We Are Way Too Busy- Catching up again!

We spent the next 3 full days (9/20-22) in Bend trying to do way too many things.  I think the problem was trying to do the things we wanted to do as well as those of our friends.  They were not always the same, so we did not get to do all that we had wanted. We shopped, ate out, met up with friends for dinners at our campsite, the list goes on.

On our last full day there, John and I took off for the day by ourselves and felt much more relaxed.  But hey, this was our maiden voyage and we are so grateful to our friends for all the help they have given us.  First things first, we took our pups for a much needed run at the dog park.  They were extatic and got to play with some other furry critters.  We meet with a realestate agent to look at a house (BTW we still don't know were we're going to settle). We drove to some nostalgic places: DRR, Tumalo Feed, up the hill to where my bro and mom had property, etc. Our last night in Bend was spent eating leftovers that we didn't want to pack again.

On Wednesday we made one last stop in Bend to return a shank we had purchased that we just didn't need, then we were off to Sisters to grab a cup of coffee, and then on to Salem to meet with yet another realestate agent.  We spent the night there and had breakfast in Salem's #1 rated restaurant, for breakfast: Word of Mouth.  Were were not disappointed!

On Thursday morning we drove to Coos Bay were we spent another two nights.  We had dinner with Chelsey et all and watched the little ones for a few hours the next day.  Josh came home with fresh Salmon that we just had to have on Friday.  Come saturday morning we stopped by their home for a few more minutes to see Tyrus and Josh take off to go fishing.  Tyrus was sooooo excited.

We arrived back in Brookings just before two on Saturday and spent the next two hours cleaning out Senang and the truck, doing laundry, and putting our clothes away.  We are feeling very blessed to have such a wonderful trailer to call our own.  Now we have two weeks to make some changes to our Airstream before we head out again.  We will be going on our first official Airstream Rally at Champoeg State Park just south of Portland.

Brrrrrrr

Fall is definitely here.  This morning we woke up to a brisk 42 degrees and I bet it was not much warmer in our Senang.  After taking the dogs to do their business, John crawled back under the covers for a few more hours while I read with all three dogs huddled around me to keep me warm.  As it started to dawn, the temperature dropped even lower, and the dogs were shaking harder.  Without electricity I reverted to turning on the gas stove to heat up the interior of our Airstream.  Note to self: get a propane heater for use when boon-docking! Honestly, we had not anticipated doing any boon-docking for a while, but I guess sometimes it is just not to be avoided.  It has been a real learning experience and it has opened our eyes to other gadgets that we would like to get before our next trip.  The rainy weather is another whole story.  In itself it is not so bad, but with 3 dogs whose paws need wiping and coats need drying, has been quite a chore.  We are looking forward to dryer days ahead.

At 10:00 AM we left the grassy field in the over-flow area at Crown Villa Resort to get our new hitch installed.  Wow, what a difference it made.  We now have tons of clearance, thus no more scraping on little bumps. There is only one little problem with the new set up: the shank that comes with the new hitch is a couple of inches too short, which causes the tailgate of the truck, when opened, to hit the electronic jack.  A longer one has been ordered and it should be here by Tuesday.

By the time we got back to the RV resort, our place was ready for our occupancy.  It took a couple of hours to get everything set up just the way we wanted.  We are assured that this time will be cut in half as we get more acquainted with all that needs to be done.  When we completed our task we had a nice BBQ lunch with our friends, who are camped in the spot right next to us, followed by a much needed rest.  Before settling down for the evening, I went to Wallyworld to pick up just a few of those much needed items, i.e. a headlamp so that when I take the dogs out in the dark, I can free one hand from holding a flashlight so that I can hold the leash in one and pick up poo with the other.  So much to learn!  A BIG thanks to our dear dog-loving-friends who are sharing a wealth of information and little hints with us.

Catching Up (Sept 16th-18th)

Sept. 16th

On our first morning of waking up in our "new-to-us" Airstream, we were greeted by rain.  The soft pitter-patter was a welcome sound until we realized that we'd have to venture out in it to take our pups to go potty.  The parking lot was now a muddy, gravely mess that stuck to our shoes as well as the dogs' paws.  We all came back soaked from our walk and brought the outside in with us.  Shortly after cleaning up the dirty mess, Chelsey surprised us by giving us room-service coffees delivery.  What a doll!  We had not counted on having a cup of brew this morning since we did not have electricity to run our coffee pot, and the truck and trailer are too big to fit in a drive-through.

Our destination for today is Belknap on the McKienze River, about an hour east of Eugene.  What a beautiful drive, both on Hwy 38 as well as Hwy 126.  Along the way we stopped at a Walmart to pick up several "dog" towels as the forecast for today and Thursday is more rain!  As it turned out, we ended up at a Belknap overflow site about two miles away from the lodge.  It is very quiet here but there are no amenities. :(  We have to drive the two miles to enjoy the hot-springs, lodge, wifi, store, lawn areas, etc. Non or us are happy about our location but they have a no-refund cancelation policy within two weeks of the arrival date. We feel we were misinformed and they had misrepresented the accommodations where we ended up as they had said they were within walking distance. It is definitely not convenient! 

Today was our first time to fully set up Senang, our given name for out Airstream.  It took a solid hour if not a bit more. Afterwards we went to the Lodge at Belknap to enjoy the natural hot springs, followed by returning to our site and having a chili dinner at our friends' Twinkie, their given name for their Airstream.  Now we are sitting in our cozy accommodation with our pups by our site.  It doesn't get much better than this!

Sept 17-18

We have been concerned about out trailer hitch being very low to the ground.  It seems that the slightest bump in the road will cause us to scrape.  Not good!  Our friends agreed with us and recommended that  we have it checked once we get to Bend, our next destination.  Since that is to be on a Saturday, we decided to be pro-active and make an appointment.  It is a good thing that we did as they could only see us on Friday.  We left our site at Belknap after a beautiful hike up to the Proxy Falls.  The sun was shining and the vegetation was lush green.  Other than wanting to get some more hikes in around the McKenzie River, we left Belknap without too much regret.

Our first stop was coffee at the Sisters Coffee Company followed by the trailer hitch dealer.  We quickly found out that the system we have is just too big for our truck, causing the hitch to scrape.  The only solution is to get a new one. All we see is $ signs, but it is a matter of safety so we made an appointment to have a new one installed the next day, and YES, they were able to schedule us in.  

We had a pizza dinner with our friends, then we bundled up for the cold night ahead, once again while boon-docking as our campsite is not available until the next day.

Boon-docking

Sept. 15th, DAY ONE

Our original departure date for our Maiden-voyage with our friends was schedule for the 16th.  After a conversation Tyrus on the phone asking "see Oma?," we realized that we could break up our first day travel by going part way to Cools Bay a day earlier, to see Da Boys.  We let our friends know, and agreed to meet at Bellnap on the McKenzie River, at the end of the day on the 16th.   We pulled into The Mill Casino where we boon-docked (no hook).  Chelsey swung by and picked us up, took us to her home, where she had prepared a nice pork-roast dinner.  Not bad for our first meal on the road.  We visited with Tyrus and Rowan and then were taken back to our 1st class accommodations. To our surprise, our friends were parked right next to us when we arrive back to our Airstream at 9:00pm.  A couple of beers later and we were all ready for bed.  But, first we had to take our 3 pups for a potty break.  Yep, 3 dogs! (This will be a challenge.) They all complied by doing their business right away. Everybody on/in their beds, and to lala-land we go.  Our bedding was nice and toasty although the mattress is harder than I like.

PS: our refrigerator/freezer with all of it's perishables did not switch over to the propane mode automatically as it should have.  Temperatures were quickly rising to above 40+ degrees, and we were concerned that all our food would be spoiled by the next evening. We called the previous owners and they gave us some tips that may help. John worked his magic and we were back to having a working ice-box.

On The Hunt!

For many years John and I have been desiring to enter the RV word.  We've looked at all different types of vehicles, weighing all the pros and cons. A motor home would give us easy access to all the amenities while on the road, without having to leave the vehicle.  We could pull over, shut off the engine, relax and enjoy the comforts of home. Of course the cost of one of these is up there.  In addition, we would have to purchase a tow car to pull behind us so that, once we were at our destination, we could go places with ease. We rented a 30' motor home this past winter to try it out, and we did love it. The cost to purchase one that we would like was daunting however, and once you drive it off the lot, it greatly depreciates.  And, because of our lack of mechanical knowledge, neither one of us felt comfortable purchasing an older, used model.

In the spring we attended an Airstream Rally with some friends.  This renewed my interest in these one-time-futuristic-vehicles that peaked my interest decades ago. We were impressed with the quality of construction of all the different models we saw.  Many of the vintage models had been refurbished to their original interiors, or some had been totally gutted and remodeled to include modern amenities.  We left intrigued with the Airstreams and decided to look into what these babies sell for.  To our dismay, Airstreams are not cheap! Our only option would be to purchase an older model, hopefully in good conditions, as neither John nor I desire to spend countless hours remodeling an RV.  We really just want to hit the road.

To cover all our bases, we decided to look into more conventional pull trailers as well.  Brand-spanking new ones were much closer to our proposed budget.  These trailers were also considerably larger in living space due to the slide-outs that came with them. Unfortunately, we found their construction flimsy. And, once again, as soon as you drive them off the lot, they greatly depreciate.  We were obviously prepared to make an investment to enter the RV world, but we also wanted to be wise about it.  With further research we discovered that Airstreams have a history of maintaining their value quite well, so we opted to see if we could find a used one that met our specs. To our surprise there were not many for sale, and when one did hit the market, it was usually gone in days, if not hours.  To make a very long story short, we did find a 1996 Airstream Excella, 25', that meets our needs and wants.  We contacted the sellers in June and send them a deposit to hold the trailer, with the rest to follow upon inspection.  We drove down to the San Diego area to close the deal in July and found this Airstream to be all that it was advertised to be, and then some!  We had an instant connection with the sellers and they agreed to keep the Airstream parked at their home until we could return with our  truck to pull it home.

The hunt for a truck had started shortly after deciding on an Airstream.  We started looking for newer "used" models with low milage. Quickly we discovered that these trucks are so popular that they were selling for just a few thousand $ less than the brand new ones that came with warranties. So, we opted for a new one. We decided on a Ford F-150 Echo Bust.  According to all the research John did on the Airstream Forum, this truck would do the job required of it. We ran into a problem however. A Ford F-150 Echo Bust could not be found anywhere on the western half of the U.S. that also had the big towing mirrors.  The 2015, F-150 is a new truck and the usually available "after market mirrors" are not yet out. We ended up having to order one made to our specs.  It would take approximately 8 weeks for delivery.  Ouch!  Not what we and the sellers of the Airstream had counted on.  They were eager to get our Airstream out of their RV garage so that they could start on their next Airstream "project."  Our new found friends are into restoring vintage models, and they needed the space to work on their 1956 model.

Our hands were tied.  No truck, no picking up the trailer!  We then found out from the sellers that they were planning on vacationing in Oregon, in August with their 1965 vintage model.  Yes, they have several Airstreams.  A friend of ours suggested that we ask if the sellers would consider using the now "our" Airstream, still in their possession, to take their Oregon vacation, after which we would meet up with them in Oregon, to get our trailer.  The sellers agreed to this, and because we still did not have our truck when they were in Oregon, they also agreed to delivering our Airstream to our front door!  WOW! What a great solution.  They got our trailer out of their garage, and we didn't have to navigate the busy freeways to and from San Diego again to pick up our Airstream.  We are now the proud owners of and Airstream and a  Ford F-150!

Homeward Bound

DAY 18:
Our last day in Mesa was quite uneventful.  We stayed around camp most of the day as it was really too hot (for us) to do much of anything else.  We cleaned the windows of our rig, swept and wet-mopped the inside, did laundry, and packed up all that had to be stored down below.  Then at 4ish we headed to a doggie park in downtown Phoenix before we had pizza at the number #1 restaurant in town.  Now that all our basic needs were met, we were able to leave our pups in the car for a few hours while John and I attended a Dancing With The Stars performance that was on tour.

DAY 19:
Before skipping town we had to return our rental car in the northern part of Phoenix.  Off through rush hour we went, one behind the other.  It only took an hour to our surprise.  It was nice to be together again when driving the rig as a copilot comes in sooo handy!  Off to Wickenburg we went. It is a cute western town that, according to John, has one of the best museums he has been to.  Nice boutiques and eateries line the main streets.  We had to watch out for the branches of  the little trees that lined these streets.  More than once we had not choice but to be scraped gently by them.  By noon we hit the road for our final destination for the day, Needles, CA.  (More pics of Wickenburg to follow.)

 We ended up staying at the same resort where we stayed on our way down.  Since we got there a little earlier, we actually met some of the other campers that were there.  Rob and Doreen from Montana, were kind enough to show us around a bit and give me a ride to the store to purchase some milk.  We also met the activities  coordinators from camp.  What nice couples.  We would have stayed a few more days and partaken of Taco Tuesday, but we have a deadline to get home.


DAY 20:
We had planned on being on the road by 7:30 this morning but one last conversation with Rob and Doreen delayed that by half an hour.  Breaking down and pulling out has almost become second nature.  John does the "outside" and I do the "inside' work.  Lucky me!  I don't have to put on "THE GLOVES" to do MY chores!  We stopped in Barstow for gas and a late breakfast at Lola's Mexican restaurant.  It was a small place that had excellent food.  So good in-fact that I had to buy some of their home made salsa to take home.  On the road again to Bakersfield where we arrived at Orange Grove RV park at 3ish.  It did not appear to be very full but that is because we were one of the first to arrive for the overnight stays.  By 5:00 the place was packed.  Orange Grove RV park is part of an orange orchard, and one of the perks is that we got to pick oranges.  Oh they are sooooo good!  After walking the dogs and a much needed shower, we settled down for the night.

Fecal Face

DAY 15, 16, 17 :
The last three days have all melted together.  We're still at Mesa Spirit RV Park and we're using that as a spring-board to activities in surrounding areas.  We spent the majority of Day 15 (2/5/15) with our Mesa friends (Alvin 96, Miss Ellie 73) that we met in Panama last year.  They are a lovely elderly couple that is entertaining to be around.  They bicker back and forth in the spirit of fun.  We went out to lunch, got lost with Miss Ellie behind the wheel, and picked citrus fruit from their trees to bring home.

The next day (16) we woke up good and hungry as we had skipped dinner the night before.  We treated ourselves to a southwestern breakfast that was "out of this world".  We were now energized to take on our first lesson of shuffle-board at 9:00 am.  To say the least, shuffle-boarding is a SLOW game!  For someone who's a bit more of an aggressive player, this is not your cup of tea.  It wasn't mine!  I was glad when the session ended and hoped that Pickle Ball would be better suited for me.  Unfortunately we just found out that the next lessons are not scheduled until Monday.  In the afternoon we took our pups to a great doggie park in a neighboring community where they playfully chased balls and made new friends.

Yesterday (DAY 17) we went for a hike on the Wind Cave Trail, just east of Mesa.  It is a moderate trail, the last half of which has a pretty steep incline.  The trail is very rocky with lots of loose, rocky soil.  It was Saturday and the trail was full of hikers, some with their little ones and many with their pups.  I can't say enough how proud we are of our doggies for taking on this hike with us, not that we gave them a choice.  Teddy did especially well.  His short legs made climbing onto the rocks harder.  He also seemed to be bothered most by the heat, and I could tell that he was ready to be done and I debated carrying him at one point.  By then however, we were almost at the top so, to save his pride, I let him climb the rest of the way to the outlook.

The return trip down the trail was easier on all of us.  But, because it was very narrow, it was now our turn to move over and let those going up have the right of way.  At times the pups got vegetation stuck to their coats that I quickly removed as I was not sure if any of it may have contained stickers.  Apparently there were no stickers.... good, however Otis and his irritable-bowl-syndrome did manage to get some sh*# on his hind legs.  And, do you know what happened?... I got some on my hand while removing some innocent leaves.  The worst part was that I did not realize it until a second later,  AFTER I wiped away a fly that had land on my nose. I would have entitled this post Sh*# Face but then you would have thought I had gotten plastered as is the usual meaning for this idiom. No, I got poo all over my nose, and it smelled horrible, and all we had was some water.  No soap, no disinfectant wipes, no tissues, no nothing! I did the best I could to remove the stench from my nostrils and could not wait to make it to the bathrooms at the trail head.  What?  No soap! No toilet paper! No paper hand-towels! What kind of facilities is this?  It is a paper conservation site.  They only had a blow dryer to dry hands, the soap and toilet paper were out, I imagine because it was such a busy day.  As you'd understand, I was eager to get to a place where I could wash up.  A ColdStone Creamery on the way to our RV was our next stop.  We ordered our decadencies and off I went to the bathroom.  NO SOAP again!  What is this, a conspiracy?  We rushed back to our RV where I scrubbed my face raw with tons of soap and hot water, followed by a two hour swim in a well-chlorinated pool. I finally feel clean.  Our TOP (Teddy, Otis, Pippa) were more than glad to be left in the RV while John and I were at the pool.

We enjoyed a Mexican dinner from a whole-in-the-wall, and then we spent the rest of the evening around the RV drinking coffee and eating some treats we had purchased earlier.  The pups were pooped and slept the rest of the day away.

An Unexpected Find

DAY 14:

After one day in the black-top parking lot world of Mesa, John and I were ready to leave this busy civilization behind, at least for a day.  We decided to head to the McDowel Mountain Park just a 40 minute drive from where we are staying.  It is supposed to be a beautiful desert park with many trails to chose from.  We made it there just before noon and gave our pups an opportunity to drink some water before heading onto the trail.   The park ranger at the entrance had recomended the North Trail for us as she saw that we had dogs with us, and it was supposed to be an "easier" desert trail.  There were many varieties of cacti to be seen and felt. After having been on the trail for a few minutes we were glad we had heeded the ranger's advice and not gone for the more moderate trail.  The North Trail was indeed an "easy" hike for us, but for the dogs it was much harder.  They were hot, tired quickly, and poor Teddy got multiple cacti thorns stuck in his paws... three times.  (Teddy has had a rough vacation!)  The other trails were a bit harder in grade and narrowness, which would have made it even more difficult on the pups to not step on throny vegetation.

We had worked up an appetite so we decided to head back to the town of Fountain Hills that we had come through on our way to the park.  It had looked so cute and we were now ready to explore it.  The town has a small lake in the center with a fountain that shoots a stream of water 350 to 500 feet into the air, every hour for 15 minutes. The only times when the fountain does not blow is if there is a wind higher than 10 mph.  There is a nice walking path all around it that is frequented by the locals all day long in the winter.  When I say winter, here that means 75-85 degree temperatures.  It was fabulous.  In the summer when the temperatures easily reach 120 degrees, the people only use the path in the wee hours of the morning.

The whole town of Fountain Hills is very clean, landscaped beautifully with native plants, and the people are very friendly. We used Trip Advisor to help us find an eatery.  The #1 in town is DJ Bagel Cafe.  Neither John nor I can remember a time when we had such good sandwiches.  Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of our orders.   Next time we make it down to AZ in an RV, we will stay around Fountain Hills.  There is supposed to be a beautiful Native American site that is right on the river.  Live and learn. Next to Sedona, this is our second favorite town we've visited.  Back in the RV, everyone is taking an early evening nap, except yours truly.

 Before going to bed tonight we decided to try the pool that is in our section of the park.  The water was a balmy 82 degrees and the air temperature was 76 degrees. The hot-tub was too warm for me; it was huge... 20 feet in diameter.  There is only seating around half of the hot tub so I can only guess that this is so you can walk or swim in it.