Macs on the road

Due to the fire changing our plans, we have no reservations until mid-October. So, off we go.... Well, it is fall... We left Steamboat State Park and headed north. Our plan was to head over the North Cascades and spend so time in the Mt. Baker area.   Our first night was at the Riverbend RV Park in Twisp. This park has spots you can pull nose in and be facing the Methow River. Close parking but both sites on each side were vacant... nice. We invited Emele to dinner at La Fonda (yummy) and caught up on the doing in the Valley. We stayed until Sunday, got to see fire damage at all three of our campgrounds... Falls Creek was missed, Camp 4 was available to camp, but the Chewuch has some damage... the area was off limits. Eight Mile was still blocked so we will have to wait till spring to see what happened in that area.  Roxanne waited to see the ocean, so we change our minds and headed south. The drive was very windy. I was tired when we spent the night at Wanapum State Park just a mile o

 After waiting weeks, we finally got the hitch put on the Jeep. It took Camping World two days for the install but it looks like they did an expert job. I had to cancel reservations until mid-October so now we are free to roam. I am a little out of my comfort zone, I like having reservations and knowing I don't have to look for a spot at night. Our first stop was Steamboat State Park. They just opened the new circle. We stayed in site #71, it was a back in site but there are pull through sites now. The new area is nice, new grass, paved sites, tent area... something very nice, the sites have two sewer hook-ups, one on the rear corner and one for mid-ship hook-ups.

We finally got out of Wilbur... The RV campground was not bad, but it takes a long drive to do anything. We had one of my daughters visit for a week, which meant numerous trips and a lot of gas. Anyway, we like this campground and it's closer to everything. I took the coach out to RnR so they can take pictures of the screen door and couch problem, then I added the no AC issue and a gasket problem on the main slide. I also checked in with Camping World and my parts for the tow vehicle are in and ready to go. Hopefully, someone cancels and I can get in sooner. So far my install date is the 13th. On the 31st, I purchase my new Off Season Pass for the State Parks... So, now we are in a wait mode, but we at least have a camping spot for the holidays... and maybe some casino time... The puppies are happy This keeps the bugs out, Fleetwood product

 We are kind of stuck here until September. We were caught without any reservations due to the fires up north. We were planning on being Campground Hosts until October but all is changed. Not to say this campground is bad, but just the opposite... the owners are very helpful can accommodating. I see them continually upgrading sites by painting, landscaping, etc... The spots for a longer stay are pretty close, but on the "B" side a better. There is a laundry and showers if needed. You are in the middle of the town and a block away from the main drag. Very close to breakfast restaurant and the famous Billy Burger..... We have been heading into Spokane numerous times (1 hour drive) for supplies, mail, visit our storage locker. I even had a chance to a few PGR (Patriot Guard Riders) missions. I even brought my motorcycle out of storage for some rides. We started looking at options for a toad to pull behind us. There is not a lot of options to fit our needs, such as 4x4, high clea

 Traveled from Wilbur, WA to Cape Disappointment on Sunday. I took the I-90 route and was sorry... to much traffic around Seattle-Tacoma. But, we made it... 100 degrees when we left, 60 degrees on arrival, nice change. We stayed in Y-91. Cindy and Tom used the yurt and let us park in front. We had power and water only. That left our site 92 open for 2 tents for Ehryann and Austin. Tom and I got to golf at Surfside Golf Course. The greens were outstanding. You play the course twice for 18 holes. Eric showed up Thursday night. Friday was lunch at the Roo, and some miniature golf. The week went by very fast. We need to plan next year for all my family to attend. Saturday, back to Wilbur for a couple of days to see if we get to go back to the Methow Valley.

 The Pine Near Campground was busy. I was glad they had a spot. We ended spending a few days (6) to see if anything would break with the fires. My awing almost touch the camper next to me on one side, the left side out was almost in the camp spot on his side. (Not my kind of camping). We spent the days watching planes and helicopters scoop water out of Pearrygin Lake. We were offered a Campground Host up the Twisp River Road at Popular. But, later it was given to another host. I started looking for a spot to camp until the family get together but nothing was open around Spokane. We finally got a site in Wilbur at the Goose Creek RV Campground. The site is just of Hwy 2, a little traffic noise but not bad. We will stay here until Sunday then head to the coast.

 So... we cleaned our restrooms Friday morning and took off to the Costco in Wenatchee. Had a very nice drive with a lunch break. As we approached the Twisp/Winthrop Area the smoke from the Cedar Creek fire look to be in the wrong place... The closer we got, I could tell it was up north towards our campground. We heard on the radio that the West Chewuch Rd was closed. Going up the East Chewuch Rd it looked to be behind us... Being the cautious one, I went ahead and got ready for a bug out. Just after disconnecting their propane line, the Deputy came by and said we need to move. Being we were on a dead end road we packed up and left. We spent about a hour at the 8 Mile Sno-Park before being escorted through the fire. It was pretty hairy with fire on each side of the RV. But, we made it out and went to the Pine Near Campground in Winthrop.

 We moved into the Chewuch Campground on the 18th, moving from the Bobcat area. Site #16 was perfect for us, last of the RV spots with nobody on the north of us. The campground was not open yet, which means no water or toilet paper in the outhouses. This is our favorite camp in this area. The campground has 16 sites. The tent sites are next to the river while the RV sites are away from the river. The RV sites are longer, around 3 of them can handle 35' - 40', and pretty level.   We were on the move every day. Trips to check out areas we haven't seen for a while... up the Twisp River Road... Road 5130 has 4 campgrounds and is paved half way. Over the North Cascades again, that never gets boring.. We went one night to the Twisp River Suites and listen to Emele sing. It was a small gathering but a lot of fun. They are going to do it again on the 16th. We made a trip to Wenatchee and finally got our Covid vaccine shot. Checked out some campgrounds for future use, Lincoln Rock S

We are hiding out until the holidays are over... it was crazy here with the number of campers. Update coming later....

 Today we went north up the Chewuch Road to 30 mile. This area had a fire the summer of 2001. There were 4 firefighters that lost their lives in this fire. All because someone left a unattended fire. It burned over 9000 acres of forest land along with the 30 Mile Campground. There is a memorial on the way to the trailhead. The road needs work, a lot of wash board, trees, rocks, water over the road... at the very end, large area of water to make it to the trailhead.

 We took off first thing this morning to do our annual thing, go over the mountains. The snow was not a deep as some years, but the temp at the top of Washington Pass was only 49 degrees. We got back to Winthrop and had dinner with Emele at the Old School House. Great burgers and beer. I was awesome to see Emele. We haven't seen her since 2019...

 Finally we got out of the Spokane area.  We were only planning on staying for a week, but we ended up there almost a month. But, we finally got Roxanne felling better! I topped off the fuel tank before we left, I was just above the half way mark... $120.00 ouch... The kids better start sending money... We now are in site #15. Not very level, I have my front tires off the ground. This park slopes towards the lake. I need get some 2"x6" boards for addition height. 

 Well, our plan was to head north after our week here, but, again things change. On the way to both of our dentist appointments, Roxanne's doctor called told her that he got back her blood work results. He wanted to go to the emergency room now. She spent the next several days in the hospital getting all sorts of tests. Her hemoglobin was just above 3... wow, no wonder she had no energy. Anyway, 4 pints of new blood and we got her back to the coach. Then this week she sees here doctor again and hopefully we will be heading the Pearrygin Lake on Sunday. I already had to cancel reservations before. The good news is Roxanne is already walking. Yesterday she did over 2 miles! Not bad for someone a week ago had to rest after getting a bottle of water from the fridge.

 Back into Spokane for a couple of weeks. Canceled my reservations for Pearrygin State Park. We were looking forward to staying there for a while, seeing old friends, but, things change. We will be catching up on yearly doctor, eyes, and dentist appointments this next week. You have to take care of yourself before the fun. Roxanne has some appointment next week. Also, we found a few issues in the new coach and I will be able to get fixed. I am also looking forward to attending a ALR(American Legion Riders) meeting tomorrow and seeing friends. I miss numerous in person meetings due to Covid and being on the road.  During my 10 days at Steamboat State Park, I was able to get a few thing rearranged and more stuff for storage. First thing today I got the WiFi up and running on the coach. The satellite TV connected right away, not so at Steamboat. The TVs 4x4 was not working before and now it's up and running.

April. 5th, Roxanne was taking the dogs out for their morning walk when Charlie shot out the door pulled Roxanne out the door onto her leg... long drop to the ground.. what a way to start the week. We packed up everything and headed out to RnR RV in Liberty Lake and started the RV swap. Cindy showed up the day before to help. It took the rest of Monday and part of Tuesday to move all the stuff. I could not believe how much was packed to the trailer. With Roxanne layed up, thankfully Cindy was there to help.. Anyway,  we stuffed the new coach a headed out for a 10 day shake down. And to do some rearranging for storage. We stopped by the storage locker a down size some more.

 I couldn't stand it any more.... After looking for the last few months, spending to much time on the internet, we finally pulled the plug... We pick it up on Monday... looking forward to leaving the hitch... I will miss my truck. More to come on the coach once we move in. The RV dealer lets us camp on their lot while we move over. After that we head to Steamboat.

 We took off a little early from Fort Stevens and headed east. We had a little rain north of Vancouver then wonderful weather appeared. Stopped a few times to water the dogs and have lunch in the RV. Dinner in Ritzville, then ended at the campground around 7:30pm. It was a long drive and I was beat. Next time we should stay somewhere around Boardman for the night. The Resort has a lot of spaces and staggered, at least on the back-ins. The staff is very friendly and helpful. There is a great dog park and they pick up your trash every morning, you  just leave your bag in front of your site before 10am. Also, the longer you stay, the daily rate will go down. Their WI-FI is faster than most, I clocked it about 7megs. The wind was terrible on Sunday... the camper was rocking. Tomorrow, the trailer goes in for some warranty work. The 28th, winds up to 60mph... we were rocking.

 We moved from Grayland down to the other side of the Columbia River. Of course, we stopped at the Roo in Long Beach for lunch. We haven't camped in this park for many years. While checking in on Friday, the ranger said the had 179 reservations for the weekend... not counting the people that don't reserve sites. The weather on Friday and Saturday was wonderful... mid 50s and Sunny. We decided on Saturday to head south on Hwy 101... that was a mistake. I think everyone from Portland decided the same thing... bumper to bumper all the way past Canon Beach. When we returned the park it looked full, I believe everyone had campfire. Anyway, it was not bad, we are just used to a little more space. Today, Sunday, it was raining and most of them left. Cindy showed up on Tuesday to spend a few days. We headed south Wednesday towards Tillamook. The whales could be seen from some of the high lookouts. We ended up in Netarts and had lunch at the wonderful The Schooner Restaurant (YUM). Cind

 My list of issues with my Cougar 1/2 Ton Travel Trailer.   Before I start this list it is important that you know how we purchased and the amount of use of my RV has had so far.  I purchased the trailer in April of 2020... during the start of the pandemic. I spent considerable amount of time on-line looking at RVs... years. My wife and I narrowed options that were important to us and came up to a list of 2 manufactures. We scheduled an appointment with a local retailer and spent the day going back and forth between each coach. Based on our wish list, we felt this RV was the one. After searching for the best price, we purchased from another dealer out of state (Oregon). The purchase was done over the phone and email. We traveled to outside of Portland, finished the deal and brought it home. During 2020, we use the RV less than 2 weeks due to most parks and campgrounds were closed and we were remodeling our house. This list is not nit-picking... Yes, you need to expect upkeep on any RV.

 Well, we packed up everything and headed north to Grayland State Park. The weather for the last few days at Cape Disappointment was wonderful... everything was dry, cleaned the windows inside and out... Waking up in the morning to rain... I hate packing up in the rain. At least we didn't have a wet tent to pack like the good (?) old days. It rained the rest of the trip. Setup was under a cloud burst. Everything was under water except the parking pad. I only put together the minimum and will complete setup today. We are back with cell service to catch up on mail and movies. We purchased a mobile printer in order to do taxes and such. The printer, HP Officejet 200 setup fast and prints well. 

 Here it is the 1st of March, the last few days has been sunny and warm. We still had lousy cell service in this campground even with the extender. So, I ordered a yagi antenna and some adapters, we finally have some service and internet from our campsite! I also took the plunge and purchased a King satellite antenna with a Dish Wally receiver. It's nice to see the news and some local programing. I will have to call each time I move to change to local channels.   We are getting ready to move later this week... And, a update on the dogs.... slowly getting used to the routine... Ally has got it down, Charlie is still getting wild around other dogs. He got loose one day and our neighbor brought him back.

  We moved on Friday, possibly the worst time to move. An artic cold front came in and got down to 27 degrees. I had about 2" of snow covering everything... I have driven in snow before with a trailer, but not this one. We left Grayland around noon... 30 degrees and the highway just a little snow. After Tokeland it cleared up a little. Just before South Bend the snow covered everything. I thought I was going to have issues with the higher elevations but, 5 miles south of South Bend snow disappeared. Pulling into Cape Disappointment the temperature was in the low 40s. We settled into Site #1 for the next 20 days... I ordered a directional antenna for the booster, hopefully this will help our cell/data service. The news told us about the amount of snow and ice in Seattle and Portland... look like we will miss all the real bad weather. The outlook is low 40s and rain only.

We have checked out all the campsites. A lot of them on the west side of the park are under water, as well as some of the roads around the circles. Most days the temps are in the high 40s. Our campsite is drying out, we could have a fire, but your footing would be mucky. I have already reserved sites for next fall here as far out as I can go. The weather has been mostly rainy, and we are starting a cold snap. We have traveled to Aberdeen (about 35 minutes) a couple of times for supplies. We found a Mexican restaurant open in Westport that is good (not as good as Casa). We also went to the Shoalwater Bay Casino in Tokeland. I donated my money while Roxanne came out a head. It's a small casino with only slots to play. Everyone is masked and gloved and they had a ton of people wiping the machines down. On a side note.. I am able to play my Xbox with my Jetpack. But the updates kill me... 21 gig download hurts. So, I upped my tethering data plan on my phone which gives me 30 gigs more.

This called a major move because Roxanne didn't want to leave. After 20 days in Cape Disappointment, we woke up this morning and put all of our appliances, camera, pcs, etc. away for travel. When your moving, all the neighbors come out to talk. I met some nice neighbors in site 2, interesting stories...  Stopped in Long Beach and topped off the propane, ate lunch and headed to Grayland. Arrived around 2p and setup in site 50. I am glad I not planning a fire tonight because the fire ring is underwater. The site is level and in the summer it would be great. It's ok for us, but I will look at other sites for next trip. The best part of the area so far is it has cell service. My MiFi is working great, we have Wi-Fi in the camper! And, I forgot to mention that Cindy and Tom came over last Sunday for lunch. They delivered our packages and a box full of movies... I'm corrupting Roxanne with Marvel movies....

 We have spent the last few days exploring the area. Watching waves at high tide, checking out some places we have never been to and been before. We also have been going through stuff we brought with us, thinking we would need, now donating to charity. Roxanne says she finally realizes she does have to go "home". The weather has been great for the most part... it did get close to freezing at few nights and one night had gale warnings (rocked the camper) and a lot of rain.  I am still find it difficult to find spaces at State Parks for reservations. Trying to take advantage of my senior pass before it runs out in April. Some parks are not taking reservations yet. My research will start looking at the private sector, and looking for next fall and winter.

 The weather has been great, mid 50s and sunny. One thing we are running into is camping spots. We are trying to stay in Washington State Parks to take the advantage of our senior pass. With Covid and other people camping, the site selection is small. The weekends are the usually the issue. With some creativity in scheduling, I have places to stay until the first of March... Yesterday we went to Grayland State Park and checked out sites for future stays. Today, we crossed the river and checked out Fort Stevens State Park. I think maybe we will head south into Oregon in March.

Sunny and warm (50s). Still working on finding storage places for all of our stuff.  We have started a donation box.  Cindy and Tom came over and spent the day with us.  We had lunch in Ilwaco outside at the Salt Pub over looking the harbor.  Great food with great company. Spent the evening finding places to stay for the next month. 

The storm was over... on Thursday morning we headed to the coast. The weather was wonderful. We picked up the RV in Vancouver and continued to Cape Disappointment arriving around 5pm. We spent the first night in site 37... the next day we were able to move to site 10, right on the ocean.   We are now in Oregon getting food and drink at Costco, then back to our campsite so we can move all our stuff from the vehicles to the RV.

 We signed the papers to close the deal yesterday. We are still waiting to hear when it has been recorded so the deal is complete... We moved out yesterday, with the help of Trevor (grandson), and it took us to almost 6pm. With both of our vehicles full we checked into the Stratford Suites in Airway Heights. We were tired.  The local news alerted us to expect high winds.. they were not kidding, 71 mph at the Spokane Airport. We did not get much rest last night with all the noise from the wind, and the dogs were very jumpy. This morning, after assessing the local news and the State road reports, we decided to stay another night and head over to the coast in the morning. Hopefully, the road closures and flooding will be minimal then. The winds are supposed to calm down around 4 pm tonight.

With the closing date on the house was moved out to January 15th. And nothing to do but sit and watch the fire place or to go into town and eat. We decided to take a trip to the coast. So, we spent the last 4 days in Lincoln City, Oregon. We stayed in the Pelican Shores Hotel. Very nice room. We did our usual trips to the south to Depot Bay and Newport, then to the north (so we can have dinner at The Schooner). I got a call from the realtor on Thursday and they want to close on Tuesday... So back home on Friday to finish up the last minute items. It looks like we maybe getting close....