June 29, 2010

From Libby, MT, ID N48°23.793’ W115°34.121’

Day 26, Caravan Day -6

I got up about 7 Am and started to slowly get ready to roll. We got under way at 9:50 AM. I did stop in Hayden for fuel. It wasn’t a truck stop and the pump stopped at $75.00. I went inside and ask them to set the pump so I could fill up. They refused, saying they had no control over that, it was my credit card. I have never heard of a station that couldn’t do what I ask, Needless to say the didn’t get the other $200 of my business.

The drive from Coeur d’Alene to Libby, MT was only 123 miles. But it was through some beautiful country. We stopped at a rest stop about 12 miles from Libby and I picked up a couple of travel bugs. We also stopped at a scenic point about 10 miles from Libby along the Kootenai River. Trouble was there was a hike to see the river and falls. Gerri wend on the hike to the river, Glenna and I went a little ways and turned around when we saw the 3 flights of steps down after crossing a walkway above a set of RR tracks with the trail going on past that. Gerri will post her pictures. I cut these from a web site about the falls.

We missed the turn in to the Two Bit Outfit RV Park and added about 5 miles to the drive. We got into the park and set up by about 3PM. The coup[le who manage the park have the same model coach that we do, so I spent some time comparing notes.

Gerri called Mary Chasey and she and Tom came and met us. After visiting for awhile we went to The last Straw for supper. Good hamburgers.

Tomorrow we plan to see a little of the area and then have supper at the Chasey’s.

June 28, 2010

From Coeur d’Alene, ID N47°40.972’ W116°48.229’

Day 25, Caravan Day -7

After a little computer time I went out to try a few caches. The first three had too many people nearby to make a hunt. The Ironman activities were still in full swing. I did find three other caches in areas with less traffic.

Glenna had a 2 PM hair appointment at J.C. Penny’s. While she was there Gerri and I went to Costco for a few items. We dropped them off at the coach because some needed refrigeration and I had forgotten to lock the door.

After we picked Glenna up we went to Red and Edna’s place. They got back from Seattle earlier after dropping off their granddaughter Kendra and her daughter for their flight home. Sandy was there but Don was out playing golf. We visited until he got home and then we went to a nearby Mexican restaurant for supper. The food at Rancho Viejo was good and plenty of it. After supper we said our goodbyes since we are headed for Libby, MT in the morning.

I did talk Gerri into driving by the park downtown so I could grab one of the caches I couldn’t hunt for earlier. After that we went home.

June 27, 2010

From Coeur d’Alene, ID N47°40.972’ W116°48.229’

Day 24, Caravan Day -8

I got up and went to church in Dalton Gardens. It was the only Church of Christ I found in the area. This congregation dismisses children before the sermon for children’s church. They also clapped hands during some songs and applauded when two baptisms were announced.

We hung around the park the rest of the day. Glenna sunned her feet outside and I talked to some neighbors for awhile, they used to live in the Cd’A area but now live in Bullhead City.

For supper we had leftovers from last night at the Cedars along with some pizza Gerri found in the fridge. Just before dark Gerri and I walked down to the river and sat for a time. There is a small beach at the edge of the RV park. We saw ducks and geese both in the air and on the water. Across the river is a larger beach area used a lot earlier in the day. While sitting we could hear the PA system at the Ironman finish area. We couldn’t understand the words but I guess it’s an all day event for many people. On the way back to the coach we saw a few athletic types limping around. I remember that kind of pain from the days I did a lot of running and a few triathlon sprints, distances about a quarter that of an Ironman. Ah, halcyon days of a younger me, before sore knees, feet, retina specialists, urologists and kidney specialists. I wanted to do a sub 40 minute 10 k while still in my 40’s, I only missed by a minute and six seconds.

But, I digress. This was a great day. Tomorrow Glenna has a hair appointment and I hope to do a few more caches.

june 26, 2010

From Coeur d’Alene, ID N47°40.972’ W116°48.229’


Day 23, Caravan Day -10

We just hung out at the coach until Edna and Sandy came over about noon. Then the ladies went to downtown Coeur d’ Alene. I went geocaching. I picked up one I missed yesterday and three others, I left one unfound. On my second cache I met another cacher, Traveler. Nice lady.

At four I went over to the Cedars Restaurant and made reservations for 5:45. Cedars is a floating restaurant on Lake Coeur d’ Alene. We had a window table and could see a portion of the lake and the downtown area across the lake. I never noticed the part of the resuarant we were in bobbing up and down, The movement was obvious in the outside dining area.  While we were having ppetisere, thre was a crash.  I had set my water glass about 3" form the table edge and didn't watch it.  It sure woke us up when ithit he deck.  After that I was aware of the movement, it could be seen by watchingth elights and a canoe suspended from the cieling.  Excellant food and we had leftovers t take home.

After supper we drove around the downtown area. It was really busy with a lot of people in town for tomorrows Ironman triathlon. The RV park is now full with a lot of athletic types walking, running and cycling around.

Back to the coach to hang out. It doesn’t get dark until about 9 PM.

There is information on the lake at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Coeur_d%27Alene

June 25, 2010

From Coeur d’Alene, ID N47°40.972’ W116°48.229’


Day 22, Caravan Day -11

I did seven nearby geocaches today and did a little grocery shopping.

At five PM we went to the CdA Elks Lodge and met the Thompsons for supper. They were serving steaks. After supper we went to Red and Edna’s for ice cream and visiting.

We made a quick stop at the WalMart in Post Falls before going back to the RV Park for the evening.

June 24, 2010

From Coeur d’Alene, ID N47°40.972’ W116°48.229’


Day 21, Caravan Day -12

For some reason I didn’t sleep well and got up at about 6:30.

Today is the day to take the coach to R’nR RV Service in Liberty Lake, WA for a ten o’clock appointment to get the locking mechanism on the driver’s side slide repaired. We arrived at about nine o’clock and they took the coach in. We had it back about $200 and four hours later. The locking levers work now. I tried them twice before leaving R’nR.

While the motor home was at R’nR we went to Cabela’s and then had lunch at the Cabin Restaurant. The Cabin was in an outlet mall that was about 80% unoccupied.

Back at Blackwell Island the park had quite a few more RVs. Gerri called her aunt Edna and we were invited for dinner. Other family members besides Red and Edna were Red’s son Don and his wife Sandy and their daughter Kendra and 2 yr old granddaughter Emelia.

After supper we visited until after Red’s 9 o’clock bedtime before returning to the RV Park.

June 23, 2010

From Coeur d’Alene, ID N47°40.972’ W116°48.229’

Day 21, Caravan Day -13

I got up at 8:30 AM, I had a 10 AM appointment at Quest for my INR check. If you don’t know what that is, it is a blood test to check my Coumadin level, I have to do it every month to stay within the right parameters. I take Coumadin to prevent stroke when I have Atrial fibrillation and go back to a regular sinus rhythm. A-Fib is a rapid irregular heart beat in the upper chambers of the heart. Blood can pool and clot if the blood isn’t thin enough.

After my visit to Quest I went out geocaching and picked up seven. Back at the coach I decided to clean up the coach. The curb side and rear seemed to go pretty quick. The driver side was in the sun and went a lot slower. I also did the roof, hopefully that will slow down the streaks down the sides. Man, I was sweaty after that. I took a shower before having my supper. Gerri had prepared her world famous Mac and Cheese. Well at least it’s famous in our coach and very popular with me.

To bed early tonight, I have to get up and take the coach into Liberty Lake for some repairs. I want to have the large slide out locks checked, the horn and solar system checked out. I have given up on the satellite internet system. The Verizon air card is much better and most of the parks we will be going to have WiFi, even the ones in Canada and Alaska.

From Coeur d’Alene, ID N47°40.972’ W116°48.229’

Day 21, Caravan Day -13

I got up at 8:30 AM, I had a 10 AM appointment at Quest for my INR check. If you don’t know what that is, it is a blood test to check my Coumadin level, I have to do it every month to stay within the right parameters. I take Coumadin to prevent stroke when I have Atrial fibrillation and go back to a regular sinus rhythm. A-Fib is a rapid irregular heart beat in the upper chambers of the heart. Blood can pool and clot if the blood isn’t thin enough.

After my visit to Quest I went out geocaching and picked up seven. Back at the coach I decided to clean up the coach. The curb side and rear seemed to go pretty quick. The driver side was in the sun and went a lot slower. I also did the roof, hopefully that will slow down the streaks down the sides. Man, I was sweaty after that. I took a shower before having my supper. Gerri had prepared her world famous Mac and Cheese. Well at least it’s famous in our coach and very popular with me.

To bed early tonight, I have to get up and take the coach into Liberty Lake for some repairs. I want to have the large slide out locks checked, the horn and solar system checked out. I have given up on the satellite internet system. The Verizon air card is much better and most of the parks we will be going to have WiFi, even the ones in Canada and Alaska.

June 22, 2010

From Coeur d’Alene, ID N47°40.972’ W116°48.229’

Day 20, Caravan Day -14

We slept in this morning. This was the first day we were either not visiting or didn’t have to travel

I put in another call to Moto Sat, now they are blaming the router. I plan to stop this service and see if there is any market for the equipment.

I searched for caches and found two in a BLM area across the way. In actual searching I only found one of them.

About all I did other than that was a run to Walgreens for prescriptions and a stop at Albertsons for gas and a few essentials.

Back at the RV Park I visited with a couple of neighbors. At about dusk, Gerri and I took a walk around the park and sat on the river bank for awhile,

Gerri fixed Quesadillas for supper and after that we just hung out till bed time. It was a very nice, relaxing day.

June 21, 2010

From Coeur d’Alene, ID N47°40.972’ W116°48.229’

Day 19, Caravan Day -15

Guess what. We had more rain during the night and it never let up. Today is moving day, so we started rolling things up. By noon we were almost ready to pull out except for hooking up the Jeep and unplugging from the electric. It was still raining so we decided that Gerri would follow me to Coeur d’Alene. That was so the Jeep would stay cleaner and I wouldn’t get so wet hooking it up.

As we got near Post Falls I called Gerri and ask if she wanted to stop at the Old European Restaurant for breakfast. Of course the answer was yes, partly because they have potato pancakes that are mouth watering good. We stopped, not many people there, it was close to closing time, 2PM. Glenna had strawberry crepes with cream filling, Gerri and I had eggs and meat to go with our potato pancakes.


It was only raining a little when we pulled in to the Blackwell Island RV Park. We got setup in space 148, of 182’ marked in red on the picture.  I dn't know when the picture was taken but there are a lot more RVs here now. Gerri was disappointed that we didn’t have a water view. I drove by the water view spots but none were empty. I did stop at the office and ask about availability. None were available for the whole time of our stay. Lots of people want these spaces for the 4th of July and reserve them early. We decided to stay where we were.

I made an appointment at RnR RV in Liberty Lake, WA to check out the locking levers on the big slide out room. I have to make some more phone calls tomorrow, Kevin on the solar, and Nick at Hughes Net because the Moto Sat is still getting me local access only. The modem is working properly even after 3 hours on the phone last week.

June 20, 2010

From Valleyford, WA N47°37.925’ W117°14.433’

Day 18, Caravan Day -16

More rain during the night and morning. The Correl’s went to church and we worshiped with the Oakey Blvd. congregation via internet. In the afternoon we went to Rockford and browsed the Hurd Mercantile. The clerk there treated us fathers to a mocha latte. We looked at almost everything in the store. I found a real treasure, A Resistol XXX Beaver hat in my size for only $30. The crown needs to be blocked but it is perfect condition.

We also stopped along the road at an Elk farm. The cows and calves were in pens near the road and the bulls were scattered around the hillsides a little further away. Binoculars were needed to see them very well.

We drove into Coeur d’Alene past Blackwell Island, where we will be starting tomorrow, and then back to Spokane. Mark drove us by the Trailer Inn RV Park where we had originally planned to stay. The park was very similar to the Trailer Inn we stayed at in Seattle, close quarters, a parking lot with trees and hookups. We are glad we decided to stay at Kim and Mark’s.

For supper we stopped at Papa Murphy’s and bought a variety of pizzas both for tonight and tomorrow night. Did you know there is no place to put a large pizza in a RV refrigerator? We had to fold tomorrow’s pizza to fit it in.

After supper we said our goodbyes to Kim and Mark before retiring to the coach for the evening. They have plans for tomorrow morning so we may not see them before we leave. But then we may see them, we aren’t known for our early starts especially when we only have about 40 miles to travel.

From Valleyford, WA N47°37.925’ W117°14.433’


Day 17, Caravan Day -17

I got up about 7:30 and enjoyed the scenery at Kim and Mark’s while catching up e-mail and Facebook.

I decided to clean off the windows of the Jeep in case we went somewhere. After the rain and road film between Kettle Falls and Valleyford I couldn’t see through them. I got the windows clean and decided to clean the whole car. It didn’t take very long. Mark came out and we walked around the property with the dogs. Mark pointed out changes he had made on the property.

We sat around the front of the house and visited while we finished coffee. A little afternoon we went to the Green Bluff farming area. As we drove to the area I remarked that this looked like the area we had visited with Gerri’s Uncle Red a few years ago and picked cherries. We shopped and had smoothies at a store, that’s where we saw the large rooster in one of the attached pictures. A little past the store we drove by an orchard that I’m sure was the one we had visited before. We stopped at Beck’s Harvest House and Walter’s Fruit Ranch before heading back to pick up Glenna to go to supper.

For supper we went to the Longhorn Barbeque in Spokane. We all had the excellent buffet. On the way back to the house we drove through downtown Valleyford. I blinked so we had to go around again. Back at the house Mark and I sat around in front of the house and talked. We did see a couple of deer. We also saw the lightening to the south. I guess that portends an accurate forecast of rain tonight and tomorrow.

From Valleyford, WA N47°37.925’ W117°14.433’


Day 16, Caravan Day -18

Our last day in Kettle Falls: I got up early, ok early for me, 7:30 AM. I dumped the black tanks and decided to try to find a couple of the closest geocaches. I ask Rod if he wanted to go. He was learning how to run the road work machinery used on the improvements on Mollenburg Road, so he declined. Mollenburg is the road from Highway 25 to their house, for some reason all the houses on this road have Hwy. 25 addresses.

The closest cache was 2.2 miles away, but turned out to be a 17 mile round trip. When I got to the turn off and realized how far back I had to drive I did the next closest cache. That one was easy, a micro on the guard rail overlooking a sailboat harbor on Lake Roosevelt. I checked the next closest 4 caches, but they were on the other side of the lake. I took the forest service road to my first intended cache. Turns out it was almost directly east up the hill from Bud and Marlene’s.

Back at Rod’s the road was looking good and Rod was running a vibrating roller machine. I learned from Rod that I had asked the wrong Rodreick to go caching and that I was on Barbara’s bad list. I apologized as best I could, I’ll try to make it up the next trip. Bud and Marlene came over for goodbyes and we took pictures around Barbara’s new landscaping.

Bob and Barbara went to lunch with us at the Little Gallea in Kettle Falls. We were too late for breakfast. We had great hamburgers instead of breakfast. I also picked up a new Kettle Falls grouch t-shirt. Kettle Falls claims 1650 friendly people and one grouch. A new grouch is elected every year. It is really a popularity contest and an honor to be selected as the grouch. We’re still waiting on Bob to be chosen….

We got on the road about 2:00 PM headed for the Spokane area to visit Kim Correll and her husband Mark. Kim is a retired detective from Metro. They have a really nice place in Valleyford, a community near Spokane, WA.

We drove a grueling 106 miles today. It wasn’t really grueling, actually a very pleasant drive through very fertile areas either planted or ready to plant surrounded by pine covered hills. Almost immediately after leaving Bob’s house we had heavy rain. The rain stopped before we got to Kettle Falls. As we went south and east the weather cleared and became less cloudy. Like I said it was a very pleasant drive. The Correll place is beautiful but differs from Rodreick’s. Bob’s is on a slope overlooking a lake. Kim’s is flatter and more heavily wooded. A contrast but both are very nice.

We parked near Mark’s shop and had 30 amp service, plenty of power in this weather.

The Correll’s provided a great supper of spaghetti, salad and garlic bread. After supper Kim and Mark went to an arena football game and we relaxed in the coach.

June 17, 2010

From Kettle Falls, WA N48º29.004’ W118º 9.984’

Day 15, Caravan Day -19

Another day of sleeping in. More rain and clouds.

I spent several hours on the phone with Hughes Net tech support t try to get the satellite internet working. The system is working for now.

I still need to call Kevin at Cruising America about the solar system, according to the panel there is an error and it isn’t charging. Right now it doesn’t matter because we have shore power.

Also the electric horn doesn’t work. American Coach Service sent me a schematic. I’m worse at things electric than things mechanical, so I don’t have a prayer of figuring out the wiring. I’ll have to call Spartan to explain it to me.

We visited before and after supper. We finished off a lot of the leftovers from meals past. Latter we looked at scrap books and albums that Bob and Barbara put together over his career. It was quite a history of the Clark County Sheriff’s office from 1963and Metro after 1973 until he retired.

The picture is a view of Lake Roosevelt from the Disappearing Twins geocache.

Tomorrow is moving day. Off to the Spokane area.

From Kettle Falls, WA N48º29.004’ W118º 9.984’

Day 14

We slept in today. A perfect day for it, it rained most of last night and all day. Sometimes only a sprinkle other times a down pour.

My mom and I drove into Colville for a visit to the ER to have her hip x-rayed. She fell last month and the pain was in her buttock area more recently that pain eased up but shifted to her left hip. She has been stiff and walking very slowly. We decided to have it checked out to make sure her hip was still intact, she had a replacement last year. The doctor’s opinion was that she had a deep bruise and advised Tylenol as needed and time for healing.

We stopped by a farmers market on the way home and got Bing Cherries. I also went into the WalMart and bought some rubber cement and a small Nerf ball. I used the rubber cement to secure the wooden buttons that cover the screw heads in some of the woodwork in the coach. These things constantly fall out and can’t be permanently glued in place. They might have to be removed later to access the screws. They are around the shower stall and the television sets. I only came up two short. I used the Nerf ball behind the over dash television set. I hope to stop the rattling on rough roads.

At 5 PM we headed into Colville for supper at a new steak, seafood place, the Maverick. Our party was me and Gerri, Bob and Barbara, Bud and Marlene and my mother. Most of us had steaks, Gerri had Pasta Primavera and my mother had fried shrimp, Good food, good friends, good grief, good time!

We had dessert back at the Rodreick’s, pie and homemade ice cream.

Tomorrow I plan to update the MotoSat unit and see if I can get it working properly.

The picture is looking nortish form Bob's house.  Beside the deer Lake Roosevelt can be seen in the distance.

June 15, 2010

From Kettle Falls, WA N48º29.004’ W118º 9.984’


Day 13

Because the 110 power was out I got up at 5:15 AM when I saw it was light. First I looked around for Bob’s breakers to make sure none had flipped off. Didn’t find any so I checked the pedestal where I plugged in. The plug was pulled out a little, I unplugged it and plugged it back in. Bob uses a five gallon bucket as a weather head over the pedestal and when he put the bucket on it must have move the plug enough to break the connection.

With the power back on I went back to bed until about 8:30. After catching up on my e-mail and Facebook I reconciled our credit cards. Bills continue, on the road or not. I then took care of some little things around the coach. A piece of wood trim at the back corner of the big slide out had come loose so I glued it back in place. Last year when American Coach replaced the hydraulic cylinder that operates the step cover they reversed the switch that extends and retracts the cover. I was able to reverse the connections on the back of the switch so now it extends when “Extend “is pushed and retracts when “Retract” is pushed.

I have been getting a red fault light on the solar charge controller so I got out the ladder and went on the roof to check connections. I didn’t see anything out of place so I check the connections in the battery compartment. Nothing obviously wrong there either so I’ll call Kevin Mallory at Cruising America to see if he can help trouble shoot that one. I also checked for loose connections or blown fuses for the electric horn. Didn’t find anything loose and didn’t find a fuse labeled horn. I’ll put this out on the ACC mail list and also ask Kevin about it. Since I had the ladder out I decided this was a good time to glue a metal plate on the roof for the magnetic external antenna on the portable CB radio I bought for communicating with others in our upcoming caravan through Canada and Alaska.

Wow the day went fast and it was time for supper. Bob fixed BBQ ribs and chicken with all the trimmings. Bud, Bob’s brother, and Marlene Beatty joined us. We had a great dinner and visited for hours.

It wasn’t quite dark when I got home so I decided to replace the porch light bulb and hey the ladder was still out. This fixture burns out bulbs very fast. The new bulb didn’t light. In the dusk I could see some burned wires, I’ll have to check that tomorrow in the light.

All in all it was a very good day. I know my little projects don’t seem like much but for a person as electrically and mechanically disadvantaged as I am, they were quite the accomplishment.

June 14, 2010

From Kettle Falls, WA N48º29.004’ W118º 9.984’

Day 12

All the graduation activities are behind us and all goodbyes were said yesterday. I was up at 7:30 AM and started getting things ready to roll. For some reason the locking arms on the driver’s side slide out wouldn’t engage. This happened last year and we waited six hours for a service man to come fix it. Because of conversations with American Coach lat year, this time we didn’t wait. I’m going to see if Kevin Mallory or American Coach can help me via telephone and also watch for an RV supply store and buy some bars to brace it at the top while traveling, our 1999 Holiday Rambler had them. We were on the road by 9:20 AM headed to Kettle Falls, WA for a visit with Bob and Barbara Rodreick. The onramp for I-90 east was near the exit from the RV Park, I-90 was our main route for the day. There was road construction for several miles after we passed the North Bend area. It was down to one lane along Kechelus Lake. There were several miles of one lane later also. The barrels making the lane were on our side of the center line so far that I constantly had one wheel on the rumble strip, very annoying.

I did a geocache at the Indian Jim Hill rest stop. There was a range of mountains to the north covered with snow. I read the information sign. It was the Stuart Range and the claim was that it is the largest area of exposed granite in the United States. Since it was covered with snow I have to believe the sign because I couldn’t see any granite.

We exited I-90 just east of Ritzville, WA on to an unnumbered highway that connected eventually with WA SR-28 in Harrington. At least part of the way it was named Coal Creek road or Harrington-Tokio Rd. Although it was two lane the asphalt was fairly new and generally smoother than the interstate. Route 28 took us to Davenport where we picked up WA SR-25 the rest of the way to Bob’s house. Although he lives on a side road his address is on Highway 25. Somewhere along the way we noticed that the signs giving distance to Kettle Falls was less than the GPS read to Bob’s house. When we were nearly to his turn off I remembered we had this same problem last year. When his address is entered into the GPS it shows him north of Kettle Falls. He is actually south of town. There was no problem finding his turn because of a distinctive landmark called the Slideoff. It is a small rocky hill that looks like, well half of it slid off. I will have to try to remember to use coordinates when his place is the destination. Chalk up another anomaly for the Gremlin, aka Garmin.

Bob gets better at helping me park every year. We pulled on to the pad with ease and very little maneuvering.

After driving a grueling 324 miles and setting up the motorhome we sat around and visited. After supper we were back at the coach, Glenna reading, Gerri in bed with her laptop and I was catching up my e-mail when the 110 power went off. A check of the panels showed no shore power coming in. I turned on the genset for awhile so Gerri could finish her Facebook stuff. For some reason the genset quit after an hour or so. We just went to bed and will check the problem in the morning.

June 13, 2010

From the Trailer Inn, Bellevue, WA N47º34.603 W122º8.034


From the Trailer Inn, Bellevue, WA N47º34.603 W122º8.034


This is our last day in the Seattle area. We met the group at the University Inn. The plan was to go to breakfast at a café near the Inn. The line was around the corner. So we decided to find a place at the University Village shopping center. We found a Johnny Rockets with a sign now serving breakfast. None of us even knew they served breakfast, so we gave it a try.

The group in the picture going clockwise at Johnny Rockets is Me, Neva Barnhart ( Kayla’s great grandmother), Colleen or Kelly Trask (Kayla’s aunt), Kayla Hauck (the honoree), Gerri Barker (Kayla’s grandmother), Kathleen Eagan (Kayla’s mother) and Jan Trask (Kathleen’s adoptive mother).

During four years at the University of Washington Kayla had never sent pictures so we went for an abbreviated picture taking tour after breakfast.

After the tour it was back to the University Inn for goodbyes. Kayla took her mother to the airport, Jan and Colleen are flying out on Tuesday, Neva on Monday and we are leaving for Kettle Falls also Monday morning.

More pictures will be posted in albums on both afrnk and Gerri's Facebook sites.

June 12, 2010

From the Trailer Inn, Bellevue, WA N47º34.603 W122º8.034




Today was the big day, Kayla’s graduation. We were up at seven to meet the other family members at the University Inn at 10 AM. We met Kayla’s dad who arrived from the airport and the picture taking started in front of Husky Stadium, by a husky no less. I have attached a couple and the rest are on Facebook. Of course we then did the obligatory shopping in the Husky shop. We took our seats in the stadium at about noon. The ceremonies didn’t start until 1:30 and weren’t over until about 4:30 PM. All that time we were in the sun. After all the introductions Bill Gates Sr. was the featured speaker. The only names called as the graduates walked across the stage were the doctorial candidates. The rest, including Kayla, were presented as a group according to which school from which they earned their degree.

After the ceremonies we all met back at the University Inn while Kayla drove her dad to the airport. We went to supper at the Crab Pot restaurant on the Seattle waterfront. We didn’t get back to the RV park until about 10:30 PM.

June 11, 2010

June 11, 2010


From the Trailer Inn, Bellevue, WA N47º34.603 W122º8.034


No rain during the night but it was still cloudy.

We don't full time but spend several months a year on the road. It seems I have to be retrained at the start of each trip. There also seems to be a new set of small problems that have to be shaken out if you don't use the coach for a few months.

I thought I would share my experience with our sleep number bed, I know it’s a tough life. The problem seemed large, the mattress lost all air and the remote read "Er" no matter which buttons were pushed. We had trouble with the pump last year and it was replaced, so I had the number for warranty service. A CSA named Bob was very helpful. His first advice was to unplug and re-plug the pump, then hold down the "R" button on the remote. This procedure is basically a reboot or reset of the system. Due to where the pump is I envisioned this to be quite a job. Bob also gave me a list of trouble shooting items to make sure the mattress was holding air.

Before getting under the bed to unplug the pump I had a flash of adequate thinking. It occurred to me that turning off the 110 to the whole coach would be easier than getting to the pump plug.

I turned the power off and back on. I even remembered to make sure the inverter was off. I pressed the "R" button as Bob had instructed and low and behold the bed now works.

Now this might not seem like a difficult task to many of you but for an electrically, mechanically challenged individual like me it is quite an accomplishment.



I also managed to figure out why we couldn’t get the park cable television after hooking up. First I checked my part of the cable, it seemed fine so I hooked it back up and this time made sure the connections were tight. I then tried the channel numbers provided. I notice that when I ran the channels up or down with the arrow keys that some numbers were skipped. I then started looking at all the buttons on the remote and found a menu item that switched the TV from Air to Cable. Well, DUH. We are now in business with more channels than we could possibly need. Another mystery solved.



Flush with these two successes I decided to risk cleaning up the Jeep. I did the jeep and the front of the coach. I may do the rest of the coach Sunday. I say ‘may’ because when we get to our next stopping point there is a ¼ mile of dirt road to Bob Rodreick’s house.



We picked up Gerri’s mom at her hotel and went to meet other family members at their hotel and then on to supper. We ate at an Italian restaurant nearby, Piatta. At nine Kelly, Kayla’s aunt went and picked Kayla up from work and joined us back at the restaurant. Plans were finalized for attending tomorrow’s graduation and the dinner party broke up at about 11 PM.

The pictures are the family group before supper and Kayla and her mother after Kayla joined us.

June 10, 2010

From the Trailer Inn, Bellevue, WA N47º34.603 W122º8.034


It rained more during the night. I did clean the Jeep windows but didn’t bother with the rest of the car or the motorhome. I still don’t understand why the rain puts dirt on the car instead of washing it off.

I called my cousin, Florence, and set up a time to meet her and visit with my aunt Marcella. She is in a care facility in Seattle. This is my mother’s next youngest sister, of course my mom went with me. Marcella looks good but is confined to a wheelchair after her last hip operation. Marcella knew us and engaged in some conversation but her short term memory isn’t good. I don’t know what the prognosis is but it seems doubtful to me that she will be able to go home under Florence’s care. Florence is a trooper but like many people caring for aging loved ones she has her own heath issues.

Gerri’s mother, Neva, flew from Las Vegas to Seattle for Kayla’s graduation. She was scheduled to arrive at 5:05 PM. The airport is about 20 miles from the RV Park. At about 3:40 I stopped by the office and ask if there was anything special I should know about getting there and picking someone up. They said leave now because of rush hour traffic. We left immediately. The traffic on I-90 was moderately heavy and then backed up on the exit to I-405. My GPS was directing us to I-5 anyway so I didn’t get in that line. Traffic then rest of the way, on both I-90 and I-5 was light and we got to the airport 45 minutes early. After we started seeing signs to the airport I followed them instead of the GPS directions. The GPS had the SeaTac airport as a POI but I have no idea where it would have taken us. This airport has an interesting and convenient feature called a Cell Phone Parking Lot. Signs direct you there and the idea is to wait until your party calls you from the arrival area and then you go pick them up. There is no stopping and waiting at the pickup area, only loading and unloading. This would be a good feature at McCarran but I know Randy Walker would charge for the wait.

After picking up Neva we drove her to her hotel about 20 miles north. I only had to circle around downtown Seattle once. The street the GPS directed me to take to get on I-5 was closed, so we went directly through downtown Seattle. Tall buildings with narrow streets create a real challenge to a GPS. The signals bounce around and often the unit doesn’t recalculate quick enough for you to be ready for a turn when the traffic is heavy and you are in the wrong lane. GPS units may be very useful but if you can get local information you are away ahead of the game. Besides the reception problem my unit, a Garmin 7200, will frequently give different directions over what should be the same route to the prior destinations. After getting out of the downtown area we found the hotel easily. After Neva checked in we had supper at the Saffron Grill on the same grounds as the hotel.

The 13 mile trip back to the RV bark was uneventful except for rain and traffic. This was an example of the GPS giving different instructions for the same destination. The last part of the drive was on I-90 east and the exit directions should have been the same as when my mom and I came back from the care facility. They weren’t. I suspect this was the same problem when we first tried to get to the RV Park in the motorhome. The difference was I now new better and took the right turns.

More rain during the night. We don’t know exact plans for the next couple of days. Plans all depend upon different family members arriving at different times. We will see how things unfold.

June 8, 2010

From Seven Feathers RV Resort, Canyonville, OR N42º56.028 W123º1`7.921


We were up early and underway by 7:20 AM. We went north on CA-99 and picked up I-5 south of Sacramento. We went a long way today over470 miles in a little over 9 hours. We stopped for the evening at the 7 Feathers RV Resort in Canyonville, OR. A really nice new park. Valet service to our site, discounts for FMCA or Good Sam, plus another 10% for a players card from the casino. Glenna and I went to the casino for supper. Gerri has had an upset stomach all day. I got a players club card, which is also good for a discount on fuel. A shuttle is available from your door to any point in town, courtesy of the casino.

I plan to call the RV park in Bellevue in the morning and see if there is any problem with us arriving a day early. There is a Moto Sat dealer near the park and I need them to check out the system and set us up on a different satellite for further north. I plan to get rid of the satellite system when we finish this trip. It has been a huge disappointment. It is less reliable and slower that Verizon Broadband, not mention more expensive.

June 7, 2010

June 7, 2010


From Turlock, CA N34º30.501 W120º52.316



Another famous Barker start. We slept till almost 8 AM. By the time we said goodbyes to the Allreds and underway it was 10:40 AM. Once we reached Bakersfield we decided to take CA-99 north instead of I-5. It sure was a lot smoother than I-5. We broke the 250 rule. I drove 285 miles and didn’t stop until 5:30 PM. We pulled into the parking lot of the WalMart in Turlock, CA, as I was walking to the store to inquire about overnight parking a security guard stopped an told me no need to ask. It was ok, he directed me to where he preferred me to par. That coincidently the place I thought best also.

We had leftovers from the supper that Dana had fixed the night before we left, along with leftovers from Friday evening’s meal.

After Super I went in WalMart to pay the rent, err buy some groceries.

June 6, 2010

From Fillmore, CA N34º 22.370 W118º55.715




It was foggy again this morning when we got up. We couldn't see the hills round us. The fog burned off before we got to Church.

Today was the big celebration of Lois and Phil Wall's fiftieth wedding anniversary. Before services we took a lot of pictures. By we I mean everyone had a camera, pretty much complete chaos. The church service was very up lifting, great singing and sermon. The Singing was led by Ben Wall and the gospel message was delivered by Andy Wall. They are the sons of ois and Phil. I have attached pictures of Lois, Phil and their three children The other is a group shot including grandchildren.
After services lunch was served in the Fellowship Room and Courtyard. It was catered by a local Mexican Restaurant. After lunch there was a power point type presentation with pictures from Lois and Phil’s life from before marriage to recently.

After lunch we came back to the coach, John and Tyne joined us. We visited with our hosts the Allreds. Later in the afternoon Denny took us for a tour of his orchard. We picked oranges, avocados, lemons and grapefruit. We also now know more than we need to know about grafting, growing, picking and selling fruit.

At about 6 PM it was back to the Wall house for more family visiting and an evening meal of leftovers from last night and today’s lunch.

Remember yesterday I closed with the question, does it get any better than this? Well, the answer is yes, it just keeps getting better.

Tomorrow we move north toward Seattle and our granddaughter's college graduation.

June 5, 2010

From Fillmore, CA N34º 22.370 W118º55.715




I really cooled of here during the night, very comfortable for sleeping. There was fog in the early morning but it burned off pretty quickly. Yesterday it took a long time for the coach to cool off especially in the back. I tend to forget when we park after a day of travel. During the afternoon when we were getting ready to go to the family potluck , Gerri did turn on the genset so she could run two air conditioners.

I downloaded a few geocaches in the area and found five. The fourth one was literally a park and grab, so I left the Jeep running. When I got back it was locked and still running. I must have pressed the button down when I got out. I didn’t think it would lock with the key in the ignition using the door button. When I tow it I leave the key in the ignition to unlock the front wheels and the only way it will lock is by using the key fob. I will check it out but apparently it’s a different story with the engine running. I was only about a mile from where we are staying and Gerri had our host bring me her keys. Just has he pulled up I remembered I had a door key in my billfold. Gerri says I need to be retrained.

We had a great evening visiting relative we know or just met. Some we see more often than others. There must have been forty of us there. Great food, good company, pleasant weather, does it get any better?

Big doings tomorrow after church to celebrate Phil and Lois Wall’s 50th wedding anniversary.

jUNE 4, 2010

From Fillmore, CA N34º 22.370 W118º55.715




After three days of preparation, cleaning up and cleaning out the coach we started our 2010 adventures this morning at about 9:10 AM. I didn’t realize that getting ready meant to clean out the coach closets and the house closets, then trading clothing from the house with what was in the motor home. I told Gerri why bother, we aren’t likely to run into the same people we met last year and they wouldn’t remember what we wore. She answered with one word; “PICTURES!” When getting ready I discovered another problem. Some days ago there was an inquiry about how to locate the switch that activates the air horns. I answered that on our coach I depressed the horn for electric and depressed it more for the air horns. Since I hadn’t driven the coach since November, I started to wonder if I had answered correctly. I finally tried that Thursday afternoon, nothing, nada, zip, no horns. I tried to open the genset slide to check the wiring. It wouldn’t budge. It is hydraulic and I could hear the pump running. I decide to wait until we were on the road to try it again, hoping some would jar back in place. After we were out of town I tried the horns, no electric but the air ones were loud and clear. It then occurred to me that since the coach had been setting at the house for several days the air was drained from the tanks. I’ll try the genset slide in the AM.



The first leg of our trip was an uneventful drive from Las Vegas to Fillmore, CA. Well uneventful for us. There was a big fire with lots of fire equipment near the highway i Little Rock, CA. Then another big fire in the north bound lanes of the Pearblossom Highway, CA 14, before we got to Santa Clarita. It was still smoking when we went by. Looked like a roll back tow truck with at least two cars had burned. Gerri’s cousin Lois is celebrating her wedding anniversary on Sunday. She and Phil Wall have been married 50 years. A lot of family will be there. Gerri’s mother, Neva, and her brother, Hollis , drove to Fillmore too, they were a little behind us.



We are parked in a friend of Lois and Phil’s. We are in the orange groves about 3 miles from their house. We cancelled our reservations at an RV Park in Castaic, about 18 miles away. The Allreds have a large driveway with plenty of room and welcomed us warmly. There is water available and a sewer dump on the property but only 20 amp power. It was pretty warm in the coach by the time we hooked up and took a long time to cool off since we can only run one air conditioning unit. We’ll get by even if it means running the genset. I did mention we are out in the orange groves didn’t I? It also beats driving about 40 miles round trip for visits.



We met Gerri’s mom and brother at a nearby Mexican restaurant for supper. They are staying at a motel in town, the only one. They brought Gerri’s aunt Wanda Barnhart and her daughter, Carrie Boyd, with them. We met Carrie and her family in Kansas City a couple of years ago at a Barnhart reunion. The El Pescador in Fillmore had excellent food. It wasn’t to busy when we got there, but by the time we finished eating it felt like we were swimming up stream to get out.



We hope to sleep in tomorrow morning since we have been up early every day this week and busy all day. I don’t have high hopes of sleeping late. Even though it cooled off after dark the sun may heat us up pretty quick in the morning. We will see. Good night all. End of day one of a planned 108 day trip. All in all a very good day. On the road and visiting with family and new friends.

Psalm 118:24;This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

June 3, 2010

6/3/2010 From Las Vegas, NV
Our week in Carlsbad, CA was great. But it ended on the 30th of May. On Saturday we had lunch with our friend Jane Knowles at the Norte Mexican restaurant.
Sunday we left Carlsbad and drove to Long Beach to vist Todd, our oldest son and his family. We had a great visit with the kids, they both old enough now that understand most of what they say.
We got home in Las Vegas about 2:30 PM on Monday the 31st. We went to pick up the RV from Bill’s house. We visited for awhile with Bill, Elaine and her sister and husband. When I plugged in the RV at the house I didn’t get any shore power. Tried the genset, no 110 from that either. I shut everything down and unplugged from the house. I hooked up again and everything worked fine. John and Tyne fixed supper for us, grilled chicken and Italian sausages.
Most of the day Tuesday was spent with doctors and going through the RV closets. I had some of the stitches taken out of my ear and the rest come out on Thursday. The doctor says it’s healing beautifully, of course he’s proud of his work. Trouble is now I think the left ear looks better than the right, but since I have no cancer there it won’t be changed. The afternoon doctor made some adjustments to my back, hips and neck. He also had an interpretation of the x-rays taken earlier. The news was mixed, the bump is mostly arthritis with some fluid present. He gave me a steroid shot and my knew doesn’t hurt like it did before. I always avoided the shots but now realize that a temporary discomfort is preferable to the continuing pain.
With Wednesday and most of Thursday behind us we are getting close to ready to go in the RV. Now we only have to stock the fridge and put in a few last minute things. I hope to leave for Fillmore early tomorrow, at least by 9 AM.
I turned on Verizon Broadband and DirecTV. The KVH antenna isn’t searching. I have a call in to Kevin Mallory for advice. The antenna hasn’t been used since November so I’m hoping when we travel it will jar something and reset or that Kevin can help.