Pam & Ralph's Adventures

Time Flies By

2012-01-23T10:01:00.000-08:00

We have had great weather here in the desert - cold, crisp mornings, warm afternoons, spectacular sunsets and stars shining brightly! Enjoying walks and bike rides.

We have become involved with changing the park from an illegal 40+ park to a legal 55+ park. We started just a couple of weeks ago and tomorrow is the community meeting, followed by surveying all the occupants and a lot of other paperwork to comply with the laws. That has kept us busy everyday and looks like it will be that way until March when it will be finalized and we will be done!

We took a day to go with a group to the Mystery House in Phoenix. It was built by an eccentric man in the 1920's from recycled materials. After his death, his daughter came to live there until her death in Nov. 2010. Three employees that had worked for her for 30+ years conduct tours.
The daughters bedroom is not on the tour because her cat still lives there. After the tour you are free to wander about the sprawling home.

It sits on a hill south of Phoenix and what a view from every patio and every window.

It is filled with art work, some of it very unusual. There is "stuff" everywhere. Every room is full! And with all this stuff filling every surface, piece of furniture and the floor, there was no dust or dirt anywhere! And this place is really big- lots of rooms!

There are lots of outdoor patios and fireplaces connecting different parts of the house. The only heat anywhere is fireplaces.

After, we all met at Applebees for a fun time and very good lunch. We can highly recommend the unlimited soup and salad, especially the french onion soup and the shrimp, spinach salad!

Next up is Organ Stop Pizza and Tubac!

Balloon Ride

2011-12-31T15:29:00.000-08:00

Wow, the end of 2011 already. We did a park bus tour of Holiday Lights in Phoenix. The lights were fabulous, but the most fun was on the bus and a delicious dinner at a local cafe. On Christmas Day we had dinner with many friends and what a spread it was - no one left hungry !

We have finally turned the corner on weather. It is now sunny and warm like it is supposed to be! We have had enough rain and cold for this winter. On a beautiful calm, sunny day we went on a balloon ride. It was awesome!

The guys all had to help get the balloon ready. It sure looks big on the ground.
Then at sunrise we were up, up and away!

We rose to over 5000' and then the sky divers jumped out of the balloon basket. That was exciting watching them fall so quickly and from above it looked like they would hit the ground for sure before opening their parachutes.

There was absolutely no wind so we just floated without moving much. Lots of fields with a hill here and there. Quite a system of canals from two rivers that converge here. It is easy to see how dust storms start here with so many dirt fields with a few areas of housing. This is where we live from up above.
We then headed just across the street from where we launched at a sky diving airport to land in the open desert. At ground level there was a little wind so we did a few bounces before stopping. Then we all quickly exited and 13 skydivers were there to load up and take off again.

We plan on going to the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta next October and we may just have to go on a balloon ride again! It was so much fun and except for the burners, it is so quiet up there just floating along.

Now we are in full swing for January activities and committees. More to come!

Finally Time for Update

2011-11-26T08:51:00.000-08:00

We are so enjoying the sunshine and usually warm weather here. Once in a while we get a shower at night, but they sure need rain here and it does clear the dust out, so no complaints. We now have a cart for Cookie that goes behind Ralph's bike, so we all now enjoy bike rides. When Cookie is not using it, the garbage and recycle goes in it to the dump area across the street.

It was very quiet here until November and each day there are more people out and about. Cookie has her favorite buddies that she visits on walks and we are meeting new people and seeing old friends as they arrive.

Having never been here in the fall, we never knew how much cotton is grown in this area. There is field after field all over here. When the plant turns brown it is time to harvest. It has been fun watching how they pick the cotton. It is all done by machine. The first time through the fields the machine looks like a a giant fork lift with lots of "forks"in the front and a vacuum that sucks up the cotton into a bin as it is loosened. That gets about half of it. Then they come through with a giant vacuum and suck up most that is left. The field is then mowed and plowed. They stagger planting so the fields are ready for picking at different times. Trucks are everywhere hauling the cotton bales to processing plants.

We did a tag-a-long with a group from the park to Biosphere 2 near Tuscon. It is now owned by the University of Arizona that runs it as a research lab. The rain forest and ocean are the same as when people were living there. Other parts are being changed for different experiments. It is no longer a closed environment, so the original animals have been removed and they get native ones coming to visit. It was a very interesting tour with lots of stairs and parts that were very hot and humid.

Now for our really big news! We love this park and Casa Grande area and had planned to stay 7 months a year on our lot here in our 5th wheel. When we can no longer travel, this is where we would stay year round. So, with prices down due to the economy, we decided to look for a park model to put on our lot. We just couldn't find anything that we liked. So, we started looking at park models for sale in the park. Just down the street from our lot we found exactly what we wanted and the owner was very anxious to sell to go back to Tennessee with family. So we are now the owners of a park model with attached Arizona room that includes a living area and a computer room. It has a covered and lattice enclosed back porch that includes a finished shed with washer/dryer, water softener, its own hot water tank with utility sink and lots of storage cabinets. The front has a covered porch and carport. It has wood laminate floors throughout, lots of upgrades and was very well maintained. We are keeping our lot for our trailer and we will still be traveling 5 months a year.

So, since we had sold everything, we had to start over. What fun to get to buy everything new! We took possession on November 9 and started a thorough cleaning and then putting everything we had bought away. Our furniture came on November 16 and we officially moved in Nov. 17. We love it more everyday we are here. It is a perfect size, 700 square feet plus 120 square feet in the shed. We love to sit on the front porch and enjoy the sunsets. It is a work in progress, but we have come a long way from the empty place that it was.

If anyone is in this area please call us. We would love to see you and you can see our new home!

Here are a few pictures.
1. Front Porch
2. Living Room
3. TV Room
4. Dining and Kitchen

For Thanksgiving, our dear friends Roger and Barb invited us for turkey dinner. Boy, it was good! Thank you Barb and Roger. Yesterday, we were invited to join a group of Roger and Barb's friends here in Casa Grande. The ladies had facials with hot cocoa and cookies. The guys went to see the movie J. Edgar Hoover, with mixed reviews. Then everyone (16 in all) had turkey noodle soup, stuffing, rolls and pie. We sure enjoyed meeting everyone that we had heard so much about and dinner was delicious.

That's about all for this time. We have lots of activities planned for December, so may have more updates here soon.

Almost Home

2011-10-07T10:16:00.000-07:00

We enjoyed a few days near Bend Oregon where we found beautiful sunny warm days, but cool nights. This time we spent two days visiting the Lava Lands nearby. It was very interesting and well worth seeing.

We are finishing our three week stay in Pahrump Nevada. For the first two weeks it was hot and sunny and we spent every afternoon in the pool. Since the afternoons were very hot, we did evening walks mostly. We had a couple of light shows over the mountains that were spectacular. Enjoyed sitting outside and watching the stars that you can actually see twinkling in the desert sky. Lots of planes coming in to land in Las Vegas and even a satellite one night moving through the sky. The past few days have reminded us that winter is coming with 40's at night and 60's during the day and even one whole day of storms and rain. It snowed in the mountains, so time to move further south.

We enjoyed a visit with friends Sue and Ray. They drove over from Las Vegas and we had a great time catching up with them. It has been a few years since we have seen them. Tom and Linda joined us here in Pahrump for a week (we think they brought this cold wet weather from Washington with them). We have enjoyed the delicious and inexpensive buffet at Nugget Casino here many times before and after their arrival. We all went to Death Valley and spent a day there. That is certainly a must see, and do not miss Scotty's Castle as that was the highlight. The castle is at a higher elevation and it was very pleasant walking and having a picnic lunch there. We saw the sand dunes, Badwater Salt Flats that are 282 feet below sea level, lots of colorful mountains and plenty of scrub land. Anyone interested in geology would certainly enjoy Death Valley. We were wishing we had a geologist with us to explain what causes all the colors in those mountains. It was a mere 104, but a good breeze helped when we were out walking.

Next stop is Casa Grande for the winter/spring. We will be there on Sunday and it will be a long, warm day getting set up and and unloaded. But, our dear friends Roger and Barb, are fixing dinner for us since they knew we would be very tired and ready to relax! Thank you!

We are excited to see all of our friends there and they are all trying to get us involved in one activity or another. Looks like we can be as busy as we choose!

Headed South Soon

2011-08-26T12:55:00.000-07:00

As the summer that we did not have here in Pacific Northwet WA winds down, we are headed east and south looking for the sun and warmth. We accomplished what we needed to do, cleaning out a basement and visiting with family and friends. We did some babysitting for our granddaughters. The toddler, Zoe, went to her favorite place with us, Costco and is so well behaved! The 2 babies are so good and all 3 are beautiful and precious.

We will be spending the winter/spring on our lot in Casa Grande. We are looking forward to getting involved with the many activities there and seeing friends that live there and others as they pass through the area.

Quick Update

2011-06-04T10:09:00.000-07:00

We spent April on our lot in Casa Grande AZ. It was nice and warm! We met many of our neighbors and made new friends. The pool was wonderful every afternoon to visit and cool off. We cleaned what was not needed in our rig and moved it to our storage shed. Also dug up some unwanted plants and cleaned up the junk that was left on the lot. Really looks good now!

Ralph's mom died April 10, so he flew up to Washington to help his dad for 2 weeks while I worked on the lot and relaxed in the sun! When he returned, we headed up to Mesa AZ to get our leveling system looked at, but nothing was really accomplished. We went to Verde Valley AZ for a few days and then headed to Pahrump NV. We ended up staying there longer due to wind and storms everywhere.

We finally found three days of a weather window to get to Washington without wind or snow and this was just past the middle of May! We stopped for a few days to see our daughters and their families. Sure love them all and those granddaughters are just precious!

We have spent 2 weeks in a mud hole at a campground in Mount Vernon WA. To say it has been cold and wet is an understatement! For the next few days it is supposed to be sunny before the rain returns. It will not even dry out in that time!

We have been busy getting his dad's basement cleaned out of junk (many dump runs) and our stuff we had left there. It is mostly done and tomorrow our daughters will be there to take most of it for their houses. Then a few trips to the Goodwill and we will be ready to tackle the garage!

The house is for sale and we have our fingers crossed that it will sell this summer so we can move his dad to an independent senior apartment in Mesa AZ. It is a beautiful place and is all inclusive! We can see ourselves there in the future.

We decided to move to the Mount Vernon Elks before the rains return so we do not have to live in mud holes. Without having to move and more centrally located, it will give us more time to work on cleaning out a house.

Our plan is to leave this area just after Labor Day and get to Casa Grande the end of Sept. Of course what happens with his dad and house may change our plans somewhat. Since we cleaned out the rig before coming we now have lots of room to take everything we need to keep back with us. Our little shed will be full!

It's Warm and Dry!

2011-04-01T13:17:00.001-07:00

On Monday, we had had enough of Rockport Texas. It was usually cloudy, high 70's with 98% humidity and windy. We always felt wet and sticky, nothing would dry for days and all of our cabinet doors swelled so bad they would not close. Then, we were under live oak trees that hatched little fuzzy worms and they invaded us on Saturday. What a mess our roof was and still is even after scrubbing it for hours! We made it to the beach once when the wind wasn't to bad. That was a fun time with friends Jim and Sue. We watched a newly born dolphin trying to learning how to swim and follow his "mommy". Lots of dolphins playing and a couple of sea turtles swimming among the rocks.

Monday we drove to north of San Antonio, Tuesday to Las Cruces, New Mexico and Wednesday to Casa Grande AZ. Unfortunately when we were hooking up to leave Rockport our leveling system decided to take a vacation, so we had to stay hooked up for the trip and when we arrived here. We started at the Western Horizons Park since they had sites long enough for us. When the techs could not even look at it for a week, the engineer in Elkhart Indiana that designed and built the system spent many hours on the phone and we managed to get it working enough to be able to unhook. So we have moved to our lot at Sunscape. We had never seen it and it is even nicer than we thought, but it is a "bear" to get into. All the neighbors have welcomed us and we are really happy to be here and look forward to many winters here.

After almost 11,000 miles this trip across the north, down the east coast, several months in Florida and then west, we have decided we do not like humidity. It has been humid and cool at most places and even Florida was humid, cool and windy - not the 75-80 sunny days when we spent 3 winters there!

We have found our paradise here in Casa Grande! It is 98 today which will set records, but we are loving the sunny blue skies and dry air. Brown is beautiful and we are becoming desert rats!

We will be here a couple of weeks - it is supposed to cool to 80 on Monday! When we leave here, we will be stopping at the repair facility to see if they can fix our leveling system and then we will be heading north for the summer.

Last Stop in Louisiana

2011-03-05T08:37:00.000-08:00

We spent a few days in Lafayette area learning about the Acadian people. We visited The Vermilionville Living History Museum and Folklife Park. It was created to preserve and represent the Acadian, Creole and Native American culture. You see a lifestyle as it may have occurred during the time period of 1765-1890. There are many restored buildings and craftsmen. We learned how you can turn Spanish Moss hanging in the trees into a very strong rope. We watched a man create small ducks from many types of wood. After learning about the making, we bought one of these beautiful ducks. There is also a restaurant that serves a typical Acadian (Cajun) lunch. The day we were there it was a buffet and it was delicious. The bread pudding was the best we have ever had!

In nearby Iberia there was an antebellum plantation home named Shadow on the Bayou Tech. Four generations of the same family lived here and then the home and all contents were donated to be a museum. All of the furnishings and most importantly all the paperwork for the plantation and home are preserved. Paintings were done of the home and plantation just after it was built and they are on display also. To go from room to room, you had to go outside on covered porches - none of the rooms were connected inside. They could then open all the doors and use the breeze to stay cooler. When the Union soldiers took over the first floor during the Civil War, the wife stayed on the second floor. The soldiers liked her, so when they left they did not burn the home, as they did so many others. There are beautiful gardens around the home and a cemetery where many of the family members are buried. Especially beautiful on our visit were the camellia trees in bloom.

Also in Iberia, built in the early 1900's and75 feet above sea level, which was very unusual, was the home of Joseph Jefferson. It is steamboat gothic style and was near a very large lake. They also mined salt from this property. He was an actor that portrayed Rip Van Winkle, thus the gardens that were created in the 1950's around the home have that name. It has quite a history. He apparently donated the home and furnishings for a museum and built another home closer to the lake to live in. One of the salt mine holes opened up, created a vortex that sucked all the water from this very large lake and with it his new home and some other buildings in just 2 hours. The lake was refilled and is much higher now, but the chimney and a pile of rubble along the lake shore is still visible. The original home was not damaged. A few years ago the home and gardens were purchased out of bankruptcy by the nursery owner next door. The gardens wind along the lake with sculptures and a Japanese Tea Garden. The magnolia trees were beautiful. Lots of peacocks, but they were camera shy!

We are now in Texas for March. It has been very warm since we arrived on Tuesday. That changed this morning when a storm with high winds, buckets of rain and thunder came through and dropped the temperature from 70 to 54 in a matter of minutes. The sun is out again, but still very windy. It should warm up again and then hopefully we can go to the beach!

The Big Easy

2011-02-23T08:25:00.000-08:00

New Orleans, as someone there said, has character. They were gearing up for Mardi Gras, although it doesn't appear that they need a reason to party. We walked the French Quarter after a parade the night before - what a mess! It definitely is a "party place" all day and all night.

We did our first cruise on the "Big Muddy" on a steam powered sternwheeler. What a great time we had complete with delicious creole lunch!

Of course a visit must include cafe au lait and beignets at Cafe de Monde, so we enjoyed that treat one morning. Also visited the French Market which turned out to be a flea market of the usual "stuff". Walked lots of streets in the French Quarter.
We were not expecting it to be quite so dirty, even after a clean up from the parade. Many of the buildings are in disrepair and oh my goodness, watch where you walk on the sidewalks that are full of holes and loose slate pieces. They clean the interiors of the bars and restaurants by washing them out with hoses and lots of water mid-morning, ready for another day.

New Orleans is known for its street entertainers and they are everywhere doing many different things. Of course they all want a tip and one could spend a lot of money tipping all of them!
We saw many versions of this man, jazz players, magicians, street dancers, guitar players, and artists to name a few. It was fun to watch them.

Ralph went to the WW II Museum, while Pam walked in the French Quarter and found a street called Pirates Alley that was her favorite place in the French Quarter.

For a change, it was very warm, more like HOT, and humidity to match - they broke records! Usually we are breaking the "cold" records, so a pleasant change.

We stayed in a park on the north side of Lake Pontchartrain and drove the 24 mile causeway over the lake - worlds longest bridge! It is quite the bridge with its own police force.

We enjoyed our visit here, but time to move on down the road!

Moving West

2011-02-19T07:58:00.000-08:00

After a cold and sometimes wet winter in Florida, we are on the move. This winter was certainly not like the past years we spent in Florida and has made us decide that Arizona is our place to be in the winter.

Our first stop was Pass Christian Mississippi. This is the area from Waveland through Biloxi that was ground zero for Katrina. It is now 5 1/2 years since this hurricane and you can still see the devastation. Many buildings are still just piles of rubble probably waiting for insurance companies to decide what to do. Highway 90 runs next to the water. This is the highway so often shown in pictures that was piled with rubble. On one side is The Strand, a man made beach that has the sand back in place and they are trying to regrow the sea oats to keep down the erosion.

The other side of this highway had homes, some large mansions, and businesses. There is the occasional home that has been rebuilt and some in the process of rebuilding. A few businesses have rebuilt, mostly Waffle Houses, McDonalds and a few casinos in Biloxi. However, there are miles and miles of driveways to nothing, streets to nowhere, steps to nowhere and parking lots with no buildings and For Sale signs everywhere. There are RVs parked on some of the vacant lots as if that is where the owners are living. Apparently many insurance claims were denied because the companies claimed that the damage was from water and with no flood insurance they will not pay. There was a 24' wall of water driven by the wind that hit this area.

The home of Jefferson Davis, Beauvoir, was spared but heavily damaged. Of the 7 buildings on the property, only 2 survived and one of those had to be torn down when FEMA declared it was in a flood plain and had to be moved 150' feet west to rebuild. The first picture is 3 days after Katrina and just a few days after this picture, much of the roof collapsed. Then a picture of what it looks like today. They were not able to get any artifacts out before the storm, but were able to find many of them and restore them. Others they have replaced with period pieces.

The RV park we stayed in was probably at least 3 miles inland and it was devastated. The owners at the time just left it. New owners purchased it a year ago, but they have a lot of work to do as it is still a mess. This whole area may never be what it was pre-Katrina.

Some Fun Things in the Wauchula Florida Area

2011-01-08T10:50:00.000-08:00

We found some fun things to do here. The first was to visit Solomans Castle, built by a world renowned sculpturer named Howard Soloman. This castle is his residence where he lives with his wife and son. Many of the rooms are filled with his quirky sculptures. Everything including the castle is made from what most people call junk or garbage. His brain is definitely wired differently than most of us. The grounds include a Boat in a Moat, a lighthouse and several other buildings.

We also visited the farm where Herrmanns Lipizzaner Stallions live, breed and do their winter training. Three days a week the public can come and watch them as they do a "training show". These are magnificent horses and an hour and half sure went fast watching them. These pictures are but a small part of what these horses do.

We are enjoying our time here in Florida. Several people from our caravans live here and we have been welcomed to their homes and treated to lunches, boat rides and great visits. It is truly wonderful to have friends all over the country.

It was the coldest December on record here - that says it all for weather. January so far is a bit warmer but still below normal. Compared to previous years we spent here, it is much cooler and wetter with more humidity and lots more wind. However, it is much better than the rest of the southeast.

Rocket Launch

2010-12-08T08:13:00.000-08:00

We are in Titusville Florida just across the water from the Space Center. A COTS 1 rocket launch was postponed yesterday when we were on the road coming here to this morning when we could see it very clearly.

It was wonderful and hot for the first week we were in central Florida. We did a lot of biking and swimming. That was it! It is now down in the 30's at night and 50's during the day. It is supposed to be in the 70's this weekend so we will go to the National Seashore then. By Monday supposed to be in the 20's at night and 40's during the day. It is sunny, but very dry - high fire risk. It is supposed to be warmer than normal here this winter - we are waiting!

Last Post for Awhile

2010-11-21T11:49:00.000-08:00

We have been enjoying sun and mid 70's here in St. Augustine - finally our kind of weather! We have visited the famous Spanish fort again and walked through the historic district. The best known street is St. George full of restaurants, gift shops and people. Welcome to Florida and crowds!

Spent some time just sitting by the water watching the boats come and go in the harbor - so relaxing! Stopped by the St. Augustine lighthouse for another time and then went to Fort Matanzas at the south end of Anastasia Island. It is a very small fort used by the Spanish to guard the "backdoor" to St. Augustine.

Of course the beach always calls us for a walk and these beaches are spectacular!

This is our last "tourist" place. For the next few months we will be in relax mode - walking, riding bikes and swimming at the pool! In other words, nothing much to post.

Savannah GA

2010-11-18T12:53:00.000-08:00

We have had 2 beautiful sunny days to revisit this area. We love the laid back feeling of Savannah after the bustle of Charleston SC. It is so easy to walk all through the historic district with few people and little traffic. The town squares throughout the city are such a nice place to relax. We spent one day just walking and enjoying the historic area and had lunch at our favorite place, Mrs. Wilkes. At one time it was a boarding house, but now they just do lunch in the boardinghouse style. It is a delicious southern lunch with all of those favorite dishes served family style - so many different dishes that you can't even taste all of them before you are full. These pictures are typical of the houses you find in Savannah.

Today we went to Fort Pulaski, a well preserved fort from the Civil War. Since we had thoroughly explored the fort on our last visit, we decided to walk the mile trail to see the Cockspur Lighthouse.

From the fort it is just a few miles to Tybee Island, a beach community. We revisited the lighthouse there and even found the same seafood market as last time and bought lots of local shrimp!

Charleston

2010-11-16T11:31:00.000-08:00

We finally found warm weather! And the big surprise - no humidity! We enjoyed a quick second visit here. We knew we wanted to do another carriage ride through historic Charleston, walk through the market and have low country boil for lunch and we did all three! This time we also visited the only tea plantation in North America and saw how tea is made. Since I love tea, this was especially interesting to me and I learned a lot! There were acres and acres of tea plants, an evergreen that is disease and insect resistant. The new growth from May to September is "mowed" off the top whenever there is new growth of more than 3".

This time of year the plants are just starting to bloom - small white flowers.

With such beautiful weather, we spent a day at Folly Beach near Charleston. It was the typical beach area, but relaxing to just sit and listen to the surf.

Outer Banks

2010-11-09T13:23:00.000-08:00

We have had a very busy 2 days seeing the Outer Banks. The first day was all about lighthouses and 3 of them are south. We drove all the way to the end of Hatteras Island and then caught a ferry to Ocracoke Island and drove the 12 miles of the island to see its lighthouse. The little town was quaint, but everything was closed for the season. We stopped to see the wild ponies that have lived on the island for 200 years and are now looked after by the National Parks. Had a little time to visit the beach and the ocean, but no shells. Then back on the ferry to Hatteras and its lighthouse, probably the most well known one.

The south end of the Outer Banks has several small typical beach towns. Most however is National Park lands with birding areas, dunes and Pamblico Sound and Atlantic Ocean access.
The next lighthouse was Bodie Island which is undergoing renovation and was surrounded by scaffolding and wires to anchor it all to the ground.

The second day we visited the Wright Brothers Memorial. We now know why they picked that hill for glider flights - the wind always blows! The exhibits were very interesting.

Then we headed to Jockey Ridge State park which has the largest sand dunes on the east coast. We walked up to the top of the dunes with a gorgeous view of Pamblico Sound and the Atlantic Ocean. It was worth the hike up in shifting sand!

The north end has three "touristy" beach towns that run together - Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills and Nags Head. The season has ended, but one can imagine what it would be like in the summer! No shortage of rental houses everywhere and lots of stores, restaurants and attractions to capture your money. It was a great time to come and we had sunny but cool weather, made colder by the constant wind.

The Latest Updates

2010-11-02T11:35:00.000-07:00

We would like to welcome Elizabeth Rose Mintz to the family. She was born Oct. 29 after much coaxing from her parents and doctor. She and her momma have had a few complications so they have been in the hospital and hope to go home today. Congratulations Sarah and Adrian! We look forward to meeting our newest granddaughter!

We spent 2 weeks in Hershey PA relaxing since we have been there several times. We did go out for a PA Dutch lunch one day and did some buying at the cannery. Of course, we stocked up on Hershey chocolate too! The leaves were just beginning to change, but it sure was cold!

We are now in Gloucester VA for our final week. We have had a couple of warm days, but mostly cold with a good breeze to make it feel even colder. We are still looking for the warm weather. The leaves here have mostly just turned brown and been blown off in the winds. Not a good color year where we have been.

We have also visited here several times, but wanted to revisit the Historic Triangle. Yorktown was first and has not changed much. They do have a free shuttle that takes you around the town and gives you some history along the way. We visited the Moore House where Cornwallis surrendered marking the end of the Revolutionary War.

We saw the most changes at Jamestown with a beautiful new visitor center and museum of artifacts. The archaeological digs they have are always different and this time they had 2 in the fort area they were getting ready to cover for the winter. The archaeologists were taking pictures and we were able to talk to one about what they had found - quite interesting! It is a beautiful place along the river and we enjoyed walking the grounds.

We always love to just walk around Colonial Williamsburg. It was a warm beautiful day with very few people.

New York City

2010-10-12T10:42:00.000-07:00

What a hectic week! There is so much to see in and around NYC and we tried to do as much as we could. We spent 4 full days in the city and 2 days in the Hudson River area. We had some rain and cool temps, but it did finally get sunny and warmer. We stayed in a park north of the city on the Hudson River. To get to the city, we drove about 1.5 miles to the rail station where there was plenty of parking for daily people - most stations only have parking for commuters. It was a 45 minute ride on the rail to Grand Central Station. The first 3 days we had a double decker bus pass for touring and learning about everything. The first day we just rode the bus on all the loops (Uptown, Downtown and Brooklyn) and got off at Central Park for a walk and lunch. The next day it was off to see the Statue and Ellis Island. We had pedestal tickets for the statue so we could go up to the observation deck and also see the stairs to the crown. She is magnificent!

We then took the ferry to Ellis Island. It is inspiring to see where the immigrants first came and the procedures they went through to be admitted to this country. Only The Main Building is restored, but they are working on the many other buildings.

We spent a day at Rockefeller Plaza. We toured NBC Studios, Radio City Music Hall and even got to see some of the Today Show on the plaza. Just seeing the plaza, fountain, ice rink and where the Christmas tree is placed was very exciting. They were also filming a movie nearby!

Last stop at Rockefeller Plaza was the Top of the Rock. What a view of NYC!

We visited St. Paul's Church which was adjacent to the World Trade Center site and now houses the memorials. On Ground Zero they are rebuilding Tower 1 and one other building. It is totally fenced and you cannot see anything except what is above the fence. Many people were upset by this, but we were told it is private property and thus the owner can keep people from viewing with the fence. Many buildings in this area were so damaged they had to be destroyed, but this historical church survived. The globe that stood between the towers is in another park for now and will be moved back to the original site when construction is completed. It is very heavily damaged, but was saved. This site is 5 blocks long and in NYC blocks are very long, so it is a huge area that was destroyed.

We spent several hours in Times Square surrounded by videos, billboards and lots of people. The theater district is also here and we went to see The Lion King - it was fabulous! The first picture shows the ball and the second picture is of the whole building with the ball. A large area is closed to traffic, but is absolutely full of people! We can't even imagine New Years Eve.

We spent one day on a Hudson River cruise and saw West Point Military Academy from the water. We then did the tour of West Point. It was very interesting and you are able to see everything except the main campus which is classrooms. Then another day we visited Washington Irving's cottage on the Hudson.

There is much history along the Hudson, from the Revolutionary War to the Civil War. Sleepy Hollow was established in 1640. These villages are quaint and have many historical homes and buildings. Also very prominent in this area is the Rockefeller family and their summer home built in the early 1900's was given to a historical society in 1994 and opened to the public. It was set on 600 acres overlooking the Hudson River. The family kept the golf course and a rather large building called The Playhouse with tennis courts and several pools. It is used by the Rockefellers and their friends. The home and the history of this family was very interesting on the tour here.

It is fun to watch shows from NYC and know exactly where it is and what they are talking about.

We are now near Hershey PA. This is our third time here, so we have seen most everything and will just have a relaxing time.

Playing Tourist in Port Clinton Ohio

2010-10-01T10:59:00.000-07:00

The rain finally stopped and we have spent 3 days just driving and seeing the sights in this area. It is right on Lake Erie and in the summer would be a very busy place. Now, most everything is closed for the season. We went to state parks, wildlife refuges and lighthouses. Here are the highlights.

Lake Erie and one of its many beaches.

Marblehead Lighthouse on the Marblehead peninsula.

From Marblehead peninsula, Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky. It is only open on weekends so we did not get to ride the 17 rollercoasters there!

This little bull frog was one of many we saw. They are very common here and not shy!

We had a great time although a little short. Tomorrow we are headed to New York for our long anticipated trip to NYC. It will be a very busy week!

Time Flies

2010-09-28T08:26:00.000-07:00

Finally have some time to catch up on long overdue things.

We had a great time in South Dakota revisiting some places and finding some new ones. We started in Rapid City by revisiting one of our favorite places, Custer State Park. The animals and scenery are abundant and beautiful.

The many burros are very tame and come to get petted and fed. This guy was ready for his carrots. There was a darling baby that was just learning to eat carrots, but still preferred its mama!

The prairie dog "city" had moved from the last time we were there. They are industrious little critters!

Bison are everywhere and not shy!

This area is called The Needles - a beautiful winding drive with very narrow tunnels through the rocks!

And finally a visit to see the presidents - always an awesome sight!

We also visited the famous Wall Drugs which is an ever expanding mass of buildings selling souvenirs, mostly made in China. We enjoyed buffalo burgers while there.

We decided we needed to see Sturgis, famous for its motorcycle rally in August. On our visit it was filled with around 500 mustangs of all ages and kinds. The town itself is mostly bars, taverns and tattoo parlors!

Then it was on to Mitchell, home of the famous Corn Palace. The exterior is filled with murals made of 9 different colors of corn, sourdock and rye. These murals are redone every year. The inside is used for community activities with a basketball court and stage.

As I mentioned in the last blog we are official South Dakotians. specifically Madison so we went to visit the town. It is a very clean and neat town where everyone knows everyone. A very typical small town. So here is our front door and our "home".

Then it was 4 states in four nights, South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois and finally Goshen Indiana for the Escapees Escapade. It is a rally with get togethers, classes and vendors. This was our first Escapade, but will not be our last. We had so much fun and these people are so friendly and welcoming. We volunteered to help out for two shifts. First was refreshments which since it was very hot was mostly selling soft serve ice cream cones - 500 in 3 hours. Ralph made them and Pam collected the money. Boy were we tired that night! Next was 3 hours on gate duty - checking vehicles entering to make sure they were allowed into the fairgrounds. Not to hard and actually fun waving and giving them thumbs up to enter, that is until a torrential downpour started and we were soaked. It rains hard in the midwest - buckets and buckets!

After Escapade, we spent the next week getting improvements and warranty work done on our rig. Up early and out of the rig all day gets tiring. Heartland ( the manufacturer of our rig) was wonderful and rented us a hotel for one night so we would not have to get up so they could start on the rig at 5am! We had a luxurious shower - those with a house will not understand- with all the hot water we wanted and we slept late!

We stayed a few extra days in the Elkhart/Goshen area to play tourist. This area is of course the RV Capital of the USA with so many manufacturers and suppliers. It also has a large population of Amish and Mennonite living in Goshen and Nappanee. Elkhart has one river that runs through the downtown and converges with another river. At the beginning of this walk in the summer is a park with water fountains that the kids can play in. This same park in the winter floods this area with water and it becomes an ice rink. They have built a riverwalk that meanders along the rivers and through 7 parks.

The visitor center for the area has done a free CD that takes you on a 90 mile loop giving lots of history and information. It was a fun day and we even learned a few things like this area is the largest producer of popcorn in the world. There are regular and tiny kernels and red, blue, yellow and white.

Of course, we drove through lots of Amish country. Their farms are easy to spot - no electric going to them, painted white, usually many buildings, buggies parked and the creative clothes lines going from the house to the barn on a pulley system. This one is moving equipment to harvest the corn with an Amish farm in the background.

The RV Museum and Hall of Fame was interesting. It has the first RVs starting in 1913 right on up to the present. They have come a long way!

Since the University of Notre Dame was just 10 minutes away in South Bend we went there to see the campus and historic buildings. This is the main building which in the beginning housed all of the university and then was destroyed by fire. They spent all summer of 1879 building this so that they could start classes that fall. The dome is covered in gold leaf. It is a very large campus with open spaces, gardens and parks throughout. We were surprised to learn from a student that there are about 8,000 undergrads and 5,000 grads - with such a large campus and so many buildings we thought it would be much larger. And it has a huge stadium right on campus.

We have moved on to Port Clinton OH right on Lake Erie. If it ever stops raining we have some exploring to do and hope to take the ferry to the islands and explore by bike.

South Dakota

2010-09-04T14:29:00.000-07:00

Five nights in five states has brought us to Rapid City. Pam became an official South Dakotian by getting her drivers license. We are being tourists visiting and revisiting places in this area and having fun all the time! More later.......

North Cascade Mountains & Winthrop

2010-08-03T10:41:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day, so since we had not been to Winthrop in many, many years we decided to go. Since you drive over the North Cascade Mountains to eastern WA, it is a beautiful drive and the mountains are more spectacular driving east to west, so we just went straight to Winthrop and enjoyed stopping for the mountains on the way back. It was an all day trip and boy was Cookie tired and hungry when we got home!

Winthrop is a town built for tourists. It is only about a block long with boardwalks (wood) for sidewalks and tourists. The store fronts are facades with a western theme and tourists. The shops are all souvenir and t-shirt shops for tourists. We did find a sandwich shop that had good, huge sandwiches for a reasonable price considering all the tourists. Then we indulged in ice cream cones along with all the tourists since it was quite warm there. Did I mention this place is for tourists? Yep, and there were plenty of them!

It was a beautiful drive across the mountains. These mountains are known as the North American Alps with glaciers and lakes. This road closes for snow usually in Nov and doesn't reopen until April or May depending on the snow and when they can get it cleared and it will remain cleared. There are lots of viewpoints and it well worth seeing if you are in this area. From Concrete (west side) to Marblemont the roads follows the Skagit River and is where the salmon spawn which brings hundreds of Bald Eagles to feed for the winter. Then you begin to climb and just before Newhalem there is National Park visitor center with lots of information. Then you pass Ross Lake and really begin to climb up to Rainy Pass (wonder why that name in WA) and then on to Washington Pass, the highest on this road at 5,500'. You then begin a quick decent into the Methow Valley and much warmer temperatures, sometimes 100+. Finally you are in Winthrop. Enjoy the pictures!

Picnic

2010-07-28T13:41:00.000-07:00

We went to Rasar State Park near Concrete WA. It is a fairly new park on the Skagit River with a few trails, all of which I think we walked. We also walked around the campground which is very nice, all paved and could accomodate 40+' rigs with lots of room to back in. We are enjoying this campground which is quiet and for the most part wood smoke free. Here are some pictures from Rasar of the river. We are in the foothills of the north Cascade Mountains.

We were surprised by the white sand everywhere.

Raptor Fun

2010-07-24T11:47:00.000-07:00

The weather has been cool here in Birch Bay, so we have not gotten to do much. We did visit Sardis, where our daughter Sarah volunteers. We always enjoy seeing her and the birds. This center rescues raptors that need help. After getting them well, they release those that can survive on their own. The others get to live out their life here, which in captivity is much longer than in the wild. Most are glove trained for educational shows.

This is Tundra, a peregrine falcon, enjoying some time out while they remodeled his cage.

Rosie is a very old great horned owl that was having a terrible molt.

Don't remember this ones name, but it a snowy owl with one good eye.

This is our daughter and her friend Chille, a baby barn owl. Chille came to them as a fuzzy chick with a damaged wing. They knew that she could not be released, so they have spoiled her since her arrival. She has personality plus and is very curious. This was her first time on the glove and she did very well! She will be the star of the show!

And of course I have to add the picture of her and that new baby girl due Oct. 19! She was giving a tour to a group of mostly uninterested kids from a Boys and Girls Club summer camp.

The next day Sarah called to tell us she could see tall ships from her office window in Bellingham WA. Tall ships are worth a trip to see.

It finally has been sunny and warm for these excursions. We have been riding our bikes to Birch Bay State Park everyday now to get our "water fix" and exercise!

Lots of Good News

2010-06-09T17:41:00.000-07:00

This week has been a whirlwind so far. Ralph's CT scan was clear of any cancer - everything was the same as last October. He now has an appointment to have his port removed. His cardiologist says he is doing great and will see him again in a year. Now we are working on getting orders for INR and blood tests while on the road.

Monday was the final inspection on the boat and it sold! Tuesday we worked on cleaning out our stuff and finding everything that goes with it. We have the money, the new owners have the title and we have the boat! Tomorrow we will load everything and have it ready to go. On Friday we have to tow it down to a storage marina in the Seattle area as the new owners do not have a truck.

We are so excited about everything and really looking forward to leaving this area!!! It has been a very wet May and June - it has set "wet" records! Just hope maybe we will have a summer sometime soon! Guess we are paying for the warm dry winter we had!

A Day at the Beach

2010-05-14T10:19:00.000-07:00

The beach and water called us on a warm sunny summer day here. So we packed a picnic and headed to Deception Pass State Park on Whidbey Island, about 25 miles from where we are staying. Cookie enjoyed the new smells and lots of walking! Finished the day with a soft ice cream cone in Anacortes. Enjoy the pictures of our great day!A boat has come under the bridge and headed to the San Juan Islands.

The bridge that we have gone under many times in our boats.

One of the many beaches, a combination of sand and stones.

Cranberry Lake, a fresh water lake right next to the salt water beach.

Admiralty Inlet with the Olympic Mountains in the background - a perfect picnic lunch scene!

Moved

2010-05-02T10:05:00.000-07:00

We are now at the Mount Vernon Elks RV Park. It is a nice little park with huge sites. Lots of parking for visitors so come on over! The owner at the other park decided to get "greedy" so we went looking and found this wonderful place and much cheaper.

Ralph had labs and doctors last Monday. His platelets did not drop any lower from chemo - 72 and normal is 150. Doctor assured us they would not find anything abnormal on his CT scan so to quit worrying - these doctors are cautious about what they say so that sounded real good! He goes back on the 17th for labs, doctor, port flush and then they will schedule his CT scan for early June. He is slowly recovering - sleeping less and his hands and feet have less numbness each day.

For those following our refer saga we do believe it is finally fixed after a year. The new doors seem to be sealing now and it is maintaining correct temps, working on gas and even making ice cubes! The remainder of our repairs/replacements will be done at the factory when we go back in Sept.

We are now on our second Samsung home theater system that seems to be working correctly. Now our living room Samsung television is either being repaired or replaced. Cookie loves laying on the bed with us so she loves the new program - with no living room television we go to bed real early! Everyone tells us Samsung is a good product - guess we got the bad batch!

All the rain we did not have last winter has arrived for April and May so far! Sure hope it gets dry and warm again real soon!

Done - At Last

2010-04-21T14:04:00.000-07:00

Ralph finished his last chemo treatment today!!!!!! His platlets were low, but since it was his last they went ahead - Yea!! He has to go in next Monday for lab work to make sure his platlets do not drop critically low. His CT scan will be the first part of June!

Rainy day today so he is sleeping. My first week of jury duty resulted in nothing and now have to call in this weekend and hope I am passed for next week.

Now he will begin to recover and should feel better every day!

More Spring, Travel & Ralph Update

2010-04-01T10:59:00.000-07:00

Wow, time has just flown by for us! I was reminded that our blog needed an update (thank you Karen). We have had a beautiful spring, but the showers have now arrived! Yesterday was beautiful so decided to take in the tulip fields along with hundreds of our closest friends - tourists! Here are a couple of pictures.

This whole month will be very crowded here and getting in and out of our RV park will be a challenge. It has changed alot since we were last here in 2001. It is very commercial and they charge for everything now, but people were lined up and willing to pay. Not us - we went where it was free (very few places) and stopped to look at one field where you were allowed to pull over. Those fields are still beautiful with the mountains in the background!

Yes, we will be on the move. We are both ready to "get on the road again". We have decided to use our membership campgrounds in the area that we have paid the dues for rather than continue to pay rent and electric here. Part of our motivation was a healthy rent increase here - we do not mind the owners making a reasonable living but with this increase it appears that they want us to pay for their kids college education and the house they bought in Arizona. So we will move on out and save some money for our trip east. Travel schedule has been updated and once we have confirmed reservations we will post our schedule for going east.

Ralph has 2 treatments left - next one on Monday. The side effects are more intense each time, but manageable with only 2 to go. These will all disappear over time once chemo stops. His oncologist is very pleased with his lab reports and overall health. Once finished with chemo, he will have his port removed - office procedure - and then in 3 months he will have his CT scans and another colonoscopy. Those should all be just fine. He will need to get labs done about every 3 months and sent back here. He also will have a box to use to phone his pacemaker info back every 3 months. It is amazing what they can do now!

We need to do some serious cleaning out and a couple of little projects before we move. Since the basement area is the big one, we are waiting on a few days of no rain and a bit warmer!

Spring Came Early

2010-02-24T11:34:00.000-08:00

Ralph just finished his 8th treatment - just 4 to go!! His doctor is very pleased with his progress. Of course all chemo takes its toll and his particular drugs raise the liver and kidney enzymes, so they are watching those numbers closely. His platelets were low so they stopped his daily aspirin and those popped right back up even a week after chemo when they should be the lowest! They are giving him a white cell boost shot after each chemo now which means there is no worry about a low white cell count. This shot can give some people very bad aches and severe pain, but he gets nothing so they are more willing to just do it each time. He also had his pacemaker check and they reset it to the final number of 60.

We had a beautiful February until today (rain again)! We went walking several days in sun and high 50's. The flowers are blooming and the mountains are spectacular. They are picking the daffodil fields - they pick a certain amount of buds to sell and the rest are left to bloom for the tourists! We have one field next to the RV park so we watch it daily and it won't be long until it will be in full bloom. These pictures were taken Sunday. Each day more and more are in full bloom and soon it will be a sea of yellow!

We found miles of trails around the regional airport here with some beautiful scenery!

The flowering cherries are in full bloom!

We drove out to a park in nearby Anacortes to enjoy looking at the San Juan Islands across the water.

We had forgotten how beautiful spring is here and it started early and will continue for months. The area is known for its daffodil and tulip bloom each spring with many fields in bloom in all colors. They have a Tulip Festival all of April which is when the daffodils and tulips are most likely to bloom. This festival brings thousands and thousands of tourists and the locals hate all of the traffic! The festival will go on, but may be to late for the blooms. The daffodils should be in full bloom in the next week or so and the tulips are already up about 6 inches, so they will follow soon after!

Short Update

2010-01-31T09:36:00.000-08:00

Ralph has finished 1/2 of his chemo treatments, so he is on the downhill side with 6 to go! He has very few side effects - fatigue and tingling/numbness in his fingers and nose which gets worse with each treatment but will go away when he is done. His oncology doctor is very happy with his treatment and how well he is doing.

We have had a beautiful January. It will be the warmest on record with very little rain - sent it all south to California. Long range forecast is for more warm and dry days!

New Toy

2010-01-08T11:26:00.000-08:00

With all the emissions "junk" on the truck, it is not good to use it for a daily driver which is exactly what we have been doing. In talking to a mechanic it eventually would require thousands in repairs. If we were moving every two weeks the truck would be fine, but since we are stuck here it is not getting "cleaned out" properly. We also should have our lot in Pahrump soon and we would need a car there also. I really wanted a Mazda Miata and we looked but decided it was not very practical to carry much of anything. So then we looked at inexpensive 4 door coupes and just couldn't get excited about them or the price. So we made one last stop at the Mazda dealership and mentioned really wanting a Miata. They showed us this 2004 Tiburon GT that they had taken on a trade. It was a one owner car and they knew the previous owner very well. It looks brand new inside and out and low mileage. It is an automatic which Ralph did not like and it is red which I did not like, but other than that it had everything else we wanted and then some! And it actually has a lot of space since the back seats fold down. They had put new brakes and tires on it. So Ralph gave them a a very low price that we were willing to pay, never thinking they would take it. They did so here is our new toy - it is so much fun to drive!

So with a new toy, of course we had to go somewhere. Up the Skagit River (east), the eagles winter where the salmon spawn. Many years ago when I went up there were eagles everywhere you looked. It was quite a sight. Ralph had never seen this so off we went on a scarce sunny day here. The mountains were beautiful with new snow.
It was a beautiful drive and lots of fun with the "toy". We had a nice picnic lunch and Cookie enjoyed spending time with us and "reading a new newspaper" at each stop. But, you guessed it, not an eagle to be found. There were many disappointed people that had only come up to see the eagles, but we were happy to see blue skies, beautiful mountains and have a fun drive!

The Last of 2009

2009-12-31T12:21:00.001-08:00

Time got away from us and haven't updated this since Thanksgiving. We had a great holiday season. The Wed. before Christmas we had dinner with Sarah and Adrian. The next day Karen, David and baby Zoe came to visit. Our time spent with all of them is very special. Of course Zoe is as cute as can be and busy crawling everywhere - her preferred method of travel. She is so good natured and happy except when it is nap time! Looks like she will be a lefty - sure prefers that hand for everything!

Ralph had his 4th treatment this past Monday - 1/3 done! He still gets very tired for a few days. His hands and nose have tingling and numbness and this is accumulative so each time it is worse. This is also made worse by cold. He can't drink anything cold as it constricts his throat so we set out glasses of water to warm up for him. Today he has to get a white cell boost shot as his white cell count has been dropping slowly and this will get it back up quickly.

We also saw his cardiologist and his pacemaker was set to 70 and in Feb. they will set it for the final time to 60. They adjusted some of his medications and he does not have to see this doctor again until June. He just has to visit the Device Center every 3 months for a pacemaker check.

Things are looking up finally and there is light at the end of the tunnel! Even winter here has not been to bad so far. Last week was beautiful clear blue skies with white mountains, but very cold! It was the second real cold weather we have had but we stay nice and warm in our little home on wheels! One of the effects of chemo is being cold, so Ralph has acquired some warmer clothes and stays bundled up most of the time! This week is warmer and of course that means wet again!

Thanksgiving Day and Beyond

2009-11-29T08:04:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful day at our daughter's house in Bothell. Her husband, David helped in the kitchen and baby Zoe stole the show! Our other daughter Sarah and her husband Adrian and David's parents and grandmother were there. Adrian was on kitchen duty also - those 2 guys can sure cook some good stuff! Sarah was not feeling well so she stayed away from everyone. Karen had worked a 12 hour shift until 7am, but after a couple of hours of sleep she was also in the kitchen cooking. We had a delicious meal with very special family! What a great day! That is the first time we have had a holiday with them since 2000 as we have been on the road in many different places for the holidays. Zoe is hand feeding herself and she loved the cranberries in her mouth and all over her head!! Thank you kids for making it a very special day!!!!

Friday Ralph's cousins and good friends Tom and Linda came up for their monthly visit. We always have lunch out so this time it was Mexican. Then we decided to join the crowd at Costco and Best Buy as each of us was looking for something. Costso wasn't to bad, but Best Buy was a "zoo"! Nothing we wanted here so off to Bellingham on another adventure. Found one of the "wanted" items there. What a fun day and we look forward to December's visit!

Yesterday we cooked our Thanksgiving dinner so we could have left-overs. Our new oven is much bigger so we were able to do the turkey in it instead of the convection. We even stuffed it this year and boy was that good! We decided that we had stuffed turkeys all the time until just a few years ago when someone decided it was not good, and we are still alive so we were going for it! Now we will have turkey dinners for the week - yum yum!!!

A great holiday and thanks to all of you!!!

1 Down - 11 To Go

2009-11-18T16:16:00.000-08:00

His first chemo started Mon. morning and ended this afternoon. They start everything at the infusion lab - takes about 4 hours and then he gets a portable pump "to go" in a pack so he can go anywhere with it. After 46 hours, a home health person comes to our place and disconnects him. He had no side effects until today when he has been a bit tired, but our allergies are going"crazy" and we both feel "blah" today so may not have been the chemo! He had a couple of seconds of nausea and took a pill, but that was it! Tomorrow he goes in for a white blood cell boost shot - it is only $4,000 for one shot! Thank goodness for medicare! That will make him ache all over and some tell us that it is the worst of all the treatment. According to the doctor, our bone marrow is very lazy about making new white cells so after the first few treatments he will get this shot. Then his bone marrow will be awake and when chemo comes will go to work and won't need an alarm shot any more. Guess that is why you ache with the flu - it is the bone marrow getting busy to make new healthy cells to get you well! Friday we go to the cardiology device clinic to check his pacemaker and get further instructions. Tuesday is a followup with his surgeon - we are going to teach him which side pacemakers go in! After the surgeon, off to oncology for labs and meeting with his doctor there. Keeps us busy with appointments!

We are starting with our third wind storm this week. The first one brought down a large limb that was hanging over us. Our luck has changed - it went between us and the rig next door missing all of us by inches. If it had hit us it would have totaled our rig and killed us if we were in the rear. The tree belonged to the home behind us and for the 2nd storm they had ropes to get it to fall back there. It stayed up and it was taken down yesterday. The first 2 storms had winds of 30 to 50 with gusts to 70. Tonights storm is supposed to be worse. Another night of rock n roll! And another storm on Saturday. Enough!!!!!

His Heart Is Fixed

2009-11-13T13:42:00.000-08:00

Permanently we hope! He had a pacemaker put in and an AV node ablation done yesterday and had to stay overnight at his favorite "hotel"! The "hotel" is like coming home we know so many of the staff and they all come to say hi! He is now home with his pacemaker set at 80 to 110. They had to start high since his heart was used to fast - go to slow at first and it will rebel. Then in about a month they will start slowing it down over several months. His chemo was put off until Monday as his oncologist wanted his heart rate normal! So there is light at the end of the tunnel! Meanwhile, we have had 3 times the normal rain for Nov. and 10 degrees below normal. Figures, since we are here! We were about ready to build an ark, but we got a break yesterday, more rain and wind last night and then fairly nice today until tonight. Maybe snow tonight...... And they say it is supposed to be dryer and warmer than normal.....waiting.....

We Have A Plan - FINALLY

2009-11-08T09:19:00.000-08:00

After another 4 days in the hospital with his heart stopping for up to 4.2 seconds several times a minute, they lowered all his meds and since the doctor to fix the problem was on vacation (yep there is only one EP doctor) they sent him home with a Holter Monitor for 24 hours and lowered his meds some more. This past week he had the monitor again for 24 hours and his heart is still "pausing" and his heart rate is high - surprise with the lower meds! Friday we met with the EP doctor and this week he will have a pacemaker put in followed by an ablation of the AV node. We will know Monday the exact day and time. The atrium will still be in a-fib and can do anything it wants, but can no longer control the ventricle - that is the pacemakers job! He will be on warfarin the rest of his life, but not all the other meds that make him so sleepy. Then the following Monday, Nov. 16 he will start chemo. His oncologist did not want to start chemo until his heart was done so the "heart boys" have run out of time and it has to be done this week! Yea!!!! We are getting used to the rain. At least at this RV park we have a nice patio, gravel parking and paved roads, so no mud to track inside. They have added gravel to the parking area for us, so it is nice and thick and the water does not stay on top. They clean up all the leaves every day on the roads and grass - an endless job right now! They even take out the propane tanks, fill them and put them back in for us for the price of the propane - what a deal. Good thing since after his pacemaker placement he can't raise his arms over his shoulder or lift more than 10 lbs. for 2 months. The lengths he goes to to get out of doing anything!!!!!

Settled in for the Winter

2009-10-24T09:55:00.000-07:00

We moved to a larger site last Sunday since we will be here for awhile. Sure is much nicer to have neighbors a bit further away! We met with his cardiologist this past week. At first he didn't feel they should do anything since the meds were controlling his heart rate. That was before he looked at the EKG and the meds he is taking. His heart rate is still high and he raised one of the meds another 120mgs a day. He is now taking enough of these meds to control an elephant! So now he is sleeping 24/7 instead of 20/7! We meet with the electrophysiologist on Nov. 6. He is the doctor that does the procedures, so will see what he recommends. The cardiologist feels the problem is in the AV node and if they fix that he will likely have to have a pacemaker. Then off to the surgeon to have his incision checked. He has had a hole at the bottom to drain an infection. The infection is gone, but needed to see what to do next. Just let it grow together and will be fine now. Yea - no more packing, just bandage everyday! Since we were there the surgeon decided we should schedule his surgery to put in a power port for chemo so he can start taking warfarin again for his heart. So yesterday we spent 4 hours at the hospital and he now has a sporty port below his collar bone on the left! The first time he has been at the hospital for a procedure and actually got to come home afterwards! This week is a CT scan and followed in a couple of days with another meeting with the oncologist to schedule his chemo. All the ducks are finally lining up in a row and we are making progress toward an eventual full recovery! We will have lots of company in this park for the winter - they only have a few empty sites!

Long Term Plan

2009-10-12T14:38:00.000-07:00

We met with the oncologist this morning. This doctor had worked at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston TX (a leading cancer center in the US) and after talking to him about various treatments Ralph has decided to stay here. The protocol for his cancer would be the same anywhere and the only difference would be if he wanted a clinical trial. This oncologist is the head of oncology at Skagit Valley Hospital and is part of the Seattle Cancer Alliance which includes the University of Washington and Fred Hutchison Cancer Center. His treatment will be 2 days on infusions and 12 days off for a total of 12 cycles (6 months). There are practically no side affects to these drugs. His 2 day infusions start at the center for about 4 hours and then continue at home for a total of 48 hours. He will have a baseline CT scan and then meet with this oncologist for a start date. After treatment they will do another CT scan and then every 6 months. He will have another colonoscopy next August and then every 3 to 5 years for that. The oncologist will work with our travel schedule for follow-up appointments. His a-fib will not affect his chemo schedule which they like to start no sooner than 4 weeks from surgery and no later than 6 weeks from surgery. He will be closer to the 6 weeks since they would like to give his wound as much time as possible to heal. So, cardiologist is next Tuesday and hopefully we will have a time for the ablation. The 27th is the surgeon for followup and consult on a "port" then a CT scan and the oncologist is on the 30th. We will be staying at our wonderful little RV park here in Mount Vernon just 10 minutes from the medical centers! We are getting ready for winter and will be warm and comfortable in our little house on wheels!

Home

2009-10-06T08:20:00.001-07:00

Ralph came home Sunday afternoon. He is still moving a bit slow, but getting out and around. He still has a hole at the bottom of his incision that has to be packed and bandaged. Not sure what the long term plan for that is since his surgeon is on vacation and another surgeon saw him in the hospital. He takes naps, but more because of his heart than surgery. Everyday is better!!!!

Coming Home Soon

2009-10-04T07:39:00.000-07:00

It has been a difficult few days to get his digestion working again. They finally had to put an IV "pick-line" in his arm and feed him nutrients that way for 2 days. Friday they started on liquids again and he did well on them. Over night they weaned him off the nutrients and yesterday he had solid food and did well. He still has a hole at the bottom of his incision from when he had an infection. Now to get it to heal, they are doing some minor work on it today - they said it needs to wake up again and realize it needs to grow together. Our bodies are amazing! His heart is now between 100 - 140 with very high doses of meds. Cardiology was supposed to see him yesterday and no one came - surprise! Everyone just wants to know what meds he is to take at home. The path report was about what we expected given the surgeons report after surgery. When removing the tumor, they went far enough to get to clean and cancer free tissue. About 1/2 the lymph nodes removed had cancer cells. He will be ungoing chemotherapy at some point. The timeline for everything is a bit fuzzy right now given his heart rate and the need for ablation to correct that. They said he might get home today, but his surgeon on Friday noted in his chart that he would be released probably Monday. They may want to watch the wound for 24 hours to make sure it is OK.

Tuesday Update

2009-09-29T12:23:00.000-07:00

Everything is progressing slowly as far as digestion. He is now on full liquids, but is still having problems with digestion. He is eating very little as he has no hunger. His surgeon is pleased with his progress and keeps telling us it just takes time. Today they are slowly lowering his dosage on the epidural pain control as it has to be removed tomorrow. He will be on IV morphine as needed. They also have to remove his catheter tomorrow. Guess a week is the limit on those two things. They had to change his IV line to his right arm as it came out last night. The lower part of his incision is now open with a drain line as he had an infection. He is on IV antibiotics until the infection clears up. The biggest concern is his heart rate which at rest is now going up to the 140's and when he is up has gone as high as 180. That is why they have left the epidural pain control and catheter as long as they have to keep him from getting up so much. The cardiologist is coming by today, but we don't think there is much he can do at this point. Right now they will not let him walk and he needs to walk to help with digestion - catch 22! His heart rate is just out of control and even if the surgeon would release him, he will go no where until his heart rate is controlled or out of a-fib! Still no pathology report - maybe this afternoon. We pretty much know what it will say, so will not be surprised.

Update

2009-09-27T07:54:00.000-07:00

Ralph had a really good day yesterday. The cardiologist changed some meds and his heart was slowing down a bit and he was allowed to walk in his room. The cardiologist is hoping that by today his heart rate will be better controlled and he will be allowed to walk the hallways which is what the surgeon wants. He was awake most the day and up and down frequently. His digestive system is beginning to rumble, at times very loud! Yesterday after a rough few hours with nausea in the morning, he was fine and had no anti nausea meds all day. Only problem was a small amount of bleeding at the bottom of the incision and that was from so much movement and stopped very quickly. He is also receiving anti-clotting shots every 8 hours which can add to bleeding problems. Yesterday I said that they found nothing unexpected in surgery. More specifically that meant that they were able to section the colon back to good tissue, removed the lymph nodes from that area and found some of them to be firm which means they very likely have cancer cells in them and all other organs looked and felt normal including his liver. Tests will not be back until sometime this week. The cardiologist feels that they need to do his heart ablation sooner than later and they will work with the onocologist to make that happen - wow, doctors can work together! Besides having terrible "people skills", his GI doctor didn't seem to want to work with any other doctors, so we will not be using him again!

Surgery Update

2009-09-26T08:10:00.000-07:00

Ralph's surgery went fine on Wednesday. The surgeon did not find anything un expected and his bleeding was minimal. He was moved to the surgery floor that evening and our fun began. Let's just say that the nurses on a surgery floor are there because they do not want to work and are for the most part just putting in their time until retirement. He was at the end of 2 hallways and for most of any day I could roll a bowling ball in any direction and hit no one! You could never find anyone to help you and then Thursday we got "the witch"! They had not given him any of his heart meds because "his blood pressure is to low". OK, so that is hospital protocol, but I requested several times they call his cardiologist and they would not do that cause that was work. Asked them to call his surgeon since they said one of the meds had not even been ordered. Wouldn't do that. Finally I made so much noise I got the charge nurse who did give him his meds, but that was in the evening and the med in question had been ordered, just not signed by the surgeon and should have been given! He has nausea from the epidural pain meds and the shots they were giving him did not work, but that is all they would do. Yesterday we had a floating nurse from another floor and she was great and got the ball rolling on everything and found another anti-nausea med that worked. Late yesterday, the surgeon went to the head of nursing and he was moved to the progressive floor last evening where he has been before and will receive very good care! His cardiologist will be in this morning to see if there is anything they can do to get his heart to quit spiking to over 140 when he sits up since they want and he needs to get up and moving. His heart rate was well controlled until he did not get the meds for that day and now his stubborn heart doesn't want to slow down! He is still on nothing by mouth since his digestion needs to begin working again and to get that working he needs to move and to move he needs his heart rate controlled - a merry-go-round!

Surgery

2009-09-17T16:22:00.000-07:00

Ralph will have surgery Wed. Sept. 23. He will check in at 10:30am, surgery is at 12:30pm and will take about 2 1/2 hours and then recovery for about 2 hours. He will be in the hospital for 5 to 7 days, depending on when his digestive system begins to function again. As the surgeon said, the "heart boys" will be close by during surgery just in case, but they do not expect any problems with his a-fib. The surgery is a sigmoid resection and is fairly straight forward and in a good place for the resection. They will also look at a very small spot on his liver that they are sure is benign, but since they are doing the surgery anyway, they will take a closer peek. We will have test results on the tissue and lymph nodes in 3 to 5 days. The surgeon says as far as he is concerned, they can do the ablation on his heart 2 weeks after surgery, but the doctor doing it may want longer. For now we are going to enjoy the summer weather here - supposed to be 80 by Monday!!

Latest News

2009-09-12T18:04:00.000-07:00

Ralph was released from the hospital this afternoon. The doctors feel that they have his heart rate regulated, but it was a tough job! With a-fib you do not have a steady heart rate - it can fluctuate greatly. He was spiking to over 140 and they wanted those spikes to be no higher than 110. He was running a marathon 24/7 and that was not good going into surgery. We meet the surgeon on Thursday and will know when surgery will be after that. The doctors think probably the following Monday, but we will see. He has an excellent prognosis - there were no cancer cells detected in his lymph nodes on the CT scan, so they know it has not spread anywhere else. There may still be some cancer cells in the lymph nodes when they test them after surgery however. To show on the CT scan, it has to be very involved to be detected. He had been getting a regular colonoscopy and we thought this was his 10 year recall. Then we found out his 10 years was last summer. But, if he had it last summer, they would not have found this tumor - it grew in a year or less. Then if he had not had the a-fib with blood thinners that caused the bleeding, he would have waited for his next recall and we would have a very different outcome. It paid for us to lose that year!

Worse News But Some Good

2009-09-09T19:00:00.000-07:00

Ralph was diagnosed with colon cancer this morning. Adenoma carcinoma is the type of tumor and has according to the surgeon been there for about a year. A CT scan shows no evidence of cancer anywhere in the adominal or pelvic area - that is the good news. We have a surgeon that we have met with and he will have surgery in 7 to 10 days. They have to let the plavix clear his system. In the meantime, his a-fib is on the "back burner", but his heart rate must be controlled with meds. We have a new cardiologist that is not so busy and can work with his meds more closely. He will be in the hospital until his heart rate is under control. They just changed his meds this evening, so may take some experimenting to find the right combination of meds that will also provide the best outcome for surgery and his coronary heart disease. We are hoping he will be home on Friday at the latest and then back for 4 to 7 days for surgery. During surgery they will remove lymph nodes for testing and will know how much of the colon wall is involved. Chemotherapy after surgery will depend on the outcome of those 2 things, but chemo has improved and he will not be sick. The surgeon said the outcome is very good with his otherwise good health. We will be spending the winter here in Washington at the park in Mount Vernon.

WOW! What A Summer for Ralph

2009-09-08T13:18:00.000-07:00

As I had posted, he went back into a-fib. Then late yesterday he had serious GI bleeding and the nurse-line advised him to go to the ER. So off to the ER and triaged ahead of a waiting room full of people (according to the staff most without insurance and really should not be in the ER). Yes, he is in a-fib again. They reversed his blood thinners with Vitamin K and admitted him to the hospital at 12:30am this morning. With the blood thinners out of his system, the bleeding has stopped this morning. The hospitalist doctor had hoped to get the GI and cardiologist doctors talking so that something can be done instead of the run around we have been getting and doctors not talking. So far the GI doctor has been in to see him and with no communication with the cardiologist has scheduled a colonoscopy for sometime tomorrow to see if they can find the source of the bleeding. In the past the cardiologist has said no to any other procedures, so will be interesting to see what happens. The GI doctor agrees with us that cardio has not and is not working so they need to find something else and they need to manage his blood thinners differently. They are trying to manage his heart rate with a drug that has not and is still not working - it lowers his blood pressure but not his heart rate. We told the ER that it has not worked, but they continue to give it to him, so we all agree that they need to look at some other meds. So, after tomorrow we will either know what is causing the bleeding or they will find no cause and we go from there. Then once the cardiologist sees him, we may know what they will try next!

Crazy Pulse------Again!

2009-09-06T15:43:00.000-07:00

Judging by Ralph's "funky" pulse, he is more than likely back in a-fib. His heart just seems to prefer a-fib, despite what they try. Nothing to do until Tuesday, since he is still on all the meds. We will call on Tuesday and see when the cardiologist can see him and what next. Stay tuned........

Ralph's Back

2009-09-01T19:45:00.000-07:00

After 72 hours of sotalol (rhythmic drug), he did not convert on his own - came real close though. So, they scheduled cardio for Sunday morning. Then his INR level dropped to low, so no cardio that day. Monday morning he was scheduled for a TE&E (camera down his throat to check for clots and his valves) and then if no clots cardio. Well, we waited and waited! His cardiologist was having a bad day - if it could go wrong it had gone wrong and he was way behind. He finally called another cardiologist to do the procedures so Ralph could out of the hospital. No clots, valve not that bad, so they converted him (shock) and he was back in his room at 4pm. His cardiologist finally got up to see him after 5pm and ordered a shot to thin his blood before discharge. We knew that would take 2 hours to get it sent from the pharmacy, so we shared his dinner and a little after 7pm he had his shot and papers and we were out of there. Of course it helped that the nurse doing the discharge was off work at 7pm so she was eager to get him out the door! Now, you never leave the hospital without several prescriptions that have to be filled cause you need them that night. They had faxed them to WalMart, but WalMart never worries about faxes and it would be the normal WalMart wait of 1 to 2 hours. We have had enough of that, so we went to Safeway, got flu shots, prescriptions and groceries in less time than waiting at WalMart. Got back to the rig after 9pm - one long day! Today, we moved to a park Mount Vernon. It is a beautiful little park with a great manager and friendly people. And, we are 15 minutes from the doctors instead of 40+ minutes. We are glad they made us leave and find a new place. It was just stressful with Ralph in the hospital. He then had to get another INR test today to be sure his blood was thin enough and he wouldn't need more of those expensive shots in the stomach. For the 2 days after cardio you are at a higher risk of clots, so they want to be sure the blood is thin and his was finally thin enough!! No more shots! Yea!!! Now we can do some relaxing and hope he stays in normal rhythm this time!

Latest Plan for Ralph

2009-08-26T17:39:00.000-07:00

We met with his cardiologist today. He consulted with some other experts in a-fib. They all agreed that the best way to get and keep him in a normal rhythm is to put him on anti-rhythmic drugs and do cardio-version while he is on the drugs. These drugs can cause other rhythm problems, so they will only do them in the hospital under close monitoring. So he will be admitted to the hospital tomorrow morning and will start on the drugs. Friday they will do cardio-version and he will be out of the hospital late Sat. or more likely Sunday morning. Hopefully, this will work and he will stay in a normal rhythm! More later............

Not Good News

2009-08-21T12:23:00.000-07:00

Ralph had a follow up with his regular doctor and he is back in a-fib. His cardiologist was on vacation this week, so the cardiologist on call had some lab work done, adjusted medications and he goes in to see his cardiologist next Wed. In talking to the cardiologist office, he will very likely be schedule for another cardio. The park where we are staying will not allow us to extend (this park is a real pain!) so we will be moving Sept. 1 to a park in Mount Vernon. The park in Mount Vernon is where we have reservations for next summer and the manager was kind enough to find us a spot in her very full park for Sept. More later...........

Happy Anniversary

2009-08-14T18:16:00.000-07:00

Wow! What a day to celebrate our anniversary. We started at 5am to get to the hospital just after 6am. He was admitted to the Special Observation Unit (an outpatient ICU) and they prepped him for the cardioversion and then we waited and waited. They were paging the cardiologist and finally he came at 8:15. Since they were now running very late they decided to do the cardio and the angiogram in the cath lab so off he went. A little over an hour later he was back for 3 hours of bedrest and close observation - except for one small glitch! His heart went back to normal rhythm with the first cardio - YEA!!! However, the angio showed a 70 to 80% blocked artery feeding the atrial, so to quote the doctor -"since I was already in there I just put a stent in there". That is an automatic admission for overnight observation in the hospital. They finally got the doctor to sign all the necessary papers and he finally was in a room at 4pm. He will be discharged tomorrow morning as long he is stable - doesn't even need a doctor to see him so we don't have to wait and wait! So far he is doing very good and his heart is still in normal rhythm. He will see the doctor in a month and if he is still in normal rhythm he will be off of blood thinners - he is looking forward to that! He will be on plavix and a beta blocker long term. So, time for me to eat and relax in a quiet place - at home!

Update on Ralph

2009-08-10T18:49:00.000-07:00

They have been forecasting rain for days and it finally happened - showers that in western WA means light rain all day!

We met with the cardiologist today and really like him - quite a sense of humor and spent a lot of time with us explaining exactly what a-fib is, what treatment options are available and what he recommended. His echo cardiogram showed a slightly larger heart than normal and a minor leaking valve. Neither are cause for concern. He will have another echo cardiogram in 6 months and if no change in the size of the heart then that is just the way it is. The leaking valve and elevated blood pressure are probably the cause of the a-fib. He is younger than the usual a-fib patient - 1 in 10 people over age 75 will have a-fib!

On Friday they are doing an angiogram to make sure there are no blocked arteries. Then they will be able to do any of the treatment options with no further testing. After the angiogram (if normal) they will do cardioversion (external shock of the heart) and hope it goes back to normal rhythm. This is the first treatment option to try. The cardiologist says this will last from 10 seconds to 10 years - we are hoping for the 10 years! If that does not work, then we have 2 more options to try. Friday are outpatient procedures and will last all day!

And - the cardiologist says we will be out of here Sept. 15!!!! Sure hope he is right!

Day Trip Wed. July 29

2009-07-31T10:54:00.000-07:00

On the hottest day on record in western WA, we headed up to Mt. Baker. At over 5,000 feet it was still in the high 80's! It was a beautiful day and perfect for a drive. Ralph had been skiing there many years ago, but had never been past the ski area. Pam had never been there! The wildflowers were in bloom and the mountains were spectacular. We stopped to see Nooksak Falls and the Nooksak River. Picture Lake is right by the ski area and then the end of the road is Artist Point where the views of Mt. Baker and Mt. Shuksan are picture perfect! Cookie enjoyed the ride and a picnic lunch while viewing the wildflowers and mountains. We came back on Chuckanut Drive from Bellingham. It had been years since we had been on that road and the trees sure have grown and block most of the view now. One of the neat restaurants, Oyster Creek Inn, has unfortunately gone out of business.

Ralph's only appoinment this week was for lab work. The only result we know is his anticoagulation is now at 2.5, which was the target. He is just tired all the time and he and Cookie enjoy their afternoon naps together! We won't know much more until after Aug. 10.

Afternoon "siesta"

Nooksak Falls

Our picnic lunch view

Picture Lake with Mt. Shuksan

Mt. Baker

Mt. Shuksan

Cascade Mountains

Latest on Ralph

2009-07-22T13:54:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the test for anticoagulation and he was 1.9, so a slow climb to 2.5 -3.0 that is the target. They upped that medication again. Today he saw the doctor and his heart rate was 100 - YEA!!! That is the lowest it has been for a good long while. So, next week he just has to have some blood tests done to again check his anticoagulation and level of digoxin. The doctor felt he was doing well enough to wait now until his appointment with the cardiologist Aug. 10 and then back to this doctor on Aug. 12. The cardiologist will determine what to do to get his heart rate back to normal and his regular doctor will continue to control his meds. At least he will be on medicare by then!!! It sure gets expensive when we are paying the entire bill! They want him to have light exercise - just not raise his heart rate to much, so we are walking and biking very slowly. Loving this beautiful summer weather!!!

Beautiful Weather

2009-07-19T11:34:00.000-07:00

Ralph's heart rate is still 120 so he is on another medication that makes him tired and gives him an upset stomach. His anticoagulation is 1.8, so they upped that medication. Back again on Tues and Wed. He is supposed to walk, so when he is feeling good we walk on the paved trail here and try to get further each time. This week he wanted to get out so we drove to the top of Mount Erie for some spectacular views of this area. Then we just drove around the area to see how it has changed since we left in 2001. Since Anacortes is surrounded by water it has no where to grow, so it remains much the same. There are a few new houses, most of which are huge! Anacortes has changed over the years from a sleepy railroad town to an upscale town and prices to match. Cookie needed a haircut and since when I do her Ralph has to hold her and he can't do that right now, she went to the groomer. I wasn't sure I was picking up the right dog - she was beautiful! And the groomer said she was a perfect girl - could this be Cookie she was talking about! So, here are pictures of Cookie and the views from Mount Erie. And yes, the weather is beautiful - sunny and warm!!

Latest Update

2009-07-07T15:41:00.000-07:00

Ralph had a follow up doctors appointment today, so we have a better idea of how things will proceed from here. His diagnosis is atrial fibrillation. He has been on medication to lower his heart rate to between 50 - 70. He is also on coumadin to lower the risk of clots. We now have his heart rate under control and they have changed that med to a slow release formula that he only has to take twice a day. With coumadin he has a blood check each week and we need to get that number to between 2 and 3. Today it was 1.6 so they increased his dosage. There is very little chance that his heart rate will return to normal on its own. So...........until the first of August (when he goes on medicare), he will be monitored weekly. Then he will start with a cardiologist and they will be doing more tests to make sure there are no other problems. He must have 3 to 4 weeks of blood tests that are between 2-3, before they will proceed with anything other than the medication to correct the A Fib, so waiting to see the cardiologist until August is no problem. That gives us time to get his coumadin at the right dosage to proceed with more agressive treatments.

He is now allowed to take walks, although he has to move very slowly or he gets "winded" very quickly. He is happy to get out and do something! He does not do well sitting all day reading and watching TV!

We have extended our stay here at the RV park in Anacortes WA until Sept. 1. After we get his heart taken care of, he has some other medical appointments that must be done before we leave for the winter. We will have a better idea how long we will be here once he sees the cardiologist, but it is looking more like Oct. 1 at this point.

Thanks to everyone for your messages and calls!!! Now if this rain would leave and we could get back to summer, we would feel even better!

Ralph Joins "Heart" Club

2009-07-02T15:08:00.000-07:00

After days of no energy, cough and trouble breathing, Ralph went to the doctor this morning. Of course he was sure it was allergies and asthma, but alas it is atrial-flutter. This should sound familiar to some of you out there! So we are trying the medication route of slowing the heart rate and lowering the blood pressure to see if it will correct on its own. We should know more on Wed. when he goes back again. Until then he has to rest and do nothing!

Whidbey Island Drive

2009-07-01T15:40:00.000-07:00

It is a beautiful sunny day - one of those perfect northwest Washington days! We decided to take a drive down Whidbey Island and revisit some of our favorite places. First was Deception Pass. This is a spectacular bridge and view from up high. We have also seen the view from the water as we have gone under this bridge many times in our boats.

Next we drove out to Fort Ebbey. This is one of the military installations from WWI. Other than a few buildings, there is nothing else left here except a beautiful park with a beach.

Further down the island is Fort Casey. Here most of the buildings and housing are still used today. There are still some of the batteries along the water that you can explore. There is a lighthouse, but it is undergoing major renovations and was closed. Across the water is Port Townsend and the snow covered Olympic Mountains.

Last stop was Coupeville for lunch. This is a quaint little town right on Penn Cove. It is basically one street and is a haven for tourists! We had lunch at the Knead & Feed which is a tiny place in a building that is 138 year old. The view from our table was of Penn Cove and Mount Baker.

After lunch we walked out on the wharf. There are some shops out there, but it also gives you a view of the buildings perched along the water.

Thought I would also post some pictures of the views we have at our RV park. Each time we take a walk this is what we see. First is looking north towards the town of Anacortes. Next is across to the refinery and Mount Baker. There are very large grass areas to enjoy these views in your chair with a cold drink. Life doesn't get any better!

Having Fun

2009-06-19T11:10:00.000-07:00

We are enjoying lots of walks and bike riding. Yesterday we rode into Anacortes and explored the town by bike. Cookie rides in a crate on the back of Ralph's bike and enjoys looking at all the sights! We found the dog park so she got a break to run and play, but no other dogs were there to keep her attention. We have had a very nice June for WA, but today it is back to the usual - cold and rainy! We have lots more places to explore as the weather permits!

Summer Plans

2009-05-24T09:11:00.000-07:00

After looking at RV lots and the costs involved, we decided it would cost the same to rent somewhere for 2 or 3 months each summer and we would not have a lot to keep weeded and cleaned. After calling many RV parks in Mount Vernon, Burlington and Anacortes, Fidalgo Bay RV Resort had the best deal and it is right on the water! We love Anacortes and will enjoy hiking and biking. One of the "rails to trails" goes right thru this park, so we are on our way! Lots of other places to visit there so we are very excited about getting there. Meanwhile, the "new rig gremlins" have moved into the refer, thus the Camping World visit. They were the only ones willing to work us in before the middle of June - the refer is hanging in there hopefully until next Friday, but mid-June was pushing our luck! We love our new rig and all of the space and we expected the "new rig problems". Most are minor and we are sure Heartland will take care of them once we contact them. For now we are enjoying our time in Monroe with cousins and good friends Tom and Linda!!! And the weather is gorgeous!

New Rig

2009-05-10T12:02:00.000-07:00

We finally have a picture of the outside of the rig taken at the Riverfront Casino in Laughlin NV while we did our out of state delivery. We are enjoying some relaxation here in Pahrump, before 5 days on the road. We also had a chance to catch up with some friends. Now we are excited to get to Washington and see that new grandbaby!

We Are Moved!!

2009-04-28T13:26:00.000-07:00

We picked up the rig on Saturday and went to Verde Valley (Cottonwood) AZ to empty our storage unit and get settled. We have gotten everything moved inside and now working on the basement. We LOVE it and all of the room!! So far no major problems. They did put the wrong countertops on the desk, dresser and nightstands (used laminate from 2009 instead of the new 2010), but a quick call to the factory rep and it will be taken care of at our convenience with all new tops. We were impressed! The dealership tech did an excellent job with making sure everything was working - the only thing we found were a couple of nails that needed "punched" and filled and a scratched refer door that will be replaced. So back to work - sure glad we do not move very often, but it sure gets things cleaned out!

Latest Update

2009-04-20T15:47:00.000-07:00

When they told us the 5th wheel was done last Tuesday, we really wondered how it was finished in 4 days. Well, we were correct. Seems that they were tracking the wrong 5er and in fact ours will be completed today and on the road. So, it is expected to be at the dealer on Wed. or Thursday and they are fast tracking it to be ready for our PDI on Friday at 1pm. We will pick it up on Saturday and head up to Verde Valley to get our "stuff" out of storage. In order to get us out of our extended stay on Saturday, they are having the "out of state" delivery done when we head up to Pahrump. So, hopefully everything stays on schedule now!

Weather Delay

2009-04-19T08:25:00.000-07:00

Well, it will not arrive until next week now. No matter which way they were driving from Indiana to Arizona there were storms. With storms they must stop and wait until it clears. We know it was snowing as far south as Albuquerque NM, the panhandle of Texas had severe storms with hail and further south was tornadoes. So that covers all the routes to here and delayed its arrival! Hoping to see it on Monday!

It's Done and on its Way

2009-04-16T13:21:00.000-07:00

Our 5th wheel is done and headed to Mesa AZ. It should arrive Friday or Saturday and we can go look at it! Now we are really getting excited! If everything keeps on schedule we will be out of our temporary home here on the 25th so we don't have to extend!!

Being Built

2009-04-09T13:33:00.000-07:00

Just got word that our 5th wheel was started yesterday and should be off the assembly line between the 15th and 17th. Then it is a 3 day drive to get it to Mesa for the dealer to do their part. Ralph flies to South Dakota on the 21st and returns the 22nd. The 5th wheel should be in Mesa and ready for us to see by the time he returns. Now we are getting excited.............

Progress

2009-04-05T13:36:00.000-07:00

As of last Wednesday we have a VIN # so at least we have a frame for our 5th wheel! Still no date of delivery and one option was missing from the confirmation so the sales guy, Rick, is working on that. Maybe we will know more this week. Meanwhile we are working on getting everything we need ordered and the truck readied. The truck has its spray bedliner and tomorrow it goes in for the 5th wheel hitch. We are changing our residence to South Dakota - a huge savings in taxes and insurance - so Ralph needed to get there for his drivers license. After many calculations and on line searching we determined that it was cheaper for him to fly up one day and back the next. So he is off later in April by air! Pam has to keep her WA license for health insurance. Ralph will finally be on Medicare in August and it is the same supplement in WA and SD that can be used throughout the states. Everthing is falling into place except our travel schedule - stay tuned for more.

Where We Are Now

2009-03-30T16:12:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday we delivered the motorhome to its new owners and moved into Budget Suites in north Phoenix. Really a nice area of new condos and a few stores. Costco, Target, Pet Smart, Michaels, Sportsman's Warehouse and Office Max are all within a short walk. Headquarters for Pet Smart is just across the street as well as a hospital. A short drive is everything else one might need and there is not alot of traffic! We have a third floor, one bedroom suite that is probably smaller than our 5th wheel will be. It is very quiet as probably only less than half the units are rented. It seems to be lots of working families here that in one way or another have lost their homes. With no credit check or deposits required they just have to pay the all inclusive rent. We picked up our new truck a couple of weeks ago that we had purchased over the phone from the fleet manager of the dealership. While there we mentioned that the Nissan was for sale and in the end they gave us what we wanted so they owned it! Cookie has decided this place is home and even learned to go up and down the stairs - she is very proud of herself! We still do not have a delivery date so stay tuned.

New Life Journey

2009-03-15T10:43:00.000-07:00

We are beginning a new journey. After much thought, we decided that IF we could sell our motorhome we would get a new 5th wheel and truck to tow it. Right now the price of 5th wheels and trucks are greatly discounted. We knew that the value of our motorhome would continue to drop. On Wednesday we sold the motorhome, on Thursday we ordered our 5th wheel and Friday we bought a truck. Wow! The new owners of the motorhome allowed us to keep the motorhome until March 26 so we came up to Verde Valley until then. We will deliver the motorhome to Apache Juction AZ on the 26th and move into an extended stay suite in Mesa AZ until our 5th wheel arrives at the dealer in Mesa. We have a storage unit in Camp Verde, so we will be returning there to pick up our "stuff". Right now our schedule is flexible so stay tuned.............

Travel Schedule Changes

2009-03-05T15:09:00.000-08:00

We have posted our latest travel schedule. Western Horizon Resorts where we were going to be staying for 6 weeks, decided they needed more money to the tune of $5/night for services that we do not use. Our response to them was to cancel all of our reservations and go to parks that do not charge for services that we do not use.

We are finishing our stay in Benson AZ. It finally has been very warm by afternoon with cool mornings. More rigs are leaving now than arriving as people begin the trek north. Everyone here loves Cookie and she gets more than enough pats and treats as she walks. She remembers exactly where each person "lives" and wants to stop by on every walk! You sure do meet people!

Saguaro National Park

2009-02-20T14:21:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a "picture postcard" perfect day! Deep blue sky, sunshine
and temperatures in the 70's made a great day for a hike. Friends invited us along for a 3+ mile hike in the east part of the Saguaro National Park on several different loop trails. It was quite an adventure with several wrong turns - the map did not agree with the trail or the trail signs and the trail signs were hard to figure out. The desert scenery was beautiful - so many kinds of cactus! One huge jack-rabbit hopped across our path and the birds were singing. It was a wonderful day and everyone slept really good last night!

Enjoying Life

2009-02-02T10:00:00.000-08:00

We are enjoying sunshine and warm afternoons here in Benson. However, it is in the 20's in the morning. Arriving at Valley Vista was like coming home - everyone welcomed us back and of course had to see Cookie! The staff here is outstanding and friendly. Tomorrow we are headed to Dennys early to wait in line for free Grand Slam breakfasts- at
least there is a Dennys in Benson and we are sure that all the retired people will be there with us. Anything free brings them all out! We have to post a picture of our new adorable granddaughter, Zoe and her friend!

Our First Grandbaby

2009-01-21T12:44:00.001-08:00

Zoe Kaitlyn Landon was born on Jan. 13 (her due date) weighing 7 lbs and 6 ozs. Our youngest daughter Karen and her husband David are the proud parents. We will be excited to see her and hold her when we get back up to Washington this spring.

While in Salome we did venture to Quartzsite one day - the only day we left the park in the two weeks we were there. Quartzsite is really empty compared to past years. There are definately less RV's staying in the area and less vendors selling. We had seen everything in a couple of hours and bought very little. The rest of our time in Salome we took long walks in the desert.

From Salome we headed to Casa Grande. While here we have visited with Rick and Pam in Florence AZ where they are workcamping. We took Cookie over to Roger and Barb's house in Arizona City to visit with them. They took care of Cookie when we were on our cruise and boy was she excited to see them again! Otherwise we have been staying "home" and enjoying long walks.

We are just enjoying staying two weeks, moving short distances and generally relaxing!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-23T08:53:00.000-08:00

It has been awhile been posts. Not sure where the time went, but we have had a great relaxing time doing not much of anything! We had computer problems - crashed it again and had to rebuild it. Then Ralph decided that he was going to learn Linux so we could use it on the internet as it is much safer. He succeeded and we have learned how to use it now. Some things we still have to do on Windows, but most of our internet time is now on Linux. I have been wanting a mini-notebook computer but did not want to have to worry about all the security "stuff", so when he got Linux working I found a good deal on just what I wanted. Of course, that created another whole set of issues starting with a new air card so we could use a router and both computers online at the same time. From there, my computer did not have a cd drive, so we needed to find one of those at a reasonable price. We ordered one online and it took them over a week to tell us it was unavailable. Found one online and also at Circuit City, so off to Circuit City and they price matched - $20 off their price! Then it was a several day process with many people helping in chat rooms to get my computer operating on wireless with Linux, but it is now done and I love it! Our very old computer was pressed into service to experiment with Linux and of course Ralph had lots of help!We are spending Christmas in Indio CA. Cookie is very happy with all of her very special friends here. She is in love with a white toy poodle named Brutus - the world revolves around Brutus! She knows where he lives and all walks must go to Brutus's house! She met Brutus in Pahrump and he will be in the next park with us also. She will be a very lonely puppy after that! Chloe, a black toy poodle is also a playmate here. A beautiful gray standard named Sidnee is her other special friend. They take walks and play together. Sidnee lives with another beautiful black standard named Bridi and a cat Muffin. Cookie likes all of them and noses and licks with them, but Sidnee is her special friend. Of course Cookie meets all the dogs and we get to meet all the owners and visit! We all seemed to be doing the same park rotation this fall, so we have all had lots of time together. We wish all of you the very Merriest of Christmases and the Happiest of New Years.

We Are Alive and Well!!

2008-11-07T14:41:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since our last posting - just not much to report. We had a great time in Pahrump and so many friends seemed to be there at the same time. We sure enjoyed seeing and visiting with Jim and Lorna, Rick and Pam, Jerry and Laura, Ray and Sue, Phil and Gayle and Mike and Carol. Then we were off to Las Vegas and again met up with Ray and Sue for lunch. Jerry and Laura were also in Las Vegas, but an appointment that took more time than they had planned kept them from meeting us for lunch. It was a relaxing time there - great weather and good food at the casino buffets. Now we are in the Palm Springs area moving between parks. Again the weather is wonderful - just so sunny and warm and we love it!!

PS So many people and we forgot someone we met up with in Las Vegas. We enjoyed lunch and seeing Howard and Sue's new home with a fabulous view of Lake Meade!

Sunny and Hot

2008-10-04T11:59:00.000-07:00

We had a beautiful drive from Oregon through the mountains and fall colors to the desert landscape of Nevada. Pahrump is sunny and hot, but we are really glad to be back where it is dry. It did rain very hard last night, probably a years worth of rain for here! By this morning you could not tell it had rained - perfectly dry. We have a beautiful view of the mountains from our motorhome and those desert sunsets are spectacular. This area continues to grow with a brand new Home Depot that just opened the end of Sept. In driving around though, there are a lot of homes for sale, so the economy must be affecting things here also. We drove through the Escapees Park once again and still like it and the area. Our name may come up on their waiting list in a few years - it does seem to move slowly when you are the one waiting!

Sunny Eastern Oregon

2008-09-25T13:30:00.000-07:00

After a great visit with Ralph's cousins Tom and Linda, we moved south out of the rain! We stopped at a place we had visited in 2002 and said at the time, if someone with a vision and money bought the park, it had great potential. That is exactly what happened to Lost Lake Resort. It is now a beautiful place with lots of amenities. They are selling RV and park model lots and own much more property to develop. For us, being under the trees with no sun and lots of pine needles was a deal breaker. Add to that the price of the lots and the monthly fees and we would not be interested - just wanted to see what they had done! We are now in LaPine OR at Cascade Meadows. This is another park that could be very nice if someone just cleaned up all the junk, fixed up the buildings and put some gravel in the sites. However, it is a good place to just relax as it is virtually empty - just a few full timers heading south. It is high desert and is 30 at night and 80 in the afternoons, with a breeze and lots of sunshine!

What's Happening

2008-09-12T14:23:00.000-07:00

We are enjoying our stay at Thunderbird Leisuretime RV Park in Monroe WA. The weather has been beautiful, sunny and 70's. Tom and Linda, Ralph's cousins are parked next to us and we get to see them after work and on the weekends - they will retire in two years and can then travel more. We went to see our youngest daughter Karen and her husband David at their new home. They are busy personalizing the house, getting the yard into shape and fixing all those pesky problems. It is a beautiful home, with a wonderful outside area. It will give them room for their growing family. They are expecting their first child, a girl, Jan. 13. We told her we would post her picture here for all to see how "big" she is now. And of course we have to post a picture of both of them!

Finally About Our Boat Trip

2008-09-09T12:09:00.000-07:00

The pictures above are from Sucia Island State Marine Park, our first stop. This is a huge island with many bays for the boats. Many yacht clubs raised money to buy this private island in 1960 and it was given to the state of Washington for a park. Ralph was at the dedication. It is accessible only by private boat. There are docks available in one of the bays, which is where we anchor so getting to shore is much easier. This island was a limestone quarry and so has many left over roads for hiking as well as many trails. The only animals are otter and mice - the mice left the ships that came for the limestone and have multiplied over the years! There are many kinds of birds including bald eagles and a rapidly growing flock of Canadian geese - the eagles cannot keep up! We ended up staying here for a month - it is our favorite place!

Next stop for an overnight was Jones Island, another marine park known for its tame deer that like to raid the campsites. It is a small island, but has gorgeous views of the San Juan Islands. This deer had already gotten several other containers off the picnic table and had opened them. This container proved to be difficult and no amount of hoof pounding seemed to work.

Our final stop was at Garrison Bay on San Juan Island. This is the British camp from the Pig War of 1859. Tension was mounting over a boundary dispute between the US and Britain and ultimately the ownership of San Juan Island. A crisis came when an American settler killed a British pig. British forces grew at this location, while further south on San Juan Island the Americans had their camp. However, the leaders advised that they would not involve two great nations in a war over a squabble about a pig. A token force from each nation occupied the island for the next 12 years until a final treaty was signed and the boundary line was through Haro Strait and San Juan Island became an American possession. This will be long remembered as a military confrontation in which the only casualty was a pig. It is the only place in the US that a British flag is flown.

Two years ago when we were here we met fellow boaters Bonnie and Montee. They were here again this year, so we all hiked up Mt. Young to see the beautiful view of the Canadian Gulf Islands.

From here, we took our dingy over to Roche Harbor which had its start with the lime industry. John McMillin discovered the richest and largest deposit of lime in the northwest here and bought the property and claim in 1884. Starting in 1886, he began to build the town with the Hotel de Haro which still stands today and is operated as a hotel. The town was sold in 1956 to Reuben Tarte and Roche Harbor became a popular resort for boaters and vacationers. We have watched it grow over the years with many new docks, shops and condos. John McMillin built The Mausoleum near the resort ( within walking distance) to leave to posterity a memorial to the dreams and aspirations of the the things his generation believed in. The table represents the family table around which all the family would symbolically gather in the hereafter. There is a chair for all the sons and daughters of John and his wife, Louelle. The chairs are also the crypts for their ashes. The broken column represents the broken column of life and signifies the unfinished state of man's work when the string of life is broken.

Cookie learned all about boating and seemed to enjoy most of it. Here she is in "her" kayak, one of the activities she enjoyed the most. Of course, one of us had to paddle her around the bays so she could see everything.

It was a great, relaxing 7 weeks and for the most part good weather. We love the water and especially enjoy walking and seeing the beautiful scenery. We will leave you with one of the many gorgeous sunsets we enjoyed from our boat.

Boat Trip

2008-08-28T17:15:00.000-07:00

We are back after 7 weeks and as soon as we have a fast internet connection, we will post about where we visited with pictures. Our connection is just to slow to do pictures! Cookie turned into a boat nut. She loved watching all of the activity and always was excited when we would take her in the kayak and paddle around the harbors! We are enjoying the liquid sunshine of Washington - we both will have our web-feet back real quick. Sure is not the usual August weather here. The lot we had rented in Casa Grande at Sunscape was sold, so we are now redoing our travel schedule for Jan. - Feb.

Boating

2008-07-07T14:37:00.000-07:00

We will be on our boat until August 26, so we will not be posting for awhile. The weather has been beautiful and it is supposed to remain that way. If it starts all that raining again we will be back sooner! We watched the fireworks on the 4th here in LaConner on friends Bev and Harvey's boat.
They had a very good show for a small town. Even Cookie enjoyed watching it all!

Really Hot Now

2008-06-28T10:29:00.000-07:00

Summer has finally arrived here - who knows for how long! Supposed to be in the 90's for a couple of days and then 80's. Sure brought out all of the families in trailers for the weekend. We have been busy getting the boat ready for our 8 week excursion - all depends on the weather however. Fuel prices are keeping us from Canada this year, so we will anchor for long periods of time in the harbors that we enjoy in the San Juan Islands. Cookie will be 10 months old tomorrow and is still such a good "velcro" pup - snuggles tight when she is unsure or scared! She has walked docks with no problem and was on the boat on the trailer yesterday as we worked on it. We'll see how she does when it is floating and constantly moving. We have just enjoyed relaxing and enjoying life!

The Sun Is Shining!

2008-06-14T15:19:00.000-07:00

It has finally stopped raining and we are having a sunny afternoon. We are enjoying our waterfront site in LaConner. All the others now have cabins on them and we are sure this one will have a cabin next year when we return, so we are enjoying it while we can! We had a great visit with our two daughters and their husbands last Sunday. It is always fun to have them all together! We have done the dentist thing for this year - YEAH. Ralph is over doing his annual maintenance on his parent's computer - seems to always have more than its fair share of viruses and trojan horses. We are taking a lot of walks with Cookie and she loves that. It looks like maybe we have turned the corner and the weather will keep improving. Tuesday we move about 20 miles, but will be closer to the shopping, so we can get alot of that done next week and not spend a fortune in fuel.

It's Still Raining

2008-05-29T12:10:00.000-07:00

We enjoyed a week in Seaside with friends Ron & Connie and her mom Bev (forgot to get their picture) and cousins Tom and Linda in picture. We visited Fort Clatsop where Lewis & Clark wintered in 1805-1806. It is the second reconstruction of the fort - the first was burned by an arsonist a few years ago. They are still working on finishing the project (chinking the chimney), but looks the same except for new logs and the wonderful smell of pine! We all went on a shopping expedition to the outlet mall and downtown Seaside. Unfortunately the weather remained cool and misty
We are now in Washington near Issaquah and it is still cool and wet and looks like that is the way it will be for awhile. Tom and Linda are next to us and she is driving to work in Monroe each day. There are still some people working - we all can't be retired and relaxing!

It's Raining

2008-05-22T15:39:00.000-07:00

Sunday we left hot southern California and headed north. We just kept driving hoping to get out of the heat, but gave up after 12 hours on the road and stopped in Redding CA at the WalMart where it was a mere 102 at 5pm! Monday it was a little cooler as we made our way to Harrisburg OR and the Monaco service center - just 81 when we arrived to dry camp. By Tuesday, after a good rain, it was 60 and blowing. They finished up our work and we headed out Wed. to Seaside where we are now. Here it is in the 50s and showers - everything from light to heavy! We don't mind the cold temps, but boy this rain can stop anytime. It is pretty much a mud hole everywhere in this campground. Cookie was a great traveler, but she was ready to run and play by the time we stopped each day. The service center was a challenge as we were in the customer lounge all day and she had to stay in our laps - hard for a puppy when there are lots of people and dogs she wanted to meet. Tomorrow, we have 2 rigs joining us here, Tom and Linda, Ralph's cousins and good friends Ron and Connie. It will be great to see all of them and we will have a fun and busy weekend.

Panama Canal Cruise: April 21 - May 10

2008-05-16T14:41:00.000-07:00

This is the Island Princess, our home for this cruise. We were in the bottom row of balconies, last stateroom in the rear on the right. It was a great place to view everything to the side and the rear. Disadvantage is that it is a bit rougher and we had the engine noise - not enough to bother us with sleeping. However, we did wake up when they reversed the engines to slow down and pick up a pilot. Needless to say we were always up to watch going into all ports. This cruise was round trip Los Angeles and we left on a beautiful, sunny afternoon.

Our first port of call was Cabo San Lucas. Since we have been here before, we decided to stay on the ship and enjoy the view. Cabo is known for these rocks and arch known as Lands End - the place where the Pacific meets the Sea of Cortez. It was a beautiful sunny warm day.

Next stop was Acapulco. Because we had heard so much about Acapulco, we were excited to visit here. It was very, very hot and humid, so we were the first off the ship as we had decided to explore on our own. Boy, were we disappointed. It was very dirty - garbage everywhere- and a very obnoxious odor. We walked to the main square and found this very unusual cathedral in this picture. We returned to the ship and enjoyed the views of the bay without the garbage and smells.

Huatulco was a refreshing change for Mexico. It is a planned resort that has 7 bays. We took a catamaran boat tour and visited 5 of the bays - all very beautiful and many undeveloped. The picture is one of the bays with a very fancy hotel. Then we went by bus and visited the resort hotel area. It is all very clean with beautiful beaches and landscaping. It is hard to believe you are in Mexico here!

Costa Rica is beautiful and lush. We did a bus (15 passenger to navigate the roads) tour through 4 eco-systems before arriving at our destination in the tropical rain forest on the Caribbean side of the country. This place was a paradise with flowers blooming everywhere and the Toro Amarillo waterfall in the picture surrounded by mountains and volcanoes. We enjoyed a Costa Rican lunch on an open veranda while watching the hundreds of hummingbirds up close and listening to the howler monkeys. On our way back to the ship, we stopped in Sarchi where they started painting their ox carts a century ago and of course it has made them famous for tourists. We finally saw howler monkeys just before arriving at our ship.

This was the big day - our transit of the canal. We were up at 4:15am local time and we had dinner at 8:00pm after we had reached our anchorage for the night. As the sun rose we sailed under the Bridge of the Americas and in full light we approached Miraflores Locks in the left picture. It takes much longer than one thinks to lock through. This is two locks up and you change mules (right picture) between the locks. The cruise ships have two mules in the rear and one mule in the front. We always had two tugs escorting us into the locks and two new tugs to escort us out of the locks. Only once did one of them actually have to push us. After Miraflores is Pedro Miguel which is one lock up to Gatun Lake level. We then cruised through Galliard Cut and into Gatun Lake. We turned around at the Gatun Lake anchorage (where the freighters anchor to wait for passage to the Caribbean) and cruised back to the locks on the Pacific side. Same process again, Pedro Miguel lock and then Miraflores Locks, but this time at night. The shoreline and all of the locks are lit at night and it is beautiful. As we locked down in Miraflores, we were able to touch the canal wall. There is very little clearance on either side of the ship. The cables hit the side of the ship removing paint and the ship scraped the sides of the canal a few times. After this transit and the tire marks from the dock in Costa Rica, they were busy repainting the sides of the ship. This day was long but awesome! But, we were anchored so no engine noise this night and it was much to quiet!

Panama City is a city of contrasts. We did a bus tour and drove to the original site from 1513 that is stone ruins. They are trying to restore this area which is very large. You can see the new skyline behind the ruins. Then we went to the area where the city was moved in the 1700's called the Viejo. They are restoring this area slowly and what is done is beautiful. The buildings and narrow streets (right picture) would remind one of the French Quarter of New Orleans or a bit like Charleston. Again the new city is visible in the distance. The new skyline (left picture) is huge and the highrises are mostly condos with commercial in the ground floors. Next to this are some of the worst high rise tenements we have ever seen. We drove through Balboa which used to be the American area when we ran the canal. It is still very nice.

We docked at the commercial dock in Puerto Corinto, Nicaragua. This is a fairly new port and we shared the dock with freighters unloading. We walked into town and visited the flea market which is mostly for the cruise ship, but also locals shop here. It is set up on the streets and has lots of vendors and inexpensive prices. They would barter, but it took a good amount of time to find things in the piles in each tent. It was very hot and humid and again very dirty with a terrible odor. We did find a few things, but gave up as we were overheated.

Our favorite place was Antigua, Guatamala. It was very clean with restored buildings and cobblestone streets. Of course there were many shops displaying their beautiful woven fabrics(right picture). Many of the buildings are gorgeous hotels and we found one of them for lunch on an open veranda surrounded by gardens, fountains and enjoying the music of a marimba band. Santa Domingo is a restored convent that has been turned into a hotel and restaurant. The gardens and walkways are beautiful and extensive. Macaws live throughout the gardens. The restoration is continuing on the church and altar. We spent an hour exploring the grounds and just sitting and enjoying the surroundings. The focal point everywhere in this town is the volcano, but it remained in the clouds for our visit. Antigua is 1 1/2 hours by bus from the commercial dock where they put the cruise ships.

Zihuatanejo was a typical Mexican town catering to cruise ships. Prices were high and they refuse to barter. It used to be a sleepy fishing village. They still fish and have a market selling their catch.

Last port was Puerto Vallarta. This was the only port we found another cruise ship - a Carnival ship had arrived ahead of us. It was a tight port with the other ship there - we entered and then turned and went to the dock. That was fun to watch! Across the street from the dock was a Wal Mart and Sams Club - the ship staff were all off to shop. We did a horseback ride here, so did not get to see any of this town except at the dock. The horseback ride was at a Hacienda outside of town and was a lot of fun. Yes, Ralph got on and rode a horse!

This was a trip of a lifetime. We saw so many unique sights and have now visited all the Central American countries except El Salvador (don't want to go there).If you have ever wanted to transit the canal, do it! One downside is the weather - it is very hot and usually very humid. This causes the air to be very hazy so pictures are difficult. The other downside of this trip is the constant time changes - it seems like we were either moving ahead or back an hour every day (we lost track of how many times), but it was so worth it. There was a nice mix of sea days and port days so you did not get to tired and had time to relax and yes, do your own laundry after finding out what the ship charges. We will leave you with a beautiful sunset over Costa Rica.

It's Hot

2008-05-16T14:25:00.000-07:00

We are south of Riverside CA and the heat followed us from Arizona - 99 today! Here we can run one air conditioner, at least until they have a blackout due to high power useage. We were going to replace all of our coach batteries in Oregon, but found out they did not have what we needed up there. So instead of leaving a day early to go up there, we stayed in this heat another day and replaced them all here. At least when we dry camp for two nights, we won't have to worry about them. We have finally finished all the pictures from our cruise, so will now do a post with pictures about that.

We're Back

2008-05-11T17:11:00.000-07:00

We arrived back in Arizona late yesterday. Cookie was so excited to see us and now we are not allowed to be out of her sight - guess she is afraid we may leave her again! It is a little warm here - 101 inside the motorhome to be exact. We may be forced to run the generator for a few hours tonight to cool it off just a little. Tomorrow we will be in California where it is a bit cooler.

Our Panama Canal Cruise was a trip of a lifetime. We saw so many countries and beautiful places. The weather was very hot and humid, so this dry heat is not as bad for us. We took over 800 pictures that have to be sorted and labeled before we can post any. Once the pictures are done we will post about our incredible journey!

Panama Canal Cruise Begins

2008-04-21T08:12:00.000-07:00

We left Arizona City yesterday and drove to San Pedro California. We left our black fur ball Cookie and our motorhome with our friends, Barb and Roger. Cookie will be very spoiled when we return. Thank you so much, Barb and Roger. We stayed at the Doubletree Hotel next to the Cabrillo Marina, so enjoyed a nice walk yesterday admiring all of the boats. This hotel has quite a deal for cruise ship guests - place to leave your vehicle, bottle of champagne or sparkling cider, cookies, newspaper and a full buffet breakfast all for a very reasonable price that is less than leaving your vehicle at the cruise ship port. The hotel is a 10 minute walk from where our daughter Karen used to live. We will catch the free shuttle to the cruise ship terminal later this morning and board our ship, the Island Princess. We leave on the ship at 4:00 this afternoon and boy are we excited - we managed to get an upgrade from interior to a balcony at no additional cost and we will really enjoy sitting out and watching everything, especially the transit of the canal which will be an all day affair!! We will not have any computer while on the ship, so we will post again soon after our return on May 10. Enjoy.............

Back to Valley Vista

2008-04-10T13:20:00.000-07:00

We moved back here on Wednesday and were welcomed by everyone. The management and staff here are some of the most friendly people we have met at any park! It is at the close of their season and they are cleaning out the refrig and freezer, so meals are inexpensive as long as you like what they have left! Unfortunately, it turned cold (for this time of year - 60's) and windy for yesterday and today. However, tomorrow the warm up begins with highs in the 90's by the first of the week. Saturday is a campfire and the fire department requires you cook food to get a permit for a fire - so hotdogs and smores it is. No one is complaining about that. It will be a fun and relaxing week here with time to read up about our upcoming cruise.

Seven Mile Move

2008-04-03T08:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had a major move down the road to St. Davids RV park for a week. It is quite empty as the season down here is coming to a close. Cookie likes it with all the new walks and smells and it gives us new walks for our exercise. Here is a picture of Cookie on the day she turned seven months old.

Tuscon Adventure

2008-03-28T08:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we ventured out of Benson to Tuscon. Since we did not plan ahead, Pet Smart was our first stop for dog food! We are not used to having a dog again. Then we were off to Beaudry RV for their 50's Celebration. We met friends, Ray & Sue and George & Dianne, there. They were both on our first Alaska tour. Beaudry serves a free lunch - if driving 90 miles round trip is free - and they have music. Of course, you are supposed to look at all the RVs and choose your new one. Compared to last year when the place was packed with people, this year it was virtually empty - says something about RV sales. We chose to visit alot and look a little! We are enjoying the beautiful weather with sunshine and high 70's here in Benson.

Pam & Ralph's Adventures

2008-03-26T13:51:00.000-07:00

We have been in Benson, Arizona for a couple of weeks now enjoying the peace and quiet and our new poodle puppy. We are enjoying sunshine and warm temperatures and frequent walks as demanded by our well trained puppy. This is a picture of Cookie at 6 months. She is now almost 7 months old.