Portland to Quartzsite and Christmas Quilt

"Why do we park on driveways and drive on parkways?

Our last night was spent at Tammi’s house.  Her place meant that we’d have about 30 miles less to travel on our way south back to Quartzsite.  At 6:15 it was still dark when we finally pulled out.  I say finally because we had a lot of “stuff” to take back.  Our car was loaded and I certainly do mean loaded.  Traffic was light but we were very thankful for that because it was also very foggy.  The fog stuck with us almost all the way to the California border.  We had our moments without the fog but they were very few moments.

Oregon fog

By the time we climbed up and over the summit of the Siskiyou mountains, the skies had cleared and the fog disappeared.  We actually got to see some blue skies.  We also got to see a little ice and a little snow.   Well, the snow was very sparse and in patches on the side.  The ice was in the middle of the road with tracks on each side of it.  In other words, it was a perfect winter day to travel through the mountains.

Our original destination for the night was Stockton, California.  However, we didn’t stop there.  We trudged on to exit 407 and spent the night at the Santa Nella / Los Banos exit.  This was the same place we had stayed on our way south in the motorhome.  Only then, it wasn’t the first night on the trip.  It was the second night.  We traveled 710 miles on Monday.  Obviously, we were a tad bit tired.

During the drive I tried to think just how many times I had made this drive through California from Washington state.  All I can tell you is in order to count the trips through this state, it would take more than my fingers and toes and more than Terry’s too.  Uncle Sam moved my dad from Texas to Washington during WWII.  Thus, we made numerous trips to visit his family over the years.  Terry’s family lives in Arizona so we made many more trips down to see them.  Next, Disneyland sits in Los Angeles and we’ve visited there a few times too.  The road hasn’t remained the same and some of those trips were before I-5 came about.  When we first made the trip it was one lane of traffic going in each direction.  Now that was a long time ago.  It has definitely improved.

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 Blue skies & Mt. Shasta

Speaking of roads  --  when we made the trip in the motorhome in October, I posted about the bumpy parts on the I-5.  When it’s bumpy, it’s really bumpy.  When it’s smooth, it’s really smooth.   It wasn’t long after that I read another blog mentioning how smooth it was.  Needless to say, I was pretty tuned into the roads on this trip.  Was it smooth or was it bumpy?  Part of that depends on what lane you traveled in. 

Obviously, you can’t judge the northbound lanes from the southbound lanes but we were both going south.   I-5 is certainly much better than it was in previous years.  It has miles and miles of beautiful newly paved roads.  However, it still has some mighty bumpy parts too.  The area around Stockton certainly needs a lot of work. We just bounced through that big town.   Many sections underneath the overpasses have not been repaired and parts in central California have been missed too.  In some places the chop was so bad that even the trucks were riding in the left hand lane to avoid it.  You could say we were both right.  It is smooth and it isn’t but it is definitely better than it used to be.  We hit the worst part of it just south of exit 307.  Maybe even that will be finished the next time we travel through.

Buggy windshield view. Even trucks opted to drive in the left hand lane to avoid the bumping.  Notice how foggy it was in this part of California too.

We know many RV’ers heading to Arizona for the winter prefer to cross over at Tehachapi instead of the Grapevine   Tehachapi seems to go on forever and have steeper climbs in our opinion.  It’s a preference. Perhaps, they are similar or perhaps it’s because we’ve done the Grapevine more but that’s the mountain pass we prefer to go over in Southern California.  However, without a doubt, the Grapevine has a lot more traffic.  That road also needs a lot of work.  The main work they need is in painting the lines.  As you head to the LA area heading south, you can tell that the lanes have been moved around a bit.  Some of the old paint remains.  At times it’s hard to tell where the lanes really are supposed to be.  However, if you just stick on the truck bypass, it’ll keep you in the lanes you need to be in as you get closer to the 210 exit and avoid the confusion of lanes.

This was a short day of driving compared to the day before.  It was only about 515 miles.  When we went through this area on our way north for the holidays we had scheduled four stops for Christmas shopping.  One was at Winco – dog treats for Duchess.  The second was at the Cabazon Outlets for a quick visit to the Brighton outlet and the Crabtree and Evelyn Outlet.  After that we headed directly for the Ghirardelli outlet.  This time we had no malls and no shopping to do.  We were heading for “Q”..

Were we tired?  You bet we were but the car still needed to be unloaded on arrival and we had four loads of wash  to do and put away.  Duchess was beat.  All she wanted to do was go to sleep and that she did.

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Before we left for the holidays, I mentioned I had all these sewing projects to do and my machine had been in the shop for 3 weeks.  As it turned out, I only got to finish one.  This is the one I finished.  It was a lap quilt for Lee and Sabrina because Justin wouldn’t be with us.  This was for them and I still have the one for Tammi to do.

Picture of Justin scanned and printed  on washable fabric for quilt.	Due to embroidery problems with machine, I had to keep buying more and more fabric to finish but this is it.

‘Tis life on the road.

Countdown to Departure

You can find your way across this country using burger joints the way a navigator uses stars.

This is winter.  Traveling in the winter can be less than exciting.  Well, it could bring some excitement to your travels.  That kind of excitement nobody wants.  I don’t care if you’re traveling by car or by plane, weather delays can play a major part in your departure or arrival time.  We also know the accuracy of weather forecasts.  In other words …. an unexpected storm could certainly ground you along the way.

I don’t like traveling in bad weather.  I especially don’t like traveling in the winter time.  However, about the only way to get from one point to another is to travel.  We have spent more than our fair share of time on the tarmac at airports waiting for runways to be opened up after a storm or waiting our turn to be de-iced.  We’ve also spent our fair share of time inside the airport after our flight has been cancelled.  What we did learn is if you have a choice and can figure it out, pick the flight on the schedule where that plane will be heading to a very popular destination after it drops you off.  That’s the plane that the airlines will put ahead of other flights before cancelling.  As an example, if you’re heading to Miami or Chicago, get on a plane that they need in Miami or New York for an international flight after you land.  More bucks are made on those flights than the one that will just head to another in-state airport.  Been there, done that, lots.

However, it’s not so easy if you’re driving.  If you’re driving, you’re in charge. You need to check the weather reports and road conditions.  That’s just what we’ve been doing.  Driving a vehicle with a dog is a lot different than driving with an RV.  With an RV you have your motel accommodations with you.  In a vehicle, you don’t.  In your RV you can have a dog.  Finding a motel that will accept your dog in the exact place you want to stop for the night could be a different story and takes a little more research.  Then, you’re also not sleeping in your own bed with your own bedding. We’re not fond of the idea of boondocking in our Jeep at a Wal-mart on our up coming trip.  No, we’re not fond of that idea at all.

Our original departure date was going to be on Thursday.  We have a couple stops we want to make in California along the way.  One is in Cabazon (do you know what’s there?) and the other might be in Stockton.  If we left on Thursday, we figure we’d arrive in Portland on Saturday.  However, Terry is getting more and more antsy to get on the road.  The problem is if we pull out on Tuesday, there’s a good chance we’ll run into some snow over the Siskiyous and possibly on into southern Oregon.  When we’re ready to go, we’ll go but we don’t even have chains.  We didn’t want chains.  We had no plans of traveling through snow in the winter.  Absolutely no plans of doing that at all.

I had been so busy focusing on the weather through the mountains in northern California and Southern Oregon that I never bothered to check southern California until now.  Guess where and when the storm is due.  Southern California is the target with snow expected through the Grapevine just about the time we were thinking might be a good earlier departure.  Geez … you just can’t win, can you?  Tehachapi is looking at 2 – 4 inches of snow on Tuesday.

There is a window.  There always seems to be a window even if it's not the one we want.  With snow expected on the southern part of our route on Tuesday and snow expected on the northern part of our route beginning Wednesday evening, we found a window.  We don’t necessarily like that window and aren’t even sure if we’re going to use it.  Knowing the accuracy of the weather forecasts, trying to use that window could be worse than just winging it.  Storms seem to rarely travel at the speed they are forecast.  Many arrive earlier and many arrive later.  Thus, we have a dilemma. 

‘Tis life on the road …. we just hope it’s a dry road.  My guess is that we'll be on that road before this is posted.

Arizonian–A Snowbird Park

Speak when you're angry and you'll make the best speech you'll ever regret.

Guess what I saw out the motorhome window Sunday morning?  

This little coyote just wandered down the road and out of the park.  Well, I guess he wandered out of the park.  At least I saw him walking down the road.  Then, I saw a second one when I was out walking Duchess. 

This is the first year we have booked any RV park for a whole month at a time.  Normally we have opted to stay more at locations where there aren’t full-time or most-time residents.  I guess you can’t call them residents but I’m sure you know what I mean.  I’m referring to the snowbirds who come year after year to the same park.  In the past we have always felt that these parks were more like staying in a regular neighborhood where everyone aleady knew everyone else.  The Thousand Trails, Elks, Famcamps, and COEs have always been more our cup of tea.  The people seem  eager to meet others and just a bit friendlier.

I’m not saying people aren’t friendly in the snowbird parks but definitely not as much as a regular campground where there are more RVers instead of snowbirds.   I think different types of people search for different types of parks.  Unless the snowbird parks are brand new, folks have already established relationships with others by the time you show up and it’s a little more difficult to connect. So, why did we book a park that was a snowbird park?  It was because this park allowed us to ride the ATVs in the park and had acres and acres of state land around it also for riding.    Isn’t that what counts? The ATV group seems pretty friendly.  For now it works because we figure we’ll do our own thing – whatever that is – and ride in the desert when the mood strikes.  There are a few other parks that also allow ATVs and we certainly plan on checking them out this winter too.

Last week we went to the little potluck affair.  It was nice and we were lucky in that we sat across from another newbie to this park.  We’ve met a few newbies so I’m sure there are even more around.  Then, Sunday night we went to the ice cream social.  I’m not so sure it’s a social event.  Even though there are quite a few tables in the North Hall some of the long ones were pushed together into one long table and that’s where they all sat – together, shoulder-to-shoulder, hip-to-hip  – at the one table.  There was no room for anyone else .. none.  I should have taken a picture.  We did find two other folks away from the mighty long table at least to sit by until the ice cream social was over and they headed back towards “home”.

Card bingo followed.  We’ve played this at other parks and always played with four per table.  We had intended to play.  It can be fun.  We had our quarters and dimes.  However, we didn’t because we weren’t at the right table.  There was only ONE table playing … can you guess which one?  We walked out.  The tables aren’t set up to allow folks to mingle and the person in charge concentrated only on the big table. We hadn’t seen it like this before.  The activity director is having a short meeting Monday morning.  That might be interesting.  I plan on attending but promise to keep my mouth shut … maybe.

After the meeting there is another event listed on the big calendar in the North Hall.  It’s shuffleboard.  Being the introvert that I am, I thought I’d walk over there and see if outsiders are allowed to play.  If outsiders aren’t allowed to play with the card group, will they be allowed to play with the shuffleboard group?  Who knows? Maybe I’ll ask.  Do I really want to play shuffleboard?  Well, not necessarily but now I’m curious.   I’m sure that the different activity groups consist of different people.  It’s not that I’ve ever played before so I might just be pushing my luck.  The scary part is what if they really let me play?  The nice part is that it’s raining right now and the chance that anyone will want to play shuffleboard in the rain is another thing so I’ll probably just have to wait for another day.  Whew!

Either way we’re here to ride and mingle with other friends in the area. We also have really nice neighbors at this park.  So, afterwards?    Well, maybe towards Quartzsite!!   Jim and Sandie are coming over for dinner on Monday and we’ve already got plans for Wednesday so things are working. 

RV Park Update – Memory Bank Overflow

Memory is a net: one that finds it full of fish when he takes it from the brook, but a dozen miles of water have run through it without sticking.

 

I’m not sure where to start.  My mind is stuffed with lots of new knowledge and the memory bank is even overflowing. 

It’s amazing what you learn from people doing laundry.  We had lots of loads of laundry and normally that hasn’t been an issue in the past.  We either stuck it in the kids’ machines or inserted quarters.  However, this place has these little cards you have to buy.  The machine only takes $5 bills and you can only do one transaction at a time.  First you have to buy it, then you have to fill it with $$$.  Figuring out how to buy the thing, then adding money to it was a chore in itself.  However, the hardest thing was getting the machines to turn on using this card.  Now I’m a techie person but this was way beyond me without help or some little info sheet to read.  Thank goodness, my new friend, Mary, came to the rescue.

It’s also amazing how many people you meet walking their dogs. The normal thing is to greet and exchange names and site numbers.  Once they walk past I’d already forgotten their names because someone new was approaching.  I wonder if a “hey you” works around here.

 

Next we decided to do the potluck thing that was scheduled Halloween night.  I had lots of things I wanted to find out about quad rides.  I figured that would be the place to track some of the riders down.  Everyone likes to eat.  Remember we still had one to buy since we sold the Ozark in Washington.  Another fella I met in the laundry (pretty popular place, you know) told me not to buy a little one.   I forgot to ask what he meant by “little one” but just knew I didn’t want a BIG one.  So, it was off to the potluck to get some answers to questions. 

One thing we did discover is that the trail riding is usually finalized  when the MEN have coffee at 6:30 AM to 7:00 AM each morning!  You think that’s early?  Have you ever noticed how many people are out walking in these parks even way before that time?  Now you all know I’m out of bed before then but the tricky part is getting ready to get outside.  What is the chance Terry will ever make one of these coffee get togethers to find out where the event of the day is?  That’s an easy answer -- almost zero.  However, we did discover he’s not the only one in that group who doesn’t make them. Why don’t they organize these better and post them?  I bet it’s because they don’t like the commitment thing any better than we do.

We met SO MANY people who had so many different names.  I’ll never remember their names.  Except I remembered Mary and Beverly.  I’m good with association.  Mary rhymes with Jeri so that one was easy.  Beverly?  Well, I called her the dog lady.  She does a lot of pet sitting for people in the park.  I had already heard about her and wanted to chat a bit.  We knew we still needed to figure out if we were driving to Washington over Christmas or flying?  Duchess doesn’t fly.  However, Beverly just might be the answer to leaving her here while we fly.  That would certainly be the easy way.  We like easy ways.

We still had a lot to learn on this quad thing.  Before heading south we tried out the Trail Boss, I really liked it and thought that might be what I wanted.  However, we put the skids on when we got here.  What I really thought I wanted was different from what I learned I should want.  So, now the search is on for a 4x4 and a utility.  I’m not so sure I’m real thrilled with this.  The utility ones are bulkier and heavier. I know I’ll stress when it comes time to pulling the heavy ones north but maybe I can just cross that bridge in a few months.

Another problem I have is that some of these are so ugly.  They look like hunters should own them … ugh!   And, I just can’t buy one that isn’t “pretty”.  Unless I can find another red quad, I’m going to have to buy a different helmet.  Remember my helmet is red.  I certainly can’t wear it on a green or blue quad!

Other than that I also discovered a big calendar on the wall in the North Hall.  The activities are planned out for ONE MONTH IN ADVANCE.  There were even sign up sheets for these activities.  I knew I was in real trouble when I saw that --- commitments beyond 24 hours.  Oh boy … I’m not sure the chalk and eraser work here as well as they do on my own calendar.

Like I said … my memory bank is overflowing with all the recent stuff I’ve had to add to it.  This is a whole new thing to me being on the road  -- staying in an RV park for more than a couple weeks or so. You can tell the trouble I’m in when I've added all these different thought patterns in one little blog.  Yep ….I think I’m definitely in trouble here. 

Touching Arizona Soil

No matter where I go, there I am.

I’m happy to report that our previous pattern of leaving a little earlier each morning didn’t continue on into Friday.  Friday we left about the same time we pulled out on Wednesday.  That was the good news.  Well, not the only good news.  The other good news was that we did step on Arizona soil even though we haven’t really left California yet.

This was our neighbor in Barstow.  He had 4 ATVs he carried on this trailer.  We have seen a ton of ATVs being hauled south.  I wonder where they all go.

As we traveled on from Barstow towards Needles, I knew exactly what to expect.  Now it wasn’t that we had been this route before.  We hadn’t been past Barstow on I40.  However, I had read the Western Mountain book so I knew it was a snap.  HA!  That’s what I thought.  It was a good road and the countryside was definitely high desert terrain.  Remember the song, Everything is beautiful in it’s own way?  Well, this was actually beautiful in it’s own way too.  It was definitely different than where we had spent the summer though … definitely. 

Comparison between Washington and this part of California.

However, the mountain book forgot to mention that this road is almost a constant climb.  It may be gradual at times but it felt like we were always climbing.  Then, there were times when we weren’t climbing that we were going down for miles and miles.  Add a little wind to all those ups and downs, I can vouch for the fact that even though the distance was short, it still seemed like a long day of travel.  We have talked to many who much prefer this route over the I5 and the Grapevine.  The Grapevine has a lot more traffic but when it’s over, it’s over.  I guess it’s to each their own.  Next time we travel between Washington and Arizonia via California, we will probably return to our old standard and travel over the Grapevine.

Beautiful Casino at Laughlin.

We arrived at the Needles Elks a little after noon.  Only two of their RV sites were full.  We weren’t worried that they might be full because we also knew they had a large lot that would accommodate us if they were.  After setting up, we unhitched the trailer and headed two miles north to the Arizona border!  Whoopee.  We made Arizona even though we didn’t spend the night there.  However, since we still had quite a few daylight hours left, we were able to check out another RV park that caters to quads and also look around a little in Laughlin, Nevada, 20 miles north.  Had we not decided to make Friday a short travel day we would have had to stay another night in order to accomplish this.  We also filled up the car with gas in Arizona.  It’s certainly less expensive there than in California.

Because we were still in a high elevation, the morning had been quite cool.  The afternoon in Needles definitely wasn’t cool.  We even had our air conditioner on.  

Another view of Laughlin on the Colorado River.  Many RVs were parked in the casino lots.

What is Saturday going to bring?  Well, your guess is as good as mine at this point.  Where do you think we will be?  We could stop over in Quartzsite.  We're thinking that might be an option.   Or, we could bite the bullet and go an additional 270 miles finishing up at our final destination in Gold Canyon ..... our destination at least for a while.

I don't have a clue what Saturday will bring.

Tehachapi is Behind Us --- More Traffic, Stalls, Construction

"I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several days attack me at once."

I left off on my update Wednesday night or was it Thursday morning.  Obviously, we have a few travel days still in our future but we are getting closer to the destination.  We pulled out a little earlier Thursday than we did Wednesday.  Wednesday we pulled out a little earlier than we did Tuesday.  I hope that isn’t setting a pattern.

 

We were still on I5 when we pulled out of our overnight park Thursday morning.  When we went to bed the night before we had definitely decided that Thursday would be a measly 170 miles landing us at the Orange Grove RV Park east of Bakersfield..   This is what happened.

Knowing that Highway 58 was the one we needed to be on, we exited I5 heading towards Bakersfield at the sign for that road.  I’m amazed that there isn’t a 4-lane straight highway between I5 and Bakersfield. This was a two-lane road that turns left and turns right and eventually drops you about 25 miles later on another freeway, Highway 99.  We made that just fine knowing in about 2 miles we would be exiting to follow 58 all the way to just about Barstow.  The exit off of the freeway was a 2-lane exit around a curve and up a hill. 

We didn’t make that exit as planned!  Oh, sure we got off but right in the middle of curve while going uphill, my car engine DIED!  It went DEAD and all the lights came on!!  It took me a few seconds to figure out I needed to get over to the shoulder while the vehicle still had a little momentum.  Actually, I wasn’t the one that made that decision.  I panicked.  There was a lot of other traffic that came off the freeway right behind us!!  However, we do have little walkie talkies and that was Terry’s suggestion  --- Get off to the shoulder if you can!!  You should have seen all those semi-trucks trying to get around the motorhome on the curve!  Believe me … it wasn’t a pretty sight with me and the trailer halfway in the road on the curve and Big Brother right behind still in the lane.  No, it wasn't a pretty sight at all. 

Where’s Coach-net when you need them?  Actually, we were thankful we didn’t need them.  We think it might have been a vapor lock or something like that. The car started up for Terry about a minute or two later and that was about it.    It seemed we were there forever but it was only a few minutes.  Obviously, this is going into the shop and getting taken care of as soon as we can.

I bet you can imagine how I felt about driving the Jeep and pulling the trailer up the huge climb at Tehachapi.   That’s no sissy mountain, you know.  It’s a biggie!  

We were trying to decide what to do and thought maybe we should just spend the night in Bakersfield and get it fixed the next day.  I still had the Orange Grove RV Park in the GPS.  We drove by it and stopped in front for a minute or two.  Okay, so we actually checked it out.  Now I can say been there, done that .... and we decided we were going on.  I wanted to get Tehachapi behind me.  I knew if we didn’t, I wouldn’t sleep at all that night so back on the freeway we went.

The climb was uneventful and I was once again a white knuckle driver but was also very relieved when it was finally behind us.  However, no sooner had we reached the top that we got stuck in a lineup of vehicles.  Two lanes went into one and the traffic was lined up for miles and miles.  By the time we got down to the working area, we were amazed to see there wasn’t any work but just cones and a couple trucks.  For well over a hour we creeped along.  It took us that long to move about 4 miles down the road.

 

We stopped in Barstow at the Desert Rat RV Park -- 308 miles from where we started that morning.  It was a long day and we were beat. It was also another RV park.  I had called for availability 45 miles down the road.  At that time there was one spot left.  It took us an  hour and 45 minutes to get there with the construction.  Thank goodness the spot was still available. 

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At this point I don’t even want to tell you what our plans for Friday might be.  We have an idea but the ideas so far haven’t worked out as planned.  I can tell you that we will know on Saturday what we did on Friday.  That's the best I can promise.

Clearing a Path and Moving a Tad South

Can miles truly separate you from friends... If you want to be with someone you love, aren't you already there?

I bet you didn’t think this was really about clearing a path but it is.  It’s a project that Lee wanted to have taken care of before he went back to work.  He starts back on Friday.  Since his injury and surgery he’s been off for almost 4 months.  He’s more than ready to go back to work.  I guess we just haven’t kept him busy enough sitting in his drive-way.  We’ve certainly tried.

The path he wanted to clear was to make it easier to see oncoming vehicles when  backing out of his driveway.  It would be easier for Jordie to see with the end tree removed.  So, Terry and Lee got to work and got rid of the evidence before Sabrina got home.  They weren’t sure she would notice if they cleaned it all up.  Guess what?  She noticed alright.  What did Lee say?  He said Terry did it.  That’s right he pushed him right under the bus.  However, this time it was okay and just a joke.  Sabrina certainly knew who’s idea it was and without mentioning names I’m just going to say that it wasn’t Terry’s idea.  You can figure out the rest.

 

We’ve also been cleaning out Lee’s garage and putting stuff up on Craigslist.  After all, we need more room for more of our toys.  Or, he’s going to have to get another garage.  If that doesn’t work, Tammi’s going to have to get a garage.  One way or another we obviously need more room around here.  Some of the stuff we’ve put up for sale went within an hour.  I guess we more than priced it right.  Some of the things weren’t easy sales.  One item we had was a rarely used small generator.  It was difficult to get it fired up the first time since it had sat for over a year but we finally did.  Then, about the time the potential buyer arrived,  the cord was so tight we couldn’t start it again.  Guess what we did?  We just gave it to him since he drove over an hour to get here and it meant we would have to take it to the dump.  We still have more items for sale and they range from a freezer to a table saw.  Sorry but the crab pots are gone!  We still have crab rings but we’re going to keep those.

We’ve noticed that the sides on our awning are starting to look a little thin in some spots.  Normally we put awning straps to hold the awning from flapping but with thin edges we’re thinking we need to reinforce them now with awning tape.  If we don’t, we could just end up with a rip in the awning.  Not that we want to do it but my guess is that we will be replacing that awning sooner than later.  Ugh!  How long are these things supposed to last anyway?

In a couple days we’ll be making our first little move towards Arizona.    We’re going to travel about 30 miles south and pull into the Elks for a few days.  At that rate it'll be a while before we get there.  I’m saying just a few days because they don’t have full hookups.  Also, remember the ATV trailer we bought?  Well, it’s currently sitting at a welder’s shop being enlarged so both ATVs can fit on it by side loading.  As you can see by the photo below, it needs a bit of work.  Hopefully, they’ll finish with it soon.

I know 30 miles isn’t a big move but it is a move.  By moving in that direction we’ll be close to Tammi and family before we really get on the road.  It’s one mile at a time.  Besides it’s HOT in Arizona and we still don’t know where we’re going to head in the interim.  Our son needs his driveway back or the neighbors may start complaining!

<--- The Elks – Our Next Stop?

So, this morning I get up and decide to post this and find out that my "account has had unusual activity" on it.   What's with that?  Not only was I not able to open up my dashboard but my blog wasn't accessible until after I submitted my phone number for text verification.  Anyone have this happen? 

It’s a Family Affair

When you look at your life, the greatest happinesses are family happinesses.

Here’s another ATV adventure.  ‘Tis a family affair ... or is it ?

Just a bunch of big kids .... forever young!  Now where is Sabrina, you ask?  We figured she was out shopping when this picture was taken on Saturday.  Michael and Sandi missed the picture too because they let their folks out of the house without them.

First of all, we bought an ATV trailer.  We got a fantastic deal on it.  However, you know how those fantastic deals go.  Usually they require a lot of work getting them like you want them.  Or, you discover something isn’t quite right.  After all, why else would it have been a great deal.

This ATV trailer was just like that.  Evidently the North Star Trailers are partially put together and partially not put together.  When you buy it, you need to finish the job.  The person we bought it from had.  The sides were supposed to fold down on the hinges.  Thus, you should have been able to load ATVs from each side.  Well, not so in this case.  It took a little tweaking to fit the ATVs and get the sides to lower enough that the ramps would work without being too steep in loading.  We are definitely getting it ready for our trip south.

Next, we found another ATV on Craigslist.  It needed a lot of TLC but it was a 4x4 with a great price and exactly what Terry wanted.  When we discovered it, we didn’t have the trailer with us.  Robert was close so we called him to load it.  However,  since we didn’t have ramps that would fit, it was loaded into the seller’s pickup and transferred across the tailgates to Robert’s.  Pretty neat job, huh?

We also checked out some trails at Jones Creek in Washougal.  They are pretty cool trails.

This was definitely junk and it was being removed from the ATV park.

Yes, I did come up with a helmet.  I had to be coordinated!  It was just like when we bought our scuba diving equipment.  Then, everything had to be all pink.  This time everything had to be all red.

I'm making a "fashion statement" as you can see.  There are little red goggles tucked inside the helmet.  However, a red top and red pants are definitely OUT!  They will probably be black .... certainly don't want them to clash!  Now would you?

Okay, so what if the helmet doesn’t have the roses on it like the other one I saw?  This one does match (it's red) and it was a few hundred dollars cheaper than the other one too.

Wanna go for a ride?

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Note:  We had actually planned on taking off to Phoenix on Wednesday to check out some Snowbird ATV parks for this winter.  However, plans have a way of changing and flexibility is the key.  We just received a call that Terry's father had a stroke and is not doing so well.  So, while I am getting ready to post this.  He is getting ready to catch a flight there today. 

And, at the same time Lee is at the doctor's office with Sabrina who passed out exercising!  What's up with all of this?!

We'll keep you posted.

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ATVs and Quads and RVing

I'm an idealist. I don't know where I'm going, but I'm on my way.

We got out Lee’s Polaris 500 Scrambler and practiced in his yard trying to maneuver it.  Actually, it’s an easy toy.  The thing is automatic and drives just like a car without power steering.  Next thing we’re going to do is find some ATV places to ride around here.  We’ll give it a good workout for him.

When we lived in Texas we rode around with them a few times.  That’s when he had two.  It’s always more fun to ride with someone than to go by yourself.

 

Check out this gorgeous helmet.  It’s definitely for the girls.  Lee found it for me at the motorcycle shop.  I didn’t say he bought it for me.  He found it and showed it to me.  Red is my favorite color and the roses just added to it.  However, when I looked at price I just about gagged …. $375!.  I knew instantly I wouldn’t be taking that one home with me.

Now on to the problem.  How does it work to take a couple of ATVs with you when heading south for the winter?  We’ve not done this.  We’ve seen others with quads but also know that riding is restricted in many places.   Maybe we’ll take two and maybe we won’t.  We just need to try to figure out where the parks are that allow the ATVs to enter and exit  attached to riding areas other than the BLM.  We’re certainly looking but still don’t know the answer yet.  If we find a place, it will most certainly change our plans for what we thought we might do this winter.  

Right now we’re trying to figure where others spend the winter with ATVs?   Hmmmm …..   There’s nothing like making travel plans more difficult.  I'm certainly good at it.

Tillamook Air Museum and Other Stuff

Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes.  That way when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them and you have their shoes.

Janice learned a trick.  She got out her fishing pole, attached a note and figured this was a better way to send a message from one motorhome to another.

We had been crabbing and we had been crabbing.  On this particular Sunday it was intended to be a little different.  We actually didn’t spend the day on the water.  We went to the Tillamook Air Museum and stopped for a little more ice cream.  That was the plan and that’s what we did.  After all, we knew Sunday would be the last day we spent on the coast with the Hyders.  Finally …. we’ll get some rest.  Finally!!

However, we did get a little sidetracked just a tad.  Our first stop came when we passed through Garibaldi and Jerry eyed the local festival.  It was Garibaldi Days.  We stopped and found some more treasurers.  These treasures were sand dollars that had been “harvested” and polished.

Then, we plugged along to Ace Hardware and also Fred Meyer.  So, it wasn’t exactly as planned but we figured close enough.  Part of the day’s plan was also to get back early enough that we could rest a little.  We didn’t actually get to relax too much after getting back for our day’s excursion because it was later than we figured.

I saw this little poster at the air museum and thought it was relevant.  When I wrote this blog Justin was soon to be heading out.  He was wanted.  However, now that this is finally getting posted, that date is behind us.

The Tillamook Air Museum is just south of the town.  It’s worth the trip and we enjoyed looking at the old planes, autos and displays.

Getting back also meant that we’d need to work on getting the boat back on the trailer and dinner.  However, the four of us really needed a nap.  We set our alarm clock for 6:00 PM which allowed for one hour of rest before dinner.  One thing we have discovered is that we all enjoy having a nap.  We can only go, go, go for so long and we've been going for a long time.  

That was it.  That was the day.  We finished up the remainder of the crab in our crab salad and pretty much called it a day.

Left over crab and salad

We really need a vacation!!