Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Guaranty RV Service, Junction City, OR – Apr 28, 2010

Now this is what it looks like when I want to know how fast the wind is blowing and Bob did not put out our weather station.  He has this nifty bracket attached to our ladder on the back of the coach that this pole slips down into, but had not put it out.

009 Pretty funny if you ask me, by the way it was blowing about 15 mph.

010 Here is Bob exiting the coach just after he pulled up in front of Guaranty RV Service.    Today was just a day figuring out what needs to be done –

1.  The ice maker leak repair is on hold as the frig (Norcold) may be on a recall list and they have to pull out the frig for that recall repair, then they can at that time check the ice maker, thus no labor charge $105/hr for that repair.  We should know tomorrow about the recall. 

2.  Gave the go ahead for the new window awning, approx 50” wide by 20” tall.  Carefree of Colorado don’t have our exact color of fabric, but we chose another one very close in color.  This awning is for a small window on the passenger side in our desk area.

3. Okayed the replacement of one leaking shock absorber. 

4. Okayed the 30,000 mile maintenance:  lube chassis, oil change and filter, both fuel filters, hydraulic system and hydraulic filter, air dryer, cooling system flush and fluids, and air filter.

5. Roof:  all four corners of the roof will be rechalked, basically where the end caps connect to the body of the coach.   

We are to report back tomorrow morning at 8 am and Guaranty will start on the list.

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Monday, April 26, 2010

Winchester Bay, OR – Apr 24-26, 2010

Like a magnet, we are naturally drawn to the Reedsport/Winchester Bay area, after all since we quit our jobs, we have spent 6 months in this area (Sept/Oct in 06, 07, and 08).  001

On the drive 101 north from Coos Bay/North Bend area you cross this beautiful bridge designed by Conde B McCullough. His bridge designs are unique.

In Winchester Bay, we decided to park at the Salmon Harbor Marina ($14/nite) – they offer no hookups, but what they do offer is a view!  Below is the view outside our coach?  (Yes, John, the one in the center is “For Sale”-it’s name is the Hellifina.)

040 Our next stop was to see Oregon’s crown jewel – the Umpqua River Light House.  Of course, we are prejudiced as we think it is awesome.  We did stop into the gift shop and museum, but did not tell them we were former volunteers. 008The LH tour, let us say was a little rough, some of the  information he told the group must have come from his big imagination.  It took all Bob had not to tell him his facts were not exactly or even near being correct.  Don’t think we studied the same guide information.  Oh well, Bob actually did a great job as a guide when we volunteered here, his act is hard to follow.

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We drove from the Marina to the LH after dark  and that is when this LH shines, so to speak!

Bob zoomed in on the light and caught the image below – pretty good for us amateurs.

 

106 When in Sacramento we bought two bottles of  Kombucha, a 032Chinese tea that is cultured for 30 days.  During that time essential nutrients form - healthy ingredients like amino acids and antioxidants.  Well, I have to tell you, it is an acquired taste, but not bad because you know it is good for you.  

Sunday morning we attended Reedsport Church of God, we sure enjoyed attending this small church when we were volunteering here and today was no different.

On Sunday afternoon, we drove over to the Harrisburg, OR area (N of Eugene).  This morning we drove to Guaranty Service in Junction City (not far away) and have an appointment for Wed. to see if they can get us in to fix our leaky ice maker and measure for a new window awning we want installed.  They will then have to order the awning and then another day have it installed, well that is at least what we think will happen.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Coos Bay, OR – Apr 22-23, 2010

We are slowly traveling up the Oregon Coast, decided to stay in Coos Bay for a couple of nights, needed to get some groceries and we knew there was a Wal-Mart here. 

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Here is the bloom of the huckleberry that we love to pick in the fall.  Looks like a good year – sure lots of blooms.

 

 

On our way back from shopping at Wal-Mart we spotted a Big 5 Sporting Goods store and since Bob was in a dire need of some new shoes, we stopped in and found him a pair.  He was amazed that the ones with a swish actually fit him well!  Below is a photo of what he did with his old ones.

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We had visited Shore Acres State Park a few years ago in the fall, so wanted to see the botanical gardens in the spring.  Just beautiful…nice sunny day as well!

046 017 We drove on up a few miles from Shore Acres and found some seals relaxing and discussing life.  You could hear them conversing quite a distance away.

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This huge beautiful bloom, bigger than your hand, is quite aromatic, it is skunk cabbage.  Wonder why it smells that way-evidently something thinks it is wonderful.

 

024Don’t you love this breathtaking view!!

Thursday, April 22, 2010

On the road again, Apr 16-21, 2010

After leaving our stick and brick house, we have been heading slowly north via the northern coast of California and are now at Cape Blanco State Park near Port Orford, OR.  We stopped in Willits, CA for a couple of nights, used the time to just get everything in the coach organized.   Then one night in Garberville, CA.  On to Golden Bear RV Park in Klamath, stayed here an extra day to wait out a storm.  Yesterday, Tues, we drove in a drizzle up into Oregon to Cape Blanco State Park which is full of sites we can easily fit into, but heavily treed, so no internet or TV.

Our goal for the day was to visit this lighthouse.  The Cape Blanco Lighthouse is the last one for us to visit in Oregon.  This LH is the oldest standing lighthouse on the Oregon Coast.

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Our climb up.  It was fun looking for similarities and differences this LH had with the Umpqua River LH where we volunteered for three different years.

 

016 What you can’t see in this photo is our tour guide, Bob is intently listening to him talk about the lens.  With this lens, you can walk around it, with the Umpqua River lens, you could climb up 3 steps into the center and watch it rotate around you.  We are planning on stopping by the Umpqua River LH on our way up the coast, hope it is open.

048 Enjoying the view!

Our visit to our stick and brick house, Mar 26-Apr 15, 2010

Our plans were to be at our stick and brick house to help out our two daughters (Jenny and Megan) – watch two of our grandsons.   But before Jenny’s family left for a cruise, we were able to watch them play a couple of softball games.  Lindsey pitches, catches and covers 3rd base, also she umpires the younger age groups’ games.  Abby, her first year at playing softball, is doing a great job of pitching and also plays 1st base.  Also had fun watching our daughter, Jenny, catch for Abby’s warm up pitches – she did a great job as she did not play softball at a kid.

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Here is Jen catching for Abby’s pitches

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Below Abby is pitching while Lindsey is umpiring, notice in Lindsey’s left hand her score keeping devise, with it she  keeps track of strikes, balls, innings, etc.

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Lindsey can really throw the softball fast, here she is practicing with her Dad.  She had developed her own style of throwing and can throw the softball with speed, accuracy, and confidence! 

 

 

 

As you can see, weeds grow tall in the central valley of California.  The area where Zach is standing used to be our garden area many years ago (the weeds are glowing in our gravel path).  Zach is helping pull some of them out, we eventually got the area cleaned out.  Now, see that falling down fence, it was time to replace it.

173   The old fence was 5’ and the new one is 6’ – no one can peek over this one.

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See, all the weeds are gone!

 

 

 

When finished this new section of fence looked great.

497 Rich came over a couple of evenings to help trim our rogue palm 439tree.  He is wearing his grandfather’s pole climbing belt. He did trim about 30 fronds off…what a nasty job!

440Mexican Train was enjoyed by everyone.  Good times!!

188 Bob worked on several projects on the coach when we were at the house.

1.  New shelf to hold our stereo components, the old one was sagging.  Bob replaced the bottom board and added a facing board to the shelf.  Looks 100% better.

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2.  Replaced our front door opening/closing arm.   Now the door works great and does not stick open.

1903.  Replaced our water hose in the wet bay.  The old hose had become kinked in places.  This is what it looks like behind that pretty white cover.  Plus you have to unhook at least 4 water connections and 5 switches.  Well now it is back together almost OK, we do have a leak with one of the connections.  It did not leak with just the water pump pressure, but with the city water hooked up to the hose, it does drip, so our wet bay is wet!  A future day fix.

239  4.  Replace the slide topper that blew off (partially in Mexico and finally in southern CA).

Here Bob is removing the old topper from the roller. It measures about 145” x 45”.  We had hoped just to have this piece of fabric restitched, but…the wind had unraveled several inches of the fabric on one end.  Our options were to buy a whole new one or have one made, so knowing the price for a new one would be $350+, we opted to have one sewn for us.  Found a car top upholsterer and he ordered the fabric (Sunbrella) and sewed one up for us using the old fabric as a pattern, even sewed the two existing beads (from the old topper) in the long sides to slip into the channels on the coach and the slide edge. Total cost $235.

 192 Even Meg helped out with this project, we had to wind (like a window shade) up the roller as per Carefree of Colorado instructions (they emailed them to us). 

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She held the roller as Bob did his 21 winds.  Then a cotter pin was inserted and held the spring tight.  Not an easy job, but she is very strong!  Yea Meg!!!

Then it was time to get back up on top of the coach and slip the sewed in beads on the fabric’s edges in the proper channels.  Bob did a fantastic job and all went just  as well as expected.

316Above he is starting to thread the bead in the channel on the coach.

318In the photo above, it is all threaded onto the coach.

320 Above Bob has already threaded the bead into the channel in the roller, and now he is rolling the topper fabric up on the roller.

In the photo below, he is holding the cotter pin that held the springs 21 winds secure.  If he is holding it, that is good, as he pulled it out and the fabric all wound up securely as it should!!  See that smile!!! 

321 We put the slide in and out a few times to test the topper and roller mechanism,  it works great.

Below Bob is admiring his handiwork.

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While we were at the house, we found time to have dinner with our dear friends, Carl and Jan.  This restaurant, Roxy, was open in the front, just like in Europe.  Fantastic meal too!

252 We then went to their home to see their new puppy, Stewie.

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He is about two years old and is such a loveable beast!!  Here Carl is getting a kiss!

 

 

 

 

Both grandsons really loved coloring Easter eggs, here Justin is coloring the eggs before they are dyed.

204 Zach also had a blast decorating and dying the eggs.

205Abby and Zach spend one night at Grandma’s.  They played a game of brushing each other’s teeth.  Not as easy as it looks.

291 Here Bob is showing Lindsey, Abby, and Zach our  names in a old family Bible we were giving to Lindsey.

296 April is full of birthdays, Lindsey’s (12) is the 13th and Rich and Meg’s (?) are the 15th.

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Here is Lindsey wearing a locket I had when I was about her age.  It had my photo on the inside, also on the outside it was engraved with a “L”, the L now stands for Lindsey.  I am so blessed to have her as my granddaughter.  We love you Lindsey, you rock!!

 

Here are Rich and Meg on their birthday, it became a tradition to take them out on their birthday, April 15th, to breakfast.   We met at 6:15 on Thursday morning, so we could eat and they would have time to get to work. 

I worked for many years at a CPA office, and we  had an office celebration in the evening of the 15th to mark another tax year survived, so by taking them out in the morning, I could go out with by co workers and feel no guilt.

339 213 The wisteria and roses at the house were giving us quite a show!

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We were planning on leaving today, Apr 15, but first had to fix our bathtub’s constant drip.  Ended up replacing the cartridge, when Bob was replacing the clip to hold it in place, it slipped and flipped into the abyss behind the tub, bummer, (that is not what he said).  So another trip back to the hardware to purchase a clip, this time he made sure it went where it was suppose to!

Before noon, we were on the road again!

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