karaoke. On the way to the lodge we stopped and picked up our mail and a newspaper. We arrived at the Moose right about 5:00 and met Tom and Phyllis, who had secured a table for the evening. They invited us here because Friday is fish and chips night and karaoke starting at 6:00. I have been a Moose member for probably ten years, but because we tend to stay at Elks Lodges in our travels we don't go to the Moose very much. The food was pretty good, as promised by Tom and Phyllis, and the place was packed for karaoke. About half the crowd were people I knew from karaoke at the Elks. Many have shifted away from the Elks to the Moose. It was a friendly crowd and the rotation was long, only getting in three songs before 9:00 when we left. We headed home, watched a little TV and went to bed.

Saturday, September 25^th, we left the coach about 11:00 and headed downtown to go to the Pahrump Fall Festival, which is an annual event that got canceled last Fall because of Covid. It is a little like a county fair, although the only animals involved are in the rodeo they have a couple of the evenings. It is mostly just a few arts and crafts exhibits, a carnival for the kids, some local entertainment, and a lot of booths, mostly community out-reach stuff and food. It took us about two hours to go around everything we wanted to see, which didn't include the carnival. I have a saying that I will not go on an amusement ride that was put together overnight by a crack head. After the festival we went to Mom's Cafe, one of our favorites, for lunch. After lunch we visited the county pound to look at their cat collection. They didn't have near as many as the private shelter did, and none of them were especially appealing. We then headed back home and relaxed for a couple of hours, then left around 5:00 to go to the Elks for karaoke. It was really a slow night there. Our friends Len and Debbie came, but even with the three of us and the host singing we only had eight singers and got five songs in before we left about 8:30. We headed back to the coach and watched some TV before heading to bed.

Sunday, September 26^th, was a stay at home day except for going out for the Sunday paper. We did a few chores and generally just relaxed. At 5:00 our friends Tom and Phyllis came over for happy hour. While they were here we also had them witness the new, updated wills and health care directives we have done. Our last ones were over ten years old and needed to be updated. After they left around 7:00 we watched some TV and relaxed the rest of the evening. Monday was a stay at home day. The RV service guys came about 8:30 to install the new air conditioners, and got to work. To my surprise it was less than two hours to take off the old two and install the two new ones and get everything working. The total for the installation was $250, so the total for everything for replacing both our aging air conditioner/heat pump units was just over three grand. We spent the rest of the day and evening relaxing and doing a few little chores.

Tuesday, September 28^th, we went out after lunch so Jackie could get a pedicure. While she was getting her toes done I ran a few errands. After she was done we did a Walmart run, then headed back to the coach. We spent the rest of the day and evening relaxing in the coach. Wednesday we went to Terrible's Casino for lunch. The last time we were here, a couple weeks ago, they double charged our debit card. It took four phone calls and two visits to the casino to finally get them to credit back one of the charges. As a result the Chef, who is also the food manager, told us he would comp a meal for us. Today we got our free lunch. After lunch we went to Home Depot and bought a sun shade to put up on our outside covered patio. The evening sun shines right into the patio so we wanted to put up a shade screen we could roll down when we need it and roll up when it is not in use. It is a ten foot shade and it JUST barely fit in the car, but we got it home. We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening relaxing.

Thursday, September 30^th, we left the park about 11:00 and headed over the hump to Las Vegas. We first stopped for brunch at one of the Cracked Egg restaurants. They always have a two for one coupon in the Sunday paper, so we used it. After brunch we stopped and Jackie got her hair cut. We then went to Costco to do some bulk shopping. We mostly needed some meat for the freezer. We also put gas in the car for the first time in over a month. After our errands we headed back over the hill getting home in plenty of time for happy hour. We watched TV for the rest of the evening.

Friday, October 1^st, we had an RV repair company come over in the morning to try and take care of a low pressure problem we are having with the hot water system in the coach. I had thought the hot water heater needed cleaning out and I did that a couple weeks ago, but the problem continued to get worse. My internet research determined that the likely suspect was a bad back-flow preventer on the back of the water heater. This is probable since the problem was only with the hot water. To get to the part the water heater has to be removed from the coach, a job I couldn't do on my own. They pulled the heater and sure enough, the back-flow valve was broken. Since it really isn't needed except for “winterizing” of the coach, a job we never do, we just pulled the guts out of the broken valve and put everything back together. We now had really good pressure except that when the water was turned back on the dirt in the system clogged the kitchen faucet. We have been meaning to replace that faucet anyway, so we asked the RV guys to pull the faucet so we could replace it. Unfortunately, they said the fasteners were corroded and they couldn't get it apart unless they cut the faucet off. Since that would require us to have the water turned off for a day or two, we declined and said we would buy a faucet and then take the old one off. We went to Home Depot and got a new faucet, but by then the RV guys were on another job and couldn't come over. I have decided that I am not going to use this company anymore and will just call a real plumber next week to come over and change the faucet. We spent the rest of the day and evening relaxing.

We are now about three weeks into this episode and it is time to get it published. Until next time, ponder the words of novelist Alexander Dumas, "Friendship consists in forgetting what one gives and remembering what one receives." See ya soon.

Finishing Our Summer 2021 Tour and Back Home in Pahrump

 Hi there, welcome back. Our last chapter concluded on Saturday, August 21^st, when we arrived at the Pony Express RV Resort in North Salt Lake, a suburb of Salt Lake City, Utah. That evening we had a line of thunderstorms come through that produced a lot of rain, but thankfully, not the hail that had been predicted. The worst it did was mess up some of our TV programs.

Sunday, August 22^nd, the first thing I did was go out to try and find a Sunday paper. I tried four different stores and all I found was last week's paper. It turns out that the major paper in Salt Lake City stopped daily papers in 2020 and now just has a weekly version, which apparently doesn't come out until late Sunday or early Monday. Oh well. After lunch we went out to do some errands. We both needed haircuts and toe nails done, so we went to a Great Clips and got haircuts. Not very good one's, but it'll grow back. Then we went right next door and I got my toe nails clipped, along with a chunk of one big toe, and Jackie got a pedi. The pedi was the only thing that came out right. We also did a few geocaches, getting four new finds. We then did a Walmart run at a Supercenter that had it's own parking garage. You went from the garage into the store. Great for inclement weather, which I guess they have here in the winter. After the Walmart run we went back to the coach and relaxed. I had made a pot of chili colorado in the crock pot, which we had for dinner. We then watched some TV and went to bed. All the wind and rain from yesterday evening was gone, as was most of the wildfire smoke. Yea!

Monday, August 23^rd, we left the coach about 11:30 and drove to a restaurant here in North Salt Lake called Janet's Sunshine Cafe. This was a small breakfast and lunch place in a strip mall, but it had great reviews on Yelp. We quickly learned why. The food was really good, the staff friendly and attentive, and the price moderate. We had a great meal, breakfast for Jackie, lunch for me. After lunch we drove to nearby laundromat to do three weeks worth of laundry. It took us a couple of hours and by 3:30 we were back home putting stuff away and making the bed. It was warm today, in the low 90's, and in the late afternoon we had an issue with low power on one leg of our 50 amp service. I checked everything and then switched to the 30 amp service with our voltage booster connected and we were OK. I had sent an email to the park and after a couple hours someone showed up and checked the power and it was now good on both legs. A little embarrassing, but I know what was going on a couple of hours ago. I am guessing that it was a brown out on the part of the local power company rather than a park issue. The rest of the night everything was fine. We watched TV until bedtime and went to sleep on our new, clean sheets.

Tuesday, August 24^th, we left the coach after lunch and went out to do some exploring of Salt Lake City and some geocaching. We drove to the downtown area, which is quite large, and drove by the Mormon Temple. We had visited the Temple grounds the last time we were here a few years back, so we didn't go this time. We didn't even take pictures because the Temple is apparently undergoing some renovations and repairs because it was nearly completely cloaked in scaffolding and surrounded by construction fencing. We drove around Capital Hill and took a few pictures, then went to the campus of the University of Utah and looked around. We then went to the area south of downtown to do some geocaching, getting six new finds, and one DNF, in an hour or so. After caching we headed back to the coach and stayed in for the rest of the afternoon and evening. We had leftover chili colorado for dinner, then watched TV until bedtime.

Wednesday, August 25^th, our last full day in Salt Lake City. We left the RV park about noon and drove to the nearest In N Out burger place for lunch. I also got a tee shirt. All the In N Out tees are the same on the back for any given year, but the small front logo also has the state the shirt is from. I now have Utah, so I have one from every state they currently have stores in. After lunch we drove west to look at the Great Salt Lake, which we found after we got there, is not as great any more. Like every other lake in the West, it has shrunk considerably. It is more obvious here because the lake is very shallow, only a dozen feet on average, so a little less water makes a big difference. We went to the Great Salt Lake State Park, which sets on the Southern shore of the lake. It has a marina and a small visitors center. We spent an hour or so there, going through the exhibits and watching the informative movie. The marina has very few boats because only small power boats can navigate the shallow channel leading out to the lake. Sailboats are most popular here, but they generally have keels which are too deep for the current water. We did a geocache at the park, and then a few more on the way back home, getting three new finds for the day. We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening in the coach relaxing.

Thursday, August 26^th, another travel day. We left the RV park about 10:00 and continued south on Interstate-15 148 miles to Fillmore, Utah. We arrived at the Wagons West RV park about 1:00 and got parked and set up for our one night stay. We didn't even unhook the car and never left the coach after we got set up. Fillmore is a small farming community, named after Millard Fillmore, American President. The population is about 2,700 and it sets an an altitude of 5,100 feet, nearly as high as Denver. Friday was another travel day. We left Fillmore about 10:00 and continued south on the Interstate, headed for St. George, Utah, about 158 miles away. We arrived at the St. George RV Park about 1:00 or so after a quick fuel stop on the road. We got the basics set up in this pretty dumpy looking RV park given the $55 a night price, then left to get a late lunch. We found a place called Pita Express so Jackie could have her gyro. I had a meat ball pita, which wasn't bad despite the fact that pita bread doesn't hold up well to spaghetti sauce. After lunch we grabbed the three geocaches that were located in the shopping center and then headed back to the coach. We were back in 100 degree plus temps, so after we finished setting up we just relaxed and tried to stay cool for the rest of the day.

Saturday, August 28^th, we left the coach after lunch and went out to do some exploring of the area. We drove around downtown St. George, and then out in some of the suburbs. It was well over 100 degrees and too hot to do any caching, so we just drove around. We stopped at a Home Depot store to pick up some cleaning stuff that Jackie wanted and while we were in there we saw a large, portable swamp cooler on sale. Ever since we left Pahrump we have been babying the front air conditioner in the coach because the fan motor is on the verge of failure. I wanted to get it fixed before we left, but parts were hard to come by and when the time came to leave we didn't have time to have a service guy come out. It has been working up until this morning when it quit, on a super hot day of course. We decided that a cooler was better than nothing, so we bought the cooler. After our touring we went back to the coach and set up the cooler. It did help cool the front of the coach a little, but of course it also raised the humidity inside. It was a kind of miserable night until we went into the bedroom where the A/C was working fine. I hope that we will be able to get a service guy out soon after we get to Pahrump. We picked up some KFC for dinner and stayed in the coach for the rest of the evening.

Sunday, August 29^th, another travel day. We left St. George about 10:30, but ten miles into the journey we hit the Arizona strip and went back to Pacific time, getting our hour back. We were headed for Las Vegas, about 130 miles southwest. We arrived at the Arizona Charlie's Casino RV park about noon and got checked in. It was hotter here than in St. George, but as soon as we got the basic stuff set up for our two night stay we left to go to Costco. After our Costco run we came back to the coach, put stuff away and finished getting set up. It was a miserable night as even the one air and the swamp cooler couldn't get the coach comfortable. Tomorrow we will go over to my brother Russ's house to see he and his wife Zen and Tuesday we finish our summer travels by heading up to Pahrump.

Monday, August 30^th, we left the coach a little after noon and drove to my brother's house in North Las Vegas, about 10 miles north. We got there just before 1:00, just as Zen was putting lunch on the table. As usual, she made way too much food, but it was good. She had the Filipino version of spring rolls, called lumpia, some chicken curry, and a beef in peanut sauce dish, along with white rice. We had a nice meal and then spent the next several hours catching up and visiting. We also had some cheesecake for dessert that we had bought yesterday at Costco. We left Russ and Zen's about 5:00 and drove back to the coach. We had our evening cocktail, then relaxed with the TV for the rest of the night. Tuesday was another travel day. We had some rain come through the area about 5:30 in the morning, but when we got up at 7:30 it was mostly clear and dry. We had the coach packed up and were on the road by 10:30, heading the last 66 miles of our summer trip, over the hill to Pahrump. We didn't hook up the car for the relatively short trip, hoping it would make the climb over the Spring Mountains easier, but the coach still started overheating and I had to stop a couple of times to cool it down. Actually, the first time I stopped was to clean up water that spilled out on the floor from our new cooler, which tipped over when I had to slam on the brakes at a stop light. It was just coincidental that it gave the coach a chance to cool down some. We finally made the summit and the last 30 miles was down hill and easy. We arrived at the Escapee's Park in Pahrump about noon. We got parked on one of the park's rental units, just two spots down from our own. The concrete contractor should be out in the next day or two to put in our new concrete slab, and they need access to the whole lot while they do it, so rather than have to move, we just elected to take a rental spot for a week while the work was done. We got parked and set up, then tried to stay cool. We went over to our friend Millie's place for cocktails at 5:00 since we weren't quite done setting ours up yet and it was kind of a mess. By 6:00 we were home and watched TV until bedtime. It's good to be home.

Wednesday, September 1^st, the 23^rd anniversary of when Jackie and I got together after I moved from Phoenix to Indio, California. Today was a chores day for the most part. I first ran over to the RV Superstore here in Pahrump to see if I could find any of the various parts I need to fix some of the many issues we have with the coach. I was able to get the part for the toilet that I needed to fix the problem we have with the flush valve sticking. After I got home I spent quite a bit of time online locating and ordering parts, filters for the water system, a wand to flush out the water heater, a new trickle charger for the coach batteries, some new switches for the jack system, and a few other things. The concrete contractor came out and measured and paint-marked where the forms will go for the new patio on our lot. I was there with him and we got everything marked out the way we wanted. After lunch we went out and picked up or mail at the UPS store and did a quick Walmart run. It was a busy but productive day. We did some burgers on the BBQ for dinner.

Thursday, September 2^nd, about 11:30 a service guy came over to look at and repair our refrigerator. Yesterday we had stopped at the new and used appliance store where we had bought the refrigerator for our shed earlier this year and mad arrangements for their service guy to come to the park today. I had emptied out the freezer and transferred everything to the fridge in the shed. He opened the freezer door and told me that it was just what I had thought it was, the circulation fan was bad and the fan was banging on the metal shroud. He told me this was a common problem with Hotpoint/GE fridges and he had a new motor on the truck. Within an hour he had the fan replaced and the fridge sounding just like it used to. The whole thing was a well spent $100. Also this morning the concrete crew arrived at our lot and laid out the forms and the rebar for our patio. They worked for four hours or so and by mid afternoon they were done and it was ready for the park's Construction Committee to inspect and approve. They told me that they would probably pour the cement next Tuesday after the Labor Day weekend. After the fridge service guy was done we went out to lunch at the Artesian Cellars restaurant as a delayed anniversary lunch. We each had some wine and a nice lunch. After lunch we went to the Pahrump Nugget to game a little bit, with both of us losing a few dollars. After our gaming we went back to the coach and I spent an hour fixing the toilet. It now works as it should and there are two chores crossed off my extensive to-do list. Millie came over for cocktails and we sat a chatted for a while, then after she left we made dinner and watched TV until bedtime.

Friday, September 3^rd, I went out a little before 10:00 to go to a meeting at the clubhouse. I am on a committee that reviews and recommends changes to the governing documents of the Co-op. When I left the coach I was surprised to see that the contractor had already poured the cement for the slab and there was a finisher hard at work finishing the slab. I was surprised since I didn't expect it to be poured until Tuesday. My meeting went about 90 minutes and when I walked back to the coach the finisher was just leaving. We now have a nice 10x36 concrete patio. Yea! Since the new slab is about 3 and a half inches high, I called the office and asked them to have someone deliver some fill gravel/dirt so I could fill in a little around the slab. Within ten minutes a volunteer was coming with the front end loader bringing five loads of fill and dumping it on the driveway. I will get out first thing in the morning to spread it around. I want to give the concrete time to set up well. About 1:00 the RV repair guy came to fix the front air conditioner. The blower fan has quit working. I had bought one online and just needed his expertise to install it. After an hour on the roof the repair guy gave me the bad news that he couldn't replace the fan. The unit was old and he couldn't get to the fan like he can on the newer units. This means we have to shell out for a new heat pump A/C. Rats! At least he will buy the almost $200 replacement fan from me because he said they are hard to get and he gets calls for them all the time. Now I have to research A/C prices. We spent the rest of the afternoon in the coach, had a light dinner, then watched TV until bedtime.

Saturday, September 4^th, I got out early in the morning and raked down all five piles of rock and dirt, spreading it around the edges of the new slab. Got a few callouses, haven't had one of those in a while. About 12:30 we left and went to lunch at Chathai Bistro, one of our favorite Thai restaurants here in town. They have a unique dish, a creation of the owner/chef, called Saki Shrimp. It is sauteed shrimp, mushrooms, pineapple chunks and bell pepper, mixed in a coconut milk sauce with skinny egg noodles. It is to die for and not something you can get at any other place. Great lunch. After lunch we picked up our mail, then headed back to the coach. At 5:00 we left to go to the Elks for karaoke, our first since we have been back. Our friends Tom and Phyllis were there, but Len and Debbie were not because Len is still recovering from a recent hip replacement. The usual crowd was also there. I had a good night singing and listening to others, Jackie spent some time on the slot machine at the bar. Didn't win, but didn't lose much either. Karaoke was over at 9:00 and we went home, watched a little TV and went to bed.

Sunday, September 5^th, a travel day. Well, sort of. I went out and got the Sunday paper and we had a relaxing morning. After lunch we packed up the coach for travel and I drove around the block and pulled into our own spot next to our brand new patio. Today, and for the next three or four days, we are still in the low 100's, so I didn't do much outside because of the hot sun. We did get set up for our stay here, which will be until just before Thanksgiving. We got a few things done inside, but mostly just had a relaxing day after our brief travel. Monday, Happy Labor Day 2021. Today was a stay at home day. We are still in the middle of a heat advisory for the Southwest, so I did a few chores around the coach, did a little bit outside in the shade of the patio, but basically we just relaxed. We had cocktails at 5:00 and Millie came over for a visit. She is leaving tomorrow on a month long trip, including heading back to her old home turf in Utah, east of Salt Lake City. Next week their family is holding a “Celebration of Life” for Millie's husband Dick, who died of Covid in Yuma back in January. She is then going to do a little traveling. Since she sold the big 40 foot diesel pusher they used to travel in, she now does car camping, sleeping overnight in her Jeep Grand Cherokee. She still goes into campgrounds for the safety aspect, but doesn't set anything up outside. After Millie left we did some steaks on the BBQ, watched some TV and went to bed.

Tuesday, September 7^th, I was supposed to go the dentist at 9:00 this morning to begin treatment for a series of issues the dentist found in June, before we left for summer vacation. However, last night I got a call from the dental office that the doctor had a family emergency and was canceling all appointments this week. As a result, I had some unexpected free time. The first thing I did after a cup of coffee was go outside to clean out the hot water heater. We had it put in new a couple years ago, but recently noticed the hot water pressure wasn't as strong as it used to be. A lot of what I read online said it could be the calcium built up in the tank, so I decided to clean it out today. It only took about an hour to do and the pressure was improved a little bit. Later on in the day I did a little more work outside decorating and cleaning the storage shed, but not too much as it was still 108 for the high today. We spent most of the day inside, Jackie painting some rocks and me just doing some office work and other stuff. We did a meatloaf on the BBQ for dinner. It's great because it works just like an oven without heating up the house. After dinner we watched some TV and went to bed.

Wednesday, September 8^th, we went over to the clubhouse a little before 2:00 to attend a meeting. The park is having their annual elections for members of the Board of Directors and the seven candidates for the three open positions were having a “meet the candidates” event. It didn't last too long because the candidates didn't really have too much to say and little of what they did say was specific. Two of the candidates are running for reelection to the seat they already have, and four of the remaining ones are individuals who have served on the Board in the past. Not a lot of new blood in the group. After the meeting we went back to the coach and spent the afternoon relaxing. The RV service guy was supposed to come over in the afternoon to clean and service our back A/C, which is still running OK, but he never showed up and never called. The problem with little communities like Pahrump is the lack of consistent, reliable and competent service companies. We had leftovers for dinner and then watched TV until bedtime. Thursday we went out about 12:30 for lunch and to run some errands. We ate at a pizza place called Farinata Pizza that opened here in Pahrump a year or two ago that we have been wanting to try. It gets really good reviews, so we thought we would give it a try. Their menu is pretty much limited to a couple of appetizers, lots of artisan pizza choices, and a few desserts. I say artisan pizza because they only have one size, medium, which is probably enough for two, and lots of variations in vegetable toppings, cheeses, and a few meats. They had very few choices that I personally thought were desirable. Jackie likes the artisan pies with things like artichoke or egg plant. We ended up going with two different pizzas, an egg plant one for Jackie and one with pepperoni, salami and prosciutto for me. Jackie thought hers was very good, I thought mine was very lacking. Not enough sauce and not enough cheese. We also had a meatball appetizer, which was two pretty tasty meatballs and a couple of pieces of white toast they called brochette. Neither of us thought we would come back and can't recommend it despite the great reviews. After lunch we picked up our mail, then headed back to the coach where we stayed in the rest of the day. We had both taken half our pizzas home, so I had leftovers for dinner and Jackie had popcorn. We watched TV and went to bed.

We are now about three weeks since our last posting, so it's time to close out this chapter. We are just beginning our three month stay here in Pahrump and hope to be doing more when it cools down in a week or two. Until next time, remember that true friendship is having those weird and wonderful conversations with your friend and thinking, “if anyone heard us, we’d be put in a mental hospital.” See ya soon.

The Summer 2021 Tour Continues - Along the Columbia and Snake Rivers

Hello again. Our last episode concluded on Friday, July 30^th, when arrived in Umatilla, Oregon, on the Columbia River. Saturday we went out after lunch to do some exploring and geocaching. We are staying at the Umatilla Marina RV Park, which is operated by the City of Umatilla. We are about a 100 yards from the shore of the Columbia River, in the shadow of the Interstate 82 bridge which crosses over into Washington. Umatilla is a small city, about 7,000 population, and is named after the Umatilla Indians who inhabited this region. There isn't much going on in the city, with a short main street, and only a couple service stations and businesses. After driving around for a bit we drove to nearby Hermiston, which is also in Umatilla County. The first (and last) time we were in Hermiston was in August of 2005, very near the beginning of our full timing journey. Hermiston has a population of about 29,000 and is the largest city in Umatilla County and Northeastern Oregon. When we were here in 2005 it was primarily agricultural, and considered itself to the watermelon capital of the world. The city has now become reliant on logistics and data storage centers, although watermelons are still a part of their branding. We drove around town exploring and caching, getting four new finds. We also located a laundromat so we could do laundry before we left the area. We decided it was too hot and humid to continue to cache, so our last stop was Walmart where we picked up some needed supplies. After Walmart we headed home and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening trying to stay cool.

Sunday, August 1^st, we left the coach about noon and drove to a cafe in Umatilla called Ray's Daze for lunch. Jackie actually had breakfast, but we both had OK food. Nothing to brag about, but not bad either. After lunch we took a drive to the City of Pendleton, Oregon. Pendleton is the County seat of Umatilla County, but slightly smaller than Hermiston, at about 16,000 population. Pendleton is the oldest European community in the area, having been founded in the mid-1800's when exploration and colonization of the Pacific Northwest began. Pendleton still considers itself a “cowboy” community and the annual Pendleton Round Up rodeo is a major event in the city. The city is a railroad hub and is also known for ranching, both cattle and sheep. The well known Pendleton Mills is a major industrial tenant of the city. We drove around for a while, getting four new geocache finds, and one DNF, before heading back to Umatilla. After we got home we spent the rest of the evening relaxing.

Monday, August 2^nd, was laundry day. After lunch we drove to the laundry in Hermiston that we checked out and did our laundry. It was a big load, 20 days worth, since we have been on the road and busy. By 3:30 or so we were done and went back to the coach and got everything put away. For dinner we had a nice pot roast that we had put in the crock pot this morning. After dinner we watched some TV and went to bed. Tuesday was a stay at home day. It was hot, close to 100 degrees, humid and there was a lot of smoke in the air. There are a bunch of fires in far Eastern Washington and Idaho that are creating smoke all over the Northwest. We had a relaxing day, got a few chores done and just enjoyed a quiet day in.

Wednesday, August 4^th, was another travel day. We packed up the coach and left Umatilla about 10:30, headed southeast to La Grande, Oregon, a distance of about 94 miles. The trip took a couple of hours because just east of Pendleton I-84 goes over the Blue Mountains, which take you from about 500 ft elevation to 4,100 ft. It is a long slow grade but the coach pulled it OK, just got a little hot in places, but I slowed down and made it over the top. We checked into the Rendezvous RV park about 1:00 and got parked. The office was closed, but they had given me my space number when I made the reservation, so we just parked. We got the basics set up for our two day stay and then left to go have a late lunch. We first checked out a Greek place we had eaten at three years ago when we were here. However, it is a little place with only outside seating and it was too hot and sticky for that. We found an excellent Thai place called Thai Fresh Gardens near downtown. We had trouble finding it because it is in the basement of a large market place, an old building that has been renovated and turned into a bunch of little shops. The food was excellent, worthy of the four and a half stars it had on Yelp. We also had enough to take home for a light dinner tonight. After lunch we went back to the coach and finished setting up. We then just stayed in the rest of the afternoon and evening. We had some brief thundershowers in the early evening, but they cleared up before dark.

Thursday, August 5^th, we went out after lunch to do some exploring and shopping. La Grande is a small town of about 14,000 population sitting at about 2,800 feet elevation. It started out life as a way point on the Oregon Trail and the town was formally incorporated in 1865 as Brownsville, named after it's founder. However, after a few years it was required to change it's name by the Post Office because there was another town in Oregon with that same name and had it first. The changed the name to La Grande. Today it's still just a way point, but now on the freeway and the railroad lines that run through town. We had hoped to do some geocaching too, but found that there were only four geocaches in the entire town and we had already got one of them the last time we were here. The others were higher terrain that we like, so we just didn't cache. We also tried to drop off a small package that Jackie was returning to Amazon. Their return policy is quite good, just drop it off at a UPS mailing center, no package, no paperwork. However, we found the town did not have a UPS store but did have a Copies Plus store that advertised as a UPS shipping center. We got there and found they didn't have the equipment needed to scan the QR code that Amazon had sent to Jackie's phone. He suggested the UPS Customer Service Center in town. We went there and found they didn't open until 3:30 in the afternoon. I guess we will have to wait until we get to a bigger town. We stopped at Bi Mart and looked around a little, then went to Walmart for some supplies. After Walmart we headed home and relaxed for the rest of the day. We again had some thunder storms move through, but they only lasted an hour or so before it cleared up again.

Friday, August 6^th, another travel day. We got on the road at 10:30 and continued south on I-84, heading for a rural campground near the town of Huntington, Oregon. The campground, called Oasis on the Snake, is about six miles outside of Huntington, right on the shore of the Snake River. In this area, roughly a sixty miles of so of the Snake River forms the boundary between Oregon and Idaho. We are on the Oregon side of the river, but we also went into a little “bend” in the time zone boundary which puts a small corner of Southeast Oregon into the Mountain Time Zone instead of the Pacific, so we lost an hour as the time went ahead by an hour. We arrived at the RV park about 2:00 and got parked in our spot and starting setting up. The reason we are staying here is that Jackie has an old friend named Sandarah who lives in a small town in Idaho named Cambridge, which is about 70 miles North of the RV park. This is the closest decent RV park to their house. Sandarah, and her husband Maybon, have a travel trailer and had told us that they have reservations for a couple of days at the same park, starting today, so that we can visit.

Jackie met Sandarah through a mutual friend back in the 80's when she was just 20 years old. Jackie took her under her wing and calls Sandarah her “adopted daughter.” They lost touch up until about four or five years ago when Jackie found her on social media and reconnected. We visited with them three years ago and stayed at this same park, which at that time was called Catfish Junction. Sandarah and Maybon arrived with their trailer about an hour or so after we did and after everyone got set up we had a nice visit. They provided some BBQ ribs for dinner and Jackie made some slaw and beans to go with it. We stayed up and sat outside and visited until about 10:00 when we went in to relax a bit before bed. We are going to be here in this park for five days, although Sandarah and Maybon will be leaving on Sunday afternoon. After a little TV we went to bed.

Saturday, August 7^th, we had a stay at home day. After lunch Sandarah came over and she and Jackie played cards most of the afternoon. I sat and talked to Maybon for a while and later in the afternoon he took his boat out and went fishing on the river, further down towards Huntington. I don't have a license and didn't want to just sit on the boat, so I didn't go. We had a quiet afternoon and then Jackie did a chili relleno casserole for dinner, along with rice and beans and the four of us had a nice dinner. We again went outside after the sun went down and talked until a little after nine. We then came in, watched some TV and went to bed.

Sunday, August 8^th, would have been my mother's 95^th birthday. We had a relaxing morning and by mid afternoon Sandarah and Maybon had packed up their stuff and left for home. We did have some time to talk and visit before they left. Their house was about 90 minutes from the campground, however, Jackie got a text after an hour that they had some kind of overheating problem with their truck and had to have it towed. They were apparently not too far from home as they got some help from neighbors to get their boat and trailer home. We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening just relaxing. We had leftovers for dinner, watched some TV and went to bed. The campground is pretty much empty tonight, only a few other rigs still in residence.

Monday, August 9^th, we left the RV park around noon and went out for an afternoon of exploring and caching. We drove about 11 miles east to the town of Weiser, Idaho. Weiser was founded in the mid-1860's by William Logan and his wife who built a roadhouse for travelers and settlers heading for the Northwest. They built and operated the Olds Ferry about ten miles downstream, which was the only easy crossing for the Snake River north of Boise. Today the town of about 5,500 depends on local ranching, farming and outdoor recreation in the area. We had visited Weiser back in 2018 when we first came to this area. We had lunch at a bar and grill called Legends on Main. Jackie didn't think much of her steak sandwich, but my beef dip was wonderful. After lunch we picked up two geocaches that we had DNFs on back in 2018. We must have been having a bad day back then, because neither were too difficult to find today. After fixing these two DNFs, we went to Bi Mart to do some shopping. Jackie had bought a pair of jeans at the one in La Grande the other day and liked the way they fit, so she wanted another pair. After shopping we did some more caching, some around Weiser, and some in the town of Payette, Idaho, about thirteen miles south of Weiser. Payette is a little larger, about 7,500 population and was founded in 1882 as a railroad town. We had a good time exploring and ended up with a dozen finds and no DNFs for our caching efforts. After Payette we headed back to the RV park and spent the rest of the evening relaxing. We did some burgers on the BBQ for dinner, then watched TV until bedtime.

Tuesday, August 10^th, we left the coach after lunch and went out again to explore and cache. Today we drove 23 miles south to the town of Ontario, Oregon. Ontario is a city of about 12,000 people sitting at an elevation of 2,100 feet. It is on the banks of the Snake River and the little town of Fruitland, Idaho is on the other side of the river. The town was founded in 1883 as just a new settlement in the Northwest. A few years later the railroad came through town, which accelerated it's growth. One of the things we noted as we drove around town is that there are cannabis shops all over the place, and they are big and fancy. At first we thought there are a lot of pot heads in this town, but further research shows that it is the “border effect.” Idaho has some of the strictest marijuana laws in the country, possession of any amount is a criminal offense and it is not even legal for medicinal purposes. Drive 100 yards across the river into Oregon, where it is totally legal for any purpose. Toke on dude! We did some geocaching, getting eleven new finds, and no DNFs, over the course of the afternoon. We then stopped at Walmart for some supplies, then drove to the Ontario Elks Lodge when they opened at 4:00. It is a really nice lodge, big building with a nice lodge room, dining room and bar. We were the only one's there for most of the visit, but Jackie got to play some slot machines and we had a cocktail and were even able to get a lodge pin for the banner. Yea! I chatted with the Bartender for while. She even knew where Pahrump was because she lived in Las Vegas for a few years. After our cocktail we got on the freeway and drove home, getting back about 5:30. We had another cocktail, then a light dinner and watched TV until bedtime.

Wednesday, August 11^th, was another travel day. We left the RV park at 11:00, fairly late because we only had to go 56 miles today. We are headed southeast to the City of Caldwell, Idaho. Caldwell is one of more than a dozen suburban cities that make up the Boise metro area. This area, known locally as The Treasure Valley, has more than 750,000 population. We arrived at the Ambassador RV Resort a little after noon and quickly got parked and set up. We had a quick lunch and went out in the mid afternoon to run a couple of errands, including another stop at Walmart for a couple of things we forgot the yesterday. After our errands we went back to the coach and relaxed for the rest of the day. We are here in Caldwell for four days. The reason we came here is to see Troy and Makayla Bullock and their two kids. Troy is our friend Peggy's grandson and regular readers may remember that he was in the Marine Corps up until three years ago and was stationed at the Yuma Marine Corps Air Station for most of his enlistment. We used to see he and his wife every winter. We were here in Caldwell three years ago to see them and their first son, Brooks. They now have new daughter, Briar, whom we have not seen.

Thursday, August 12^th, we had got a message this morning from Troy who said they could meet us for lunch today if we were available. We agreed to meet them and left the coach about 12:30 headed east to the little town of Star and a place called Sully's Pub. We arrived at 1:00 and they were waiting for us in the restaurant. They all looked good and very happy. Brooks is now going on three and getting ready to start preschool. Briar is nine months and looks very happy. We chatted and caught up with what was going on in their lives. They sold their house last year and made quite a bit of money, so they are now doing light day trading in stocks and apparently doing OK. They are living in an apartment at the current time, but considering moving. They like Bend, Oregon, but haven't decided yet. We had a very nice lunch and sat and talked for a couple of hours. After the visit we agreed to try and get together one more time before we left on Sunday. After lunch we did some geocaching on our way back to the RV park, getting five new finds and one DNF for our efforts. We had leftovers for dinner, then watched TV until bedtime.

Friday, August 13^th, we got a message from Troy that they wanted to meet up again for dinner tonight at 5:00 in Meridian, the town in which they live. We said OK and left the coach about 2:00 so we would have time to explore and cache a little before dinner. We drove to Meridian, which is a city of over 105,000 and the second largest in the state, to do some geocaching. In an hour or so we were able to get five new finds and no DNFs. We explored some of the neighborhoods of Meridian, which, according to the Census Bureau, is one of the top ten fastest growing cities in the country with a population increase of 34 percent between 2010 and 2020. It also has one of the highest housing costs in the state. We found some really pretty newer developments while we were caching. We arrived at the Eight Thirty Common bar and grill about 20 minutes early and sat at the bar and had our 5:00 vodka. When Troy and family arrived we went to the table and had another wonderful visit and meal. We spent about two hours with them and had a great time. After dinner we drove back to the RV park and relaxed. I even went to the pool, which is right across the street from our site, and sat in the hot tub for a while. We watched some TV and then went to bed.

Saturday, August 14^th, we left the coach about 10:00 and drove to the nearby city of Nampa, another suburb of Boise and, with a population of over 103,000, the third largest city in Idaho, just behind Meridian. Nampa, a Shoshone Indian word meaning moccasin or footprint, was founded in the 1880's as a railroad town. Today it is light industrial and bedroom community for Boise. We first went to the weekly farmer's market near downtown. We spent an hour or so there, walking around and buying a few fruits and vegetables. We also did a couple of geocaches downtown. We then went to a Mexican Restaurant called Dos Cominas for lunch. The food was actually quite good, not quite as spicy as what you find in the Southwest, but close and very tasty. We had a nice lunch, then did a little more exploring before heading back to the coach. It was hot and humid and the smoke from all the fires in the Northwest was really irritating. We got home about 3:00 and just spent the rest of the afternoon and evening relaxing in the coach.

Saturday, August 15^th, was another travel day. We had the coach packed up and hooked up by a little after 10:00 and were back on the road, headed 186 miles southwest to the little town of Heyburn, Idaho. While within our normal daily limit of 200 miles, this was one of the longer moves we have had in the last few weeks. It was all freeway, and other than the heavy smoke hanging in the air, the weather was good. We stopped at a rest area for a quick lunch and arrived at the Riverside RV Park in Heyburn about 2:00. This park is actually owned and operated by the City of Heyburn and turned out to be a very nice little park. 29 full hookup spaces with trees and grass just steps from the banks of the Snake River. We have never been here, I just found it while doing my trip planning and looking for new places. We will be here for three nights. We got parked and set up and then just relaxed. For dinner we had country ribs which had been cooking all day in the crock pot, and then we watched some TV and went to bed.

Monday, August 16^th, we left the coach about 11:30 and went out to get lunch, do some exploring and some geocaching. There are three small cities in this area, Heyburn, where the RV park is located is the smallest with a population of about 3,500. North of the freeway is Rupert, with a population of about 5,900, and just across the Snake River from Heyburn is the largest city of the three, Burley, with a population of about 11,000. All of these cities primarily exist to support the extensive agriculture in the area. Today we explored Heyburn and Rupert. After some caching and exploring in Heyburn we drove up to Rupert and had lunch at an excellent deli called the E Street Deli. Not named after Bruce Springsteen's band, but rather the street it is on. Rupert is a very nice city, founded in 1906, with a very Midwestern look. Downtown is built around a public square and all of the buildings look vintage to the early 1900's. The Deli we ate at was on the square. It was just sandwiches and chips, but the sandwiches were very good. After lunch we walked around downtown and did some shopping in a local thrift store. We also did a few more geocaches, ending up with six new finds and one DNF for the day. During our geocaching we saw a sign for the city which had an Elk emblem on it, we hadn't realized that there was an Elks lodge here. Since it was getting hot, we stopped caching and drove to the lodge, finding it open. It is a nice big building on a local golf course and the bartender said that the lodge owns the land on which half the golf course was built. There were several members in the bar and everyone was friendly and welcoming. The lodge has about 440 members according to one of the members we talked to. We had a couple of drinks and got a new lodge pin for our banner. After our visit to the Elks we drove back to the coach and stayed in for the rest of the afternoon and evening. We actually had a few light rain showers come through the area in the early evening hours.

Tuesday, August 17^th, we left the coach about noon and drove into Burley to do some exploring and geocaching. We got a couple of caches, then stopped for brunch at Charlie's Cafe, a place in town that got good reviews on Yelp. We both had breakfast and the food and service were both quite good. After brunch we did some more caching, eventually getting another six new finds and one DNF. About 3:00 we quit caching and did a quick Walmart run to get a few things, then headed back to the coach. We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening in the coach. Wednesday was another travel day. We had some rain move through overnight, but by morning it was just cloudy in Heyburn. We packed up the coach and were on the road about 10:30, heading southeast on Interstate 84 to Snowville, Utah, a distance of 75 miles. We did a quick fuel stop and arrived at the Earp and James RV Park about 12:30 and got checked in and parked. We had some light drizzle off and on during the trip and it was sprinkling when we got to the park. This park is pretty primitive looks wise, but it offers full hook up, pull through 50 amp sites for $35, $30 if you are a veteran. The town of Snowville is very small, only 173 population, with a Flying J truck stop, a gas station, and two restaurants. Snowville was settled at the turn of the century and was originally a Mormon settlement. We are going to be here for three days. After we got set up we just had lunch and relaxed in the coach for the rest of the drizzly day. We hope it clears up tomorrow so we can do some exploring.

Thursday, August 19^th, it had rained most of the night, light rain for the most part, and it didn't look promising for today. The forecast called for off and on rain all day. As a result, we just had a stay at home day. We actually had a couple short episodes of pretty heavy rain, but nothing concerning. It didn't stop raining until early evening. We had dinner and then watched TV until bedtime. Friday the weather said it was supposed to be mostly sunny, and that's what we awoke to. We left the coach about 11:30 and drove to Mollie's Cafe, one of the two restaurants in town, and had brunch. The food was OK for a small town diner, but not spectacular. After lunch we took a 45 mile drive south to the Golden Spike National Historical Park. The park is located out on the prairie, about 20 miles north of the top of the Great Salt Lake. It is located at Promontory Summit and is the place where final spike was driven in the railroad line connecting the Atlantic and the Pacific. In 1862, while the civil war was raging, the U.S. Congress authorized the construction of a transcontinental railroad line. The Central Pacific Railroad in California was chartered to build the line from Sacramento east to Ogden, Utah. The Union Pacific Railroad was chartered to build the line from the Missouri River in Omaha, Nebraska, where the current rail lines ended, west, also to the area of Ogden. At the time the railroad was authorized it was still undetermined exactly where the two lines would meet. For the next seven years the two railroad companies struggled to build their sections of the line. The Central Pacific had the shorter distance, but had to cross the rugged Sierra Nevada Mountains. By 1869 both companies had managed to reach what would become Utah, near the Great Salt Lake and Congress finally determined that Promontory Summit would be the meeting place. Everything was arranged and on May 10, 1869 the final connection was made and locomotives from each company met nose to nose at the summit. Four celebratory spikes were driven, including a Golden Spike, to lock the rails to the tie, and the transcontinental railroad was complete.

The park is interesting with a nice visitors center and interesting displays and exhibits. They also have a great movie and the obligatory gift shop. Out back they have tracks set on the original line, which was actually taken out of service in the early 1900's when the railroad was rerouted to directly cross the Great Salt Lake. On the tracks they have two full size replicas of the two locomotives that were involved in the original joining celebration. They had both been scrapped in the early 1900's, but the Federal Government authorized funds to build the replicas for the park. We took a bunch of pictures, walked around a bit, then headed back towards the RV park. On the road to the historical park you pass a huge industrial area, originally owned by Thiokol Corporation, which is now a part of Northrop Grumman Aerospace Corporation. Thiokol was pivotal in the development of solid fuel rocket engines, everything from the gigantic boosters for the Space Shuttle to engines for ICBMs and smaller missiles used on military ships and aircraft. They have a display, open to the public, with a number of their products, and we stopped there briefly. We also did a few geocaches along the way on our adventures today, ending up with four new finds. We got back home about 3:30 and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening relaxing in the coach.

Saturday, August 21^st, another travel day. We packed up the coach and departed Snowville about 10:30, heading southeast 104 miles to North Salt Lake, a small town located, not surprisingly, just north of Salt Lake City, Utah. We arrived at the Pony Express RV Resort about 12:30 and got checked in, then parked in our spot. All the way down we had winds and the last 40 miles we got into the Salt Lake City metro area and had heavy traffic and lots of construction. Even though it was only two hours, I was beat by the time we got parked. My arms hurt from fighting the wind. We got set up and then settled in for the first day of our five day stay. We did go out briefly in the afternoon to get one geocache because today was International Geocaching Day and Geocaching.com had a virtual souvenir if you get a cache today. After we got back to the coach we just chilled the rest of the day.

It has now been three weeks or so since we published, so our arrival here in the Salt Lake City area for a five day stay marks a good point to get this episode wrapped up and published. Until next time, remember that it doesn't matter where you are going, its who you have beside you. See ya soon.

Northern California and Central Oregon Adventures

Hi there, welcome back. Our last chapter concluded on Friday, July 9^th, when we arrived at the Elks Lodge RV park in Carmichael, California, a suburb of Sacramento. Saturday we left the park about 10:30 to go out and run some errands and find a cache or two. We were able to get two new caches before we decided it was a little too hot. We drove up to Rocklin, about 10 miles north of Sacramento, to visit a Camping World store there. We needed a few RV parts and supplies that are easiest to find at a Camping World. After the store we went to a nearby restaurant called Wally's Cafe. It advertised Mediterranean food and had five stars on Yelp, which is unusual. It was a small place and the owner, Wally, waited the tables and served the food. The first thing you get when you sit down is a bowl of lentil soup, which was wonderful. We also noted that even the take out orders got a to go cup of soup. Jackie had the gyro plate, which was huge, she ended up taking half of it home. I had the steak wrap which was also one of the biggest and best I have ever had. For dessert we got a little Lebanese cookie. We ended up giving it five stars on Yelp ourselves. A great place to eat if you ever find yourself hungry near Rocklin, California. After lunch we started back south to go home. On the way we drove by the Roseburg Elks Lodge, which have never visited before, but it was closed. It was not a wasted trip, however, as we found that they have RV spots behind the lodge which, like Santa Maria, are full hookup, 50 amp, and they take reservations! Yea, no more worrying about whether we will get a spot in Carmichael when we stop in the Sacramento area. After we got home we just spent the rest of the afternoon and evening avoiding the heat by staying inside. The weather folks say the heat will break after Sunday, can't be too soon for me.

Sunday, July 11^th, I got the Sunday paper, which we read with our morning coffee. We left the coach about noon and drove to a restaurant a couple miles away to meet Jackie's friend Julie and her daughter Bella. Julie is the daughter of Kathy Yarbourgh, who also lives here in the Sacramento area, and with whom Jackie worked back in the 80's in the Coachella Valley. Jackie has known Julie since she was a pre-teen and stayed close. Julie is now a successful mortgage broker in Sacramento. We had a very nice lunch and spent a couple of hours catching up. We have not seen them in a couple of years. After lunch we headed back to the coach and spent the rest of the hot afternoon relaxing in the coach. I got some pizza for dinner and then we watched TV until bedtime. Monday Jackie went out for a girl's lunch with her friend Kathy. She got back around 2:00 and we went out to run some errands. We had to go back to Camping World to return some seat covers we didn't like, and also had to stop at an auto parts place to get wiper blades for the coach. Hardly ever use them, but the exposure to the elements ruins them after a few years. After our errands we relaxed in the coach for the rest of the afternoon and evening.

Tuesday, July 13^th, we had lunch in the coach and then went out to do our laundry. We went to a laundromat just down the street that we have been to before. Withing 90 minutes we had all our laundry done and were on our way back to the coach. We got everything put away and made the bed, then just relaxed for a while, cooling off. About 6:00 we went into the Carmichael Lodge for Taco Tuesday dinner. The food was good, and inexpensive, and we had a nice meal and some nice conversation with some of the members of the lodge. After dinner we went back to the coach and spent the rest of the evening with the TV. Wednesday was another travel day. We packed up and left the Elks about 10:00 and began the 118 mile trip north on I-5 to Corning, and the Rolling Hills Casino RV park. We have seen this place, and it was a favorite of our friends Ray and Suzie Babcock, but we have never stayed here. We wanted to have at least a couple of days with full hookups. We had no sewer at the Carmichael Elks and will not have sewer at the Redding Elks. We got in early, about 12:30, and got set up for our two night stay. We decided to go out for a late lunch and went to a Mexican place called Casa Ramos. It had an interesting menu, with more of an emphasis on dinners rather than combo plates. Jackie had a dinner that had red chili, green chili and a chili relleno. It was really good, but also pretty spicy, which was OK. I had the red chili plate and it was good also. The service was good and we had a nice meal. The place seemed familiar, and later I checked back on our blog history and found that we went to a Casa Ramos in Chico, California, back in 2013, and, based on what I wrote, it seems they had much the same menu then. The family has about ten stores all in the north-central area of California. They have one in Redding and we may go back there next week. After lunch we found a geocache in Corning, then did a little exploring of Corning. It is not a big town, less than 8,000 population, and it calls itself the Olive Capital of the United States. Olive trees everywhere you look. After our exploration we went back to the casino and went inside to game a little. They had very few poker machines, which is our choice of slot machine, and they were VERY tight. After we both lost $40 we said enough and left. It is a nice enough place, but is currently undergoing renovation and expansion and is kind of a mess. They have a large casino, two hotels, a big truck stop, a golf course, and the large RV park. Kind of a one stop resort property. After gaming we picked up another cache near the casino, then went back to the coach. We spent the rest of the evening watching TV.

Thursday, July 15^th, we went out after lunch to do some exploring and geocaching in Corning. Our first stop was a city park for the weekly farmer's market. It wasn't real big, maybe a dozen booths, only a couple of which were actually farm products. We did buy some really nice looking artisan sourdough bread and a little crumb cake, as well as a few veggies. It was interesting to note that even this small weekly market had a booth for giving Covid vaccinations. After the market we did some geocaching. We were able to get six new finds and no DNFs in the course of 90 minutes or so. After the caching we headed back to the coach and stayed in for the rest of the afternoon and evening. Friday was another travel day. Today was a short trip, just 55 miles north on I-5 to the Redding Elks Lodge. We did stop for fuel on the way. When we arrived the RV park was almost empty and we got our choice of spots. We took the only spot that had parking right next to the coach for our car, which means we will be able to charge it after we drive it. We got set up for our five day stay here, had lunch and then left again to drive down to Anderson, about 7 miles south of Redding, to the UPS Customer Service Center to pick our mail, which we had sent from Pahrump. After we got the mail we stopped at a beauty supply place so Jackie could get some new nail polish, then we headed back up into Redding and went to a Great Clips so Jackie could get a haircut. While we were waiting for her turn to come up we did some grocery shopping at a store in the same shopping center. Once Jackie had her haircut we went back to the coach. About 5:00 we went over to the Elks Lodge for a cocktail. We had a couple of drinks since the lodge bought our second drink and had a good time talking to the bartenders and the members who were at the bar. Although we stay at the Redding Elks RV park all the time, this was the first time we have spent any time inside the lodge. We even got a couple of home grown tomatoes from one of the members who had brought some in to give away. We mentioned we were having scampi for dinner and could use a nice tomato, so he gave us two. After our drinks we went back to the coach, made scampi for dinner, then watched TV until bedtime.

Saturday, July 17^th, we left the coach about 9:30 and started a 70 mile drive east into the foothills of the Sierra to the little community of Mineral to spent the day with our friend Peggy Bullock. Regular readers will know that we met Peggy and her husband Vernon on our Alaska trip back in 2009 and we have been close friends ever since. Although they traveled a lot in their motorhome, the Bullock's maintained their house in Mineral, what they call “the cabin.” When they bought the place in the 90's it really was a two room cabin, an old Forest Service cabin. However, over the years they expanded it into a two story, 3,000 square foot house. It is really a nice property and they live there in the middle six months of the year, before the snows come, since it is at 5,000 feet elevation. Mineral itself is very small, mostly a small store with a lodge and an RV park. The population is about 200 or so now.

We first came up to Mineral in 2013 when the Bullock's put on a 50^th Anniversary party. By this time we also knew a lot of their other friends, mostly RV people, so we took the coach up there and stayed a week in the RV park. The party was a huge success and they continued to host a big party in July. We missed the one in 2017 because we were traveling to the East coast and they didn't have one in 2018 because all of us, including the Bullock's and several of the other regular guests, were in Wyoming at an FMCA rally. In July 2019 Vernon died suddenly at home, just a few days before the annual party. At first the party was canceled, but Peggy and her kids decided to go ahead with the party as a celebration of life for Vernon, so we went up there again. The party in 2020 was canceled because of Covid, and Peggy had planned to have one this July. However, the house, which she decided to sell not too long after Vernon's death, went into escrow and they had to cancel the party because they had to clean out the house. We canceled our reservations at the RV park in Mineral, because it is a crappy park and a tough climb to get to it from the valley, but since or travel plans still had us in the Redding area in July, we stopped for a few days just to be able to see Peggy and also see the cabin for one last time before escrow closed.

We got up to Mineral around 11:00 and shortly after the three of us left again and drove to Lake Almanor, about 20 miles East of Mineral, for lunch. There is a really nice restaurant on the lake called Plumas Pines, and we like to eat out on the deck overlooking the lake and have lunch. We had a really great lunch, then drove back to the house and spent the rest of the day talking to Peggy. We have not seen her since we left Yuma in April. We had a great visit and will see her at least one more time before we leave Redding. We left the house and started back to the RV park about 4:30 because I didn't want to have to drive the mountain road back to the freeway with the setting sun shining in my eyes. We got back to the coach about 6:00, had a cocktail and spent the rest of the evening with the TV.

Sunday, July 18^th, I went out and got the Sunday paper, which we enjoyed with our coffee. After lunch we went out to a nail salon so Jackie could get a pedi and I could get my toenails trimmed. After the salon we did some geocaching, getting two finds and two DNFs before we decided it was too hot. We then went back to the coach and spent the rest of the afternoon inside staying cool. After cocktails and dinner we watched TV and then went to bed. Monday we left the coach about 11:30 and went to In N Out for lunch. After lunch did a Costco run and then a Walmart run. We had to get enough vodka at Costco to get us through the next six weeks because we will be traveling in Oregon, Idaho and Utah, all of which have very high liquor prices. After our shopping we went back to the coach and relaxed for the rest of the day. Monday we spent the morning and early afternoon relaxing in the coach. About 3:30 we headed out for a planned BBQ at Peggy's son Matt's new house out in the country east of Redding. We had made a big salad and had a couple of nice steaks all packed. Just as we were getting ready to leave the RV park Jackie got a call from Peggy that the dinner was canceled. There is a large wildfire called the Dixie fire that is burning about 30 miles (as the crow flies) southeast of Mineral where Peggy lives. It is a big fire that is has been growing over the last few days. Up until today it was burning south and east, but the winds shifted and it is now burning more northeast. They issued evacuation warnings for the Lake Almanor area, including the Plumas Pines resort area where we had lunch the other day. Peggy decided that since the fire was burning more or less in the direction of Mineral, she would stay home and get her motorhome, which is parked next to the house, packed up, closed up and ready to roll at a moments notice in case they get an evacuation warning up there. She said Matt was coming up to help, so there would be no BBQ. Since we are leaving tomorrow we won't get to see Matt and his wife Roxanne's new place. We had the big salad we had made for supper by adding a little chicken to it and spent the night with the TV.

Wednesday, July 21^st, another travel day. We had another short trip today, only 66 miles north on Interstate 5 to Weed, California. We arrived at the Friendly RV Park about 11:30 and had to wait about 40 minutes to get checked in. We had lunch while we waited. We finally got parked and got the coach set up for our two night stay. Although we only have 30 amp we do have sewer and it is not as hot here, under 100 degrees, so one air running will be OK to keep us comfortable. After we got set up we went out and spent an hour exploring Weed as we have never been here before. Weed is a small town of just under 3,000 population and is at about 3,500 feet elevation. It sits in the shadow of Mount Shasta, which rises over 14,000 feet just to the east of town. The town takes it's name from Abner Weed who founded the town in the late 1890's as a timber town. In the 1940's the town contained the largest lumber mill in the world. Although many of the old mills remain, most have closed or relocated and Weed has become a tourist stop on Interstate 5, which runs right through the middle of town. US Route 97, which runs north into and through Central Oregon, also comes off of I-5 in Weed and runs through town. We will be here for two days before we ourselves head up US 97 into Oregon. After our tour of the town we went back to the coach and relaxed for the rest of the day.

Thursday, July 22^nd, we went out after lunch to do some geocaching. We were out for a couple of hours and got a half dozen new finds and two DNFs. In the course of our caching we went to the the Living Memorial Sculpture Garden. Peggy had recommended this to us when she learned we were stopping in Weed. The Memorial is on the northwestern slope of Mt Shasta, 13 miles north of the City of Weed, on Hwy 97. It is situated on 136 acres of land provided by the USDA Forest Service, which were replanted with tens of thousands of trees by countless volunteers. The trees are living tribute to those who have sacrificed their lives in war. The sculpture garden is considered a place for reflection & remembrance, healing & reconciliation and pays homage to all honorable veterans, in conflict and in peace. The Memorial was founded by a group of veterans in 1988. Today, the Garden is proudly sponsored & maintained by the Kiwanis Club of Weed/Lake Shastina. There are eleven different metal sculptures scattered around the grounds, all depicting some part of military life. There are also several other granite memorials on the grounds. It is a very inspiring place. We also stopped at a local souvenir shop and we both bought Weed tee shirts. Who can come to a town named “Weed” and not buy a shirt. We stopped at a local market, then headed back to the coach where we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening relaxing.

Friday, July 23^rd, another travel day. We left Weed about 9:30 and headed north on US 97, destination Crescent, Oregon. We crossed into Oregon after about 50 miles and generally had a good trip. It was fairly flat and not too hot, so overheating was not an issue. When we passed through the Klamath Falls area there was a lot of smoke from the Bootleg Fire, which is burning to the East of Klamath Falls. According to the news it is the largest wildfire in the country right now. We passed through the burn area where the fire started, and had the road block for a day or two, but the fire is now burning a dozen miles east, so it was not a factor in our travels. We arrived at the Big Pines RV park about 1:00 and got checked into our site. Although this park is in the middle of nowhere, it is a very nice park. We have a nice, level site with full hookups and 50 amps and even though we are in the trees, I was able to get satellite. We are at about 4,500 feet elevation, so it is a little cooler too, only 82 degrees when we arrived. We got parked and set up, and were going to drive into the nearby little town of Crescent, but when I unhooked the car I found the battery was dead. This is the third time in a year that we have arrived somewhere and had the 12 volt battery be dead. It is annoying and we will have to take the car to a Ford dealer when we get home in September. I was able to jump it from the coach and put the charger on, so we should be good tomorrow. We spent the rest of the day in the coach just relaxing.

Saturday, July 24^th, we left the coach about noon and headed out to have lunch and then do some exploring and geocaching. We went to a cafe, actually the only cafe, in Crescent called the Mohawk. It was a large old building and the interior was all wood plank and the walls were floor to ceiling with shelves containing the largest collection of collector whiskey decanters and Avon collectibles that I have ever seen. In addition, there were hundreds of taxidermy animals. Apparently the original owner was a collector. It was quite the collection. In addition, the food and service were pretty good. After lunch we went out to explore Crescent and the surrounding area. It is a small, unincorporated town of about 6,700 that was founded in the late 1800's primarily as support for the logging industry. The adjacent community of Gilchrist, population of less than a thousand, was founded in 1937 as a company town for the Gilchrist Timber Company. The town was sold and privatized in 1992 when the mill closed and was the last company owned community in Oregon. The area is now a tourist stop for the surrounding Cascade Lakes region of Central Oregon. We drove around a bit and did some caching, getting six new finds and a DNF in a couple of hours. After caching we went back to the RV park and stayed in the coach for the rest of the day.

Sunday July 25^th, was another travel day. We didn't leave Crescent until 11:00 because we are only going 66 miles north to Redmond, Oregon. We arrived at the Expo Center RV park about 12:30, but they wouldn't let us check in until 1:00, so we found a place to park in the Expo Center parking lot and had lunch. We have been to the Redmond Expo Center on a number of occasions as it used to be a favorite location for big FMCA Conventions. For whatever reason FMCA hasn't come back in at least five or six years despite it being a great venue. At 1:00 we got into the park and got set up for our two day stay. After we got set up we went out to do some shopping. We hit both the Fred Meyers store and the local Walmart for some supplies. One of the things I bought was a lithium battery powered portable jump starter so the next time the car decides to crap out with a flat battery I can jump it without running cables. After our shopping we went back to the RV park and stayed in for the rest of the day. Jackie made a nice chili relleno casarole for dinner and we watched TV until bedtime.

Monday, July 26^th, we went out about 12:30 and went to a local Chinese place called Cindy's Chinese Garden. I had the orange chicken, Jackie had the kung pao chicken, both from the lunch menu. For $9 you got soup, rice, one egg roll and the entree, and there was a lot of food. We both took home leftovers which is unusual when ordering a lunch item. After lunch we did some geocaching, getting six new finds in a little over an hour. One of the caches was at a historic home near downtown Redmond which now belongs to an artist. There are all kinds of cool looking metal sculptures around the property. After our caching we stopped at Bi-Mart, which is a membership discount chain in the Northwest. It is not a bulk place like Costco, more like a tiny Walmart Supercenter, with everything from food to clothes and sporting goods. They sometimes have some pretty good deals and it didn't cost us anything to join a few years back and the membership never expires. We like to visit them from time to time. After shopping we headed back to the RV park and relaxed for the rest of the day. The park is really starting to fill up since the County Fair, which is at the Expo Center, starts this week. They had already spent most of the day putting up the rides for the carnival and it was starting to look like a fair. '

Tuesday, July 27^th, another travel day. Today we went 132 miles north to the Columbia River, which is the border between Oregon and Washington. It was raining lightly when we got up and we drove most of the way in a light rain. The rain cleared up by the time we arrived at the Corps of Engineers Park in Le Page, Oregon. This is a small park located on a little wedge of land where the John Day River enters into the Columbia. We have stayed here a number of times and it is a nice little park right on the river. Although we had reservations for a back in site, when we got there we learned there was a pull through site available. Turns out some of the pull through sites are first come, first served, so we took it. The biggest difference is that the pull through sites are parallel to the river, so when you walk out your door you are right on the riverbank. Very scenic and pleasant. The sites are nice, 50 amp with water. We are only here for three days, so not having sewer is not a big issue. We got set up and spent the rest of the day relaxing. The car battery was dead on arrival again, proving that it was time to replace it. I think I will try that the next big city we stay in later on in the trip. Where we are right now is very rural. We don't even have phone data service in the park, although the phone does still have one bar service. We had country ribs for dinner which had been cooking in the crock pot all day.

Wednesday, July 28^th, we left the coach after lunch to do some exploring and a little geocaching. We drove about 30 miles east on the interstate to the city of The Dalles, Oregon. The Dalles is the largest city on the Oregon side of the Columbia river outside of the Portland metro area. The population is around 16,000. Our first stop was a city park right on the river where we just parked and spent a half hour on our phones catching up with internet stuff. We are so used to being connected 24/7 that it is hard to not be able to instantly access anything. We then did some caching, getting four new finds in about an hour. We drove around and explored the area for a bit, then drove to the Elks Lodge only to find it boarded up and abandoned. We had been to this lodge probably five years ago or so, but now it appeared closed. Jackie did some more checking on the web and found a site that said the lodge was still in existence but had moved in with the Dalles Eagles Lodge. We drove there and found the building had two signs, one for the Eagles, one for the Elks. We went inside and had a cocktail and chatted with the bartender who told us that both groups were on the verge of going out of business because of the pandemic and they met and agreed to move everything into the larger Eagles building and share costs. She said both groups are now doing well and the cooperation saved both. We were even able to get an Elks pin. During our exploring of the city I saw a Ford dealership and just on a whim stopped and talked to a service writer in the service department just to see if they could fit me in to replace the failing 12 volt battery in the car. I had stopped at a NAPA auto parts store to check on getting a battery, but it was a special order item. To my surprise the service guy said they could get me in tomorrow afternoon and the parts department had the battery in stock. The cost estimate was about $200 total, which is only about $20 more than what just the battery would have cost a NAPA. I made the appointment and we started the drive back to the RV park. We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening relaxing in the coach.

Thursday, July 29^th, we left the coach about 11:30 and started back toward The Dalles. We had spotted a Mexican restaurant called Casa El Mirador that had good reviews. We had lunch, which was quite good, as was the service. After lunch we still had a little time before our appointment at the Ford dealer, so we stopped at the Fred Meyers store, which was only a few blocks from the Ford shop. We got the car into the shop a little before 2:00 and they got it right in. Within an hour they were finished and the bill was $203 and change and Maxie was all better. After we picked up the car we drove back to the park and spent the rest of the day inside. Friday was another travel day. We left the Corps of Engineers park about 10:30 and continued east on Interstate 84 to the City of Umatilla, about 75 miles. We arrived at the Umatilla Marina RV park, which is owned and operated by the City, about noon and they got us checked in. We park and did the basic set up, then got in the car and drove 30 miles north into Washington and the UPS Service Center in Kennewick, Washington. We had asked our UPS store to forward our mail and it had arrived yesterday. The UPS place was not open on the weekend, so we wanted to get the mail today. After we picked up the mail we stopped at the Firehouse Sub place for a quick lunch before heading back to to the RV park. After we got home we finished setting up for our five day stay here in Umatilla. We relaxed with the TV for the rest of the evening.

Our arrival in Umatilla marks about three weeks since we last published, so we are going to close out this episode and get it online. Until next time, remember the words of the great Dr. Seuss, “Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” See ya soon.