SUNSHINE!

For the first time in almost two weeks, we had a day of sunshine today! And I don't mean an occasional glimpse between scudding clouds, I mean a day of "open the windows and doors" sunshine! So nice.

Forry is trying to come down with a cold or something, he's been complaining of a sore throat. Sure hope he gets over it quick -- and doesn't share it!

Since we're parked in Dawn and Todd's driveway, we are trying to conserve water (though we can empty tanks here, it's not real easy...), so we showered over at Dawn's this morning. I also took the bedspread and blanket off of our bed over to wash in her big washer. I've been wanting to do that since we left the Arizona red sand.

Granddaughter Kyra had to stay late at school in Canby to finish a test, so she asked if we could come pick her up. We also needed to take Grandson Micah to an overnight birthday party later this afternoon (Todd and Dawn were both at work). That inspired us to empty out Toad II and store the chairs, the loungers and the tricycle in Todd's shop. Since we are going to be here for a few weeks, we thought we just might need to have room for more than two of us in the car.

While we were out and about, we stopped at the Safeway store in Canby and picked up chicken for supper as well as snacks for the gkids. It was fun shopping with the three of them -- they are all such different personalities!

And Finally to Hubbard

We wanted to wait until late afternoon to come over to Daughter Dawn's house as they live right across from 91 School. The parking area across the street is full during school hours, so it's a bit difficult to maneuver Auntie Violet and back her into Dawn and Todd's driveway. We were able to arrange with the Portland/Woodburn RV Park to get a late check-out. They charged us two dollars an hour to stay until four pm. We figured it was well worth the $8 to have a place to stay until we could get parked at Dawn and Todd's.

We didn't bother to hook up Toad II. It was such a short distance, we thought it would be just as easy for me to drive her and follow Forry and Auntie Violet. Of course, it started to rain again as we traveled...

Todd was waiting when we pulled up. I parked Toad II over at the school and then helped block traffic on Whiskey Hill Road so that Forry could back the RV across. She's nearly tucked in beside the fence on the edge of the driveway, facing the road.

After we got settled and Granddaughter Havela took her friend Katy on a tour of the RV, Todd took Grandson Micah in to get a haircut -- and to bring home pizza for dinner. I made a salad to go with the pizza and then we settled in to watch a chick flick.

A Rainy Day in Woodburn Town...

It was windy this morning. It actually woke us up gusting across Auntie Violet's roof. After the wind, the rain came. It really poured for quite a while. The water was running down the street...

We made today kind of a heavy-duty shopping day. First we went to Costco to look at vacuum cleaners. We have a built-in the wall system in the RV, but the hose and all of the other paraphernalia for it are stored under the couch. We store the folding clothes dryer between the couch and the wall and it has to be removed in order to open the bottom portion of the couch. It's a pain and it's awkward, so we don't like using it. We've had a light weight broom-type sweeper with a rechargeable battery that has just gotten weaker and weaker. I suppose we could have gone shopping for a new battery -- if Forry had been able to figure out how to get at it...

Forry and I both have long hair. It tangles around the beater bar on a vacuum. You have to literally cut it loose to free it up. We finally decided to go ahead and get a full-size Electrolux vacuum as they have been advertising a beater bar that clears itself of hair and thread. We can already see how powerful it is compared to either the built-in system or the electric "broom" we've been using.

Our next stop was at Camping World --

We wanted to replace our macerating sewer pump before we went to Daughter Dawn's house. We use it to empty our tanks when we stay there. We also needed a weight for holding down the sewer hose when emptying tanks and a new "donut" sealer. Lots of fun stuff to shop for...

The best thing about the day was driving over to Daughter Dawn's for supper. Granddaughter Kyra was tonight's chef. After dinner we all went over to Canby High School for the End-of-Year Ceremony for Kyra's Speech Club. Kyra got one of their "fun" awards. She and her friend Ellie darted up to the front and back so quickly, I didn't even have time to get a picture.

On to Woodburn, Oregon

It took us a while this morning, but we finally got ourselves and Auntie Violet organized and ready for departure. It took both Rick and I to guide Forry enough to back around and get straightened out so that Auntie Violet could get through their gate. I think we only ran over a little bit of lawn...

The sun was shining at Sister Roxy's, but we drove down the road about a mile to where there was a parking lot that we could hook up in (we'd never have made it through the gate turn with Toad II connected...). Of course, then it started to rain again! By the time we got Toad II hooked up and we'd gone through the light check, I was drenched!

When you drive south on Interstate 5, you pass over lots of streams and various other types of water. I was never conscious of just how many bridges we crossed over! It's interesting how aware we have become since the bridge collapse near Mount Vernon.

We drove a few miles on past the turn-off to Woodburn to the next exit in order to diesel up. We ended up with diesel at $3.91 per gallon. We got back on the freeway going in the other direction and pulled off at the Woodburn exit. We are currently parked at the Woodburn/Portland RV Park. We've been here before. It's mainly grass with paved roads. Of course, we are getting great TV reception -- only to watch the Mariners get beat by the Padres tonight. We'll stay here for a couple of days, long enough to get a bit of shopping done and to make sure all of our tanks are empty before we head on to Daughter Dawn's.

And Suddenly It's Quiet

It was pretty quiet when I got over to Sister Roxy's this morning. There were not too many of the thirteen of us awake. Son-in-law Scotty soon had Claire involved in his learning the dialogue for his next play. (They both will be in Shakespeare productions this summer.) We had an opportunity last night to watch the video of Claire's "Rock Around the Clock" class musical.

Daughter Dawn made two rhubarb (yuck) pies for her father's birthday present. While I did make huevos rancheros for breakfast, there was a lot more interest in having a pie of rhubarb pie and ice cream!

It took a bit of coaxing to round them all up, but I finally got a picture of all five of our grandchildren together. Left to right that's Claire, Kyra, Micah (who turned 12 today), Havela and Varick. Varick and Claire are Mary Mae and Scott's children, while Havela, Kyra and Micah belong to Dawn and Todd.

Due to the fact that our daughters and their spouses are still in the employment age, and the children are all still in school, the weekend had to come to an end and they all headed home this afternoon. It suddenly was very, very quiet around here.

Roxy and I sort of looked at each other and when I suggested we go out for pizza, she was quick to agree. Rich's daughter Teresa joined us at Farrelli's Pizza and we got a chance to visit with her as well.

I took a few pictures of Roxy and Rich's beautiful yard when we got back this evening:

Unfortunately for me, her peas weren't far enough along to snitch --

 

I really do like their wisteria!

More Grandchildren, More Parents...

Another fun day at Sister Roxy's! It was another rainy day with just enough sun breaks to make you think that just maybe it was going to be nice -- ha! This is part of the pile of shoes by the back door as everyone was coming in with wet feet --

These are four of the grandchildren. When did they all get so big?

Sons-in-law Todd and Scott got caught up in the "7 Little Words" game on my iPad --

 

We made a hilarious trip to Safeway for groceries (Roxy, Cass, MM and I); Rich barbecued hot dogs for lunch; we cooked; we baked; we laughed.

Daughter Dawn, Son-in-law Todd, Havela, Kyra and Micah arrived. We ate, we laughed, we talked. We made spaghetti for supper. We had birthday cake and celebrated Forry's, Grandson Micah and my May birthdays. We talked we laughed.

We've had a good time.

Sisters & Aunties & Cousins, Oh My!

What a lovely day I have had! I had a hard time getting myself bestirred this morning, but finally got things going. I went over to Sister Roxy's and made omelets out of the little bit of crab we had left from last night. So good!

We started our cooking preparations for the weekend. I made the crab pasta salad, Roxy made a potato salad and a couple of batches of brownies. We thought we'd get as much as possible done ahead.

Rosy and I went into Olympia to the Tea Lady store and sampled a couple of kinds of tea. She got one from Africa that had cranberries and oranges -- sort of verry berry flavored.

We hadn't been back at the house very long before Daughter Mary Mae and Son-in-law Scott arrived with our grand-children Claire and Varick. And not too long after that our Cousin Cass arrived! Such fun to have this impromptu mini-family gathering. Daughter Dawn and her family will be here late tomorrow afternoon.

Rich barbecued some chicken breasts, we added salads, pickles, olives and wine and had quite a feast tonight. After dinner the guys watched the Mariners game while a very rowdy card game went on next door. Granddaughter Claire is going to sleep on Auntie Violet's couch tonight, so the two of us have come over to the RV early. Tomorrow should be another fun day!

The Farmers' Market and Crab for Supper!

Sister Roxy and I headed out to downtown Olympia late this morning to check out the Farmers' Market. There were lots of plants for sale -- some beautiful tomato plants loaded with blooms; some gorgeous hanging baskets and all kinds of annuals. There were a couple of vendors selling good-looking -- and great-smelling pastries and breads; there were the usual soap, wood and honey sellers. Roxy bought some kohlrabi plants but couldn't find any lemongrass.

From there we went to Olympia Seafood Company and bought some shelled crab for my planned pasta crab salad and bought a couple of nice large crabs for dinner tonight. Roxy thought the $9 per pound was a bit high, but I told her I hadn't had good fresh Dungeness crab for a couple of years! (And it was good! The guy at the fish store said they had just come out of the steamer about an hour before...)

Next was a stop at the very busy Post Office to send off a baby blanket, made by Sister Roxy, to Ethan Richard, the son of our Godson, who was born in Moses Lake's Samaritan Hospital this morning. There have been lots of fun pictures of the newborn fellow on Facebook. So fun to get to see him right away!

Our last stop was at a place called Shipwreck Beads, surely the largest bead store I have ever seen! Roxy was looking for some tiny beads to add texture to one of her quilted wall hangings. I did find some nice presentation boxes for my squash blossom necklaces. I've been looking for some time as they both came in just nice cardboard boxes. The contemporary necklace and earring set fit into one of the boxes just fine, but unfortunately, the other box still wasn't big enough for the antique necklace.

We Move to Sister Roxy's - Skagit River Bridge Collapses

Today was another rainy, drippy day. We emptied the grey and black water tanks and flushed them out well this morning in preparation for a few days without a sewer connection. We left the Travel Inn Resort in Elma about noon and headed for my sister and brother-in-law's home just outside of Olympia.

Brother-in-law Rich had gone to Home Depot and picked up a 30 amp box for his shop, so we have electric and water. It was interesting to maneuver through the gate into their place and park over by Rich's shop. (It's going to be even more interesting to back out and get turned around when we leave...) It was raining pretty hard while we were getting parked. By the time we got the jacks down, the slides out, and the electricity hooked up, I was drenched.

Sister Roxy had a cup of hot tea ready for me when I got to the house -- along with a towel to dry my hair! So good to get to visit with her and see all the treasures she has accumulated from their travels to Africa, Panama and Italy (all since the last time I had been here!). We spent most of the afternoon catching up on both activities and family. Roxy made a crock pot of white chicken green chili for supper. It hit the spot on this rainy chilly day.

While we were talking and sort of half watching the news after dinner, we saw the news about the collapse of the I-5 bridge across the Skagit River between Mount Vernon and Burlington. The news broadcast said there were cars and people in the water. So of course, I immediately got on the phone and called Daughter Mary Mae, who lives in Mount Vernon with her family. The house phone line was busy; her cell phone immediately went to voice mail; but I finally got through on Son-in-law Scott's cell phone. They were all at home and fine -- in fact, they hadn't even heard about the bridge collapse yet.

From later reports, it sounds like there were three people rescued from the collapsed bridge and two were taken to the hospital and are in stable condition. It also sounds like an oversize truck load may have hit the upper portion of the bridge.

A Birthday and A Trip to Aberdeen

May is always a busy month of celebrations for us. First it's my birthday, then Mother's Day, then our anniversary and now today is Forrest's birthday. He's seventy-four years young today. And we still have Grandson Micah's birthday to go next Monday. And that's just our immediate family -- we seem to have lots of friends who are "May Babies" as well. Indeed it's a very busy month!

It was another rainy, drippy day today. But at least we are parked pretty much out in the open here at Travel Inn RV Park, so it isn't so terribly dark.

We were badly in need of bread and milk and orange juice, so drove over to the Safeway in Aberdeen. (It has a gas station and we had gas discounts to use up before the end of the month!) My, what a busy store. It sure had nice produce and bakery sections. I even bought a chocolate cupcake for Forry's birthday along with lots of licorice in anticipation of family card games this weekend perhaps...

On our way home, Forry's cell phone rang and he was treated to a Happy Birthday serenade from Daughter Mary Mae and her family. We're sure looking forward to seeing them this weekend!

When we got home, I fixed green salads while the potatoes were baking. I used our Foreman grill to broil a rib steak for us to share. I'm glad yesterday's mail included a new supply of bourbon smoked salt -- we sure like it on our steak. I also ordered some bourbon smoked pepper and some bourbon smoked paprika that I'm looking forward to trying.

Brother-in-law Rich sent a note this morning saying that he had checked out putting a 30 amp electrical receptacle in his shop so that we could park Auntie Violet at his and Sister Roxy's place. We'll move over there tomorrow and help get ready for the mini-family reunion that is rumored to be happening there this weekend.

The Fix-it Guys Do It Again!

Once again I am impressed by the crew at Uhlmann's RV Service Department! We cannot speak highly enough of their work ethic and workmanship!

Auntie Violet got her oil changed this morning complete with a new oil filter and a new air filter. The ABS light coming on got taken care of (the wire and sensor was damaged, so was replaced). With the hydraulic hose and the water leak both taken care of already yesterday, we were ready to roll by 2:30 this afternoon. And thanks to their work with our Extended Warranty, the bill was half of what we had anticipated!

We pulled into Travel Inn Resort in Elma, which was less then an hour away from Chehalis. We'll stay here the next two nights.

Then we went to the Lemon Grass in Tumwater to meet my Sister Roxy and Brother-in-law Rich for dinner! It's been a while since we have seen them. So good to visit -- and a good meal on top of it. We'll see more of them over the weekend as it seems a goodly portion of the clan is heading for their house to celebrate Memorial Day.

Today at Uhlmann's

We took our time this morning leaving the Thousand Trails Campground and made our way the last few miles to Uhlmann's RV. They have the nicest people working there! They were waiting for us and had already been brain-storming how to take care of our problems.

By late this afternoon, the hydraulic line and its fitting had been replaced. The actual line was rerouted a bit higher so that perhaps the heat from the radiator will not be so hard on it. The fitting on the hydro-hot cold water line was replaced -- maybe Auntie Violet's incontinence problem is finally solved permanently! (The gasket in the fitting was so degraded, it was virtually non-existent.)

We decided to let the RV stay at Uhlmann's overnight so they could get her oil changed in the morning. We made our way next door to the Chehalis Best Western Motel. We have the 14.4 + pound package of mail from Daughter MM that we picked up at Chehalis General Delivery to sort through!

On To Chehalis

We continued our trip this morning on I-84 driving down the Columbia Gorge. It was a misty morning -- and our windshield is very dirty! -- but the springtime greens in the Gorge were beautiful.

I always get a kick out of these "haystack" rocks --

We eventually turned north on I-205 which led us to I-5. The drive north is always very pretty with lots of rivers and bridges to cross.

At Exit 71 we turned off to Chehalis RV Park, which is listed in our books as an Encore Park. I began to get suspicious when all of the signs started saying Thousand Trails. These are my very least favorite parks. They are generally quite large and sprawling and they DO NOT assign campsites! You have to drive around until you find an unoccupied one. Then you get yourself parked and then you let the gate people know your site number.

We wanted a pull-through site as we did not want to unhitch, plus we want an early start tomorrow. The gate guard showed me a couple of possible sites on the map. The roads are narrow and poorly marked, but we did find one way up at the far end of the park.

We had gotten a message from the Park Manager before we arrived, saying that he'd like to visit with us about membership... Sure enough, long about four o'clock this fellow showed up, knocking at the door, anxious to tell us about their "Zone" membership!

A Day In The Woods

It was easy to sleep in this morning as it is so dark back here in the woods. With no TV, Forry was asleep by 9:30 last night and didn't wake up until Son Sean called at 9:45!

Juni and I bought some hair care products by Bosley from her hairdresser while we were in Albuquerque that are supposed to thicken thin fine hair. They're a bit of a pain though. The shampoo is supposed to be on for one minute, then washed out. Next the conditioner is supposed to be on for five minutes, then rinsed out. Lastly, there is a foam conditioner that's combed into towel dried h air and left in. I've never been one to fuss much with my hair, but the set cost forty bucks so I am determined to try it for at least a month... (Can't see much difference after the first two weeks...)

I didn't do much today besides wash a load of undies. I did talk to a bored Daughter Dawn for an hour or so. She was making Mole' to freeze for Granddaughter Havela's graduation next month. I did several sessions of Words With Friends and read a very stupid book called "Earthbound Misfits."

 I ended up taking a nap on this overcast dreary day. I only hope I'll be able to sleep tonight!

On To Cascade Locks

I dinked around for some time this morning trying to get a decent picture of this Yellow-headed Blackbird!

He just did NOT want to have his picture taken!

This is the best snap I got. I guess if I'd crop it, it would be okay. It does show the bit of white on his wing coverts...

We woke up this morning well rested, and hooking up went easily and well. We were soon heading west again on Interstate 84 along the Columbia Gorge. The Gorge is known for its winds (think wind-surfing) and the windmill farms have taken full advantage of it.

The wind was enough that the Columbia River had white caps. Forry kept having to compensate for the crosswind gusts as he drove --

Unlike many of the river canyons we've seen as we traveled (think Salt River or Colorado River), you don't look down into the canyon at the river. The freeway (and the highway on the Washington side) is actually right alongside the river all the way through the Gorge. The Gorge is actually the passage the mighty Columbia has made through the Cascade Mountain Range.

As we were driving along these bluffs with their new spring grass, I spotted two Big Horn Sheep Rams on one of the rocks. They had huge spiral horns. I was so excited to see them, I scared Forry with my shriek of surprise. A few miles later, we both saw a group of ewes with their lambs grazing on one of the steep hillsides.

The Columbia is a busy transportation route. There are barges on the river, railroads between the freeway and the river, and lots of semis on the road.

This is John Day Dam, one of the many dams on the River that provide cheap electric power to the Northwest --

 

This one of the overpasses at Hood River that shows the salmon heading upstream --

One thing surprised me. I had thought that there was a pretty strong campaign going on to eradicate Scotch Broom (an "escaped" landscape plant that spreads widely and quickly -- and causes allergic reactions in many people). It doesn't look like it had been very successful!

We arrived at the KOA campground at Cascade Locks about three pm. The park is very shaded and between the trees and the mountains, there is NO satellite TV! With all the large conifers, it is also very dark. We had the lights on in Auntie Violet by four o'clock!

Seafood Buffet!

We both woke up this morning, looked at each other, and very quickly made a mutual decision that we were NOT going to travel today. We had a wonderful visit with Sister Sherry yesterday, but that extra four hours of driving wore us out.

We didn't do a whole lot today; we watched some TV; did some Sudoku; read a book; played Words With Friends; took a nap. We watched the Mariners beat the Yankees and take the series in New York.

We did get ambitious enough to call for the Wild Horse van and ride over to the Casino for their Seafood Buffet. It was actually very good -- they had Dungeness, Snow and King Crab as well as clams, mussels and shrimp.

A Short Visit With Sister Sherry...

We got going fairly early this morning and got to Sister Sherry's farm on the Touchet River by about eleven o'clock. It turned out to be a lovely day for sitting out on the front steps and drinking our coffee and watching the birds -- and of course, the mastiffs.

There are always flowers blooming at Sherry's, even this Spring when she's had a lot of frost. This lovely iris greeted us as we walked in --

We were too late for most of the peonies in Momma's garden, but this bush was providing both color for us and nectar for the bees --

 

The last of the alliums were blooming by the front door --

There was a flock of American goldfinches eating from the feeders --

I tried to count them, got as high as fourteen, but they were moving around so much, I really don't know how many there were!

This is Keiko San, Sherry's youngest mastiff. He's still got another 80-90 pounds to go during the next tear or so. He's been to his first dog shows this Spring and so far has won Best in Breed at every one...

After lunch, it was nap-time for the dogs. Here are three of them sprawled on their beds in the living room. (There's one more yet behind me!)

The mastiffs truly are gentle giants. The older three were content to lie in the sun while we sat outside in the sun and talked. Of course, Keiko had to keep busy playing soccer with his bowling balls. The dog show judges were impressed by his musculature -- they should see him chasing the balls around the farmyard!

We spent the afternoon listening to the Mariners game (they beat the Yankees 12-2!!) and visiting before heading back over the hills to Oregon and Auntie Violet. It was a short visit, but fun to at least see my sister before we headed on to the repair shop in Chehalis.

On Our Way to Oregon

This morning as we were getting ready to leave the Mountain Home, Idaho KOA, this critter showed up to bid us "Good "Morning!" We've been debating whether it was a Hairy Woodpecker or a Downy Woodpecker...

We've pretty much settled on it being a Hairy based on the straight line of its eye line black and the lack of bars on the outer tail feathers...

We drove a bit longer then we generally like to today in order to get as far as Pendleton, Oregon. We are at the Wild Horse Casino RV Park for the next two nights. We're planning to leave Auntie Violet here and take Toad II over the hill and the Washington border and pay a quick visit to Sister Sherry (we'd hoped to see Sister Dena as well, but sounds like she's not feeling well ;-( ) and the puppies at the Touchet farm.

We had been thinking we were going to go over to the Buffet at Wild Horse Casino for an anniversary dinner, but after the long drive today, we just decided to stay home and watch the baseball game. It is hard to believe that it's been 54 years together!

From Snowville to Mountain Home

It was already hot this morning when we got ourselves hooked up and ready to go. Once again, to our great relief, the living room slides behaved and came in properly.

We continued north on Interstate 84, crossing the road into Idaho. The freeway eventually merges with I-86 and then continues west along the Snake River.

There was lots of farming activity along the way. We saw this farmer cutting down the year's first cutting of alfalfa hay --

There's a reason it's called the "snake." We followed many of its winding bends --

As the road turned northwest towards Jerome and Glenns Ferry, we began to see more and more of these large potato storage sheds. It's a bit too early to plant potatoes, but we saw lots of fields tilled up and ready to go.

It was extremely hot when we arrived at the KOA in Mountain Home. I was so warm after hooking up the electricity and water that we decided it was definitely time to turn on the air conditioning. The wind was blowing as we walked over to to the office. It felt like a draft directly out of the oven. It is still 83 degrees outside at 9 PM.

On the Road Once More

 

Happy Mother's Day!

It turned out to be a good day for us when the living room slides came in without a hitch! We had even gotten an early morning call from the folks at C Mobile Services checking in to make sure they worked. That's good customer service!

We kept heading north on I-15 and soon were seeing the snowy Wasatch Range climbing out of the valley.

The first part of the drive was through very pastoral country with lots of cows and calves and ewes and lambs. Then we drove into the metropolis that makes up Salt Lake City and its environs. Four plus lanes of heavy traffic - not the kind of stuff we enjoy driving in.

North of Ogden, we turned northwest on Interstate 84 and headed for Snowville, almost at the Utah border with Idaho. There's a funky little RV Park here called Lottie-Dell RV Campground just a little ways out of town. It's basically a level grassed area with about thirty-four sites and a golf driving range. There is no one in the office. There really is no office. Just a narrow room with some envelopes and registration sheets and a slit in the wall to stuff the envelope with your money. We've stayed here a couple of times before and there's hardly anyone here. Today there was one other rig.

A Lost Day...

We had everything picked up and packed up this morning and went to pull in the two living room slides. And NOTHING happened!

We had hoped that only the back bedroom slide was affected by the hydraulic oil leak, but alas, it was not to be. After a certain amount of discussion (including some non-repeatable language), we decided to call CoachNet. Now we got a membership in CoachNet when we bought Auntie Violet as part of the purchase, but fortunately have never had to use it.

A very nice lady answered their 888 number and the first question she asked (before she even asked our name or membership number!) was whether we were in a safe place. Once I assured her we were safely ensconced in an RV park, she proceeded to ask all of the other pertinent questions about the rig and what our problem was. When she had everything she needed, she said she'd have a technician call us back as soon as one was free. Sure enough, in less then five minutes a technician called and brainstormed the problem with Forry. They decided the best thing to do would be to contact a mobile unit to see if they could come out and fix it.

Fifteen or so minutes later, the CoachNet tech called back and said he had located a mobile service unit from the Salt Lake City area that could be here in about an hour. And a few minutes later Liam from Big C Mobile Service called, asked a few more questions and said he was on his way. A little after noon this rig drove into the park and off came the radiator shield again --

 

Liam looked the situation over, then drove into town to see if he could find a coupler that would work. He came back empty-handed and they went to Plan B.

Liam inserted a screw into the leaking hose and then put two clamps on the outside to hold it. They tested the slides to make sure there was enough hydraulic fluid in the system to close the living room slides. Liam said he was so sure that his jerry-rig would hold, that he'd come out again for free in the morning if the slides didn't come in. I sure hope he's right!

Somewhere in there while this was all going on, the tech from CoachNet called back to make sure the mobile unit had gotten here. All in all, it was an interesting experience. CoachNet paid for the service call, driving time and the mileage for the mobile unit. We were responsible for the parts and labor used while he was here. (2 clamps @ $2 each; $75 for one hour's labor; and $27.62 for taxes and credit card fee). We ended up paying $105.62 of the $308.12 bill.

What We Didn't Want to See...

When we arrived at Jone's High Country RV Camp yesterday afternoon, we were unable to extend the slide in the bedroom. When Forry went out to take a look, he saw a puddle of oil...

When we are traveling, we pile all of the loose stuff and furniture in the RV onto the bed. Without the slide extended there is no way to really get at the bed. It really isn't too much of a problem, as we have gotten in the habit of sleeping in the living room when we are on the road. I get the couch and Forry loves sleeping in the Lazy Boy chair he got for Christmas. It just seems a lot easier to empty the things off of the couch and chair then to unpack the bed...

This afternoon we went out to take a look and see what had happened this time (we have experienced problems with the hydraulic hoses to this slide at least twice before).

We had taken over the radiator shield in the above picture (it's upside down) and set it aside --

This rather blurry picture is the coupling of the hydraulic line. The hose should be connected there on the left side...

And here is the end of the hose which Forry fished out, It looks like it pulled entirely loose from the coupling.

It looks like we may be changing our plans for heading from here to Spokane. We may just go down the Columbia Gorge instead and go directly Uhlmann RV in Chehalis. I emailed the above picture to Jim Jusilla, the shop foreman. He responded that they would be able to fix it, but the time frame will depend upon rather or not they are able to obtain a hose locally...

At least this time, the slide is all the way in. Last time we had a problem with it, it kept creeping out about 2-3 inches when we traveled. We'd have to stop occasionally and get it back in.

From Moab to Nephi

Well, this morning it was our turn. After almost seven years of full-time RVing (and multiple years part-timing with a Winnie and with a trailer), we had a black water spill this morning when a hose separated. Fortunately, Forry was able to shut down before it was too bad, but it still meant clean-up and lots of bleach! Hopefully we can put that experience behind us as one we never want to have again!

We still ended up on the road in good time. Traveling northwest on Hwy 191we followed the Moab Rim on up to Insterstate 70.

The colors we saw today were every bit as colorful as those in any of the parks --

Of course, we never seem to travel anywhere without running into road construction somewhere along the way. Today we saw several hundred of these cones on both sides of the freeway.

This is the beginning of the San Rafael Reef --

 

I think this is some of the most spectacular scenery I have ever seen --

It's amazing how the engineers cut the road right through the Reef --

This is portion of Castle Valley --

This is the Ghost Rock View Point --

Crossing into the Wasatch Plateau --

As we turned north on Hwy 89, we began to see the mountains near Salt Lake --

As we drove up the Nephi Valley we saw more and more snow --

This is the view out of Auntie Violet's open door. We are parked in Site 63 of Jone's High Country RV Camp near Nephi.