May 23, 2016

May 12, 2016

Yesterday Rick and Patty Stills stopped by Bend on their way home after visiting friends and family in Vacaville, CA.  We had a real nice visit with them at the Scadia RV Park where were staying.  Not too many war stories were told.

Thank you very much for the moose sausage.  It is delicious!

May 16, 2016

I can’t believe we have been at Pilot Butte for over two weeks.  We’ve been staying very busy taking care of the park, getting our doctoring done and for me, doing a lot of genealogy research.

As most of you know I had my DNA tested a few months ago and to say that the results are amazing is an understatement.

I have been transferring my direct line of ancestors from my genealogy program on my computer to ancestory.com for the past two months.  I’m sure you’ve seen the commercials for Ancestry where folks get those leafs popping up all over the place.  Well, I have over 5000 of them right now and every day I get more.

As you can see from the screen shot below I am 57% English (I love Bitter’s and Ale) and 17% Irish.  My Irish heritage comes mostly from my mother’s side of the family.  My father’s mother was named Lottie Mae McCartney so some of my Irish roots come from that side of the family as well.

So far (and this changes daily) I have discovered 556 4th cousins or closer that have done their DNA and are sharing their research.  One of those cousins in a descendent of Deacon William Crocker of Barnstable, Massachusetts.  I descend from Anthony Crocker who died in Isle of Wright, Virginia in 1693.  This is the first evidence that the northern Crocker’s and the ones from the south are directly related.

May 22, 2016

Last Tuesday we took a drive over to Mitchell, OR then up through Fossil to Shaniko and finally back to Bend.  There is some really beautiful areas out that way.

We only have eight days left here in Bend.  We will be leaving here on the 31st and traveling over to the Keizer Elks Lodge.

On the 1st we will be picking up our granddaughter Abigail in Portland who will be staying with us for two weeks.  We are going to Wallowa State Park near Joseph, Memaloose State Park, not far from Mosier and finally to Nehalem Bay State Park over on the coast.  Should be a lot of fun.

After dropping Abby off in Portland for her flight back to Florida we will head up to Oakridge to Jim and Jeanne Glaspey’s RV Park.  We’ll park our rig there while we do the Alaska cruise with Jim and Jeanne and Jim’s brother Ron and his family.

Barry & Joyce

May 8, 2016

April 23, 2016

Even though it was a short one, we had another good visit with my other in Clovis, CA.  Joyce and Mother were able to spend some time at the Table Mountain Casino while we were there.

We left the Elks Lodge in Fresno yesterday morning about 9AM and headed north on Hwy 99.  At Stockton we took Hwy 4 across to I-5 and then just north of there we ran in to rain.  It wasn’t too bad but the passenger side windshield wiper came apart so in Lodi we stopped so that I could remove the darned thing.

After leaving Lodi we started up Hwy 12 toward Fairfield.  Every time we drive that highway I say that I will never do it again. The speed limit from Lodi to Rio Vista is 45 mph and in some places the road is very rough.  To make it even worse the winds were out of the north west and probably gusting to 25 mph.  After crossing the bridge in Rio Vista and getting trough town the road really got rough but I kept our speed down and we made it to Travis in one piece.

I normally make reservations for the Famcamp here but with all the delays on this trip I forgot.  We called ahead and were told they had four sites but when we arrived there was only two available.  Travis is always as busy place.

We’re only going to be here for four days this time so our dance card is booked solid.  After getting set up in our parking site we went to the Camping World store in Vacaville to pick up a wiper blade and then to Fairfield to have dinner with my ex-in laws Don and Diane Johnson.  They took us out to the Texas Roadhouse where we had a very nice dinner.  Thanks Don and Diane.

On Saturday morning we had breakfast with our good friends Joe and Lori Martin.  Thanks for the breakfast and the good conversation.

April 26, 2016

On Sunday we went up to St. Helena to visit Joyce’s family and came back to Travis yesterday afternoon.  Even tough our time there was short we had a nice visit.

April 27, 2016

After topping off our fuel tank at the Travis Exchange gas station we left the base and headed up to the Win-River Casino in Redding, CA.  This is one of our “go-to” stops when we travel through the area.

April 28, 2016

Yesterday we left Redding at 8:30 AM, jumped on I-5 and headed north toward Weed and then turned onto US 97.  After leaving Doris, CA we ran into light rain/snow mix going over the mountains but that didn’t last too long.

We fueled up in Klamath Falls taking on 52 gallons at $2.15.  Not bad but we do miss the prices in Texas.

After turning west on Hwy 58 and climbing over the Willamette Pass we arrived at Jim and Jeanne Glaspey’s home in Oakridge, OR.  We’re going to be here until Sunday when we will head over to Pilot Butte State Viewpoint in Bend.

It's a chicken roundup!

May 1, 2016

After 3226 miles we are now at Pilot Butte Sate Viewpoint in Bend, OR where we will be hosting for the month of May.  On this trip we averaged 7.8 MPG and $2.00 a gallon for diesel fuel.  I can remember when we made the trip to Florida a few years back when we were paying almost $4 a gallon.

Our home at The Butte.

On Friday Jim and Jeanne hosted a dinner party for us and our friends Gary and Marcia and Chuck Stevenson and Sue Svendsen.  Joyce and Jeanne prepared a delicious spaghetti supper that had everyone eating way too much.

May 5, 2016

We’ve been at The Butte for a few days now and have settled into our routine.

Last year we opened the gate to the top of the Butte at 8AM but that has now changed to 10AM.  This small change allows folks to hike up to the top without vehicle traffic on the road.  This is especially nice for folks pushing strollers and those walking their dogs.

We have seen a marked increase in the amount of visitors to The Butte as well.  In a lot of ways that is a good thing but along with additional people comes more litter and some other problems as well.

May 8, 2016

We’ve been at the Butte for over a week now and it’s has been very busy.  The amount of visitors has increased dramatically over the past year so there is more to do keeping the park looking good.  Also, the restrooms need more attention especially on the weekends.

Looking to the west from the top of The Butte.

More later.

Barry & Joyce