Saturday, September 30, 2006

Saturday, September 30, 2006 8:40 pm
Tomorrow morning we leave for Albuquerque New Mexico, we have been in Moab for 7 days now and it just flew by. There is so much to do here but because Dave was working the whole time we just couldn't even scratch the surface. We went Thursday morning to see the skydivers but there wasn't to much going on which I believe I mentioned in the other blog. Yesterday, Friday, we left Valley in the RV and went back to Arches National Park to check it out closer and go hiking. It was perfect weather and we must have hiked about 7 miles, Dave took a lot of pictures, which I believe he has posted on our website. After hiking we came back and walked Valley around, later we drove into town and checked out the shops there.
Today we just hung around most of the day, cleaned the inside of the RV and Dave worked on the outside too. Just getting ready to leave tomorrow. In the afternoon we went into town and got a Welcome Sign for our RV then drove route 128 which is just a great drive for seeing all the beautiful views to see here.
That's about it for now, will write again when we get to New Mexico.
Bye

Friday, September 29, 2006

Rally Day 2+ -We all met at 8 for breakfast, it was in the Jackman Long Dining Hall, which was big enough to hold all the people that came to the Rally. Everything was buffet style for breakfast and dinner all in the same hall everytime. They had all meals catered and they did a very good job. Every breakfast was scrambled eggs (different versions) with toppings like melted cheese and salsa, breakfast meat, pancakes or waffles, potatoes, cereal, fruit, juices, milk ect. it would very every morning with bacon or sausage, pancakes or waffles the only thing was they never had toast or biscuits, which I missed. Dinners were always salad bar, different kinds of vegetables each night, rolls, beans, potatoes (various kinds each night) and a couple different meats to choose from, everything was very good.
After breakfast at 9:15 they had a First Timer's Meeting which Vicki, Lee and I went to, Dave had to go back to the coach for conference calls. The meeting was just explaining what rallies are and about the seminars they have and just to tell you if you didn't have a good time it was your own fault. This was the biggest First Timer's meeting that they ever had. The seminars last from 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours. In the Columbia Hall is were all the vendors that had tons of stuff to sell you, you know things you can't live without if you live in an RV or in a home. We only spent about $4,800 over the 3 days while we were there, some people spent over 300,000 (they bought a new coach) see so we got out cheap. The one big thing that we did purchase was the new satellite dish on top of the RV. Dave now doesn't have to set up the tri-pod satellite dish everytime we park so that we are able to use our computers. This one is mounted on the RV and he can use his computer to tell it to lift up and find a signal when we park. The only thing now is we are stuck hauling this other satellite around with us for now until we can get it sold. We got some shirts, jackets, vests, cleaning materials, cups, cover catcher (for our bed cover) and also a plaque that is now in our window that has our names "Dave and Jeri Alton" Homeless, USA with a picture of a dog that has Valentine's name underneath it. We were going to wait until Christmas and ask the kids for it but we couldn't wait that long. But we still need new lounge chairs, the ones we have are from when we used to go camping with Vickey and Jim Alvis, so you know how old those are. 10 or 15 years and the material is really tearing now, but I still use them, we might just find a place to recover them, who knows. We also need one of those foot/feet scratch pads for when we walk back into the coach. Boy, did I get off coarse, back to the Rally.
Later in the morning Dave did get to the seminar about the Importance of Tire pressure with Lee, another device to sell you to monitor your tire pressure from inside the rig, which Lee purchased which was over 800.00. In the afternoon Vicki, Dave and I made it to the "Cleaning with a pro" with MARY MOPPINS. Then at 3:45 to 5pm was the "Wine Reception" come meet your new friends and enjoy our wine and cheese social. Then 5pm to 6pm was Cocktail Hour then dinner at 6:30. At 7:30 pm they had different entertainment every night. The 1st night was New Odyssey, didn't stay for that.
Rally Day 3-Breakfast then to the Seminar with Ginger, Vicki and Mary (new friend, who Ginger knew and lives in Somas, Ventura county) for "Microwave/Convection Oven Demonstration" which of course I needed, I have no idea how to use the convection oven. I had one in Simi and never used it, only the oven part. In the afternoon Dave, Vicki and I made it to the Corian-Care & Maintenance Seminar. At 3:45 was the Keg Party with accordion playing by Bob Vreegen then again cocktail party 5-6 dinner at 6:30 then the entertainment was a comedian named Mickey Dean, very funny.
Rally Day 4, last day-Breakfast but didn't make it to any seminars. All of us had repair workers at our coaches each day so we had to keep running back and forth to check on them. We had our batteries being checked then the satellite dish installed of course the whole time Dave had to keep working. Lee and Vicki had electrical problems and satellite TV problems, Ginger and Stan was step and door problems. Monaco provides the repair employees for all the coaches there that need repairs free of charge, so we would use them as much as possible. One of the guys there was the one that worked on our coach at Camp Monaco so he knew our rig which was nice. At 2pm they had a pet parade, Valley and I went and checked it out but she said she would kill me if I dressed her up and put her in it. What some of these people dressed their dogs and cats in were just crazy. Lucy and Ethel rottweilers and of course poodle's in totos ect. Valley didn't want to hang around because people kept asking me if we were going to walk thru, not. At 3:45 was a champagne social then after dinner for entertainment were 'The Drifters".
Friday morning we got going about 7 am, we would be traveling with Lee and Vicki for the next 2 days because we were both headed the same direction. I mentioned it before that we split up on Sunday when we were coming to Moab them to Colorado. Anyway, we left the fairgrounds then hooked up the cars and as we were driving to the freeway Lee got on the walkie talkie to us and said he had to stop because his leveling lights were flashing. We stopped in a satellite college parking lot where we sat for the next 2 hours. Dave and Lee tried to figure out what was wrong, Lee was calling the Monaco help line which of course you have to wait for a call back. Luckily where we stopped they had a little cafe so Vicki and I went in a ordered coffee and breakfast to go, little did we know we would be there that long. Vicki got hold of Camp Monaco and found out that the repair guy that they knew was still at the fairgrounds, he called her back and told us to drive back to the fairgrounds and they would take a look. Lee and Vicki told us we didn't have to wait for them but we weren't in any hurry so we stuck it out with them. The repair guy had no xtra panels for their coach and told them they would have to order it and it takes 3 days to come in. They were on a time schedule so they couldn't wait, so he suggested that when they get to Colorado to go to a dealership there order the part and have it installed, it was all under warranty so it would not cost them anything. So needless to say we got on the road about 11:30am them with no leveling system kind of like what happened to Dave and I the time we went to Sacramento and our leveling system went out on us. We drove to Baker Oregon and stopped there after a long day of driving. The next day, Saturday, September 23rd we left for Springville Utah, which I did drive for about an hour, it was a long straight highway and Dave put it on cruise control and we changed seats, which we know we shouldn't have done. He kind of enjoyed it after I wasn't so tense and relaxed. After a short rest stop the guys took over driving into Springville but while on the way, there was a big hole in the road and Lee hit it just right I guess because he told us his step light was flashing now and needed to pull over. Dave was leading so as soon as there was an exit we got off. Lee's step wasn't out but he couldn't get the light to go out, poor guy, now he has his leveling lights and step lights flashing at him, they were not happy campers. They have a 2007 Monaco Dynasty that they ordered last January received in March and moved into June 1st, and have had a lot of electrical problems plus some other problems. You spend 311,000.00 that damn thing better work, so needless to say they are really pissed off. I need to write to them to see if they got their coach fixed yet, if not I feel sorry for Monaco because Vicki is one you don't want to mess with.
Well I think I finally got caught up on the Rally news, I'll try and get back to writing again either everyday or at least every other day.
Bye for now

Thursday, September 28, 2006

Again September 28, 2006 but now it's early evening, 6:45 pm. Dave is feeling better after a long nap, so thank goodness it isn't the flu. We did go and have our pedicures, came back and sat outside and read our books a little bit. We are now inside and Dave is starting on getting dinner ready, BBQ stuff has to get ready first, my job is only salad and setting the table tonight. Before I forget, don't know if you know but Moab is very popular for bike riding, off roading, motorcycles, ATV's ect. and the ambulance must go by twice a day. Just now a fire truck, police car, rescue truck, and an ambulance went by, this accident must be big, normally it's just the ambulance we see.
RALLY NEWS, RALLY NEWS!!! FINALLY
It was fun but would have been better if Dave didn't have to work the whole time, and I believe I said that before. We arrived on Monday afternoon and we met up with Ginger and Stan, we meaning Dave, Jeri, Valley, Lee, Vicki and Fleetwood. We met at the Salem Fairgrounds and a parking rep. had us follow him to our camping site. After we all got settled in we had a mini happy hour and talked about all the seminars that were going on and which ones everyone wanted to go to. At 4 pm we walked over to the Information Booth and got our 1st time rally badges, that we had to wear the whole time. Stan and Ginger have been Rving for awhile so they already had name badges that looked professtional that they always wear at rally's. Monaco, Beaver, Holiday Rambler, and Safari had new coaches there for everyone to go thru and trying to get you to buy a new one. After going thru most of the coaches we grabbed a table because at 5 pm was the "Welcome to the Rally" Cocktail Party. They had cheese, chicken wings, crackers, vegetables, dips ect for snacking on besides the drinks. There were almost 900 RV's there so you can imagine the place was a little crowded. We stayed for about 45 min. then headed back to our rigs. We sat around again and talked and us ladies walked the dogs around and checked out the rigs that were around. We had all taken out either steaks or chicken for dinner but we had so much in snacks that there was no way we could eat. The rest of the week we were being fed breakfast and dinner by the Rally so we all decided to cook the meat everyone had taken out and having it for lunch the next day. At about 9 pm everyone was pretty cold so we all decided to turn in to our own coaches and relax the rest of the evening. DAY 1 DONE
Finally got 1 day done of the Rally, the rest I'll start tomorrow.
Bye
Thursday afternoon, September 28, 2006. This morning I took Valley for a long walk while Dave had his business calls. About 10:30 he was done so we drove out to the Moab Airport to watch the Skydivers. We got to see a few but since today is the 1st day of the festival not many people have gotten here yet. They said we should probably come back tomorrow and remember to bring chairs with us to sit on because it's out on the dirt where you have to watch from. We decided that was a good idea so we left and drove to Canyonlands National Park. When we stopped at the Rangers office we finally find out the rules for "National Parks" "NO DOGS" in National Parks, State Parks, National forests ect. dogs are aloud at. We drove thru the park anyway and got out at Mesa Arch to take some pictures. It was only a mile round trip walk so we just left Valley in the car with the windows down and a bowl of water. When we had left the Rangers station Dave had mentioned he didn't feel good but he still wanted to go on. Well after that mile walk he was burning up and freezing so it sounds to me like the flu. We ended up driving back to the coach and he went straight to bed. Me I'm now sitting here writing my blog. Today at 4:45 we are suppose to have a pedicure, I hope he is feeling better by then.
Anyway, yesterday I wrote in the blog and made a nail appointment for me. Then I got on the phone and made reservations for the "Canyonlands by Night" dinner and boat cruise. After my nails Valley and I walked around, Dave was still working either on work stuff or website stuff. Before we left for the dinner show we laid around outside and read books. The weather here is just perfect like I mentioned before, it's been between 80 and 86 degrees.
The dinner was great, we got to talking to the people around us so that was nice, the boat ride was very interesting. Thank goodness they had told me on the phone to wear long pants and bring a jacket because it was freezing. It might be 86 during the day but once 7:30 pm hits and the sun goes behind the hills it cools down in a hurry. The boat ride is about 2 hrs long, a bit to long for us when it's that cold, they put on a tape with music that explains the history and light up the sides of the hills, it was very pretty. We got back a little after 9 pm. and that damn Valley hadn't turned on the heat for us, Dave was not a happy camper. ha ha
enough of this blog, time to start on the Rally and this time I mean it!!

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

September 27, 2006 Boy am I bad or what? Thought I better write something before you all think I have dropped off the face of the earth.
After we left Baker Oregon the next stop was Springville Utah which is right outside of Provo. We were still traveling with our friends Lee, Vicki and their dog Fleetwood, we would be leaving each other the next day, us on to Moab and they were on their way to Colorado. We had breakfast together on Sunday morning then followed each other for the next 100 or so miles then stopped and said our good byes. We plan on keeping in touch and they may make it to New Mexico before we leave at the end of October. Vicki, Lee, Stan and Ginger are the people we met at Camp Monaco and came up to Marty's while we were there. Vicki grew up in Simi Valley, and Stan and Ginger live in Camarillo, what a small world.
Anyway, we are in Moab Utah, what a beautiful place and the weather is perfect. We thought it wouldn't be crowded here, wrong. October is the end of the season, the weather is in the 80's and starting tomorrow there is a skydiving festival here. So the place is pretty crowded around here. When we came here Sunday we hadn't made reservations, the 1st place where we wanted to stay was all booked up. We then got on the phone and started looking around, on the 3rd or 4th place we called they had an opening and we jumped on it. We are at Moab Valley RV Resort, it's a nice place but again dirt and gravel. It has one small patch of grass, which you share with your neighbor, if you have a neighbor, which we do. The people around here are kind of friendly a lot better then the other campgrounds we have been too.
Sunday after we got here we had to go grocery shopping, after being in Salem for the Rally and they kept feeding us we had no groceries. So we did that and now it's back to cooking again.
Monday was cleaning and laundry, we ended up going into town to do the laundry. When the washer was running we walked around town, with Valley, and checked things out. We called and made a vet appointment for Valley, she has been scratching and dragging herself around a lot. The vet was a real country vet, he wore coveralls and his office was on a farm surrounded by cattle, dogs, horses ect. They put Valley on the table and he started checking her out, it's here allergies again, and she has something like diaper rash. He gave her a shot of cortisone and told us to keep spraying her with the stuff that our vet had given us before we left Simi. After the vet we went back to the coach and finished cleaning, boy it sure had gotten dirty at the RV Rally. Tuesday we drove up to Arches National Park, great views but they don't let any animals out on the hiking trails, only on the roads and parking lots. We stopped and got a few pictures and decided if we wanted to go hiking we would have to leave Valley in the RV. On the way back Dave got a few calls and had to go back to work in the coach. Valley and I drove into town, parked the car and started walking around. We walked for almost 3 hours, it was getting hot and Valley had had enough so we came back to the coach. Dave was still working on conference calls so I grabbed my book and lounge chair and read and napped outside of the coach with Valley.
The people next to us told us they had been at Deadhorse Point State Park and they let dogs on the paths, so we might have to check it out the only thing is it is 30 miles away from Moab. We might also try and do this thing called "Canyonlands By Night and Day". It's dinner then a boat ride down the Colorado River with lighting up the canyon walls, with music and a guide explaining things to you. It looks great to do so will let you know if we do the tour.
I'm going to cut off now, on this blog, and start another one telling you all about the Rally in Salem.

Saturday, September 23, 2006

Saturday September 23, 2006, I am going to have a hard time to get caught up on the blog updates since it has been a week since I last wrote. Right now we are in Baker Oregon we got here about 5:20 pm last night. We are staying at the Mountain View RV Park, seems like a nice enough place but we head out 1st thing this morning so won't really get to check out the place. Dave wants to make it to Provo Utah today then tomorrow finish the drive to Moab Utah where we will stay for about a week.
As you all know last Monday thru Friday we were at the Monaco Rally in Salem Oregon, there were about 900 rigs.
Got to go now, will either write more tonight but more likely tomorrow in Moab

Saturday, September 16, 2006

Saturday night 9pm September 16th 2006, well tomorrow we leave Elkton, I'm really sad. It has been so great to see Marty, Dayna and the Kids it's been way too long. Marty kept saying while we've been here "don't tell anyone your my sister" but every time I turned around people would say to me "You're Marty's Sister, we know all about you because he just told us" Marty acts like he doesn't want people to know about the rest of his family but when you get here he is like showing us off, if you think about it maybe it's like showing off zoo animals. I guess if they meet us he seems more normal, what do you think Mike?
Anyway, last night, Friday night was Marty's Friday night special which was prawns and carne asada with beans chips and quesadillas. Jenni came up, so for dinner it was Dayna, Marty, Jenni, Dave and I , and of course the dinner was great. One of Marty's waitresses is running for town mayor, she is only 23 I think, anyway I had a talk with her about that deer being shot, she said she would look into it. After dinner the winery across the street had and entertainer, Steve Poltz. We all went there to listen to him play, Marty has heard him before and said he is really good. The show started at 8 pm $10.00 cover charge and standing room only, that's because there were hardly any chairs, Dave and I made it until 10 pm when he took a break then we walked back to the rig. Very strange singer, he made up a bunch of songs on his own and right before the break he sang a song about a dish washer or washing machine, I can't remember, very strange.
Today we just hung around and read books and played on the computer. We walked around and took more pictures of Marty's Restaurant and of the town so Dave can post on the website. Around 5:30 pm Marty came by to visit, Dayna was up at the restaurant, so Marty called her and she came down. Dayna was working on buying a new computer so Dave helped her search and find the one she wanted. When they left we said we would see them in the morning for breakfast.

Friday, September 15, 2006

Friday, September 15, 2006 7am Let me start off telling Kelli Miller "Happy Birthday" We hope you have a great day. If those of you that read this blog, don't remember, we visited Robert, Kelli, Alex and Rosie in Ferndale Washington.
Yesterday we hung around town all day, Dave had some work in the morning, then we went walking around with Valley. I showed Dave the spot where we could walk down the Umpqua River, which we did, then walking where Valley and I had found the snake that one day. It was where the Elkton Festival was held. While walking back on the highway we saw a deer, but, the deer was laying down right outside the tennis court of the high school. Valley wanted to run down the hill but with the deer not getting up, but it was looking at us, we knew something was wrong. I thought maybe it was on the road and a vehicle came by and it leaped and broke it's leg on landing because it is a high hill. We walked by the restaurant and I asked Marty if there was a vet in town, he said he wasn't paying for a vet and it was probably hit and crawled down there, not to worry it happens all the time. I told Dave I would check later to see if the deer was still there.
We had lunch at Marty's, which was great and tonight we will have dinner with him. After lunch we walked over to the winery that's across the street to do wine tasting. While there another couple came in and asked if I was Marty's sister, they said they saw us at the Elkton Festival and they thought I looked like him, which Marty won't be happy to hear. After the wine tasting we came back to the rig and Dave worked on the website and I took Valley for a walk. We walked to the High School and went to the tennis court and sure enough the deer was there but was dead. The deer's leg was broke but what upsets me is it had been shot in the neck. I called Marty on his cell, which he never remembers to carry with him, and left him a message that someone had shot the deer and he should be worried because what happens if they had hit a kid instead of the deer. I didn't hear back from Marty so he probably didn't even hear the message, I'll check with him this morning.
Dave got to concentrating so much on Marty's website that it got to late to BBQ dinner so I ended up going up to Marty's Restaurant and ordered a pizza for us. While walking up there with Valley it finally started to rain. Dave could hear the rain and drove up to the restaurant to pick us up, he said he hates the smell of a wet dog ( I hope he was talking about Valley). We had the Marty Special Pizza which once the website is done you can looked up the menus and see what's on the pizza, and of course it was great. We stay here much longer and keep eating at Marty's we will be broke in no time. Tonight I'll let him buy dinner for us for payment of the website.
Anyway, it's suppose to rain again today but so far it's just overcast and cool, but the ugh Boots sure are nice having now.
Bye for now

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Thursday, September 14, 2006 So far it isn't raining yet, some parts of the sky are dark but then there is some blue sky showing, I'm crossing my fingers for no rain.
Tuesday evening Dave and I went out by the fire ring by our coach and had a fire, the weather was still warm the river was running and it was very relaxing. Do you think anyone else in this campsite would join us, hell no. They just hide in the trailers, more trailers came in yesterday will see if they are friendly. Miss Camp Monaco.
Yesterday, Wednesday, we went up and had breakfast at Marty's and Dave and him talked about the website. Dave had a busy morning with meetings so had to work on the website in between phone calls. After breakfast Valley and I walked around for almost 2 hours, walked around Elkton followed the Umpqua river, when Valley starts laying down I know she has had enough for awhile. Of course I forgot to bring water for her and it was another warm day, we got back to the rig and she drank for 5 min. In the afternoon Dave and I went to check out the farmers market that they have here every Wednesday, Marty and Dayna didn't even know they had one, we got some veg. and fruit. We picked Marty up at 4pm and drove into Eugene to meet up with the rest of the family. (Dayna, Christina, Jake and Jenni) We were early so we went shopping around. Costco, supplies for Salem, GI Joe's ugh boots for Jeri, Burch's sandals for Jeri, what a combination. Then we all gathered at Christina and Jake's house to decide on what everyone wanted for dinner. We ended up going to "Cafe Lucky Noodle" it's a Thai/Italian restaurant, good mixture. The food was great, we had an appetizer of Antipasto (salami, olives, roasted tomatoes and peppers, roasted whole garlic, cheeses ect) and stuffed seafood dumplings with dipping sauce, like I said Thai and Italian. The drinks were amazing too, everyone would get something different then pass it around so everyone could try it. Marty and I had a Chili Margarita, boy was it spicy and had a chili in it. Dayna had a Key Lime Martini and that was really good too. For dinner we all, except Jenni and Dave, ordered something different and we passed around our plates for everyone to try, Jake is still trying to get used to the Tomaselli way of sharing each others food. Marty's dinner, a seafood mixture with noodles, didn't show up until we were almost all done eating. We were not happy about that, they ended up taking Marty's drink off the bill, it should have been a free meal in my book. We didn't get back to the coach until 11pm, it took 1 hour from Eugene and boy are those roads dark. Valley was very happy to see us and be able to walk a little bit outside, if you know what I mean.
We had a nice visit at dinner with everyone and it was great to see the kids again, Dave got pictures and will post them on the website soon.
I think that's it for now.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Tuesday, September 12, 2006 no exciting things going on today. Dave, Valley and I went walking around Elkton, they have a lot of new houses being built here. While walking we saw 3 deer running around, it was neat watching them hop like rabbits. I had no idea that's how they run around, I thought they galloped, wrong. Valley didn't see them but when we got to where they had been she sure could smell them. Marty called while we were walking and since today is his day off Dave and him got together to start working on his website. They are also working on trying to sell it on Craig's list and Ebay. Dave took pictures of the restaurant inside and out, and pictures of the menu. After we left the restaurant Dave came back and started working on the website, Valley and I laid out in the sun. It is hot here, it's in the 90's and it's suppose to be raining here on Thursday thru Saturday, can't believe it because there isn't a cloud in the sky.
Tomorrow night we will be driving into Eugene and having dinner with Christina, Jake, Jenni, Dayna and Marty.
Yesterday I did have my nails done and we ran into Marty in Cottage Grove, he was in town having new tires put on his truck and he had brought his bike with him and rode over to where we were. We then went to Wallyworld again because Valley's leash had broken and we had to get a new one. When we got back I went on a long walk with Valley on the river, Dave went back to painting his satellite box plus he had some work to do too. There is an older couple that come into Marty's restaurant, and he is friends with, Jerri and Dick, we saw them there on Sunday morning and they wanted to see our motor home. Well, yesterday in the afternoon Jerri had called me on my cell and asked if she could come over, Dick was out so he wasn't with her. She came over and we gave her a tour, she just loved it. She said they were thinking about getting a motor home years ago and traveling around, but the one they had been talking about was only a 21 footer. After seeing ours she said there was no way they could have lived in that 21 footer.
That's about it for now, just a relaxing day.
Bye

Monday, September 11, 2006

Monday morning 9/11/06, watching Fox News and seeing all the ceremonies going on for the 5 year anniversary of 9/11. We just need to keep our guard up because they will strike again.
Sunday morning our new friends from Camp Monaco showed up about 10 a.m. It was Vicki, Lee, Ginger and Stan we meet at Marty's and had a great breakfast. Sat and laughted a lot and Marty came out and visited with them. We then hit the road for Coos Bay, we had to take 2 cars because we all took our dogs with us. Vicki has Fleetwood, and Ginger has Katie and of course Valley was the big sister because their dogs are smaller. We stopped on the way out at the Elk viewing and there were only 3 bulls but to far away to take pictures.
Don't know if you ever watch the Food Network but Rachel Ray does a couple different shows on there. One that was shown back in August was about Coos Bay, North Bend and Charleston places to go to either shop at or eat at. I had written down some of them so Lee put it in his GPS and we were on our way. We stopped at the Myrtlewood Factory, which is all kinds of stuff made from myrtlewood boy they had some great looking stuff. Then it was on to Cranberry Sweets, what a place, they have samples of most of the candies that they sale, out for you to taste. Stuff was not cheap either, some were like $18.95 a pound! 4 little pieces of peanut butter fudge cost $4.19, but boy is it great fudge. Stan said he wouldn't mind buying some stuff since he had already tried just about every sample they had out which would have cost a forture if he had had to buy it. Then it was on to Oyster Cove, which Rachel said if you haven't been there before that the owner comes out and does a oyster shooter with you for Free, the restaurant was closed we were too early, not that I would have done an oyster shooter, but I might of. As Grandpa Knowles you to say it's just like eating snot, oh yum, not.
We went by the casino in Coos Bay but didn't stop, it is right on the water and had a big camp ground, will have to remember that one for future visits. Of course with all the driving we were doing we kept stopping along the way to walk the dogs around. This place is just beautiful and peaceful, just like what we saw in Washington when visiting Kelli and Rob.
Just remembered, forgot to tell you that Dave and I weren't really sore at all after the bike ride the night before. Thought maybe it would hit us this morning but still doing OK, maybe we can go farther next time?
Anyway, on the way back to Elkton we stopped in Winchester Bay, they have a fabulous campsite there that we had to check out, we will have to try and stay there some time. We went to a Seafood Restaurant there right on the water, it ended up being the same one that we had taken Marty, Dayna and Mom to years ago, I believe it was Jenny and Dayna's graduation. We had dinner there then back on the road. When we went by the Elk viewing area again this time the one bull was really close, so we stopped. We got pictures and will post on the web later, Dave and I drove on and Lee said if we would have stayed we could have seen the other two bulls come out of the woods and they came close too. Oh Well. We stopped at Marty's restaurant to waive bye to them when they drove by but they called before they got there and wanted to stop at Marty's and have pie and coffee. They got back on the road for Camp Monaco at 7 pm and Dave, Valley and I came back to our coach. The weather was still warm so Dave finished painting his satellite dish box then we sat outside and watched the river flow, so peaceful. Most of our neighbors, Oregon River Ramblers, had left so the campsite is pretty empty. On our end of the park now no one blocks our view of the river.
Got to go now, I have a nail appointment at 10:30 in Cottage Grove so need to start getting ready
Bye

Saturday, September 09, 2006

Saturday night, September 9 2006, sorry I keep putting the date and day down but it is a journal for us too. Friday night after the last blog Marty came by and wanted to know if we were coming to dinner and of course we said "yes". Anyway the group in the pavilon, that I had mentioned in the last blog were sitting down for dinner. Marty walks over and asked "what's for dinner" and NO ONE REPLYED TO HIM. Boy was he shocked and so was I, with his bubbling personality he couldn't even penatrate these people, I told you trailer trash. A lady finally got up and started talking to us, didn't have a whole lot to say except they were there with an RV group called "Oregon River Rambers". We left right away for dinner at Marty's, which Dayna and Marty joined us, which was really nice, the special was Tuna. The dinner was great so was the company and the wine too. We got to visit with Marty and Dayna and tell them the mishaps that we keep having, or causing, with our rig and our GPS system, which Mike likes to hear and now there are more that he hasn't heard yet. Dayna and Marty were in tears hearing all of our tells, just like Mike has been, they said we should write a book so no one else does the stupid things we have done.
OK so I kind of recaped last night but right now is Saturday night, early. Today we drove to Cottage Grove to buy the cable we needed for TV service, we also went to Wally World, which is what we have learned Walmart is called by all the RVer's. I guess since we are considered trailer trash we might as well shop with our equals.
When we got back in the afternoon we had lunch then took Valley for a long walk thru the umpqua river, it gets pretty hard hiking thru the rocks. When we got back Dave started painting his wood box that holds our satelite dish, Valley and I cooled off in the coach. It was a little cool this morning but it sure heats up in the afternoon. After taking it easy for a little while I decided to take Valley for a long walk, Dave was busy so he didn't go. We walked to the park where the Elkton Festival was and walked around there. Valley kept searching around this brush so I walked over and you could hear the brook of water but couldn't see it. Then we heard something in the bushes a little bit away and there it was, a big old snake. That's all I needed to see Valley and I got the hell out of there. When we got back to the rig Marty called and asked if we wanted to go on a bike ride, we said yes. Dayna and Marty came by about 6 pm and we took off on a 10 mile bike ride, up roads, down roads, snakes on roads, and as Marty said, Dave bitched the whole time. Just kidding, it wasn't the whole time. I think we both did pretty good for our true 1st ride since we got the bikes, Dave has to take it easy because of his knees and work up to the harder rides, but so do I too. It was fun, will see how we feel tomorrow. When we got back that one lady from Oregon River Ramblers started talking to us again, mainly me because Dave walks away, asking if we would like to join their group we were more than welcome. We told her we weren't going to be hanging around Oregon so it was kind of silly to join their club.
We got a call from friends from Harrisburg, that are still stuck at Camp Monaco, and they are going to drive up tomorrow morning and we will all have breakfast at Marty's then head out to Coos Bay for the day, should be fun.
Bye for now

Friday, September 08, 2006

Friday early evening now, 5:45 pm September 9, 2006 we are here in Elkton now. Elkton RV Park among the trailer trash again, I shouldn't say that because some of the rigs that pulled in the campsite behind us had some Monaco products too. OK, some were older rigs and not as nice, but come to find out they only pulled in to get together with the ones that live here. Boy, we sure do miss the Monaco Campsite already. A couple of the people we hung with at Monaco that are close to our age are still there and said they just might drive up to Elkton to hang with us then we could all drive to the coast and check it out. Marty came by this afternoon to say Hi and see the coach, but was on the run, I told him we will see him tonight for dinner. When we had gotten here I called him and the girls had just left so will have to see them some time this week before we leave. Want to here the stories from Jenny about France since she just got back last Wednesday.
I have to stop and say, we are right in front of the pavilion here in the rv park and there is some kind of get together and they are now holding hands in a circle and praying, it is very hard to write and watch. As a matter of fact Dave just got up from the dining room table, where he is working on his computer, and wanted to scratch his balls, as he said, and can't do it because our front window isn't covered with shades and everyone can see him. I told him he was stupid to say something like that because I was in the middle of my blog and I would include it, which I did. Right now he is closing the shades on the windows, "bye" to our new neightbors. Oh forgot to say being here in Elkton RV Park is great but the trees are a bitch. After moving two times we finally got computer service but we have no TV. We even have a separate dish to set up manually, if the one on top of the RV doesn't work, and to make that work we need 100 more feet of cable, which we will go and buy tomorrow. I guess tonight we will have to watch the DVD's we have and haven't watched yet. Or maybe when we get back from dinner we can hang with the group in the Pavilion, who knows.
Friday 5 am in the morning September 9, 2006 boy I am so far behind in this blog writing, I'll try and get all caught up. Let's see I left off about seeing Marty in his Playbill, which I said was corny but fun. While Dave was taking pictures I was talking to the Judge and watching the play with him. Marty said, I don't care what the judge says to you I'm still not voting for him. I don't know if I mentioned in the last blog, and I'm to lazy to look it up but before we had gotten to Marty's there was the Elkton Umpqua parade. I heard there were 45 people in the parade and 35 of them were politicians and they had booths there too along with the crafts ect. By the way, Dave posted some pictures of the play on our website, just go to photo album and click on September pictures, I believe. www.altonsystems.com
After the play they had a band there to listen to and dance to, which a lot of people did dance. Hanging around with the winery people kept the wine flowing, it was fun. Sunday morning we went by Marty's restaraunt for breakfast before heading out back to Harrisburg. Damn, Marty is a great cook, the Marty omelet was fabulous. After we left we stopped at Costco for gas $2.79 boy has it gone down, we made a few more stops got back to the coach in the afternoon. At happy hour that night we found out that everyone decided to have a potluck on Monday because of the Holiday. One couple, Pat and Don, were going to leave on Monday but decided they wanted to be there for the party. We ended up using the big tent Monaco has set-up here and used there big BBQ. Everyone brought their own meat they wanted to eat and they all took turns cooking we had a big variety of salads and baked beans, it was fun.
Tuesday, we called over to the shop and they said only 1 part came in so don't bother bringing the rig over call back tomorrow and see if the other parts came in. Since the yearly maintenance work needed to be done Dave, Valley and I drove over to Coburg to a TA Station to have all the work done. After 3 hours and $600.00 we finally got to go back to camp Monaco, we had the maintenance done, refueled and got propane. I made lunch in the coach for us because we couldn't afford to go out after that.
Wednesday we called and ended up taking the coach over about 10 a.m. but of course all the parts weren't in yet but they could work on what they did have. Monaco had another potluck for all of us at Camp Monaco again, I guess they do this every Wednesday. Wednesday night after happy hour we went out to dinner, mexican food, with a new couple that had shown up a few days earlier. Lee and Vicki, another young couple, Lee is 57 and Vicki is 49 and they went fulltime in June too but a couple days before us. I almost lost my youngest status, that was close. Thursday morning after they took Lee's rig, he and Vicki came over to our coach to visit and check their emails from my computer. While there we got to talking about the Rally that is being held this month in Salem Oregon, it's the 18th thru the 21st. Everyone keeps saying if you haven't been you should really go, so I decided that we should, Dave was easy to talk into it. So our trip plans have changed again, we will be at Marty's for a week then go to the Rally and after that we will start our drive to New Mexico. Our reservations in New Mexico isn't until October 1st so we will have a week and a half to kill so will be looking into where we will be staying, will let you all know when we know. That's one good thing about being homeless, you can just pick up and leave or change your plans at a drop of a pin.
Thursday they finished fixing the awning over the passenger door and one more part will be here on Friday morning, will see since this is Friday morning. Either way we are out of here, they said they will have repair guys at the Rally so if the part isn't here this A.M. they will bring it to the Rally and fix it there.
I think that's about it for now, I believe I'm all caught up. If I think of something that I left out I will post it on the next blog.

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Wednesday morning, August 6, 2006, guess what, we are still here at camp Monaco. One part came in yesterday morning, and more in the afternoon I guess, because we just called to see if we should bring the rig over and the repair guy said to bring it over at 10 a.m. We didn't actually get to talk to him so don't really know. Even if it gets done, which I doubt, we didn't plan on leaving until Friday because of Dave's work plus that's when we told the Elkton RV park we would be there.
After my last blog, I mentioned it was early Friday evening, after that our fellow RVer's got together for Happy Hour. There was an open spot between us and Clark so that ended up being the Happy Hour spot. It actually started Thursday night but it was just all the guys, Friday night I looked out the window and a lady was sitting with the guys. I walked out and asked her how she got to join the boys group, she said Bullshit to the boys group, she was joining so then so did I. Her name is Bobbie, her husband is Gene and they have been full timers for 11 years. Next thing you know there were about 20 of us and then we all started bringing appetizers and just had a real good time, we all went back to our rigs about 8 pm.
Saturday we drove up to Elkton stopped at Marty's restaurant for a few minutes then walked over to the Elkton RV Park to check out the spots. While there a big rig was just pulling in and we wanted to watch and see if that size rig would really fit, because the spaces didn't look that big. They pulled in a the lady got out and Dave started talking to her and asking if she thought their satelite dish would work. She said it would because they come there all the time then she asked him why we were there Dave said my wife's brother owns a restaurant here and we were visiting. She asked who my brother was and Dave said Marty Tomaselli and she came running over to me to meet Marty's sister. She then went in her coach and next thing I know her husband comes running out because he just had to meet Marty's sister. He was Judge Garrison and he said he didn't know Marty had a sister. We went back to the restaurant and Marty says "Don't tell anyone your my sister, I don't want anyone to know" asshole, but boy did I keep using his name, of course everyone knows Marty and we seem to get card blanch everyone we mentioned his name to and who I was. We drove up to the house to visit with Dayna which was real nice Dave and her got to talk a lot about diving. Marty came home for a little while to rest before he had to get all set up for the Luau and Playbill he was in. I left after him to go to their little festival and Dave stayed with Dayna to help with the problem they had with their water pressure and flood in their pump house. Anyway, not much there a couple craft booths, fresh vegetable booth, food places and the winery booths. I think they have about 3 winerys there so I stopped there just to ask if they have tours, they said when they aren't busy then I mentioned Marty. It worked again, everyone just had to meet me, they said they didn't know Marty even had family, just kidding I think, but they did seem to know about Mike, so they thought he only had a brother. At 5 the Play started and it was called "Echoes of the Umpqua, 2006: A Year in the Life of Fort Umpqua" Marty was playing a Hawaii harvester I guess, corny play but fun, I wish Mike would have been there, he would have torn Marty apart. Marty even sang a christmas song in Hawaiian, very funny. Dave got it on video, we hope, he is trying to publish now.
Got to cut off now, we have to take the coach in, will write more later.

Friday, September 01, 2006

Friday early evening September 1, 2006 well we are still here at the Monaco Campgrounds. Some of the parts came in at 10 a.m. the others we were hoping would show up at 2, no such luck. They should show up on Tuesday, it's only the cameras, lights and something else, can't remember, don't understand why we need that stuff, ha ha.
We will, tomorrow, drive to Marty's and spend the night at his house. Elkton has some kind of fair there all weekend and then a play at night that Marty is in. Kelli, Kim and a bunch of other people want pictures, which hopefully I can then post on the blog.
Today we didn't do anything, Dave worked on some work stuff, I hung around and worked on puzzles, we drove to Eugene to go to some parts store. That is about it, nothing to really report on today.
See ya