Things are rolling right along here at Smith Rock. It has been very hot most days but yesterday we got a little bit of a reprieve with a high of only 87 degrees. This next week it looks like we will be back into the 90s.
On Friday evening we had all of our fellow hosts down to our place for supper. Joyce made her killer pulled pork and of course we all ate too much. We hope to have another cookout before we part ways for another year.
July 23, 2018
Last evening a guy came down from the Bivi area and tells me there is a rattlesnake in the cooking circle. I didn’t think it would be a rattler in that area, maybe a garter or bull snake. I jumped in the Gator, went down there and sure enough there was a it was a rattler curled up in the rocks very near some folks cooking their supper. Our Ranger came down and we decided to call Steve Lay. our Interpretive Host and local snake wrangler. When Steve got there with his equipment he was able to grab the snake who was about three feet long with eight buttons. That is the first time I have seen a rattler in that area in the 11 years hosting here.
This morning Steve came by and asked if I wanted to go with him to release the snake he caught last evening. During the drive over to the area when he wanted to let the snake loose, he rattled all the way over. I can tell you he was pretty darned pissed when Steve let him out of the bucket. We spent a few minutes taking pictures and then left him alone to go about his business.
July 25, 2018
Yesterday we drove over to Oakridge to help celebrate Jim Glaspey’s 70th birthday. We had a good visit and then had supper at Big Mountain Pizza with more friends.
August 9, 2018
Been quite a while since I last wrote so let me bring you up-to-date.
We have been having some problems with our living room slide coming in without assistance by me pushing on the outside while Joyce operates the switch. In fact this has been going on since 2015 and replacing the batteries fixed the problem not once but twice.
This time the batteries that I put in the coach in Arizona this past winter fixed the issue until we left Tumalo State Park when the problem happened again. I had to get a couple of folks to give me a hand pushing to get it to retract.
I called Tom from Advantage RV in Bend who has done some work for us in the past. He immediately said that the motor is probably worn out so we ordered one from Amazon. When it came in Tom came out and installed it but when we operated the slide it still failed to retract. After more troubleshooting we found out the voltage drop when the slide was trying to come in was dramatic so Tom thought the batteries were just not strong enough.
Joyce and I took the batteries down to Napa Auto Supply, they checked them and actually found one bad and another one very weak. They replaced the batteries under the warranty, but we paid for the upgrade to better ones.
We brought the batteries back, installed them and guess what? Yep, the slide still didn’t retract properly. Now what Ke-mo-sabe?
Tom came back out and did some more checking and found that the inverter/charger was only only charging the batteries at 13.6 volts. He said he had one at home and when he checked his it was charging at 14.58 volts, a significant difference. He brought that one out, installed it and it worked. The slide retracted as it should and actually a tad faster that it ever did.
So, we actually had multiple problems which made it difficult to find the actual problem, that being the inverter/charger. But it’s fixed now so we are very thankful for that.
While all that was going on we had some visitors come to Smith Rock. Jim and Jeanne Glaspey drove over from Oakridge to spend a day. Then Bret Sherlock, an old flying buddy from my days in the 7th Airlift Squadron stopped by. And on Tuesday we had lunch with Stan and Linda Peters who we have hosted with here at Smith Rock.
Joyce has been having some problems with her ears for a while now and was tested this past spring by a doctor she saw in Medford. She was diagnosed with tinnitus so when we got to Bend she filed a claim with the Veterans Administration. The VA sent her for an evaluation by another doctor in Bend.
This morning Joyce found out that the VA has awarded her 10% for tinnitus making her total disabilities 30%.
August 14, 2018
As y’all probably know we have been planning a trip up to Glacier National Park in September. Yesterday we found out that the west entrance to the park is closed due to a fire that is burning near Lake McDonald.
Joyce and I have been planing to go up to Rick and Patty Stills’ home in Rathdrum, ID. then we are all going up to Glacier together. This exact thing to happened to us last year.
Right now are plans haven’t changed but since our travel plans are always written in Jello, we’ll adapt.
More next time.
Barry & Joyce
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