Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Spring Is In The Air!

Finally!  Two days in a row with solid sunshine and no rain.  And the forecast for Thursday is 82 degrees.  I didn’t think I would ever thaw out.

Campers have been pretty scarce these last few weeks at Tollbridge County Park.  Rosie has kept busy with site cleanup.  I have helped (a little bit) our co-host, Jim Schrankel, with the wood pile.  Jim LOVES splitting firewood.  He is a man possessed with turning out the perfect piece of wood to put into a fire.  I will have to get a picture of him with the wood splitting machine for a future blog.  Yesterday our county manager, Cory, cleared a path in the woods so Jim could get to a downed tree.  The tree has been down for about 2 years so the wood should be nice and dry.  Jim will start getting it out next week.

We took some pictures today on our way into Hood River for shopping.  Here is a fresh picture of Mt. Hood:

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The pear orchards are blooming:

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Here is a picture of a local barn with a special feature.  This person has way too much time on their hands:

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Other than that, things have been pretty uneventful here.  The weather improving should bring in more campers, which will add some excitement to our lives.

Saturday, April 12, 2014

Time Flies!

Wow!  A whole week has gone by since I last wrote.  I swear the roller coaster of life is speeding faster and faster.

We had four campsites filled over the past weekend.  During the week we had one or two more wander in.  The daytime weather is so nice that folks are out looking to get in that first camping trip of the season.  Tuesday we ventured down to Hood River to do laundry at the EconoWash and shop at Wal-Mart (not a supercenter) and Safeway.  Had lunch at Ixtapia Mexican Food near the laundromat.  I noticed a new BBQ joint in the the shopping center and we agreed we needed to give that one a try on  a future laundry run.

Rosie is continuing her quest to clean out all the tent sites.  What a trooper she is.  I have helped her a little bit, but she is taking on the challenge mostly on her own.  I completed painting the new rail in front of the host site.  The county agreed to put it in last year to “discourage” folks from coming and knocking on our door at all hours.  Our fellow host, Jim Schrankel, is working on some wood signs that say “Off Duty” that we can hang under the Camp Host signs when we are away or don’t want to be disturbed.  The day use area is getting a lot of use.  There are families playing games and using the playground almost every day.  We went to the local library on Monday and checked out some books.  I am also reading books on my Samsung Tablet that I can “borrow” from the Santa Paula, CA digital library.  Ain’t technology wonderful.

I have been having a small campfire almost every night.  In the past, I was not so much into the campfire thing, but now I am more inclined to light one up.  Maybe I am getting a little “confined” in the camper and need an excuse to spend more time outside.  It also lets me be readily available to help campers check in or simply answer questions.

We took the camera along on Friday when we went into Parkdale to get a broasted chicken for dinner.  Took a couple of pictures including our first of Mt. Hood this season, another of some trees that are blossoming and Rosie took a picture of a piece of art work on the lawn of a local museum depicting a little girl petting a horse.

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Thanks for stopping by.

Friday, April 4, 2014

Happy Days!

It is so good to be back at Toll Bridge County Park.  We get the same good feeling we had when we were here last summer and fall.  On Thursday we cleaned up some fallen limbs in the public area.  Met with our Manager, Cory, to go over what was new in the park.  We have all new soap, towel and toilet paper dispensers in all the bathrooms.  These are a big improvement over the old stuff. 

Yesterday afternoon our first camper in was pulling a 1998 Alpenlite.  Of course, I had to go get their story.  They recently purchased the unit and this was their “maiden voyage”.  I was able to show the owner a few things about the rig and we had our first sale of firewood to them.

We both had a good sleep last night and awoke refreshed and ready for a new day.  I set up a screened canopy over the picnic table on our site.

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With that in place we can get more use out of the picnic table.  I can grill in the rain; we can have camp host meetings in the rain; we can eat outside without being invaded by bees.

Rosie got busy with site cleaning.  That girl loves working out doors.  Give her a rake, a shovel and a campsite that needs cleanup and she is one happy camper.  See the smile on her face:

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Our 3 campers with reservations came in today.  Also had 2 drive in customers today.  Another reservation is due in tomorrow.  I grilled pork chops for dinner and it is a good thing I had set up the screened canopy.  It started to sprinkle just as I was putting the meat on the grill.

The pooches are have a great time here.  I think they remember it from last year.  Since there is hardly anyone here and no other dogs on site, I can let them off leash on occasion.  Boy, do they love that.  Annie gets to chase squirrels, up to the point that they climb a tree.  She gets that “how do they do that” look on her face.  Kinda cute.  Sammy is to wise for that exercise in futility; he knows which critters can climb trees.

Thanks for stopping by.

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Rain Snow & Sunshine

Oregon weather at it’s finest in April.  Left Corning, CA yesterday morning with a light rain coming down that progressed to steady rain for many miles.  At Weed, CA (what a name) we transitioned from I-5 to Highway 97.  As soon as we got on 97 the rain stopped and clouds disappeared and it was sunny and the roads were dry.  Stayed that way until we started climbing in elevation towards our destination of Crescent, OR.  Arrived at the Big Pines RV Park in a light snow fall.  BTW, this is a nice campground and the owner, Bruce, is a great guy.  Led us to our level pull through and helped guide me in place.  All I had to do was plug into the 50 amp outlet and attach the cable TV.  The campground is in the woods and is very scenic.  This picture was taken about 7:00 am Wednesday morning and that is a snow/frost combination on the ground.   It was about 28 degrees when I took this.

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Pulled out of there about 8:00 am and headed north.  The roads were slightly icy in some spots.  I had a heart stopping moment when the truck slid slightly sideways for a split second.  Not a fun experience when pulling 14,000 pounds of camper.  I was only doing 40 to 45 mph, along with most of the other vehicles, when it happened.  We continued onward dropping in elevation and soon got out into the open sun where the trees weren’t shading the road.  Stopped at Wal-Mart in Bend for a few necessities and headed north again.  On the north end of Madras OR, we changed to highway 26 and headed northwest towards Portland.  Eventually we turned right on highway 35 and arrived at Tollbridge Campground about 1:00 pm.  We were greeted by our friend Jim Schrankel, who will be holding down the other camp hosting site for the whole season.  Jim was the one that referred us to this gig last year; and we loved it so much we came back for more.  This year we get the Number One Camp Host site up front near the office.  Here is a picture of the site:

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We are all set up nice and cozy.

Thanks for stopping by.