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!