Saying Good-bye

Saying Good-bye to a pick-up that has been with us for soooo many years.

That truck has been through Steve's High School days, moving things up to our place in

The Hualapai Mountains, clearing brush and hauling you name it.

It's been to Rocky Point Mexico with us....remember, Dan? being jammed in the back jump seats?

How ironic that it is today that we say good-bye to the truck, on Steve's 25th BIRTHDAY !

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEVEN !!!!!

It's just very emotional to me !

I cried yesterday, and I'm crying this morning. We just got the U Haul and loaded the scooters from the pick up into the U Haul trailer.

Looks like we are heading to Bellingham this morning....

A really messed up day...

Hey there followers...

We are spending the night in Aberdeen Washington in a WalMart parking lot, making the best of a VERY bad situation.

We are fine, of course. But, the Toyota truck (our tow vehicle) has major problems ....

It seems it was not 'just' two rear flat tires this afternoon after we left the rain forest.

It is possibly the transmission.

It has been a day filled with 3 flat tires and using Coach Net to tow the truck to Aberdeen, and we are staying the night across the street from the dealership that

has the truck ....with the scooters still in the back. We plan to retrieve them tomorrow.

After we go get a UHaul to put them in !!!!!

It rained the entire day, pretty much non stop.

We did make the best of a bad situation. Once we got our spot here at Walmart, we walked across the street to the 'Meat Market' and got a rib eye steak and Mark put up the awning and we got out our little Coleman Roadside BBQ and had a steak, baked potato and corn on the cob for dinner.

Nice !

We went into Walmart to get some things we needed after dinner.

And now, It's going on 10 pm.

I think I'll hit the sack. Once again, Mark and Jack and now Jorge are asleep.

Take Care,

Thanks for checking in....

Any comments...?

We would love to hear from you....

How can it happen....?

How can it be....that we would have 3 flat tires in the matter of just a few hours?

We headed out this morning, to drive around the island, Lake Quinault in our tow vehicle, (Steve's reliable '97 Toyota p/u) and within just a mile of our campsite we get a flat tire.

The left front. The tire iron that comes with the spare wouldn't work.We were near two houses, we knocked on doors, an elderly man had an old rusty tire iron....didn't work.

But, he drove Mark to the local Garage to borrow theirs.

Mark came back and changed the tire.

Nowwwww, we are on the road Hwy 12 driving to Bellingham from Lake Quinault and someone yelling out their window to us ' You're draggin' your rear'....The two rear tires are flat on

the tow Toyota !

Oh no !

So, here we sit on the side of the road waiting for Coach Net 'connection' to come. . . to replace two rear tires.

He is here now, and we have found, it is much WORSE that two bad tires...looks like the transmission has gone out !

TO BE CONTINUED....................................

Hellllooooo....from The Valley of the Rain Forest !

Good Evening !

We are all settled in at our campsite for the night.

We drove from Eugene Oregon this morning to Lake Quinault, Washington.

Our morning started as we left the RV Park in Eugene, we saw there were TONS of Blackberries on the side of the road growing wild ...Ripe and ready for us to enjoy with our morning yogurt and granola ! PERFECT !

Oh my gosh ! We had such fun picking bowls of blackberries. We brought them in the RV, washed them up and made our breakfast :-)

I know Mark had it, in the back of his mind to check out the Rainforest up here....his friend Bob, who used to live up in the San Juan Islands told him to check it out.

So, that looks like where we are heading.

We drove for about 4 hours today. I made a platter of Smoked Salmon, Humbolt Fog Cheese, banana peppers and crackers for lunch.

We drove Hwy 5, then took 12...into Aberdeen and on up to Lake Quinault

(Olympic National Forest)

We barley saw the sun most of the day and that's okay with us. It's just beautiful here,

So many different trees and ferns and plants and flowers and moss ...everywhere !

We checked in at the local store, as the RV spots are first come first serve basis.

We took spot #1. It's the closest to the lake and there is hardly anyone here.

Nice !

It's very peaceful here. As I am writing this, I hear nothing...seriously.... nothing.

Mark is asleep on the sofa, Jack on the other sofa and Jorge on the floor.

They ran so much this afternoon and had their dinner and are passed out, YES, Mark too !

We took a walk a little bit ago to see The Largest Sitka Spruce in the world. It is literally, steps away from our RV.

55'7 circumference

17.68 diameter

191 feet tall !!!!!!

Photos Only !

Hi,

I tried to post photos with the last blog, but....having a bit of trouble.

So, Here they are.

Saturday Aug. 8, 2009

Hi from Benbow California !

This morning we woke up early to get some driving in. Knowing, The Redwood Hwy/Hwy 101 takes a lot of time. Along the river and some climbing and then along the Ocean.

So, Mark went out to move the 'tow truck' and set off the car alarm on it ! At 7 a.m.

There he is .....yelling " I'm sorry, I'm sooo sorry" as we had tent camper next to our site.

Poor guys !

As we attempted to leave Benbow SRA, he decided to take some trees with him, trying to avoid hitting a pole on one side, taking trees on the other....

We stopped in Garberville at a fun coffee shop, sat and read the 'local stuff' for a bit...Interesting....see the photo of the posting on the local bar door !

Finally, we hit the road at about 8:30 am. No plans today, Don't know where we will spend the night.... Somewhere in Oregon.

As we drove through the Redwood Forest listening to Dan Fogelberg Netherlands C.D. . . one of our favorites from our early days together.

We stopped along the coast in Orick...had some surfer girl take a photo of 'us'. I'll post that.

I got some good shots with my Nikon of the surfers.

We got to Cresent City and went to a truck wash, then pulled in to the Marina area and had Tuna Fish sandwiches in the RV.

Nice to just s t o p.

Well, It's looking like Eugene Oregon for the night.

Premier RV Park.

More tomorrow ....

From The Vines to The Pines

Hi !

Well, it was an interesting day, to say the least. It began in the wee hours of the morning, when I woke up to go to the bathroom and the bathroom floor was covered in water... I woke Mark up. We cleaned it up, went back to bed.

In the morning, we realized, under the RV (dirt) was all wet....which meant the underneath compartments are wet ! Oh no !

Anyway, we got on with our morning. Took the dogs to the grassy field to run and play frisbee...came back to the RV and realized, neither of us had the key to get in.

So, Mark pulled up the Toyota truck and climbed through the window and opened the RV door. He then went back to the grassy field to look for the key, which must have fallen out of my pocket !

What a morning....so far !

The drive out of Calistoga through Sonoma Hwy 129, was wonderful. Such a pretty day, blue skies with some white clouds and about 70 degrees. By noon we stopped at a winery, and then down the road, another. Pulled over and had some cheese, crackers and smoked salmon.

On with our drive to get to Benbow State Recreation area to camp for the night.

We arrived about 4pm. Nice spot ! A corner space.

We decided not to cook and go to what looked like a nice place for dinner (we pulled the menu up on my laptop!)

Benbow Inn....Very nice. Sat on the patio and had a nice dinner. Back to the campsite, took a walk and hung out with the dogs.

All in all, a good day...inspite of our crazy morning !