September 28th

They said earlier this summer we might be in for what we call an Indian Summer.  Well that got blew out the door because we have had a record breaking rain fall for the month of September.  The next couple of days will put us over 5 inches for the month, with most of that coming in today and tomorrow.  We have batten down the hatch and waiting for this weather front to blow out of the area.  So this is the type of weekend to sit in doors and play on the computer and do a little bit of research on future trips we might be wanting to take.
The other day I took some pictures of our cousins "Rat Rod" in the making.

 As you can see it is starting to come together.

If everything goes as planned and nothing ever does.  They will start painting it this next week.  I guess they are going to paint it with a couple of different coats then do some more block Sanding and then the final coats will be put on.  Then it is time to do all the wiring and get this thing running.  Looking forward to seeing it on the road.  It has been a very long process getting it this far.
I though I would take a few pictures of where we are staying now.

It is a pretty nice area and we really want to thank our host for putting up with the red neck campers.
Also notice the RZR is covered and dry.  Turbo really likes this area because he can get out and run.

 He really likes the area for running as you can tell, I just wish he would bring the ball back to me.  Still working on that.

But after a good run he does like to take it easy.

This picture was taken last Monday before the weather really went down hill.  Hope we make it through the next few days of rain.

September 17th

We have just about got all of the doctor stuff out of the way, so it is time for us to play a little bit. Yesterday we went to the Washington State Fair here in Puyallup.  Not much has chanced over the years.  We did stop at the dairy barn and have our Ice Cream Cone.  I always have to have at least one cone.  We walked through all of the buildings, seen all of the animals, from goats to pretty little rabbits.  We had to stop at the Seattle Fudge, then on to the taffy shop.  After watching the pulling of Taffy we got a banana and chocolate stick.  Then it was getting close to dinner time, so I had to have a fair burger with all the trimmings.  I think we did more eating around the fair then anything else.
The main reason for coming to the fair today was to see Alabama.  The last time we seen them was 10 years ago here at the fair.  They put on another great concert, the only problem was we did have a little bit of rain but that did not dampen the spirit of the crowd.  They played a lot of there old hits and a couple of new ones.
This next week I am going to try and catch up with a few old friends and find out how everyone is doing.
And yes the king has a nice brand new red blank to lay on, along with Cyndy!!!!

 

 

A couple of days ago we got asked if we are still working for Adventure Caravan, and the answer is yes and we are hoping to have a few trips to tell you about in the coming months.  So if you would like to travel with us, keep an eye on our blog.

 



September 12th

We have been home for just about a week and the weather has been great.  It has been really hot in the afternoon, so we take a little time to just put up our the feet and relax a little.   We have been able to visit with almost all the grand children.  Morgan & MJ have been fun to just sit with and play with.  MJ is getting real good with her numbers and letters.  Morgan is up and walking every where.  Jared is doing great, he has a new ATV and he loves to talk to papa all about it. 
I have got a few things fixed on the coach that I have been putting off, and Cyndy keeps adding stuff to the list.  Maybe some day I will have everything done.  I doubt I will ever get everything done, but it is nice to hope so.  We have also been doing the Doctor thing, we have a few more to go then will have that all out of the way.
Jared wants us to go to Sand Lakes with them in October so we are thinking about going their with them. They are going their this weekend, hope they have a great time.  We have plans for a football game at one of the oldest High Schools in Tacoma this Saturday.  Cyndy's Uncle Joe, is the oldest living grad from Stadium High School., and will be the guest of honor.  He is 98 and still doing great.
Not much else going on, we got a letter from Adventure Caravan to put together a wish list for 2015 & 2016.  So hopefully we will have some trips in the years to come.

September 8th

We made it back to Spanaway yesterday afternoon.  It was great to be back in the area we call home.  We stay at our cousins house, which makes it real nice for us.  Turbo likes it a lot, because the back yard is fenced in and he can run as much as he wishes.
It feels great to be doing nothing, Cyndy said this morning; isn't it nice we don't have to get up and go to work!!!   We both are happy to just lay around and do nothing, but these next two weeks, we have appointments for all of our doctors that we need to see.  That doesn't sound like much fun.  We are looking forward to visiting with family and helping out were we can.
Today we are having a family dinner with our kids and Rose & Dennis kids.  Our two daughters get along real well and we are both happy for that.  Anyway we are setting for a while, so until anything else comes up I will be sure to post it.
Oh, talk about making a dumb mistake, I order a tool and had it shipped to what I thought was our cousins house, well it end up going to Salton City.  So tomorrow I will be doing some calling and hoping to get it rerouted to this address.  Next time I will make double sure of the correct address.

September 6th

Woke up this morning with the sound of rain on our roof.  Rolled over and went back to sleep and woke up hour later and had slept in untell almost 8:00 AM.  That's late for me, Cyndy just rolled over and went back to sleep.  Turbo wanted out, but with the rain falling he was back in and up on the bed before I could get my shoes off.  He didn't want anything to do with that rain, I don't blame him because I was glad he didn't want to walk all over the place.
I decided to fix  my wonderful wife her favorite breakfast, sausage and gravy over biscuits.  Really I was getting hungry and wanted something to eat, so that is what I fixed for breakfast.  Besides Cyndy likes it too! 
After breakfast we headed up to the outlet mall, what a let down.  No more Black & Decker store, and a lot of stores closing out.  Asked one of the folks in Bass why they were moving out and they said landlord kicked them out!!!  I will be wondering what will be coming back to this place, I miss my Black & Decker store.  We did make it to the Kitchen Gadget Store, we looked all around it, up and down every isle in the store.  But we still did not find a thing we could not live without or replace something we all ready had.  We are still trying to see if we can get a toaster oven in our rig, just have to find some where to store it when not in use.  We will have to think about this one.
We headed up town to look at some of the old cars parked around town.

 Liked the looks of this T-Bird!!!

What a great tow rig for a 5th-wheel or travel trailer.

This had to be one of our favorite trucks here.

 

Cyndy liked this car and I thought it was ok!!!

They wanted a pretty penny for this one, $35,000.00

I liked this one the best of all rigs that are here, 

got to love Papa's Toys.  Its all about who has the biggest toy, and I think this guy has it when it comes to a wagon.
We went by Terry & Nick's tonight and said our good-by, and hugs.  What great people, our paths will most likely cross this winter at sometime!!!  We were hoping to see Dave & Lynn, but we passed them on the way out of the park and said our good-by as they were heading out to dinner.
Tomorrow morning we will be leaving here and heading for Spanaway, Washington to spend a little bit of time with our kids and grandkids.

September 5th

You got to love full timing to really understand this next statement.  You meet the neatest people in the world on the road and they are friends forever.  Today we finally got together with

 Dave & Lynn Cross.  We first meet them at a Gypsy Rally.  While we were talking to them up walks another couple,

Nick & Terry Russell.  We got our hug's from everyone and started talking about everything under the sun, well I should say cloudy day.  It was great to see both couples.  Next there was a car show going on in town and they did a cruise by here in the park.  Here are a few pictures of some of the cars.  Can't show them all.

Like the camshaft for a front bumper!!!

Nick was checking out a new job as Taxi driver, but couldn't pick up anyone!!!

This had to be our favorite of all the cars that showed up here at the park.

Yes, their is a roster in the cab!!!
After the cars were all through driving by the 6 of us headed out for dinner, and a lot more talking about what has been going on with our life's.  Nick keeps everyone laughing and we had a great time.  Looking forward to visiting with them again tomorrow. 
Oh yah, I almost forgot, I got all the sand washed of the rig this morning and it looks new again!!!!  The roof was the worst, but I made it up and down the ladder OK!!!
One other thing, we almost forgot what it was like not having to do anything but taking care of each other and just having fun.  Sorry to say, we are not going to miss that job!!!!

September 4th

First, I am going to tell you a little bit about what we did yesterday.  We have been asked to come and tour the Reddy Ice plant here in Coos Bay.  The owners (two brothers) of the camp ground where we have been all summer, also own and run the Reddy Ice plant.  We have been wanting to see how they make the ice, we have been selling, and everyone buys to keep there favorite drink or food cold.
It was real interesting how they do it.

 

 They run water over these racks and freeze the water, when it is all frozen they run hot water thru the lines and it fractures' the ice and it falls into the hopper below and it starts all over again. It takes about 10 to 15 minutes for a cycle to be completed.  From there it is augured into another room where it is a hole lot cooler.

 Cyndy stepped into this room for about 30 seconds and was out again.  Anyway in this room they kind of have a big bind where the ice is tumbled and dried to -10 degrees so that it keeps that clear look that the ice has.  It is kind of hard to explain but it was cool in that room with all the air moving around too!!! I was glad to get out of their too.

 Here is were all the ice is bag and put on pallets for the cooler and out into the trucks for all the different stores here in Oregon.  I don't remember the number of bags that they do in an hour but they ship out about 90 to 150 pallets a day.  For a small opreration they send a lot of ice out.

Each one of these pallets have 200 bags on it.
The rest of the day we waited for our check and finished packing the trailer for the early drive today.

The last day here was beautiful, but we are looking forward to heading back home.  Last night Steve and Laverne took us out for dinner and to thank us for helping them this last season.  We had a good time working for these people and we have gained another couple that we can call friends forever.  We had a lot of fun last winter with these two and look forward to see them again this winter, just not as a employee.  We are planning two trips to the desert, one for the Roughneck Rendezvous Off-Highway Geocaching Adventure and the other is for the 4x4 event the first weekend in March!!!
This morning we got on the road early because it has been a while, and we were just itching to get going.  It has been a while and we didn't have any problems at all.  I like the new gears that I put into the rear end 463's and the new exhaust brake I had installed called a BD. 

Here are a few pictures of our trip north to Seaside.

It was a cool drive along the coast, being from this area it is not surprising that it is overcast.

 

Turbo setting where he gets the best view.

The king of our rig, yep Turbo!!!

The trees are really leaning from the wind of the coast, you see this a lot along 101!!

 

It is amazing some of he pictures Cyndy takes.

 

 

Cyndy's favorite stop along the Oregon 101, Lincoln City's Outlet Malls.

We seen these on a lot of Barns here in Tillamook County, with a pattern from a quilt painted on them.  We had a good drive, it was nice and slow and enjoyable sights.  I know that these two lane roads are good for a nice ride and not being in a hurry to get any where fast!!!  We made it to Seaside and looking forward to seeing some friends that are here.

 



 







September 2nd

What a relief, we have done something that was very hard to do?  Maybe not that hard, but we have finished our year with Steve's ATV Rental with a smile :).  It has been fun but there comes a time when you have to say this is to much like work.  Any way we are back to being retires and looking forward to it.  Tomorrow we pack things up and stow stuff away, to get ready to leave for Seaside, OR.  We will stay their for a couple of days to say hi to some friends that we haven't seen in a couple of years.  Then it is off to where we call home!!!!
I will be posting a little bit more as the weeks go by.  We are hoping to find out what trips we will be doing for Adventure Caravans in the future so we can let people know.  We should have something solid by the end of October to the first of November. 
Its great to be hitting the road again!!!!!!