Sewing Weekend

I know it has been a week since my last post, but when nothing exciting is happening I just can't find much to write about.  I am really trying to come up with things and this weekend was worth writing about.  This weekend was a trip up to our good friends Dick & Rose for Cyndy to get some embroidering classes from Rose.  It was a long drive, 40 miles and we were at our favorite camp ground in Mineral, Washington.
We got their Friday afternoon and the classes start right away.  The only problem is Cyndy didn't use her machine, she used Rose's nice "BIG" Brother machine.

All I know is they are using two or three different computers, and these BIG embroidery machines of Rose's.  It looks like the machine is doing everything and they just watch it go around making these great projects.  These are some of the things Cyndy did this weekend, great job.

This is kind of a coaster or just a saying to put in a wall frame.

This is called a Mug Rug!!!

 These can be little purse's on coin purse's, on what ever.

These are some of the things that Rose made this weekend.

We had a great weekend and I know the girls had a lot of fun.  We will have to plan another weekend very soon.
I always say that when the truck needs work done, I need to take it to a Ford Dealer so that if something goes wrong with a repair I can take it to any Ford Dealer and get it fixed.  Well Friday we had a right front brake stick and it got pretty hot, but after I stopped and tapped on the brake peddle it broke free.  So I went to Les Shwab, hoping they could maybe fix it, but they wanted to replace both front brake calipers and rotors for just under $1000.00. They said the brakes still had over 85% brakes left, something isn't right here.  So I looked back at when I had these brakes done, and it was just over 4 months ago and less that 10,000 miles.  So I called my favorite Ford Dealer in Morton, WA, total them my problem and they said they could get me in Tuesday of this next week and it would be covered under warranty.  YEAH!!!!!  So after we got the trailer hooked up Friday we didn't have any problems with the brakes all the way up to Dick & Rose's and almost all the way back.  Just 4 miles away from where we are staying it started to stick again, but as we got closer it freed itself again.  Now if it will just stay that way untell I get back to Morton on Tuesday!!!  Well keep you informed on what happens.

State Wrestling Match

The last few days we have been doing a lot of just running around and getting things done that we need to do.  Nothing of much importance, other than helping get our grand son off to school in the morning.  Speaking of our Grand Son, this weekend it was State Wrestling Matches at the Tacoma Dome, Saturday was High School state finals.  Today was Youth or Peewees (5 to 12 year old's) State Wrestling Tournament for the Puget Sound Area, with the top 40 kids in each weight class. Jared made it from his team, but he gained a little weight and wrestled in the 70 to 75 lb class.

Here he is in the black suit getting started in his first match.  At the Tacoma Dome there was 24 mats and a lot of wrestlers.

 He was beat in his first match by 1 point, he really put his heart into it.  Now most of these kids have been wrestling for years and Jared has been doing it for just 2 years and I think he is doing real good.  Keep it up JR!!!
He really did a great job but his second match he got pinned and was not very happy.  So this wrestling day end fast this morning and we were on our way home before 10:00 AM, better luck next year Jared.  He really like's wrestling and I know he will keep at it all year long.  They practice two days a week after wrestling season is over.
So the rest of the day I watched 40 cars race around the track at Daytona, it was a good race and a few smashed up cars, but all in all a great finish with Hamlin winning by .001 over Truex, Jr.
We are kind of hanging out here in the Northwest tell we head to Great Falls, Montana in June.  We are planning a trip to Long Beach for a couple of weeks the first of April.  Other than that we are just hanging out doing a lot of nothing and maintenance on the coach, nothing major just little things. I am hoping in May to have disk brakes put on the coach, I am going to change out the shackle bolts on springs for wet ones so that I can get some grease to them and that should help them last a lot longer.

Truck Repair Day

Today after dropping Jared off at school we headed up to Morton to Van Cleve Ford to get some work done to the truck.  I really like this Ford Dealer and they are very honest and really try and save you money where they can.  Anyway back to heading up to Morton we made a stop by some good friends Dick & Rose's place in Mineral, so that Cyndy and Rose could play with the sewing machines. I picked up Dick and we head on into Morton for the work on the truck.

I have been hearing a strange noise when ever we use the defrosters, so I thought it was something to do with the air conditioner pump.  While being their I might as well have them change the oil while checking out the pump.  When I gave them a call about the problem I got a quote of $1200.00 for replacing pump and refilling the air conditioner with all of its stuff.  Anyway as I said they do a good job, after having oil changed, air filter changed, fuel filter changed, pump fixed and also a new alternator (the pulley was real sloppy on the alternator) the final bill was $1095.00.  Not bad, I felt they did a great job, so if you ever need anything done on your Ford and you are close to Morton, WA stop by Van Cleve's for repairs.  I also wanted to say I made a appointment for 10:30 AM and they took the truck in before 10:30 to start working on it.  You don't get that in big towns.  

Now a little bit about Cyndy's day, Rose told here she didn't need to bring her maching, because she could use one of Roses.  Rose you a spoiling that girl.

This is the machine Cyndy was using today, Rose said she need to practice on it because in May when she goes to the class on embroidering she will be using a machine like this one.

  She did this on it and one more thing.

 She also made this small hand bag, Cyndy had a great time today and enjoyed herself while we were up waiting on the truck.  It sounds like the girls had a lot of fun.

Rose has big dinning room table, so this is where she sets up her machines.  I am glad they had a great time.  It looks like on the 26th we will move our house up here for the weekend so the girls can play on the machines.  I know Dick and I will keep busy doing something if it is nothing.

Done with Paperwork

Today we finished up all of the paperwork from the Seattle RV Show.

We had a pretty good show,  We did 9 Seminars, 4 on Alaska, 2 on Mexico, 1 on Maritime, 1 on Great River Road, and the last one was on Guided RV Tours.  We talked to a lot of people that had never heard of RV Caravan Company's before and I hope we enlightened them on how much fun they can be. We did not have any sales, but just talking to all the people and giving out over 350 catalogs, I figured we have planted a few seeds and hopefully in the future they will book a trip with us.
We have been watching our Grandson in the mornings before school.

 Yesterday he spent the night because he had no school for Presidents Day.  I think the boy's enjoy having him around.  They will sit by him for hours.  Today he went and spent the night with his other grand parents, but tomorrow morning he will be dropped off at about 5:30 AM for us to take him to school.  He comes right in and falls right back a sleep on the couch, with at least one of the boy sleeping with him.
Tomorrow after we drop him off, we are heading up to Morton to get some work done on the truck. The compressor motor is going out and the oil is due to be chanced.  I will drop Cyndy off at Dick & Rose's place so that Rose and Cyndy can get some sewing done, while I take the truck up to Morton.  It should take about 2 hours so we will see how that goes.
I am still trying to find a good price on having disk brakes put on the trailer.  I have gotten prices from $3150.00 up to over $8000.00.  So I have a couple of people I talked to up at the RV show so I am waiting for them to get back to me on a price.  The gentleman I talked to in Quartzsite got a hold of me and will be up in Oregon in May.  So we will just see how that works out.  I am also looking at have heavy duty wet Mor Ride suspension added to the coach, at the same time I have the brakes done by a company in Kent.  Right now my shackles are dry and would like to be able to grease them, they will last a lot longer with a lot less problems.

Setting up at Seattle RV Show

We are driving from Spanaway up to Seattle everyday, because it is safer and cheaper then staying in a RV park for $50.00 a night plus. They did have a place right up in the industrial park area for us to park but we said no to that also.  Anyway we got our booth pretty well set up, all we have to do is put up some balloons and we are set to go.

  We only have a 10 foot booth but it is just right.  We will be putting on about 9 seminars during the 4 day show. I hope we get a few sales out of this one.  We have been doing pretty good so far this year.  We are on the second floor of the Century Link Expo Center. Stop by and see us and take a chance at winning trip of your choice: Rose Parade, Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, or 1 of the 3 Mega Rally's in Mesa, St. Louis, or Nashville. We are facing the arena,

 and a great view of the rigs on the floor.

  Tomorrow we open so more to come later.

Picked up new Pin Box

This morning after we dropped off Jared at school we head out for Gresham, Or to pick up our new pin box.  Maybe I should back up just a little, we have Jared every morning at about 5:15 AM.  His mom drops him off and we fix him breakfast and then get him off to school.  Not bad and we get to see him a lot more when we are here at home.
Now back to our trip south to Gresham, we started out heading to the freeway but hit a traffic jam, and had to turn around and head out another way.  It added about 10 more miles but we were moving.  We got to Blue Dog at 12:00 noon and they had the old hitch out of the truck, air bag off in about 2 minutes and on the new pin box and back in the truck.  This has to be the shortest stay at Blue Dog we have ever had.  They have done us right on everything they have fixed.  I said we need a new igniter for our stove top, but I miss understood the and they did fix it last time we were here.  I just found out when I tried it the other day, my lose there gain for a great job done.  Any way we got back home at around 3:30 PM and the new pin box was installed right away.

I forgot to take a picture when it was light out so had to go out and take one when it was drak, but still looks great and looking forward to trying it very soon.
On our way back north we were able to see a few of the mounts in our area.

Mt. Hood was looking good as we headed across the Columbia River.

The next on we seen was Mt, St Helen's.

Just a flat top on her.  We had a quick look at Mt. Adams, but could not get any pictures of it.  What a beautiful day.  It made the drive a lot easier, we both enjoyed it.
Cyndy was trying to get pictures of the boys, but they just didn't want to be very helpful.

 Turbo would not look at the camera.

Spike said, OK I will look!!!!
Tomorrow we head up to Seattle to set up the booth and see how long it will take us, I am thinking maybe about and hour.

The back seat of the truck is full, and we will put two tables in the back of the truck in the AM for the drive north.

Clear Day

The last few days we have been doing a lot of really nothing.  We have got to see 3 of our 5 grandchildren. It was great to talk to both of our kids and see their family's.  We are staying at our god-daughters place and have enjoyed talking with them also.  I am going to be helping them get there garage wired in the next few weeks.  We got the panel hung and a few box's.  We will have to get a hole hog to drill holes throw the beams in the pole building so that we can run wire.  If everything goes right we can get this done in the next couple of weeks so that they can get power run to the garage.
Cyndy and I are getting ready to head to Seattle for the RV Show at Century Link Expo Hall.  We were going to stay up near the Expo center but as a little concerned about the area.  So we will drive their every day, it is only 44 miles one way and the coach will be a lot safer. We have everything ready to load into the truck, and Wednesday we will head up to get the booth set up.  So if you are planning a trip to the Seattle RV Show stop by and see Cyndy & I we will be in booth 55.
Today was the best day we have had scene we have been back here.  We have had a couple of days with no rain but this the first day that we had a beautiful clear day.

  Mount Rainier was out in all of it glory today.  It may rain here in the northwest but days like today make it all worth it.  We are going to have a few of these clear days for the next 5 days, YAH!!!!
Tuesday we are heading back down to Gresham, OR to pick up the new pin box for the coach.  Then we will have everything fixed on the coach and ready to hit the road again, but not for a while.  We are going to stay around here and enjoy the grand-kids and relax for a while.

Sleeping isn't all it is cracked up to be!!!

Yesterday we parked just out side of Blue Dog's RV Service Center for our appointment this morning.  Did I tell you it was by a road that looked like it might be pretty safe.  We had plenty of room and was off the road OK, but the traffic got worst then better as the night went on.  We hit the rack at about 11:00 PM and they were still a lot of traffic.  I think around 3:00 AM it quite down but by 5:00 AM it was back up to full load.   So last nights sleep was just a light nap  for the both of us.  I think tonight we will be hitting the rack a lot earlier.
Well Blue Dog did us right, we got the slide out fixed, they checked out the leaky air conditioner and resealed it,  and got the ladder recall taken care of.  This morning when I checked the UPS tracking web sight it showed that the new pin box was going to be delivered today.  The UPS person showed up and no pin box, so maybe it will show up later.  Well about 11:00 AM the web site showed redirected and will be delivered tomorrow.  So the pin box will not be fixed today.  So Blue Dog had us out and on the road by 1:00 PM heading up to Tacoma.  Blue Dog is going to call when the pin box shows up and we will bring the old one down on Tuesday and they will put the air bag on it then we will head back home.  So it looks good on this end.  They will also send us a new igniter for the stove when it gets into there shop, it is on back order.  Blue Dog did us right!!!
We made it to Decia & Chucks house by 4:30 PM, got the coached parked, water hooked up, power hooked up, and now it is time to relax and enjoy life.  So it is good night from this end and looking forward to a good nights sleep!!!!!

Here we come Blue Dog RV Repair

This morning was layed back and in know hurry to get moving.  All we were going to do today was drive to Blue Dog RV Repair in Gresham, OR.  We got up ate some breakfast, then start putting things away.  It was about 10:30 or 11:00 before we pulled out of the Long Beach TTN park.  I was a little worried about the pin box but it was fine.  We had no problems at all today.  Wil is happy now.
We got to Blue Dog at about 3:00 PM and went into the service center and talked with David Martin the Service Adviser. We went over everything that was to be done with the coach, 1 new gear box on slide, 2 center air checked about leak and possible damage, 3 recall on ladder, and 4 installing new pin box which will be here tomorrow.
 I didn't tell you this but yesterday I received a phone call from Lippert who makes the pin box.  They were shipping the lower jaw out yesterday and we should have it by Friday.  They gave me the tracking number and it will be arriving by end of day tomorrow a whole day early.  Yah, maybe they will get that done and we can head home tomorrow.
David said he seen know problem with getting everything done so we will see how it goes. Looking forward to getting homw with the coach fixed and mom happy!!!!

Pin Box back together

Yah, the Pin Box is back together and all looks good.

 If I don't say so myself it looks pretty good.  I want to thank Brian for coming by to help lift it back into place.  It went together pretty fast and we are getting ready to head out tomorrow for Gresham, OR.  We are going to leave here around noon tomorrow for the Blue Dog RV repair shop.  We are going to get the slide fixed and a couple of other things.
Then today I got a phone call from the Trailair company and they said our new pin box would be their on Friday for us.  Now I called Blue Dog and they no nothing about this, so now tomorrow I will call the Trailair company and see if I can get a tracking number so we can find out when it will be here.  So everything on this end is going a lot better.

The lake here in the park has went down about a foot from the first day we showed up here.  Tonight we went out to dinner with Brian & Rita, we head to Mo's in Cannon Beach.  This is our favorite Mo's on the coast and everything was great.  Clam Chowder was nice and hot, and the dinner was great also.  We had a great visit with them and looking forward to the next time we get together.  We are hoping to be back here in a month if not sooner.
On the road tomorrow!!!!

Pin Box?

Well this morning we were up and on the road by 8:30 AM.  We were heading over to Warrenton to find some one that would weld the pin box up solid so there would not be any movement.

As you can see it moves way to much now.  So with some luck I found a shop that would weld it for cash and no recite.  It saved me money and he made some money and everyone is happy.  When I left he said remember I did not weld this for you, I said yep, I did the welding no problem.  It is something to do with liability welding a pin box.

 So this is what it looks like after all welded up, I am happy with it and all it has to do is last until we get the new pin box.  Tomorrow morning Brian is coming by to help get it back in place.

All we have to do is left it up and slide it onto those dogs and the rest will be a peace of cake.  Will let you know how that goes after we get it back in place.
We did a little bit of running around while we were waiting for them to weld it up.  Our first stop was at the vet for the boy's nail trim.  Then we were off to Costco for a few things we needed.  After that we headed over to Jo-Ann's for Cyndy to do a little bit of shopping for something she need.  One more stop at Fred Meyers for the rest of the grocery's that we need and didn't get at Costco.  Then it was time for lunch and Cyndy wanted Taco Time, so off we went to Seaside for lunch.  On our way there we spotted some thing in the field of Seaside High School Football field.

Their had to be about 25 head of Elk in the Football field, the pay must not be to good for the lawn mowing job they are doing, because they were laying down on the job.  I have seen them around Seaside once in a while but never like this.
We made it back to the coach and both of us are trying to fight off the cold so the rest of the day we are sitting back and relaxing for now.