The saga continues but in a different state. We finally got out of Travis and drove all the way to Brookings, OR last week. We spent two nights at Harris Beach campground and the incessant rain made its way into the motor home in three different places; the windshield and both slides. So the rest of the trip has us operating with the slides closed. Ken applied lots of duct tape to the top of the windshield and that seems to holding. Needless to say, we have an appointment with Southside Motors for next week.
We spent three nights with the Ladds in Florence and cousin Harriet drove down from Albany. The weather prevented us from doing anything outside, but we talked, and ate, and drank well. A trip into town for Mo's clam chowder was a must, and then we were treated to some yummy meals prepared by Carolyn. The five of us pretty well polished off a bottle of Akvavit accompanied by the necessary pickled herring. In addition, we learned that Irvin makes a lovely hot buttered rum.
Harriet, Carolyn and I ventured into town yesterday to poke around in a few of the shops. A very nice quilt shop and TWO awesome kitchen stores, but alas, one was closed.
Now we are parked on the front tier at Sea and Sand RV Park just north of Depot Bay, and I am looking out through the rain-streaked windshield at the pounding surf. This is an awesome place for a view of the ocean. The only thing missing are a few big rocks for the crashing surf.
So two nights here, one at Cannon Beach and then we will be homeward-bound this weekend. Ciao
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Full Circle Back to Travis AFB
And here we sit. This is always our stopping point when going to and coming from Arizona because it is a good place to regroup, resupply, and catch up on laundry. However, our two day stay is extending well beyond because of weather between here and the Oregon coast. We have already had some major winds and rain over the past few days, and there is more to come.
We spent our last night in Arizona on the desert which we love to do because there is hardly anyone there, and it is so peaceful and quiet. Of course just because Ken set up his motion-detector camera, we didn't have any four-legged visitors as we did on the way down in December.
One of our outings while in Tucson was to visit the Titan Missile Museum. There is a "real" missile in its silo, with a hole in the roof to prove to any passing satellites that it is in fact unarmed. This missle was never "live" but used for training. Our tour was conducted by one of the last mission commanders of the program, and Marge would not have been anyone to toy with; I'm sure she was all business all the time, and she provided an excellent insight into the workings of the system. If you are ever in the area, I highly recommend a visit.
Last Sunday, Jeff Schuler drove up from San Jose to meet us in Lodi for lunch and some wine tasting. Who would have thought of Lodi as a wine center? We visited three wineries and all three had some very nice wines. The Ouseys were staying here at the Famcamp with us so they joined us. A very pleasant afternoon.
We are hoping to coordinate our travels home to allow us to meet up with Ken's cousin, Carolyn, and her husband Irvin. They have a house near the beach in Florence, so I think they are going to try to drive over from their home in central Oregon for a visit. When we lived in eastern Washington, traveling south would take us through central Oregon so we would see them more often than we do now.
I am tired of looking out the windshield at the never-ending rain and gray skies so I will get on with my day. Ciao.
We spent our last night in Arizona on the desert which we love to do because there is hardly anyone there, and it is so peaceful and quiet. Of course just because Ken set up his motion-detector camera, we didn't have any four-legged visitors as we did on the way down in December.
One of our outings while in Tucson was to visit the Titan Missile Museum. There is a "real" missile in its silo, with a hole in the roof to prove to any passing satellites that it is in fact unarmed. This missle was never "live" but used for training. Our tour was conducted by one of the last mission commanders of the program, and Marge would not have been anyone to toy with; I'm sure she was all business all the time, and she provided an excellent insight into the workings of the system. If you are ever in the area, I highly recommend a visit.
Last Sunday, Jeff Schuler drove up from San Jose to meet us in Lodi for lunch and some wine tasting. Who would have thought of Lodi as a wine center? We visited three wineries and all three had some very nice wines. The Ouseys were staying here at the Famcamp with us so they joined us. A very pleasant afternoon.
We are hoping to coordinate our travels home to allow us to meet up with Ken's cousin, Carolyn, and her husband Irvin. They have a house near the beach in Florence, so I think they are going to try to drive over from their home in central Oregon for a visit. When we lived in eastern Washington, traveling south would take us through central Oregon so we would see them more often than we do now.
I am tired of looking out the windshield at the never-ending rain and gray skies so I will get on with my day. Ciao.
Wednesday, March 02, 2011
Is it warming up?
It has been hard to tell. However, as we are making our way from Tucson to Yuma, it is approaching eighty today, so I guess we are gradually getting there.
We spent our last two nights in Tucson at the overflow area at Davis Monthan AFB before moving on to Yuma, which we are doing at the moment. DM has a great Famcamp, but it is very busy this time of year, so to get a space with hookups, it usually takes two or three days of dry camping in the overflow area. We were only there for the two nights, so no problem.
Yesterday we happened on the biggest Ace Hardware store I have ever seen. The storefront covered more than a half block, and about 1/3 of the building was nothing but housewares. Ken entertained himself on the hardware side, and you know where I was. It pretty much qualifies as one of those "must see" locations.
The trip to Surprise didn't produce a surprise. It is scary to consider buying a used coach when you don't know the history.....and as we all know, the sales people will tell you anything. It is as if they consider every potential buyer as someone who doesn't know a motor home from motorcycle!!
We enjoyed two more evenings of entertainment before leaving Rincon Country. Both were guitarists/singers. Jimmy Fortune sang tenor for the Statler Brother for many years, but his best rendition of the evening was Roy Orbison's "Pretty Woman". He nailed it!!
We will be in Yuma for the next two weeks and will join the Spragues and the Ouseys. I'm not sure what there is to do to keep us occupied for two weeks, but we will keep each other company. I will spend some time at a dentist since I lost a big filling earlier this week. Oh joy.
Colleen and Jim and the girls are back from a lovely time in Hawaii. A luau and a swim with dolphins were two of the highlights. Now it is back to swimming and working and school.
Just in the last month we have been invited to three 50th wedding anniversary parties. How could we be possibly be old enough to have friends and family old enough to have been married fifty years? Hmmmm, we are at 49!! Ciao
We spent our last two nights in Tucson at the overflow area at Davis Monthan AFB before moving on to Yuma, which we are doing at the moment. DM has a great Famcamp, but it is very busy this time of year, so to get a space with hookups, it usually takes two or three days of dry camping in the overflow area. We were only there for the two nights, so no problem.
Yesterday we happened on the biggest Ace Hardware store I have ever seen. The storefront covered more than a half block, and about 1/3 of the building was nothing but housewares. Ken entertained himself on the hardware side, and you know where I was. It pretty much qualifies as one of those "must see" locations.
The trip to Surprise didn't produce a surprise. It is scary to consider buying a used coach when you don't know the history.....and as we all know, the sales people will tell you anything. It is as if they consider every potential buyer as someone who doesn't know a motor home from motorcycle!!
We enjoyed two more evenings of entertainment before leaving Rincon Country. Both were guitarists/singers. Jimmy Fortune sang tenor for the Statler Brother for many years, but his best rendition of the evening was Roy Orbison's "Pretty Woman". He nailed it!!
We will be in Yuma for the next two weeks and will join the Spragues and the Ouseys. I'm not sure what there is to do to keep us occupied for two weeks, but we will keep each other company. I will spend some time at a dentist since I lost a big filling earlier this week. Oh joy.
Colleen and Jim and the girls are back from a lovely time in Hawaii. A luau and a swim with dolphins were two of the highlights. Now it is back to swimming and working and school.
Just in the last month we have been invited to three 50th wedding anniversary parties. How could we be possibly be old enough to have friends and family old enough to have been married fifty years? Hmmmm, we are at 49!! Ciao
It is warming up
We still have not had a "hot" day; it did reach eighty once so far, but the nights get right down chilly. I have shed one jacket and am down to wearing a down vest over my sweatsuit for a morning walk.
We have enjoyed some entertainment while here and have been out and about a few times. Tucson does not have a good east/west travel route so it takes a lot of time to get to the other side of town which seems to be where I always want to be (quilt shops, JoAnn's, Davis Monthan AFB, etc).
Karen and Rod took us to Green Valley last Saturday to meet friends they met at an Alpine rally. Dave and Sandy are very interesting, personable folks. His second career was being employed by the Ford Motor Company racing team, and Sandy traveled with the team as well, feeding as many as fifty at a time - and making her bathroom available to all of them!!!!!! Dave had interesting stories to share about going back and forth across the border in Baja with something like 25 semis.
They clued us in on the differences between Green Valley and the other town nearby. Green Valley is very much a mecca for retirees. They live in a lovely adobe-style 2 bdrm/2bath home with a great room living area. Their back yard is spacious with about half of it a patio complete with a built-in gas grill. They have a two car garage, plus a third garage on the other side of the house for their RV. I was ready to move.
Colleen and Jim and the girls left for Hawaii yesterday so I am waiting for a travel update. Colleen has to be in Pasadena for meetings later this week so her trip is going to be cut short. But even a bit of Hawaii in February should be a treat.
Our travel plans beyond the winter include the trip to NC in June for Nolan's graduation, and then an Alaskan cruise the first of August with Keith, Janet, and the girls. We are very excited to have the four of them to ourselves for a full week since most of our get-togethers are major events with lots of people and little time to just sit back and enjoy them. And this is our first cruise, so that makes it all the more exciting.
Warren and Nolan are finishing the wrestling season and both have done very well. With Nolan graduating in June, it will be up to Warren to carry on the Kirkwood legacy on the mat!!
The Ouseys came down from Casa Grande last Wednesday for a visit. We are usually in the same park, so it was good to have some time with them since we have hardly seen them. The weather was pleasant enough to allow us to eat outside.
We still have several items on our "to-do" list before leaving the end of the month: Sabino Canyon, Sierra Vista for Mexican and/or German food and a quilt show and today a drive to Surprise to "surprise" look at a motor home.
Last Sunday we drove to Mesa to catch up with the Davenport crowd. Daryl and Jan gathered everyone at their patio for snacks and margaritas and then we went out for an early dinner. We toured the Gary Reinbolds' newly acquired park model and saw the Brian Ziemers' new-to-them Monaco coach. We all seem to make similar transitions along the way with changes in our winter accommodations.
We have enjoyed some entertainment while here and have been out and about a few times. Tucson does not have a good east/west travel route so it takes a lot of time to get to the other side of town which seems to be where I always want to be (quilt shops, JoAnn's, Davis Monthan AFB, etc).
Karen and Rod took us to Green Valley last Saturday to meet friends they met at an Alpine rally. Dave and Sandy are very interesting, personable folks. His second career was being employed by the Ford Motor Company racing team, and Sandy traveled with the team as well, feeding as many as fifty at a time - and making her bathroom available to all of them!!!!!! Dave had interesting stories to share about going back and forth across the border in Baja with something like 25 semis.
They clued us in on the differences between Green Valley and the other town nearby. Green Valley is very much a mecca for retirees. They live in a lovely adobe-style 2 bdrm/2bath home with a great room living area. Their back yard is spacious with about half of it a patio complete with a built-in gas grill. They have a two car garage, plus a third garage on the other side of the house for their RV. I was ready to move.
Colleen and Jim and the girls left for Hawaii yesterday so I am waiting for a travel update. Colleen has to be in Pasadena for meetings later this week so her trip is going to be cut short. But even a bit of Hawaii in February should be a treat.
Our travel plans beyond the winter include the trip to NC in June for Nolan's graduation, and then an Alaskan cruise the first of August with Keith, Janet, and the girls. We are very excited to have the four of them to ourselves for a full week since most of our get-togethers are major events with lots of people and little time to just sit back and enjoy them. And this is our first cruise, so that makes it all the more exciting.
Warren and Nolan are finishing the wrestling season and both have done very well. With Nolan graduating in June, it will be up to Warren to carry on the Kirkwood legacy on the mat!!
The Ouseys came down from Casa Grande last Wednesday for a visit. We are usually in the same park, so it was good to have some time with them since we have hardly seen them. The weather was pleasant enough to allow us to eat outside.
We still have several items on our "to-do" list before leaving the end of the month: Sabino Canyon, Sierra Vista for Mexican and/or German food and a quilt show and today a drive to Surprise to "surprise" look at a motor home.
Last Sunday we drove to Mesa to catch up with the Davenport crowd. Daryl and Jan gathered everyone at their patio for snacks and margaritas and then we went out for an early dinner. We toured the Gary Reinbolds' newly acquired park model and saw the Brian Ziemers' new-to-them Monaco coach. We all seem to make similar transitions along the way with changes in our winter accommodations.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)