Tuesday, December 31, 2013

A Year Gone By!

I know it is a cliché, but where does the time go anyway? A year in review.

January found us transitioning from California to Yuma, AZ.  We spent about a week near Borrego Springs, CA boondocking in the desert. 

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What an experience that was.  Our batteries were not in the best of shape and we didn’t have enough solar panel power to fully recharge them during the short periods of daylight.  Temperatures dropped into the low 30’s and we could not use the heater in the camper.  We ended up driving 60 miles one way to get a Mr. Buddy propane heater.

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We arrived at Caravan Oasis RV Resort in Yuma on January 17th.  We were welcomed by our friends Brian and Teresa Morris who helped us settle in to our site and introduced us to our Canadian neighbors.  We settled in to the Yuma snowbird lifestyle with lots of activities and social gatherings in the resort.  In early February, I was feeling really “crappy” and went to a walk in clinic.  That turned into a diagnosis of Atrial Fibrillation (A-Fib) and landed me in the hospital for 6 nights.  That shook Rosie up so much she started having all kinds of wild symptoms like shaking, heat flashes and rapid weight loss.  She was diagnosed with Hyperthyroidism (Graves Disease).  So, in a matter of weeks, we went from very healthy and almost no medications to not so healthy and multiple medications.  We extended our stay in Yuma till the end of March so we could have some time for the meds to take hold and get medical approval to resume our journey. 

We spent April in Winslow and Holbrook, AZ.  During that time I took an ambulance ride to an emergency room as the result of an A-Fib flare up.  Came back home the same day.  The plus side of that experience was how many of our fellow campers came to Rosie’s aid with offers of any assistance she might need.  We spent May near Albuquerque, NM where I had a lot of work assignments.  While still not feeling so great, I was able to work.  During that time we took a nice day trip to Taos, a really neat little resort town.

June found us in the Denver area visiting old friends and neighbors from the time we lived there in the 90’s and early 2000’s.  Rosie was able to hike with her old buddies and I managed to get in a little more work.

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The fourth of July weekend found us at my family reunion in Colome, SD.  From there we hit the road for Idaho Falls, our last city of residence prior to full timing.  During that time I had a CardioVersion, a shock treatment for the heart to correct the A-Fib.  That treatment is still holding, a fact for which I am very grateful.  We had more medical work done, the pooches went to the vet and we went to the dentist.

In August, we traveled to Tollbridge Campground in Hood River County, Oregon for our first try at work camping.  This turned to be a wonderful experience.  The geography was great.  Our boss from the County, Cory VanSickle, was great.  We had several visitors while we were there, including old friends who traveled all the way from Germany.

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At the end of October, we made a quick run back to Idaho Falls so Rosie could have a colonoscopy done.  With that procedure producing good results, we headed for Santa Paula, CA where we arrived on November 1st.  Our original plan was to return to Yuma on December 15th, but after a week or so in So. Cal. we decided we liked it here better than we liked Yuma.  Don’t get me wrong, the social activities of Yuma were great and we met some wonderful people there; but that did not overcome our basic dislike of sand and cactus every where we looked.  The desert environment is just not our thing.  So we decided to stay here in Santa Paula for the winter.  We will head back to Tollbridge Park on April first to return to our camp hosting life that we really enjoy.

Which brings me to this blog; and the fact I have not been writing very much for the past 2 months.  The simple fact is that there is not much to write about that I think would be of interest to any of our followers that are not close friends or family, and we communicate with them almost daily of Facebook.  When we started our full time lifestyle we had dreams of going to different places in the western USA and having great experiences with new places and lots of things to write about.  The reality is that we do not have the financial resources to live that dream.  Until the economy improves enough to restore the self employment income levels we enjoyed a couple of years ago, we will be on a “holding pattern” of 5 months here in Santa Paula (where I can get some work) and 5 months camp hosting in Hood River Oregon (where our living expenses are drastically reduced).  The remaining two months will be spent in Idaho Falls and Denver, with a side trip to South Dakota for my reunion.  Bottom line; my blogging will be very limited in the future.  I thank those who have been following this adventure and have been leaving very nice comments here.  I hope all of you have a great New Year in 2014.

Thanks for stopping by.

Monday, December 16, 2013

Hello Again Hello

It has been almost a month since my last post.  The reason being not much to write about.

We did make one significant adjustment in our lifestyle.  We purchased a 1999 Toyota RAV4 so Rosie could regain the sense of independence she lost when we sold her RAV4 to go full timing.  This allows her to go to yoga, the library and do local shopping without having to be chauffeured by me.  Rosie can drive the big old truck, but parking it is a challenge for her (and sometimes for me too).  So we talked it over and agreed this would be a good thing for us to do.  We will leave the car here in Simi Valley with our oldest daughter while we travel up north in the summer.  Here is a picture of Rosie with her new (to her) wheels:

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This last Friday I had a couple of work assignments in Santa Barbara, about 40 miles from where we are camped.  Had a chance between appointments to park along the beach front walk and enjoy the surroundings.

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We enjoyed our Thanksgiving with our kids and grandkids and are looking forward to Christmas doing the same.

Thanks for stopping by!

Friday, November 22, 2013

I Have Some Explaining To Do!

It has been 21 days since I last updated my blog.  I am not proud of that.  The problem is pretty easy to understand; I have nothing new to write about. 

We are in Santa Paula, CA at the Ventura West KOA.  We were here last year at the same time and I gave a full review of the campground last year.  I also wrote about what a great little town Santa Paula is and posted a lot of pictures of the many murals located around town.  I also noted that we were happy to have found a Universalist Unitarian Church in town.  So all of that is repeat news.

Some things have changed in our plans, but let me get to that in a little bit.  Here’s the deal; our “plans” for our RV lifestyle were one thing and “reality” is a whole different ballgame.  Our plans were pretty basic, we would travel and explore wonderful new places in the western USA and I would blog about all our adventures, do campground reviews, etc., etc., etc.  The reality is that, going forward, we will be repeating our travel patterns every year.  We will be spending 5 months wintering here in Santa Paula and 5 months Camp Hosting in Mt. Hood-Parkdale, OR.  We will spend 1 month in Idaho Falls and 1 month in Colorado with a brief trip to South Dakota for my family reunion.  The cause of this change from dream to reality is simple economics. 

We are one of those millions of Americans who were not successful in acquiring enough wealth to finance a leisurely retirement.  So we are living on Social Security and earnings from my self employment; trying desperately to not dip into our rather limited IRA accounts (which generate less than 2% a year in interest).  And my earnings from self employment have diminished drastically over the last 3 years. This year my self employment income will be about $10,000 less than in 2010.  We have reduced expenses by choosing an RV lifestyle over living in a stick house with a mortgage, but the income has dropped more than the expenses.  So we are dependent on work camping as a means to further reduce expenses.  Fortunately for us, we love Camp Hosting at Tollbridge County Park.  My self employment income is derived in part from a web site that is dependent on a thriving small business community of building and trades contractors.  That industry is still struggling.  The other part of my income is lessened when we are in remote areas and enhanced when we are in more metropolitan areas.  So this year we decided to spend the winter in Santa Paula instead of Yuma.  I can get more work here.  It is also nice to be within 80 miles of all three of our kids and our two grandkids.

To all of our friends in Yuma; we love you guys.  We enjoyed the activities and the facilities at Caravan Oasis RV Resort.  We enjoyed our impromptu parties and pot luck get togethers.  What we also realize is that we do not like the desert environment; sand and cactus forever is not enjoyable to us.  So here we are in the pine trees and hills on the northwestern edge of greater Los Angeles, about 10 miles from the Pacific Coast.  We have gained access to the wonderful local library; Rosie has found a 3 day a week Yoga class;  we get to see family every weekend (or more); and the weather is warm.  Life is pretty good and I am getting enough work to make up for the cost difference between here and Yuma.  We might even decide to settle down here whenever we decide to hang up the keys and come off the road.

Which gets me back to blogging.  I don’t have the creative mind of some of the RV bloggers I read that write every day.  Some days are just repeats or extensions of other days.  Things I will write about going forward may be interesting to family and close friends, but not so much to some of our followers.  So the frequency and depth of my blogging future is uncertain.  Some of you may choose not to “follow” this blog in the future.  I understand completely and wish you well. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Friday, November 1, 2013

Another Month Gone Bye!

On Monday we traveled from Spanish Fork, UT to the Virgin River BLM campground in a beautiful canyon in a little slice of Arizona between Utah and Nevada.  There are no hookups here, but the sites are paved and level.  The pull through sites will accommodate almost any size rig.  The back in sites are for smaller trailers and for tent campers.   Our site had a concrete picnic table and bench under a metal shelter with a BBQ grill and a fire pit.  The price is right at $8 a night with 50% off for Golden Age Passports.  It is very quiet and very dark at night with no ambient city lights.  Great for star gazing.  It was cold, dropped into the low thirties at night.  Good snuggling weather.  Here are some pictures:

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Wednesday we took a deep breath and headed out for a 350 mile pull to Lancaster, CA.  I always dread going through Las Vegas, but there were no construction delays this time and I just stayed in the #2 lane  and we breezed through without out one stop for traffic.  We managed to fill up with diesel for $3.88 at a Love’s Truck Stop north of Vegas.  We set up at the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds RV Park in Lancaster.  It is a large concrete parking lot with full hookups.  30 amp sites are $20 and 50 amp sites are $25.  Our son’s girl friend prepared a tasty pork roast dinner with all the trimmings and there was enough left over to take some home.  On Thursday, Karl came over to have lunch with us and to go through our collection of family photo albums.  We are trying to clean out our storage space by the end of 2014 and the first thing was to divvy up 3 boxes of photo albums among our three kids.  Karl got the first crack at the albums and was a happy guy with his selections and a good helping of mom’s Lasagna.  See how happy he is:

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Today was a short driving day.  It was 97 miles to Barber RV in Ventura, CA where we had their body shop look at the damage from our tire blowout in August.  We presented them with the paperwork prepared by the Insurance Company Adjuster and they seemed to think it was a fair estimate.   They were concerned at first that they may not be able to get all the parts before we leave on December 1st for Yuma, but after a lot of phone calls with suppliers, they seem to work it out.

It took two hours at the RV dealer to get all that done and we were getting grumpy hungry and the pooches had not been out to do their thing since about 8:30 this morning.  Fortunately it is only about 15 miles from the dealer to the Ventura Oaks KOA Resort in Santa Paula.  So here we are, all settled in for November.  We have family time this weekend and I have some work assignments in the area to get done before we leave the area.
Here are the numbers for October:

Camping – $169.66 (camp hosting 20 days for free camping)

Diesel Fuel when pulling – $557.00

Truck Service/Repairs – $0.00

RV  Repairs/Service – $0.00

Generator Gas/Propane - $21.22

Metered Electricity – $0.00

Satellite TV/Radio – $16.30

Campground Pet Fees – $0.00

Laundry – $30.00

Total = $794.18



Thanks for stopping by.

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Catching Up!

Yes, I have some catchin’ up to do.  My last post was last Sunday, almost a week has flown by.

On Monday we traveled from Farewell Bend State Park in Oregon to Three Island Crossing State Park in Idaho.  We have loved Three Island Crossing since the first time we stayed there in 2010.  The campground is very well maintained, the sites are large and well spaced and the fee for Idaho old folks is $11.66 a night plus a one time (not per night) registration fee of $5.00.  That fee is good Monday through Thursday nights.  Weekends are a bit higher.

On Tuesday we pulled over to Juniper Campground in the Ririe Reservoir Recreation area about 15 miles east of Idaho Falls.  This is a County Campground.  It is also well maintained with large, well spaced sites.  The fee there is $16.00 a night. 

Our purpose in detouring through Idaho Falls on our way to Southern California was for Rosie to have a Colonoscopy procedure.  For a procedure that you sleep through and is over in 20 minutes or so, the day and half prep is hell.  No solid food the day before.  No food or liquids the morning of the procedure.  The good news is that nothing harmful was found and she doesn’t have to do it again for 5 years.  After the procedure, it was off to Chuck A Rama for a “stuff yourself to the max” buffet lunch.  On the other medical front, we both went to doctors, me to complain about chronic hip and knee pain; her to check on her last thyroid test results.   After some discussions and medication adjustments we went on our merry way.  Getting old is no fun anymore Sad smile.

Friday we had lunch with our old friends, Joe and Anne Hayes, at Perkins; followed by a Wal-Mart stock up of the pantry.  We also went to our storage unit to retrieve 3 boxes of family photo albums to take to the kids in Southern California.  We are starting on a plan to eliminate our need for the storage unit.  After 18 months on the road, we have figured out that some of the stuff we have in storage can be eliminated.  We will give some of it to charity, other stuff to relatives and the absolutely must keep stuff will go into storage at the home of one of my brothers in South Dakota.

Today we arrived at Canyon View RV Park in Spanish Fork Utah.  It is a City Park with 30 amp electric and water hookups for $12.00 a night.  It is basically a parking lot with hookups at the rear of parking spaces.  But there is some heavy brush to the rear with picnic tables so there is somewhat a feeling of nature.

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So I grilled a couple of pork chops, along with some asparagus and a baked potato, for dinner.  My tummy is full.

Thanks for stopping by.

Sunday, October 20, 2013

On The Road Again!

Yes, we were humming one of Willie Nelson’s tunes as we pulled out of Tollbridge Park this morning at 8:45 am.  A short downhill run to Hood River and then on to I-84 eastbound towards Idaho.  The weather was exceptionally nice this morning, crisp and clear.   We could see Mt. Adams over on the Washington side like it was just up the road a bit.  Unfortunately, we forgot to put the camera in the truck so we missed an opportunity for a picture.

I had not realized how many energy windmills have been put up on the Washington side of the Columbia Gorge.  At a million bucks a pop, there is a lot of money invested over there.  The ride today was how I like it, mostly flat and straight.  We had one long uphill grade and one shorter downhill grade.  I had set Barbie, our GPS, for our destination, but she missed it by a lot.  She wanted us to get off the Interstate about 20 miles early.  I have no idea where she wanted to go, but I have sense enough to realize you don’t get off the Interstate for a State Park until you see a sign for the State Park.  That is the reason I don’t blindly go where Barbie tells me to go all the time, especially with 7 tons of trailer hooked up behind me.

After 308 miles on the road we arrived at Farewell Bend State Park.  This is our first time here and we found it to be very pleasant.  The sites are big, if not exactly level, and have electric (50 amp) and water hookups for $17 a night.   After getting set up we took a walk down to the Snake River that runs on the edge of the campground.  Sammy apparently got to close to the edge of a bank and fell in the river.  It was over his head in depth, but minimal current along the shore and he managed to swim out pretty quickly.  So now we have that wet dog smell in the camper.  As we were standing there I kept seeing something rising out of the water in the middle of the river.  It stayed in the same general area for about 20 minutes, but I couldn’t figure out what it was.  My guess is a very large catfish, but ???.  I got a zoom picture of it.  Do any of you have any ideas?

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Rosie and I were thinking that it will be strange not having people knocking on our door asking for firewood Winking smile.

Thanks for stopping by.

Friday, October 18, 2013

A New Blogger!

Hi everybody, this is Rosie taking a stab at this blog writing thing.

After having been camp hosting here at Tollbridge County Park in Parkdale/ Hood River Oregon for over 2 months we will be leaving here Sunday morning.  When we started out we didn’t know what we would be getting into, or what to expect.  Jim and I never thought that this place would feel so much like home and that we would end up being sad for leaving here.  First of all, this whole area is just incredibly beautiful with wineries and apple, pear orchards as well as lavender fields.  It gives one the feeling of a calmer and simpler time and also feeling at peace with the world.

The Park has 100 acres with 87 sites.  There is something for everybody.  The front area has total hook-ups.  Tent areas are nice and secluded; and the group area sites are huge, usually occupied by many families, tents, children and dogs.  East loop and west loop have electric and water hook-ups and the sites there are more secluded and quiet.  There are some campsites along the Hood River, which are very popular and are usually fully booked in advance in the summer months.  Many of the people return every year ( some have been coming here for 30 years).

What makes it so interesting is the variety of people one gets to meet.  There are the families that come to show their children how to have some harmless fun and just be children and enjoy nature.  At night they sit around the campfire and relax with their neighbors , have a drink, talk or play.

One group that follows the Grateful Dead has been coming here for 30 years.  Their faces are lined and their hair has gotten gray.  They wear their tie dyed t-shirts and try to be the party animals they used to be, but  are happy just to be together and have a good time.

We started out having another couple for camp hosts here.  However they left just before Labor Day.  At first we were a little worried if Jim and I could manage this all by ourselves, but we just looked at each other and said “we can do it.”  We have always been good at being a team through our whole married life.  We were busy making everybody happy, cleaning campsites, delivering wood etc. etc.  We did it and if I might say so, we did a good job, and people  liked us and had good comments.

We got to meet people from Canada, Germany, Holland, Austria, Australia and England.  Everybody had a story to tell and somehow we got attached to some of them.  I enjoyed the young people that told me how much they enjoyed nature, going hiking and other outdoor activities.  It gave me hope for the future since I love nature and it’s animals so much.  I guess they are not all texting and watching TV all day!  While we were here we also had some visitors.  Jim’s brother and wife from South Dakota stayed here for a couple of days, so did our friends Spencer and Karen from Idaho Falls.  Our friends from Germany came by on their way to Canada and my sister Gigi came from LA to surprise me for my birthday.

Two and a half miles from here is the small town of Parkdale.  It looks like time has stood still.  There are 3 small restaurants, a gas station, a fire station, a small church, a post office and an incredible grocery store where you can find everything under the sun.  There is also a library where we were able to get some books while stayed here.

This place somehow has very good Karma, or whatever you want to call it.  It gives one just pure joy and contentment.  So we decided we will return next year.  We can hardly wait!

Thanks for stopping by.

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Park Happenings!

Things are achanging at Tollbridge County Park.  The weather is cooler and wetter; the leaves on the trees are turning yellow, orange and red:

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And Mount Hood has accumulated some snow.

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Now I have a touching story to tell you.  Rosie was out on a firewood delivery when she came across a young girl and her father placing an object on the ground next to the road.  The girl, who was about eight years of age, explained;  she was walking with her father when they saw a bird nest on the ground.  Further observation revealed some dead baby birds in the nest.  The girl insisted that they give the little birds a proper burial.  So the father gets a shovel, digs a shallow hole in the dirt and they gently place the nest and the birds in the hole and cover it up.  The young girl thought more ought to be done to honor the little birds.  So she went shopping for a couple of days in Hood River and found what she thought would be a proper marker for the little babies.  She and her father returned to place the marker over the grave of the little birds.  Here is the grave site:

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And here is a close up of the grave marker:

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As you can see, the marker consists of angels holding up a birds nest with baby birds in the nest.  I congratulate this father for raising a little girl to be this kind, considerate and caring; and for supporting her wishes in giving these little birds a final resting place.  This world needs more people like this.

Thanks for stopping by.

Thursday, October 3, 2013

There Is A Sun!

After 4 days of constant precipitation, the sun finally came out today.  Hurrah!   However, the night time lows are in the mid 30’s.  I filled up another propane tank today, the second in a little over a week.  Looks like fall is here, some of the trees are starting to change colors from bright green to yellow, orange and brown.  I am taking a weekly series of pictures of the trees viewed from my office in the camper and will post them before we leave here on the 20th.

Things have been quiet here.  We have had as few as 3 campers in the last week or so.  We have 5 sites occupied as of mid-afternoon today.  There are reservations for 7 sites for this weekend.  We had too much to do in Hood River to get it all done in one day, so we went to town both Tuesday and Wednesday.  We found a great Mexican food restaurant in town.  Our two experiences at the BBQ place in Parkdale were OK, not memorable.  We are planning to treat ourselves to dinner at a nearby ski resort restaurant before we leave.

Our friends, Jim and Linda Schrankel, will be camp hosting with us here next year.  They referred us for this job and we are grateful that they did.  We are exploring possibilities of camp hosting jobs in So. Calif. during the winter months.  Nothing firm yet.  It may take until the winter of 2014/15 to secure something.

Here are the numbers for September:

Camping – $0.00 (free site for camp hosting)

Diesel Fuel when pulling – $0.00

Truck Service/Repairs – $0.00

RV  Repairs/Service – $0.00

Generator Gas/Propane - $21.22

Metered Electricity – $0.00

Satellite TV/Radio – $81.65

Campground Pet Fees – $0.00

Laundry – $25.00

Total = $127.87  (Work Camping sure cuts down on expenses)

Thanks for stopping by!

Friday, September 27, 2013

Visiting Germans and Cooling Weather

Our friends from Germany arrived on Monday.  They had flown into Vancouver, Canada for a tour of Canada; but they made a special detour down to visit us before heading back up north to tour Vancouver Island.  We have stayed in their home in Germany twice and they have stayed with us in California and Colorado.  It was good to see them again.  We last saw them in Germany in 2003.  It was a bit cozy having 4 adults and 2 dogs in our camper, but it worked out very well for three nights.  We took them shopping with us on Tuesday and then to Multnomah Falls near Portland on Wednesday.  Wednesday evening they took us out to dinner at Valley BBQ in Parkdale.  The rest of the time was for conversation, watching slide shows of our mutual travels, eating and sitting by a fire.

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The weather is getting cooler.  We have had 2 mornings in the ‘30’s this week.  We pulled out the extra comforter to put on the bed.  Now we are nice and cozy as we snuggle in at night.  We don’t leave the heat on overnight so it is a bit chilly for a few minutes in the morning until the heater takes the chill out of the camper.  The cool weather is affecting the campers.  We have had some cancellations of reserved sites and the drop in traffic has diminished.  This makes life for us easier, but on the other hand the County staff that is usually here daily has been laid off for the winter.  We now have a County person here for 1/2 day during the week and no one on weekends.  That means we are more diligent on bathroom and shower maintenance, but the downturn on the number of campers reduces the need for camp site cleaning.  With the cool weather has come some rain, so firewood sales are also down.

We head back to Idaho Falls three weeks from Sunday.  Thanks for stopping by.

Friday, September 20, 2013

Visitors Galore!

Wow!  What a week this has been.  Shortly after my brother and his wife left for Montana, Rosie’s sister, Gigi, flew up from Los Angeles to surprise Rosie for her birthday on the 17th and stayed with us for 3 nights.  The sisters had a great time catching up on each other’s lives.  We watched old videos of family events.  Gigi treated us for a dinner and a lunch out, something we do not get to enjoy very often.  They went on a short hike on a trail to a waterfall.  Here are some pictures from the visit.

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  At Applewood BBQ in Parkdale, OR                                   At Crooked Tree Tavern near Mt. Hood

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    At the trailhead to the falls                                            A bridge along the trail

Gigi left Thursday morning to return to LA.  About 5 o’clock Thursday evening our friends, Karen and Spencer from Idaho Falls showed up in their Roadtrek Class B RV.  They are staying until Saturday and then continuing their journey towards Washington State.  We have had a great time visiting and solving the problems of the world.  Karen took a river boat down the Amazon River in the past year and we watched a slide show of her photos from the trip.  What an amazing experience that was and we enjoyed reliving the trip with her.

Things are starting to slow down at the campground.  The nights are getting cooler; it was 35f Thursday morning when we got up.  We have about 30 campsites occupied tonight.  It is starting to rain.  The sound of rain on the roof of a camper is loud and it sounds like it is raining a lot harder than it really is.

We continue to love this place and are enjoying our work here.  We have agreed with our County manager that we will be back in 2014 for the months of April, May, August, September and October.  That will give us time for 30 days in Idaho Falls, 3 days at my family reunion and 28 days in Colorado.  We are starting to see deer in the campground and one of the County employees reported seeing a buck elk on the grounds.

The fall colors are starting to show at this elevation.  Here are some pictures of the fall colors and some interesting mushrooms that Gigi and Rosie spotted on their hike:

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On Monday we are expecting visitors all the way from Germany.

Thanks for stopping by.

Monday, September 16, 2013

Another Week Gone By!

Time sure flies when you are having fun (and working too).  We had a lot of campers this weekend after our almost capacity crowd over Labor Day.  Rosie sold lots of firewood and I was busy helping campers find spots for the weekend.

On Tuesday my brother Ron Amick, and his wife Dotty, arrived in their Kountry Star Class A motorhome.  They were coming from central California where they had gone to Dot’s school reunion.  While they were here we took them on a tour of Hood River, then we ventured up to Lost Lake.   Lost Lake is a resort with cabins and a campground with a Marina and a nice General Store.  It is in a beautiful setting, but I would not want to pull our camper up that hill and try to get into a site from the narrow roads.  Here are some pictures from our trip:

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Ron and Dot pulled out Saturday morning to head for Columbus, MT to meet up with other family members.  We are so happy when family comes to visit us.

We are still liking Work Camping.  I just sent off an application for Camp Hosting to Santa Barbara County in So. California.   It would really be neat if we could get Camp Hosting gigs during the winter in So. Cal.

Thanks for stopping by.

Monday, September 9, 2013

28 Days On The Job

Yesterday was 4 weeks into our new Camp Hosting adventure.  The time is flying by because we are having so much fun.  I don’t remember any “job” I have ever had that is this enjoyable.  Our work environment is to die for and the tasks are not difficult.  The pace is slow (most of the time) and we are not stressed in any sense of the word.  The Labor Day weekend was a bit hectic for short periods of time spread out over the first two days.  Sometimes a lot of campers would arrive at the nearly the same time, have a lot of questions and needed help finding their spots if they had a reservation; or finding an open spot if they did not have a reservation.

By Monday afternoon, the park looked and felt pretty empty.  On Tuesday we did the laundry and shopping for food supplies and had lunch at a local Chinese Restaurant, China Gorge.  We were not impressed with the buffet and it seemed a bit pricey to us.  Also took a trip to Laurance Lake.   There is a small tent campground there.  The lake is quite small.  Here are some pictures:

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             The stream feeding the lake                                        Rosie on the stump Smile

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            Entrance to the campground                                            Typical campsite

After the trip to the lake, we stopped at McIsaac’s Market in Parkdale.  This is a great grocery market for a town that is two blocks long.  They have many products usually found in major supermarkets and they have locally grown fresh fruit and vegetables.

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      Part of the deli case                                                              Rosie picking out some local pears

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           Local fruit (not the pineapple)                                                              Local wines

One day Rosie took the camera out to get pictures of the local berry plants:

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The locals tell us the berries are not edible, but they sure look pretty.

On Saturday, we met a couple from Chico California who are about to become full time RV’rs.  Mike and Sharon Porro haven’t gone through the “sell the house and everything in it” process, but it is under serious discussion and planning.  We shared a campfire on Sunday night and had a wonderful conversation.  I am sure we will cross paths again in the future.

Today we confirmed our return to this campground in 2014 for the months of April, May, most of August, September and most of October.  That will give us time for a month in Idaho Falls, my family reunion in early July, and 4 weeks in Colorado most of July and a few days in August.  This workcamping is very helpful to our budget since we have no camping expense and minimal fuel consumption during our time here.  With the slow economy having a negative affect on my self employment, the reduction in living expense is welcome.

Thanks for stopping by.