Gypsy and the Mariner's RV Adventures

Visitors, Ribs, No Travel

2012-01-09T16:25:00.001-08:00

Dennis & Carol Hill visited us yesterday for a nice happy hour and great dinner of smoked ribs that Don had cooked in his Orion cooker. Sorry, I forgot to take pictures. But we had a really nice time visiting with each other, catching up on our various health issues and what we’ve been doing, and even solving a few of the world’s problems.

The Hills drove on to Quartzsite today, planning to have pizza tonight at Silly Al’s with Susie & Denny Orr. Silly Al’s pizza is some of the best I’ve ever had, and the place is a popular hangout for RVers who make the annual trek to “Q” every winter. And Susie & Denny are 2 of our favorite people, too. Wish we could join them.

However, we’ve had to put our travel plans on hold for some medical issues for the next week, at least. Don’s blood pressure spiked and was caught when he went to the dentist a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately, his doctor’s office was closed for a long weekend, and we ended up in the emergency room on New Year’s Eve.

That emergency event and subsequent visits to his doctor have resulted in changing his meds and the high bp seems to be under control now. However, we still don’t know what’s causing it to be so high. So the doctor ordered an MRA (Magnetic Resonance Angiography), essentially an MRI of the arteries, veins and heart. The procedure is scheduled for Jan 16.

We’ve had to cancel our plans to attend the Escapees Chapter 21 winter rally in Parker, AZ. This is the rally we hosted last year, and we were looking forward to attending and enjoying all the events without being responsible for them. We’re still hoping to get to Quartzsite for the big RV show, but that’s on a back burner now. There will be other rallies that we can attend, and Don’s health is certainly the priority.

In the meantime, before Craig and Liz departed for Gila Bend we went shopping for yard art. We picked this rocking peacock, which gives me a giggle every time it starts bobbing by itself when the wind catches it. Now we need to name him – any suggestions?

I’ve finished knitting 3 more lapghans for Soldiers’ Angels, and will be shipping them, along with 4 caps I’d previously made, to a Veterans facility in Prescott, AZ.

The weather in Benson has varied from cold and even frigid to warm and beautiful. It’s turning cold again, down to the 30’s at night so we have to use propane for heat. But we’re happy to be here in southern Arizona and not in Alaska, where there’s 18 feet of snow!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-23T14:47:00.001-08:00

We’re really enjoying reading Christmas blogs from others, so I have to write one of our own!

We’ve enjoyed Craig and Liz being here for about a month. We got them a neighbor’s site nearby to rent for their stay. The neighbors won’t be back until February, so it worked out well for all of us. (And, by the way, their lot is for sale if anyone’s interested.)

It’s great to have family visiting in their own RV. It’s not like having them in your house and being together 24/7. Don commented that this is the most time he’s spent with his son since Craig was a child. We’ve been together in three different states during the past 4 months: Laramie, WY in September; Albuquerque, NM in October; and Benson, AZ in November/December.

We’ve enjoyed many meals together, both cooking at home for each other and eating out. Shadow and Koa have gotten along pretty well, even though Shadow was surprised when Koa decided to try out Shadow’s bed. Making himself as small as possible, Koa couldn’t figure out how to get his front legs in the bed, too!

Craig & Liz left their coach here while they are in San Antonio, TX for Christmas with her son and family. They didn’t know they would be staying in Benson for this long, but Craig has been waiting for his next EOD job to begin and there were two possibilities: one in SE Kansas, the other in Gila Bend, AZ. The one in Gila Bend came through and he’ll be starting work just after the New Year, so they didn’t need to take the motorhome eastward. Glad they avoided a lot of bad weather in that direction! It’s been fairly cold in Benson, but nothing like a lot of the country has had.

We’ve taken advantage of Craig & Liz’s relative youth and energy to get some things done around our RV lot. After clearing out some cactus, we bought some lavender and salvia plants to take their place. The plants look small now, but they should thrive in this environment, with very little maintenance.

The areas still look a little bare, so we’re shopping for some yard art to add to the southwest theme. And we still have two barrel cactuses in the yard and plenty of cactuses outside the fence, in front and back of the lot.

Don and Craig went through all of our storage bays, cleaned them well and re-organized, getting rid of a lot of stuff in the process. They installed a piece of fence screen under the propane tank to create a storage area for sewer hoses and accessories. This will help keep the wet bay floor clean, as any residual liquid from the hoses will now drain onto the ground while we’re driving down the road.

We also had time to do a few tourist outings. Historic Tombstone is always good for a day trip. Liz seemed happy to take up with this colorful character who was roaming the streets!

After lunch at Big Nose Kate’s Saloon, the Rattlesnake Crafts store was our next stop, about 15 miles southeast of Tombstone, near the ghost town of Gleeson. It seemed like we were driving into a very large, uninhabited part of the desert when we came to the turn onto Double U Ranch Rd and this sign, confirming that we were on the right track.

The craft shop is housed in this old trailer, open to anyone who walks in.

Sandy Weber, one of the owners along with her husband John, walked by and waved to us, but didn’t come back during our visit. We were free to wander and observe the many treasures in this assortment of “antiques, collectibles and odd items.” The couple left their traditional jobs in Illinois in 1979 and moved to Arizona where they became rattlesnake hunters. They use almost every part of the rattlesnake in making crafts, and even make jerky from the meat. Read more about this interesting couple and their unusual place on their web site (link above).

Anyone wishing to purchase goods that are for sale (only those with a price may be bought – the vast majority of items are for display only) is asked to leave the money in this box, with a note of what was bought. How nice to see people who believe in the honor system!

Liz & I each bought a pair of earrings. The pair I chose were made from rattlesnake vertebrae, malachite and mink penis. What a conversation piece!

Here’s a sample of what you can see on this one-acre display of over 5,000 items.

We saw some friends locally, too. We visited Becky Hazen and Lonnie Hodge to see their new 40-ft Discovery motorhome, and went out to dinner at a new steakhouse in town.

We went to an Escapees Boomer gathering in the Saguaro Co-op in Benson. It’s always fun to join fellow RVers for a little food and libation.

And we visited Benson’s Christmas on Main Street, with cowboy poets and musicians on the stage in a lot near Safeway, and lots of arts and crafts booths in 4 locations all over town.

If you’ve followed this blog, you know what else we’ve been up to this year. We’ve had some health ‘hiccups’ but are generally healthy and happy. Our travels keep us interested in pursuing even more adventures, and we’re lucky enough to be able to continue full-time RVing. We seriously considered buying the park model below, which is nicely set up with a big Arizona room on a very large lot with room for our motor home on the left. But we re-affirmed that we’re not ready to have any home other than the one on wheels.

Christmas Dinner this year will be shared with our neighbors at Cochise Terrace Resort. Turkey and ham will be provided, with everyone bringing a dish to share. I’m making up a big batch of sausage dressing with mushrooms, celery and onions.

Our next adventure after the new year will be to head to the western border of Arizona, first to Parker on the Colorado River for the Escapees Chapter 21 Winter Rally, and then to Quartzsite for the big RV show and lots of Escapees gatherings.

We wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year!

Kayaking: A Little Too Exciting!

2011-12-01T12:03:00.001-08:00

The good news is that nobody got hurt, well at least not seriously.

It was a beautiful day for kayaking. We loaded the 4 kayaks onto Craig and Liz’s truck and headed off for Patagonia Lake State Park, about 60 miles southwest of Benson.

We launched the boats using one of the boat ramps and set out on a new adventure.

Don noticed a Blue Heron in the reeds. I got a great picture but the bird let me know his opinion of being photographed by taking off quickly and yelling loudly!

The water was calm and peaceful as we paddled under the pedestrian bridge to the main body of the lake.

Don was enjoying the peace and quiet.

Craig climbed out of his boat to go off in search of a geocache, which he quickly found.

I noticed one of the Coots seemed to be following Don.

As I got closer, the Coot turned around to face me and came close. He seemed to be looking for a handout, so he might have been fed by people and was hoping to get lucky again.

We saw several Cormorants in trees and on the lake.

When Liz floated by, the birds took off. Although our boats are quiet, I’m sure the wildlife is occasionally annoyed by our intrusion in their space.

Craig sure attracted lots of bovine attention!

We enjoyed our picnic lunch near the swimming beach.

After lunch, we decided to explore the west end of the lake, and headed toward the dam. Craig & Liz went off in search of another geocache, while Don and I leisurely paddled toward them and noticed a fellow with a sail on his kayak.

We caught up with Craig & Liz and were discussing their second successful cache find of the day, when Don looked back and saw the kayak/sail capsize when the wind got a little stronger. We all immediately headed toward him to help out.

That’s when things got a little too exciting. I moved alongside Craig to tie a rope to his kayak so he could tow the overturned kayak to land. I leaned over a little too far and was surprised to find myself in the water, too! It happened just that fast – one minute I was tying a perfect square knot, and the next I was totally wet!

I didn’t take any more pictures, and I didn’t even know if the ones I’ve posted would be retrievable from the memory card until later because the camera was totally submerged while still on a leash around my neck. Fortunately, my little Fujifilm waterproof camera really is waterproof! And my life vest did its job of keeping my head above the chilly water.

Don, Craig and Liz all worked to get Mark (the sailor/kayaker) and me to safety, asking a nearby power boat operator to come lend a hand as well. They found a rocky bank where we could climb out and start drying off, and got our boats emptied of water. Then we all paddled our way back to the dock. It was definitely time to call it a day, as the wind was growing stronger and the waves were big enough to cause problems when we had to paddle across the lake. A big wave horizontal to a kayak can easily tip it over.

Cold, still a little wet and shaky but not hypothermic, I was glad for a change of shirt on the lake (thanks, Craig), then my own dry shirt back at the truck, and some dry sandals. I changed in the restroom and was grateful for a blower hand dryer that I could stand next to for drying my quick-dry pants.

When we got home, I took a long hot shower and enjoyed green chile burritos that Liz made for dinner.

We took away some lessons from this experience. Always wear a life jacket when you’re going in a boat, keep the paddle on a leash attached to the boat, tie down or leash other items like cameras, sun block, water bottles and lunch packs, and don’t try to hang onto the boat after it has capsized. Some extra clothing, drinking water, and rope come in handy, too.

Don’s concern on the lake was first for my safety, but also whether this event would ruin kayaking for me. No, I’m looking forward to the next time, but will be wiser about trying to reach too far sideways!

Thanksgiving and Afterward with Craig & Liz

2011-11-29T13:48:00.001-08:00

We’ve been enjoying our time with Don’s son Craig and his wife Liz, who are visiting Benson in their motor home. They arrived a few days ahead of us and spent some time on cleaning up our RV lot as we’d been traveling since April 11. We had hired someone to spray the weeds while we were away, but that just killed them and left dead weeds, so we had some removal to do.

There were a few dead cactus due to the ‘deep freeze’ the area had last February. By the time we arrived, Craig and Liz had taken care of them. We also decided to quit fighting some of the other cactus that kept overtaking the fence and gate, and simply dug them up.

Craig did a lot of the heavy lifting and digging, while Don repositioned pavers and removed big chunks of the plants.

Liz and I did clean-up, and she also helped with loading plants in the back of their truck.

When we finished, there was a big load to dispose of!

After several attempts to find a place to get rid of the debris, we finally discovered that the park has a way of disposing of such things. They brought in the big tractor! Dennis, the park manager, positioned the scoop under the truck’s tailgate, and Craig and Don shoved the cactus in. Our big load didn’t look so big then!

With that job done, Craig and Liz fixed dinner for us at their site in the campground.

And we watched a nice Southwest sunset.

For Thanksgiving, Don smoked a 20 lb. turkey in the Orion charcoal cooker. Here it is, brined, rubbed and stuffed with rosemary and lemons, ready to be cooked.

I was too busy helping prepare side dishes, then eating all the goodies to get pictures of the rest of the dinner. It was a beautiful day and we all had too much to eat, including Shadow, who took a rest on the couch beside Liz.

Another thing on our “To Do” list was to hang Christmas lights. We were so grateful for Craig and Liz’s help, especially for Craig climbing the ladder so Don didn’t have to.

It took a little coaxing, but Shadow is starting to enjoy his own little patch of grass that we bought him in Wyoming.

Later we enjoyed relaxing by the fire in our little chiminea.

It’s starting to look a lot like Christmas!

McKelligon Canyon and Scenic Drive

2011-11-19T19:14:00.001-08:00

We played tourist for a few hours this afternoon in El Paso, Texas. Although I grew up here and have returned many times in the years since I left at age 18, it’s been many years since I visited these two spots.

Just the name McKelligon Canyon brings back fond memories from my childhood of picnicking and hiking here. The canyon is now part of the Franklin Mountains State Park. The web site reports that developers were encroaching on pristine areas of Mount Franklin, so in 1979 the Texas Legislature passed a bill to protect the mountains. I was very glad to see the canyon pretty much the same as I remember it from my youth.

The picnic areas have been updated and enlarged. Note the cave in the background.

The Ron Coleman Trail leads to the cave and beyond, for those who want to hike the entire 3.5 miles along the top of the mountains.

Some hikers explored the shallow cave.

The Visitor Center was constructed in typical rock-wall style.

However, it’s closed on Sat-Sun so we weren’t able to visit. Too bad they don’t open on weekends when people usually have time off from work, and close on other days of the week.

An amphitheatre has been built, with a full schedule of performances. It was closed, too.

The old Pavilion is still there and is used for performances, too.

There are some nice vistas from the canyon. The large building on the left is William Beaumont Army Hospital, where one of my nieces was born 52 years ago. (Cloud cover made the rest of my pictures a bit hazy.)

The next part of our tour was Scenic Drive.

The drive snakes around the south end of Mt. Franklin and offers lots of scenic views of El Paso and Juarez, Mexico further to the south.

The Border Highway and the (currently) dry Rio Grande can be seen here, with Juarez on the other side. I grew up in the lower valley, not far from the US-Mexico border in a community called Lakeside.

With a population of about 800,000, El Paso stretches far and wide.

Downtown El Paso with Juarez in the background.

The city’s Police Academy is nestled in the side of the mountain.

Mt. Cristo Rey can be seen in the distance to the northwest, with its characteristic cross on top.

This mountain has a very interesting history, and is in Sunland Park, New Mexico, best known for the horse racing track, established in 1959 when I still lived in El Paso. In early 1964 my parents moved to the upper valley north of the park, and I continued attending high school in the lower valley for a few months to finish my senior year, commuting past the heavy traffic on Friday afternoons. There was no freeway then! The casino was added in 1999. It’s debatable whether Sunland Park, NM is actually within the geographical city limits of El Paso, TX, since there’s a shared zip code. The mountain, race track and casino are on the border of two countries and three states.

Driving through a historic district back to our motorhome at the Ft. Bliss FamCamp, I caught a quick picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church, with a cornerstone date of July 7, 1929. Before I was born, my parents and older siblings lived not far from this area.

This was a pleasant visit that brought back some good memories for me, and showed Don some parts of El Paso that he hadn’t seen. Still, I don’t regret leaving El Paso to live in various other places, that now allow me to see and appreciate the area from a different perspective.

Livingston

2011-11-18T15:13:00.001-08:00

We had a nice, although brief visit in Livingston, Texas, with Dennis and Carol Hill. Dennis was in Nappanee, Indiana getting service on their motorhome but he drove over 1,000 miles in a day and a half and got to Livingston in time for all of us to go to Florida’s Kitchen for dinner on Wednesday night.

I don’t know why Dennis is reading the menu – he’s got it memorized!

Valerie and George Mayleben are the new owners of RV Driving School, effective January 1, 2012. We enjoyed getting to know them, and I’m sure they’ll do a great job as Carol and Dennis have for the past 5 years.

Too soon our visit was over as we are headed for our RV lot at Cochise Terrace in Benson, Arizona. Don’s son Craig and his wife Liz are meeting us there for Thanksgiving.

Check Engine! Warning Fixed and Belated Birthday Dinner

2011-11-14T17:38:00.001-08:00

We got the coach into the Shreveport Freightliner service center this morning around 9:30 and waited for them to fit us in. They discovered the sensor on the water separator wasn’t plugged in all the way, thus causing the Check Engine! warning status. We can only guess that it vibrated loose somehow. We’re not sure just when it happened, but it was before we reached Red Bay when we remember seeing the warning intermittently.

We’re happy that it wasn’t anything more serious, but when the bill for almost $400 arrived, we gasped. They charged us for 2 hours’ labor, but we knew the coach was still in the parking lot at 11:00 am when Don returned for something he’d forgotten. They finished before 12:25 pm when we returned from lunch. So they reduced the bill to one hour labor, so it was just over $200. Said they are a flat price shop, so they charge what the book says they should charge, not for the actual time spent. It was good of them to reduce the charge. Still, it’s an expensive service for something we should have been able to do ourselves. Oh, well, live and learn.

We decided to stay another night in the Shreveport area, at Tall Pines RV Park in Greenwood. It’s a really nice park that used to be a KOA. The couple that manage it are really wonderful folks – they surprised us by picking up the bill for our lunch at a nearby Chinese buffet when we happened to run into them. How nice is that? We’ve never had an RV park manager buy us lunch before!

Tonight Don made up for my less-than-wonderful birthday dinner at the Belmont Café in Belmont, MS while we were waiting for service in Red Bay. He told me to choose a restaurant and make it a nice one. I consulted Yelp.com and found Bella Fresca in Shreveport. Dinner was lovely – I had blackened sea scallops and he had veal – and the service was great. They even had linen tablecloths and napkins!

Sorry no pictures for this blog. We’ll drive to Livingston, TX tomorrow and spend a few days with friends Carol & Dennis Hill (although he’s currently in Indiana getting their MH fixed) and meet the new owners of the RV Driving School.

Finished in Red Bay

2011-11-11T17:17:00.001-08:00

We’re Done! The short version: all the work is finished and we’ll be out of here tomorrow.

This picture shows the roof rails being replaced. The techs drove the motorhome into the work bay, after moving the outside mirror out of the way, so they could get it very close to the work platform. I’m glad I didn’t have that job!

They had to back it in to work on the passenger side, and we were locked in for about an hour when they did the first part of the job because the door was blocked by the platform. The tech climbed out through the window after backing in. The next day when they finished up that side, we decided to get out before getting trapped.

The total bill would have been over $7,000 if we’d had to pay for everything. Almost all the work was covered under warranty or good will, so we paid less than $600.

Although there are definitely concerning problems with some of Tiffin’s motorhomes, we are very happy that they are still in business and they stand behind their products. Their philosophy for customer service is one I really admire. I’ve dealt with other RV manufacturers and have had some good and some bad experiences. This one was mostly good.

At the start of our ownership of the Phaeton I wholeheartedly recommended Tiffin’s motorhomes. Over the next 4 years, there have been a few times when I said it was hard to recommend a Tiffin product. My pendulum is now swinging back to the other side. While I might not go out on a limb to recommend them wholeheartedly to others, but I can say I’ll definitely consider another Tiffin motorhome if and when we get ready to buy another one in the future. And for others my advice is: check out what kind of service RV manufacturers provide by joining an owners forum. There are no perfect RVs, so you WILL be getting customer service.

Now that the motorhome is done, we’re also happy we got the car fixed, with a new windshield and sunroof, dings front and back repaired and painted, all for less than the estimate and during the same time frame.

Don chose a Jeep Wrangler as our rental car while our Honda CR-V was in the body shop. It had a rougher ride, and was tall enough that it was hard for me to climb into. It’s also only 2-wheel-drive – we thought all Jeeps were 4WD! I don’t think we’ll be buying a Jeep anytime soon (or ever).

Here are the two cars at the body shop where we transferred our stuff back to the CR-V and Don put the kayaks back on the roof racks. It was good to get our smooth-riding “Carrie” back, looking a lot prettier than she has for awhile! And we can see better out of the new windshield and sun roof.

As usual, Shadow enjoyed all the hours we spent in Tiffin’s customer lounge. He loved watching people and other dogs, getting lots of scratches behind the ears and occasionally “speaking” with the dogs.

Tomorrow we’re heading the wheels southeast toward Rainbow’s End (a 2-day trip through Vicksburg, MS), Escapees RV Club’s HQ, where we’ll link up with friends. Then we’ll go west to our lot in Benson, AZ. We haven’t made any plans for Thanksgiving or Christmas yet – they both seem far away although I know they’re not. We’re hoping to get together with Craig and Liz sometime soon, maybe for the holidays. In the meantime, we’ll be very happy to see Red Bay in our rearview window.

Finally, we are very thankful for all America’s veterans who have fought and continue to fight for the freedom we enjoy. On this Veteran’s Day, we salute you!

More From Red Bay

2011-11-08T18:28:00.001-08:00

Since I last wrote about our motorhome repairs, we’ve had 3 windows replaced, the Diamond Shield on the front replaced, and some structural reinforcement around the rear jacks. We are still on a waiting list for the roof cap rails to be replaced.

The windows are a minor thing that take very little time to replace. Tiffin recognizes there was a problem in their windows with moisture leaking into the air space between the double panes which causes them to fog up. So we think they are still covered even though they are out of warranty. These windows were replaced in less than an hour.

The Diamond Shield on our coach was determined to be ‘bad’ and needing replacement by Igor last year, and he said he’d put it on our record that it would be replaced at our convenience, under the 3-year warranty, because we didn’t have time to get it done then. Igor is no longer here, and Barry couldn’t find any such note on our record. Still, he did replace the bad parts at no charge.

First, the old film was removed by softening it with a heat gun and lots of patient pulling and pealing.

Next, the surface was cleaned with a solvent and prepared for the new film.

Chrome pieces were taped off and the new film was applied.

In discussing a leveling problem with a fellow Tiffin owner since our last Atwood jack was replaced, we were advised to talk with the jack experts a few bays down. David, one of the service techs, came by to check things out with us. When we described the problem, he immediately knew that we had a structural problem with the rear of the coach, where the floor is attached to the chassis frame. He put us on a list to get into his bay as soon as possible.

We thought, “Oh no, not another waiting list!” But we got a call the next day, went in right away and were finished in about 3 hours. It was strange to see our home-on-wheels up on lifts.

David showed me where the weaker structural members were being replaced by stronger ones, and where a second beam was being added behind each rear wheel. They also discovered that the right rear jack was placed in the wrong spot and was having to travel farther to level the coach, so it was repositioned correctly. All this work was covered under the 10-year structural warranty.

Now, the only remaining work to be done is the cap rails. Because we arrived for service without an appointment, those with appointments get serviced first. We hope to get in tomorrow or Thursday for this work.

In the meantime, we had a chance to meet Bob Tiffin, company founder.

We had a nice chat about what the company has done to eliminate the problems that we (and others) have experienced in their current production. He apologized that we’ve had to come to Red Bay and spend so much time waiting for service. He said they are considering adding another building with several more service bays and expressed how much they want to keep their customers happy. That has been the ‘mantra’ of this man since he founded the company almost 40 years ago, and is being continued by his family as they carry on running the business.

Of course, having to spend a month of our time in Red Bay can’t be reimbursed, but we understand the situation. And the fact remains that there are no perfect RVs. We just hope this kind of delay never happens again.

Yesterday we met a delightful couple, Mark and Chris. Their blog, Phaeton Place, is one I’ve followed for a couple of years. We were both in Red Bay a few weeks apart last year, but we managed to meet up this time. The four of us had dinner at Gill’s Grill and had a nice time getting to know each other.

Happy Birthday To ME!

2011-11-05T18:56:00.001-07:00

I can’t quite believe I’ve hit the big 65! Otherwise known as the Medicare Birthday. I’m in good company – 1946 was the first year of the Baby Boom, when there was a large spike in births mostly from the return of WW2 soldiers getting back to their wives and sweethearts. When I first started school, teachers had to take on a double workload, with classes in the morning for one group of children, and a repeat of these classes in the afternoon for the second group. Throughout my life, this bulge in population has been a factor for people my age and younger as the Baby Boom continued from 1946 through 1964. Whether going to public school, getting into college, applying for jobs, etc., there was always lots of competition.

I’ve never been reluctant to tell people my age, and I’m pleased when they sometimes show surprise that I’m not younger. But, even if I look my age, it doesn’t bother me. I feel that I’ve earned the “smile lines” (not “wrinkles”) and the silver hair.

Looking back over my life so far, I have few regrets, although there are some things I wish I’d done differently. But since there are no “do overs” in life, I do my best to look forward and enjoy each new day. I try to improve someone else’s day when I can, with a smile, a kind word, a bit of information from something I might have learned the hard way, or even a gift or donation. As a cancer survivor, I know that each day is precious and I try to make the most of every one.

My biggest joy is sharing the RV lifestyle with my loving husband Don. I’ve been so fortunate in being able to land on my feet several times when my life’s plans didn’t come together in just the way I wanted, and meeting Don was no exception. When I was widowed at age 55, I wondered whether I would ever have a special person in my life again, and really didn’t expect that it would happen. I thank God every day for sending Don to me at exactly the time when I realized I was ready for a close, loving relationship as part of my new adventurous life. Solo RVing can be a lot of fun, especially for those who make friends easily and approach challenges with a positive attitude. But it can also be lonely at times. I still enjoy many of the friendships I formed during those 5 years when I was by myself on the road. But I’m happy to be part of a couple again.

I had planned to share this momentous occasion with friends in Benson, Arizona. Instead, Don and I made the most of being in Alabama today. We drove about 40 miles from Red Bay to Ivy Green, the birthplace of Helen Keller in Tuscumbia, Alabama. After a really good lunch at a Mexican restaurant, we took the house tour and wandered through the gardens.

The home was built in 1820 by Helen Keller’s paternal grandparents. Surrounded by huge trees, some over 150 years old, the house and other buildings have survived the years well. About 85% of the furnishings inside the main house are original, and some are now antiques worth a small fortune.

The cottage below was used by her parents as a bridal suite, and is where Miss Keller was born. She was 19 months old when an illness left her blind and deaf. The cottage was later used as a school house when Anne Sullivan took on the lifelong task of teaching Helen to speak and understand sign language by feeling her teachers’ hands and face. The addition on the left houses Helen’s dolls and playthings.

Against all odds, Helen learned to speak, read and write, beginning with the moment when as a 7-year-old she learned the word “water” and associated it with something cool flowing over her hand from a well-pump. With an I.Q. of 160, she graduated Cum Laude from Radcliffe College. Her teacher stayed with her through all those years, helping her understand classroom lectures and discussions. Ms. Keller then dedicated her life to improving situations for other blind and deafblind people.

The movie “The Miracle Worker” depicts Anne Sullivan’s patient and miraculous teaching of a sometimes unruly child who lived in silent darkness. The story is re-created in a play performed on the grounds of Ivy Green during the summer. Click the link above for more information about this remarkable woman and her birthplace. Here are some more photos.

Later, we visited a very different house a few miles away in Florence, Alabama. It’s the Rosenbaum House, the only one in the state that was designed by the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

The house was built in 1940, when Wright was aged 72. In 1948 an addition, also designed by Wright, was constructed to expand the house to accommodate the family’s 4 growing sons. The ‘dormitory’ below shows their bunk-beds and play area. The garden is through the windows and doors on the right.

The living room includes lots of space for books, mostly collected by Mr. Stanley Rosenbaum, a college professor at what is now the University of North Alabama.

It was also large enough for the baby grand piano played by Mrs. Mildred Rosenbaum, a former model who was also a musician and artist.

A small study is attached to the far end of the living room, where Stanley read and prepared for classes.

The dining area shares a view of the large yard with the living room.

The original kitchen was quite small, and was converted to a bar by replacing the small stove and refrigerator (on the left) with more cupboards when the addition included a larger kitchen.

The new kitchen is more than twice as large. The huge stove is out of sight on the right.

The house was never lived in by anyone other than the Rosenbaums. When she moved to an assisted living facility in 1999, Mildred sold the house and most of the contents to the city of Florence. Due to a lack of maintenance, an infestation of termites, and years of damage from leaking roofs, restoration took several years and a large amount of money. The result is now a good representation of the way the home looked while the Rosenbaums occupied it.

It was a wonderful day, and one I’ll always remember as a ‘landmark’ birthday. And I look forward to many more!

Replacing Wet Bay Floor

2011-11-01T20:04:00.001-07:00

Now that I know how to make movies, watch out! I’m likely to be posting lots of them.

This movie is about the floor in our wet bay (under the holding tanks), which has been absorbing water from rain and wet roads.

We learned that the wrong material was used by Tiffin in two models, Phaeton and Allegro Bus, for the years 2007-2010, an estimated total of 9,000 rigs. The company acknowledges that fact and will replace the floor free for 8 years. That’s the good news; most manufacturers won’t cover defects in manufacturing after the one-year warranty has expired. The only hitch: the owner must bring the motorhome to the factory service center in Red Bay.

We first observed the problem in June when our friend Dennis Hill, who had the same problem on his Phaeton (that he no longer owns), pointed out that our floor was sagging between the support beams, as seen in the first photo. We were traveling in Alaska at the time, 4,000 miles from Red Bay.

In September we were at Hart Ranch in Rapid City, SD, our home base. We realized the floor was so saturated that it was sagging on the passenger side and allowing the fresh water tank to tip enough to drip water out of the overflow. Slides 2-7 show the soggy floor drooping below the edge of the storage doors of the coach. Slide 6 shows the corner of the freshwater tank above the saturated floor. Keep in mind the bottom edge of the doors is about 3-4 inches below the floor of the coach.

We hired Toby of Land Roamer Mobile RV Repair in Rapid City to lift the floor and attach 3 pieces of angle iron to support it enough to continue our travels and get to Red Bay safely. (We’re presenting this repair bill to Tiffin, as well.)

The first stage of repairs was to remove the floor. It literally crumbled off, and the techs said it was the worst they had seen. Then the black and grey tanks were strapped up and the freshwater tank removed. It was at this point that Curtis (slide 16, in plaid shirt) noticed a gap above the tanks that could be the cause of the sewer smell we’ve suffered with since the coach was new. The odor occurs in the hallway between the refrigerator and bedroom, not in the bathroom itself. Curtis said there’s a gap that should have been filled in with foam. He had a team member do that before they finished the repair job. Here’s hoping that fixed the problem. We’ll know when we get on the road again.

After everything was cleaned up, the new floor was installed and the freshwater tank re-installed. All pipe connections were made and tested for leaks. We’re really happy to have this repair finished!

A final note about making movies: it takes quite a while to save the movie once you have it put together. But it takes only a few seconds to post the blog, unlike when I include lots of photos separately. I think I’m hooked.

Removing Slide Room

2011-11-01T11:19:00.001-07:00

Several readers said they would like to see photos of the repair process on our motor home. I wanted to create a slide show rather than post a lot of photos. I discovered Windows Live Movie Maker, free to download from Microsoft. So here’s my first attempt at publishing a movie. Hope it works!

The steps shown in the video include:

1. Removing all contents in the slide. This was a good exercise in cleaning out things we forgot we had and now realized we don’t need! We emptied all the cupboards and removed things sitting on top of counters, then Don took out the 4 drawers of the desk. We didn’t think the desk would need to come out, and I was concerned that the top wouldn’t hold together if it had to be removed. The techs later decided the desk must come out to give them access to mechanisms in the floor for extending and retracting the slide room, and Don was able to get the top off in one piece! Hurrah! Removing the boxes of the base was then easily accomplished.

2. All the wood trim pieces and side cupboard were removed from inside the slide.

3. Straps were wrapped around the outside of the slide and attached to a pulley to support it when it was removed from the coach. They backed the coach out of the work area and tilted the slide room on its back. While they did this part of the work, we waited in the customer lounge, and I got a shot of Don and Shadow relaxing.

4. In the process of replacing the floor, a cracked support was discovered in the frame. Repairing it wasn’t a problem, but the bonding agent used with the welding had to dry overnight. So we went to a motel in Russellville, about 25 miles away.

Note: In order to insert the video in my blog using Windows Live Writer, I had to create an account on YouTube, then link that account with my Google account. I went around in circles at first, then I finally somehow figured it out. Uploading the video took a long time – not sure if it was a factor of the size of the video, the speed of my Internet connection, something else or a combination of factors.

Coon Dog Cemetery, and Repairs Update

2011-10-31T08:32:00.001-07:00

To distract ourselves from the environment of motorhome repairs, we took a drive about 18 miles from the Allegro Campground on Saturday to the unique Key Underwood Coon Dog Memorial Graveyard, aka Coon Dog Cemetery.

The final resting place for over 185 dogs, only “authentic” Coon Dogs are allowed to be buried here. The first dog to be buried here was in 1937 by a man named Key Underwood was his beloved hound “Troop.”

The grave markers are sometimes clever, some are simple, and some are comparable to those used for highly revered humans.

We weren’t lucky enough to observe a funeral, but there’s a video of one on the web site that you can watch. We had heard of a recent one that other Tiffin owners had attended, and it wasn’t too hard for us to find that grave. The dog’s name was Beaujolais, and he died on 5-25-2011.

Meanwhile, the week prior was productive in getting some of our repairs done. The floor in our big slide was replaced on Monday. When it was removed from the coach, the techs were surprised to find part of the frame was broken and had to be rebuilt. This required that we spend the night in a motel, the closest of which is in Russellville, AL about 25 miles away. It’s been a long time since we slept anywhere but our motorhome, so packing and moving into the motel was an unfamiliar procedure. The repair job was finished on Tuesday and we moved back in to our home around noon.

We had just gotten set up in our campground site and had lunch when we were called to go to the wet bay! I could hardly believe my ears, since this was much sooner than we expected. The floor under the holding tanks was replaced in two stages on Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning. A possible cause of our long-time intermittent problem with sewer odor in the hallway might have been found in the process. We asked Curtis and John to look for a possible cause while they were working in this area, as previous visits for service didn’t offer any clues to a reason for the odor. Curtis found that an opening in the sub-floor that wasn’t sealed with foam as it should have been might allow fumes to work their way up into the vents in the bedroom floor and under the refrigerator. We won’t know if this has fixed the problem until we start traveling again. Here’s hoping it’s the end of an annoying and frustrating problem!

A few other small jobs were finished as well. For instance, we had the headboard and our dining chairs reupholstered. Now we’re waiting for calls to get the Diamond Shield replaced and the roof rails replaced and painted, as well as 3 windows replaced. And we’re still hoping to replace the sun roof and get other body work done on the car while we’re in this area.

If anyone is interested in pictures of our repairs, I’ll be happy to post them separately. But I thought it would be more interesting to write about something fun rather than dwell on the more frustrating aspect of the RV life: getting repairs!

First Steps of Progress at Tiffin

2011-10-20T16:04:00.001-07:00

This blog entry is a story of good news/bad news. The good news: we’re starting to make progress in solving several problems. The bad news: there are a lot of big problems!

We arrived in Red Bay, Alabama a week ago today. Red Bay is the home of Tiffin Motorhomes, where our Phaeton was built. The Allegro Campground at the Tiffin Service Center (93 FHU sites, plus 8+ partial) was full, as was another campground in town (10 FHU sites), but we parked across the street at a car/motorhome wash/detail shop for $20 with 50 amp electric and water hookups. Chris McKinney, owner of the shop, has a site on each side of the building, and he even gave us a patio table, two chairs and an umbrella (which the wind blew over, so it’s laying on the ground). There was no extra charge for the pond, either!

We were told it would probably be 3 days before we could move into the campground, where a full hookup site would be $20 per day (up from $10 last year). The good news is that we got a site the next day.

We were also told it would probably be Wednesday before we could go into what’s called “Express Bay.” This means that, if you don’t have an appointment, you are put on a waiting list for Express Bay. When your turn comes you move into one of the 49 work bays with a team of technicians, and they do as much of your list as they can do in 3 hours. It was today (just one day later than expected) when we got our turn.

The team went over our list and determined what they could do right away or soon, mostly upholstery. Three replacement windows are on order and will be installed when they arrive in a day or two. Three of the bigger items require specialists to work on them in a specified bay with the tools and equipment to do the job. One is to replace the outside floor of our large slide-out. It’s been scraping the tile as it moves in and out, and materials have been coming off. This picture shows underneath the slide.

Here’s some of the material that keeps coming off.

The entire slide will have to be removed from the coach and laid on its side. The floor will be replaced, then the slide will be reinstalled. This can be done within a workday, so we won’t have to stay in a motel. We were put on a waiting list for this job, with no estimate of when it can take place.

The second big job, and the main reason we came to Red Bay now instead of waiting for a more convenient time when we were traveling east for other reasons, is to get the floor under the water tanks replaced. This is a potential problem with all Phaetons and Allegro Buses built 2007-2010, so there’s a large number of motorhomes needing the work done. Tiffin recognizes the problem was in using the wrong material for the floor and will fix it for free, but it has to be done in Red Bay. If you have the work done elsewhere, you have to pay for it. And there’s a long waiting list to get into one of the three bays where this work is done. Here are some replacement floors waiting to get installed.

We first noticed the problem in mid-June while we were in Homer, Alaska. (Thanks to our buddy Dennis Hill for pointing it out.) The floor can be seen sagging between the support joists, and the flooring is deteriorating around the corner of the sewer bay pan.

Don called Tiffin and they said “Come to Red Bay and we’ll fix it.” Don said we were over 4,000 miles away, and we had other travel plans before we could make the trip. They said “Don’t worry, the tanks won’t fall out.” Famous last words. Here’s how it looked (on the other side of the coach from the above picture) in September when were were in Rapid City, SD. The wet spot is from the fresh water tank that’s leaking through the overflow valve because it’s sagging so much on that side. We drained it to take the weight off.

The bottom of the fresh water tank can be seen at the top of the close-up below. I’d say it was very possible for it to fall out!

We hired a good mobile repairman who’s done work for us before. He lifted the floor and tanks with a hydraulic jack and braced everything with angle iron.

Now we felt safe driving another 2,000 miles (traveling via Laramie, Wyoming to see Don’s son and wife, then Albuquerque, New Mexico for the Balloon Fiesta) to get to Red Bay.

While we were in the service bay today, we had the techs check the radius where the roof meets the outer walls of the coach. There have been reports of this curved piece cracking on motorhomes similar to ours. The verdict: yes, our coach has the problem. So we were put on yet another waiting list for this specialized repair, the 3rd of the big jobs.

We got on the longest waiting list, that of the wet bay, when we first arrived last Thursday, and were told it could be 3-4 weeks before we can get that fixed. We’re now hoping that everything can be done by mid-November. We’ll almost certainly be spending Halloween and my birthday (Nov 5) in Red Bay.

Meanwhile, when we were in Arkansas on our way here we discovered that the sunroof on the car had broken again! This time it seemed to pop upward and doesn’t look like it was caused by a falling object.

We had a light rain at the time, so we covered it with a garbage bag and duct tape. The tape kept coming loose, so we added more duct tape and are trying the get this repair done while we’re in Alabama.

This isn’t the happiest way we like to live our life on wheels, but we’ve gotta do what we’ve gotta do! At least we’re not raking leaves or shoveling snow. And we’re both healthy, as is Shadow.

Don’s Balloon Ride, Amarillo and Oklahoma City

2011-10-15T13:13:00.001-07:00

We all enjoyed the last day of the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque, especially Don because he got to ride in the balloon! The rain had ended and the weather turned sunny and perfect for flying. As he climbed into the basket preparing to launch, I don’t think Don’s grin could have been any bigger!

Up, up and away!

As they rose above the launch field, Loren took this picture, capturing the expression of awe on Don’s face.

Craig drove the chase car as we kept track of the balloon flying WNW over Albuquerque. We were able to reach the point where the balloon landed only a minute or two after it touched down.

While packing up the envelope, we celebrated with some cold refreshments. A friendly neighbor took this picture. From left, Pilot Luc Goethals, Crew Chief Loren Goethals, and the volunteer crew: Bill (last name?), Craig and Liz, Don and me.

During our time parked with the Escapees Boomers at the balloon landing field, we held an auction of donated items to raise money for our favorite RV charity, Escapees CARE (Continuing Assistance for Retired Escapees). The auction took place twice, as it was rained out the first time. Below, Chuck Moore braved the storm as auctioneer, while Judy St. Croix (on left) described the metal balloon sculpture she created that was being auctioned off. Don’s son Craig bought it, as one of the last items sold before a big wind came along and forced us to pack up and take cover inside our RVs.

A few days later on Sunday afternoon the auction resumed. We enjoyed a beautiful, sunny day, and I bought the other metal balloon sculpture that Judy made. Here, we show off our purchases.

On Monday we said goodbye to friends and family and departed Albuquerque after our memorable 2 weeks there. We stopped overnight in Amarillo, TX where my cousin Ann Warren and her son Robert drove down from Dumas to meet us for dinner. (Sorry, too busy visiting with them to remember the camera.)

On Tuesday we drove to Oklahoma City and added another state to those we’ve visited together. We toured the Oklahoma City National Memorial, on the site of the Alfred P. Murrah Building that was bombed in April 1995, killing 168 people.

Here are a few pictures of the grounds of the memorial, starting with the entry wall. It’s inscribed “We come here to remember those who were killed, those who survived and those changed forever. May all who leave here know the impact of violence. May this memorial offer comfort, strength, peace, hope and serenity.”

The Field of Empty Chairs stands where the building once stood. Nine rows of chairs represent the nine floors of the building, with a chair for each person working or visiting on each floor, plus five chairs on the far end for five people who were killed outside the building.

Smaller chairs represent the 19 children who were killed.

A reflecting pool flows over granite, where 5th street was in front of the building, the site where the bomb was detonated. The two bronze Gates of Time at either end represent the minute before (9:01 am) and the minute after (9:03 am) the bombing.

The Rescuer Orchard was planted on the other side of the reflecting pool where two other buildings were damaged so badly they had to be torn down. This area honors rescue workers who rushed in to help after the bombing.

The Survivor Tree still grows nearby, having barely survived the bombing, although hundreds of buildings in the downtown area were damaged and 16 had to be torn down. The tree was hit by glass and debris, lost most of its branches in the bomb blast and was damaged by fire from burning cars parked nearby. However, a year later it was noticed that the tree was beginning to bloom again. Steps were taken to protect and support it.

A handwritten message from one of the rescue teams remains on the outside wall of a nearby building, which suffered damage but was repaired and now houses the Museum.

We ran out of time to tour the museum, but will plan that for another visit to this interesting city.

Special Shape Balloons

2011-10-06T16:38:00.001-07:00

Special Shape Balloons were scheduled to compete in a Rodeo today. However, high winds prevented any balloons from flying. So the special shape balloon pilots were asked to merely inflate their balloons for viewing on the launch field. The result was a little chaotic, with balloons battling not only the winds but also each other as they were inflated. I counted as many as 12 balloons in the picture below!

Our pilot helped hold down the basket for one of, if not the, largest of the special shape balloons, the turtle, owned by some friends of his from Belgium.

The envelope of this balloon is so big it was hard to get it all in one picture.

The turtle has lots of extra appendages, including arms, hands with fingers, a ball cap (turned backwards), a bow tie, and sneakers with shoelaces. Every piece has to be inflated. When the wind picked up, the balloon began swaying side-to-side and a few people got pushed by the feet!

I hadn’t seen the clock fly, so I got the best picture I could of it. Then I noticed that Mama Bee, in the foreground, was sporting a pink Breast Cancer Awareness ribbon.

This balloon has three monkey faces: See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil."

Here are more special shape balloons, both from this morning’s struggling efforts and from other days when they flew.

The turtle seems to be talking to the bear.

Balloon Fiesta Sets World Record

2011-10-03T19:48:00.001-07:00

Little did I realize when I was marveling about being in a hot air balloon on Saturday, rising so quickly and quietly above the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta launch field, that I was taking part in setting a new Guinness World Record! As announced several places, including the Sacramento Bee, 345 hot air balloons were launched in one hour, breaking the previous record of 329 set in France earlier in 2011.

I must apologize for publishing a picture of the wrong balloon in my previous blog post. The Zipper, in which I was a passenger, is below in a picture provided by the pilot.

I thought I spotted it in the sky the day after my balloon ride, but I picked the wrong one. The one below is similar, but definitely not right!

Anyway, thanks to Pilot Luc Goethals who set me right, with apologies for my mistake! (He’s already forgiven me.)

Today began with commercial balloons lining up to inflate and ascend with paying passengers.

The American Flag was flown by the Folgers balloon while the Star Spangled Banner was sung. What a moving way to inspire participants!

We didn’t get to fly the Zipper today because we were missing some members of our team. So we watched a flying competition where balloonists tried to toss rings over very tall poles (for a $4,000 cash prize and a chance to win $100,000 if they repeat it for 4 days) and throw flags to land in a boat (thus winning the boat). The boat was won, and one balloonist won the $4,000.

Here’s an attempt to get a ring tossed on a pole.

This picture shows an attempt to land a flag in the boat.

After watching so many balloonists trying to hit the targets, I really appreciated how difficult the competition was!

We met several “Zebras” (Launch Directors) today. If you’re interested in learning more about these dedicated volunteers, check out the Zebra Zone on the Balloon Fiesta website.

Mike, one of the Zebras, came to talk with Luc about whether he was going to launch today. I noticed he wore a Breast Cancer Awareness cap and several buttons and ribbons. When I told him I was a survivor, he gave me a “Save the Ta-Tas” button and a big hug!

Later, I met Debbie who discussed health and cancer survival, and she also hugged me and showed off all her Zebra attire, including a special manicure!

Here are some more balloon sights for your enjoyment.

The bee family flew together today!

Lookout! Here I come! (The landing missed all the people, amazingly.)

During happy hour this evening, a member of our Escapees Boomers group, Linda Wheeler, entertained us by singing several songs.

We called it an early evening with a light supper at home so we can get up early in the morning to get to the launch field by 6:15 am.

My Hot Air Balloon Ride

2011-10-02T14:42:00.001-07:00

It’s been my dream for over 30 years to ride in a hot air balloon. I got my ride on Saturday, the first day of the Balloon Fiesta! What a thrilling experience!

The balloon is named Zipper and is owned by a husband-and-wife team, Pilot Luc (pronounced “Luke”) Goethals and Crew Chief Loren Goethals. Luc is from Belgium and has flown balloons in six countries: Belgium, Holland, France, Switzerland, Sweden and the United States. Loren is from Texas, and they now live in from Richardson, Texas.

The envelope is a standard shape and holds 105,000 cu. ft. of air.

Don and I served on a 4-person crew with two other volunteers. It took us over 45 minutes to drive to the launch field in the morning, leaving our motorhome at 5:45 am, because of tremendously heavy traffic. (I hope that will diminish after the weekend.) We were told by the organizers to arrive at 6:15. Still, we arrived before the owners and other crew members. Since ‘our’ balloon wasn’t assigned to depart in the first wave, we took the time for Luc to give us some instruction about handling the basket, burners, envelope and other equipment. While there are similarities in every balloon, every pilot has his/her own way of doing things. While we waited our turn, we stood by and watched other balloonists nearby inflating and launching their balloons.

Sometimes it got a little tight between envelopes!

When it was our turn, we started inflating the envelope then had a slight delay to hold off, as instructed by the “Zebra” (referee, dressed in black/white stripes). A balloon that was in our takeoff path had to finish getting aloft first.

Don held the envelope open while it was being filled with air.

Luc walked into the partially inflated balloon to check things out.

We finally departed at 8:37 am. Here are some views from aloft. Everything on the launch field below quickly started to look very small!

Don drove the chase vehicle, a Land Rover pulling a cargo trailer, seen below in the center.

We flew 5.36 miles in 57.24 minutes, with a max altitude of 6,371 ft. (starting at almost 5,000 ft.). The only sound I heard was when Luc turned on the burners to heat the air as he expertly controlled the altitude of the balloon. The sights I saw while aloft were simply amazing. The sky was filled with balloons!

Some of the special shapes were still on the ground being prepared for launch with lots of spectators hovering close, like ants returning to their Queen!

The bee couple launched but left their baby behind!

I spotted the baby flying solo the next day. I hope this isn’t indicative of a disfunctional family! (Notice the blue, red and purple antennae, noses and feet to identify each bee.)

Some of the balloons accomplished a “Splash and Dash” in the Rio Grande.

Here’s our shadow next to the reflection of another balloon hovering close to the river.

Kayakers watched from a superb vantage point. Maybe we should do that one of these days instead of crewing.

Pilot Luc found a spot in a neighborhood where we could land. It was toward the street on the right in this picture, the last one I took before preparing for impact. Some landings can be a little rough; ours was a soft landing, although in the middle of desert brush.

Don and the chase crew arrived within minutes and walked the basket out to the street. Francisco, a college student at UNM, seen on the left below, lives in the area and was very helpful as navigator to direct Don to drive directly to us on back roads.

We packed up the envelope and loaded everything back into the trailer. Then Luc and Loren brought out champagne, sodas, water and snacks for a little post-flight celebration.

Cheers!

Later we returned to the launch field, bought dinner from the various food vendors, and watched the sunset.

We brought our folding chairs and got comfortable for the Evening “Glow.” Balloons were inflated and lighted in sequence, but didn’t launch.

Still later there were fireworks and then the special gas balloons were launched to fly on a several-day competition in the 16th Annual Challenge Race.

What a magical day!

Pre-Balloon Fiesta Days

2011-09-30T20:34:00.001-07:00

We’ve enjoyed our first few days in Albuquerque since arriving on Tuesday. We’ve learned a lot about hot air balloons and the activities associated with getting the equipment ready to fly so gracefully, and also what happens when the balloon returns to earth. Without going into a ballooning tutorial, I’ll share some highlights of these activities, as well as some of our friends who are sharing the experience.

Our hosts, Judy and Luke Rineheimer, are parked on the right in their Horizon motorhome. You can barely see the nose of our Phaeton, the fourth motorhome. Others in our group are parked in an L shape (behind me), and along the line below as far as you can see, with a total of about 40 RVs, with almost 80 members of the Escapees Boomers. We have a bird’s-eye view of the landing field, where many balloons will be coming down at the end of their flights.

It was exciting to see the first few balloons flying overhead.

Judy (in pink shirt and white hat on left) is our Go-To Gal for information about volunteering to help on balloon crews.

On Thursday, we attended an orientation video, then signed up to be crew members.

We then checked out the location for our assigned balloons to be launched.

This morning we got a chance to practice what we’d learned. Two balloonists and their families went to the Douglas MacArthur Elementary School to demonstrate how a balloon is prepared for flight.

First, all the equipment is unloaded from the truck or trailer carrying it. The envelope of the balloon is removed from its bag and laid out across the ground.

Volunteers help spread it out.

Don helped hold the throat open while the balloon was inflated.

When fully inflated, the balloon’s envelope was attached to the basket, and the propane burners were lit to warm up the air.

The warm air caused the envelope to rise, lifting the basket.

About that time, the wind changed and made the envelope start to flatten out.

The pilot decided to abort the effort, pulled the ‘red line’ to allow the air to escape out the top and deflate the envelope.

A few minutes later the wind calmed down, so the pilot tried again. This time, the balloon fully inflated and rose upright.

Soon it was Up, Up and Away!

Because of the ‘squirrely’ wind, the other balloon didn’t make it into the sky.

We helped with the one that flew, then chased it across town where it landed in a vacant lot.

We walked the balloon and its pilot to the street and down to a cul-de-sac where we learned how to deflate and pack up the envelope, basket, burners, and other equipment.

After handshakes and hugs in thanks for the help, we returned back to our RV parking. About noon, Don’s son Craig and his wife Liz arrived and parked with our group.

We took them to view the crew orientation video and helped get them signed up for crewing. Then we enjoyed happy hour with the Boomers. Some of the group found a source of free T-shirts during the day, and modeled them for us. It looks like I’ll have to go shopping again!

Our friends Frank and Gloria King stopped by to say hello and met Craig and Liz.

After dinner, we’re calling it an early night so we can get up very early for our next crewing experience tomorrow.

Update For September

2011-09-28T13:03:00.001-07:00

Since my last blog post, we’ve done less traveling, slowing down a bit to attend some rallies, get some things fixed, get annual doctor visits (for me) done and just rest. So here’s an update on what we’ve been doing.

We enjoyed serving on Staff for the first time at the Escapade in Gillette, Wyoming and have signed up to do the Volunteer Bureau again next year in Sedalia, Missouri.

After Escapade, we took part in a 4-day VCR Reunion and Workshop at Elkview Campground in Sturgis, South Dakota. VCRs (Volunteer Club Representatives) usually get together every year after Escapade to share ideas and experiences while attending Chapter rallies around the USA and Canada, and to help out with any problems that may arise. We also have a good time together as friends and fellow RVers.

Immediately following that, we moved 10.5 miles to Elk Creek Resort in Piedmont, SD. There we served at VCRs for the Heavy Haulers, a Birds-of-a-Feather (BOF) group of the Escapees RV Club. This is a very specialized part of the club, and for that matter the entire RV world. Members of this group have 5th wheels, and most of them use large trucks to pull them.

I was pleased to see that some of the women also get involved in the technical aspects of truck maintenance, and they do part of the driving. One woman who doesn’t drive was inspired to learn, after several conversations with me and other women who agree that every woman should know how to drive their RV, even if just for emergencies.

We learned a great deal about towing weights and other challenges of this type of RV, and we helped the members resolve some issues regarding their group’s web site and future plans for rallies. And we made a lot of new friends.

Then it was time to take care of some personal business. We spent two weeks at our home base, Hart Ranch Resort in Rapid City, South Dakota.

We accomplished several things on our To-Do list. The broken Atwood jack was replaced by Mid-States RV in Blackhawk, SD, and the leveling system was restored after almost two months of living in an unstable RV. Hurrah! The front thermostat that had quit working was tested, which caused the a/c and heat to also quit working (the service manager denied it was the tech’s fault). The wrong thermostat was ordered (or maybe not ordered at all), so Don ordered it directly from Tiffin and replaced it himself. (We now know not to totally trust the service manager at Mid-States RV.) The motorhome windshield chips were repaired by our friend Jim Rafuse. We got a quote on replacing the car’s windshield and repairing chips in the body, but insurance approval arrived too late to get the work done here.

Toby of Land Roamer RV Service built a temporary support for the sagging floor of our water bay so we can make it to Red Bay, Alabama to have it replaced by Tiffin.

We aren’t thrilled about having to go 1,200 miles (each way) to get this work done, but it’s the only way to avoid having to pay for it because Tiffin is the only place we can get it done free. The company has admitted they used faulty materials for the flooring under the water tanks in several years’ models of the Phaeton and the Allegro Bus, but didn’t issue a recall. And we need some other things done to the coach that we prefer to get done there, too. So we decided to bite the bullet and make the trip there, then return west to our lot in Benson, AZ.

We found time to meet some friends for dinner at the newly opened Texas Roadhouse in Rapid City.

We left Hart Ranch last Thursday to visit Don’s son Craig and daughter-in-law Liz in Laramie, Wyoming. On the way, we had to drive through some heavy-duty construction. It was almost like being in Canada and Alaska again!

It was a nice visit with the “kids” and we’re happy Craig was able to take a little time off work to spend with us.

We were lucky to get a site right beside them, as the big football game between Wyoming and Nebraska took place that weekend on the nearby campus of the University of Wyoming, and the RV park filled up.

We toured the Ivinson Mansion together. This historic home played a significant role in the development of Laramie and fostered the education of many young women while it was used for several years as a boarding school.

We took a day trip to Pole Mountain, a recreation area east of Laramie in Medicine Bow National Forest where Craig and his crew are working to remove explosive devices left behind by the military.

We enjoyed a picnic lunch then looked around for Native American artifacts.

Liz and Craig found a couple of possible arrowhead pieces.

Our drive continued through streams and over sometimes rough roads, to explore the area thoroughly. We got a beautiful view of the area by climbing to the top of an old bunker.

Unfortunately, previous visitors left behind a mess for someone else to clean up.

Don and I visited the Wyoming Territorial Prison, where Liz and Craig had previously been. It was built in 1872 and restored in the 1990’s. Exhibits tell some interesting stories about the early years of Wyoming and some of its convicts including several women and the famous Butch Cassidy.

A broom factory on the grounds shows how convicts helped earn their keep.

We’ve now moved on to Albuquerque, NM where we’re attending the Balloon Fiesta with about 75 other Escapees Boomers. We’ll be posting pictures of this spectacular event in the next few days. Last night we had dinner with some of the early arrivers. Judy and Luke Rinehimer, our leaders, are to Don’s left. They’ve done a lot of work in preparation for this event and are enjoying it for the 8th year!

I’m sorry this blog is so lengthy – there was a lot to catch up on. Thanks for the patience shown by followers during its hiatus. It’s good to be back!

This Blog is on Hiatus

2011-09-04T11:21:00.001-07:00

After blogging so frequently during our trip through 3 Canadian Provinces and Alaska, my writing efforts need a break for awhile.

If readers want to stay in touch, send email to me and/or Don. And if you want to be notified when this blog restarts, there are options to Subscribe by email or become a Follower and be notified through your Blogger Dashboard. I’ll also post brief updates occasionally on Facebook.

Thanks to everyone who followed my blog during the past few months.

Gillette, Cam-Plex and More Projects

2011-08-25T20:24:00.001-07:00

We arrived in Gillette yesterday afternoon around 3 pm and the thermometer read 99 degrees. We topped off the diesel at Flying J, intending to park overnight in the WalMart lot along with about 15 other RVs. However, we had seen a billboard for Crazy Woman Campground on the way into town, and Don suggested we consider staying there if they had a site available.

With all the Escapees converging on this town for the upcoming Escapade, I was surprised when I called to learn that there were open sites! We didn’t like the first site assigned us because of it being very unlevel and under a low-hanging tree. Don returned to the office and got another site that turned out to be fine. By the time we got set up the thermometer read 103! It was really nice to turn on the a/c and cool off. This campground isn’t the most scenic we’ve been in, as evidenced by this view out our windshield, but it sure was nice to feel that cool air flowing!

At precisely 8:00 am today, we moved into the giant Cam-Plex Facility. The parking crew led me forward (past Dennis Hill’s Little Green Man on the right, dressed in cowboy duds!) and mistakenly took me too far down the road. So I had to drive the motorhome around a few more turns to get turned around and come back to the site assigned to us.

Don and I are serving on the Escapade Staff for the first time. Our job is to coordinate volunteers to help with all the various events during the rally. After picking up our staff information packet, we had a meeting with Molly Pinner, Escapade Director along with her hubby Bob, to gain a better understanding of our job. We have experienced assistants, W.C. and Leslie Earnst, whom we met today.

This afternoon we attended a meeting of all staff and learned more about the overall operation. Tickets were drawn for door prizes, and we were the recipients of a very nice Strongback chair! Yes, Nick, we now have a chair like yours! (Although I think it’s a different model.) Don and I might be fighting over this one. Maybe we’ll have to buy another… Hey, maybe that’s why the chair was donated as a door prize, you think?

When our names were called for the prize, the person announcing winners stumbled over the pronunciation of Del Rosario. Later, Angie Carr, Executive Director, humorously asked the audience to repeat after her “Don and Sharon Del Rosario” and she pronounced it right! Thanks, Angie!

We enjoyed happy hour with the staff and chatted with many friends, and got acquainted with lots of others. This is a hugging group, very friendly and supportive. Later we went to Pokey’s BBQ with W.C. and Leslie and got to know them a little better. The food was good and plentiful – we both brought home boxes for another meal/snack.

Now, I’ll switch gears to focus on a topic near and dear to my heart. A couple of days ago I got out my jewelry-making kit and put together these earrings, using the pink ribbon breast cancer awareness beads that Gloria King gave me. Thanks, Gloria!

I wore them with my Fight Like a Girl T-shirt.

I also bought yarn for making a boa.

And two chemo caps.

Inspired by a display in Michael’s, it’s another way to help victims of this terrible disease. As a survivor, I’m a strong supporter of the ongoing research and I encourage every woman (and man) to get regular check-ups and mammograms.

If you knit or crochet, look for this display at Michael’s or go online to find some of these projects.

Finally, if you don’t already do this, I encourage my readers to click daily on the Breast Cancer Site to help provide free mammograms for people who can’t afford them. It’s free, and only takes a few seconds of your time. Also, if you can spare some cash as a charitable donation, I recommend the Susan G. Komen organization. The web site is also a wonderful resource for anyone who’s been diagnosed or just needs more information about the disease.

Great Falls to Billings

2011-08-21T20:13:00.001-07:00

We decided to leave Great Falls today rather than tomorrow, since we learned that more of our friends (Fennells and Hinmans) were in Billings and would be leaving tomorrow. It was a pleasant drive over roads neither Don nor I had ever been on. Parts of the trip were through pretty scenery, with rivers, hills, trees and green countryside. There were lots of fields of hay, herds of cows and grain elevators in between the small towns.

Arriving in Billings from a different direction than we had used before, and with a different destination was a little tricky. We decided to stay one night with 30-amps at the Moose Lodge. The small Acer computer we use for the Silverleaf program and MS Streets & Trips (MSST or “Misty”) couldn’t find the street address or “Moose Lodge Billings.” So I used the navigation app on my Droid to get us there. We swapped drivers just outside of town so I could be the navigator and Don would be the white-knuckle driver through town. I managed to get us here, not without a few glitches, but we didn’t make any of the wrong turns I almost got us into!

The building is large and so is the parking lot, but it doesn’t seem like a very active lodge. At least not on Sunday afternoon.

We got set up near one of the power posts (notice we’re using leveling pads under the wheels because our jacks are still broken).

Then we drove to the Eagles' Lodge for happy hour with Caroline and Art Fennell, and Marlene and Frank Hinman, who are parked there. It was so nice to catch up with these friends after not seeing them for several months. We’re all on our way to the Escapade (Escapees RV Club annual rally) in Gillette, Wyoming.

When we returned to our motorhome at the Moose Lodge, we discovered Chris and Charles Yust parked right next to us! They’re both our friends and our GMAC/Good Sam insurance agents. What a nice surprise!

They had rescued our Magne Shades after 2 of them blew off in a strong windstorm that hit a few minutes before we got back. In fact, we almost stopped for dinner on the way back from the Eagles’ but we decided to come check on the motorhome and Shadow because of the storm.

Chris didn’t want me to take her picture. Oh, well!

The 4 of us went to dinner at Olive Garden and enjoyed great food and conversation.

Tomorrow we’ll move to the KOA where we have a reservation, to visit with more friends, Bill and Helen Moll, our original purpose for stopping in Billings. We’re treating ourselves to two nights in this original KOA Kampground, with sky-high rates, and will make the most of their hot tub and other amenities.

Lewis & Clark and an Anniversary

2011-08-19T20:57:00.001-07:00

Don and I played tourist today in Great Falls, and visited the Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail Interpretive Center.

The magnitude of just one portion of this historic trip was portrayed by a two-story diorama depicting the portage at Great Falls. The men of the expedition thought they would have one set of waterfalls to go around; upon arrival in the area they discovered there were five sets of falls, covering 18 1/4 miles. They had to carry heavy boats and equipment over dry, desert-like prairie land covered with prickly pear cactus, wearing only moccasins. One caption says “They endured fierce heat, sudden storms, blistered hands, and lacerated feet, yet they were determined ‘to succeed in the expedition or perish in the attempt.’”

The exhibit was so large, I had to go downstairs to get it all in one picture.

The rest of the center was equally interesting, and a 30-minute Ken Burns movie was shown as well. We thoroughly enjoyed the visit.

Next, we drove down the Missouri River to see the Rainbow Falls.

Then we drove back up river to see the Black Eagle Falls.

We considered kayaking on the Missouri, but when we saw where we could put the boats in, and the short and relatively uninteresting portion of the river where we could paddle, we decided it wasn’t worth the effort. It might be a different story if we liked riding the rapids, but we definitely don’t!

During happy hour we toasted and congratulated the Forbes on their anniversary.

L-R: Don, Frank, Dennis (hiding behind Don’s hand), Gloria, Carol, Marilyn and Larry. We had another day of beautiful weather, too.

It occurred to me today that we’ve celebrated quite a few birthdays and anniversaries during the past few months. Starting with Dennis’ birthday in May, all 6 couples of the Last Frontier Gang had a birthday and 3 of us also had an anniversary during the trip. Here’s a chronological list, for those interested:

May 12 – Dennis Hill
June 1 – Jean Fradette
June 13 – Don & Sharon Del Rosario
June 19 – Jim Smith
July 21 – Mary Olson
August 4 – Don Del Rosario
August 8 – Dennis & Carol Hill
August 14 – Marilyn Forbes
August 19 – Larry & Marilyn Forbes

And we got to share Gloria and Frank’s anniversary on August 14 as well!

Reunion in Great Falls

2011-08-18T19:39:00.001-07:00

Today we got a nice surprise! Pat Livingston and Jim Smith called after they crossed the border into the U.S. to see if we were still in Great Falls. Yes! They arrived early in the afternoon and parked at the Moose Lodge, since we couldn’t get them into the Malmstrom FamCamp. Don drove over to pick them up for our happy hour and potluck dinner tonight.

Don planned the dinner event by offering to grill three tri-tip roasts, prepared Santa Maria style.

Carol and Marilyn patiently waited for their cue from Don for the time to bring out their dinner contributions.

Don was relaxed – it’s not time yet!

Everyone else brought side dishes. Everything was delicious, and nobody left hungry!

Pictured above (L-R): Larry Forbes, Frank and Gloria King, Pat Livingston, Jim Smith, Don Del Rosario, Carol and Dennis Hill and Marilyn Forbes.

Earlier, during happy hour, there were several craft projects in progress. Gloria was inspired to crochet a lapghan for Soldiers’ Angels, and here she’s discussing it with Pat, also a crocheter.

Carol was busy crocheting a baby cap to donate through the Escapees, who provide them to a local hospital (for newborns, especially preemies) wherever the annual Escapade is held. Marilyn worked on her own Soldiers’ Angels knitted lapghan project.

My knitted lapghan for Soldiers’ Angels is also taking shape.

Gloria showed me the bracelet and earrings she makes for breast cancer survivors – there are several in her family – and she sells them to raise money for breast cancer research. She shared some of the beads with me so I can make myself a pair of earrings, after she learned that I’m a survivor, too. Thanks, Gloria!

Meanwhile the guys talked about new wrenches they bought, how to fix Frank’s 5th wheel’s broken jack, and polishing their RVs. We’re all enjoying just ‘chilling’ after traveling so many miles, and getting caught up with ‘household’ cleaning and rejuvenating. Some of us have been doing some outside and inside cleaning, polishing and reorganizing projects, and are feeling like we’ve accomplished something useful during the past few laid-back days.

Pat and Jim are moving on down the road tomorrow, and the rest of us are leaving during the next few days. It’s so nice to have this time together. Thanks for the fun, Friends!

Shopping, A Birthday and Two Anniversaries

2011-08-14T20:23:00.001-07:00

Yesterday and today provided a chance to catch up on some shopping. We bought over $200 of food at the commissary yesterday, and almost $300 of other stuff at Wal-Mart today. And we did a lot of nothing, just resting after so much traveling.

We are parked at the older FamCamp on Malmstrom AFB because the newer one just outside the main gate was full.

Larry and Marilyn were able to get a site in the newer park early the next morning, after spending a night at Wal-Mart because we couldn’t get them checked in due to the base lockdown on Friday. It’s a good thing they got that site, as it would have been very difficult, maybe impossible, to sponsor them inside the base due to the heightened security. We expect to move over there tomorrow as another site is expected to become available.

We’re fine where we are, but with temperatures in the 90’s (and we’re used to 60’s) we need to run the a/c and would like to run both of them. Also, I’m catching up on laundry using our on-board w/d, so we need (want) 50 amps and only have 30 in this park. Plus, the grass is much nicer there, so we can let Shadow roll in it without having to clean all the dead grass off him after he rolls in it (and weeds) where we are now.

Yesterday, while I was walking Shadow, the other Shadow’s Mom and Dad, Gloria and Frank King, drove into the FamCamp and recognized me! What a nice surprise to run into these fellow Escapees and Alaska travelers that we saw in Anchorage and again in Whitehorse.

Today is Marilyn Forbes’ birthday. She wanted to go to a Mexican restaurant for dinner, so I found a local Fiesta en Jalisco, a chain that I know is pretty good. I learned it’s also the King’s 51st wedding anniversary, so we made it a joint celebration. And, since Dennis and Carol Hill recently celebrated their 40th anniversary – well, not really a celebration because Dennis had to go to the ER for a health problem – we made it a triple! A good time was had by all.

We enjoyed happy hour in the shade next to the Forbes’ motorhome. Notice that we’re wearing shorts and sandals instead of sweatshirts.

And we had a toast at dinner.

The food was plentiful and everyone left with full bellies, complaining about the weight we need to lose!

Back in the USA!

2011-08-12T20:59:00.001-07:00

We crossed the Canada-U.S. border at Coutts, Alberta/Sweetgrass, Montana this morning about 10:00 a.m. Of all the times we’ve crossed borders during the last 3 months, this one could have been the tough one, so we made sure to have no more than the allowed amounts of liquor and cash, no fruit (especially citrus), no guns (we don’t own any), etc. All the meat in our freezer was from Alaska, none purchased in Canada. We had our Passports ready, and Shadow’s vaccination records handy. The insurance papers on the motorhome and car were within reach, too. We had to wait in line about 15 minutes before moving up to the agent.

His first question: where had we been? We had actually just discussed this a few minutes earlier, to remember the 3 Canadian Provinces (Alberta, Yukon Territory and British Columbia), as well as Alaska. Tobacco, alcohol and citrus were his other questions. None, a little (more than 2 bottles? No), and none. He asked if we had a good time on the trip – Oh, yes! Then, Welcome Home! Nobody came inside to inspect our refrigerator and cupboards, and there were no other questions. He didn’t even ask if we had any pets, so Shadow was smuggled across the border. We were over-prepared; but we were happy! We were on our way within 20 minutes, including the wait in line!

We stopped for fuel in Shelby, Montana. It was great to pay US $3.859/gallon instead of CAN $1.459/litre (the highest we paid in Pink Mountain, B.C.) or CAN $1.699/litre (the price we avoided paying at Saskatchewan River Crossing, Alberta). Depending on when you purchased, and the value of the U.S. dollar in Canada at the time (or the organization’s own conversion rate), CAN $1.459/litre could be US $5.50 to $5.79 per gallon! And that’s not counting the international fee your credit card provider might charge if you didn’t use cash.

It’s also nice to return to miles on our speedometer (the bigger numbers) instead of trying to figure out where 90 kilometers/hour appears (the small numbers, especially hard to see with sunglasses). And we don’t have so many heavy coins to carry around. Canada doesn’t have one-dollar bills, only coins (called Loonies) and $2 coins (called Twonies or Toonies). When you get change for anything over $5, you get a lot of coins!

I don’t intend to criticize Canada, as we really enjoyed touring through its beautiful scenery and meeting so many wonderful people, but it’s great to return to our own country and the things that are familiar to us.

We reconnected with Dennis and Carol, and Larry and Marilyn this afternoon. Due to a temporary lock-down on Malmstrom AFB, we weren’t able to sponsor the Forbes into the FamCamp, but we’ll get them in tomorrow. We’ll get together tomorrow for a special picnic on base, and several other times during the next week. It will be nice to stay in one place for a week, after traveling for the past 6 days.

And here are a few things we haven’t seen for a while. A sunset. (Followed by darkness!)

A full moon. As a matter of fact, any moon, as it never got dark enough to see it with the sun still shining late at night.

BOTH of our satellite dishes are up and connected to the satellites. We turned on our DirecTV service today (we put it on hold in May), and after a few phone calls to resolve a few glitches, we’re watching programs in High Definition, using our DVR (Digital Video Recorder) with two inputs so we can watch one program and record another at the same time, plus enjoying features such as Pause, Fast Forward, Quick Tune, etc.

Flowers! They were so expensive up north, I insisted that Don save his money and spend it on other things instead, because they were all more expensive, too. So today he surprised me by bringing home a bouquet.

It’s good to be home.

Lethbridge, AB

2011-08-11T20:30:00.001-07:00

We’ve been without Internet access for the past few days, and we had a long drive today, so this blog entry will be brief.

We and the Forbes traveled from Houston, BC to Prince George on Monday, then to Mount Robson Provincial Park (just outside Jasper National Park) on Tuesday.

We thought we had become immune to beautiful mountains, since we’ve seen so many. Then we rounded a curve and this giant jumped out at us! Mt. Robson is absolutely gorgeous!

Wednesday morning we drove about 20 miles into Jasper NP, paid the daily fee of $17.40 (Sr. rate) that was good until 4:00 pm the following day, parked in Whistlers Campground at $27.80 with no hookups (and the worst roads we’ve seen in the past 3 months!), and spent the rest of the day playing tourist. We could have spent a lot more time in Jasper, but we have a date to keep and just couldn’t stay. Plus, we found it crowded and very touristy.

We had a superb Greek dinner at Something Else in Jasper. We were early enough to avoid the crowds.

Today, Thursday, Don and I drove almost 400 miles (through Jasper NP, the Icefields Parkway and Banff NP) to Lethbridge, Alberta. We’re staying in the same park where we stayed in May. It’s a beautiful park, but a lot more crowded now. We were lucky to get the last 50 amp full-hookup pull-through site by calling ahead.

We found a Chinese restaurant nearby where the food was okay, but service was extremely slow. And when we finally left, it was raining. The storm we skirted ahead of today on the road caught up with us. As I write this, it’s raining even harder, and Shadow is wisely postponing his evening stroll!

Here are a few of the beautiful sights we saw on the road today in the National Parks.

I think we’ll have to plan more time for this area the next time we come this way.

Tomorrow we’ll be returning to the Lower 48. It’s been a wonderful trip, and we’ve enjoyed the three Canadian Provinces we traveled through, as well as Alaska. But we’re eager to get our jacks fixed, or at least get the process started. And it will be great to re-join Dennis and Carol Hill tomorrow, and the Forbes in a few days.

Houston, B.C.

2011-08-07T20:10:00.001-07:00

We drove about 245 miles today from Stewart to Houston, B.C. (This Houston is nothing like the Houston we know to avoid in Texas!) It was a beautiful day, with sunshine, smooth roads, light traffic and pretty scenery. We’ve become somewhat blasé to pretty mountains, having seen The Great One and several other fairly magnificent ones. But we still appreciate nice countryside. We saw a small black bear this morning – it looked like a cub, but we didn’t see a sow anywhere nearby. And we saw cows and horses, and fields of newly-baled hay, for a change of scene.

The first stop of the day was to get pictures of Bear Glacier, about 25 miles east of Stewart.

It’s hard to appreciate the scale of this glacier. It’s across the Bear River from where we were standing. It’s not anywhere near as large as Salmon Glacier, but it’s still big. And it’s close to the highway. Here’s a close-up of the bottom.

That’s a lot of ice! The river looks pretty calm here, but downstream where we drove beside it there was a lot of white water.

Back on the road, before long we had come to the end of the Cassiar Highway 37 and turned east onto the Yellowhead Highway 16. We stopped at Hazelton where we ate our lunch in the Visitor Center parking lot. There were 3 statues honoring minors, packers and loggers.

Don wondered, Why does he have his foot on a pitch fork? Maybe he used it to sift large gold nuggets out of the rocks. Click on the pictures of the plaques for a better view.

There was a small farmers’ market in the parking lot.

I bought some delicious tomatoes at this stand for $2 a pound (they were $6 in Fairbanks, where we did NOT buy any).

We found a small RV park on the highway, Siverthorne RV Park, a little mom & pop place just west of Houston, with fairly level parking on grass. $24 for full hookups, including $2 HST – lots of Canadians are unhappy about this new tax. Compared to what we’ve paid recently, it seemed reasonable and a lot better than an unlevel turnout on a busy highway.

We enjoyed happy hour in the shade since the sun was warming us up!

As usual, Shadow loved the grass, and he got spoiled with some peanuts coming his way. He even got a belly rub or two under Larry and Marilyn’s feet.

All in all, it was a very pleasant day. We’ll head for Prince George tomorrow.

Last Day in Alaska

2011-08-06T21:14:00.001-07:00

We bid Alaska goodbye this evening, after first entering the state on May 23, Day 7 of our trip (that began in Dawson Creek, BC on May 16 at Mile 0 of the Alaska Highway). We went to Skagway for a couple of days, then returned to Canada before entering Alaska again on Top of the World Highway. Today is Day 83, and we’ve covered over 4600 miles since leaving Dawson Creek. We’ve moved in and out of the state during the intervening 76 days, as we traveled between Alaska and the northwest Canadian Provinces bordering it (British Columbia and Yukon Territory). Yes, it’s goodbye until the next time, but not before spending a wonderful day seeing new sights.

We drove from Stewart, B.C. to Hyder, Alaska, past the Fish Creek Wildlife Viewing Area, and back into B.C., with the border marked only by a small sign. Our destination was the Salmon Glacier, but we saw some wonderful scenery on the way there.

We saw ruins of the Riverside Mine, established in 1922 with 4,000 feet of tunnels built during the next two years. It was operated until 1961 and was at one time the most productive property in Alaska for silver and copper.

The road passed beside the Premier Mine, but we got a better view of it after following the road to the other side of the Salmon River Valley.

Everywhere there were wonderful views of mountains, snow, ice, trees, fireweed and clouds.

The Salmon Glacier is the fifth largest glacier in North America. It borders on Alaska, but it’s in British Columbia. The toe of the glacier shows ridges that makes it look like someone has driven on it with a very large vehicle. These ridges are made of Till, composed of rock debris carried by the slow moving river of ice.

Below the toe of the glacier are small ponds known as Kettles. They are formed by melting of buried ice blocks that are stranded on the terminal moraine after the glacier recedes.

This is near the top of the glacier.

This side view gives an idea of how deep the ice is.

When we reached the top, we discovered that the glacier took a 90 degree turn and goes uphill quite a bit farther.

That’s one huge glacier!

Author and photographer Keith Scott was at the summit selling DVDs and postcards.

On the way back, we stopped at Fish Creek again to see if any bears were present. Serious and patient photographers seemed to have become tired of waiting for bears. Or maybe they saw the bear we missed about 45 minutes earlier and decided to take a break.

I found another variety of fungus growing on the decking structure.

Chum Salmon are still spawning in the clear water.

Since it didn’t seem likely that we’d see a bear, we decided it was time to return to our RV park and enjoy happy hour in the sunshine.

Shadow got a few treats, and enjoyed rolling on his back in the lush grass.

We returned to Hyder and took a look at the Glacier Inn, recommended for dinner by our RV park host.

It looked too much like a beer hangout, so we went to check out another place in town, a hotel with a restaurant. I didn’t have a chance to get a picture of it because Don went in the door and back out so fast! Yes, another beer hangout. So we left Hyder, “the friendliest Ghost Town in Alaska,” for the last time.

Back in Stewart, Don stopped at the Bitter Creek Café that looked interesting.

Entering through what looked like an antique store/museum, we were impressed.

Service was prompt and helpful. The walls in the dining room were lined with relics from years past. Did you know there were snowshoes for horses? Horses had to be trained from a young age to use them. Here are two styles.

An interesting collection of coffee/food grinders graced another wall.

The food couldn’t have been better – fresh and full of flavor!

It was a generous serving of Red Snapper for the fish tacos! And it was delicious, along with the avocado, cole slaw, rice pilaf and spicy beans. The Lighthouse in Haines should take note.

Marilyn had the same fish tacos, and Larry had fajitas. We all enjoyed our meals – I’m so glad Don found this place! What a great way to end our day. And I’m so happy we visited Stewart and Hyder!

Exploring Hyder and Stewart

2011-08-05T20:47:00.001-07:00

We started our day at the Visitor Center in Stewart where we picked up brochures to learn more about this area and others we have yet to visit.

Across the street is a small grocery store with unique decorations on its roofline.

We crossed the unmanned (in this direction) border to Hyder and stopped at the Post Office. It’s housed in a mobile home underneath a large free-standing roof.

Both Stewart and Hyder observe Pacific Time to simplify life, but the P.O. is a U.S. Federal institution, so it has to operate on Alaska Time, one hour earlier than Pacific. We arrived a few minutes before 11 am Alaska Time. However, we learned that the staff observe Pacific Time for a lunch break, and that they left early today. So we had to return later.

Lunch was at Seafood Express, aka the famous “Bus.” In 1998 Jim and Diana Simpson created a fish and chips restaurant in a school bus, with covered outdoor seating.

Later they added indoor seating in a building behind it.

The seafood is fresh and prepared to order. It was yummy! They also sell fresh seafood out of another building next door. Don bought some smoked salmon, but they didn’t have enough fresh salmon to sell, other than as meals in the restaurant.

We then drove beyond Hyder to Fish Creek, following a self-guided driving tour.

They protect a section of road where bears come out of the mountains to catch fish. No walking or parking is allowed.

Fish Creek offers visitors a view of spawning salmon and both Grizzly and Black bears.

Several very serious photographers were toward the far end of the deck. It takes a lot of patience to photograph wildlife.

We saw a lot of fish, and an eagle, but no bears. Marilyn and Larry went back this evening to see if they can spot a bear. Here are a few of the many pictures I took.

The water was clear, but the fish moved fast, so a lot of my pictures turned out blurry.

There are at least 19 salmon in the picture below.

I caught the eagle in a distant tree initially, before he flew down to the river. It’s an immature Bald Eagle (it hasn’t yet developed the distinguished white head).

The eagle found a fish carcass to munch on, but this picture makes him look more dignified.

It was an amazing place and a peaceful treat to see these wonderful fish return to spawn in the same creek where they were born.

There was also a wide variety of trees, with berries and moss adding color.

We returned to the U.S.-Canada border, where this 1896 storehouse stands on the U.S. side. It’s the only one of 4 similar buildings that has been restored, and is on the National Register of Historic Places. The international boundary marker, resembling a miniature Washington Monument, sits about 10 feet away.

Each storehouse bore a dressed stone with the following message cut into it: “U.S. Property, Do Not Injure.”

It’s easy to cross this border; there’s rarely any waiting time, and the border agents are friendly. Their main concern is whether we’re carrying any guns, but we didn’t even get that question today.

The two towns sit beneath tall mountains, with several hanging glaciers. Although we still had some clouds today, we were able to see a little more clearly.

We almost decided to skip this side trip and save the 80 miles roundtrip from the Cassiar Highway. But several people wrote emails and blog comments, saying “Don’t miss Hyder.” Thanks for the recommendations; I’m so glad we came to see these unique sights!

A Birthday, Hyder, AK and Stewart, BC

2011-08-04T21:10:00.001-07:00

Today we drove about 165 miles from Kinaskan Lake to Stewart, BC, on the border next to Hyder, AK. Roads were in very good condition, and were a joy to drive.

Hyder holds the distinction of being the easternmost town in Alaska. There are about 100 happy people who live there, plus a few s***heads, according to a local sign. Streets in Stewart, with a population of about 700, are paved, not so in Hyder. The two towns have some interesting parallels, as well as big distinctions. As we explore them during the next few days I’ll learn more.

We arrived during a rainstorm, in fact drove through rain most of the day. But the weather promises to improve tomorrow. I hope to get some great pictures of the area’s spectacular scenery.

Our RV park in Stewart is nice (Bear River RV Park), and we were able to get a level site on grass sharing a utility post with the Forbes, and our Datastorm dish found the satellite through a hole in the trees. If the woman who checked us in had a better clue of where South is, we might have chosen another site, but it worked out fine.

The ground is so wet, our feet squish whenever we walk on grass or gravel (we’re avoiding mud if possible), and there are even mushrooms growing in the site in back of us. I don’t have a clue whether these are edible, but I doubt it or someone would have picked them already.

Today is Don’s birthday, so the four of us went to King Edward Hotel for a wonderful dinner.

Marilyn and I both had King Crab Legs – yummy!

Larry had steak and Don had three appetizers, including escargot, clam chowder and shrimp cocktail.

Happy Birthday to my best friend and hubby! This time it was a lot more fun than last year, when you were in the rehab hospital in Minot, ND with casts on your arm and leg! May we celebrate many more of your birthdays together, in good health!

A final note about my blog. You might notice a new addition on the right. I’ve added maps showing States and Provinces we’ve visited together. Thanks to Rick of Rick & Paulette’s RV Travels for the link. It can be found at epgSoft. If you want to add it to your own blog, just click the link and follow the instructions. Then go to your Blogger Design, click Add a Gadget, then choose Picture from your computer. It’s easy! Thanks, Rick!

Whitehorse to Kinaskan Lake

2011-08-03T20:42:00.001-07:00

We’ve been out of touch since leaving Whitehorse, YT, because we couldn’t get the Datastorm satellite dish tuned in last night. We stayed at Junction 37, where Canada Highway 37, the Cassiar Highway, meets the Alaska Highway. Tall trees could have been the reason, but we moved the motorhome a few times trying to get the dish in the ‘sweet spot’ but never succeeded. Maybe it was just another one of those ‘dead zones.’

We did some repeat visits to places we’ve been before, including the Yukon Motel and Restaurant in Teslin.

We didn’t buy fuel this time, but ate lunch there. And Marilyn and I had our leftovers for lunch today. We saw the same moose, the same bridge.

Uh-oh, this fireweed looks like it has bloomed all the way to the top. That means snow is coming soon! Time to head south.

We drove about 260 miles from Whitehorse to the junction. If we had gotten an earlier start, we might have made it further down the road. But we started out with the challenge of getting our air bags to inflate, since the same controller for the failed jack system controls the air bags, and Don was given misinformation by one of the Atwood techs. We had to get tech support on the phone again. Meanwhile, Larry and Marilyn discovered another sheared-off bolt under their slide-out, so they had to make a quick trip to the hardware store. By the time we were both ready to hit the road, it was after 10 am.

Our home in the woods last night. We had one neighbor, a man on a motorcycle with a tent. Very quiet!

Today was a beautiful day for traveling. We drove about 225 miles, and road conditions varied. We hit gravel, narrow roads with no shoulder, some with a ditch where the shoulder should be (even scarier, especially when meeting semis - and that had to be when I was driving!), construction, and washboard surfaces. Most roads had no center line or side line for the shoulder (what shoulder?). Oh, yes, and there are still frost heaves even though we’re south of the really cold places.

Scenery was beautiful.

We stopped at Jade City to see all the overpriced and less-than-unique items.

But it was interesting to see some of the equipment used to cut the huge rocks of jade.

And some of the huge rocks.

This must be what they use to move the rocks.

And here’s where they wash them.

Don thought this fountain might look good on our lot in Benson. But how can we get it there?

We resisted buying the T-shirt.

Or the bear with a fish in its mouth.

Or any number of overpriced (IMHO) cats, dogs, pendants, earrings, etc.

This chess set was nice, if you play chess. Only $3995!

We had lunch at a turnout overlooking a river.

We bought diesel at Kluachon Centre Store for $1.40/litre. We’ve paid more, and the people were really nice.

Here are a few more road and scenery pictures. Some drivers didn’t slow down in the gravel.

Most of the truckers were very considerate. We slowed down and they did, too. They usually waved, too.

One of the tough spots.

Beautiful views.

We’re parked tonight at Kinaskan Lake Provincial Park. It’s a beautiful location, with no-hookup parking for $16 Canadian. Our sites are next to each other, fairly level (since we have no leveling jacks) and with a beautiful view of the lake. And we have Internet!!

We enjoyed a peaceful happy hour with the Forbes. Marilyn knitted while we chatted.

And Larry read email and blogs, using our Internet connection. It’s great to be online again!

Failed Jack and Playing Tourist in Whitehorse

2011-08-01T21:18:00.001-07:00

As I mentioned yesterday, one of our Atwood leveling jacks wouldn’t go down. I was concerned about spending a lot of time using a cell phone in Canada and paying $.69 per minute for roaming. Our friends (I think it was Judy) reported that they had switched to a nationwide plus Canada plan with Verizon for about $20 more per month, and it could be canceled upon returning to the lower 48. So, first thing this morning, I called Verizon. I wanted a ‘real person’ to confirm that my data plan on my smartphone wouldn’t be affected by this change; otherwise, I could have changed the plan on their web site. I got that assurance (important, because I have unlimited data and that option is no longer offered).

With the new calling plan now in place, I called Atwood for technical support for the jack. Steve listened to what troubleshooting I had already done, and said the jack would probably need to be replaced. The closest service center for Atwood is in Prince George, B.C., which is on our planned route southward, about 1100 miles from Whitehorse. We could have backtracked to Tok, Alaska, but that wasn’t a good option. We need to have an authorized mechanic confirm what’s needed, then call for authorization from our extended warranty service. Only then can the part/s be ordered. In the meantime, we have to disable all the jacks to avoid having the alarm sound while traveling. And the airbags, which are controlled by the same system, must then be manually inflated. Don has done this before, but he’ll talk with the technician in the morning to verify the procedure.

Since we couldn’t do any more to solve the problem, we headed out to play tourist. We hadn’t visited the S.S. Klondike during our previous visit.

This sternwheeler was one of a fleet of riverboats that ran up and down the Yukon River during the Gold Rush. Crew quarters were simple and meager, with 3 to a room. I couldn’t get a good picture because I had to shoot through the window.

The bathroom was down the hall.

Here’s where the crew ate their meals.

Paying passengers traveled in style, however, with a comfortable lounge in the bow.

We ran into some familiar faces in the elegant dining hall.

Passengers’ sleeping rooms were larger, too. Somehow I failed to get a picture, but here’s a more spacious bathroom. I’d love to enjoy a leisurely soak in that tub!

The ship’s captain had nice quarters.

Lots of powdered milk and dried eggs were part of the cargo being shipped to communities along the route.

Passengers could order eggs fixed any way they desired, along with canned milk, canned tomatoes, ham and other goodies.

Meals onboard were prepared in a well-equipped galley.

The bridge looked pretty comfortable, with a leather couch to rest on.

When we finished touring the boat, we drove to the Fish Ladder, or Fishway. Salmon haven’t yet started up to spawn, but it was interesting to see the operation. It’s really amazing how salmon find their way almost 2,000 miles back to the place where they were spawned to complete their life cycle. If you want to watch salmon entering the ladder, click on the link above, then click on the web cam from that site. You can also read a description of how the fish get past the dam. This is believed to be the longest fish ladder in the world, at 366 meters (about 400 yards).

Here are a few shots from our visit. First, the dam where water is moving fast this time of year. The tent in the foreground is used for “Ask the Elder” sessions held a couple of times per week.

This is the weir, where fish are channeled into the fish ladder. The wooden fish on the ladder beside the walkway were decorated by various individuals, including children.

A few of the decorated fish.

A closer view of the weir

The fish ladder, that helps salmon get past the dam.

Tomorrow, we’ll be driving over some familiar parts of the Alaska Highway, then turning south on the Cassiar Highway. The difference in distance is only about 70 miles, if we don’t take any side trips. But we’ll probably take the side trips – after all, this is an adventure!

Haines to Skagway Ferry, on to Whitehorse

2011-07-31T21:25:00.001-07:00

Don and I had an early dinner at Mosey’s Mexican Cantina in Haines prior to taking the 8:30 pm ferry to Skagway last night. Our waitress had obviously been to the Fair!

The salt shaker was appropriate for this ‘neck of the woods.’ Notice the guacamole in the background – yummy!

Don had tamales and chile verde.

I had chile rellenos.

It almost tasted like we were in Arizona or New Mexico. This was really good Mexican food!

We went back to the Elks Lodge and finished packing up, then bought diesel on the way to the Ferry. When we checked in, we had the same agent we’d talked to a couple of days earlier, Peter, a pretty nice guy. He booked us in with a 36 ft. motorhome (not 40 ft. with bikes on the back, as we’d originally said, since Don had moved the bikes to the car and there was a flat rate for it), and no requirement to fold in the mirrors as we’d been told on the phone by Angie. And the width of the motorhome wasn’t an issue, as a fellow RVer had emphatically told us a few days earlier. (Note: the answers to questions depend on who you talk to!) With Don’s Senior rate ($23) and my regular fare ($31, still a few months short of that magic age), the car ($41) and the motorhome ($119), our total was $214. Shadow traveled free.

Peter asked who would be driving the motorhome (we saved $ by unhitching the car), and was pretty impressed that I was. He said it was only the second time he’d ever seen a woman drive the motorhome and the man drive the car when a couple was traveling together. (I imagine he’s seen lots of single women driving their own motorhomes or other RVs.) We were assigned lanes in the staging area and we lined up accordingly. Our MH is second on the left; the car’s behind the red one – see the kayaks.

We watched the ferry Malaspina arrive and line up the car deck with the ramp, then the end of the ramp was lowered to connect with the boat.

The motorhome ahead of me was a 43 or 45 ft. with a tag axle. He had to back up before clearing the ramp in order to make the hard left turn onto the boat. I’ll bet that was hard on his hitch, tow bar and mud flap.

I smugly smiled to myself because I knew I’d have no problem making the turn with a 36-footer! And I didn’t. We were directed to the stern of the boat, then made 2 sharp right turns to park on the port side. Again, the big rig had to back up several times to make these turns, but I didn’t. We were moved in tight.

When I left the motorhome, Shadow was supremely unhappy about having to stay there by himself! But there are rules against pets going to the upper levels.

Don was one of the last ones loaded, as they went from the high numbers (I was in lane #9) to the low (he was in lane #2). I watched him from the upper deck of the ferry.

We really enjoyed the ferry ride, and considered it as a new adventure. If you want to compare the cost to that of driving the longer route, it was about $123 more than if we had driven the 250 miles (estimating mileage and diesel prices), but it saved about 4.5 hours of driving (2.5 hrs versus 7), including some construction and rough road that we avoided. We thought it was a good trade-off.

As we moved away from the dock we spotted a couple of whales, but I missed getting a picture of them. Here are some of the things we did capture by camera on the trip. We almost witnessed a sunset as we left Skagway.

The ferry’s stack bears the stars of the state flag.

Our captain backed the boat away from the dock using outside controls.

Notice sunshine on distant mountains.

The Volendam cruise ship looked like it might be heading into Skagway, but we didn’t see it there.

As we pulled into the harbor, ours was the only ship! Cruise ships probably arrived later, as they typically dock during the night and the passengers would have time to visit Skagway the following day.

I checked out the route I’d take with the motorhome as we moved closer to the dock. Hmmm…first we go down the boat ramp onto a wooden ramp, then turn left sharply to go up another ramp to land.

This turned out to be another challenge to the motorhome in front of me, so I patiently waited while ferry staff did their best to help the big rig to move over the ramps, scraping its rear parts again a couple of times. I tried to suppress my smugness, but one of the workers even commented, “You won’t have any trouble with this.” And I said it’s nice to have a 36 ft. versus a 43 ft. rig!

We arrived at the Garden City RV Park in Skagway about 10:15 pm. Tired, we just plugged into electricity and hit the bed. We experienced something new since we’ve been in Alaska – it got dark! I’m not used to driving at night, so I really depended on my headlights. And I had to turn on ceiling lights inside to set things up.

This morning, we had to track down the owner of the RV park to pay for our site. It would have been easy just to drive away, but that’s not what we do.

We arrived at the Pioneer RV Park in Whitehorse around noon Yukon (Pacific) time. When we parked near Marilyn and Larry Forbes, it started to rain, first a light drizzle then it got serious and left a small lake in front of us. Don got soaked while plugging into power, water and sewer.

One of our leveling jacks wouldn’t go down. I did all the tests and re-setting procedures listed in the user manual, but still couldn’t get it to work. Since we’re in Canada, the toll-free number for 24/7 support doesn’t work. And since it’s Sunday, the number for the manufacturer in Indiana isn’t answered. Fortunately, our site is fairly level, but without jacks, the rig rocks when anyone walks around in it. This is the third time our Atwood jacks have failed in just over 3 years, and it’s getting really annoying!

When the rain stopped, we made our WalMart and supermarket runs, and returned to share happy hour in the sunshine with the Forbes, as well as the Rinehimers (Luke is under the weather so didn’t join us) and the Kings. It was nice to link up again with these friends.

Raptors, Fort Seward, Chilkoot Lake and Farewell

2011-07-30T14:48:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, Jim & Pat joined us to visit the Bald Eagle Foundation. Lydia was a young volunteer who told us about this “Attack Owl.”

We also saw a Great Gray Owl…

…and a Red-Tailed Hawk.

Other animals appeared in well-done exhibits, but none of them were alive.

There was even a tiny hummingbird we were challenged to find – Don spotted it among the larger birds.

We decided to have lunch at Big Al’s, recommended by the locals.

There was a slight drizzle, so we huddled under a broken umbrella. The food was good, even though the ambience left a bit to be desired!

After lunch, we tried to go to the Hammer Museum, but it was closed to allow staff to attend the Fair. (Go to Karen & Fran’s blog to see their excellent report.) Instead, we drove around Old Fort Seward, once the regimental headquarters for the U.S. Army in Alaska and now a National Historic Site. Most of the buildings are over 100 years old, and some have been restored to serve a new purpose. This was the Post Exchange and Gymnasium, now a restaurant.

This was the hospital, now the home of Alaska Indian Arts.

Several homes of officers have been turned into privately-owned condos, with a Bed & Breakfast on the left.

We then drove to Chilkoot Lake, where Don spotted this Bald Eagle. It was hard to get a clear picture because he was so far away.

Several people were fishing along the inlet and from this boat in the lake, but it didn’t look like anyone was catching.

There were a few kayakers, even though it was cool and drizzly.

A tour bus driver was passing time by juggling.

We ate hamburgers at the Elks Lodge for dinner. They tasted pretty good, even though our order got mixed up and two of our burgers took a long time to arrive.

Early this morning (Saturday), we said goodbye to Jim and Pat as they left to ride the ferry to Juneau and southward. Safe travels – we’ll see you in a few months in Quartzsite, if not before.

Later, we watched the Parade that was part of the Fair that ends tomorrow. We had a beautiful, sunny day and several of the locals showed up in shorts, tank tops and sandals. A few were even barefoot! Instead of a Color Guard, the flags were carried by a motorcycle.

Several fire engines carried children tossing candy into the crowd.

These Native Alaskans chanted and sang as they played drums.

Wooden cutouts created clever whales.

Contestants from the Most Loveable Dog Contest participated.

There was even a real parade float!

A few more highlights follow. The whole parade was only about 15 minutes long, but it was fun to see.

Now we’re on our own until Sunday when we meet Larry & Marilyn in Whitehorse. Traveling with the “Last Frontier Gang” has been fun, but sometimes we feel like we’re operating on overload. Dennis did such a great job of planning and organizing the trip, figuring out places to stay and keeping in touch with all 5 rigs that followed him and Carol on this adventure for the past 2 1/2 months! We appreciate their friendship and all that the two of them have done for us!

Last Day Together and Bear Sightings

2011-07-29T16:14:00.001-07:00

I must apologize in advance for this rather long post. Thursday was the last day for the remaining 5 rigs and 10 people of our “Last Frontier Gang” to be together. Don and I spent part of the day at the SE Alaska State Fair nearby. The Southeast part of Alaska includes Juneau (the capital), Haines, Skagway, Ketchikan, Wrangell, Sitka, etc. People from the other cities take boats or planes here for the fair, as there are no roads in and out of most of them.

We noticed there’s a dog contest on Saturday, but the ‘No Dogs Allowed’ sign might mean there won’t be any contestants.

There were exhibits for arts and crafts.

Interested in a pop tab corset?

How about earrings made from computer keys?

There were musicians.

There was a petting zoo and lots of cute kids.

This little guy just couldn’t stop dancing, even when his sister and mother wanted to move on.

There were Bubbles.

About 20 women did a Zumba-fitness demonstration.

Pat joined in. Is that why her knee hurts today?

I learned how glass beads are made and bought a few.

And, of course, there was food.

That evening we shared a potluck dinner in the Elks Lodge and talked with the Exalted Ruler about life in Alaska. Carol and Dennis gave Don this cute moose bobble toy for his upcoming birthday, since they won’t be with us then. It will look cute on his desk.

Several of us drove out to watch the bears. We picked up Karen and Fran to go with us. We arrived just as the sow and two cubs were coming up from the river to the road.

This section of road has been reserved for bears, and rangers are on hand to keep people and bears apart.

The bears found fish trapped by the weir to make their hunt for dinner easy.

Every fish that passes through the opening in the weir is counted. When there’s no person out there counting, the weir is closed and fish have to wait for it to open again. People who take on this duty seem to be ignored by the bears, so they get over their fear of being mauled. Rangers are usually nearby, too.

Mama did most of the fishing (she’s in the water near the center of this picture) and passed the catch up to her cubs on the walkway.

This little guy decided to take his “to go.”

But he didn’t have a good hold on the slippery fish, so he ate it on the road.

Mama didn’t have patience, so she left him while she went into the woods.

She realized nobody was following her, so she came back and eventually all 3 of them went into the woods.

We enjoyed the “show” and agreed that we’ve never been closer to wild animals in their natural habitat.

We felt reasonably safe with two rangers nearby, but the woman ranger cautioned us when we were standing on the other side of the road, as the bears could be just on the other side of the trees. We quickly crossed back to the safe side!

Mary & Gary, Carol & Dennis, and Marilyn & Larry all pulled out this morning heading for Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. Pat & Jim are leaving on a ferry in the morning, headed for Juneau and other cities along the Inside Passage. We’ll take a ferry to Skagway tomorrow night, then join Marilyn & Larry to drive the Cassiar Highway southward. We’ll meet up again with some of our group, but the “Last Frontier Gang” has officially disbanded. It’s been a great time together, but the adventure’s not yet over for us.

Haines Junction to Haines and Meeting a Blogger Friend

2011-07-27T23:28:00.001-07:00

We crossed back into the U.S. after passing through part of Yukon Territory and British Columbia. We’re very happy that all of our border crossings have been quick and without problems. We still have a few more, so we hope they go as well.

You wouldn’t think it would take 4 hours to drive 140 miles. But if some of it is gravel, and some is under construction, and some includes frost heaves in the form of huge dips not always marked by orange flags, and the speed limit varies from 25 to 55 most of the way, it can easily take that long. The scenery along the way was spectacular, so it helped make our drive more pleasant.

We got an early start, about 6:30 am Alaska time (7:30 in Yukon), so we arrived in Haines about 10:30. The Elks Lodge has 7 full hookup RV sites with cable TV for $20 per night.

Dennis and Carol were already here when we arrived, and they weren’t able to get their satellite dish connected because of tall trees to the south. Don and Dennis got out their compasses and tried to find an opening in the trees before we chose our site. Don thought North was over to his left.

They swapped compasses and still couldn’t figure it out.

Finally, we decided to take the site next to them and see what happened. We got lucky and our dish connected to the satellite!

After we got setup, Don and I drove into town to look around. I’ve been trading comments with another blogger, Karen of Karen & Fran’s Alaska and Yukon Adventures. We knew we’d both be in Haines today and tomorrow, so we went to their RV park and found them at home. What a delightful couple! We had a nice chat and made plans to get together again tomorrow.

Later, the other 3 rigs of our “Last Frontier Gang” arrived. We were surprised to see Mary and Gary Olson, because we thought they were heading west from Haines Junction. The Olsons are boondocking tonight (far right) and will move into the site next to them, to be vacated tomorrow.

We’ve talked a lot in this blog about all the good food we’ve had in Alaska. Tonight we had one of the worst meals, maybe THE worst meal, in the state. We went to the Lighthouse Restaurant. My dinner was fish tacos. They ran out of red snapper so were substituting salmon. Okay, I like salmon. I had some delicious salmon tacos in Seldovia, and could hardly finish them because they were stuffed with a big portion of salmon and all kinds of other goodies. What I got tonight was two 10” flour tortillas with about 1-1/2 tablespoons of salmon, 1/2 teaspoon of mayonnaise (mayonnaise in tacos?) and 1/4 cup of coarsely sliced raw red cabbage in each one, with 1/8 cup of salsa for both. No onions, no tomatoes, no olives, no cheese, no sour cream, not even a leaf of lettuce or garnish on the side.

Don ordered fried chicken. He got 3 pieces – breast, leg, thigh – that were so small, they looked like they came from a pigeon, and the french fries were soggy. We were both hungry after eating our meals. The waitress was the only one handling the entire restaurant, and our party of 10 pushed her even more, so we didn’t complain too much. But we came home and found some snacks to fill us up.

Others of our group were also unhappy. Marilyn’s experience with the fish tacos was the same as mine, and Dennis had a burned burger. The Lighthouse Restaurant came highly recommended, so maybe we’ll give them a second chance.

Later this evening, we drove about 11 miles to the Chilkoot Lake State Park and found a Grizzly sow and 2 cubs foraging for food along the river. It was hard to choose which pictures to publish, so here are just a few.

And, just in case anyone thinks we were too close for comfort, there was a ranger nearby wearing a gun. He’s behind the raindrop that appeared on this photo.

Tok to Haines Junction

2011-07-26T21:06:00.001-07:00

Our day started in a light rain. We left the campground at about 7 am to buy diesel to top off our tank at $4.589/gallon, a $.10 drop overnight! About 7:30 we met 6 of our group at (where else?) Fast Eddy’s! Breakfast was good, and the rain had almost stopped by the time we pulled out of the parking lot about 8:20.

The road was reasonably good for the first 90 miles to the Yukon Territory, Canada border. Diesel at the last station in the U.S. was $4.729 and we were glad we’d bought at a lower price. The border crossing was uneventful, just the standard questions regarding fruit, liquor and guns, along with proper ID for us and Shadow.

After crossing the border the road quickly deteriorated and I was glad I had driven the first leg. Now it was Don’s turn to deal with the frost heaves, sudden dips and patches of gravel.

One of the bloggers I’ve been following wrote a superb description of this stretch of road, as she and her husband drove it yesterday. She took a lot of good pictures and described the road and the challenges in maintaining it due to permafrost thawing and re-freezing. I decided not to try to write the story, but just refer you to Karen & Fran’s Alaska and Yukon Adventures. Please read her blog so I don’t need to repeat the information. Karen and I have been following each others travels, and our paths have crossed a couple of times when we couldn’t connect directly. We’re going to try and link up tomorrow when we get to Haines so we can actually meet in person!

Don and I stopped at the Burwash Landing Resort, where we had thought we might stay overnight, about halfway between Tok and Haines. We didn't much like the looks of it and it was still very early afternoon, so we went on. Later we saw Dennis and Carol stopped at a rest area and Carol said she wasn't sure where they were going to stay overnight, so we drove on to Haines Junction and are now parked for the night at the Kluane RV Kampground.

This is an unexpected treat, since we thought we might be boondocking or getting minimal hookups. We have full hookups with 30 amps (plenty of electric power since we don’t need a/c), and I was able to do two loads of laundry in our onboard washer-dryer. (I was running out of socks!) But the surroundings aren’t anything to write home about. The sites are close, no trees or grass, and no ‘style.’ Still, it’s hard to beat this view out our windshield, looking beyond our RV neighbors.

There’s no vehicle washing allowed at sites. But they provide a car wash. Just be sure to bring lots of loonies, as we’re back in Canada!

Don washed “Carrie” our Honda CR-V, because we couldn’t see out the windows and nobody wanted to get close enough to touch her! She looks great now. And he dusted and wiped down the Phaeton – after a good treatment of Dri-Wash it’s easy to keep the motor home looking nice with minimal effort. Meanwhile, I cleaned inside, so we’re feeling very satisfied with our home on wheels tonight!

The weather improved and Don was able to set up the Weber BBQ to grill a pork loin we’ve been saving for just this kind of night. I made a salad and we added corn and applesauce, and enjoyed a home-cooked feast for a change. Yummy!

I just had to add this on-the-fly picture of roadside wild fireweed. It’s getting more beautiful and plentiful every day.

And a small bit of the huge Kluane Lake. Go to Karen’s blog for even more (and better, due to more sunshine) pictures!