August 20

Finally home!

We had four days at Wine Country RV in Paso Robles to unwind. We were lucky to get a space as the park was full due to an Olive Festival that was to take place over the weekend. The first two days we had a premium spot on the upper level, but had to move to the lower level on Friday to accomodate someone with a prior reservation. Paso is normally very hot in the summer, but this heat was draining. We decided to go see our friend Todd at Moonstone Winery in Cambria. As we neared the coast we could see a fog bank filtering into the town. And I didn't bring a sweater! It was actually cold. By the time we had had lunch and tasted a few of Todd's creations the sun was out. Out we went loaded down with a case of our favorites.

Friday morning we moved to the lower level then we did absolutely nothing, until late afternoon when we decided to visit, Cindy, our favorite wine pourer at J&J Winery.  Rob wanted to talk to winemaker Maureen about availability of grapes in the next couple of months, but she was nowhere to be found. No problem, we tasted our way through the bottles Cindy had opened then convinced her to open a couple of others. We managed to get away with only two cases. Back at the park we noticed a Country Coach Inspire had moved in across the street. I found Rob over talking with owner, Norm, when he was supposed to be watching the lighted BBQ (remember the incident at Carabelle Beach just a few short months ago). Norm and his wife, from San Diego area,  had just returned from a trip to Alaska, a possible destination for next summer for us.

Saturday we needed to check out a new favorite, Pear Valley. Still very hot, but their air conditioner was on full blast. We  came away with only three bottles!

Getaway day Sunday dawned early, and we were up with the chickens (there really aren't any chickens at the rv park). The lower site was somewhat tight, but there was plenty of room for Rob to back out. The drive home was uneventful and we were pleasantly surprised with the condition of the road through Santa Barbara. The construction was finally completed with three lanes in each direction all the way to Montecito. Gone are the days of endless traffic due to the stop lights on the freeway. We arrived home to find the gates open ready for us to back in. Our house sitter, Charlene was doing some last minute gardening in the back yard. She's been a great house sitter and has somehow managed to keep my tomato plants alive and prospering. She proudly presented us with one of the heirloom tomatoes she had been nurturing that must have weighed a full pound. I've never been able to get them to grow that beg, at least not before the squirrels helped themselves.

Today dawned even earlier! Dusty didn't appreciate being able to sleep in his own bed, outside in the dog pen instead of curled up next to my bed. He got me up at 3:30, or rather Rob did yelling at him. Oh well, it's cool now and I can get the laundry finished before the sun comes up. Vacations over!!

August 11, 2012

Yea! California bound! We’re on our way home.

Thursday the last of our fixit list were taken care of. We were in the starting blocks early Friday morning and made it all the way to Red Bluff and Durango RV Resort. This is a very nice, new, clean park right on 5. Wide, long sites with lots of pull-throughs. Temps were blistering at over 100 degrees so the air conditioning got a work out.

It’s 6:45 am and Courtneys are already on their way to the Sacramento area to visit some friends. We’re heading to Ahwahnee where they will join us tomorrow. Forecast for today is over 100 degrees for the next few days.

Ahwahnee is just a few miles from Yosemite if you could go over the hills. By road it’s about 1 ½ hours to the valley floor. The road to our RV park, Sierra Meadows, winds and climbs for several miles and includes a hairpin turn that required use of the entire road. Since no one was on the road it wasn’t a problem. The park is set in a stand of oak trees and across the street is a golf course (Sierra Meadows Golf Course). A sign on the road says to check in at the golf course for the park so Rob drove the RV a few feet down the road to the course. It was very evident immediately that there was no room for the RV in their parking lot. After taking a look around we decided to go right on out and back to the park. It wasn’t any easier to tell where to go in the park. So we drove in the main entrance and straight up a slight hill to a chain across a road that continued up into the hills. At that point Rob decided to drive the car back to course to see what was what. When he came back he decided it was imperative that he back all the way down the hill to the street, about 100 yards. It wasn’t really a problem since the road was pretty straight. Getting into any of the sites was not an easy exercise either. It required a little jockeying to get in. Once in we were set and found, even with all the trees, we did have satellite. Wifi was also available, although we seemed to get kicked off after a using it for a short while. The heat continued into the night well into the 90’s if not over 100.

The park itself is pretty rustic with only basic amenities, water, electric and sewer. We were lucky to have one of the few picnic tables around. Oak and pine trees are everywhere. For the birding enthusiasts there were lots of Acorn Woodpeckers and California Quail, a few Scrub Jays, and a White Breasted Nuthatch or two.

August 12, 2012

This morning we ventured over to our new golf club at River Creek Golf Course. This is a nine hole course a few miles back down the road. It’s owned by a good friend of ours, Dr. Steve Michel and managed by his son, Scott. We have a tee time for tomorrow morning early.

Courtneys arrived in the afternoon after visiting friends in the Sacramento area yesterday. They pulled into the site right next to us. Did I mention that this park is completely empty except for a park host?? Sandy’s been following the Olympics so it was imperative that they have satellite coverage. This had Don jockeying back and forth in the site checking for coverage. Not satisfied he pulled forward into an adjacent site and tried again. Still not satisfied he moved from site to site checking for coverage. Ultimately, he ended up back where he started and after a little more jockeying, finally found the spot they needed for satellite coverage.

Still sweltering, yet we had our afternoon cocktail hour in the shade of a huge oak tree. Followed by a delicious planked salmon dinner.

August 13

Up early for an 8:08  tee time. Rob, Don and I got to the course before 8 and were able to tee off immediately. We were advised to go ahead because the men’s group was to follow us and they were incredibly slow (this from the man in the pro shop). The course is very pretty, dotted with oak trees, huge boulders, a couple of water features with fountains, and a dry stream bed running through. We had planned to play the course twice to get in 18, but by the end of nine we were all dripping wet so we packed it in. Scott was kind enough to comp our round so we weren’t out anything.

After a quick lunch, we decided to take a run over to Yosemite. Neither the Courtneys nor the Browns had been there for more years than we could remember. Seems we weren’t alone in our plan. Cars and people everywhere. We stopped a couple of times to gaze at nature’s wonder and take some pictures then headed for the Ahwahnee Hotel. No place within reasonable walking distance to park and we had Dusty in the car so Rob let us off and went to park. Don, Sandy and I went in to take a look at the hotel. Absolutely beautiful. A very old hotel that’s been kept up as it was built. I found a postcard for Rowan and mailed it in an antique post box. We wandered outside to look for Rob who was nowhere to be found. My plan to summon him by phone was squelched as there was no cell service right by the hotel. As I walked further away I acquired some bars and was able to connect. Just as it began to ring I saw Rob pulling up to pick us up. Lots of people were obviously hiking and picknicking in various areas. One parking lot was almost completely filled with rental RVs. Cruise America must have done a landslide business this summer. Having seen some incredible sites we headed home. From the valley floor to the rv park is about 1 ½ hours.

Half Dome was almost invisible due to a heavy haze from a nearby forest fire. Still awe inspiring tho'.

Cocktail hour was still incredibly hot. We moved inside Brown’s abode in triple unit air conditioning.

August 14

Today was a day to relax and catch up on things we’ve neglected. Courtneys used the day to pack up their coach and get it ready for storage. They head all the way home tomorrow while we will head to Wine Country RV in Paso Robles.

August 10, 2012

Arrived at Camp Country Coach Sunday evening (Aug 5).  Courtneys are still with us. We’re both having service work as well as some things worked on. Courtneys’ collision damage is already repaired and good as new.

While here we’ve had some spare time to wander around. We set Dusty up for a beauty treatment on Monday and we headed to King Estate Winery for lunch. We wanted a reservation for 11:30, but had to settle for noon because the earlier times were full. We arrived about 11:15 and were immediately seated on the patio overlooking the vineyards and the adjacent hills dotted with pine trees. What a lunch we had! Starting with a flight of wines. We all chose a flight which included a Chardonney, a Merlot, a Cab Sauv, and a Syrah. Each glass was about 1 ½ ounces. Good wines, but way overpriced. Lunch took over 1 ½ hours culminating with desserts of malted milk ice cream (Sandy), blueberry pie with salted caramel ice cream (Don), apricot sorbet (Rob), and bread pudding (me). Still weren’t hungry for breakfast on Tuesday.

Tuesday, Rob and I moved to Coach Glass RV Solutions to have our windshield replaced. We had a straight crack of about 7” start from the bottom of the middle between the windshield wipers and ended up with a crack about 20” which was turning around in a circle by the time we got it replaced. In order to let the glass set up we had to keep the slides in and stay at Coach Glass for the night. At least we were able to plug in, but only because we had a long enough extension cord. There are railroad tracks right across the street and the trains ran all night so not much sleep that night.

Back to Country Coach on Wednesday for chassis service and alignment. While we chilled out in CC lounge, Don and Sandy went to see “The Dark Knight”. No high recommendations from them. Don’t waste your money. Some of Sandy’s adjectives…stupid, violent, sickening, moronic…you get the idea. Don’t waste your money.

Aug 5

Thursday, Aug 2 was another day of fishing for Rob again at 4:30 a.m. Today the fish won. At least we have one in the freezer. The day culminated with a delicious dinner at the Tacoma Yacht Club, Vern and Sharon’s club.

Friday Vern got us onto McChord Air Force Base for a round of golf at Whispering Firs Golf Course. Another win for the golf course for me. Rob, Don and Vern had some sort of game going by the hole, not sure who won. Vern gave a dollar to Don who gave a dollar to Rob who gave a dollar to Vern, or something…. Sandy hung out with Sharon all day. Dusty hung out at Sharon’s house. Neither Sharon nor Sandy were home when we got back from golf. They had gone to lunch at the new golf course, Chambers Creek leaving Dusty to guard the house. They wisely closed all the doors to the rooms leaving just the living room and kitchen to his devices. But, he was a good dog and was ecstatic to find out he hadn’t been abandoned when we arrived. We enjoyed some smoked salmon on the patio to the sounds of gunshots echoing in the evening air. Their house is adjacent to a gun range that has been there since the 1800’s. The city council in their ultimate wisdom grandfathered the club’s right to be there despite many complaints from the local residents.

Saturday, found us on the road again. Courtneys and Browns both have maintenance or service work scheduled at the Country Coach factory in Junction City, OR. First stop is at Mallard Creek RV and Golf Resort (do you sense a pattern here???) for the night and a round of golf on Sunday. This time I’m ready for the golf course thanks to some sage advice from Vern.

 We got away from Gig Harbor okay at 9 on the dot, hampered somewhat by Rob’s continuing problem with the lights on the tow car. We were making good time with Rob in the lead. I was reading an absorbing book, but I looked up to see where we were and saw a sedan to the right, partially off the freeway and partially in our lane. He was backing diagonally across the freeway. What the hey!!!! Rob barely had time to swerve into the fast lane. With horn blaring we just squeeked by. As we went by I looked down into the car but couldn’t see anyone in the driver’s seat. Rob said he thought he saw someone slumped over the wheel. Rob pulled over to the side off the freeway. Courtneys were behind us and couldn’t see what the hazard was but had the good sense to stop. The sedan was still backing and hit the left front fender on the Courtney’s coach. Rob got out to see if we had sustained any damage. Traffic continued to speed past, although the cars going north were rubbernecking and traffic was slowing on that side. Eventually an EMT vehicle arrived with lights flashing followed by a couple of police cars. Finally Rob came back and we left on the advice of the highway patrolman who thought we were still in jeopardy just by being on the side of the road. We moved down the road to a rest stop to wait for the Courtneys. We finally got the facts of what happened later when we stopped at Mallard Creek. Apparently a young guy in a red sedan had just been released from the hospital and wasn’t feeling well so he tried to pull off the freeway. He may have fainted with his car in reverse. After Rob swerved around him Don, also laying on the horn, was able to stop. The sedan continued to back up across the freeway hitting Don on the left front bumper. A small truck, pulling a trailer, behind Don tried to wedge the sedan into the center divider. Fortunately, the damage is minimal and no one was injured. Luckily Don has plenty of witnesses for his report to his insurance agent. Otherwise his story that the damage to his front end was caused by someone backing into him on the freeway might not be believed.

We arrived at Mallard Creek with no further incidents. A little unwinding with some wine and a quickly thrown together dinner at the Browns and we’re good to go.

Sunday golf was good for me. I managed to shave 11 strokes off my McChord score by following Vern’s suggestions.

Checkout time at Mallard was 2:00. We made it with time to spare after our golf game. Now we’re safely ensconced at Camp Country Coach for some service work to start tomorrow.

July 31

Leavenworth to Gig Harbor, another 4 hour uneventful jaunt. We’re staying at the only rv park in Gig Harbor, the Gig Harbor RV Resort. Not much of a resort, although it does have a tiny swimming pool. The park is built on the slope of a hill with tight sites cut into the slope parallel to each other upslope. There’s another flatter section at the top, but these are smaller sites and seem to have mostly long term residents. We’re stopping here to visit with friends Vern and Sharon Kondra who live in Tacoma and so Rob can go salmon fishing with Vern.

Tonight we had a visit from some friends from our motorhome group, Southwest Country Coachers, Kathy and Emerson Marsh and their poodle, Fanci. Kathy and Em live in Montesano, about 1 1/2 hours away from Gig. They no longer have their motorhome so it was a treat to see them.

Don and Sandy Courtney, Emerson and Kathy Marsh and Rob

Aug. 1

Rob got up at 4 am to go fishing with Vern. I didn't!

Success!!



Sunday, the 29^th, we headed for Leavenworth, Wa and the Icicle River RV park. Leavenworth has a Bavarian feel to it with lots of shops selling German stuff and German restaurants.

Icicle River RV is on the Wenatchee River nestled in a valley of craggy slopes reminiscent of an Alpine village. At least I think so, never having seen an Alpine village except in pictures. The river runs right along the base of the mountains and our sites were right on the river. Absolutely incredible views from the coach.

Out the front of our coach.

On the other side of the river.

Cocktail hour with our friends Don and Sandy Courtney, enjoying the scenic river overlook.

We only had two nights in Leavenworth so we had to make the best of it. Our arrival day was pretty much shot with the four hour drive from Deer Park. (I think one of those hours was spent inching our way up the hill into Leavenworth in Sunday traffic.) The boys were pooped so we just kicked back and enjoyed the scenery.

Monday we set out with a full days agenda…breakfast, followed by wine tasting (this area is known as the biggest pear producing area in the U.S. if not the world, but is also part of the Okanagan wine producing area), followed by playing tourist in Leavenworth, and ending with German food for dinner.

We were sent down the highway to a café that serves the best breakfast in the area. Rob was told the name and where it was only he forgot the name, but had a general idea where it was. Okay, I think we got there. In any case, we all had terrific breakfasts. The waitress recommended that we order half breakfasts, which we did. Even the half sizes were huge and we ate way too much. This was a late breakfast so we wouldn’t need lunch. We timed it to coincide with the opening of the local wineries.

The first winery we found was called Cascadia. Not an impressive looking building; just a unit in a small commercial building. This is a one person operation: owner, winemaker, salesman, etc. with a master’s degree in oenology from UC Davis. Some really good wines.

Then we went down the road a bit to Icicle Ridge winery. Absolutely gorgeous setting. An old log cabin built by the winery owner and used as his home where he grew pears and raised his family. With his daughters out of the house he decided to retire and turn the house into a winery. Wines were only so so and way too expensive for the quality.

Icicle Ridge Winery

Tourist traffic slowed down some it being Monday, but we still weren’t the only ones on the street. Your typical touristy items in most of the stores, German-style, but many made in China. Actual German-made items were too pricey to consider.

As with other towns in the northwest, gold brought people to this area. Gold mining continued until 1975. The Leavenworth townsite was the supply source for the miners.  A rail route over the mountains completed in 1893 linked Leavenworth to the rest of the country and lumber became a big industry. In 1925 the Great Northern Railway Company decided to move its headquarters to Wenatchee and move its tracks to a canyon not so prone to avalanches. This move, along with WWI and WWII caused a decline in the population and the economy. The townspeople turned to outdoor recreation with the construction of a toboggan run and ski jump in the late 20's. But the town was still in a depression which lasted about 30 years. In the 1960's a group of residents, determined to find a way out of the depression, banded together and created a community plan of action. In 1965 the community committed to "go alpine" and by 1968 14 buildings had been remodeled to reflect the new theme. Theme festivals were added slowly and this year there will be 19 of them. Based on the number of people in town as we drove through I'd say the economy is safe in Leavenworth.

Dinner at Andreas Keller a local German Biergarten.

Next stop Gig Harbor.

One night in Missoula where we got new shoes on the coach and car finally! Not to make it too easy, Rob picked the older Les Schwab to use which made it a little tight to get into. With instructions from Todd at Les Schwab we bypassed downtown Missoula. He suggested that we pull into the Staples lot right across the street where they would work on the tires. Well, we made it into the lot, but not before dragging all the tires on the right side of the coach and the car over the curb as we made a tight turn. The bad news was they don’t have the equipment to make the exchange in the parking lot at this LS. We had to back up across the two lane city street and into the LS parking lot. With 5 ft tall Asst. Mgr Alex standing in the middle of the street to block traffic and me on the walkie talkie, not to mention Rob’s excellent backing ability, we made it into a very tight LS lot. The end result was successfully installed new tires all around. I’m not sure how Rob got out of the lot. I left to go shopping and met him at the RV park. Alex had to come out to boost the air pressure.

With an early start on July 25th Courtneys and Browns made it all the way to Deer Park, WA and the Spokane RV Resort and Deer Park Golf Club. Boy was it hot!. The park is very well laid out with cement pads and grassy spaces in between sites. We were on the golf course while Courtneys were directly across backing up to a wide green space which made a nice spot for meals behind their coach. The plan was to play a round of golf early in the morning. Our plans were changed due to a two day tournament at the course.

View off the back of our coach.

Nearby is an area called Green Bluff; an agricultural area dotted with U-pick farms and orchards. Armed with a map of the area we set out in search of cherries. We found several farms we could have stopped at and picked our own, but we opted for one that already had a great selection of fruits and vegetables already picked for us. The thought was we could pick cherries and make a pie. We could have bought already picked pie cherries for $17/lb or buy a frozen pie to cook for $12. Since I was the likely candidate to make a pie I quickly selected a frozen one and was it great. One of the best cherry pies I’ve ever tasted.

Rob getting ready to pick cherries

Next day we did get a tee time after the tournament at 2:10. The weather cooperated somewhat by providing a light cloud cover, making it a little cooler. For once the course was kind to me and I broke 49 on the first nine. Not so lucky on the second nine, but I came close to breaking 100.