Catching up on the last week, and then some...

October 11, 2010
Rolling Hills Casino, Corning, CA

Wow; where do I start? At the beginning, or course. I'm way behind in updating this blog, partially because we've been busy and partially due to limited Internet access. So, to recap...

We wrapped up our stay in Woodland, WA, last Tuesday morning. We headed south on I-5 and were soon at the Monaco Service Center in Coburg, Oregon. We spent time at the "old Monaco" in years past, but this was our first visit since their bankruptcy and acquisition by Navistar. We rolled in just after noon on Tuesday to check in for our Wednesday appointment. In a weird twist of fate, they actually did the work (changing one slide seal) in the afternoon while we were off visiting Northwest RV Surplus, Jerry's Hardware and Costco, and getting the pups cleaned up at PetsMart. That never happened in the old days.

Wednesday, we settled up on the bill, but decided to stay another day. We had a mobile carpet cleaner come out and do the little rug we have left, plus the couch. It looks good but, with the humidity, it's been taking longer than we'd like to dry. Not bad, though, to get everything clean inside and out, since I got the power washer out and cleaned the coach and Rover.

Thursday, we headed for the coast in the afternoon, following OR-126 to Florence and then US-101 south. We were following the route we intended to take last fall, before the accident with the Rover. The trip rapidly turned into a rainy day drive, perfect for a just-washed set of vehicles. On the other hand, if they never got dirty, it would mean we weren't enjoying our travels. We decided to spend two nights at a RV Park in Charleston, OR. We were a little put off by the "perma-rigs" (generally old junk trailers that haven't been moved in years and are unlikely to do so any time soon - with occupants to match) near the entrance, but once we were parked we were OK. This park is right on the beach, and we had a chance to let Merlin and Maya Lynn run in the sand and ocean several times.

Saturday, we were back on the road again, heading back through Coos Bay to US-101, then south. We aimed for Gold Beach, and managed to catch up with our friends Wayne and Eva on their last day there. We had a good visit with them, including lunch at a local restaurant and dinner at "their place". Other than Maya and their Yorkie, Abby, getting into a scuffle over dog food, it was a relaxing time and a good visit.  We haven't seen them since April so we caught up on travels, etc.

Yesterday, we traveled together down US-101 into California (where we had a 10-minute agricultural inspection, for gypsy moths, of all things) and landed at the Elks Lodge in Eureka. After a quick shopping excursion to the local Costco, we were ready for dinner: Rack of Lamb with Mushroom Risotto and a Baby Greens Salad. Oh, yeah; that's good.

Today, we left mid-morning after a nice breakfast at Wayne and Eva's, got fuel, and took the "scenic route" across CA-299, stopping in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest for a nice lunch, over to I-5 in Redding, and then headed south to the Rolling Hills Casino in Corning for an overnight. We'd originally planned to dry camp but the temperatures here in the valley are in the 90s so we opted to stay in their overnight RV Park and plug in to run the air conditioning. We had leftovers (still full from breakfast and lunch) and relaxed a bit, and are now chilling with some TV Life is indeed good...

Oh, yes, there are various pictures and they're downloaded from the cameras and phones but I'm too tired to process them tonight, so they'll get done over the next day or so...