And Here We Are...

...in Ellensburg, still.

This is getting frustrating! This is my third attempt to get a blog posted. The connection dies, Picasa freezes, the browser gets “stuck”. Oh well, the joys of technology.

The good news is that the insurance has agreed to pay for fixing the moho! Yay! Repairs can begin at last. There was some last minute haggling between the repair guys and the non-answering insurance people, but it got settled, and Friday we were notified that everything was copacetic. At last!!! The fiberglass front piece has been ordered from Winnebago and probably arrives late next week. Then it needs painting and 3M coating and of course, the damaged innards need to be replaced. Probably here til the end of the month.

Our schedule is in a shambles and I don’t know whether or not we’ll get to visit my family in Minnesota and Illinois, or how long we’ll be able to spend on our other 3 stops. It’s a very teeth-gnashing situation. We’ll be on the road for 4^th of July, which we had hoped to avoid. All the campgrounds are probably already full. That’s a big camping weekend. And here we thought we’d be settled in Virginia for that weekend. Ha! Best laid plans of mice and men, eh? I tell you what though, I am NOT missing out on the lobsters!!! I will be in Maine before 1 August come Heck or high deer.

We’ve managed to keep busy. On the 6^th, we 3 went downtown for a benefit car show. No cars younger than 1969 were allowed. Those cars were beautiful! The 30s and 40s cars in particular have such beautiful swoopy lines to them. Like sculpture, they are. Here’s a few pics. 

We have more, but you’ll have to come see us to get a look at all pictures. It was very hot that day, as you see.

After lunch and a cool down, we drove down Canyon Road, which follows the Yakima River. It’s a lovely, curvy road through a beautiful canyon. Ray drove down, I drove back up, so we both got to drive the curves, which are almost as much fun in the 9’er as they are on the bike! The water looked so cool, and there were many rafters and tubers out that day. Many of them didn’t float far from the launch site, but tied up in big groups and anchored and just sat in the water. We found a DNR campground that is “improved”. That means paved roads and paved parking pads, fire pits and that’s about all in the way of improvements. But several sites were big enough for us and the Circus Train. Even better, we have Senior Passes and would not have to pay to stay. After this Ellensburg Vermin Deer Adventure, we need cheap camping!

On Sunday the 7^th, we took a scenic ride up to Lion Rock, which is actually a mountain. It was a beautiful ride up into the hills and it was much cooler up there at 6,300 feet than it was down in the valley. It was about 20 degrees cooler up there at 76 degrees. And it felt like we could see forever! Such a grand view. Be sure to click on the panorama!

No one else was up there, so we let ol’ Norm roam around, which he really enjoyed. 

On the way up and down, we passed through an area which had suffered a wild fire 2 years ago. Lots of ghost trees! Spooky and sinister. Brrr! 

The last part of the road was gravel, and the very last part was truly terrible. Lumpy, bumpy, rocky, and heavily grooved by people driving heavy trucks when the road was very wet. It was worse than washboard. There were potholes big enough to swallow Mini-Coopers! But Ray was at the wheel and he never met a road he didn’t want to travel, so up we went, lumping and bumping and bouncing, and it was totally worth it! The trip back down the mountain was as beautiful as the trip up. Just a different perspective, but it made the views seem new to us.

We didn’t do much between the 8^th and the 12^th, except visit one of the local laundries, Ray got a haircut while I wandered around downtown, we stopped at a Verizon retailer because my phone battery is worn out but they don’t have any in stock and I get a new phone next month! We toured all the farm and feed stores (lots of them here) but found nothing we needed. Norm went to the day care a few times, while we ran errands and/or had a sit down lunch in air conditioning, a real treat. We also took him along a few times, to a pizza place, and two different Rossow’s U Tote ‘Em’s. Our GPS is not from around here! You should hear her slaughter Kittitas and Umptanum, 

On the evening of the 12^th, Norman started having diarrhea. He was up and down, in and out, all night. Saturday, it got worse and Saturday night, Ray stayed up all night, having to take poor dog out every 10-15 minutes. Both of them were exhausted by Sunday morning. So I got ready and took Norm to the Emergency Vet, which that weekend was a vet at the same place they have the day care. So they already knew him which helped some. We came home with 4 meds, 4 cans of special dog food and a whopping bill. But Norm is better! He still does not seem to have bunches of energy and one slow walk around the perimeter of the hotel property is enough for him. But his tail is up again and we can tell he is feeling better.  I had to help him into the car yesterday, but only a bit. He’s eating again, so I can hide his pills in a food ball instead of having to stuff them down his slimy throat. We both appreciate that. He does not appreciate the probiotics, which came in a large plastic syringe and I have to “shoot” 5cc of probiotics into his mouth twice a day. He may like that less than having his steel-trap jaws pried apart and pills stuffed down his gullet.

Yesterday, Norm being improved and no diarrhea, we decided to take the last of the scenic drives we know about. We went north on 97 up to Leavenworth. At one point, the road goes really close to the southern branch of the Wild Horse Wind Farm, and I think driving among the tall towers is always fun. They are so elegant when they are moving slowly in a light wind.

Along the way we took a little detour to check out the historic town site of Liberty, WA. I thought it might be a ghost town, but no, there are people living up there. Since it snows that high up (snowmobiles have a 25 mph speed limit on that road), I don’t know if they are year-rounders or only summer people. The buildings are very old, and probably most of them are original to the town. A few are newer than turn of the century, but I didn’t see anything I would call new construction, by any means. One of the old places is for sale; we did not stop to find out how much as it is too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter. Yes, we are picky.

We spotted a National Forest Campground and took time to check it out, only to decide there is no way we could get the moho in there, let alone find a large enough spot for it. That is definitely a tent campground. Which is fine and necessary, but not for us. They had a nice picnic area and we wished we’d packed a lunch. But we didn’t.

We had an outdoor lunch at Mickey D’s in Leavenworth, because they were the only place that allows dogs that we could find. I know, I know. Not gourmet food, but food. Highway 97 from here to there is winding and hilly and would be a good, good ride on a bike. Ray drove home and I am sorry to say, his half of the drive was mostly flat and boring. We took Highway 2 between Wenatchee and Quincy, then cut over to the I-90 to get back to E-burg. No deer spotted, or crashed into, thank goodness.

Last night I talked to a tour driver/guide from Atlanta. He brought a bus-load of tourists in, they were at the end of a tour of the Canadian Rockies. He took them to the airport this am and will pick up another load of tourists for the same route. We may be here long enough to say hello again. But I hope not. He was an interesting man, been touring a long time and has been many places in this country, including South Dakota. He actually knows where Box Elder is and has eaten Black Hills buffalo stew!

For supper, Ray brought home a pizza from the Hut, we watched the last installment of Texas Rising and hit the bed. And that brings us up to today. Ray got up early this am to head to the VA hospital because one of his hearing aids does not speak to Bluetooth things. He says they will send the aid in for repair and mail it to us. He was hoping that they could fix it there, but apparently not.

I think we will hang around the hotel today. Norman is sacked out and we don’t want to wear him out too much. He’s a senior citizen now and needs some pampering. Like me.

I'm Baaack!

After weeks of being locked out of the blog, I'm back in again!

As many of you know, we left the Seattle area on 1 June. On that day, about 2 pm, we had another deer encounter. The deer (a nice 4 point buck) decided to suicide on the front end of the moho. No, I did not field dress and freeze the deer. I did not keep his velvety antlers as a "prize". Vermin.

We sat at Ryegrass Rest Area for nearly 4 hours until the insurance company decided what to do and found a heavy tow truck to pick us up and deliver us to  Ellensburg, where we have been sitting since. Waiting. And waiting. And waiting. We waited for the repair estimate, we waited for the insurance adjuster, we waited, and are still waiting for the approval for fixing. It's frustrating for the repair place, and frustrating for us, since we have to pay for the hotel and any food. And yes, the deductible. For $1600 a year, you'd think the insurance company would be a bit more responsive, but no, we, and the repair guys, have been stuck in voice mail heck for days. And because it's Friday, nothing will happen. Again. The repair place called about 4 and let us know someone from the insurance co. had called them back (after 6 or more voice mails on their part) and some from us, and were informed it could take up to 5 days for the adjuster to approve the repair bill. Aack! They are not understanding that we LIVE in our motorhome and are stuck in a motel here. So Ray called the adjuster's voice mail and made it clear we don't HAVE a house to retreat to whilst they take their sweet time not answering their phones. We are full timers and full timers should be treated differently than casual campers who live at home. Yes, I do believe that. It's what we thought we were paying insurance for. It was sold to us as the best insurance for full-timers. Well, based on our experience, that's an outright lie. OK. Rant temporarily over.

On the bright side, we had never thought of Ellensburg as a vacation destination, not in all these years. So now, we have the chance to thoroughly investigate Ellensburg and Kittitas County. We did spent the first few days making and waiting for phone calls, so we got a late start on the tourism stuff.

On Wednesday, we went to visit Puget Sound Energy's Wild Horse Wind and Solar Facility. It is the only wind farm in the country that has a visitor's center, and it's a very nice center with wonderful views from up in the mountains. We arrived shortly before 3 busloads of teenagers left. The place was quiet and even though it was hours before the next tour, one of the docents offered us a private tour. Wow, did we learn alot about wind power and wind turbines! It was fun, and even Norm got to take the tour, which he seemed to think was fun too. We had a great tour guide. I would recommend that if you find yourself passing through this area, you take a quick detour up to the facility. You will not regret it.

On the way back, we stopped in Kittitas to have lunch and ended up at Curly's II Bar and Grill. It's a western bar. Very western and very rustic, with a pregnant waitress who is due in October. She's carrying twins and is hoping for either 2 boys or one of each, as they already have a 4 year old girl at home. The food was good, simple fare and we enjoyed it. The onion rings were very good. There weren't many people in there, so we were glad we could provide the place some income.

Then we stopped in at Sure Shot Gun and Pawn to check on shooting ranges. The owner was very friendly and chatty and even offered us a utility-free cabin to stay in instead of the Holiday Inn. Hmm, let me think about that. Um, thanks, but no thanks! But she did tell us that while there are no shooting ranges about, she knew where all the locals went, and was willing to share that information. She even drew what turned out to be a very not to scale map for us, so we'd not get lost.

We decided to go check it out. The last road turned out to be a rock and pothole strewn hot mess. It was a bad road, bordered by fencing and private land. But we have a high clearance vehicle, so we went jouncing down the road for a few minutes. Suddenly, we saw something dart across the road, and decided it must have been a coyote, because we saw a dog-like tail. We kept going and what did we find? Not a coyote, but a working herd dog and 2 cowboys moving a herd of cattle up the road to new grazing. Those cows are near wild as it is, and they were none too enthused about leaving the grass they knew for some other, strange grass. So they kept trying to turn around, or in the case of the calves, flee altogether. We were happy for the skill of the dog that kept those cows in line and moving forward, as we had no desire to meet up with a fleeing herd, not even in the car. We followed at a discrete distance at a snail's pace (or cow's pace apparently) for a while and then decided to try again the next day. We returned to the hotel, prepared supper and hung out.

Thursday we made it all the way up that road. After about a mile and a half, it ceased to be a county road and became some other kind of road, and it was in better shape. We saw the "end of county maintenance" sign and thought, oh no, it's going to get even worse, but it turned out to be an oh, good instead. Much better after the county ceased "maintaining". We had a nice drive far up the canyon lands into cool, piney air. It's range land up there, so there were more cows around and some bulls. The bulls found us beneath their dignity, the cows kept watchful eyes on us and the calves were curious. We found a good place and had some practice time. It was fun, and we heard other people up there shooting too, but far from us. Since Norm does not like gunfire at all, we left him at the doggie day care and he seemed to enjoy it well enough. Again we had lunch in Kittitas, at the bar across the street from Curly's. It is also, surprise, surprise, a western bar. One kind of music, country. One kind of ambience, country. Thank goodness they had more than one kind of drink, and from observing patrons, I am sure the official drink was beer. But we had diet Pepsi. It was not as good as Curly's, although the food was good enough to eat and enjoy. And they had no pregnant chatty waitress. Bummer. We retrieved Norm from day care and fixed supper in our room, read some, watched a bit of tv.

Today, we extended our stay at the motel by 2 weeks, verified we can get mail here, again took Norm to day care, stopped by the moho to switch some things out, leave stuff and get stuff, chat with the repair guys, who are feeling bad we have to sit in motel instead of move along in our moho. They are storing our freezer food for us, nice guys. Then we stopped by Fred Meyer to buy Ray a new belt, went to the Verizon store to get a battery for my phone, found out I can get an upgrade on 20 June, so we decided to skip the battery and wait, even if it means my phone mostly lives on it's power cable. We had lunch at a Mexican place not far from our hotel. Fiesta de Jalisco is a solid 3 star restaurant to us. The food was good, but not quite up to Todo Mexico standards. Still, we ate it all and enjoyed it, and enjoyed not worrying about Norm being too hot in the car. The vet's office told us they are very strict here bout leaving dogs in cars, as there have been several deaths and car windows broken to rescue hot dogs. So we are glad to have a nice place to leave the Norm while we shop and such. The daycare had to wake him up when we came to get him. I don't think he's feeling stressed there!

We'll have supper in the room again tonight, take the dog for a walk, and who knows, when it cools down, we may all walk down the street to Mickey D's and have a dish of ice cream.

Tomorrow there is a car show downtown that Ray wants to go to. I'd like to visit Ginko Petrified Forest State Park down by Vantage, as it is a free weekend at State Parks, but we'll see. We may be worn out by the car show. Or too overheated. The car show should be a dog-friendly event. Whatever we do, it will be dog-friendly, because the day care is weekend care on Saturday and Sunday. He'd have to stay overnight.

We have decided to stay here even tho Seattle is not that far away, because we feel we need to be close in case there are questions, and to keep the repair guys on task as much as possible without being giant pains in the neck. If we go off to Seattle, who knows? And it impresses on the insurance company that they need to keep (or get) moving. Or it should, if anyone there has a heart.

We have an emergency fund and have decided this qualifies as an emergency. We decided we like the Holiday Inn, we like our quiet room and the grass, trees, creek and fields outside our room. We face away from the freeway and can't hear it even when it's cool enough to have the window open. It's very, very clean, it's got at least as much space as our moho has, it's got free high-speed wireless. Even though this is the "dog floor" we have seen only one other dog this week. We are close to the dog potty area, which is kept clean by the staff if the dog parents don't do it (we do clean up after our dog, but it's amazing how many people don't spring for those cheap little doggy bags). It's expensive enough that the college drinking parties don't happen here. There's no bar in the building unless you count the breakfast bar. Plus, Norman seems to feel very comfortable here. That has not always been the case. A few motel rooms he's downright hated. I think they will be full next weekend, as that is WSU's graduation time, but that will be ok. Another plus, they gave us a little price break for staying so long.

Secondary rant: the cost of repairs. It is going to cost $14,300 plus to fix our moho, and the lead time on one of the parts, that being the fiberglass front, is about one week, because Winnebago has none in stock and has to manufacture it from scratch. (I am grateful they still have the fiberglass mold to do that)

Tertiary rant: the so-called trip interruption insurance we bought. Turns out that unless the deer was driving a car, they won't give us a cent. I tried to tell them he was driving one of those little bathtub shaped Fiats, but they didn't buy it. Collisions with other motorized vehicles only, says the fine print. Somebody better train those deer to drive when they cross the road. Vermin!

Good Sam, purveyor of all these non-answering, non-paying insurances, is going to hear from us. After decades of dealing with USAA for our insurance needs, it is a shock to have to deal with another company. Alas! USAA no longer covers mohos. I sincerely wish they did. Comparing our insurance experience with the moho and when the deer killed the mini-van, it is obvious that USAA is hands down the best insurance company in the world.

Ranting over for the day. It's time to think about which type of sandwich to have for supper and whether or not to have soup too. Enjoy your days and don't forget to visit E-burg and Wild Horse Wind and Solar Facility!