Life's a Journey

An online friend of mine, Pidge, who writes a blog called The Frugal Travelers, recently posted the following picture of a shirt that she bought in Story, Indiana.  I like this shirt!  This could be a logo for me and for my blog.

 

Dave left this morning to go home to officiate his football games.  The officials go out for pizza after their games, so he's all set for food tonight.  Congratulations are in order for Dave because he was recently re-elected by a large majority for another two-year term as secretary-treasurer of the EFOA (Evergreen Football Officials Association) board.  This position requires a big time commitment, so I didn't know whether to hope that he won or that he lost!

I don't mind spending time by myself in the motorhome as long as it's only for a couple of days.  It seems very quiet here without Dave, though!  He will be back tomorrow evening.

Bounder Back Home

Thank you very much to all who left comments wishing Dave a happy birthday.  He was touched that so many of you cared enough to leave a comment.  He won’t get that kind of attention for another whole year, so he is savoring it. 

Our motorhome is finally home from the repair shop.  We took it Junction City on August 31, and today, September 21, we went to pick it up.  The crack under the bedroom slide is all fixed, and a leak from the living room slide is fixed, we hope. 

Now we need to plan a trip for a night or two just to test things out.  We took a lot of things out of the motorhome, including food, while it was being worked on, so now we get to load everything back.  The trip of a night or two will be to test whether we’ve put back everything that we need for a trip. 

We decided not to buy an extended warranty on this motorhome, and our one-year warranty will be up on October 12.  We want to make sure there are no more problems that need to be fixed before that date.  The repair work on the crack comes with a new 1-year warranty, but hopefully we won’t need to get that repaired again.

All is well when our Bounder is back in its spot behind our house, or even better, out on the road with us inside!

Happy Birthday, Dave!

Dave turned 62 on Monday.  We celebrated with Tim, Kiersten, and Jonathan on Sunday, then Dave helped Tim install some additional electrical power in his garage.  Dave played golf on Monday morning at Camas Meadows with his friend, George, from St. George, Utah, and with two friends from Portland.  What a good way for him to celebrate his birthday, especially since the rain held off !  And oh yes, the Raiders won yesterday—a birthday gift for Dave!

Monday afternoon we did our usual walk with friends at the high school track, then the two of us went out for dinner at Applebee’s.  I intended to take the camera along, but I forgot it.  We always have good food and good conversation when we go to Applebee’s. 

My gift to Dave was to get our poster of the national parks of the Grand Circle framed.  Poster: $7.95, framing, over $200!  It’s a lovely reminder of our trip to these parks last spring. 

Happy Birthday, Dave.  May we celebrate many more of your birthdays together!

Tim’s Shelf-Removal Project

Our project today was to help our son, Tim, take down some shelves that were in his garage when he bought the house.  Kiersten and I watched while Dave and Tim did all the work.

The shelves were originally put in with three or four different kinds and lengths of screws.

After the shelves were removed

Dave took home some of the small pieces

The rest of the leftover wood

Afterwards Tim and Kiersten treated us to lunch at Olive Garden. 

Back to the VA

The courtyard outside Portland’s VA Medical Center     

No, nothing is wrong.  Prior to getting the colonoscopy appointment for last Saturday, Dave had scheduled his annual chest x-ray for this afternoon, so today we drove back to the Portland VA Medical Center for the x-ray.  Dave’s lung cancer episode five years ago turned out to be a carcinoid tumor and the result was that one lobe of his lung was removed at that time.  That took care of the tumor and he didn’t need to have radiation or chemotherapy.  

Every year since then Dave goes back for a CT scan and/or x-ray so that his lungs can be checked to make sure that there are no more tumors.   Dave was one of the few people that got lung cancer even though he had never smoked.  (Well, except for one cigarette when he was 12—that was enough for him!)

Dave got an excellent report again this year and was told that he doesn’t need get another x-ray  for two years.  We thank God that Dave’s health continues to be good!

After the VA appointment, we met Tim and Kiersten for dinner at Fuddruckers in Lake Oswego.  Most of the Fuddruckers are out of business, but this one is still operating.  We used to go to Fuddruckers in Riverside, CA, when we lived there, until that one went out of business.  Then we watched one come and then go in Vancouver.  Several restaurants have opened since then at that site in Vancouver, but no one seems to be able to make it there.  Now there’s a new sign advertising that a Mongolian Grill will soon be opening.  I hope it makes it and is open for years to come.

VA Medical Center, Portland, OR

Welcome to new blog follower, Gail Durham.   Check out her blog, Gail and TC's Travels.

Dave has Veteran’s Administration (VA) medical coverage because he served in the Air Force for four years.  The VA has a clinic in Vancouver, but all the major appointments are held at the Portland Medical Center.  We know that place well because Dave had lung cancer surgery there five years ago. 

Dave needed a routine colonoscopy and was told a few weeks ago that the tests were back ordered.  He was surprised to get a phone call a few days ago telling him that the VA had gotten a grant and they were now able to do colonoscopies on Saturdays.  So he made an appointment for today, Saturday, August 14, at 11 am.

Saturday appointments are good, because the Medical Center is less crowded, the parking garage is less crowded, and there’s less traffic on the Portland freeways. 

I took the following panorama photo from inside the dirty windows, so the quality isn’t great.  The Portland VA is located “up on the hill” next to Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU), and in fact, the two hospitals share doctors sometimes.  The top (ninth) floor offered a great view of the Willamette River and one of Portland’s many bridges. 

The results of the procedure were good.  Dave did great, and by 12:30 pm, I was able to drive him home.  We made, at his request, a stop at McDonald’s so he could EAT. 

This sign must have been working because I saw nary a pigeon.  Veterans, yes, pigeons, no!

Dave's Blog

My husband, Dave, decided to start writing a blog.  Read his blog by clicking here:  Dave in the RV.  We decided not to try and combine our blogs because he and I will have different perspectives of our upcoming trip.

In preparation for our big trip, this has been a week of running errands and taking care of all the loose ends.  Today I had a dental hygienist appointment and I don't need to come in for another appointment until October, so I'm all set on the dental front.  A month or so ago I got my driver's license renewed because it expires later this month.  Read about my enhanced license by clicking here: Enhanced driver's license.  We got the alarm system installed and it's been working great for the past few weeks.  I haven't even set it off by mistake!

We found a person to take care of our lawn while we will be gone.  We are having our mail forwarded to our son, Tim's house.  I suspended my Netflix account.  I will also suspend my library holds (and I have lots of them because I like the library!). 

Later this week I need to have my quarterly fasting lab work done and also my monthly Pro-Time lab test for coumadin.  That test I was able to stretch to 5 weeks this time and 6 weeks next time.  Later this week I will make sure we are stocked with groceries and other supplies.

And hopefully, we have all the major bugs worked out of the new motorhome.  I know, I know, that's a neverending project.  We've tested is as much as we could since we bought it in mid-October. 

Cape Disappointment, Final Full Day

Dave and Charlie decided to play golf today.  Long Beach has a nice 9-hole golf course,  Peninsula Golf,  just north of town.  There are two sets of tees, so they played 18 holes.  Pam's parents came to visit.  They used to live in Ocean Park so like to revisit the area. 

Dave, Carol, Jonathan

This picture was taken about 7 years ago by our friend, Michael Groark, when we camped at Driftwood RV Park with Michael and Annie on Memorial Day weekend.

I watched a Netflix DVD that I brought along, Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont.  It was a cute movie.  After lunch I went for a walk on the beach.  I forgot to check the tide table and discovered that it was high tide.  I was able to walk for 1/2 hour, but the waves were reaching my feet, so I scurried back to drier ground.  I finished my walk by walking around the campground loops.

A few years ago the state redid the full hookup area of this park.  They asphalted all the sites and changed the electrical boxes from 20 amp to 15/30/50 amp.  Very nice.  If there was Verizon cell service and/or WIFI, this would be a perfect park.  We changed the external antenna to the driver's side of the coach and it works better now, so I've been able to update my blog every day. 

North Head Lighthouse at Cape Disappointment State Park

Cape Disappointment, Day 3

Last evening the rain stopped long enough for us to have our first campfire of the year.  It was cold outside so we huddled fairly close to the fire.  We cut the fire short when it started raining again around 8:45 pm.  We had rain during most of the night and rain again this morning.  But around 10:45 this morning, the rain stopped and it didn't rain again just now at 5:10 pm. 

We took a drive to Ocean Park, Nahcotta, and Oysterville.  We drove along the beach north of Ocean Park and saw this private lighthouse.  When we tried to track it down, the entrance had a large gate that was closed.  Guess they don't like visitors.

This part of the Washington coast allows cars to drive on the beach.  Since we have a 4-wheel-drive vehicle, we like to drive on the beach occasionally.  This is the view of the ocean that we had:

After we got back from the drive, Dave and I went for a 7-mile bike ride around the park. 

Here's a picture of Dave and me that Charlie took yesterday.  Cape Disappointment Lighthouse is way in the background above our heads, and the jetty is right behind us. 

And here is a picture of Charlie and Pam:

Cape Disappointment State Park, WA

We arrived at Cape Disappointment State Park in Washington, which is about three hours from our house.  It's one of our favorite state parks because of its location at the beach.  The only bad thing about this park is that I have absolutely no Verizon cell service at this site (#21).  Dave hooked up the external antenna and was able to get two bars of service, which is barely enough to access the internet through his phone.  But here I am, online, and doing a crossword puzzle from a book while waiting for each screen to load. 

The weather is stormy, windy, rainy, with occasional glimpses of the sun.  In other words, normal weather for the Washington state coast in March.  Charlie and Pam, the couple that bought our 2000 31W Bounder, are camped next to us.  All four of us, plus their dog, walked on the beach this afternoon during high tide.  Walking north on the beach was great, with a great view of North Head Lighthouse, but turning around to go back to the campground was a different story.  Windy!  We made it safely back to our motorhomes and while Dave helped Charlie install his satellite receiver, Pam and I continued walking.  We thought we were on a trail to the amphitheater but we ended up at the dump station???  The guys teased us about that one. 

Here is a picture of the winter storm debris along the path to the beach:

And a picture of Dave at our campsite:

That's all the pictures I'm going to post for now because the connection is too slow.  Maybe (miraculously?) the signal will be better tomorrow.

Thanks for reading!

Spring is Here

We had to leave Champoeg yesterday, boo hoo!  Duty calls, though.  Last night we went to a seminar sponsored by Christ Our Redeemer Chuch entitled "Building Biblical Relationships".  This morning Dave had to be at the youth flag football games and tonight he is refereeing a semi-pro game between the Vancouver Vipers and the Portland Monarchs at Kiggins Bowl.  In the midst of all the football, our neighbors decided to cut down a big tree in their front yard and needed to borrow Dave's chain saw. 

I went for a 7.5 mile bike ride around our neighborhood.  It was short-sleeve weather but a bit breezy while I was riding.  This is the first time that I've ridden in our neighborhood since last fall.  It was great to be out and about.  Many people were working in the yards or playing with their kids.  Spring is here!

Alarm System

One of our neighbors' house was broken into a couple of weeks ago.  Since then, several of the neighbors have decided to get alarm systems.  The system we chose is Front Point. It had to be shipped from Virginia and arrived yesterday.  Dave began installing it but realized that the call transponder wasn't working correctly.  They shipped us a replacement part overnight via FedEx.  The part arrived around 2 pm today and Dave installed it and activated the account.  If there's a break in, the system will call our cell phones and then the police.  The system has a motion detector plus a loud alarm.

After the alarm system was installed and activated, we left for a camping trip to  Champoeg State Park (pronounced (Sham-poo'-ee) in Oregon.  It's one of our favorite parks and we stay here as often as we can.  The park is a little over an hour from home, so it's an easy drive.  We intended to leave home much earlier in the day but had to wait for the alarm system part to arrive.

From October through April, the Oregon State Parks charge "Discovery Season" rates and this beautiful state park is only $16 per night for full-hookup, 50 amp sites but they only have a few full-hookup sites so we reserved one.  The park is located south of Portland and Wilsonville and north of Woodburn.  It's far enough from the freeway that there is no freeway noise.  It's a very quiet and peaceful park in the midst of the beautiful Willamette Valley.
  

Letter to the Editor

Dave's letter to the editor of the Columbian newspaper was published today.  Doesn't his idea make good sense?

Click here to read his letter.

Rainbow

It's raining today, but I am looking at a rainbow that is appearing underneath the clouds. The rainbow keeps fading in and out, but I was able to capture it at the same time a ship was passing by.  I've also seen two container ships and a tugboat pulling two other ships.   All the the ships have come from the west today which means they are heading for a port.

We just moved to our new site at the same park.  We had to leave the good site that has 50 amp.  It was already reserved for the weekend when we made our reservations.  Now we are in a 30 amp site until we leave on Tuesday.  The new site still has a good view of the strait.  Maybe it will be a little less windy in this site since it's not located on the point.  Charlie and Pam will arrive later today and park next to us.

The bad news is that Dave is sick today.  He felt very dizzy during the night and thought he was better this morning, but soon realized that he was still dizzy.  After going back to bed for a few hours he was able to summon up the energy to get us unhooked from the old site and moved and hooked up to the new site.  Now he's back in bed.

These pictures were taken from inside the motorhome.  Can you see the raindrops on our front window?