May 23, 2014

05/05/2014

After a fun time with Jim and Jeanne Glaspey, we made the run over the Willamette Pass to Tumalo State Park in Bend.  We hosted here in the summer of 2008 and swore we would never come back.  Tumalo is a very, very busy park requiring us to put in many more hours than is normally required in most state parks.  However, as the hosts assigned to site B-6 and being May, we were hoping to get some breaks.  Well, that didn’t happen.

There should be three sets of host here, but as it turned out, one set doesn’t even start until June and the host that showed up for the primary Greeter Host position turned out to be a single lady who had never been a volunteer before.  Not that is a problem in itself, but she didn’t really doesn’t want to do anything but just enough to get her free parking site.

05/07/2014

Our days off here at Tumalo are Wednesdays and Thursdays but since the primary host site was not filled, we decided to help out with some of the work.

On Tuesday we had the pleasure of welcoming our good friends, Rick and Patty Stills for a short visit.  Joyce prepared a delicious turkey dinner for the evening meal and we had a lot of lively conversation.

On Wednesday Rick smoked his famous ribs and I can say that they are some of the best tasting ribs we have ever eaten.  Thanks Rick and Patty!

05/16/2014

It’s been a few days since I last wrote and I can say we have been very busy here at Tumalo and in our personal lives.

Joyce and I are in the initial stages of looking for a motor coach to replace our 5th wheel trailer.  Several reasons have brought us to the decision to do this right now, one of being that Joyce would like to do more of the driving when we are on the road and if something happens to me, she could take over all of our moving from place to place.

Last week we found a beautiful 2003 Beaver Contessa in outstanding condition and actually got down to making a firm verbal offer on her.  After having our Landmark appraised we got a call back from the dealer, they told us that the company’s owner’s wife said that she wanted the rig and that they couldn’t sell it to us.  Hummmm…..!

On Wednesday we drove over to Eugene for Joyce’s eye doctor appointment and after that looked at several more motorhomes, none of which really jumped out at us.

When we got back to Tumalo, out other host had packed up and left.  So, now Joyce and I are the only hosts in the park.  Of course, we’ll step up to the plate and “git ‘er done”.

05/18/2005
What a difference a day makes.  Yesterday we signed papers to purchase a 2005 Holiday Rambler Ambassador Model 37PBD 37’ motor coach.  The motor home was purchased new by a dealership’s owner and is immaculate inside and out.  Powered buy a 330 hp Cummins motor and coupled to a six-speed Allison transmission, there is plenty of power to pull just about anything we would want.  There are many options on the coach such as upgraded TV’s (after market additions), a large slide tray in the front bay, 3-camera rear vision system, front door awning and many more.

Our new home.

The dealership has agreed to put on new tires all around, transfer our washer/dryer and reprogram the existing King Dome satellite system that is installed on the Ambassador.

On the 28th we will pull our rig down to the dealership and on the 29th we’ll take possession and transfer all our belongings.  We expect all of this is going to take all day.

05/23/2014

We welcomed Rick, Patty, Hunter and Paddy Stills back to Tumalo on Wednesday the 21st for a short stay.  Then on Thursday Jim Glaspey rode his Harley over from Oakridge.  We all had a good time telling stories and just enjoying the company of good friends.

Enough for now.  More pictures of the new rig soon.

Barry & Joyce

May 1, 2014

04/10/2014

We left Fresno on Tuesday, jumped onto Hwy 99 and bounced ourselves up to Stockton.  The state is working on the highway all the way from Bakersfield to Sacramento and believe me, it is very rough in places.  We then cut over to I-5 a tad better road, but not by much.  Then, it was Hwy 12 into Fairfield which we won’t drive again anytime soon.  There were several times I had to slow down to 15 mph due to the pot holes and bumps.  Even at that speed, there was a couple of times I thought I would break an axle we were bouncing so hard.

Not only is California going to hell financially and politically, the roads are terrible as well.  I don’t have a clue about what the state does with their money but they need to spend a lot more on their roads that’s for sure!

We’re now parked at the Travis AFB Famcamp where we have stayed several times.  It’s an nice RV park with a few exceptions.  One, they play Reveille at 7 AM here.  What the heck!  Even the Navy doesn’t wake you up until 8 AM!  Two, the park has rules, rules and more rules.  Not that we mind rules all that much but, here at Travis they are excessive.

04/20/2014

We had another great visit at Travis AFB.  We especially enjoy seeing Joe and Lorie Martin every time we are in the area and Joyce got to visit with Nancy and Linda.

04/24/2014

On Sunday the 20th, we hooked up the rig and headed up to Calistoga to visit with Joyce’s family.  We always stay at the Napa County Fairgrounds which accepts our Passport America membership.  We actually pay for our membership with the discount they offer.

A Walk Around St. Helena

After a wonderful four days there, we made the run up to Redding, CA.  We had planned to stay at the Elks Lodge there but they have changed their parking fee from $20 for all Elks members to $25 if you are a member of another lodge.  They only offer electric and water hookups for that fee and since the lodge didn’t have a lot of activities on their calendar, we decided to stay at the Win-River Casino.  Although the casino is just a big parking lot, they do have full-hookups for $24 which is pretty reasonable for the Redding area.

After a fairly good nights rest, we went to see the Sundial Bridge which spans the Sacramento River in Redding.  Not only is the bridge beautiful, but there’s a museum and botanical gardens to see as well.

After spending some time there, we drove up to Trinity Center, CA.  As you might recall, Joyce and I house-sat for a friend there a few years back and while there, I established a geocache called Trinity’s Hero.  Over the years the container had lost the lid and the logbook needed replacing as well.

After taking care of the cache, we had dinner at Trailhead Pizza in Coffee Creek with some friends we had made there.

On Sunday we made the run up to Oakridge, OR to Jim and Jeanne Glaspey’s RV Park.

Sunday evening Gary and Marcia Stevenson had us over for a wonderful Easter dinner.

Last month we received an email from Jill Nishball, Oregon State Parks Mountain Region Visitor Experiences Coordinator, informing us that we had been selected as finalists for the Oregon State Parks Hosts of the Year Award for 2013.  The celebration luncheon was Wednesday the 23rd in Salem.

Although we weren’t selected as the winners, it was still an honor to have been among the six finalists out of over 1100 hosts in the state of Oregon.

While here Jim helped us out with some maintenance on our truck and replaced the kitchen faucet in our home.

Last night we were all invited up to Chuck and Sue Svendsen’s for a delicious barbecue rib dinner.

That's all for now folks!

Barry & Joyce