Another Week

Last week during our bike ride we stopped at a pet store where Blake purchased a feathered cat toy. One of his two Ragdoll cats, Yammi, loves feathered toys.

Yammi Bolo doing his dog imitation

The toy lasted about two minutes as Yammi grabbed the toy and thus began a tug-a-war which ended with Blake holding the stick end of the six dollar toy and Yammi running to his bed to play with the feather end. Blake pulled out the hot melt glue gun and made a repair. It was still intact when last seen in Spragga's mouth as he grabbed it and ran off to the office.

Spragga Benz about to make his getaway

Spragga is the other Ragdoll. Neither of the cats use their claws. Ever! They had to grab the toy with both paws and then with their mouth. At different times during our visit they jumped on the arm of the couch and slowly slid off as they tried to hold on with just their paws, but, not using their claws!

Just down the street from our home is an extensive county-wide trail system. I used it to ride to work on my bike from time to time. Frank, a co-worker, had commented that I liked the idea of riding my bike to work more than actually riding. Anyway, now I am walking on the trail with Tim, a friend and neighbor.

Tim on the trail

We try to get out once a day for around an hour or so unless one of us can think of a new excuse.

A tree along our walk.

In our area of California the trees are still in the process of turning.

This week we had a birthday party for Brad. At the birthday boy's request, Debbie made a burrito bar .

Debbie in the kitchen putting candles in the cheese cake

Mom, Stacey, Blake, Brad, Jill, Steve

Jill, Steve, Debbie, Robin, Stacey and Blake

At the party was my mom and sister Jill. Number three son Brad. Number two son Blake and his wife Stacey. Steve and Robin Brad's friends.

More or Less Weekly

It has turned out that the frequency of "Blogging" has decreased since Deb and I have arrived home. As I think about it, my days are filled with things familiar to me and not interesting enough to photograph or write about. But I realized that this is not the case for our friends and relatives who may be located in other parts of the US. So I am going to continue to update at least once a week with whats going on in my mundane life. After the first of the year we will leave for North Carolina on a southern route which will make our arrival in NC around mid-March.Then I will try to update every day or so. Now for a quick week, or so, in review.


I mentioned earlier that we both were anxious to visit Country Waffles for their Eggs Benedict special. I didn't mention that I also was looking forward to a Prime Rib sandwich at Barney's on Clayton Road. They have it on special just about every Thursday and Friday for lunch and I am addicted! On Thursday I rushed to Barney's to meet with Frank and Rob, a couple of friends, and take a photo to the Prime Rib. Figures. No Prime Rib and no Rob either. Rob is still working and had a workstation emergency. I had a salad and Frank and I caught up on the worlds woes. I am going to try again tomorrow.


Ty and I went with Debbie to her Office and waited for her to do her office thing. Ty wanted to get out and walk. He really likes to walk on the top of fences. So he was walking on a fence above the pool when he met a friend. His friend the Blue Jay kept flying back and forth from the fence post to a near by branch in the tree. Ty just watched with fascination waiting for him to land a little bit closer. He stayed entertained until Debbie was ready to go. The Jay wasn't that friendly after all, and never landed "just a little bit closer".

On the weekend we went over to Stacy and Blake's for a visit. The weather was; occasional clouds and cold. I guess cold is relative. In Port Susan where we were staying it has currently dipped into the teens at night. In Alameda it was a toasty 58 degrees. I brought our bikes for a ride and it felt pretty warm in the sun so Debbie and I left our coats and mittens behind. Big mistake. We discovered that when the clouds cover the sun it isn't as warm. Burrrr.




Good thing we had sweaters! We thawed out some when we stopped for lunch at Chipotle, a subsidiary of McDonald's. The burritos were ok and it was Warm inside. Reluctantly, I ate as slow as possible, we had to go back out into the cold to finish the last half of our ride.

Well I have a lot more so this will have to be continued.

Moving Day

Blake moved his project car, a '64 Karmen Ghia, out of our garage last weekend. He bought the car when he was around 14 as boxes of parts and a rusted out pan. Over the years he has completely rebuild the car and engine in our garage. It's now lovingly secured in his own garage.


Debbie is riding with Blake to his house and I'll pick her up later.

One of the the things Debbie and I have carted around with us are our electric bikes. They are really great when you get to a destination and we love riding them. The big problem is their weight. They are heavy bikes and the added weight of batteries takes them to a hundred pounds. Riding them is not the problem because of the electric motor, but loading and unloading them onto the special bike rack is time consuming taking about forty five minutes. The bike rack was designed to transport them but it seems to be getting stressed and I was afraid it was going to drop the bikes in the street at some point. We decided to leave the electric bikes and take lighter weight mountain bikes with us. It may seem to you that I am making a big deal out of this but you weren't the one loading and unloading those bikes.

Anyway we went on a bike ride in Alameda. It was a gorgeous day for riding and Alameda has wonderful bike paths and a really great one along the beach.

Blake and Stacey on Their Bikes

Ty continues to discover places in the Horizon he has yet to explore. He had trouble opening the cabinet door.

Home Again

We arrived home a week or so ago and I have been remiss in updating the Blog. The first thing Debbie and I wanted to do was go to Country Waffle for a breakfast of Eggs Benedict.

So for our first morning back we pickup my mom and headed over. Their Eggs Benedict is still the best. They have homemade sauce and at $7.99 you can't beat it. It was good to find Mom in good spirits and good health as was my sister Jill. Mom didn't want her picture taken!

Although we're home we still see wildlife. Here a Canadian Goose is walking down the middle of the street in front of the house!


On our second day back we were invited to our son and daughter's new home in Alameda for barbecued hamburgers. Brad, our other son, was also invited so that made five of us for dinner.

Blake making dinner for the five of us

Blake fixing the BBQ with his favorite tool

The regulator was not regulating and we could not get the fire going so he had to broil them in the oven. They were great! Debbie and Stacey split one between them. Did you notice in the picture above that Blake only made four burgers! They were giant size so they both had plenty.

Blake called Weber Grills the next day an although his BBQ is a couple of years old they are sending him a new regulator free of charge.

Trinidad California

The drive down the coast was picturesque all the way down and really spectacular in spots. The day was overcast but no rain and very little fog. There was a lot of wind as a high pressure system is moving into the area.

The view from the window of the Horizon during our lunch stop.

The roadway in Oregon was very good with a few curvy stretches. Just inside the California border we were stopped at the Agricultural Inspection station where they wanted our Avocados but we ate them last night with the steaks. The roadway deteriorated and then we were stopped at the first of two one way areas. Ty had been sleeping on the dashboard and pulled himself up to find out why we were stopped. It turned out at this stop a crew was working on a drain on the side of the road and had closed the lane.

Ty wants to know why we're stopped.

We arrived at the Emerald Forrest RV Park in Trinidad, California around 2:30pm. The park is located in the Redwoods. The office is on winter hours and the office was closed until 4pm so we pulled into a site and harnessed up Ty to explore the area.

At 4pm we checked into the office and paid for our site. $32 with our Good Sam discount for full hookup 30 amp pull through.

Site 18

The park is pretty much deserted, only about 5 or 6 RVs. Also it's very quite here as the highway is quite a distance away. Ty climbed several trees and found he like the Redwood trees the best because his little claws can really grip the soft bark.

Ty demonstrated his climbing technique

Coos Bay Oregon

Friday night in Beverly Beach State Campground turned into a typical State Campground experience. The party across the road from us really got going strong around 10pm with yelling and loud laughter. Then the loud music started around 11:30pm. Not sure when it ended as I am blessed by being able to fall asleep by just lying down and closing my eyes.

Entrance to Medway RV Park

We left around 10am Saturday for Midway RV Park in Coos Bay. It's a Passport America park and we paid $22 for a pull through site with full hookups. The best cable tv and the wi-fi is fast and the signal is strong. The park was quite and clean. Fog in the morning and evening but sunny during the day.

Our site in Midway RV Park, Coos Bay, Oregon

We decided to stay a second night here and find some crab to take with us down to Trinidad, our next stop. After some hunting we found the fish store and walked down. Unfortunately

crab season doesn't start until December first, tomorrow. Darn! Oh well, we'll have to enjoy our steak dinner tonight and worry about the crab later.

We leave for Emerald Forest RV Park in Trinidad, CA tomorrow.

Beverly Beach State Park

We are here for a second night at Beverly Beach State Park in our next camp site. This is a picture of our new site which is next to our old site. It stopped raining and is brighter than yesterday. Yes it is a different site.

Ty wonders how in the world that RV ever got in that small site

This site was a lot tighter that the one last night but with the help of several nearby campers I got it in without wrecking the new paint.

This afternoon we went to the Coast Aquarium and after stopped for a late lunch George's Grill which had a panoramic view of the ocean. The lunch was spectacular all so. We both had the best Clam Chowder ever. We also both had a special, "Seafood Gratin" that was delicious. It had fish, crab, scallops and other things in a white sauce.

We did manage to find a quilt shop on the way back to our camp site.


Tomorrow we head on down to Coos Bay.

On the Road Again - Happy Thanksgiving

We left Port Susan yesterday around five in the evening, not the two o'clock that we were shooting for. We didn't want to drive out in the dark after what happen a month and a half ago, but being slow learners and anxious to get on the road, we left in spite of the dark. I didn't scrape or hit anything and have a little more confidence in driving back. Not the bravado I did have but I feel it coming back.

We stopped for the night at a rest stop just south of Olympia and parked next to another motorhome which stayed for the night. When we awoke this morning it was 36 degrees. Boy, I think we are getting out of the frigid north just in time to avoid the really cold weather! We hit the road shortly after we woke up. Ty stretched out on the couch and slept the whole day.

We arrived at Beverly Beach, OR around 3pm and found our campsite. With the help of some neighbors, one who moved his truck, I got shoehorned in to our spot. Ty wanted to get out and explore and despite the gentle rain I put on a hat and coat and took him for a walk. The rain didn't seem to slow him down like I exspected it to. He just shook it off a couple of times. Finally, after about a half hour he was soaking wet and we went back to the motorhome. Wet cats don't smell like wet dogs do. At least Ty didn't seem to.

Dark and rainy here at Beverly Beach

Because of the holiday I couldn't get the same site for two nights so we have to move next door tomorrow. We plan to stay two days so we can visit the Oregon Coast Aquarium about six miles south on us in Newport.

Debbie bought bologna and other food stuffs when we stopped for fuel earlier today. I guess we both were thinking about bologna sandwiches driving down the coast and we decided we would rather have bologna sandwiches than go out to dinner so we canceled our reservation and enjoyed.

Its Back

We picked up the Horizon today and are back in it and on our lot in Port Susan. Near Marysville, WA. It looks like new. We plan to leave for home tomorrow afternoon and drive about 2 to 3 hours which should get us south of Portland, Or.

Ty had made friends with all the Inn staff and he had to go into the office to say good by to everyone and give them a cat hug. No he didn't bite anybody, he seems to be over that phase!


Ty will miss his window seat, watching the people on the path, activity outside and all the friends he's made here.

Noon Tomorrow

To day we went down to Paine Field where the Boeing factory is located and went on the factory tour. We saw the assembly of line of three different aircraft currently being build there. The most amazing was the new 787 Dreamliner. There were four on the line in various stages of completion. They expected to have the first one in the air by the end of this year but due to the recent strike it won't be flying until late 2009. They have over 800 orders for the 787. The plane is assembled from four sections which arrive at the factory as completed parts. The sections are made of light weight composites. Two of the sections are fabricated in Japan and flown over in a special 747 named the Dreamlifter. As we were returning to the visitor center the plane was just landing and the bus had to take a different route. I was able to grab a picture as it taxied back. When the 787 line is up and running they will be able to complete a plane in just 3 days!

After the tour we dropped by to check on the Horizon repair progress. Dave said it was being painted and on schedule to be picked up noon tomorrow. The painter was putting on the three different colors first and then just before going home he'll put on the clear coat.

Saturday Surprise

After dinner Saturday night we stopped by to look through the shop window to check the status of the Horizon. Surprise! The doors are all on and the whole motorhome is mask off ready for painting. Looks like we're on schedule for Tuesday afternoon.


Earlier today I took a picture of the mountains to the east that are covered in snow now.

It's Friday, where's my Horizon

Although they promised without a doubt the Horizon would be finished on Friday. Guess what? It's not ready. To be fair it's not Roy Robinson's fault. The last door that was going to be shipped overnight wasn't. Instead the door arrived late Thursday afternoon.

The new doors look like the temporary doors I put on!

Well, maybe not!

It was the right door but the gas lifts were installed wrong which allowed the door to swing up too high and into the path of the slideout. All the doors were that way so Bob was busy fixing that today. At least they are all on now. Dave said they would start painting Monday and the Horizon should be ready to roll on Tuesday. We'll be returning to our lot at Port Susan because we still need to move all our stuff in the shed back into the Horizon and then move all the stuff in the screen room back into the shed. Then winterize our lots. We will probably will leave for home on Thanksgiving Day. The passes in Washington all have snow on the ground now but I don't think we will be affected going down I5. We plan to cut over to the coast at Salem and have reservation at Beverly Beach State CG for Thursday and at the Embarcadero Hotel and Restaurant for Thanksgiving dinner.

We extended our stay at the "Inn at Port Gartner" for three more $$ days. Its located between the Everett Marina, "the biggest public marina on the west coast", and the Everett Naval Station.

They have been dredging the marina next to the Inn and one day they were right out side our french doors. The two small boats steer by pushing on the sides and the tug provides the propulsion.


They were taking this load out to dump somewhere and now the barge and tug are anchored back in front of our room.

Vancouver

Well we finally made it up to Vancouver, about a two hour drive from Marysville. Going across the border was uneventful in both directions, fortunately! On the way back across we passed by the car ports which were full of cars, where unfortunates were unloading their cars and custom agents were pawing through the stuff. The metropolitan population of Vancouver is 2,524,113 making it the largest metropolitan area in western Canada. Driving through the downtown you notice the density and activity. Just tons of construction is in progress, both new and restorative. We assumed it was due to the coming Winter Olympics which metropolitan Vancouver is hosting in 2010. We headed to the Gastown area. A restored skid row section which has been turned into refreshing mix of old and new for tourists and residents alike. We enjoyed a couple of hours wandering and eating.

Steam Clock

The steam clock in Gastown looks like it might be from Alice in Wonderland with the steam pouring out from the top and on the quarter hours it sounds like the "tea party"!

Although the clock appears to be an old 19th-century antique, it was actually built in 1977 as a tourist attraction. Here is a link to a Youtube video of the clock "chiming".

A view down the street in Gastown

After Gastown we took Ty to Stanley Park.

Ty was anxious to see the Totem Poles

The Sign Says "Stay Out"

Ty can't read or like a typical cat just ignores the sign. He enjoyed getting out into the fresh air. We picked a beautiful day, the air was cool but the sun was out and warm. I noticed the sun dosen't get very high in the sky this time of year up here.

We arrived back too late to get any pictures of the Horizon as Bob had gone home and the doors were closed. Dave was still in his office and I confirmed that he does have a check from the insurance company. So we will be ready to roll as soon as the MH is finished.

Repairs in Progress

We had planned to run up to Vancouver, Canada today but the weather forecast for tomorrow is better, so we postponed until Wednesday.

Instead we decided to run up to Robinson's to check on the repair progress. So far Robinson's has exceeded all my expectations. Especially yesterday when they got the Horizon off the line and into a stall in something less that an hour. It's always a little irritating when a shop request you bring your vehicle in at the crack of dawn and then it sits there ignored all morning.

Anyway we had lunch at the casino buffet and then stopped by and I was surprised to see Bob in the process of putting it back together. He already had the floor in! He was working on a HEAVY sliding cabinet in the end bay. I had emptied the front four but I didn't realize they were going to need to do anything in the entertainment bay, so I had left all our stuff in it which made it even heavier.

The Floor is in

He was have a little trouble lining up a bolt but a helper stopped by, I think it was one of the owner's family, and gave him a hand.

A Helping Hand Did the Job

It's In The Shop!

This morning we dropped off the Horizon off for repair at Roy Robinson. They are very nice people there. Bob is doing most of the work and I guess later they have a paint person who will be doing the painting. Here is the MH in the lot where we dropped it off.

Last look at the campground repair job

Debbie got up earlier than she wanted this morning and was a little grumpy. As we were driving back by Robinson's she said "My RV better be moved and they better be working on it!" And this was after I had fed her breakfast!! Fortunately it was already in a repair bay. Whew!! I knew I would had caught heck had it not been moved because I was the one who got her up so early.

Here is the progress made by around 4:30 pm today.

Bob was picture shy

Bob (sitting) Broken Parts to the Right

Bob is explaining how something like this happens. I hope he remembered to tell them as I had explained it to him; it was dark, concealed rock, rock placed too close to edge of road, tight turn, etc.

We have moved into the Inn at Port Gardner. They upgraded our room from the cheapest to a first floor harbor view with private patio, table and chairs.

Tomorrow we are planing to run up to Canada and explore. If we don't update the blog after a few days look for us detained just across the border.

Breaking Camp

Today I swept off the awnings over the slides, which had accumulated two inches of tree stuff, in preparation to bring in the slides. Tomorrow is our long awaited appointment at Roy Robinson for the accident repair. We have been working to stow everything that has accumulated over the last month of so. I hope I remember how to drive after so long. And I defiantly will remember to look out for rocks on turns! Well going to pull in the front slides now and bring in the main awning so will sign off. Tomorrow we will be moving into the motel with wifi in the room. It sure will be nice to leave the fringes of Verizon coverage and have a decent cell signal.

Horizon Repair - Good News and Bad News

I talked to Dave, the RV service manager, today to check on the status of our parts. He said he'd check with the parts department and give me a call back. He called back a short time later and said he has all the parts except one door. Uh-oh. He said Winnebago was shipping the last door next Monday. That would mean another week delay and we would have to change our reservation and other living arrangements, plus it would put us another week behind leaving for home. And it's getting cold and wet up here. Especially the wet part, as areas around us are flooding due to the heavy rain. We're still fine as Debbie still hasn't run out of projects yet and it only rained a couple of days, but it was a lot of rain. It's been sunny but cold today.

The good news was Dave said he called the factory told them overnight the door. It will still be shipping Monday but Dave said they can still start work Monday morning on schedule. Whew, he had me worried for a while.

It looks like we will be home a day or so after Thanksgiving depending on the weather. Will update as time goes on.

Quilts finished

It looks like we will be late for Thanksgiving this year. If we are able to pickup the rig on Friday, we will need to return to Port Susan to put all our stuff back into the basement storage. Then we're into the weekend and will probably wait until Monday to avoid traffic. Then cutting over to the coast will make the trip home a few days longer.

Oregon law, require all vehicles to carry snow chains after the first of November whether they're needed or not when traveling on highways that go over mountain passes. We decided to cut over to the coast to stay law abiding and still avoid the hassle of buying and carrying chains. There are a couple of highways to the coast that don't have chain requirement and the one out of Salem, OR is where we plan to turn west .

On our walk last night Ty decided to jump up on top of a three foot tall tree stump. I guess predicaments like this is where the saying "Look before you leap" may come from.

Ouch!

This is the Garden Gate quilt Debbie has been working on for a while. The gate design is from a photo of the gated entrance to the apartments in Florence, Italy where Blake stayed during his three month study abroad program. This is the second one after a practice. It has taken a while because of the amount of hand work required.

Florence Gate

I didn't think it had been raining this much but Debbie also finished this quilt. I'm glad we have dual pane windows so condensation hasn't been a problem.

Front

Back

Manhole

The weather up here has turned wet. We have had heavy rain on and off. Not the "usual annoying drizzle" as one weatherman described it, but at least it's warmed up to the mid 50's.

I talked to Dave this week. He said the last of the parts are on their way and he expects them next Thursday or Friday. He has scheduled the repair to begin on Monday the 17th. We originally were going to continue to live in the motorhome while it was being repaired, but we have re-thought that. Robinson had agreed and would pull the MH out of the shop each evening for us. The problem was we would have to be out of the MH early in the morning and then find something to do all day. We decided to move out to a motel during the week. We found a cute motel, Inn on Port Gardner, on the marina in Everett that accepts pets. O'yeah the cat.

Ty helps himself to a package of kibble while riding in the car

It describes itself as a boutique motel and brings a breakfast basket to your room each morning along with a newspaper.

I told Dave of our new plan but we still wanted to stay in the MH during the weekend. Dave said that wasn't necessary as they would have it all finished by Friday. Hurray!!!

I forgot another interesting thing we saw on our visit to Pike Market. While we were walking downtown I noticed an unusual manhole cover in the sidewalk. If you examine the picture you will see its a map of Seattle. Seattle was incorporated as a town 14 January 1865. That charter was voided 18 January 1867, in response to unrest. Seattle was re-incorporated 2 December 1869. That year is inscribed under the Indian profile at bottom.

Manhole Cover, Seattle, 10/28/08