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
Friday, September 15, 2006
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 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
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Thursday evening, August 31st, today we did go to the wineries. They said there was no problem to follow in my car, as a matter of fact another car followed too because one of the ladies needed her cart because she couldn't walk around. We left at 10 a.m. and didn't get back until 5:30 p.m. had I known it was going to be all day we might not have gone. Only because Valley had to be in the car the whole time. Being locked up in a car for 7 hours is a bit long in my opinion. Sorry, I'm an animal lover and I don't like them being locked up for so long. Anyway we did have, or I should say I had a pretty good time. Dave actually sat with Valley in the car almost the whole time(it's ok for him to be locked up but not Valley, just kidding) he had so many conference calls that he missed almost all the wine tasting, bummer for him. We only saw two wineries but were gone all day, when we left at 10 we drove to a clock store, it's called Creative Clock, what an amazing place. If you ever get to Eugene Oregon you need to stop by and check out this place. They not only had clocks of every kind but they had a bunch of collectible stuff too, phones, the crank ones, teletypes, miniature trains ect. I really mean it you would have to go by and see for yourself. Check out their website www.creativeclock.com. Anyway that's where we went first and were there quite awhile because people were buying stuff. Then we went to lunch at a place called Izzys, kind of like Hometown buffet, if you know what that is. Pizza, salad bar, pasta, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, desert bar, ect. ect. ect. Way too much to eat. After lunch then we started driving to the wineries which were not close. The first one was just wine tasting, no tour, the second one which was another long drive had wine tasting and tour. When we got back to pick up the rig Monaco was closed so we didn't get a chance to talk to our rep so have no idea if they are going to finish up tomorrow, we find out in the morning.
Bye for now
Bye for now
Thursday morning, August 31, 2006
Yesterday was a pretty good day, we dropped off the "rig", I just learned that's about what everyone calls them, at 7:30 a.m. and we had to stick around because they wanted Dave to unhook all his computer stuff. They didn't want to be responsible if they unhooked it wrong, which Dave was glad to hear. Valley and I went and sat in the lobby, Valley is the welcomer for when everyone walks in. She is getting so much attention even the girls that work behind the counter give her dog bones. There were about 4 of us sitting around the table working on the puzzle talking about different camping places then they somehow got on age. Well, my new buddies have been married 55 plus years so needless to say they are in there 70's. I didn't even tell them my age but it's kind of nice being the youngest one here. Another nice thing around here is this is one place you can't call us trailer trash, everyone here either has the same size "rig" or larger. They don't like to hear the 4 letter word (work) at least that's what they say to Dave when he says he still works.
Anyway, yesterday Dave sat in the car on conference calls and typing away on his computer when I had to run out to the store to get chips and dip for the potluck. After the potluck we had to go back to the rig so Dave could hook up the computer stuff again. Then we drove back again at 2 because it was margarita party time that Monaco put on. I'm telling you I could stay here for quite awhile, it is really fun. When I talked to Kim yesterday she said I should join the craft classes that way I could start making everyone Christmas gifts, good idea. Today is travelling around to different winerys then lunch out, I have to see if they will let me follow them in my car because of Valley plus Dave has a lot of work today. Dave and Valley can sit in the car while I go on the tours.
We have to take the rig in at 7 a.m. this morning and it's 6 a.m. right now so I have to cut off now and do a shut down.
bye
Yesterday was a pretty good day, we dropped off the "rig", I just learned that's about what everyone calls them, at 7:30 a.m. and we had to stick around because they wanted Dave to unhook all his computer stuff. They didn't want to be responsible if they unhooked it wrong, which Dave was glad to hear. Valley and I went and sat in the lobby, Valley is the welcomer for when everyone walks in. She is getting so much attention even the girls that work behind the counter give her dog bones. There were about 4 of us sitting around the table working on the puzzle talking about different camping places then they somehow got on age. Well, my new buddies have been married 55 plus years so needless to say they are in there 70's. I didn't even tell them my age but it's kind of nice being the youngest one here. Another nice thing around here is this is one place you can't call us trailer trash, everyone here either has the same size "rig" or larger. They don't like to hear the 4 letter word (work) at least that's what they say to Dave when he says he still works.
Anyway, yesterday Dave sat in the car on conference calls and typing away on his computer when I had to run out to the store to get chips and dip for the potluck. After the potluck we had to go back to the rig so Dave could hook up the computer stuff again. Then we drove back again at 2 because it was margarita party time that Monaco put on. I'm telling you I could stay here for quite awhile, it is really fun. When I talked to Kim yesterday she said I should join the craft classes that way I could start making everyone Christmas gifts, good idea. Today is travelling around to different winerys then lunch out, I have to see if they will let me follow them in my car because of Valley plus Dave has a lot of work today. Dave and Valley can sit in the car while I go on the tours.
We have to take the rig in at 7 a.m. this morning and it's 6 a.m. right now so I have to cut off now and do a shut down.
bye
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Tuesday evening, August 29, 2006, We took the RV in at 7:45 a.m and walked back to where we are parked and it's not 3 miles like I said in the last blog it's only 2 miles.
Ok, Ok, now I don't want anyone to get jealous of what I did today, no no I didn't take the bracelet making class or tour the cabinet shop but what I did do was take the ladies driving class. I know, I know, I didn't think Dave could talk me into it but he did and I must admit it was a pretty good class. The class started at 10 a.m. and we stopped at 11:45 p.m. for lunch. Guaranty RV Centers were having a free BBQ Lunch for everyone at their dealership, then afterward we all walked around and checked out the new motor homes. We got back at 1:30 but I didn't get to take my driving lesson until 4 p.m. there were 9 ladies in the class and the instructor took 1 person at a time for like a 20 min. drive. He went in the order that we had signed up and I was number 8, I did good, he said, except backing up the rv in a parking space, he suggested that my husband still do that for awhile until I get more practice. So I guess now I have to start driving but if possible I'm not doing city driving, only highway.
We picked up the RV at 5 and they said it looks like they will finish up by Friday, so then we can head up to Marty's.
Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings, bye for now.
Ok, Ok, now I don't want anyone to get jealous of what I did today, no no I didn't take the bracelet making class or tour the cabinet shop but what I did do was take the ladies driving class. I know, I know, I didn't think Dave could talk me into it but he did and I must admit it was a pretty good class. The class started at 10 a.m. and we stopped at 11:45 p.m. for lunch. Guaranty RV Centers were having a free BBQ Lunch for everyone at their dealership, then afterward we all walked around and checked out the new motor homes. We got back at 1:30 but I didn't get to take my driving lesson until 4 p.m. there were 9 ladies in the class and the instructor took 1 person at a time for like a 20 min. drive. He went in the order that we had signed up and I was number 8, I did good, he said, except backing up the rv in a parking space, he suggested that my husband still do that for awhile until I get more practice. So I guess now I have to start driving but if possible I'm not doing city driving, only highway.
We picked up the RV at 5 and they said it looks like they will finish up by Friday, so then we can head up to Marty's.
Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings, bye for now.
Monday, August 28, 2006
Monday evening, August 28, 2006 , and we are no longer in that shitty motor home park. We took the RV into Monaco this A.M. and they did a write up of all the stuff we had wrong. It ended up being 43 items on the list, nothing really big but stuff that needs to be corrected. Monaco has two different plants here and motor home parks on each one of them. The plant we took our coach to has a park with only about 20 sites, which was full and we couldn't get into. The other plant, which is about a 3 miles down the road had one opening but we would have to check in tonight, come tomorrow if we didn't check in it was first come first serve. If you get a spot at the Monaco parks the stay is free, and since they are going to be working on the coach all week we wanted a free spot. If you really think about it, you have to give them your coach at 8 a.m. and you don't get it back until 5 p.m. at night, so needless to say you have to have breakfast and lunch out, so really how free is it? Although, you can go anytime during the day, while they are working on it, and watch them work or go in the coach and do what ever, so I guess you could still fix your meals, but who wants to. They do have a nice waiting room, which you can bring your animals into, and watch TV, play games, do puzzles, or watch movies. Low and behold they also have daily activities if you would like to join in. In front of me now is the "Monaco Customer Activities August 28th-September 1st" list which includes:
craft classes - making bracelets (one day) decorating a picture frame with buttons and other fun stuff (another day) making embroidered greeting cards and also making a pair of earrings. Boy aren't you guys jealous. They also have a tour of the cabinet shop, tour of the factory, tour of the local wineries (now we are talking), extended service contract seminar, interior & exterior care seminar, hearing needs seminar and also they throw in some free BBQ's and pot lucks. On the potluck they say you can drive into Junction City to Safeway and purchase a dish to pass. I must say some of the stuff is interesting but the other stuff I feel Dave and I are too young for. Our problem with the tours is Valentine, the one thing they are missing here is an animal day care center. You can't leave the animals in the RV's while they are being repaired, so you have to have them with you. So it may be that Dave will go on the tours and Valley and I will be walking around a lot. We could leave her in the car for awhile if the weather was cooler but it's been in the 90's and that's way too hot to leave her in the car.
Yesterday, while driving around finding the Monaco plants, we saw about 5 deer on the road here. There was no traffic so I stopped so Valley could take a look at them, plus, I didn't want to hit them, she didn't know what the hell they were, when they walked in front of the car Valley didn't even blink once, she wanted out of the car to investigate. That was kind of neat to see.
Enough rambling, we did drive into Eugene today to purchase another phone for Dave, didn't have a lot of time because we had to get back to Harrisburg to pick up the motor home at 3:30. We had to clear up one campsite and get set up in the Monaco campsite.
It's late now 11:00 p.m. and we have to get up early to take the coach in so will cut off for now.
Bye
craft classes - making bracelets (one day) decorating a picture frame with buttons and other fun stuff (another day) making embroidered greeting cards and also making a pair of earrings. Boy aren't you guys jealous. They also have a tour of the cabinet shop, tour of the factory, tour of the local wineries (now we are talking), extended service contract seminar, interior & exterior care seminar, hearing needs seminar and also they throw in some free BBQ's and pot lucks. On the potluck they say you can drive into Junction City to Safeway and purchase a dish to pass. I must say some of the stuff is interesting but the other stuff I feel Dave and I are too young for. Our problem with the tours is Valentine, the one thing they are missing here is an animal day care center. You can't leave the animals in the RV's while they are being repaired, so you have to have them with you. So it may be that Dave will go on the tours and Valley and I will be walking around a lot. We could leave her in the car for awhile if the weather was cooler but it's been in the 90's and that's way too hot to leave her in the car.
Yesterday, while driving around finding the Monaco plants, we saw about 5 deer on the road here. There was no traffic so I stopped so Valley could take a look at them, plus, I didn't want to hit them, she didn't know what the hell they were, when they walked in front of the car Valley didn't even blink once, she wanted out of the car to investigate. That was kind of neat to see.
Enough rambling, we did drive into Eugene today to purchase another phone for Dave, didn't have a lot of time because we had to get back to Harrisburg to pick up the motor home at 3:30. We had to clear up one campsite and get set up in the Monaco campsite.
It's late now 11:00 p.m. and we have to get up early to take the coach in so will cut off for now.
Bye
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Change in Plans
After seeing the 30 Hot Air Ballons in Albeny and getting a ride in one we have changed our plans. We were able to make a reservation at an RV Park in Albuguerque for the month of October. We will be there for the Hot Air Ballon Festvial which runs from October 6 through the 15. We will have to move from a full hook up site to a Electric only site for that time but it still should be good to see over 800 ballons flying. Take a look at the calander and travel plans on the altonsystem.com web site for more details. We will put off visting Zion until some time next year.
Ferndale, Thursday morning, after writing the blog, Dave and I drove into Bellingham and dropped Valley off at Pet Smart to get groomed, she would be there for about 2 hours. Dave and I drove over to have pedicures but the place was very busy, but I was able to get a fill on my nails done. While I was having that done Dave walked around Bed, Bath and Beyond then on to Best Buy. When I was done we headed over to Costco to shop around and have lunch. After lunch it had been 2 hours since we dropped Valley off so we went and picked her up. We came back to the motor home, I walked Valley around then we headed off to the casino. We had told Rosie we would meet her there at 3 but we didn't get there until almost 4. Rosie was sitting at one of her favorite 1 cent machines and was down about $60.00. I sat down beside her and put $10.00 in the one cent slot machine and started winning, don't think that made Rosie too happy. When I left the machine I had $30.00, so I tripled my money, by then Rosie was almost down $100.00. Dave was off playing Black Jack, but that didn't last too long because before long he was sitting at a one cent machine too. Rosie moved to another one of her favorite slot machines and started doing real well. Before long she had won her $100.00 back and cashed out. We all left the casino about 5:30 p.m. and went home. We hadn't planned on cooking dinner since we were leaving in the morning so Dave called Rob and asked if they wanted to go out for Mexican food. We meet at the restaurant about 7:30 and had some monster margaritas, very good. Rob made the comment that he had seen more of us in these last couple weeks then he had in the last 30 years. ( And he didn't mean more of us as in the roundness of our bodies either, at least I don't think so) It was a really nice visit with all of them and the area was really hard to leave, it is one we will definitely come back too. We want to Thank Rob, Kelli, Alex and Rosie for their hospitality, we did have a very good time. The motor home park in Ferndale that we were at I don't think that I mentioned about the things it did have. A lot of grass areas, one monster park area that on the weekends the tent campers come out to. All around the monster park area is the berry bushes, which we had gone out to a couple times and picked black berries. Lots of rabbits that Valley could chase, she never tried to hard to catch them though, a big swimming pool, arcade, laundry room, we visited twice, and a pretty good size store if you needed any supplies. On Saturday nights they had karaoke and Sunday mornings they had a pancake breakfast at a small cost. Really nice park except for the rocks around the daily and weekly campsites, which of course we had. You just couldn't walk around bare foot but it was a nice place. We never meet anyone when we were there, just say Hi to people when we walked around.
Friday we drove to Portland Oregon and stayed the night at Jantzen Beach RV Park, pretty nice place, all grass sites but a bit close to the neightbors. A lot of squires which made Valley really happy, when I would let her chase them. After setting up we drove into Portland to the Pioneer Courthouse Square for the 15th annual Festa Italiana. The Festa goes from Friday to Sunday, and a lot of people there. They had the food court with different vendors with all their different kinds of Italian foods, pasta, pizza, salads, fried calamari, garlic bread, desserts ect. They also had Italian beer and wines in the food and wine courts, plus entertainment too. They had merchandise booths too but I never saw them. We stayed until 8 p.m. then drove back to the RV park.
We left Saturday morning and drove to Harrisburg, Oregon, which is covered in the blog that starts with "Sunday August 27
bye for now
Friday we drove to Portland Oregon and stayed the night at Jantzen Beach RV Park, pretty nice place, all grass sites but a bit close to the neightbors. A lot of squires which made Valley really happy, when I would let her chase them. After setting up we drove into Portland to the Pioneer Courthouse Square for the 15th annual Festa Italiana. The Festa goes from Friday to Sunday, and a lot of people there. They had the food court with different vendors with all their different kinds of Italian foods, pasta, pizza, salads, fried calamari, garlic bread, desserts ect. They also had Italian beer and wines in the food and wine courts, plus entertainment too. They had merchandise booths too but I never saw them. We stayed until 8 p.m. then drove back to the RV park.
We left Saturday morning and drove to Harrisburg, Oregon, which is covered in the blog that starts with "Sunday August 27
bye for now
Sunday, August 27, we are now in Harrisburg Oregon. We are in a lovely park here, NOT, only rocks and dirt, the only reason we are here is because this is where the manufacturer of our motor home is. Since the RV Peddler, in Bakersfield, couldn't or wouldn't or didn't fix the problems we had with it Dave called Monaco and made an appointment for them to fix the stuff that needs to be done. We have an appointment for 10:00 a.m. tomorrow for them to start doing the repairs that need to be done. We actually got here yesterday morning and set up camp. Wouldn't you know it when we get to the shitty camp grounds is when we find the friendly and talkative people. The next door neighbor is originally from California, San Jose, but now have a house in Casa Grande Arizona. They go full time RVing half the year and stay home the other half. Next to them is more Californians and across the road is Californians. I guess that just says that the Californians only know about the shitty campsites.
My brother, Mike, called me yesterday and told me Bob Miller was driving thru Albany Oregon and there were a lot of hot air balloons, so when Dave got the computers working I looked them up on the web. Sure enough they were having a hot air balloon festival, kind of, with food, crafts and of course about 30 hot air balloons. The balloons lift off at 6:00 a.m. so Dave and I (Valley too) got up at 4:15 a.m. this morning to drive out to Albany to see them. Albany is only about 24 miles away from Harrisburg, we got there about 5:45 a.m. and walked around. Dave got to talking to one of the guys with a balloon and they asked him if he wanted to help them get set up. Valley and I watched them set up and everyone else too, when they started shooting those flames in the balloon Valley almost jumped out of her skin. After awhile she got used to it, boy does it throw off the heat, which felt nice because it was kind of cold out at that time of the morning. After Dave helped them set up they asked him if he wanted a ride, I told him go ahead and I would be one of the chase cars.
He was up about 45 min. and I followed down the freeway then off to some side roads. When the pilot landed in the field and dropped Dave off they asked me if I wanted to go, but I declined not in the mood I guess. Anyway, the pilot wanted to take his crew chief up and give him more flying lessons, and Dave and I said we would still follow and help them put the balloon away when they were done. By the way, the pilot had another chase vehicle that I had caught up with right before they had let Dave off. After they were done flying we helped them put everything away and talked to them about hot air balloons. They will be in Reno in 2 weeks they said we should come but definitely we should go in October to New Mexico for those balloons. They said there will be 800 balloons then, today was pretty neat with only 30 balloons can't imagine 800 balloons. We told them that we were on a waiting list with Holiday Rambler for a spot in October. Bill, the pilot, said if we come and don't have a spot he has contacts and can get us a parking place. So now we are back to looking at going to New Mexico October 6th thru the 15th, which we really think we should go.
When we got back to the motor home we moved the box that we keep the satellite dish in and there was a snake under it, great, Dave said it's just a little garter snake, great. From now on when I walk Valley around my eyes will be looking all around, and not just for dog shit this time, I sure as hell don't need to run into any snakes.
I think I'll end this blog for now and start another one with the wrap up of leaving Ferndale and making our way here to Harrisburg.
Bye for now.
My brother, Mike, called me yesterday and told me Bob Miller was driving thru Albany Oregon and there were a lot of hot air balloons, so when Dave got the computers working I looked them up on the web. Sure enough they were having a hot air balloon festival, kind of, with food, crafts and of course about 30 hot air balloons. The balloons lift off at 6:00 a.m. so Dave and I (Valley too) got up at 4:15 a.m. this morning to drive out to Albany to see them. Albany is only about 24 miles away from Harrisburg, we got there about 5:45 a.m. and walked around. Dave got to talking to one of the guys with a balloon and they asked him if he wanted to help them get set up. Valley and I watched them set up and everyone else too, when they started shooting those flames in the balloon Valley almost jumped out of her skin. After awhile she got used to it, boy does it throw off the heat, which felt nice because it was kind of cold out at that time of the morning. After Dave helped them set up they asked him if he wanted a ride, I told him go ahead and I would be one of the chase cars.
He was up about 45 min. and I followed down the freeway then off to some side roads. When the pilot landed in the field and dropped Dave off they asked me if I wanted to go, but I declined not in the mood I guess. Anyway, the pilot wanted to take his crew chief up and give him more flying lessons, and Dave and I said we would still follow and help them put the balloon away when they were done. By the way, the pilot had another chase vehicle that I had caught up with right before they had let Dave off. After they were done flying we helped them put everything away and talked to them about hot air balloons. They will be in Reno in 2 weeks they said we should come but definitely we should go in October to New Mexico for those balloons. They said there will be 800 balloons then, today was pretty neat with only 30 balloons can't imagine 800 balloons. We told them that we were on a waiting list with Holiday Rambler for a spot in October. Bill, the pilot, said if we come and don't have a spot he has contacts and can get us a parking place. So now we are back to looking at going to New Mexico October 6th thru the 15th, which we really think we should go.
When we got back to the motor home we moved the box that we keep the satellite dish in and there was a snake under it, great, Dave said it's just a little garter snake, great. From now on when I walk Valley around my eyes will be looking all around, and not just for dog shit this time, I sure as hell don't need to run into any snakes.
I think I'll end this blog for now and start another one with the wrap up of leaving Ferndale and making our way here to Harrisburg.
Bye for now.
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Thursday, August 24th, yesterday Dave had to work most all day, I walked Valley around then drove into town. Gas again at Costco, at least it's under $3 dollars here, we are touring around so much that we have had to fill up every 4 days. I then went by and made an appointment for Valentine to be groomed today at 11:30. On the way back home I stopped by Fred Meyer's, Rosie had told me about them, it's a grocery store, clothing store ect. It is kind of like a super Walmart, but much more upper class, vision center, bank ect. In the afternoon Dave and I went and picked up Kelli and Alex and drove to Fairhaven for the farmers market there, a little disappointed because it was nothing like the farmers market on Saturday in Bellingham. Was hoping this one fruit vendor would be there but no such luck, but we did get more fresh vegtables and Dave got some nectarines. We then walked around this little town, I wish I would have known about it earlier because it was a nice little place. Alex and I went into this one little shop called Paws Awhile, which is run by the human society and the people that work there are all volunteers, I purchased a wiener dog door stop for Rosie and Bob. Then Kelli gave directions while I drove to see all the neat houses and the University. We did stop at this bread store called Great Harvest Bread Co., oh my gosh, what great bread. Kelli said the cinnamon rolls were to die for so we got a couple of those, one regular and one low cal., for breakfast Friday morning when we get on the road. Last night we all went to Stephani's, in Birch Bay, for a seafood dinner. This time Kelli's parents joined us, haven't seen them since the wedding, 5 years ago, and boy was it a good dinner. Very popular place and I think we ended up waiting about an hour but it was worth it for me, Dave ordered the King Salmon but it was a bit dry, but the steamed clams we ordered ahead of time were really good. Everyone else seemed to enjoy their dinner too, it was a bit cold to sit outside on the deck but we had too so you could watch the water and the sunset. We leave tomorrow, bummer, I really like this place, Dave says wait until winter then you won't like it. bye for now
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Wednesday August 23rd, yesterday, mid-morning Dave and I went to the mall here. I really was just going to Target but since Target is attached to the mall we decided to walk thru the whole thing and check it out. Guess what, it's just like any other mall except most malls don't have a Target Store attached. We both needed hair cuts, well mainly me, Dave just needed a touch up, so we found a hair cutting place in the mall and got butchered. Dave told the lady just a little shorter and she went a little bit too much for him, I like it though. The lady that did mine she asked me are you sure you want it that short and I said yes. Needless to say I'm not blond anymore as Dave pointed out, she had cut it all away. At least these hair cuts should last us quite awhile. After that we went to an RV store to get a new fuse for the brake buddy, but 1st we drove thru Bellingham and got lost for quite awhile, but we finally found the place. Last night we were invited to Rosie's for a taco dinner, very good. Robert, Kelli and Alex came too and we had a good time talking and eating. While there I called Trini and found out she isn't doing too well with the last surgery she had, boy I feel sorry for her.
bye for now
bye for now
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Tuesday morning August 22, the weather is kind of gloomy today but hopefully it will burn off. Yesterday we had our house power washed, it's so nice and shiny now, that's probably why it's gloomy this morning. You know how it goes, wash your car then it rains. Yesterday around noon we went and picked up Kelly, Alex and Rosie and went for a long scenic drive and ended up in this small old town called La Conner. We had lunch there(another long drive for lunch) then walked around the town, pretty neat place. Got back about 6 pm and boy was Valley glad to see us, walked her around then sat outside and read our books and relaxed. It doesn't get dark around here till about 9 pm so you can sit outside and read for a long time.
bye
bye
Monday, August 21, 2006
Monday Morning August 21st and tis that time again. I'm going to start from now on, I hope, to post to the blog everynight, this way I won't have to keep notes around of what we have been up to. Thursday Dave and I drove to Anacortes to take the ferry to Friday Harbor to check out that island and walk around. Luckily Kelly had called us right before we arrived to tell us the ferry schedule, which Dave or I hadn't looked up but we just didn't have enough time that afternoon to take the ferry. We ended up having lunch in downtown Anacortes, at Rockfish Grill, salmon burger and fish and chips, which by the way is an hour from Ferndale, another long drive just for lunch. Kind of like when we drove into Vancouver, another hour away, just for lunch. At least we get to see a lot of things and walk around too. Thursday night Dave, Rosie, Robert, Kelly and I went to the Silver Reef Casino Steak House for dinner. Oh my gosh, what a dinner we all had, the lobster bisque was to die for. The service was great the only thing is Dave and I thought for the price of the steaks they were not as good as they should have been. Don't get me wrong they were good but they could have been thicker and juicer, more like Ruth Chris Steakhouse, for the price. We all had a good time then we went gambling afterward. We stayed for about an hour and I doubled my money playing poker slots, Dave lost his money playing Blackjack and the rest of them were still there when we left. Friday morning we drove to Mount Baker, long drive but worth it. It was just beautiful there and Valley really liked the snow. We will post pictures on our website, the weather was perfect too. We had on tank tops and we were still hot that's how clear it was. Of course we were stupid because when we went hiking around we didn't bring any water with us, Valley of course was drinking the melting snow she was fine. We had to get back to the car, where we had water, and couldn't stay hiking as long as we had wanted too. On the way back, oh by the way the road to and from Mt. Baker is single lanes and winding roads, which are my favorite, how Dave can nap thru that is beyond me. (Thank goodness I was driving) We stopped at the Nooksack Casino on the way back to gamble a little bit but decided the weather was too hot to leave Valley in the car for too long so Dave went and played a couple fast hands of Blackjack and I just walked around. Danny, Kim's boyfriend, has started collecting $1.00 chips from different casinos, so Dave is happy to stop at the casinos and collect chips for Danny.
Saturday, after cleaning the house and doing laundry, we drove into Bellingham to the Farmers Market there. A lot of different vendors representing all the goods they grow on the farms here, most are organic but damn good looking vegetables. We got some zucchini, onions, tomatoes, potatoes, apples and kettlecorn. Ops, sorry the kettlecorn wasn't grown here in Ferndale or Bellingham, but it was popped here.
Sunday, we were going to go to Friday Harbor for brunch but decided with the cost of the ferry and brunch, it was a bit too steep so we ended up going back to Nooksack Casino for brunch. They had a very good champagne brunch, all kinds of shrimp, crab legs, salmon, salads, and normal breakfast stuff too, it was very good and a good price too. Afterward we stayed and gambled but we lost here. On the way back we stopped at the Mount Baker Vineyards for wine tasting, and purchasing. When we got back to the motor home we took Valley for a walk then I took a nap while Dave watched T.V. and played on the computer. Dave went down to the office later to make sure we were paid up until next Saturday, but we hadn't been, only to Wednesday. Well, we had a problem, they needed our space back on Friday because people had reservations already, they offered to move us to another spot for 1 night. I got on the computer and found out there is a Italian Festival in Portland Oregon so we decided to leave here Friday and go to Portland and see the festival. Those were always my plans anyway, try and see all the different kinds of festivals.
I think that's about it for now. Will try and remember to start writing everynight like my niece and nephew are, that's who gave me the idea, that way you don't have to read so much and I don't have to write so much.
Bye for now
Saturday, after cleaning the house and doing laundry, we drove into Bellingham to the Farmers Market there. A lot of different vendors representing all the goods they grow on the farms here, most are organic but damn good looking vegetables. We got some zucchini, onions, tomatoes, potatoes, apples and kettlecorn. Ops, sorry the kettlecorn wasn't grown here in Ferndale or Bellingham, but it was popped here.
Sunday, we were going to go to Friday Harbor for brunch but decided with the cost of the ferry and brunch, it was a bit too steep so we ended up going back to Nooksack Casino for brunch. They had a very good champagne brunch, all kinds of shrimp, crab legs, salmon, salads, and normal breakfast stuff too, it was very good and a good price too. Afterward we stayed and gambled but we lost here. On the way back we stopped at the Mount Baker Vineyards for wine tasting, and purchasing. When we got back to the motor home we took Valley for a walk then I took a nap while Dave watched T.V. and played on the computer. Dave went down to the office later to make sure we were paid up until next Saturday, but we hadn't been, only to Wednesday. Well, we had a problem, they needed our space back on Friday because people had reservations already, they offered to move us to another spot for 1 night. I got on the computer and found out there is a Italian Festival in Portland Oregon so we decided to leave here Friday and go to Portland and see the festival. Those were always my plans anyway, try and see all the different kinds of festivals.
I think that's about it for now. Will try and remember to start writing everynight like my niece and nephew are, that's who gave me the idea, that way you don't have to read so much and I don't have to write so much.
Bye for now
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