July 14 - July 19, 2014 (Mehama, OR)

Monday we were ready to hit the road with the 5er and a small u-haul truck.  Guess which one I drove.......if you guessed the small u-haul truck you are correct.  Rich gave me my choice and there was no way I was going to drive the 5er through all that Seattle freeway traffic.  It was bad enough being in a small truck.  We got on the road around 9:00 a.m. after saying goodbye to Brandon.  Kris and the boys were at Tall Timbers for a church camp so we had said our goodbyes to them a week ago.  We'll miss our little camp spot on Camano Island.  Thanks again Brandon & Kris for letting us camp out so long in your yard. 

Our trip down to my mom's went well.  I followed Rich in the 5er and we got through the Seattle traffic pretty well.  We used the express lanes and there was a couple times I thought the top of the 5er was going to scrape the underside of an underpass, it was pretty tight in a couple spots.  But we made it through OK.  We stopped for a quick lunch break at a rest area south of Olympia and then made a fuel stop in Aurora and made it to the Phoenix RV park in Salem around 3:00.  We did a quick hook up of the 5er and headed up to mom's to unload the uhaul and scope out the work that was being done around the shop so we could park the RV there.

It was good to see mom again but it was a very quick visit because we had to return the uhaul back to Salem by 7:00 p.m.  The work being done at the shop looks good but it wasn't quite ready for us to bring the 5er yet, so we'll make arrangements to put it in storage while it's finished up.  We got the uhaul unloaded and back to Salem by our 7:00 p.m. deadline.  It was a very hot humid day and we were very glad to go back to the air conditioned 5er and relax the rest of the evening.  It was an exhausting day for the both of us.

The next morning we got our clothes packed up and the refrigerator emptied out and put the 5er in storage and headed up to mom's.  We'll sure be glad once we have the 5er up at mom's and we don't have to do all this packing and unpacking.

We got settled in at mom's and took a closer look at the work being done at the shop.  Hmmmm they had a couple trenches opened up so they could see the water lines to the house and not tear into them, this would be a perfect opportunity to extend the power and water from the shop closer to where we would be parking the RV without having to do a lot of digging.  We talked to the contractor and he was glad to leave the trenches open until we got our project completed.  Sweet....now it was a mad dash to research the best options.  The next several days were spent doing a little more digging which was not much fun in the clay and rock soil.  It sure made us appreciate the trenches that the backhoe had already dug.  Well after several hard days we got the water line extended and conduit laid for the electrical.  Now the contractor can come back and bury everything.  Whew, glad that project is complete.

Water line we added

Water and electrical conduit (on either side of the metal pipe)

New water spigot and electrical box

Our future RV parking spot

On Saturday it was time to attend the long awaited Bailey Family reunion in Lebanon with Rich's side of the family.  We arrived shortly after 1:00 at the Santiam Place.  It was an old church that has been turned into an event center.  The grounds were lovely with lots of pretty flowers and a water feature and outdoor tables and chairs.  The facility and grounds are set up very nicely for weddings.  We had a very nice potluck lunch with lots of good food and visit with family.  Only one sister, Joan and her husband John from Nebraska were unable to attend.  We sure missed you Joan & John.  Shari (neice) & Mike, we missed you guys too, we were sorry that you were unable to make it out.   It was sure good to see everyone.  A good time was had by all.   Here are some pics of the family that were able to attend.

Cori (neice), Sean (nephew) & Rich

Mick (married to Laura, Rich's neice) & Sheila (neice)

Jim (cousin) & Roger (Madeline's significant other)

Madeline (sister), Laura (neice) & Brenda (neice)

Marvin (married to Brenda), Phil (married to Sheila) & Jack (Beth's husband)

Madeline, Connie, Beth & Kathryn

Rich, Madeline, Connie, Beth & Kathryn

June 10 - July 13, 2014 (Camano Island, Lake Stevens, Maple Valley, WA)

It's been a while since I've posted anything, so this will be a brief recap of our visit to Washington to visit kids and grandkids.

We left Castle Rock the morning of June 10th and didn't have too bad of a drive up to Camano Island, we didn't have any major slow downs on the freeway which is always a good thing.  We arrived at Brandon, Kris, Cameron & Calvin's house on Camano Island by early afternoon.  We were set up with full hookups in front of the shop in time to make it to the boys school for an end of the year awards ceremony.  We got to see Cameron receive an award - way to go Cameron

Cameron is the third over starting from the left

Instead of doing a day by day recap, I'm just going to highlight some of our adventures and because it's been awhile, I may have them somewhat out of order.

Cameron was chosen to be on a All Star baseball tournament team so we got to watch one practice scrimmage game and three tournament games.  Cameron plays first base as well as pitches.  Because he is only 10 years old, they are only allowed to pitch up to 3 innings per game. 

We also got to attend the Father's Day Fishing Derby with Jeff, Sabrina, Jessie and Elsie.  It was a lot of fun, though we did get rained on pretty good at one point but that didn't stop the fishing!

from left to right - Grandpa, Granny, Elsie, Jeff, Jessie & Sabrina enjoying lunch before fishing begins

Let's see, who's fish is bigger?

Grandpa helping Elsie with her fishing line

Grandpa heading down to help bring in the fish

Elsie, Jeff & Jessie with another fish

 We also got to visit with Jessica and Garry several times, twice at their house and once up at the 5er.  Our camera is broken, so we didn't take a lot of pictures.  Jessica and Garry fixed us lunch for both visits, we were treated to fajitas on one visit and grilled peanut butter & honey sandwiches on the next and if you haven't ever tried one, you should, they are very yummy.  It was so nice visiting with Jessica & Garry and seeing how happy they are together.  As a parent it is always so gratifying to know that your children are happily married. 

Jessica & Garry

We were house guests at Jeff & Sabrina's and the girls for several days over the 4th of July and got to celebrate the 4th with them as well as Brandon & Kris and the boys and Jessica & Garry.  We had an amazing BBQ dinner with BBQ'd burgers with three different types of meat as well as some awesome home made ice cream in three flavors (coffee, chocolate chip cookie dough and fresh raspberry) it was all very yummy.  Then their whole neighborhood gets together and pools money for a neighborhood fireworks display which was really quite amazing.  The show starts around 7 p.m. with the kids fireworks, ie. smoke bombs and sparklers and that sort of thing and then progresses to the "grown up" fireworks and doesn't end until around 10 p.m.  We really enjoyed being able to spend the holiday with all the Washington kids and grandkids.

Family sitting around before the fireworks show begins

More visiting before the show begins

Neighborhood kids with "poppers"

Jessie, Mary & Erin giving away cupcakes they baked from scratch (chocolate banana, cinnamon & apple chunk and vanilla/lime)

Jeff lighting sparklers for the kids (Calvin, Elsie and Cameron are to his right)

Jeff & Brandon starting the "grown up" fireworks part of the show

Jessie doing her "chicken" imitation.  She has her legs and arms in the sleeves of her sweatshirt, she's very limber and agile and did a pretty good chicken imitation as well.  =)

Big fireworks being set off

I wish we would have gotten a picture of this, but at the end of the show, all the kids pitch in and help sweep up the mess off the street.  It was amazing to see how they just jumped in with the brooms and went to work, it was a real community effort.

The next day we played tourist with Jeff/Sabrina & the girls as our tour guides.  We drove into Seattle and rode the monorail to the Science Center and spent some time checking out the exhibits, had some lunch, walked through Pikes Place and took in the "gum" wall on our way to ride the big Wheel.  We had some yummy gelato and got to visit the office where Sabrina works.  It was a very fun day, especially since we didn't have to drive and had our very own tour guides.

Jessie & Elsie making their contribution to the gum wall

Grandpa, Granny, Jessie & Elsie getting read to ride the big wheel

The big wheel that we all rode, there were amazing views from the top

While we were at Jeff & Sabrina's, we helped them finish up a backyard project they were working on.

Grandpa, Elsie & Jeff putting together some benches for the fire pit

Sabrina spreading gravel

Grandpa has a lovely little helper

Water feature (three pillar stones under bay window) and fire pit project completed.  Jeff and Sabrina did an amazing job, it made a lovely addition to their backyard.

While we were in Maple Valley, we went and had a nice visit with my aunt Rosemary who has recently moved to Maple Valley to be close to her daughter. 



Aunt Rosemary & me



The other special thing we got to do while in Maple Valley was listen to Jeff teach at church one Sunday.

We spent the majority of our time on Camano Island helping out Brandon and Kris with some projects around their house.  Kris' parents came up to watch one of Cameron's All Star games, so we got to spend some time visiting and getting to know her parents better.  Calvin and Granny spent some time trying to pick enough huckleberries to make a pie.  I think we finally got enough, we just didn't get the pie made before we had to leave.  We also took care of Cameron & Calvin's chickens for a week while they went with their parents to Spokane to a conference.  Here are some pictures of the projects we worked on during our time on Camano Island. 

Kelly's brickwork project

Kris & Calvin & Cameron planting veggies in the garden

Kris, Granny & Calvin planting pumpkin seeds

The fence in the background is Rich's handy work.  He dug approximately 26 post holes by hand as well as put up the fence boards. 

Some of the fence posts that Rich dug for the fence around the garden as well as more of my brickwork in front of the gate. 

This wasn't our project, but Brandon cleared out trees and brush and enlarged their backyard, it looks like a park now, it's really nice.

Brandon leading worship at Tidelands church.  Brandon is not only the pastor but also the worship leader.

Camano Island sunset

We really enjoyed our time visiting our Washington kids/grandkids but now it's time to pack up the 5er and head back to Oregon for a Bailey family reunion with Rich and his sisters. 



Monday, June 9, 2014 (Castle Rock, WA)

We woke up to cloudy skies, though the wind wasn't too bad yet, maybe we'll get on the road before the wind starts.  We had a quick breakfast and then got packed up and on the road by 9:00 a.m. before the wind was too bad.  Once we got inland a bit, there wasn't any wind at all, just how we like it.

The drive up I-5 was just that, a very familiar drive with lots of cars and trucks, not the most scenic way to travel, but it gets us down the road.  We had a 190 mile drive to Castle Rock, our stopping point for the day and we arrived around 1:00 p.m.  Not a bad day at all. 

We got set up in our site at the Toutle River RV park and right away noticed the frequent and whistle blowing trains.  There is a train track on one side of the park and I-5 on the other side.  We had read the park reviews on RV Park Reviews website and knew that the train and road noise was the downside of this park, but since it was only for one night we can handle it.  The RV park is really quite nice, it has a swimming pool, hot tub, and even two sauna's.  It is set up for big rally type events with a big meeting area and lots of sites, the only downside are those noisy trains. 

We thought about taking the drive up to Mt. St. Helens, but decided we'd been in the truck long enough today and we'll save that for another time.  We didn't really do much during our stay here, other than do some reading and take a walk to the river, it was just a one night, convenient, stopping over spot.

Tomorrow we head for Camano Island.  We are excited to see our kids and grandkids.  It has almost been a year since we've seen them all.

Saturday - Sunday, June 7 & 8, 2014 (Newport, OR)

Saturday

We got up early to get everything packed up and loaded back in the truck and headed to the storage unit to get the 5er.  We got the batteries back in the 5er and got everything hitched up without any more incidents, that's always a relief and then we were off to Newport.

We had a pleasant drive to Newport and arrived at the Port of Newport Marina & RV park shortly around 1:00 p.m.  This is the first time we've stayed at this park and it appears to be a nice one.  The sites are level which is always a plus and there is plenty of room for our 4 slides, though there are no picnic tables, which is OK for us. 

It took us a bit longer getting set up because we had so much extra stuff to unpack.  It sure is nice being able to travel with your home because there is none of this packing/unpacking of suitcases. 

It was pretty windy out and our slide toppers were definitely flapping around....hmmmm hope the wind quiets down or it will be a tough night for sleeping.  That is one disadvantage to slide toppers, when it is windy, they are very noisy. 

We took a walk around the park and the docks and checked out some of the boats.  I'm definitely a land traveler, I don't find the idea of living on a boat appealing at all, especially on the Oregon/Washington coast.....much to cold and windy and wet for me. 

We walked over to the Rogue Brewery and split a Rueben sandwich and watched the boats in the harbor come and go.  It's free fishing weekend and the public dock which is next to our park and the brewery was quite busy with people fishing and crabbing.  Maybe tomorrow we'll go check it out. 

Sunday

Rich researched local churches and we decided to visit the Radiant Foursquare Church here in Newport.  We got to meet the pastor and visit with him for a bit before the service which is always interesting and pleasant.  The thing I liked about this service was after the message, the pastor had a "what did you hear" session, where people from the congregation could share what they heard from the message.  It was interesting to hear the different perspectives.

After church we went to lunch at the Chowder Bowl and had a bowl of chowder, yummy.  We both really enjoy the chowder recipe at this restaurant vs. Mo's. 

After lunch, we went back to the 5er and got Gracie and went for a walk on the public pier and watched people crabbing for awhile.  Then we walked down the south jetty to the beach.  The beach on the south jetty was beautiful, the water was so much calmer and there wasn't as much wind.  We were bummed, but Gracie more so, because when we started out on our walk we didn't think we'd end up at the beach and so didn't bring her ball.  Let me tell you, she knows when there is sand around that her ball must be around too, she just kept looking at us, like I know you have it, where is it?  Oh well, next time.

For dinner, we decided to walk back to the Rogue Brewery and split a Crab Louie salad.  Watching all those people catching crabs had made us hungry for some crab.  The salad was OK, I thought for the price that it should have a lot more crab on it than it did....but it was still good and a nice treat.

Tomorrow we pack up and head north.  Originally we were going to head north along the coast, but the forecast is for more wind which is not good when you are pulling a big 5th wheel, so we will go back and go up I-5.  Not our favorite way to go, but we are tired of this wind.

We will be in Washington for about a month, visiting with our kids/grandkids, so again, I probably won't be posting regularly.  Until next time.....

May 21 - June 6, 2014 (Mehama, OR)

We said goodbye to Bend and traveled over the mountains to my mom's.  We had a beautiful travel day.


Broken Top & the 3 Sisters



Mt. Washington



Mt. Jefferson



We got the 5er all tucked away at the storage place and got the truck loaded up, boy we sure have a lot of stuff.  When we store the 5er we have to unload the refrigerator/freezer which always adds to our "stuff".  Good thing mom has an extra refrigerator and freezer.

We arrived at mom's and after hugs and kisses we got the truck unloaded and stuff put away which as you can imagine, took a bit.  Good thing we are staying put for a bit, it's a lot of work when we leave the 5er. 

I'll just recap some of the highlights of the time we spent at mom's instead of a day by day scenario. 

On the Friday before Memorial Day, my mom and I met one of my aunts and my cousin and our task for the day was to put flowers on family members graves.  We made a stop at my uncle who owns Kraemer's Nursery and stocked up on a trunk full of roses which made for some beautiful bouquets.  We got to see some graves of long departed relatives that my cousin and I never even met.  It was fun to spend time with my mom, aunt and cousin, the only downside to the day was that it was a very wet and drippy day.

Another fun adventure was that my daughter Amber (who is pregnant) invited me to go with her to Portland to a big baby shower type event.  I can't remember the last time I spent a one on one day with my daughter.  It was a lot of fun and we even got a bit of shopping in too.  It was a very enjoyable day.

One afternoon I took my mom for a four wheeler ride around her place.  We had to mash down all the briars and ferns that had grown up on the trails from last fall.  It's amazing how fast that stuff grows back.

Of course, Rich and I did some house hunting while we were there.  We even found an amazing place that we thought would make up for being in the rainy valley, so we put an offer on it.  We were the first ones to view the property as it just came on the market and the next day we put an offer on it, but they also got another offer which was a cash offer, can you believe it?  Oh well, I guess it wasn't meant to be, though it was a big let down for both Rich and I.  The place had an amazing shop that Rich was itching to make his own.  And the yard was calling me, it was huge with lots of room to plant and the house was beautiful.....sigh.

We got to visit with a couple of my brothers and their families while we were there which is always a pleasure.  I'm sure when we are back later this summer, we'll all get together. 

We had one not so pleasant adventure.....we went back to the 5er the day before we were going to be leaving and found out the batteries were dead....not that big of deal you say....well it turned into a big deal.  We decided to hook up the 5er and plug it into the truck to see if we could get them charged up a bit...BIG mistake.  Rich backed under the 5er but needed to lift it a bit so it would slide into the hitch, well when he went to raise the hydraulic jacks, they didn't raise but settled down which put the 5er hitch pushing down onto the bed of the truck and the front of the 5er setting on the side rails of the truck.....uh oh, now what, we are stuck with no way to raise the 5er off the truck.  Not only that, we are stuck inside the storage yard with no way out.  Rich tried calling the office, but no one answered.   Then Rich remembered, the generator that we keep in the truck toolbox, so he pulled that out and went to plug the 5er into the 30 amp and guess what, the plug end was different.....well rats, that's not good, not good at all.  I kept suggesting that we call Coachnet and ask them to come give the batteries in the 5er a jump, but Rich said he wanted to figure it out.....well alrighty then, I'll just say some prayers and be quiet.   Well after letting a lot of air out of the truck tires, and using a piece of metal to make a bridge from the back of the truck to the tailgate and much anxiety on my part, Rich had me slowly drive the truck out from under the 5er.  I'm happy to report that my husband was correct, he was able to figure a way out of our situation without any damage to the 5er. 

So we pulled the batteries from the 5er and headed back to mom's.  We stopped at NAPA in Mehama and asked if they could charge 6 volt batteries, but they can't leave them unattended overnight, so it was off to plan C.  Rich was able to get them charged on a charger he had in my mom's shop after he purchased an additional cable.  I don't begin to understand all the differences and nuances between 6 volt and 12 volt charges, so may not have explained everything correctly, the important part is just that they got charged and when we put them back in the 5er, the jacks were able to work properly.  Whew....good lesson to disconnect that battery switch next time we leave the 5er parked for awhile.

We had a great visit with mom, loved spending time with her and her two puppies.  We are heading to Newport for a couple days and then on to Washington for a month.