October 15, 2007
Peoria, AZ
It’s a beautiful thing to be able to take your morning coffee outside on the patio. The combination of cool morning temperatures, clear blue skies, and a lack of bugs makes this a good environment for open-air living. Now that daily high temperatures are moderating (keeping our fingers crossed; forecast says we still have some low-90s days coming up), we’ll be able to keep the doors open and spend as much time as we want outside. I keep thinking about putting a TV out on the patio, but then I realize that we don’t need more TV (or TVs).
Yesterday went pretty much according to plan, except that I didn’t get to lubricate the garage door because all my dry lube is still in the coach. I can’t use something like WD-40 because it attracts dirt and dust, and I don’t want anything gunking it up (a technical term). We’re planning another trip to the coach tomorrow, so I’ll get that stuff then. It’s difficult to know what’s where sometimes, and I’m working hard to avoid a lot of duplication of tools and materials.
I did watch a little football yesterday (hard to “adopt” the Cardinals at this point), but it was more background noise than anything else. Geri made a great apple and pear )not peach like I initially posted) cobbler (baking isn’t her thing, so this was quite a treat) and I tried out a cod recipe that we’d found somewhere (oven-roasted on a bed of lima beans – not a “keeper” in my book but maybe a base to work from with more flavors). The 2003 Sancerre that I picked wasn’t the best choice (the dish probably needed a wine with more body) but it wasn’t bad either.
Today we’re back on the appointment trail. Geri has a mammogram this morning, and we’ve got to make appointments for pet grooming. That means we have to find a new groomer first since we were unhappy with the last service we got here before we left in the spring. I also have a referral to an ENT (ear-nose-throat) specialist that I need to set up; maybe they can help my sinuses enough to reduce the level of my snoring. And, of course, I now have a 2-page to-do list, so I need to organize and prioritize and get started on those things.
We were up early today because of a 6:30 AM phone call from Verizon wanting to renew our contract. This reminded me that I really need to change our phone numbers to Arizona. I’m sure that the call was timed assuming that we’re in NJ based on the 856 area code. Another thing for the to-do list!
Monday, October 15, 2007
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Back home for a while
October 14, 2007
Peoria, AZ
Sorry for the delay in posting. The past few days have involved getting into a different routine, and I haven’t found a groove for composing yet. More on that later…
As planned, we left Las Vegas (wasn’t there a movie by that name?) Wednesday morning and arrived at our place in Peoria by mid-afternoon. We could feel the outside temperatures rising after we crossed the Hoover Dam into Arizona, and especially after we crossed I- 40 in Kingman. Following US-93 to Wittenberg and then US-60 towards Phoenix, the temperature rose from the low-80s to the mid-90s. Because of the large windshield in the coach, we can feel the heat from outside as the coach pushes through the warm air.
Once we got to the house, we emptied the refrigerator and some of the cabinets. Since we are going to be traveling again about five weeks, we knew we didn't want to completely empty the coach. On the other hand, it's sometimes difficult to decide what to leave and what to take. Knowing that we have enough time to make those decisions, we decided to stop unloading and move the coach to its parking spot. Since I gave up our storage area in the spring (they wanted over $2,000 for the annual rent), I decided to park the coach at a local campground. This way, we can keep all systems running and have everything ready for when we leave in November.
The park I selected is on a man-made lake, Lake Pleasant, in the northern part of the city of Peoria. I misjudged the distance though, as it's farther away from the house that I thought it would be. It's a nice park, and we will be able to get in and out of the coach anytime you need to do so.
After we dropped off the coach, it was time to verify that all of the utilities were correctly started. To avoid monthly fees, we turned off the water/trash and gas services while we were away. We also put our cable (TV/Internet/telephone) service in a seasonal resident program. Of course, nothing is ever a simple when you close up the house for five months. When I turned the water on, I found that one of the toilet valves had failed. It wasn't as bad as last year, when both valves essentially exploded, but I knew a trip to Home Depot was in my future. In addition, the TV and Internet services were not working, so I got to spend over an hour on the phone with the cable company. They were able to reset the TV box and the cable modem remotely, and we were back on line. I did find that one of our network components, a switch, apparently did not survive the summer heat, so a stop at Best Buy got added to my To-Do list.
We were able to catch up with our neighbors Clisby and Raymond/Antoinette for a few minutes, and it was good to see that they were doing well. For dinner, Geri whipped up a meal from leftover pasta that we had in the coach, which went nicely with the red wine from Umbria.
Thursday morning, we had to get up early because technicians from the gas company were scheduled between 8:00 AM and 12:00 PM. Last year, I turned the gas off myself and then turned it back on when we arrived home. This year, I decided that it would be better to let the gas company do it. They arrived early, and spent nearly an hour checking each gas appliance for leaks and proper operation. They repositioned the gas meter as well, since the plumber who installed the gas lines for our stove and outdoor grill used the gas company's service port to connect to the system. I'm glad I had them check everything thoroughly, but I'm not sure I'll go through that routine every year.
Our neighbor Mary Ann stopped by to let me know that our mail hadn’t arrived yet (I had it sent to her address because of our mail forwarding), and that she’d let me know when it did arrive. As it turned out it showed up that afternoon, and I was able to go through it later in the day.
Once the gas company was done, I took a quick trip to Home Depot and Best Buy, stopping at the post office first. To handle our mail over the summer, I used a plan called Premium Forwarding Service from the USPS. Basically they collect all the mail received and ship it out once a week to an alternate address. In our case, that's our South Dakota mailservice. I did this because I wasn't sure exactly what things might show up in the Arizona mailbox, and I didn't want to burden one of the neighbors with having to collect our mail for such a long period of time. It worked out OK, since there were a couple of things that got sent to the wrong place (Arizona), and I should be able to fix those before next summer. Unfortunately, I'm the only person who's ever taken advantage of this service at our local post office. It took well over an hour to set it up in the spring, and almost as long to turn it off. As with the gas, I'm not sure all do this again.
Once home, I replaced the toilet valve and changed the furnace air filter. I installed the new network switch as well. I decided that this was a good time to simplify some of the wiring, so I pulled out all the network cables, repositioned one of the printers, and wired everything back together. It’ll work the same, but I’ll feel better knowing it’s done in a neater fashion.
For dinner, we had pan-seared pork tenderloin and a broccoli/cauliflower gratin paired with a young Australian Shiraz.
On Friday, we got back into the swing of things quickly. I got up early and washed the car before it got too hot. Geri had a hair appointment at 10:00 AM and I had a doctor appointment at the same time. I dropped her off, went to the doctor, and picked her up when she was done. Since the temperature was in the mid-90s, we spent the rest of the day organizing things inside the house. At this time of year, you have to arrange your schedule to fit with the weather patterns. That means getting up earlier than normal, around sunrise, and doing any outside work before the heat of the day. This pattern will take a little getting used to, since I'm traditionally not the earliest of risers. The temperature is supposed to moderate next week (highs in the upper-80s and low-90s); we’ll see.
In the afternoon, we cleaned the back patio and furniture, put out the yard decorations (you have to put them away or they'll get stolen over the summer), and did a few general cleanup activities. Dinner was Steak Frittes, although I had more frittes and Geri had more of the gratin. Dipping into the wine storage locker, I pulled out a 1999 Sebastiani Cabernet Sauvignon from California that was drinking quite nicely.
Yesterday was a coach day. The weather turned cooler (mid-80s) and it was a beautiful day. We brought back laundry that Geri had done and a few things that had gotten into the house by mistake. Geri gave the refrigerator a thorough cleaning and defrosting, and we collected the rest of the inside stuff that needed to go to the house. Early next week, we'll head back to the coach to give it a thorough inside cleaning. On the way home, we stopped at the store to pick up dinner. We had seen a program on the Food Network that featured Chicken Piccata, and Geri wanted to try the recipe. The combination of pan-searing and oven-finishing made the chicken perfect, and it went well with a nice white Burgundy from Verget.
Today is supposed to be cool again, so I'll probably focus on some maintenance items around the house like lubricating the garage door (it tends to get stuck halfway), and maybe catch a little football on TV. We'll take a trip to the store as well, since were thinking fish for dinner. Our plan is to shop more frequently, and only buy what we need for a day or two at a time.
Whew! Now were all caught up. I'll do my best to keep the blog more up-to-date. It may be boring, but it’ll be current…
Peoria, AZ
Sorry for the delay in posting. The past few days have involved getting into a different routine, and I haven’t found a groove for composing yet. More on that later…
As planned, we left Las Vegas (wasn’t there a movie by that name?) Wednesday morning and arrived at our place in Peoria by mid-afternoon. We could feel the outside temperatures rising after we crossed the Hoover Dam into Arizona, and especially after we crossed I- 40 in Kingman. Following US-93 to Wittenberg and then US-60 towards Phoenix, the temperature rose from the low-80s to the mid-90s. Because of the large windshield in the coach, we can feel the heat from outside as the coach pushes through the warm air.
Once we got to the house, we emptied the refrigerator and some of the cabinets. Since we are going to be traveling again about five weeks, we knew we didn't want to completely empty the coach. On the other hand, it's sometimes difficult to decide what to leave and what to take. Knowing that we have enough time to make those decisions, we decided to stop unloading and move the coach to its parking spot. Since I gave up our storage area in the spring (they wanted over $2,000 for the annual rent), I decided to park the coach at a local campground. This way, we can keep all systems running and have everything ready for when we leave in November.
The park I selected is on a man-made lake, Lake Pleasant, in the northern part of the city of Peoria. I misjudged the distance though, as it's farther away from the house that I thought it would be. It's a nice park, and we will be able to get in and out of the coach anytime you need to do so.
After we dropped off the coach, it was time to verify that all of the utilities were correctly started. To avoid monthly fees, we turned off the water/trash and gas services while we were away. We also put our cable (TV/Internet/telephone) service in a seasonal resident program. Of course, nothing is ever a simple when you close up the house for five months. When I turned the water on, I found that one of the toilet valves had failed. It wasn't as bad as last year, when both valves essentially exploded, but I knew a trip to Home Depot was in my future. In addition, the TV and Internet services were not working, so I got to spend over an hour on the phone with the cable company. They were able to reset the TV box and the cable modem remotely, and we were back on line. I did find that one of our network components, a switch, apparently did not survive the summer heat, so a stop at Best Buy got added to my To-Do list.
We were able to catch up with our neighbors Clisby and Raymond/Antoinette for a few minutes, and it was good to see that they were doing well. For dinner, Geri whipped up a meal from leftover pasta that we had in the coach, which went nicely with the red wine from Umbria.
Thursday morning, we had to get up early because technicians from the gas company were scheduled between 8:00 AM and 12:00 PM. Last year, I turned the gas off myself and then turned it back on when we arrived home. This year, I decided that it would be better to let the gas company do it. They arrived early, and spent nearly an hour checking each gas appliance for leaks and proper operation. They repositioned the gas meter as well, since the plumber who installed the gas lines for our stove and outdoor grill used the gas company's service port to connect to the system. I'm glad I had them check everything thoroughly, but I'm not sure I'll go through that routine every year.
Our neighbor Mary Ann stopped by to let me know that our mail hadn’t arrived yet (I had it sent to her address because of our mail forwarding), and that she’d let me know when it did arrive. As it turned out it showed up that afternoon, and I was able to go through it later in the day.
Once the gas company was done, I took a quick trip to Home Depot and Best Buy, stopping at the post office first. To handle our mail over the summer, I used a plan called Premium Forwarding Service from the USPS. Basically they collect all the mail received and ship it out once a week to an alternate address. In our case, that's our South Dakota mailservice. I did this because I wasn't sure exactly what things might show up in the Arizona mailbox, and I didn't want to burden one of the neighbors with having to collect our mail for such a long period of time. It worked out OK, since there were a couple of things that got sent to the wrong place (Arizona), and I should be able to fix those before next summer. Unfortunately, I'm the only person who's ever taken advantage of this service at our local post office. It took well over an hour to set it up in the spring, and almost as long to turn it off. As with the gas, I'm not sure all do this again.
Once home, I replaced the toilet valve and changed the furnace air filter. I installed the new network switch as well. I decided that this was a good time to simplify some of the wiring, so I pulled out all the network cables, repositioned one of the printers, and wired everything back together. It’ll work the same, but I’ll feel better knowing it’s done in a neater fashion.
For dinner, we had pan-seared pork tenderloin and a broccoli/cauliflower gratin paired with a young Australian Shiraz.
On Friday, we got back into the swing of things quickly. I got up early and washed the car before it got too hot. Geri had a hair appointment at 10:00 AM and I had a doctor appointment at the same time. I dropped her off, went to the doctor, and picked her up when she was done. Since the temperature was in the mid-90s, we spent the rest of the day organizing things inside the house. At this time of year, you have to arrange your schedule to fit with the weather patterns. That means getting up earlier than normal, around sunrise, and doing any outside work before the heat of the day. This pattern will take a little getting used to, since I'm traditionally not the earliest of risers. The temperature is supposed to moderate next week (highs in the upper-80s and low-90s); we’ll see.
In the afternoon, we cleaned the back patio and furniture, put out the yard decorations (you have to put them away or they'll get stolen over the summer), and did a few general cleanup activities. Dinner was Steak Frittes, although I had more frittes and Geri had more of the gratin. Dipping into the wine storage locker, I pulled out a 1999 Sebastiani Cabernet Sauvignon from California that was drinking quite nicely.
Yesterday was a coach day. The weather turned cooler (mid-80s) and it was a beautiful day. We brought back laundry that Geri had done and a few things that had gotten into the house by mistake. Geri gave the refrigerator a thorough cleaning and defrosting, and we collected the rest of the inside stuff that needed to go to the house. Early next week, we'll head back to the coach to give it a thorough inside cleaning. On the way home, we stopped at the store to pick up dinner. We had seen a program on the Food Network that featured Chicken Piccata, and Geri wanted to try the recipe. The combination of pan-searing and oven-finishing made the chicken perfect, and it went well with a nice white Burgundy from Verget.
Today is supposed to be cool again, so I'll probably focus on some maintenance items around the house like lubricating the garage door (it tends to get stuck halfway), and maybe catch a little football on TV. We'll take a trip to the store as well, since were thinking fish for dinner. Our plan is to shop more frequently, and only buy what we need for a day or two at a time.
Whew! Now were all caught up. I'll do my best to keep the blog more up-to-date. It may be boring, but it’ll be current…
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Catching up in Vegas
October 7-9, 2007
Las Vegas, NV
Because we were traveling a day early, we ended up having a few hours of overlap in Las Vegas with Rick and Annette (brother/sister-in-law) who were there for the weekend from Alabama. They flew in on Friday and had an early flight out on Monday. We were originally planning to get in Monday afternoon, but arrived Sunday instead. This presented us with an opportunity to catch up with them for a short bit.
They had tickets to the 10:00 PM Cirque du Soleil show “Love” (Cirque done to a Beatles score) at the Mirage. I tried to get tickets online and by phone, but “no Love for us”. In reality, after getting up early and driving from Reno to Vegas, a 10:00 PM show wasn’t in my future anyway. We made reservations at Onda, the Italian restaurant in the Mirage, so we could catch up over dinner.
We arrived at the RV park around 4:00 PM, deployed, emptied the back of the Range Rover (I call it the “garage”, with folding chairs, fire ring, cooler, and mountain bike stored in there) so we’d have room for 4, showered and changed, and left to pick them up around 6:00 PM. They were staying at the Excalibur, near the beginning of the Strip, so it was easy to get there and pick them up. North of there, traffic really bogs down and gets worse in the evening. Having “been around the block” a few times, we allowed plenty of extra time. At the Mirage, we followed the signs for “oversize parking” since we have the roof pod on the Range Rover. Oversize parking is quite a way from the main entrance, but we were pleasantly surprised to find that they’d send a complimentary Town Car to pick us up and deliver us to the valet entrance. Cool!
We actually arrived a little early for our 7:30 dinner reservation, which worked out fine as we stopped at a new place in the Mirage, “Stack”, for some wine. Apparently, the restaurant name refers to the décor and plating style, not the female staff (really, I went to their web site). We found seats at the bar and realized that a bottle of wine would be more economical than 4 glasses. They didn’t have the Ponzi Pinot Noir I ordered. This was no surprise as I’m pretty adept at picking wines that places don’t have. We switched to a bottle of Ferrari-Carano Siena, a red wine blend from California that was quite nice. We finished up just in time to head for dinner.
We had a nice dinner at Onda, sampling various Italian dishes paired with a couple of bottles of Gattinara (also known as the “poor man’s Barolo” at 30% of the price). I had a Pork Chop, Geri had Veal Marsala, Annette had Lasagna, and Rick had Osso Bucco. The wine went pretty well with all of them. We finished dinner just at the right time for Rick and Annette to head to their show. We requested our shuttle from the Valet, got dropped off at the car, and were back home quickly to call it an early night.
Yesterday (Monday), we were homebodies. Geri tackled several loads of laundry and I didn’t do much at all. We’d made arrangements to meet Cindy and Larry Dybas for dinner, and Cindy recommended a barbeque joint near their place. We had a great time catching up with them (we see them about once a year as we pass through Vegas) and dinner was quite good. Geri had ribs and I had a combination platter with tri-tip and brisket. We ordered onion rings for the table and the plate was huge! The wine list was a little light, but margaritas were more on target for the meal anyway.
Today, we started getting things ready for travel again. I’ve loaded the car and dumped the tanks. Geri suggested that we try the café here in the park for lunch, and it wasn’t half bad. I had a chicken salad (a salad with grilled chicken) and she had a patty melt. This will be enough to hold us so that we’ll just need a snack tonight. After eating out two nights in a row (not our norm any more), salad and a snack sounds just about right. Geri went shopping at the local outlet mall, but ended up just getting her nails done, so at least she’s set in that department for a while.
The next couple of days will be busy. We’ll leave here tomorrow morning and get into Peoria mid-afternoon. We’ll probably swing by the house first and drop off food and meds before moving the coach to a local RV Park. Since we’ll be leaving again in about 5 weeks, we won’t unload everything and put the motorhome “in storage”. Instead, we'll keep everything "on" and ready to go. We'll be able to shuttle stuff back and forth as needed over the next few weeks.
We’ll probably head back to the house tomorrow night because we have the gas company coming between 8:00 AM and 12:00 PM. We can survive one night without hot water and a stove (dinner in the microwave), and it’ll avoid having to get up too early the next day.
It’ll be good to be home for a while. It’ll probably make the blog more bland, but it’ll give us a chance to focus on different things for a bit…
Las Vegas, NV
Because we were traveling a day early, we ended up having a few hours of overlap in Las Vegas with Rick and Annette (brother/sister-in-law) who were there for the weekend from Alabama. They flew in on Friday and had an early flight out on Monday. We were originally planning to get in Monday afternoon, but arrived Sunday instead. This presented us with an opportunity to catch up with them for a short bit.
They had tickets to the 10:00 PM Cirque du Soleil show “Love” (Cirque done to a Beatles score) at the Mirage. I tried to get tickets online and by phone, but “no Love for us”. In reality, after getting up early and driving from Reno to Vegas, a 10:00 PM show wasn’t in my future anyway. We made reservations at Onda, the Italian restaurant in the Mirage, so we could catch up over dinner.
We arrived at the RV park around 4:00 PM, deployed, emptied the back of the Range Rover (I call it the “garage”, with folding chairs, fire ring, cooler, and mountain bike stored in there) so we’d have room for 4, showered and changed, and left to pick them up around 6:00 PM. They were staying at the Excalibur, near the beginning of the Strip, so it was easy to get there and pick them up. North of there, traffic really bogs down and gets worse in the evening. Having “been around the block” a few times, we allowed plenty of extra time. At the Mirage, we followed the signs for “oversize parking” since we have the roof pod on the Range Rover. Oversize parking is quite a way from the main entrance, but we were pleasantly surprised to find that they’d send a complimentary Town Car to pick us up and deliver us to the valet entrance. Cool!
We actually arrived a little early for our 7:30 dinner reservation, which worked out fine as we stopped at a new place in the Mirage, “Stack”, for some wine. Apparently, the restaurant name refers to the décor and plating style, not the female staff (really, I went to their web site). We found seats at the bar and realized that a bottle of wine would be more economical than 4 glasses. They didn’t have the Ponzi Pinot Noir I ordered. This was no surprise as I’m pretty adept at picking wines that places don’t have. We switched to a bottle of Ferrari-Carano Siena, a red wine blend from California that was quite nice. We finished up just in time to head for dinner.
We had a nice dinner at Onda, sampling various Italian dishes paired with a couple of bottles of Gattinara (also known as the “poor man’s Barolo” at 30% of the price). I had a Pork Chop, Geri had Veal Marsala, Annette had Lasagna, and Rick had Osso Bucco. The wine went pretty well with all of them. We finished dinner just at the right time for Rick and Annette to head to their show. We requested our shuttle from the Valet, got dropped off at the car, and were back home quickly to call it an early night.
Yesterday (Monday), we were homebodies. Geri tackled several loads of laundry and I didn’t do much at all. We’d made arrangements to meet Cindy and Larry Dybas for dinner, and Cindy recommended a barbeque joint near their place. We had a great time catching up with them (we see them about once a year as we pass through Vegas) and dinner was quite good. Geri had ribs and I had a combination platter with tri-tip and brisket. We ordered onion rings for the table and the plate was huge! The wine list was a little light, but margaritas were more on target for the meal anyway.
Today, we started getting things ready for travel again. I’ve loaded the car and dumped the tanks. Geri suggested that we try the café here in the park for lunch, and it wasn’t half bad. I had a chicken salad (a salad with grilled chicken) and she had a patty melt. This will be enough to hold us so that we’ll just need a snack tonight. After eating out two nights in a row (not our norm any more), salad and a snack sounds just about right. Geri went shopping at the local outlet mall, but ended up just getting her nails done, so at least she’s set in that department for a while.
The next couple of days will be busy. We’ll leave here tomorrow morning and get into Peoria mid-afternoon. We’ll probably swing by the house first and drop off food and meds before moving the coach to a local RV Park. Since we’ll be leaving again in about 5 weeks, we won’t unload everything and put the motorhome “in storage”. Instead, we'll keep everything "on" and ready to go. We'll be able to shuttle stuff back and forth as needed over the next few weeks.
We’ll probably head back to the house tomorrow night because we have the gas company coming between 8:00 AM and 12:00 PM. We can survive one night without hot water and a stove (dinner in the microwave), and it’ll avoid having to get up too early the next day.
It’ll be good to be home for a while. It’ll probably make the blog more bland, but it’ll give us a chance to focus on different things for a bit…
Monday, October 8, 2007
Frost on the pumpkin, snow on the mountain
October 4-7, 2007
Traveling from Oregon to Nevada
Things worked out pretty well on Thursday, as all of the coach maintenance was completed a day ahead of schedule. Of course, that’s only because I doubled the amount of time expected, based on past experience. That said, it was good to get all of our paperwork completed at the end of the day, and I was able to get our bill paid (several items were not covered by warranty, but quite a bit was). Our service writer took care of things very well, managing both hours and parts costs to reasonable levels.
Once we knew we were leaving a day early, we had to decide what to do about the trip plan we’d already made. I’d booked reservations at parks in Klamath Falls, Reno, and Las Vegas assuming we left Eugene on Saturday morning, and arriving home in Arizona on Wednesday. We have all the utilities being turned on Wednesday/Thursday.
You’d think leaving early would be as simple as moving everything forward a day. It could be, except for the weather. Throughout our last week in Oregon, we’d been feeling the effects of several storms moving in off the Pacific. Each wave seemed to be accompanied by dropping temperatures and by mid-week, there were rumors of snow levels falling in the Cascades. Well, to get from Oregon to Arizona, you have to cross mountains somewhere, so we had more research to do.
Rather than travel south on I-5 through California and I-10 to Phoenix, our plan was to avoid the interstates and use some of the routes preferred by many of the truckers I’ve met (you get to meet than when you hang out at the Detroit Diesel shop for any length of time). This path would take us over the Willamette Pass in Oregon, and relatively close to Lake Tahoe and Yosemite, prime snow zones. In addition, both Oregon and California have areas where tire chains have to be carried even if not used. We don’t carry chains and don’t plan to get them.
After checking the forecast from various sources and checking the Oregon DOT web cams at the various passes, we decided to take a chance with the route we’d selected. We left the service center around 10:00 AM because a) we only planned a 5-6 hour driving day and b) that would put us crossing the first mountain pass mid-day. The good news is that snow levels were down to about 4,000 feet in the Cascades. The bad news is that the Willamette Pass is about 5,100 feet. Because we were crossing mid-day, what light snow we did have to drive through wasn’t sticking to the roadways. It did make for a pretty view, though. We didn’t stop for pictures, but Geri shot a few through the coach windows.
By the time we arrive in Klamath Falls, the rain had stopped although the skies still had a lot of clouds. This wasn’t a complete surprise, since the high desert climate on the eastern side of the Cascade and Sierra Nevada ranges exists in a rain shield from the mountains. As storms roll in off the Pacific, the mountains “wring” the moisture out of the air and the deserts get more wind than precipitation many times.
The park we stopped at was older and, while many of the spots were configured as pull-thrus, it was pretty tight getting around. We had to disconnect the Range Rover because it was sticking out in the lane. This isn’t a huge problem, but I prefer to just leave it hooked up for an overnight stay, as it’s one less thing to have to do in the morning for departure.
We made pasta for dinner with some of the sauce Geri had made several weeks ago and stored in the freezer. This makes a good “traveling meal” for days when we stop early enough to defrost it and feel like pulling out a couple of pans for cooking. Paired with a nice Chianti, it’s a good way to end a travel day.
By Saturday, the storm system we started out with had moved much farther east and all we had to show for it was cold temperatures. It was a few degrees below freezing when we started out for Reno, and there was quite a bit of frost in the fields. We saw several ponds with a thin layer of ice, and one irrigation sprinkler that had been left on overnight was just covered in icicles. As we drove, we could see snow on the mountains to our west, and we caught a glimpse of Mount Shasta far off in the distance. Somewhere during the day, the clouds just disappeared. It seemed like one minute they were there and then suddenly I realized that there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. I’m sure that wasn’t exactly how it worked, but it seemed that way.
It was still breezy and chilly, and we arrived in Reno (actually Sparks), Nevada, by mid-afternoon. We had a chance to relax a bit, Geri called some folks we know who live there and chatted for a bit, and we settled in for the evening. The park was nice and had a good amount of room for maneuvering, but each site’s “grass” was actually fake stuff. Accordingly, park rules prohibited pets from “marking” there. This made it a little difficult for Merlin and Maya Lynn, who have a tendency to “lift their leg” when we’re out for a walk. Since we were only there for one night, we did the best we could.
Sunday morning was crisp again, with temperatures just above freezing. We got an early start because this was our longest driving day. We pulled out a few minutes before 7:00 AM and were well on our way before the sun came up over the hills. I say “we” even though Geri decided to stay in bed a little longer, getting up around 8:30. We had an uneventful drive down US-95 all the way to Las Vegas, arriving around 4:00 PM.
We’re staying at the Oasis RV Park, just south of the Strip. Our friends Linda and Wendell stayed here when they stopped in Vegas early this year, so we decided to try it. It’s definitely better than the KOA at Circus-Circus that we tried last October, although it’s not as nice as the Outdoor Resorts Park (but few parks are).
Traveling from Oregon to Nevada
Things worked out pretty well on Thursday, as all of the coach maintenance was completed a day ahead of schedule. Of course, that’s only because I doubled the amount of time expected, based on past experience. That said, it was good to get all of our paperwork completed at the end of the day, and I was able to get our bill paid (several items were not covered by warranty, but quite a bit was). Our service writer took care of things very well, managing both hours and parts costs to reasonable levels.
Once we knew we were leaving a day early, we had to decide what to do about the trip plan we’d already made. I’d booked reservations at parks in Klamath Falls, Reno, and Las Vegas assuming we left Eugene on Saturday morning, and arriving home in Arizona on Wednesday. We have all the utilities being turned on Wednesday/Thursday.
You’d think leaving early would be as simple as moving everything forward a day. It could be, except for the weather. Throughout our last week in Oregon, we’d been feeling the effects of several storms moving in off the Pacific. Each wave seemed to be accompanied by dropping temperatures and by mid-week, there were rumors of snow levels falling in the Cascades. Well, to get from Oregon to Arizona, you have to cross mountains somewhere, so we had more research to do.
Rather than travel south on I-5 through California and I-10 to Phoenix, our plan was to avoid the interstates and use some of the routes preferred by many of the truckers I’ve met (you get to meet than when you hang out at the Detroit Diesel shop for any length of time). This path would take us over the Willamette Pass in Oregon, and relatively close to Lake Tahoe and Yosemite, prime snow zones. In addition, both Oregon and California have areas where tire chains have to be carried even if not used. We don’t carry chains and don’t plan to get them.
After checking the forecast from various sources and checking the Oregon DOT web cams at the various passes, we decided to take a chance with the route we’d selected. We left the service center around 10:00 AM because a) we only planned a 5-6 hour driving day and b) that would put us crossing the first mountain pass mid-day. The good news is that snow levels were down to about 4,000 feet in the Cascades. The bad news is that the Willamette Pass is about 5,100 feet. Because we were crossing mid-day, what light snow we did have to drive through wasn’t sticking to the roadways. It did make for a pretty view, though. We didn’t stop for pictures, but Geri shot a few through the coach windows.
By the time we arrive in Klamath Falls, the rain had stopped although the skies still had a lot of clouds. This wasn’t a complete surprise, since the high desert climate on the eastern side of the Cascade and Sierra Nevada ranges exists in a rain shield from the mountains. As storms roll in off the Pacific, the mountains “wring” the moisture out of the air and the deserts get more wind than precipitation many times.
The park we stopped at was older and, while many of the spots were configured as pull-thrus, it was pretty tight getting around. We had to disconnect the Range Rover because it was sticking out in the lane. This isn’t a huge problem, but I prefer to just leave it hooked up for an overnight stay, as it’s one less thing to have to do in the morning for departure.
We made pasta for dinner with some of the sauce Geri had made several weeks ago and stored in the freezer. This makes a good “traveling meal” for days when we stop early enough to defrost it and feel like pulling out a couple of pans for cooking. Paired with a nice Chianti, it’s a good way to end a travel day.
By Saturday, the storm system we started out with had moved much farther east and all we had to show for it was cold temperatures. It was a few degrees below freezing when we started out for Reno, and there was quite a bit of frost in the fields. We saw several ponds with a thin layer of ice, and one irrigation sprinkler that had been left on overnight was just covered in icicles. As we drove, we could see snow on the mountains to our west, and we caught a glimpse of Mount Shasta far off in the distance. Somewhere during the day, the clouds just disappeared. It seemed like one minute they were there and then suddenly I realized that there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. I’m sure that wasn’t exactly how it worked, but it seemed that way.
It was still breezy and chilly, and we arrived in Reno (actually Sparks), Nevada, by mid-afternoon. We had a chance to relax a bit, Geri called some folks we know who live there and chatted for a bit, and we settled in for the evening. The park was nice and had a good amount of room for maneuvering, but each site’s “grass” was actually fake stuff. Accordingly, park rules prohibited pets from “marking” there. This made it a little difficult for Merlin and Maya Lynn, who have a tendency to “lift their leg” when we’re out for a walk. Since we were only there for one night, we did the best we could.
Sunday morning was crisp again, with temperatures just above freezing. We got an early start because this was our longest driving day. We pulled out a few minutes before 7:00 AM and were well on our way before the sun came up over the hills. I say “we” even though Geri decided to stay in bed a little longer, getting up around 8:30. We had an uneventful drive down US-95 all the way to Las Vegas, arriving around 4:00 PM.
We’re staying at the Oasis RV Park, just south of the Strip. Our friends Linda and Wendell stayed here when they stopped in Vegas early this year, so we decided to try it. It’s definitely better than the KOA at Circus-Circus that we tried last October, although it’s not as nice as the Outdoor Resorts Park (but few parks are).
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Don’t jinx it…
October 3, 2007
Harrisburg, OR
Today was another productive day, at least with respect to the coach. We had a slide lock and seal replaced, and the refrigerator maintenance was done. We only have one items remaining, and 2 planned days to complete it. Of course, this is the item that’s pending arrival of parts, so who knows. By actually posting this “out loud”, I’ve probably jinxed it. D’oh!
We had a pretty good day as well. For some reason, the rain held off for much of the day, and the sun was out for quite a while. The pups spent most of the day sleeping in the Range Rover (or barking at people who walked by), and we picked up the rest of what we need from the parts department. We’re planning to change the fabric on the valances in the front of the coach to match the bedroom (who knows why it was different in the first place!), so we were able to pick up all three kinds of fabric we need. We got a few other spare parts and have almost everything we need for “over the winter” coach projects.
This afternoon, showers were intermittent, and when I made a quick trip to Safeway (Geri’s feeling under the weather – get it? – and needed soup), there was enough rain in the area for another fabulous rainbow.
Well, that’s it for tonight; the alarm goes off way too early… ;-)
Harrisburg, OR
Today was another productive day, at least with respect to the coach. We had a slide lock and seal replaced, and the refrigerator maintenance was done. We only have one items remaining, and 2 planned days to complete it. Of course, this is the item that’s pending arrival of parts, so who knows. By actually posting this “out loud”, I’ve probably jinxed it. D’oh!
We had a pretty good day as well. For some reason, the rain held off for much of the day, and the sun was out for quite a while. The pups spent most of the day sleeping in the Range Rover (or barking at people who walked by), and we picked up the rest of what we need from the parts department. We’re planning to change the fabric on the valances in the front of the coach to match the bedroom (who knows why it was different in the first place!), so we were able to pick up all three kinds of fabric we need. We got a few other spare parts and have almost everything we need for “over the winter” coach projects.
This afternoon, showers were intermittent, and when I made a quick trip to Safeway (Geri’s feeling under the weather – get it? – and needed soup), there was enough rain in the area for another fabulous rainbow.
Well, that’s it for tonight; the alarm goes off way too early… ;-)
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Relaxing at “Camp Monaco”
October 2, 2007
Harrisburg, OR
Since we arrived at the Monaco Service Center several days early, we essentially had the weekend to ourselves. Since it was raining on and off, we didn’t try to accomplish too much but rather took the time to relax. This was especially important since time spent getting things serviced tends to involve alternating spells of boredom and frustration. Boredom, because we get to “vacate the premises” by 7:30 AM, sit around all day trying to keep the pups occupied, and watch the clock for 4:00 PM when we get our “house” back. Frustration, because nothing’s ever simple, parts are always needed from somewhere inaccessible, and if you don’t keep on top of the techs things don’t get done or get off track. I’m not complaining, mind you, just speaking from experience.
Over the weekend, we did a little shopping, and I stopped at the local Verizon store to pick up a broadband PC card. We’ve had several situations lately where we were “off the net” because the dish was blocked, so the broadband card should allow us to “fill in the gaps”. Another advantage is that we’ll be able to access the net while moving down the highway. Last, it’ll be a good backup for when things go south (like when the router failed a few weeks ago). Love the new technology.
We caught up with Bob and Jane White for a few minutes as well. We met them at a rally a little over a year ago, and have run into them a couple of times since. We also saw Vicki and Casey, who we met a couple of weeks ago; they arrived for service over the weekend.
Yesterday morning, I took the coach over to the local Detroit Diesel shop to have the engine codes read and the software updated. I picked up fuel and oil filters for the next maintenance cycle (no sales tax!) while I was there. Back at the Service Center, we were able to get the write-up process out of the way so things could start first thing today.
We did have a little excitement yesterday, but it sure wasn’t pleasant. We had a few minutes of sunshine, so we decided to have sandwiches outside at the picnic table near the laundry room. Unfortunately a) a coach pulled up near us and the owner got out and b) I didn’t have as good a handle as I should have. This resulted in Merlin and Maya Lynn running over to said coach owner and say “Hi”. For Maya Lynn, this is fine. For Merlin, not so much. When the guy put his hand out to Merlin, he got a nice puncture wound in his palm for his trouble. And a nip at his pant leg for good measure. We apologized profusely, especially me, since I was the one with my hand on a sandwich instead of the leashes. Fortunately, we were able to smooth things over and the injury wasn’t life-threatening. As it turns out, they have two dogs themselves, both of whom are a handful; they terrorized the customer lounge several times today. We still feel bad, but not quite as bad as yesterday.
Today was actually a pretty productive day on all fronts. We left the pups in the car and hung out in the lounge. I tried to stay close to the work without getting in the way. No matter how well you try to explain something to a service writer, it always loses something in the translation. I was glad I spent time re-explaining things to the techs. They were able to replace the driver’s window (this was the last of the warranty items left over from prior visits – yeah!), lubricate one of the slide mechanisms (it had squeaked forever, and they explained how I can lube it in the future), and fix a nagging hydraulic fluid leak that’s been there since we got the coach (there was a hairline crack in the cast aluminum filter housing). Overall, progress was better than I’d expected. If tomorrow is as good as today, we may get sprung early. I hope that’s not jinxing anything! Seriously, I’m thinking that things are going to bog down tomorrow, since there was already talk of not having some of the necessary parts. That’s never a good thing (they ordered the driver’s window when I was here in March and got it sometime in late-August). We’ll keep our fingers crossed…
This afternoon, we made a Costco run and I stopped at the Verizon store to pick up a battery for my phone. Yeah, I know, I should have done that on Saturday, but we needed the road trip anyway.
Harrisburg, OR
Since we arrived at the Monaco Service Center several days early, we essentially had the weekend to ourselves. Since it was raining on and off, we didn’t try to accomplish too much but rather took the time to relax. This was especially important since time spent getting things serviced tends to involve alternating spells of boredom and frustration. Boredom, because we get to “vacate the premises” by 7:30 AM, sit around all day trying to keep the pups occupied, and watch the clock for 4:00 PM when we get our “house” back. Frustration, because nothing’s ever simple, parts are always needed from somewhere inaccessible, and if you don’t keep on top of the techs things don’t get done or get off track. I’m not complaining, mind you, just speaking from experience.
Over the weekend, we did a little shopping, and I stopped at the local Verizon store to pick up a broadband PC card. We’ve had several situations lately where we were “off the net” because the dish was blocked, so the broadband card should allow us to “fill in the gaps”. Another advantage is that we’ll be able to access the net while moving down the highway. Last, it’ll be a good backup for when things go south (like when the router failed a few weeks ago). Love the new technology.
We caught up with Bob and Jane White for a few minutes as well. We met them at a rally a little over a year ago, and have run into them a couple of times since. We also saw Vicki and Casey, who we met a couple of weeks ago; they arrived for service over the weekend.
Yesterday morning, I took the coach over to the local Detroit Diesel shop to have the engine codes read and the software updated. I picked up fuel and oil filters for the next maintenance cycle (no sales tax!) while I was there. Back at the Service Center, we were able to get the write-up process out of the way so things could start first thing today.
We did have a little excitement yesterday, but it sure wasn’t pleasant. We had a few minutes of sunshine, so we decided to have sandwiches outside at the picnic table near the laundry room. Unfortunately a) a coach pulled up near us and the owner got out and b) I didn’t have as good a handle as I should have. This resulted in Merlin and Maya Lynn running over to said coach owner and say “Hi”. For Maya Lynn, this is fine. For Merlin, not so much. When the guy put his hand out to Merlin, he got a nice puncture wound in his palm for his trouble. And a nip at his pant leg for good measure. We apologized profusely, especially me, since I was the one with my hand on a sandwich instead of the leashes. Fortunately, we were able to smooth things over and the injury wasn’t life-threatening. As it turns out, they have two dogs themselves, both of whom are a handful; they terrorized the customer lounge several times today. We still feel bad, but not quite as bad as yesterday.
Today was actually a pretty productive day on all fronts. We left the pups in the car and hung out in the lounge. I tried to stay close to the work without getting in the way. No matter how well you try to explain something to a service writer, it always loses something in the translation. I was glad I spent time re-explaining things to the techs. They were able to replace the driver’s window (this was the last of the warranty items left over from prior visits – yeah!), lubricate one of the slide mechanisms (it had squeaked forever, and they explained how I can lube it in the future), and fix a nagging hydraulic fluid leak that’s been there since we got the coach (there was a hairline crack in the cast aluminum filter housing). Overall, progress was better than I’d expected. If tomorrow is as good as today, we may get sprung early. I hope that’s not jinxing anything! Seriously, I’m thinking that things are going to bog down tomorrow, since there was already talk of not having some of the necessary parts. That’s never a good thing (they ordered the driver’s window when I was here in March and got it sometime in late-August). We’ll keep our fingers crossed…
This afternoon, we made a Costco run and I stopped at the Verizon store to pick up a battery for my phone. Yeah, I know, I should have done that on Saturday, but we needed the road trip anyway.
Friday, September 28, 2007
“Oregon Sunshine” with sound effects? "Hail", yes.
September 28, 2007
Harrisburg, OR
Thursday was another relaxing day. The weather was typical for Oregon at this time of year: some morning clouds from a marine layer, then sunshine. We didn’t have too much planned other than getting ready for Friday’s departure, and it all went according to plan. I took care of the outside and Geri got the interior ready. I repacked the “garage” (that’s what the back of the Range Rover has turned into, with folding chairs, a mountain bike, the gas fire ring we picked up at Canadian Tire, and a few other odds and ends. I put away the grill and rearranged a few items in the storage bays to see if I liked the placement better. We’re due for a full analysis of what we’re carrying and where we’re carrying it when we get home. I’ll do that before we leave for Alabama in mid-November.
I also took care of a few maintenance items, checking the oil, coolant, and hydraulic levels, and making sure that all the tires were at the right pressure. I also applied lithium lube to the outside door locks, and cleaned up the “poop pipe” fitting (it’s a crappy job but somebody has to do it).
Geri did a huge amount of laundry, with both the machine in the coach and the park’s facilities. She’s got all the clothes done and took care of the sheets and blanket from the bed, too.
Since we’d gotten everything ready for departure, we decided to go out for dinner. I turned to one of our most reliable guides: the Wine Spectator Restaurant Awards list. It’s usually a reasonable bet that a restaurant that’s invested enough in their wine program to submit it for consideration will have reasonably good food as well. We’ve yet to be disappointed. Last night’s selection, Ringside Steak House, was no exception. It was reasonably close to the park, had great steaks and the wine list was robust. We were offered a glass of sparkling wine at the front door, so this was definitely our kind of place.
I had the Porterhouse (no real surprise there) and Geri had a bone-in Filet Mignon, which you don’t see often. Geri ordered a salad, but I was saving myself for steak, so I picked around the edges of hers. We each had a glass of Pinot Noir (we liked the Christopher better than the Robinson) but knew we needed to focus on Cabernet Sauvignon with the entrees. The wine list was on the expensive side, with most everything from France in the $250+ territory, so I knew we weren’t going there on our fixed income. With some searching, I could see that there were some values in the US section. I finally decided on a 1988 Dunn Napa Cabernet Sauvignon, which was wonderful. The server broke the cork in two trying to open it, so she had to go get her manager to complete the job. She decanted the wine using a strainer funnel, so we were fine. I must be getting soft in my old age, since I asked her to bring two extra glasses so that she and her manager could have a taste.
They had a pretty good after-dinner drink selection, and we ended up getting two glasses of Port from producers I’ve never heard of before (and can’t remember now). One was a 1937 and the other a 1940, and both of them were like aged Tawny. This is OK if you’ve ordered Tawny Port but not so much when you’ve ordered a Vintage Port. They were decent, so we didn’t let it ruin our good time.
We got home in time to watch CSI and went to bed happy. Around 3:00 AM, the forecast rain started to fall, although there was a lull when we got up around 6:00 AM. Since we’d done such a good job yesterday, we were in great shape for departure and actually left a few minutes early. The morning’s travel was relatively short, taking us from Fairview, just east of Portland, to Junction City. It mapped out at about 2½ hours and we needed to be there by 10:00 AM, but I wanted to leave a little buffer for traffic. We didn’t run into as much traffic as I expected, though, only some construction around the junction of I-205 with I-5. We ended up rolling into Junction City about 30 minutes early. We had our appointment at Les Schwab Tire to have the tire pressure sensors on the Range Rover upgraded, and we were on the road again around 11:30 AM.
We didn’t have far to go, since the Monaco Service Center in Harrisburg is about 7 miles away. We checked in even though we’re not scheduled to be here until next Tuesday, and it looks like they will have a space for us in their 42 site parking area. If not, we’ll just dry camp here in the staging area. I filled the fresh water tank and dumped the waste before we left Portland, so we can live “off the grid” for over a week if we needed to do so. The service writer said that they may want to get started on Monday afternoon, which is a good thing for our schedule. We’ll just spend the afternoon reading, relaxing, and maybe squeeze in a “power nap”.
As we were driving down I-5 this morning, it rained all the way but we could see a large wedge of blue sky following us just to the west. It cleared nicely while we were at the tire shop, but started to cloud up again in the early afternoon. Soon, the sky was almost pitch black and we could hear rumbles of thunder in the distance. A storm passed right by a few miles to the north, with quite a bit of lightning and thunder for 15-20 minutes. As it passed, the trailing edge had a batch of pea-sized hail that fell for 2-3 minutes. Of course, now it’s an hour later and the sun is shining brightly, but we can already see the next batch of storms gathering in the distance. Typical Oregon weather…
Tonight, we decided to head to the local Safeway to pick up dinner. Geri wanted Chicken Pot Pie and I wanted a Rotisserie Chicken, so we compromised on a Roasted Turkey Breast (OK, that's a "married person" compromise). We picked up some sides and headed back home. As we were driving up OR-99E, we saw a rainbow, as showers were moving back in. A little further on, it turned into a relatively rare double rainbow. I wish I was able to grab a photo, but we were camera-free at that moment. When we got back to the coach, the double had disappeared, but the rainbow was still there, so I grabbed a couple of shots:
I even shot a little video:
Harrisburg, OR
Thursday was another relaxing day. The weather was typical for Oregon at this time of year: some morning clouds from a marine layer, then sunshine. We didn’t have too much planned other than getting ready for Friday’s departure, and it all went according to plan. I took care of the outside and Geri got the interior ready. I repacked the “garage” (that’s what the back of the Range Rover has turned into, with folding chairs, a mountain bike, the gas fire ring we picked up at Canadian Tire, and a few other odds and ends. I put away the grill and rearranged a few items in the storage bays to see if I liked the placement better. We’re due for a full analysis of what we’re carrying and where we’re carrying it when we get home. I’ll do that before we leave for Alabama in mid-November.
I also took care of a few maintenance items, checking the oil, coolant, and hydraulic levels, and making sure that all the tires were at the right pressure. I also applied lithium lube to the outside door locks, and cleaned up the “poop pipe” fitting (it’s a crappy job but somebody has to do it).
Geri did a huge amount of laundry, with both the machine in the coach and the park’s facilities. She’s got all the clothes done and took care of the sheets and blanket from the bed, too.
Since we’d gotten everything ready for departure, we decided to go out for dinner. I turned to one of our most reliable guides: the Wine Spectator Restaurant Awards list. It’s usually a reasonable bet that a restaurant that’s invested enough in their wine program to submit it for consideration will have reasonably good food as well. We’ve yet to be disappointed. Last night’s selection, Ringside Steak House, was no exception. It was reasonably close to the park, had great steaks and the wine list was robust. We were offered a glass of sparkling wine at the front door, so this was definitely our kind of place.
I had the Porterhouse (no real surprise there) and Geri had a bone-in Filet Mignon, which you don’t see often. Geri ordered a salad, but I was saving myself for steak, so I picked around the edges of hers. We each had a glass of Pinot Noir (we liked the Christopher better than the Robinson) but knew we needed to focus on Cabernet Sauvignon with the entrees. The wine list was on the expensive side, with most everything from France in the $250+ territory, so I knew we weren’t going there on our fixed income. With some searching, I could see that there were some values in the US section. I finally decided on a 1988 Dunn Napa Cabernet Sauvignon, which was wonderful. The server broke the cork in two trying to open it, so she had to go get her manager to complete the job. She decanted the wine using a strainer funnel, so we were fine. I must be getting soft in my old age, since I asked her to bring two extra glasses so that she and her manager could have a taste.
They had a pretty good after-dinner drink selection, and we ended up getting two glasses of Port from producers I’ve never heard of before (and can’t remember now). One was a 1937 and the other a 1940, and both of them were like aged Tawny. This is OK if you’ve ordered Tawny Port but not so much when you’ve ordered a Vintage Port. They were decent, so we didn’t let it ruin our good time.
We got home in time to watch CSI and went to bed happy. Around 3:00 AM, the forecast rain started to fall, although there was a lull when we got up around 6:00 AM. Since we’d done such a good job yesterday, we were in great shape for departure and actually left a few minutes early. The morning’s travel was relatively short, taking us from Fairview, just east of Portland, to Junction City. It mapped out at about 2½ hours and we needed to be there by 10:00 AM, but I wanted to leave a little buffer for traffic. We didn’t run into as much traffic as I expected, though, only some construction around the junction of I-205 with I-5. We ended up rolling into Junction City about 30 minutes early. We had our appointment at Les Schwab Tire to have the tire pressure sensors on the Range Rover upgraded, and we were on the road again around 11:30 AM.
We didn’t have far to go, since the Monaco Service Center in Harrisburg is about 7 miles away. We checked in even though we’re not scheduled to be here until next Tuesday, and it looks like they will have a space for us in their 42 site parking area. If not, we’ll just dry camp here in the staging area. I filled the fresh water tank and dumped the waste before we left Portland, so we can live “off the grid” for over a week if we needed to do so. The service writer said that they may want to get started on Monday afternoon, which is a good thing for our schedule. We’ll just spend the afternoon reading, relaxing, and maybe squeeze in a “power nap”.
As we were driving down I-5 this morning, it rained all the way but we could see a large wedge of blue sky following us just to the west. It cleared nicely while we were at the tire shop, but started to cloud up again in the early afternoon. Soon, the sky was almost pitch black and we could hear rumbles of thunder in the distance. A storm passed right by a few miles to the north, with quite a bit of lightning and thunder for 15-20 minutes. As it passed, the trailing edge had a batch of pea-sized hail that fell for 2-3 minutes. Of course, now it’s an hour later and the sun is shining brightly, but we can already see the next batch of storms gathering in the distance. Typical Oregon weather…
Tonight, we decided to head to the local Safeway to pick up dinner. Geri wanted Chicken Pot Pie and I wanted a Rotisserie Chicken, so we compromised on a Roasted Turkey Breast (OK, that's a "married person" compromise). We picked up some sides and headed back home. As we were driving up OR-99E, we saw a rainbow, as showers were moving back in. A little further on, it turned into a relatively rare double rainbow. I wish I was able to grab a photo, but we were camera-free at that moment. When we got back to the coach, the double had disappeared, but the rainbow was still there, so I grabbed a couple of shots:
I even shot a little video:
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