Prineville and Meeting A Blogging Friend

No, we didn't meet our blogging friend in Prineville.  Dave and I went to Prineville yesterday and this afternoon at the RV park, we enjoyed meeting and visiting with Loree (Life With Luci & Loree) and her dachshund, Luci.  Loree doesn't live too far from the fairgrounds RV park where we are staying.  Luci is a very well-behaved dog that likes to keep her "mom" nearby. 

Loree with Luci in her arms

The visit flew by and before we knew it, it was time for Luci to be taken home to eat her dinner.  Loree, we hope to visit in person with you again, and until then, we'll keep on reading your blog!

In the midst of Loree's visit, Dave was dealing with a problem with the motorhome's transfer switch.  Earlier we had smelled an electrical odor--never a good thing.  A mobile RV repairman came to our site and fixed us up temporarily until a new transfer switch can be ordered.  You can read all about it on Dave's blog.

Yesterday, Dave and I drove to Prineville.  We had a picnic lunch in the shade of an outdoor pavilion (I would have called it a band shelter) at a city park.  The weather was too hot for working outside, but it was nice sitting in the shade.

A bird's eye look at Prineville from Ochoco Viewpoint

Crook County Courthouse in Prineville, Oregon

Even though we've made several visits to the Bend area, we never happened to visit Prineville.  It's a decent-sized town and seems like a nice place to live.  Prineville is the headquarters of our favorite tire store, Les Schwab.

The Les Schwab warehouse complex

After lunch, we headed out of town for another seventeen or so miles and visited Prineville Reservoir.  This lake is formed from Bowman Dam and Crooked River.  Yesterday the weather was just right for boating, water skiing, and tubes pulled by boats.  The fishing is supposed to be good there, too.  There's a state park campground here, with a few full-hookup sites, and quite a few partial hookup sites.  The sites didn't look quite as inviting for big rigs, but some sites were suitable, and other, smaller rigs were enjoying the park and it was full. 

One section of Prineville Reservoir

After visiting the state park, we drove another bunch of twisty miles and reached the private Prineville Resort RV Park.  It had quite a few small sites located next to the water, but other than that it was a dusty place and not much of a "resort". 

The state park swimming area

We headed back to Redmond and enjoyed a pizza and salad dinner at one of our old haunts from our years in Riverside, California--Straw Hat Pizza. 

Meeting Sue and Doug

Today was a special day.  We met Sue and Doug at McMenamins at the Columbia River in Vancouver, WA.  Sue writes an interesting blog called Big Dawg and Freeway. We even got to meet Tucker, their dog, who likes to travel, swim, and run on the beach, among other talents!

Doug and Tucker

I started reading Sue's blog when she wrote about their trip to Lincoln City, OR last year.  I always like to read what people write about places that we've visited.  And when Margie wrote on her blog about meeting Sue and Doug in person at Cabela's in Lacey last summer, I started following Sue's blog along with Margie's.  Sue and Doug live in Coquitlam, British Columbia, which is located east of Vancouver, BC.  They plan to start full-time RVing when Sue retires in a few years. 

Sue and Doug in front of the Columbia River

Sue and Doug were on their way home from their summer vacation, which they spent at Port Orford, Oregon this year.  We were privileged that they were willing to stop and have lunch with us on their way home.  As with the other bloggers we've met, we had a lot to talk about and felt, because of reading each other's blogs, that we already were friends.

It's fun to meet other bloggers!  We were happy to add this nice couple to the list of bloggers we've met, which include Russ and Donna (Travels in Therapy), Ali and Ron (The Wandering Workentins and Alice's Restaurant--Dishing Up Food for Thought) and of course, the late Margie and Bruce Mallin.  Click on the blog names in red to read each of their blogs. 

We were glad to meet up with and spend some time with our new Canadian friends, Sue and Doug!

Weekend Activities as We Travel Home

Tonight we are less than 200 miles from home, spending the night at Rice Hill RV Park in the bustling metropolis (not) of Oakland, Oregon.  This is a Camp Club USA park, Camping World's  1/2 price club, so we paid a whopping $16 for full hookups, satellite, and free wifi.  We thought that this close to home we for sure would pick up our local channels, but no such luck.  The park offers cable TV, though, so we didn't have to miss episode one of the new season of Amazing Race, Unfinished Business, featuring eleven teams who all raced before but didn't win.

Saturday night we stayed in Corning, CA at Rolling Hills Casino and met up with blogging friends, Russ and Donna K.  We enjoyed our visit with them very much and continued the visit during dinner at the casino buffet.  All too soon we had to say goodbye to our new friends and wish them well as they continue their travels to southern California to pick up their brand new Lazy Daze motorhome. 

Russ and Donna K

Around noon on Saturday, on our way to Corning, Dave and stopped by the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield, California, located near I-80.  The factory offers free tours, but we were there to buy some "Belly Flops", candy that wasn't quite perfect enough to make it into the regular bags.  Nothing wrong with the taste, though!

The Jelly Belly factory tour is fascinating and well worth the time, and includes free samples.  We did the tour several years ago, so skipped it this time.  This weekend was "Longaberger Basket" weekend, and featured a special tent for the basket cases, I mean, people.  I'm not sure what the connection is between the beans and the baskets, but the basket people seemed very enthusiastic.

Our fun-filled weekend also included a visit to Monterey Friday night to see our 22-year-old niece, Laura, and her boyfriend, Will.  She cooked us a scrumptious dinner of lasagna, garlic bread, and homemade red velvet cake, awesomely decorated.  Thank you, Laura and Will!  We stayed overnight at the Monterey Fairgrounds, which was the cheapest place to stay in that area at $36 per night.  We had full hookups and wifi, but a very unlevel narrow site.

Laura's red velvet masterpiece

Mount Shasta from I-5 heading north

Monday we plan to arrive back at our home in Vancouver, WA, after being gone since January 10. 

Reflections

I still expect to see Margie's blog pop up each afternoon.  I was happy to see her daughter, Stephanie, post an update yesterday.  My tears are starting to dry up but I am fully aware that the emptiness is just beginning for Margie and Bruce's family members. 

Many of us knew Margie through her blog, but we weren't as familiar with Bruce.  I was surprised, when we visited with Margie and Bruce in person, to find out that Bruce was just as interesting and captivating as Margie was.  Bruce had a lot to say!  So even though Margie's voice and personality was the one that came through on the blog, Bruce was right there with her. 

We know from Margie's blog and pictures that Bruce was a very active grandfather.  He seemed to have infinite patience with the "Grands", even though he sometimes pretended to be reading or sleeping so he didn't have to play one more game of beauty shop or restaurant!  The pictures of him playing chess with Mackenzie on the computer were precious.  Margie was the scrapbooking grandma, and both grandparents played a lot of games with the girls.

Together, Margie and Bruce were quite a team.  I really can't picture one of them without the other, so in a way, maybe it was a blessing that they entered heaven together, just as they spent their lives here on earth together.  I'm sure it was harder on their family to lose them both at the same time, though. 

So carry on we must, even though one of the lights in my life has burned out!

Margie's last comment to me referred to the logo pictured above:

"Cute logo, Carol, and it really would be great for your blog. Congrats to Dave on the re-election results. Hope you enjoy a lovely weekend."

sent October 15, 2010 7:04 PM

Margie and Bruce

Photos taken in Astoria, OR, June 16, 2010

I have been trying to make sense of the tragic deaths of Margie and Bruce Mallin in Pismo Beach, CA on October 16, 2010.  I have taken this loss very personally, and can't even imagine the horror and sense of loss that their family is going through. 

Margie, I hope you know how much you meant to so many people.  Bruce, I know you shared in all of Margie's blogging and comments.  You two had a special closeness that was obvious to all.  I know you were high-school sweethearts, and it's only right that your end would come together.  But what an unfortunately early exit you two made.  I'm so happy that you made that decision to retire early.  You traveled together to some fabulous places.  You spent time caring for your parents, and for your children, and for your grandchildren.  You made so many memories together!

And now I know you are together in God's presence.  As believers, you had the assurance of eternal life to come after this earthly life ended.  Those of us left here will always miss your cheerful, optimistic, calming presence. 

My heart goes out to your children and grandchildren.  Selfishly, I pray that my own grief over your deaths will abate.  I thank you for you friendship.  See you again someday!

Bruce and Margie's Full-Time Journey

Newspaper article about Margie and Bruce's death

Sad but Happy?

Our friend, Jeff, is dying.  He is at a hospice house right now.  But I am strangely at peace because Jeff is a believer.  His family is suffering and will miss him terribly, and I feel so sad for them.  But Jeff is the lucky one, the one who is about to meet Jesus in person.  That makes it a glorious day even though it’s a sad day. 

Jeff, Tracey and two of their three children during one of his brain tumor treatments at Stanford Hospital.

I would like to share a few more quotes from Of First Importance:

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“Christians don’t think God will love us because we’re good, but that God will make us good because He loves us.”

--C.S. Lewis, Daily Quote on Twitter

______________________________________      “You must indeed, O believer, grapple with death, and shall get the first fall – but you shall rise again, and come off victorious at last. You must go down to the grave; but, though it be your long home, it will not be your everlasting home.

You will not hear the voice of your friends there; but you shall hear the voice of Christ there. You may be carried there with mourning, but you shall come up from it rejoicing. Your friends, indeed, will leave you there, but your God will not. What God said to Jacob, concerning his going down to Egypt (Gen. 46:3, 4), he says to you, on your going down to the grave, ‘Fear not to go down – I will go down with you – and I will also surely bring you up again.’

O solid comfort! O glorious hopes! ‘Therefore comfort’ yourselves, and ‘one another with these words’ (1 Thess. 4:18).”

—Thomas Boston, Human Nature in its Fourfold State

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“… the secret of the gospel is that we actually do more when we hear less about all we need to do for God and hear more about all that God has already done for us.”

- Kevin DeYoung, DeYoung, Restless, and Reformed

Visit with Margie and Bruce

Today was the day fellow bloggers, Margie and Bruce, visited us at our RV park in Astoria.   They drove up here after they arrived in Seaside this morning.  We had a wonderful visit.  I would say that we made some new friends, except that I felt like we were already friends because of following each other's blogs.  Even though we are not full-time RVers, we still had a lot in common with Margie and Bruce.  It was fun to swap stories of where we had been and what we had done.  They are easy-going, genuinely nice people.  The world needs more people like that! 

We went out for a late lunch to Wet Dog Cafe in Astoria which is located along the waterfront.  Dave, Margie, and Bruce had bison burgers and I had clam chowder and salad.  On the way out of the cafe, we located a letterbox, which is kind of like a geocache, except that it uses rubber stamps and doesn't depend on GPS to locate it.  Fun times!

After Margie and Bruce left around 5 pm, we decided to try to find a few more geocaches.  We went to the Warrenton Waterfront Trail.  We combined geocaching with a walk, and ended up walking a 5K, which I had been wanting to do.  I didn't plan on doing it on a weedy, gravel path, though.  The path was supposed to be along the river, and it was, kind of, but it went through the marshy area next to the river instead.  We saw several blue herons and lots of other interesting birds.  The walk was good, but my feet and hips were very sore by the time we finished.  We found two of the three caches we looked for.

Meeting Ali and Ron

Today we met fellow blogger, Alice, and her husband, Ron.  They are full-time RVers who are traveling with the Funtastic Shows carnival this spring and summer.  They are currently working in Portland at the Rose Festival and we were able to spend the afternoon and evening with them since it was their day off.  Click here to read Ali's blog and to learn more details about their life with the carnival.

Ali and Ron are two of the nicest, down-to-earth people you would every want to meet.  They kept us entertained with their stories about life with the carnival.  I have a new admiration and respect for the "carnies"!  Alice and Ron have been through some difficult times during their 33 years of marriage, as we all have, but it was inspiring to hear how God has been faithful in their lives and how He has worked out things to be used for His purpose. 

Here's to new acquaintances and blog buddies, Alice and Ron!