September 10, 2010 Friday

That is the day that we actually left for our Fall trip, but the 2 says before were especially interesting as we prepared to leave. On Wed night we observed a vehicle parked outside our house that we did not recognize. Thurs morning Bob was outside working and he noticed someone sitting in a different car outside our house. He approached the car and the man showed him a Bellevue Police Badge and then came down to our driveway and explained that he was on survailance and for us to please ignore him. Later that day the first car was again there. In the early afternoon the car outside our house and several others descended on the house at the bottom of our street - we call it the "white trash" house and it has been a mess for years. They arrested the 24 year old son and the father. An hour or so later Linda went outside just in time to see the 9 member SWAT team enter the house to serve a search warrent. There were about 15 Bellevue and Redmond police in addition. They were in and out of the house all afternoon and evening, looking for stolen items. They towed the kids car. He had been spotted Wed leaving a house in Bellevue after a burglary and a citizen got his license number. There had been several burglaries in the neighborhood.

Monday, March 10

Drove to Russian River Campground through the "Avenue of the Giants" redwoods area.

Wednesday, March 12

Drove around the vineyards and passed hundreds of wineries! Saw Clear Lake above the 3 wine valley areas.

Thursday, March 11

Drove to the coast through rolling hills and vineyards. Beautiful day and coastal vistas. Mendicino is a pretty "victorian" town (also known as Cabot Cove on the TV show). Visited Fort Bragg.

Friday, March 12

Moved to Alameda County Fairgrounds RV Park. Gem and mineral show on the grounds and lots of classic GMC motorhomes. Poured rain all day.

Saturday, March 13

Sunshine today. We like Pleasonton. Visited the Saturday market and bought artichokes and wonderful orange/hunny almonds!

Sunday, March 14

Toured San Francisco area. Wanted to take the boat to Alcatraz, but the whole Embarcadero area was having a festival, there were huge crowds and we could not get to the dock area. Decided to drive North to Sausilito and toured the coast line. Beautiful vistas on a georgeous day! Bob walked on the Golden Gate Bridge. Saw the new baseball stadium and the formerly suspect area around is being renewed nicely. City looks pretty good, but there is a lot of gang "tagging" and bums.

Monday, March 15

Moved to Delta Shores campground in the Sacramento Delta.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

We left on Wed, March 3. Heading South on I-5. Drove in sunshine and stopped in the Bi-Mart parking lot in Creswell, Or. On Thurs we drove to the coast and stopped in Trinidad at the Emerald Forrest camp ground in the Redwoods. There are huge stumps around us and really tall trees. The coast is rugged and beautiful and the views spectacular. We explored North on Saturday seeing countless fabulous views and strolling on remote beaches. A glorious day. On Sunday we headed South to Eureka, Ferndale, and Fortuna. They all have some wonderful Victorian homes and buildings. We explored the Humbolt Bay area with dunes and beautiful scenery. Eureka has lots of street people and Ferndale looked to be the most prosporous and the town we liked best. The whole area has aging hippy influence and seems to be living in the past. Way too many old guys with scruffy beards.

Liked the beauty shop we saw named, "Curl up and Dye"!

Fall trip

September/October 2009 trip to Idaho and Montana

Spring trip 2009

March/April trip to California - Central area as the weather was nice.

Well, since my last post in November, life has gotten pretty hectic. Carlee and Cody stayed in our house until they purchased their new house in September, so we have to begin to get our house back in Bob and Linda mode. We also plan to remove the popcorn ceilings and paint the house. We are not going to put all of the furniture back in place until these projects are done. First off, Bob has to get his computer systems running properly so he can resume his trading. We have restored the master bedroom, complete with new bedding. Also, the kitchen/family area is pretty functional now, too. The rest is going to wait awhile. So the first week home was spent seeing the kids, unpacking the motor home and getting the bedroom and kitchen in reasonable shape.

On the evening of the 11th Mark called and said they were heading to the hospital - baby arriving a little early. We headed over and spent the night up with them. Jean really wanted a normal delivery, but circumstances dictated a C section around 8:30 the next morning. Caden James was born! It was very exciting as Carlee, Mark and I were in the delivery room. Loved seeing the newborn so soon. We were right by his isolet as they cleaned him up and checked him out. Jean was pretty out of it at that time, but Mark carried him over to show him to her. He is pretty small, 6 lb 10 oz, but 20" long. He had a little bit of breathing problems and some jaundice the first few days, but progressed just fine. Caden came home after 5 days in the hospital. Jean needed help, so I moved over to their house. The Drs wanted to make sure he was thriving so we went in to have the baby weighed several times. After a couple of weeks, he was gaining nicely and breastfeeding was going pretty well. Mark's mother came down for a couple of days to help so I could go to set up day for the Festival of Trees. We all made it to a nice Thanksgiving dinner at Carlees. Cody was not feeling well that afternoon and excused himself from the gang to go to bed early. Jean was beginning to feel better, about that time, then developed an infection in her incision with a fever that set her back. She had kind of a miserable week. Cody did not feel well for several days and ended up in the emergency room where they finally diagnosed a case of spinal meningitis - very scary, but fortunately not the worst kind. He spent 2 nights in the hospital and then came home to bed rest for awhile. With unfortunate situations in both daughters' homes, Bob and I were spread pretty thin helping. After about 5 difficult days, everyone finally began to get better!

Christmas preparations began very late for all of us! Everyone was feeling a little better by the second week in Dec and we managed to go on our annual family Christmas tree expedition. The tree farm where we went to cut, had closed just before we got there so we ended up with quite nice trees from the local Lowe's Hardware! We celebrated with a birthday dinner for Carlee. We had Christmas dinner at Jean and Marks with Ron, Sally, Wendina & Bryan; the Mann clan, and Marks folks and aunt. It was a fun day and quite interesting with 2 new family members, Kinsey and Caden, and Garrett and Parker, who were such fun to watch open presents. Garrett helped distribute presents and Parker was an amazing help with the family "dice" game. We had 3 holiday parties to go to including a 75th birthday for Charlie on New Years Eve.

We have noticed how much we love to see mountains in the distance. We really missed that on the East Coast and Midwest. However, it has been rather cold here and we remember warmer areas last year. We do miss the sun. It has come out some and we have ridden our bikes, but we would like more of that!

We have arrived home! The first few days after arriving home are very busy. A top priority was to see the grandkids. Such fun! Cody brought them over saying that he had to pick something up at the house and they were surprised to see the motor home there. They were very excited! Carlee joined us and we had pizza for dinner.

We also visited Jean who has just entered her 9th month. She is feeling good and still taking it easy. The baby is doing well, so if she delivers a little early, they are not concerned.

I am going to be posting some random thoughts about our great adventure this year.

Most interesting experience: We really enjoyed the Kennedy Space Center in Titusville, Florida. Extremely educational and interesting. It would be a wonderful experience for any young teen that is interested in aeronautics or space.

Best tour: The Harley-Davidson Factory in Pennsylvania. It was really amazing to be out on the floor right next to the assembly line. The Chevrolet Corvette Factory in Bowling Green, Kentucky was also good.

Biggest disappointments: The Nautilus Museum in New London, Connecticut, was closed for a 2 week renovation when we were there. Bob had been looking forward to that. We were also never able to ride on an actual stern wheeler on the Mississippi. We tried several times along the way but every time we booked a trip something happened to cancel it!

Best water adventure: Rode on an air boat in Florida. Very exciting.

It was interesting to see the difference in class of the motor home parks. When you book a park ahead, and don't know the area, you really don't know exactly what will be there. Most of the time we were happy with the facilities and the park in general. People were gracious and really nice in all of them. Even if the facilities were not the best, it didn't matter as we always use our own shower, bathroom and beds! They never varied! There was 1 park in Florida that was a little sketchy. The people were extremely friendly, but we noticed that about half the women (remember that they are mostly over 50) had tattoos! Tattoos on older people spoke volumes. Also, aging tattoos are not good!

Today I am going to talk about some of the challenges of motor home travel. The day to day logistics.

Most of the time we stay in parks that are set up with electricity, cable TV, water, etc. Bob hooks all of that up every time we enter a new park. It takes about 10 - 15 minutes and you have to double check as each situation is different. It is also necessary to level the coach so the refrigerator will work properly. We don't have a fancy leveling system so we have to look at our bubble level and place blocks accordingly.

We can function perfectly fine without any of the hookups. Bob has installed extra batteries and we have a generator. We can carry water. We don't usually travel with totally full tanks as that adds a lot of weight.

We cook with propane and that fuel is used for heat and the refrigerator when we are not connected to electricity. Every month or so we have to buy propane. When you buy propane, you have to have an attendant come and dispense it. They have all been competent and pleasant. We are not sure why, but they have also all had teeth missing! Bob and I can hardly look at each other during this process as it has become such a cliche. We are beginning to wonder if propane rots teeth.

The challenges of towing a vehicle are many. The proper hookup to the motor home is important. The car has to be in neutral, brake off, key on ACC, brake buddy (braking system for tow cars) installed, radio off and windows up. There is a checklist to remember each time. It really is the best solution to our kind of travel. We park the coach and use the car for day trips and running around. It helps with the cost factor, also. Gas prices have been a concern. When we were in Chicago we were saddened to hear that Chicago had the highest prices in the country at that time! Now, as we are heading home prices are rising daily. We are paying over $3.00 a gallon and actually saw $3.99 for regular - YIKES. We plan our gas stops around Costco, Wall Mart and a few others that have the best prices in an area. We check prices on the Internet. Backing up is not an option while towing so we are very careful when we enter parking lots or small areas. It has only been necessary to disconnect the car to maneuver twice on the whole trip!

Laundry is a concern. Not all of the motor home parks have had laundry facilities. Those that do require various amounts of quarters. The time of the cycles also varies so there is a learning curve for each location! It has been a special bonus when visiting friends to use their washers and dryers. We did not bring any clothes with us that did not wash easily and certainly nothing that required ironing or special care.

It has been interesting to go into so many grocery stores. There is really a difference in the produce and meat departments from store to store. We are usually not in the same store more than once so we never know where anything is! We have had to try many new brands and products.

Thats all for today, will be adding more thoughts later.