We are back home in Blaine!
Our return trip to Blaine was very uneventful. Weather wise we saw snow, rain, felt lots of wind and sunshine. The motor home ran great except for three small blips.
Friday night the main battery quit working. Fortunately Ron could jump the motor home off the house battery and get the motor home started. Saturday morning we pulled into Les Schwab in Pendleton, found the paperwork on the battery and got help from a young man who identified the problem ~ the battery was not powerful enough to run the motor home and so it wore out. Fortunately for us it was under warranty. So 45 minutes later we were on the road for Portland/Vancouver.
We faced some pretty strong head and side winds all the way from Pendleton to Portland. Then the rain started and it came down in torrants at times. The blip of the day was when we were pulling out of the rest area the motor home acted like it was gasping for air (gas). Ron babied the motor home for about a 1/4 of a mile and then it was fine. We stopped for the night in Rochester just south of Olympia.
This morning we woke up to total fog. We waited until close to 10:00 this morning before leaving to allow the fog time to burn off. Once the fog was gone we had a beautiful sunny day. Our blip for the day was just like Saturday where the motor home acted like it couldn't get gas. After some coaxing the motor home did just fine the rest of the way home.
We are now settled in at Beachwood till the 10th of November when we will move to Thousand Trails till the 20th when we will leave for California. The next trip will be in the suburban - going to California to see my aunt and uncle for Thanksgiving.
Thanks for traveling with us on our vacation and for your thoughts and prayers for us to have safety on the road. As we look back over the past four weeks we see God's hand in protecting us as we traveled along with helpful strangers in just the right place at just the right time. We saw some beautiful scenery, spent lots of time resting and relaxing and just enjoying being together.
Alice
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Can You Spelll FRUSTRATED?
Okay, we got ready to hit the road this morning. First stop Albertson's for some groceries, then onto Costco for more groceries and gas. All was going smoothly.
Now onto the Copper Mine. The motor home started acting up again, acts like it is struggling to get gas. We just looked at each other and sighed.
At the mine we decided to turn around. As we drove out I asked Ron where were we headed. He asked me where did I want to go?
A: Home
R: totally quiet
A: We said if we had any more problems we would head for home.
R: You are right.
R: Let's go back to SLC and rent a car for a couple of days and so some more sightseeing and then head for home on Monday or Tuesday.
A: That sounds okay to me.
So back to KOA we went. They gave us a weekly rate instead of a daily rate since we had already been here for two nights. :) We then set up the motor home and got ourselves situated. We then got online to find a rental car. Avis had the best deal so Ron took the shuttle to the airport to pick up the rental car. I am writing my blog and on Facebook.
So our new revised plan is to go to the Copper Mine tomorrow, to Antelope Island on Saturday, find a church to attend Sunday services and then reorganize our itinerary to head out on Tuesday for Blaine. Not sure of the route yet, we will decide that on Sunday night.
We have already talked and decided to still go to my aunt & uncle's for Thanksgiving...just in the Suburban. Kristy has already said she can take Charlie Brown for us during that time ~ Thanks Kristy ;)!
We may not understand why all the delays but we are trusting the Lord as he leads us on this journey. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers as we have traveled this journey (keep praying we aren't back in WA yet).
I will do an update of our new plans and new itinerary before we hit the road on Tuesday headed for Blaine.
Alice
Now onto the Copper Mine. The motor home started acting up again, acts like it is struggling to get gas. We just looked at each other and sighed.
At the mine we decided to turn around. As we drove out I asked Ron where were we headed. He asked me where did I want to go?
A: Home
R: totally quiet
A: We said if we had any more problems we would head for home.
R: You are right.
R: Let's go back to SLC and rent a car for a couple of days and so some more sightseeing and then head for home on Monday or Tuesday.
A: That sounds okay to me.
So back to KOA we went. They gave us a weekly rate instead of a daily rate since we had already been here for two nights. :) We then set up the motor home and got ourselves situated. We then got online to find a rental car. Avis had the best deal so Ron took the shuttle to the airport to pick up the rental car. I am writing my blog and on Facebook.
So our new revised plan is to go to the Copper Mine tomorrow, to Antelope Island on Saturday, find a church to attend Sunday services and then reorganize our itinerary to head out on Tuesday for Blaine. Not sure of the route yet, we will decide that on Sunday night.
We have already talked and decided to still go to my aunt & uncle's for Thanksgiving...just in the Suburban. Kristy has already said she can take Charlie Brown for us during that time ~ Thanks Kristy ;)!
We may not understand why all the delays but we are trusting the Lord as he leads us on this journey. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers as we have traveled this journey (keep praying we aren't back in WA yet).
I will do an update of our new plans and new itinerary before we hit the road on Tuesday headed for Blaine.
Alice
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
On the Road Again!
We are back on the road again! Yeah!!!!
After 3 days in Wells, NV waiting for our scheduled appointment with the mechanic this morning the problem with the motor home was figured out...the fuel filter put in in Missoula was put in backward! Yes, backward! and the rotor needed to be replaced. After putting in a new fuel filter and replacing the rotor, Chris the owner took the motor home for a test drive up some passes and then talked to Ron and adjusted something with the carburator we were back on the road.
We drove from Wells, NV to Salt Lake City with no problems. Chris had said if we had a problem turn around and he would work on it some more but there was no need...yippee!
The drive was beautiful, the mountains looked great with the sun and shadows and we arrived safely in Salt Lake City. We saw lots of salt along the side of the road and stopped and viewed the Bonneville Speedway where cars have been clocked as fast as 600 mph ~ Ron thought that would be fun to go that fast.
We drove straight to the KOA (thanks Jamie and Suzanne for the use of your GPS system!) and got checked in and set up. We will be here for two nights...tomorrow we are going to do some sightseeing. There is a free shuttle that takes us right downtown so no need to rent a car. We are going to evaluate our itinerary and make some necessary changes so that we get back on schedule to be in Arizona at Verde Valley (Cottonwood, AZ) Thousand Trails on 11/1 as planned.
We are praising the Lord for a good Christian mechanic - Ron and Chris shared about Christ in their lives as they were doing the test drive - the repairs were made quickly and quite affordably.
Thanks for coming along on our trip and I will do another update at our next stop...not sure where that will be...will figure that out tomorrow night.
Alice and Ron
After 3 days in Wells, NV waiting for our scheduled appointment with the mechanic this morning the problem with the motor home was figured out...the fuel filter put in in Missoula was put in backward! Yes, backward! and the rotor needed to be replaced. After putting in a new fuel filter and replacing the rotor, Chris the owner took the motor home for a test drive up some passes and then talked to Ron and adjusted something with the carburator we were back on the road.
We drove from Wells, NV to Salt Lake City with no problems. Chris had said if we had a problem turn around and he would work on it some more but there was no need...yippee!
The drive was beautiful, the mountains looked great with the sun and shadows and we arrived safely in Salt Lake City. We saw lots of salt along the side of the road and stopped and viewed the Bonneville Speedway where cars have been clocked as fast as 600 mph ~ Ron thought that would be fun to go that fast.
We drove straight to the KOA (thanks Jamie and Suzanne for the use of your GPS system!) and got checked in and set up. We will be here for two nights...tomorrow we are going to do some sightseeing. There is a free shuttle that takes us right downtown so no need to rent a car. We are going to evaluate our itinerary and make some necessary changes so that we get back on schedule to be in Arizona at Verde Valley (Cottonwood, AZ) Thousand Trails on 11/1 as planned.
We are praising the Lord for a good Christian mechanic - Ron and Chris shared about Christ in their lives as they were doing the test drive - the repairs were made quickly and quite affordably.
Thanks for coming along on our trip and I will do another update at our next stop...not sure where that will be...will figure that out tomorrow night.
Alice and Ron
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Just needed to share...
Just wanted to share how the Lord was with us today in our travels.
We woke up early this morning to get on the road to Crater Lake but first we thought we should check road conditions...good thing we did...Crater Lake Park was CLOSED! We quickly did some thinking and reviewing of the maps and found an alternate route to Winnemucca, NV.
After a quick breakfast we were on the road.
We were eight miles out of a little town called Christmas Valley, OR when we blew an oil hose. Smoke billowed inside and out of the motor home and Ron quickly stopped on the side (as far on the side as he could get). We jumped out hoping the darn thing wasn't on fire. After the smoke cleared Ron looked underneath and there was a puddle of oil dripping out of the motor home. I sat at the kitchen table and just said "Lord, I don't even know how to pray" shortly thereafter a man stopped, looked under the hood, said he knew a good mechanic and got on the phone. He couldn't reach the guy so gave us his number to keep trying (Lesson learned - get the area code when in a different location because we had no way of calling...important thing but once again the Lord came through). About 15 minutes later the man was back to tell us Kenny was on his way (Kenny is the mechanic). Someone else stopped asked what the problem was, told him we were leaking oil bad; he called his wife, she brought us out 10 qts of oil, refused any money for it and left. Kenny showed up about 45 minutes later...crawled under the motor home, saw the hose had blown off ~ it was shot as he put it, and knew exactly what to do...he cut the hose and put it on again (the end had frayed!) Charged us $80 for the call out and repair and we were on our way again. We thanked the Lord for the angels he sent our way and thanked Him for the quick repair. We were back on the road 90 minutes after it all began.
Now for an update on our time in Bend...we spent time reading and playing cards...I skunked Ron twice at cribbage :)...he beat me at war, played backgammon and checkers, watched "Are We Done Yet?" the sequell to "Are We There Yet?", Ron went hot tubbing a couple of times (toooooo cooooollllllldddddd for Alice) and we went on a couple of long walks as well as did a couple loads of laundry ~ the never ending job.
On Wednesday we went to the High Desert Museum...spent almost 3 hours there...beautiful grounds, lots to see and history coming alive...and then we went to the Lava Caves - they were closed but we were able to get out and go for a walk up the Lava Rock path and through the treed area. The rain held off until we were back at our campsite. It actually started to rain AFTER Ron got the lawn chairs put up in the carrier on top of the rig!
Our time in Bend was good and yet it feels good to be back on the road again. Tomorrow we are heading for Winnemucca...if you think of us say a prayer as we have to climb a 6180 ft mountain pass and we all know how the motor home doesn't like to climb those mountain passes.
Well, that's all from here...hope everyone is having a good week. Love to all, Alice and Ron
We woke up early this morning to get on the road to Crater Lake but first we thought we should check road conditions...good thing we did...Crater Lake Park was CLOSED! We quickly did some thinking and reviewing of the maps and found an alternate route to Winnemucca, NV.
After a quick breakfast we were on the road.
We were eight miles out of a little town called Christmas Valley, OR when we blew an oil hose. Smoke billowed inside and out of the motor home and Ron quickly stopped on the side (as far on the side as he could get). We jumped out hoping the darn thing wasn't on fire. After the smoke cleared Ron looked underneath and there was a puddle of oil dripping out of the motor home. I sat at the kitchen table and just said "Lord, I don't even know how to pray" shortly thereafter a man stopped, looked under the hood, said he knew a good mechanic and got on the phone. He couldn't reach the guy so gave us his number to keep trying (Lesson learned - get the area code when in a different location because we had no way of calling...important thing but once again the Lord came through). About 15 minutes later the man was back to tell us Kenny was on his way (Kenny is the mechanic). Someone else stopped asked what the problem was, told him we were leaking oil bad; he called his wife, she brought us out 10 qts of oil, refused any money for it and left. Kenny showed up about 45 minutes later...crawled under the motor home, saw the hose had blown off ~ it was shot as he put it, and knew exactly what to do...he cut the hose and put it on again (the end had frayed!) Charged us $80 for the call out and repair and we were on our way again. We thanked the Lord for the angels he sent our way and thanked Him for the quick repair. We were back on the road 90 minutes after it all began.
Now for an update on our time in Bend...we spent time reading and playing cards...I skunked Ron twice at cribbage :)...he beat me at war, played backgammon and checkers, watched "Are We Done Yet?" the sequell to "Are We There Yet?", Ron went hot tubbing a couple of times (toooooo cooooollllllldddddd for Alice) and we went on a couple of long walks as well as did a couple loads of laundry ~ the never ending job.
On Wednesday we went to the High Desert Museum...spent almost 3 hours there...beautiful grounds, lots to see and history coming alive...and then we went to the Lava Caves - they were closed but we were able to get out and go for a walk up the Lava Rock path and through the treed area. The rain held off until we were back at our campsite. It actually started to rain AFTER Ron got the lawn chairs put up in the carrier on top of the rig!
Our time in Bend was good and yet it feels good to be back on the road again. Tomorrow we are heading for Winnemucca...if you think of us say a prayer as we have to climb a 6180 ft mountain pass and we all know how the motor home doesn't like to climb those mountain passes.
Well, that's all from here...hope everyone is having a good week. Love to all, Alice and Ron
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Sunday's Thoughts
What a beautiful day here in Bend, Oregon. Another glorious Fall day ~ the air is crisp, cool and clear. The trees are all shades of reds, oranges, golds and greens.
We spent most of last week at Chehalis Thousand Trails. Our time was spent reading and relaxing plus we threw in two good hikes and a couple of walks. The weather was wonderful and gorgeous. No complaints from either of us.
Friday morning found us getting back on the road again. We drove to Maupin, OR and stayed in this delightful city park for the night. It was nestled between the river and a train track...I only heard the train once but Ron said it went through early Saturday morning.
After a short walk in the cool morning air on Saturday we headed down the road to Bend and here we are for another five days. While on the road we stopped at Peter Ogden Rest Area. It had the most beautiful view of the river and gorge. It was a 300' drop down to the bottom. Needless to say we didn't lean too far over the railing to check it out.
We woke to some chilly weather and even had to turn the furnace on to get the chill out of the air. Since we aren't close to any churches we decided to share a scripture with each other. Ron shared from Prov. 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths." I shared from Psalm 96:11 "Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad, let the sea resound and all that is in it." We then shared how we felt the Lord has been with us during this trip (and the one to Montana). One special thing too is how He brought us different scriptures to share but both focused on praising and trusting the Lord. After awhile we went for a long walk~ admiring the Lord's handiwork: as I mentioned the beautiful Fall colors, the little pond here at the campground and lots of gray squirrles ~ and also did three loads of laundry. Ron is now over at the adult lodge watching football and I am taking some time to write and read. We are planning on going to the High Desert Museum and the Lava Caves on Wednesday. We were going to go tomorrow but the caves are closed on Monday's and Tuesday's. So instead of getting back on the road on Wednesday we will take off Thursday morning and head towards Winnemucca and then to Utah. Instead of staying three days in Salt Lake City we will only stay two.
I don't know much else so will close for now. Hope everyone is having a good day. Don't forget to drop a note to let me know you stopped on by.
We spent most of last week at Chehalis Thousand Trails. Our time was spent reading and relaxing plus we threw in two good hikes and a couple of walks. The weather was wonderful and gorgeous. No complaints from either of us.
Friday morning found us getting back on the road again. We drove to Maupin, OR and stayed in this delightful city park for the night. It was nestled between the river and a train track...I only heard the train once but Ron said it went through early Saturday morning.
After a short walk in the cool morning air on Saturday we headed down the road to Bend and here we are for another five days. While on the road we stopped at Peter Ogden Rest Area. It had the most beautiful view of the river and gorge. It was a 300' drop down to the bottom. Needless to say we didn't lean too far over the railing to check it out.
We woke to some chilly weather and even had to turn the furnace on to get the chill out of the air. Since we aren't close to any churches we decided to share a scripture with each other. Ron shared from Prov. 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths." I shared from Psalm 96:11 "Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad, let the sea resound and all that is in it." We then shared how we felt the Lord has been with us during this trip (and the one to Montana). One special thing too is how He brought us different scriptures to share but both focused on praising and trusting the Lord. After awhile we went for a long walk~ admiring the Lord's handiwork: as I mentioned the beautiful Fall colors, the little pond here at the campground and lots of gray squirrles ~ and also did three loads of laundry. Ron is now over at the adult lodge watching football and I am taking some time to write and read. We are planning on going to the High Desert Museum and the Lava Caves on Wednesday. We were going to go tomorrow but the caves are closed on Monday's and Tuesday's. So instead of getting back on the road on Wednesday we will take off Thursday morning and head towards Winnemucca and then to Utah. Instead of staying three days in Salt Lake City we will only stay two.
I don't know much else so will close for now. Hope everyone is having a good day. Don't forget to drop a note to let me know you stopped on by.
Monday, October 5, 2009
On the Road Again
What a beautiful Fall day here in Chehalis. Well we have gotten back on the road again. Yesterday we went to church in the morning, watched a great baptism service and then started our new journey.
This trip we are going to Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, California and then back home through Oregon and Washington.
The first leg of this trip found us going to Olympia yesterday. Stopped at Camping World in Fife to get a cover for the air conditioner (the old one blew off on I90 on our way home last Tuesday) ~ they didn't have any so we hope to pick one up somewhere along this trip. We stayed the night in the Olympia rest area. I slept real well, Ron said he was up a lot in the night.
We woke up to a cold, crisp, clear Fall day and drove about 45 minutes to our first campground ~ Chehalis Thousand Trails. We are going to be here till Friday, 10/9 when we head for Bend, OR. We just plan on resting and relaxing here.
Talk to you all again soon.
Love, Alice and Ron
This trip we are going to Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, California and then back home through Oregon and Washington.
The first leg of this trip found us going to Olympia yesterday. Stopped at Camping World in Fife to get a cover for the air conditioner (the old one blew off on I90 on our way home last Tuesday) ~ they didn't have any so we hope to pick one up somewhere along this trip. We stayed the night in the Olympia rest area. I slept real well, Ron said he was up a lot in the night.
We woke up to a cold, crisp, clear Fall day and drove about 45 minutes to our first campground ~ Chehalis Thousand Trails. We are going to be here till Friday, 10/9 when we head for Bend, OR. We just plan on resting and relaxing here.
Talk to you all again soon.
Love, Alice and Ron
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Back in Blaine, At Least for a Little While
Greetings from chilly Blaine. We were welcomed home with rain, sunshine and chilly weather. Ah to be back in Blaine.
We took the trailer & Explorer to friends (thanks Dan & Tina) to store for the next little while. Saw Jamie and picked up the Suburban so I have wheels for the next few days. Then picked up Ron's truck so he could go work tomorrow (yes we are on vacation but a call came in for a job for tomorrow so, since we are here Ron is going to work:)).
So what are our plans: Ron is going to work on Thursday, Alice is going to work on Friday and Sunday we are going to church at our home church and then will leave on another trip minus a tow vehicle. Now you may be asking where are you off to? I wish I could answer at this time. Ron has just said we are on a vacation so we are going to go ..........
Right now Ron is figuring what we spent on gas, the gas mileage and other expenses...once that is all figured out we will decide where we are headed. I will keep everyone posted on where we are headed and what our plans are.
We took the trailer & Explorer to friends (thanks Dan & Tina) to store for the next little while. Saw Jamie and picked up the Suburban so I have wheels for the next few days. Then picked up Ron's truck so he could go work tomorrow (yes we are on vacation but a call came in for a job for tomorrow so, since we are here Ron is going to work:)).
So what are our plans: Ron is going to work on Thursday, Alice is going to work on Friday and Sunday we are going to church at our home church and then will leave on another trip minus a tow vehicle. Now you may be asking where are you off to? I wish I could answer at this time. Ron has just said we are on a vacation so we are going to go ..........
Right now Ron is figuring what we spent on gas, the gas mileage and other expenses...once that is all figured out we will decide where we are headed. I will keep everyone posted on where we are headed and what our plans are.
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