Thursday, March 31, 2016

Long Beach here we come

We have been having some outstanding weather here in Washington.  The last two days the weather has been great.  Sun out, temp in the high 60's to low 70's, being from Washington you can't ask for much better weather.  It is going to be this way through the weekend.
This morning we had a little bit of running around to do, then it was time to hook up the the trailer and head for Long Beach.  We are going there to get a few things done for the company and pick up a few things in Astoria, OR for the trip to Alaska.  We are going to check out a few place that would be good for the starting of the West Coast Tour.  There is so much to see around the Astoria area it will be hard to list them all.  So watch what we find out !!!
We will also be visiting with our friends Brian & Rita. while we are staying here.  We really enjoy their company and have a great time together.  They had us down for dinner tonight and it was great, tomorrow the girls are going to do some sewing and I don;t know what Brian & I will do but who knows what kind of trouble we can get into.
 Tomorrow picture from the Ocean!!!!!

Sunday, March 27, 2016

Easter Sunday

All I have to say today is wish and hope everyone had a great
Easter Sunday.

Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Weather Getting Better

That is right the weather is getting better around here.  It does most of its raining at night, YAH and during the day it is getting better.  By next week we should have sun and some clouds.  But here in the northwest we need all this rain to bring on the April flowers.  One of the old says here is the March comes in like a Lion and out like a Lamb.  So the first part of the month was a pretty good dumping of rain all the time, now it is getting a lot better and with the sun being out more it makes it a lot better.
Cyndy has been busy sewing a new bag together, but I think it is driving her up a creek.  I have never seen her do this much ripping things apart like she has on this project.  But the words are getting better coming out of her sewing room, so she must be making head way.  When she gets it done I will take a couple of pictures of it.  It is going to be a computer bag for our God-daughter Decia,  but it is not done yet so we will have to wait and see.
Myself I have been doing little things like sending e-mails out to our guest about things we may or may not need to know.  I like to keep them informed about what is going to be offered on this trip and things they can do.  Cyndy and I have been getting ready for this trip and really looking forward to it.  It might be a while before we go back to Alaska, so we want this trip to be the best one we have done.
Next week we are heading to Long Beach for a couple of weeks to do some shopping in Oregon.  We hope to pick up most of the food we will be using on this trip.  We try and make out money go as far as possible, and get the most for our dollar.
Anyway I hope your weather is getting better where you are, because here in the northwest it is looking up!!!!

Thursday, March 17, 2016

All Bolts Replaced

This morning after we ran Jared to school we headed down to Six Robles to get 4 sets of shackle's.  I need three on the left and one for a spare.  What a beautiful drive today the sun is out and we can see both the Olympic Mountains towards the coast and they have a lot of snow on them, along with Mountain Rainier to the East.
This is looking from Tacoma up the Puyallup River towards the mountain.  What a beautiful day.
We got back home around noon, so it was time to get started on the left side of the coach replacing the rest of the bolts and plastic bushing.  This side was a little more work and took me just over 4 hours today.  All of the shackles that I took off looked pretty good but still replaced them with the new ones I got, will keep the old ones for spares.  Glad this project is over, I can really feel it tonight and am looking forward to taking it easy the next few days.
One more day of nice weather then the rain will be back starting Saturday afternoon, spring showers bring April flowers.  Hope everyone is surviving the weather and enjoying it were it is nice!!!!


Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Replacing Spring Bolts

Well for the last week we have been just doing not much of anything, but running from the coach to the truck when it is raining and we need to make a run to the store.  Cyndy has been going to physical therapy for her back.  She has been to 3 sessions and say her back is getting better, YAH!!!!
Anyway the middle of last week we were due for a reall bad storm and the mountain showed how bad it was going to be.
  The old Indian legion is "if there is a cap on the mountain it will rain within 24 hours, well this looks like a big hat so it must be going to rain a lot.  Which it did last weekend into Monday with some real good winds and rain!!!!!
Today the weather is changing and it will be nice for the next couple of days, so it is time for me to change out the bolts on the springs with new grease able bolts and brass bushing. I wasn't sure how long it was going to take we, but I set it up so I would do one side today and the other tomorrow.  I am glad I gave myself a lot of time.  I think I worked on it for just over 3 hours with a good break in the middle.  Had to make a run to Six Robles to pick up a longer bolt for one of the shackles.
With a few hiccups along the way I did a pretty good job.  Tomorrow should go a lot better.  Here is a couple of pictures of what I am doing.
 Right here is were I had to make the trip for a bigger bolt, but all is well.
I had to take two wheels off at a time to do the work correctly, but tomorrow it will go a little faster, I hope.  All of the plastic bushings were just about gone.  I think with just about 15000 miles them it is not to bad.  Brass should give me a lot more wear and using rease fitting will make them last a lot longer, too.
As you can see the plastic bushings are gone, but one thing I was not expecting was see the shackles already egg shaped.  Lucky for me I had a spare set for replace this set.  Tomorrow morning before I get started I will head down to Six Robles for a couple of more sets encase the other side has a bad set or two.  There was only one bad set on this side where I has 3 sets.
Tomorrow some more crawling around on my hands and knees, I can feel it a little tonight so a couple of Advil and a good nights sleep will help.

Thursday, March 10, 2016

Love getting Phone Calls!!!

Yesterday we got the truck back with its new Clutch, and we did it again.  This time we got it done before the pilot bearing on the transmissions shaft went all the way out this time.  The needle bearing were gone this time but everything else was good, so Greg said this time they put a brass bushing, which should take care of this problem.
Last night at about 1:00 AM it started blowing and raining real good, It put me back to sleep, but Cyndy had just a little problem getting back to sleep.  It didn't let up tell after about 7:00 AM this morning, but the rain keep coming off and on.  We took a short ride up to our friends Dick & Rose to give them some things that we ordered on Amazon for her.  It rained all the way up and back.
Now to get to what I enjoy doing when I get a phone call from some phone recording, here is how it went, oh yah this phone call came from Kentucky:
Would you like to lower your interest rate on your credit card, just push "1"
Being it is raining out and I can't do anything else to bug some one out side and Cyndy has already threaten me once today what do I have to lose.  I wanted to here what they would do so I pushed "1".
(hear is our conversation that I had with some one)
I see you would like to lower your interest rate on your Visa or MasterCard.
Me " Sure"
We can help you with this and I see here that you make a payment of more than the minimum amount every month, we show you pay 3 to 4 times over the minimum each month.
Me "Yes"
Well we would like to help you so which one of the cards would you like to get the lower rates on?
Me "Visa"
Great we should be able to get it way under 10% with know problem, you have great credit report from our records here.
Me "good"
(I think I have got him hooked now)
Anyway can you please give use the expatriation date on this card.
(OK now for some fun I am going to play this one now)
Me " Do you not have this information in front of you, because you called me and I don't know who you are so can you please tell me if you have the right date."
We need to verify that you are who we have on our computer here before we go any farther.
Me " So what you are saying you know who I am, what my card number is and you want me to verify it for you."
That is correct, can you please read them to us?
Me " Well you called me so I want to verify who you are and what company you are with"
Next thing I know the phone went dead, can you believe it he hung up on me.  The nerve of some peoples kids!!!  The same thing happened about and hour later this time from Florida.  It was still raining so I had some more fun, but this time they got tired of playing and hung up sooner.  These people just don't like playing.  So I guess what I am say be careful when you get a phone call wanting to lower your interest rate on your credit card.

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Preventive Maintains on Truck

This morning I took the truck into the shop for some more preventive maintain's on the truck.  Back in 2010 I had the clutch replaced on the truck and at that time we had 157,000 miles on the truck.  The shop that did it is called Pessemier's Complete Automotive in the Fredrickson area.  They did a real good job last time and the truck is getting close to having 300,000 miles on it.  We are planning a lot of driving this summer and next fall so I figured it was time to replace it and be better off with a new clutch, pressure plate, throw out bearing, and a refaced the flywheel.  The way I look at it, a little preventive maintains goes a long way.
They called this afternoon and said every thing was going good and will have it done tomorrow, they need to replace the hydraulic clutch that is something common when doing this, but it is coming from Portland and will be in tomorrow.  So tomorrow afternoon we will have the truck back and we can give out daughter back her car, which we really appreciate her letting us use it.  
We have pretty much finished calling all of our guest on the 59 Day Alaska trip that we are doing this summer.  We only have one more to talk to, so we are hoping to finish that tomorrow.  Then it is time to start planning menus and other things that we need to do, it is all part of showing them a great time.
If the weather holds true by late Wednesday it will start to clear up and I might get started on replacing all of the bolts on the springs with grease able bolts and brass bushing.  This will help make them last a few more miles longer.  OK, I got my chores set, now to try and get them done, one other thing while home this time we are going to try and lighten the load a little bit more.

Sunday, March 6, 2016

Wiring Shop

The last week we have been doing a lot of nothing, in between the rain showers and great sunny days we have been having.  It is amazing how the weather is changing and the flowers are blooming.  It is hard to believe the daffodil's are already bloomed and looking great.  They say the Skagit Valley flowers are staring to show themselves also.  Years ago we were lucky to see them by the end of March, not the first of March.  The mountain was showing it self a lot this last week.
We have also been a little busy talking to all of our guest on our 59 Day Alaska Tour.  We are under 100 days before we start the trip to Alaska.  I think we only have 4 more couples to talk to and everybody has been contacted.  They all sound very positive and looking forward to starting the trip. This will be our 6th trip to Alaska for Adventure Caravan and we are looking forward to a great trip.
We are currently staying at our God-Daughters house and they have been busy building a shop and I have been helping them wiring it.

 Years ago I use to work with my brother-in-law wiring house's and it is one of those skills that I am glad I learned.  We have got the shop done in just over 8 hours of work, two weekends because we can't work all day.  Being a no-union shop we take a lot of breaks.
 We have all of the outlets installed and ready for the rough in inspection.  Now all the kids have to do is call for the inspection.
Tyler is there oldest son and he has been a lot of help.  He did all of the over head work so I didn't have, here he is running the wire for the over head lights and doing a great job.  After we finished everything Saturday, it was time to sit back and relax a little.
Sunday was another day of not doing much, we did talk to another guest today so the last couple of guest we hope to hear from in the next few days.
We are not really doing a lot lately so I will post when ever something pop's up that I can write about, have a great day and enjoy life, because we are doing our best to enjoy life to its fullest.

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Truck Repair

This morning I was up early, 7:30 AM so I could make it to Van Cleve Ford in Morton.  My appointment was for 9:00 AM and they were waiting for me when I showed up at 8:45 AM.  After checking over the bill from Fiesta Ford in California.  We found out that everything they replaced were Ford parts but for the Calipers, they came from Auto Zone, so I was up a creek without a paddle.  So we looked over everything and they did me OK.  The rotor was OK, which was good.  This time I got Ford Calipers, which I thought I was getting when south.  James & Patty the service writers here in Morton did me right, out the door for only $200.00.  A lot cheaper that what Les Shwab wanted almost $1000.00 because they had to replace everything on the front end.  Anyway I am happy and on my way home by 10:30 AM, not bad.
On my way out of town I stopped and got my tabs for the truck, they are due in the next month and it is a lot less problems getting them up here were the truck is licensed.
Today we are getting hit with a pretty good storm so a good day to sit back and start getting things together for our Alaska trip.  I need to build a e-mail list of all of our guest so that it makes it a lot easier to send everyone a note at once.  One of the major things we have to do is start calling all of our guest in the next week.  So we will be busy with that the next few days, hoping we can catch up with everyone by phone.  I have gotten a few calls the last few days from a few guest, they must be starting to get excited about going.  This is our 6th trip and we are really looking forward to another trip to Alaska.
Cyndy has been busy getting here sewing room set back up and going through all of her tread and getting it set the way she likes.  She has found some nice trays that they keep them in some kind of order.
 As you can see she is getting them all in a row, like little ducks!!!  But she did find one that was going nuts on her,  After about 2 minutes I thought she was going to cut it out, but no she got it straightened out and everything back in its place.
 She need a couple more trays, so tomorrow we get to go to more Jo-Anns looking for trays.  SOunds like fun to me, I will have my book with me!!!!