Once again....

We will get it right. Not sure what we are doing wrong...but we've had our share of dead batteries on this trip. Truck is being towed to Twin Falls, ID to the Chrylser (I hope who is still there) dealer. This is the second time we've been towed. (First time was out of the Les Schwab Tire Dealer parking lot in Salem, OR.) It's a sinking feeling when you unhook, get in the truck to put it back into the "drive" position and everything is dead...no lights, beeps, whistles, nada. Plus, this time we had the entrance blocked to the RV park we had just checked into with 2 rigs behind us wanting to pull in. We hooked back up and pulled it around to our site. It's at this point I just wanted to go home, sit in my grandmother's rocking chair and suck my thumb.

Lucy didn't have a good night (or morning) either. We overnighted at the WalMart in Ontario, OR last night which butts up to the Snake River. In the middle of the night there was some feral type animal making horrible noises coming from the river area. Brought Lucy up out of a sound (making noises kind) sleep who then leaped over me and up on her hind legs looking out the window to see what it was. She was on point for over an hour. I'm not sure if she wanted to join in or if she was making sure it wasn't going to get her. I've never seen her like that. This morning I thought I would check her for fleas since I had a dream last night that she had them...yes, I do have some strange dreams...however, in checking her I found no fleas but a tick! Yuk! I googled what to do about removing a tick, made Tim read it while I prepared for surgery. Got the tweezers out, sterilized them with rubbing alcohol, got the rubber gloves out, got the neosporine, the super duper magnifying glass that lights up, a towel and a covered jar to put the tick in. And then I gave everything to Tim to do the deed. He looked at me as if he thought "I" was going to remove it. Are you nuts? I'll hold her. Anyway, he was able to get it out in tack...nothing left behind and it's now in a covered jar under the sink. You're suppose to keep it until you're sure the dog doesn't get sick...about a 48 hour period. Then that sucker is out of here.

Lucy made me promise that we will never ever go back to that WalMart.

Happy Dog!

Sorry about the quality of the video and noise (wind) but you get a brief glimpse of Lucy running on the beach. She ran and ran and ran. I think she could get use to being a beach dog!

Lucy at Bandon Beach

We went to Bandon, OR today. It's about 40 miles down the coast from where we are staying. It's a tourist's haven in the summer. Still early in the season so it was pretty quiet. They use to have the best cheese factory until Tillamook came in, bought it and closed it.

This is the same beach we went to last year. Last year she wouldn't let me put her down. The wind was so strong and the noise from the ocean scared her. This year was a different story. Wind was not as strong, she's a year older and there were so many smells she couldn't resist plus people she knew were there just to see her!
She had a bead on this fisherman. She knew he wanted to pet her if I would only move closer to him.
Hey, buddy, catch anything?
I don't want to go home!

Memorial Day

The following link will tell you about the mission my Dad was in. He never talked to about it. There was an article in our local newspaper about the mission. He was in the group that was captured. I have his dog tags, his POW tags (Stalag VIIA) and his two Purple Hearts. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Task_Force_Baum

Thisa and Thata

We're in Lakeside, OR at an RV Resort that sits on TenMile Lake. We took a drive today which took us to Winchester Bay where the Umpqua River Lighthouse is located. Probably hard to read the sign, but this lighthouse was the first on in the Oregon Territory built in 1857. It sits way back from the beach...hard to believe its' location being a lighthouse as well as being amongst the trees!

We are in the Oregon Dunes National Recreational Area. What Sturgis is to motorcycles...the Dunes have ATV's and dune buggys. There are a kagillion of them. And, it's only Memorial Day. Any campground, public or private was crammed full of trailors, toy haulers, campers on pickups, rv's of all kinds.

We had a camper pickup pull in next to us. Mom, Dad (late 20's) 5 yr old and tw0 yippy dogs. I was doing ok with everything until I saw he was going to start a fire in the metal tire ring next to us (about 6 feet away with the wind blowing our way). I went over to question if he really was going to have a fire with 25-
30 mph winds and he said he was. Well, to make a long story short we ended up in the office and I was shocked to discover the owners didn't seem to see what the problem was. Apparently, they've never had a fire situation here. I made my point and went on record that if we had any fire problems the punk kid would be liable. The punk kid moved his pickup 2 rows away from us. I was disappointed in the attitude not only of the owners but more of the young man. I hate to think this is typical of the younger generation. And, they are raising children.

Boat slips where we are staying.
Local color.

Mt Hood and Mario Andretti

Picture of Mt. Hood taken out the front window of the motorhome while driving down the highway. Pretty impressive, huh?

Now, for recap of the last couple of days. Short version.

Arrived Moses Lake, WA, engine light on "NEW" truck, Dodge dealer in Moses Lake, battery check failed, gave us new battery, had great rally at fairgrounds, left Moses Lake, WA, spent night in Boardman, OR, took pics on left while driving to Salem, WA. Pulled into Les Schwab Tires in Salem, unhooked truck in middle of their parking lot, truck wouldn't start, dead battery, called for tow to local Dodge dealer, parked moho and Lucy and I waited for Tim to call from dealer with news. He called. Dead battery. Duh. Determined it was operator (as in Tim) error. Left key in ignition in "on" position instead of "off" position. I walked over to Dairy Queen and got Oreo Mint Blizzard to sooth nerves. Got indigestion. Rained (as in poured) all night, 3 trucks also pulled in and parked in lot. They started up their engines about 3am and starting leaving...the last one to leave about 4am. Moved moho over to "truck" area to get new tires installed. Checked date on tires. Not acceptable. Talked to manager who made special trip to Sisters. OR to get tires with recent date on them. Didn't feel bad he had to make the trip since we had made several calls telling him this was a non negotiable item. However, he had a 200 mile roundtrip drive to make and we had to cool our heals in the meantime.

Got tires and left Salem, OR about 4pm and drove down the road to Eugene where we parked for the night in another Elks parking lot. $10/night. Dinner at Elks $25. Oh well.

Here's where Mario Andretti shows up. We left Eugene, OR this morning taking RT 126 which is a 2 lane road heading west to Florence, OR where we make a left hand turn and head down the OR coast on Rt 101 to Lakeside, OR where we are currently parked. Tim becomes this other persona...as in Mario Andretti...when he's driving twisty, winding 2 lane roads in Oregon. Never noticed it anywhere else but Oregon. He starts telling me stories of his times on different twisty, winding roads as he takes the curves at 50 mph with me sucking air. He loves these roads. He dodges the log trucks on the curves. He tells me what kind of truck (called a bobtail) just passed us. He forgets he told me what it was about 52 times last year. He loves Oregon. He loves the coast. He's got web feet and gills. We're here until June 2nd. Maybe I'll get gills.

Tongue Communication

It may be hard to see but if you look closely Lucy and the horse (with the sleezy on - sleezies are the latest in keeping your mane down) appear to be communicating via tongues. I wonder what they are saying??? I've got big loves for you??? Actually, in Lucy's world, she thought the horses were just big dogs and didn't pay much attention to them.
Now, the cows were something different. Besides bellowing outside our rig all night (they're in a pen behind us) she was curious about them. Wasn't too sure she wanted to get too close but she did watch as the young cowboy attempted to bring the calf down. I watched for awhile and then had to leave. I felt for the calf. They kept doing it over and over. How would you like someone wringing your neck just for sport (and points)? And, we volunteered for the National HighSchool Rodeo next summer???
The Junior Rodeo is being held here on the Moses Lake Grant County Fairgrounds. Lots of cowgirls and cowboys. This young lady lost her hat on her first barrel and then lost her horse at the next barrel. The horse stumbled and down she went. She wasn't hurt, but upset since she was disqualified for this event. Her grandma and grandpa were sitting in front of me and did much sucking of air when she went down.

Where are they?

Lucy's not a real happy camper when we leave her in the motorhome. Unfortunately, there are times when she just has to suck it up and cope. Today was one of those days.

We are at the Winnebago Rally in Moses Lake, WA as a vendor for RV Quick Shades. Remember my challenges on an earlier post with the new cash register? Well, according to the sales totals at the end of today, I rang up $2,556,926.00 is sales!!! I like this cash register.

Tim's got Popeye Arms

Tim says after driving in the wind today (about 300 miles) he feels like he has Popeye arms. Is there anywhere in the country that is wind free???? We are in Moses Lake, WA and glad to be here. We're parked for 2 days until we check into the fairgrounds for the Winnebago Rally. We're here until Sunday and then head over to Salem for new tires on the motorhome.

Side note. My dishwashing soap tipped over under the sink and I lost 1/2 a bottle...in carpet. Do you have any idea how hard it is to clean up? What a major pain in the you know what.

Mother

Mother's Day. Read a number of blogs today talking about mothers. What I remember..., they passed so long ago I didn't have a chance to say..., if only..., mine wasn't like that, my mother....

The pictures on the left are of Lorie and me when she was about 3 and family picture of Lorie, Shane and me when we were all a few years younger.

My mother had dreams which somehow got lost. She became bitter. She was negative on life. However, she had a great sense of humor at times. She was an oxymoron. She did the best she knew how to do...even if I only discovered that years too late to tell her.

My grandmother, Mom, was a pistol.
The picture below (somehwere in the collage) is 4 generations. Mother, Mom, Me, and Lorie. Mom didn't take anything from anyone. She would chase you around the house with a broom handle if you didn't mind. She also was a great cook who had no written recipes. Earlier post is about my trying to make her coffee cake. She also didn't finish school (grade school). She had a Children's Bible which she read and you would find her on her knees behind a rocking chair (which I have) when the tornado sirens went off.


Various pictures of me with Lorie (as a baby) .

Last picture is me (Farah Fawcett hair) with my Mother.

Happy Mother's Day, Mother.

Exalted Ruler of Provo Elkdom

After a long day of driving in high winds (I really, really don't like the wind) we pulled into the Elks Lodge in Provo, Utah. What a gem! It appears we are going to be the only RV here this evening unless someone comes in late. I have absolutely no problem being on pavement after being in red clay in St. George.
We had dinner at the club and Mike, the Exalted Ruler, (long beard in pic) bought us drinks being travelling Elks. He's just a newbee (only a 4 year member) of the Elks while Tim is a 44 year member. Tim's wondering where he went wrong...44 years and still no exalted position!

Temperature is in the 60's. Lucy's already started shivering.

On the road again...

Kingman, AZ. Blake Ranch RV Park. Tim's hoping he can meet up with the owner of the park since she has expressed interest in SkyMed. We've stayed here before. Short day driving. First day is always the hardest. It's sooooooooo good to be on the road again. It takes Lucy a couple of days to adjust. She doesn't like to piddle or poop if it's not her own back yard. After a day or so...she gets with the program! The moho is packed, the truck is packed...probably heavier than we've ever been before. Maybe the Jack Daniels has something to do with it???? Tim bought quite a few bottles before we left AZ. It's about $20/bottle more once we leave AZ.

Chihuly

I started to name this post...Sue's brain. I decided it was too organized for my brain status. Mine's a little more scattered at the moment. I took this picture at the Chihuly Museum last year. I used my palm sized Canon PowerShot SD1000 looking up at the Chiuly glass displays. I just pointed, zoomed a little and shot. This little camera works wonders. I like it better than my mega cost Canon Rebel. The Rebel is just too cumbersome plus it doesn't shoot video. Anyway, back to my brain. I'm way past overload. We bought the moho over to the house this morning in preparation to load and be on our merry way on Wednesday. Of course, it's akagillon degrees outside. Interesting side note. We bought a Western Horizons membership which came with Resorts of Distinction (ROD) and AOR (don't remember what that stands for). By having the Western Horizon Resorts membership, et al means that basically we've paid for our stays at campgrounds up front. More complicated than that but not necessary to tell my story. Last Friday, I booked (through ROD) 1 night at a park in Bullhead City, AZ and 1 night in Moses Lake, WA. I got a call today from ROD saying they received calls from both parks (which are actually Sunrise Resort parks) and since we were given a membership by the dealer who sold us our motorhome 5 years ago (called a freebe) and cancelled after the first year (still working and weren't spending oodles of time on the road) we didn't renew the membership, we couldn't stay at these parks!!!! I was flabbergasted. I made a few phone calls (including one to "memberhsip services" for Sunrise Resorts) explained how we had the Sunrise membership in the first place, were working fulltime at the time and it's now 5 years later. Didn't make a hill of beans difference to them. The "owners" say if you had a membership and then cancel your SOL. You can't stay at their park(s) for any reason...even if they are empty and are willing to pay full price! My comment back was "They really hold a grudge!" Definitely don't care about PR and/or customer service. I was told I could contact "management" which I did. Her name is Joan or Judy or something with a J. Didn't matter. I guess they have all the business they want.
I guess one of the reasons we didn't stay with Sunrise Resorts way back when, if I can remember correctly, was simply the fact they didn't have a lot of parks where we wanted to go anyway. Bullhead City was simply a overnight and Moses Lake had dump facilities. Too bad, their lost of any revenue from us. OK. Got it off my chest and out of my brain.

Cow and Bear

I need cow and bear. Cow and bear is what makes Audrey's world safe. Lose cow and bear and your're screwed. Cow and bear represents order, safety, security. Just look at the smirk on her face. She's got cow and bear. She's cool. Of course, she's got a death grip on them...but can't blame her. After hours of trying to figure out how to work the new cash register...I need cow and bear.

Error 02

I don't know what happened to Error 01 - but E02 is getting on my nerves. I have spent the last 4 hours getting this puppy set up. Tim is giving me a wide berth. I got the programming for the Departments and PLUs (that's cash register talk) set up on the computer only to hit the wrong button and lost it all. I had to call tech support because the computer and the cash register weren't talking to each other. It was about at this point that Lucy decided to give me a wide berth, too. Still not sure where she's hiding out. There's been lots of under my breath mubbling going on. Maybe I'll just take it back to Costco, exchange it for a new one and start over.

I've unplugged everything so nothing is flashing or beeping now. Guess I should go get Tim out of the garage.

Row, row, row your boat....

I have told my daughter many times over the years just to pull her oars in and go with the flow. You need to turn your canoe around, pull in the oars and just go with the flow...gently down the stream. Sometimes, tho, there just isn't any flow or a stream. It's not the destination...it's the journey.

Cousin Dick

About 12 years ago was the last time Tim saw his cousin, Dick. Tim met Dick and his wife, Rosemary, at a local Cracker Barrel for breakfast one morning many years ago when they came through town. Somehow, the last Christmas card we sent them was returned to us for the wrong address and we lost touch with them. Behold! ...The Rally in Albuquerque!! Tim had taken Lucy for a walk while I was taking a shower. He came back in and said "You won't believe who I just ran in to!" Talk about a small world...and one we are now a part of. Dick and Rosemary have a window chip repair business and were parked about 4 rigs down from us in the vendor lot at The Rally. It was great seeing them. Tim and Dick relived tales from their childhood...all I can say is I don't want to play darts with Tim. His aim leaves something to be desired. We now have phone #'s, (his, hers, Tim's, mine), email addresses, mailing addresses, license plates, social security #'s, and GPS coordinates - so, hopefully, we don't lose touch again!!

And then he was gone...

Lucy has a thing for her new best friend - Tim. I think Tim has a thing for Lucy, too. My Tim, Crystal and I would do in a pinch...but just barely. Look at the look on Lucy's face. She's got big love for her new BFF.
My new BFF has left...I think I'll just lay here and pout. Maybe I'll get an extra cookie if I pout long enough.

Lucy's Rally

The Rally is really Lucy's Rally. Everyone here thought they were coming to Good Sam's Rally until today...when they met Lucy. Lucy was a show stopper. She even managed to sell a SkyMed membership! (Her commission was a cookie.) We tried to get a picture of her with all of her fans...but they kept getting in the way so we had to settle for one in her portfolio. This picture is on her business cards. As far as she is concerned everyone here came to see her. She put on quite a show waving to all her fans.

Opening Day

Opening day. The Rally. Albuquerque. 3000 rigs. 6000 people. Snow.
Concrete floors. Long lines. Sore feet. Back aches. First day closes at 5pm.
Limp back to rig. Take Lucy for piddle walk. Tim pours wine. Prone on floor with feet up on couch. Flexible straw in wine glass. Dinner - pretzels.
The "infamous" Nick Russell (GypsyJournal.Net) and his lovely bride Miss Terri.