Just Another Boring Travelogue…

We stayed a couple of days near Snoqualmie Falls, outside of Redmond and Kirkland, Washington. They’re both very nice towns, but I was really impressed with Kirkland. It’s a really nice, upscale town on the shore of Lake Washington (think Saratoga on a lakefront). Of course, the weather is at its best and I can only imagine the winters here, but it’s easy to see why Microsoft moved to this area.

The drive across the bridges into Seattle was the prettiest drive into a city that I’ve seen (including S.F.). We did the typical tourist stuff; took the elevator to the top of the Space Needle and went to the Pike Place Market. This is a very vibrant city. Did you know that Nordstrom’s started here?

We had a lovely dinner with my cousin, Sandy & her daughter’s family, and then headed east the next morning. We spent some time in Leavenworth, which a Bavarian style town in the mountains. It reminded us of Solvang in California. We finished the day in Wenatchee, staying at the Confluence State park where the Wenatchee River meets the Columbia. Les likes this area best so far, because we’re finally out of the heavily wooded terrain that you find in Western Washington and Oregon. He likes being able to see a horizon.

Wenatchee is the largest apple producing region in the world and the harvest was in full swing. The trees were loaded with fruit! The pear crop is apparently very good this year as well.

We toured the Rocky Reach Dam, in Wenatchee, which was built in 1959. The whole dam was built to scale at the University of Washington prior to any construction being done to make sure all the engineering was correct! Since we also toured the Bonneville Dam, near Hood River, Oregon, I’ve had about all the Dam fun I can stand. I think we’ll skip the Grand Coulee Dam!

We continue to head east towards Glacier Park in Montana, with a couple of stops in Spokane and Coeur D’Alene along the way.

There’s Magic in Mucinex

We finally headed north on Thursday and made it as far as Seaquest State Park, (nowhere near an ocean, just someone's name) near Mt. St. Helens. We spent some time at the visitor’s center and after getting settled into a campsite, drove up the western side of the eruption. The crater that was left from the eruption is obvious, but interesting to us, almost the whole drive up (about 30 miles) has been reforested (by Weyerhaeuser it appears) and will be harvested in another 30 years or so. The strange thing about it is that since everything was planted at the same time, they’re all about the same height. It looks almost like a green carpet. There is not many visual signs left of the terrible destruction that occurred.

We had planned to drive around the eastern side on Friday (at Wayne’s suggestion), but I had another terrible night with the mystery illness/sore throat and woke up determined to find another Doctor/Clinic where I could get some relief. (Thanks C for your advice… you’ll forever be Dr. Mom)

We headed north to Olympia and thanks to my trusty cell phone internet connection, I was able to find a clinic to go to and find a Home Depot parking lot close by to park the coach. This time I got to see an M.D. (as opposed to a P.A.) and I made Les go in with me (so they wouldn’t think I was fakin’ it. This Dr. didn’t think I had a sinus infection. He told me that the amoxicillin antibiotic I had been prescribed was kinda wimpy, so heres the prescriptions he gave me:


Some kick-*ss antibiotic stuff (Azithromycin) that cost $47 for six pills, but really seems to work.

A different cough medicine (Tussionex) that costs $53.29 for 90 cc’s (that’s $2,241.28 per gallon). Thank goodness I have insurance.

Vicodan for the pain (I could have kissed him).

Mucinex-D to break up the mucus crap in my chest (you’ll feel like a terrorist suspect when you get this ~ you have to show I.D. and they’ll enter it into their system. I asked if this was a Washington State thing or Federal, and guess what, it’s Federal. But it works great, so I say just go for it.

And the best tip of all, forget the Chloraseptic and use Children’s Benadryl elixir. It does a better job of relieving sore a throat!

Thank you Dr. Urmanski!

So now I’ve left with my own mini-pharmacy and rush back to the coach so I can pound down my first doses. It’s a little early to say voilà, but after one day the throat pain is almost completely gone and I was finally able to get a decent nights sleep.

Today we’re on the west side of Puget Sound and today took a drive up by the Hood Canal to Port Townsend and then back around through Bremerton. On the way through the little town of Belfair, we spotted someone selling Smoked Salmon out of the back of his truck. Les made a quick u-turn and after a couple of samples, we came away with a little over 2 pounds. Yummy!

Tomorrow we’ll be heading around to the east side of the Sound to visit with my cousin, Sandy, and spend some time in Seattle.

Here's something to ponder:

What do you do when you get too old to drive your car? Buy a motorhome and tow it behind.
(Think about that the next time you want to cut in front of an RV…)

Time in Portland

Yesterday we ventured into Portland for the day. We started with the Portland Classical Chinese Garden, an authentic Ming Dynasty garden. It is right downtown and was created with artisans and designers from Portland's sister city of Suzhou China in 1999. We enjoyed it alot.

Then off to Bridgeport Brewery, Oregon's oldest craft brewery, for a sampler tray & lunch. Of course, we had to leave with a six-pack of our 2 favorites. Don't expect we'll make it home with that particular souvenier...

Then it was up to Washington Park to wander through the International Test Rose Garden. It was fun to stumble across the rose varieties that I have in the yard. Anyone interested in a planting a rose should look into the new Marilyn Monroe.

Lastly, we walked around the Pittock Mansion (we were too late to take a tour). It was built by one of Oregon's founding fathers... Everyone knows I can't resist an old Mansion! Pittock was also instrumental in getting Oregon's first road built, which is the Historic Columbia River Highway. At the top, at Crown Point, they built a 'rest stop' called Vista House (1917). Amazing views from here!

Since I'm still having an awful time with my sore throat/sinus infection, we've decided to stay one more night here in the Portland area and move on up the the Mt. St. Helen's area tomorrow.

Rain & Trains

So we’re finally settled into this beautiful Columbia River Gorge. We’ve selected a KOA so that we can have hook-ups and get some of the laundry done that has accumulated for the last 10 days. We’re just getting set up and Wooo-Wooo, here comes a train that we didn’t even know was behind the blackberry bushes. Not again! We had this happen to us back in Texas on one of our trips.

The sore throat that I’ve been fighting for the last few days has decided to really kick me in the butt. We go off to bed and then the rain starts and the train runs every hour or two, blowing its whistle at least 4 times as it passes by! Yikes!

Since we had already paid for 2 nights, we endured it and moved to a park in Gresham, just outside of Portland on Monday. The train is still in the background, but no Wooo-Wooo!

By then I couldn’t swallow or talk and had had enough of this cold thing, so off we went to the local walk-in clinic. No strep throat, which is good, but the diagnoses is sinus infection, which is not good. Antibiotics have been prescribed and a cough medicine with codeine, for a good nights sleep. (Oh, if it were only true.)

Today we’re going to brave the last of the storm front and venture into Portland, stopping by a drugstore on the way for a fresh bottle of Chloraseptic.

It doesn't take a superstar to be an entertainer!

Motorhomes everywhere! Les took these from the top of our coach.

Included in our admission fee to the rally were 3 nights of entertainment. On Tuesday night we went to see The Nelson’s do a tribute to their Dad, Ricky Nelson. We skipped the Debby Boone show on Wednesday night and went out to dinner (sorry Debby). On Thursday night we went to see Tony Orlando (remember Tie a Yellow Ribbon?) This is what I came away with… you don’t have to be superstar to be an entertainer. Both shows were very entertaining. Not ‘Oh my Gosh’ fabulous, but a very pleasant way to spend an evening.

We took a motorcycle ride on Thursday, outside of Sisters, to the lava flows. It was a very nice ride and very dramatic to think about the wagon trains trying to cross the lava rocks.

The FMCA rally was officially over on Thursday night, but Les & Doug had both purchased a supplemental braking system for our tow vehicles and they were supposed to be installed on Friday. They hadn’t arrived by 5:00, so we went off for our dinner engagement with Dano & Sharon (which was wonderful!) and Doug finally got his brakes installed late Friday. Ours was installed early Saturday morning and we were able to get on the road north.

Tonight we’re in Cascade Locks, Oregon, on the Columbia River. We plan to spend a few days here and explore this part of Oregon, including Portland.

Thanks to everyone for their positive feedback on the blog!

And you thought life on the road was a picnic…

One of the difficulties of life on the road is hair and nail appointments. You really never know what you’re going to get! Today, for example, Roberta and I set out to have our nails filled. We went into a nice looking salon and ‘Sarah’ could do us, although one at a time. I went first. Roberta ran off to do some grocery shopping. Over an hour later, Sarah was finally finished with what appears to be her very first set! We made an excuse for Roberta’s fills and practically ran out the door. It would be nice to say that “you get what you pay for” but at $35 (plus tip) this was almost double what I pay at home. And you thought life on the road was a picnic…

Lester made a big purchase today and bought supplemental brakes for the Tacoma. For all you mechanical types, he bought Smartbox Braking (Vacuum-Assisted Braking) and the model is called Air Force One. The best thing about this particular brand is that you don’t have to manually move a braking device in and out of the truck every time you want to unhook it from the RV. It will be installed on Friday.

Yesterday I attended a seminar about Habitat for Humanity. It reaffirmed what I had already suspected about this worthwhile cause. It is not a give-away program. Everyone who is selected has to put in their own ‘sweat equity’ and then they have a mortgage for their house. The people who are selected are considered the ‘working poor’. The concept is that everyone should have simple, decent housing. I urge anyone who’s had an interest to explore it more fully.

We’re excited to have made plans for dinner on Friday night with Danny & Sharon Alan, Danny is Tanda’s brother.

It’s a good day. But seriously, aren't they all?

Can You Picture It?

Les got a chance to ride a Segway that belonged to a guy at the rally. Yikes! Could there be another toy in his future??

Picture this: 150 Monaco motorhomes, almost all with a tow car, in a great big caravan from Salem to Redmond on Highway 22. Wow, what a site. We were #37 and it took us about 3 1/2 hours. It was a beautiful drive, too!

Les and I were doing a little calculating that the rolling stock in that caravan was probably worth about 45 to 50 million dollars. Roberta thought our estimate was low! Most of the coaches were the upper end of the Monaco line... ohh la la...

New Blog, New Place, New Fun

Here we are in Salem, Oregon experiencing our first "Monaco International Rally". When we bought our new coach we were given a one year membership in the Monaco International Club (which is basically just a bunch of people who own a Monaco Motorhome) and also the FMCA (Family Motor Coach Assn.)

Along with our friends, Doug & Roberta, we decided to attend our first "Monaco Rally", We are having a great time! The people have been very friendly, the food has been great (2 meals a day, cocktail hours, and entertainment nightly ) and we've attended a number of seminars that are helping us understand our coach and how to use and care for it. The Monaco Corporation is really great at supporting the coaches they build. Today I took a seminar about Mobile Internet with the webmaster of the Monaco website, which is where I learned about Blogger.com. It seemed like a great way to write about our travels and letting everyone decide when or if they'd like to follow along.

A side note, each rally participant receives 2 repairs from Monaco Tech's while you're here and Les requested the headlights be addressed! Thanks to a new fuse in a very obscure location, we now can travel at night as well as day! Yeah!

This is considered a "pre-rally" since it precedes the FMCA rally in Redmond, Oregon, next week. We've decided to continue on to that rally next week, which will be a lot larger than this one (there are about 350 coaches at this one) and will include all types and brands of RV's.

We had a down day on Monday, so we took a motorcycle ride to the coast. On our ride back we passed fields of round hay bales that are wrapped in white plastic. It made me laugh out loud because it looked like fields of giant Stay-Puft Marshmallows! Since I didn't have my camera this isn't my picture, but you get the idea.