2017 Trip – Blog #4 – Meeting with Mary!

Monday, May 29th, 2017…..  Memorial Day – Hope everyone enjoys the day. But please be sure to take time out today to remember any of your family members and friends who have sacrificed for you in service to our country.

Even though it was a holiday we decided to head north and explore Salem.  It’s a nice day for me but not Lydia - not exactly cold but the sun hasn’t come out completely yet. But hey – that’s Oregon right! The 40 mile drive was nice and we enjoyed the day. We stopped in Albany at The Original Breakfast and had a nice meal. The sun did finally come out and it was a beautiful day! We had already marked a few homes we wanted to drive by but they all had things we didn’t care for.  Unappealing areas, way out of town and amenities, one was so far back in the woods we swear we could hear banjo music!   We headed back and did drive past the one house we found earlier in Lebanon.  It is SO nice we wanted to see it again.  After that we drove a minute or two to the local Walmart and bought a few things and headed home. After dropping off the frozen food at the rig, we went into Coburg for dinner.  Our realtor, Mary, had recommended a couple of places to eat there so we tried Coburg Pizza Company.  The pizza was very good and the salad was huge! Definitely on our list now! Afterward, we detoured past the house on Fir Butte in Eugene that we had toured in January.  THAT was our benchmark home! Perfect! It is now sold but looks like no one is taking care of the lawn!

Tuesday, May 30th, 2017…..  I got up early and showered and then walked down the road to the local coffee hut and got coffee while Lydia got ready. No hurry today, our meeting with Mary wasn’t until 11:30.  She is only a few minutes away.  She had prepared some listings, some of which we had seen before, so we picked the ones we wanted to see and we headed out.  The first was on Lake Trail Rd. in Veneta, very close to Pine Grove Reservoir. Lydia really liked this one!  It was a newer home and the owners were there working on the lawn. We liked the attention to detail and they have taken excellent care of the place. Nice quiet area, lots of trees, and flowering beds. Very well manicured.  Cons are the trees and the leaves to rake and the work on the lawn.  Also, there is no RV garage, nor a great place to build one.  But it is still on our list.  The next one was on Dukhobar Rd.  This place did have a nice big RV garage but the house was split level and reminded us of The Brady Bunch home. The place had zero curb appeal and more of a choppy look and poor layout.  Definitely off our list. Next up was Lake Drive Rd., just north of the lake.  This one is stuck down a long gravel drive so it is isolated and remote.  I liked the two main living spaces and the huge shop and RV room but there was no garage and the place was not well kept so this one is off the list. We headed back to Mary’s office and she said she would contact one of her agents in Albany who would arrange us to see the Lebanon home. She also needed to touch base with the daughter about her dad’s home in Leaburg. We went back to Coburg to Chiefs BBQ for ‘linner’ (late lunch – early dinner). Great bbq!  Later, back at the rig, both agents called.  We go Thursday to Leaburg and tomorrow we go to Lebanon.  Aimee, from ReMax Albany office, emailed me the CCRs and disclosures for the Lebanon Oak Creek Way property.  Not good for us – they have an HOA and even though there are no fees at all, there are a ton of restrictions.  So we’ll see tomorrow.  Afterward, it was relaxing and tv and then bedtime.

2017 Trip - Blog #3 - The Search Begins

Thursday, May 25th, 2017…..  Wow, it WAS nice sleeping last night!  We opened the windows in the bedroom and got a nice breeze.  It was actually cold when we got up so we had to turn on the small portable heater for a while!  We were at 3,100 ft at the base to Mt Shasta but we didn’t expect it to be that chilly. We hit the road about 8:30am and made the 250 mile trip to get to our destination, Eugene Kamping World RV Park.  We have been here before and it’s not the greatest park.  We are looking for a place in this area for a month or so to base out of while we look around. Early last week, we tried other parks in the area which couldn’t accommodate us monthly but we will check on another tomorrow that we couldn’t reach before.  Once set up, I cleaned the bugs off the windshield and we rested for the day.  Lydia made pork chops and augratin potatoes for dinner and we watched the last part of Survivor and then each of us caught up on shows we had taped before calling it a night. Nothing is on the plan for tomorrow except for that other park so we’ll get to sleep in.   

Friday, May 26th, 2017…..  Even though we decided to kick back today, we got restless and took a drive to Elmer’s for breakfast and then took off from there and looked at a few houses we had researched on the realtor sites.  Two in Veneta and one in Leaburg. Two have potential. The one in Leaburg is nice but it’s not supposed to hit the market until next week.  We’ll probably set up an appointment with our agent to see it then.  The other one is interesting but lacks curb appeal. We stopped at the market and got stuff for dinner for a few days and went back to eat and watch tv.  I did spot oil leaking from the rig so I investigated and found the dipstick had come unscrewed.  Didn’t leak much and I cleaned it up and fingers crossed I think I’m ok. 

Saturday, May 27th, 2017….. We decided to head north today - about 25 miles northeast to Lebanon. There were two homes we had previously flagged that we wanted to check out.  We eliminated one immediately but the other looks really good!  Nice neighborhood just outside of town. We haven’t met with anyone yet to set up appointments to see any of these homes but these drive bys give us a lay of the land and what’s around.  Lebanon is a nice little town with amenities plus medical facilities. Definitely on the keep list!

After spending much of the day there, including re-finding the quilt store Lydia found a few years ago when we were here, we headed back to the rig and had dinner and settled in for the night.

Sunday, May 28th, 2017…..  Today we will hang out at the rig, maybe go to Walmart.  Just a kick back and rest day.  

2017 Trip - Blog #2 - The Drive North

(As mentioned, we will most likely stack up daily posts and publish when we can get an internet connection.)    

Monday, May 22nd, 2017…..  Our trip ‘officially’ began this morning when we prepped the motorhome and hooked up the car.  We had spent the last 8 night at the Garden Grove Elks Lodge (#1952) of which I am a 13 year member. Oddly, we knew very little about the rv’s and how it worked.  Like most Elk Lodges across the country, this one has rv sites with water and electric and a dump station.  We stayed here as the Pod was delivered to the house and was loaded.  Then we had to wait for Jeff’s van to get picked up for transport to Florida.  Turns out the pickup was done on Friday, the same day escrow closed.  We decided to leave on Monday so I set out to make travel plans for the trip to Eugene.  First stop was Bakersfield.  Only 155 miles but we wanted to stop to see Lydia’s brother Stan and his wife Joy before we headed out.  We checked in at the Bakersfield RV Resort and headed to their home.  Nice visit and we went to dinner afterward and then said our goodbyes. 

Tuesday, May 23rd, 2017….. This morning we headed out about 7:30 (to try to beat the heat) and drove 254 miles to Flag City RV Resort in Lodi.  Once in camp and settled in, we rested a bit then headed out to dinner.  We had passed a Spaghetti Factory a few miles back (in Stockton) so we headed there and enjoyed a nice meal. We were given several (visa) gift cards from friends and family which we have been using so we thank you all for that!  Afterward, we went to Walmart and got a few items then went back to the rig.  Later, we went over and used the pool for a while.  It is 98° here today so the water was refreshing!  Afterward, we settled back in for a quiet night and prepped the rig for tomorrow’s travel. Oh yeah, we got a text from Jeff this afternoon that he received the van today with no issues.  Yaaay! 

Wednesday, May 24th, 2017….. We have a Flying J station just down the street from the campground so we stopped there on the way out to fuel up.  We have another 250 mile drive today to get to Mt Shasta RV Park.

Even though we left camp around 7:30 it was still warm. But it’s better than driving through the heat of the day!  We got into Abram’s Lake RV in Mt Shasta about 12:30 and got set up.  No one has been in the office but we knew the amount and self registered and paid.  We went into town and had lunch at Taco Bell and then stopped at the market to pick up some pork and potatoes for dinner.

We hung around the rig and rested for a while.  I took a walk around the campground and the hiking trail which was nice.  Then it was back to the rig to catch up on the DWTS finals that we taped yesterday.  Ok, we now saw who won.  I’m good with that.  He deserved it. The weather is a bit cooler here in the mountains so I bet it will be nice sleeping tonight!

  

2017 Trip - Blog #1 - The Adventure Begins!

Most of you know by now that we have decided to embark on a new adventure in our lives. We made the decision back in September last year to sell our Long Beach home and head to the Northwest!  We have traveled in our motorhome over the past 35 years and have seen a lot of our beautiful country.  We have asked ourselves along the way, 'Could I live here?'  For one reason or another for the most part the answer was no.  Although the desert is nice for a visit, we don't do brown.  Mountain life is not our style either and we don't want severe winters with snow we have to push around! The east coast and southeast and midwestern states are ok but humid in the summer. Back in 2012 we spent 7 weeks in Oregon and we liked what we saw!  Nice and green and clean air plus mild winters with little snow that doesn't stick around plus there is plenty of room to move around.   We couldn't get it out of our minds.  I spent a ton of time on the old interwebs checking on climate history and crime rate, real estate prices, taxes, cost of living, etc, etc.  So last September we went back and checked out properties.  It was then that we made our decision that we could do this!  Only one thing was in our way. We wanted to see winter in the area. So we headed back up in January and spent time in the cold and rain.  We could still do this! So we concentrated on the next steps.  We worked on getting our house ready to put on the market.  It took us a while but we listed it a few days before Easter and accepted an offer above asking just five days later.  So, now it's just a month later and we closed escrow and have the money in the bank! 

So what's next?  We are now homeless!  Ok, not really!  We have a nice big motorhome that we are living in.  Our plan is to head north next week and find a base camp in the Eugene area and start our search for a home in that area.  Our kids are ok with our decision.  Randy and Maryanne are in Westminster and will come visit often.  Jeff is in Florida with his fiance, Krista, and her kids.  My sister and Lydia's sister are local and will visit. My sis has plans to move up to our area as well and is waiting to see where we end up.

Ok, that's enough for now.  Stay tuned if you are interested and we'll post as we go along.

The adventure begins!

Bailey Has Left Us

God, I hate doing this.......  but I need to write this to help me get through this tough time. After being diagnosed with kidney issues a few months ago, our beloved Bailey passed away on Tuesday, Dec. 6th.  In September, after running a bunch of tests, the vet told us it would be 'sooner than later' but we still had hope.  But she experienced all the symptoms we were told about and got progressively worse into December.  We had returned from our Christmas Camping Club outing where she really lost a lot of strength.  She always wanted to go in and out of the rv on her own but this time I had to pick her up.  Before we returned home on Sunday morning we asked our friends to come over and say their goodbyes because in our hearts we knew she wouldn't be back camping with us again.  Once home on Sunday, we had family over and all of them said their goodbyes as well.  Sad time since she was not yet three years old.  On Tuesday evening we kept visiting her on her bed and both of us 'gave her permission' to go be with our other four legged friends in heaven.  About 8:00pm she took one last breath and then left us.  But in keeping positive, we still have our strong memories of the good times.  Like all of the dirt days at the park and when camping when she would always find that muddy spot to roll in,

 

and all of the lakes, rivers, and streams she liked to swim in. Definitely a water dog!
I will always be reminded about how smart she was and how obedient and loyal she was. Never fought with anyone, loved kids, adults, other dogs, even cats!   She would go up to strangers, wanting to meet them and be petted.  She loved that! She loved chasing squirrels but I doubt she would hurt it even if she could catch it! She was known at the park as the dog who loved her sticks.  She was always seen carrying sticks and sometimes branches that were over 5 feet long!
I could go on and on, but all that said, we loved her and will forever miss her! They say that time heals all wounds so I think in time the heartbreak and saddness will ease for us.  We try to always think about the good times and that sure helps a bunch. Go be in peace in heaven, sweet little girl!
 

2016 Trip -22) Trip Summation & Stats

We were out on the road from June 1st to August 7th – a total of 68 days.

We drove a total of 4,339 miles in the motorhome and 1,139 miles in the car! Remember – our car does not accrue towing miles - that was just from driving around. We did share driving with another car and that doesn’t include those miles!

We stayed at 27 different RV parks.  Shortest time at a park was overnight.  Longest was 11 days. Using the ratings like we did last trip (from 1-10, 10 being best) we still found there were no parks we gave a perfect score of 10.  Three parks got a 9, five parks got an 8, three parks got a 7, five parks got a 6, eight parks got a 5, and three parks got a 4. (for you RVrs I have the file with names and addresses and the ratings for each park so if anyone is interested, let me know and I’ll send it to you.)  The parks we rated a 4 we probably wouldn’t go back to.  Those with a five were good for overnight or just ok for a couple of days. Some were sparse; some were tight for our rig. Those with 6-9 rating we liked very much and will stay there again in a minute. Turns out we enjoyed all but a few of the places we were in. Since the Passport America parks are ½ off the advertised price (with limitations) we always try to base more at those. Turns out we ended up staying in 12 pa parks, less than half. The others were found mostly in Trailer Life.   Some parks we found were close to the highway and easy in and out. We liked that (unless they were too close!).  Some were extremely hard to get to or were a distance from the things we wanted to go see.  We didn’t like that but that’s part of the adventure.

We made 8 fuel stops for the rig.  This coach has a 150 gallon fuel tank.  Note – I can go a lot farther on a tank of fuel than in the old rig and we did but I still have a policy not to let the fuel go below a ½ tank.  Usually way before it gets to ½ tank I start figuring where the next stop will be.  Rick & Janie and Bill & Treasa have smaller fuel tanks but when they stopped we just hung around so we could still travel together. Turns out on this trip all of our stops were at Flying J except the first one in Kingman when I couldn’t get in so I went next door to Chevron.  We have an account with Flying J so we search out those stops along our route.  Also they turn over their supply very quickly so we are assured of fresh fuel.  Stops were:

(1) Kingman, AZ ($2.49 per gal),
(2) Albuquerque, NM ($2.41 per gal.),
(3) Checotah, OK ($2.21 per gal),
(4) Sioux Falls, SD ($2.17 per gal.),
(5) Rapid City, SD ($2.37 per gal.),
(6) Aurora, CO ($2.29 per gal),
(7) Beaver, UT ($2.55 per gal.)
(8) Barstow, CA ($2.61 per gal). 

That made the avg. price $2.37 per gallon. I still have over 3/4 tank so I won’t fill up for the September club outing (probably good till we head out in October). On last year’s trip the avg. price was $2.74 per gal. so we think we did ok.  I got a high of 9.2 mpg on one tank and a low of 6.8 mpg on my worst tank. On the lesser mpg runs we were pulling high mountain grades. On the best tank, we were heading down from the hills into the deserts. Even with that, average was 7.6 for the trip (probably would be over 8.0 without air being on).  That’s definitely lower than the last motorhome we had but right at what we expected for this coach given the 400 hp engine, plus the size and weight.  

Highlights on the trip:  for me were the day of fishing at Hesperia Lake, the four days fishing in Branson, the show SIX in Branson, Lambert’s (restaurant), the Truman Library, Arthur Bryant’s (bbq), the Corn Palace, the Firehouse Brewery in Rapid City, Mt Rushmore, and my hike there, the Garden of the Gods, the Pike’s Peak Cog Train, the Olympic Training Center, the Air Force Academy, the Coors Brewery Tour, Woody’s Pizza, the Celestial Seasonings Tour, the White Fence Farm restaurant, Zion Nat’l Park, the Terry Fator Show, the Blue Man Group Show, and visiting with Lee & Lyn.  I think my two favorites were the fishing in Branson and the show SIX.

Except for the fishing (not her thing), Lydia enjoyed all of the above and listed her favorites as the Library, and the various quilt stores along the way!  

Now expenses!  This trip was comparable to the 87 day trip we took last year, except that I had a few rv expenses this time!  The $1100 tire plus the $200 deductible for the solenoid replacement were expenses we should expect but hate to pay.  But we still tried not to buy everything in sight and other than a few things we didn’t expect to buy I think we did pretty well. I was especially glad not to have any major mechanical issues on the trip.  I was pleasantly surprised that we only had minor issues and nothing major mechanical with the coach. I have to have the transmission serviced, the aqua hot water heater looked at, and the material on two awnings (one slide out plus the Girard main awning) needs to be tightened up. 

Dumb stuff!   I looked at my last summation from the maiden trip in this rig to Oregon in 2013 and reread all my dumb stuff so I just had to put it in writing again for this trip!  Among other things –  a couple of times we failed to turn on the hot water tank between trips and didn’t discover it until the next morning when we showered…  More than once we left the locking drawers unlocked and drove off.  I guess these are all minor things so I’m, good with that.

Traveling with Friends.  We left California with Bill & Treasa and with Rick & Janie.  This year we again all six of us did sit down and plot out the details and the nights and the places we wanted to see. Each of us had things to suggest.  We also had to set up the second half of the trip after B&T left us after Branson. It’s not easy when six people with opinions (and attitudes!) get together for any length of time on the road.  This is the second time we have done this, so we knew what to expect so I think it was successful.  I would travel with either of these couples again. We had many, many fun times that will remain in our memories forever.

So, what’s next?  We still want to take another cruise. Just not sure when.  We are definitely going back to Hawaii.  We were there for our 25^th anniversary and want to celebrate our 50^th there in 2018 so that’s being worked on…. We have almost covered all of the 48 states but we still want to travel to the New England area so maybe that will be on our future travel list. Of course I always want to go fishing and June Lake is on MY radar again.  We’ll see. Hopefully, the good Lord will keep us healthy enough to do all of the above.  We have been thinking about a lot of things these past few years.  California has been wonderful and has given us a good career and homes but its changing and so are we.  We have been thinking about a major move and we can’t get it out of our minds.  It may happen sooner than we all think once we figure it all out. Stay tuned…..  

Almost done…..  just wanted to say thanks to all of you who followed my blog.  Even though only a few of you made comments it was nice to know they were being read!  I am funny about capturing our adventures in writing and in pictures.  It’s not for you that I do this – but rather for us to look back on later in life (or have our kids read to us in the home!). Thanks to my sister, Penny for taking care of the mail, and watering. Thanks to both our boys.  Jeff did a ton of work to get our living room remodel done, plus he painted awnings for us.  Randy installed the reverse osmosis system we bought several years ago so that’s in and working now. Thanks to Bill & Treasa and Rick & Janie and especially to Lydia for putting up with me on this 2016 trip!  See you all on the next adventure……..! 

 

2016 Trip -21) Santa Paula, CA to Long Beach

Fri. 8/5…  (Santa Paula, CA)   Mapes and Wampler got into camp today so we now have all ten rigs for this outing.  Paul & Pauline said they will be driving in tomorrow from their Simi home to visit with us.  They recently sold their rv so it’s nice that they still want to come visit. Since tonight is the opening ceremony for the Rio Olympic Games, I decided to hold the Board Meeting on Saturday in order to be able to go to dinner and then be able to watch if they want.  Mike has an outside tv so that is an option if the weather is nice enough. We didn’t have any plan for dinner which was set as ‘on your own’.  Some went south to Santa Paula, we went north to Ojai with Bill & Merlyn, Ed, and Rick & Janie. The plan was to go to Carrows but we found they were one of those that have closed.  So we went to Ca’Marco Ristorante for Italian.  It was an unknown but turned out to be one of the best meals we have had on our trip!  We will be going back again when in that area.  After everyone returned, we did sit out at Myer’s rig to watch opening ceremonies, or should I say commercials.  Jeeze, we know companies want to advertise but that was ridiculous!  I went in early and taped the rest of it to watch tomorrow.      

   

Sat. 8/6…  (Santa Paula, CA)  Got the rest of the opening ceremonies. I was disappointed in the whole thing but each country does it different so it was still ok. We had our breakfast continental style which was very good. 

 

 

 

Then I held my board meeting.  Last one as we leave office after two years as presidents. Fun times! Afterwards the guys played poker (I finished runner up), and then we got ready for the bbq tonight.  The current and past presidents always provide and cook burgers and hot dogs at this outing. Gary and I were the only presidents/past presidents in camp so we got the job.  The large bbq up by the clubhouse was in use by another group so Gary and Jim set up three smaller ones in our area.  We enlisted Rick to help man one so we managed to get everything done so we could eat.

 

 

 

Thanks Rick, Jim, and Gary. The food was great and the company was even better!  After dinner we said our goodbyes to Paul and Pauline and then set up the campfire. I cleaned up some of our stuff in preparation to head home tomorrow and then went in to watch the Olympics. 

 

   Sun. 8/7…  (Long Beach, CA)  We got up unusually early this morning.  Rick & Janie were leaving to go visit Janie’s daughter and grandkids. We had to take down our canopy but that went fairly quickly.  We left about 9:30 and got home around 12:00pm.  It had been a long trip but it was sure fun.  But it is still nice to be home, especially safe and sound.  Jeff has done an outstanding job on our home.  Here are some more pictures….. 

 

Nice job, son, you make us so proud!  Next up was to take care of the mail, and unload the motorhome.  We will clean it up really well but that will take a few days as we have drs appointments and other things to take care of.  Also I need to sit down and write a summation of the trip.  Watch for that post in the next few days.