September 5, 2017

September 1, 2017

 The last few days we were at Smith Rock were slow and uneventful.  We did have a lot of smoke from the fires in the area, mainly from the Milli fire that is still burning out south of Sisters.  It was nice to have a break after the eclipse that’s for sure.

 This morning we hooked we said goodbye to Josie, hooked up the towed and headed north on Highway 97 toward the Columbia Gorge.  We will be staying here at Memaloose State Park for a few days unwinding.

 We arrived at the park about 2 PM since we took Highway 197 to get here.  Lots of hills, steep grades and slow turns.  About half way up I was wishing we had just taken 97 up to I-84.  Won’t do that again.

September 2, 2017

 Today we made a day trip over to Vancouver, WA to tour Fort Vancouver National Historic Site and the Vancouver National Historic Reserve.  Built in 1825 by the Hudson Bay Company the fort served as the center of a vast fur trading network.  The U. S. Army arrived in 1849 and the fort became Vancouver Barracks.

 As always for us our first stop was at the visitors center.  There we picked up a map, got our National Parks Passport Book stamped and saw a 20 minute film about the fort.

 Next, we walked along Officers Row, admiring the 22 fully-restored homes lining the fort’s parade ground.  They originally housed the officers who served at the Barracks but are now private homes with some being business offices.  One of them is named for General George C. Marshall who served as the post commander and occupied the home from 1936 to 1938.  The first house built on Officers Row is named after General Ulysses S. Grant.  General Grant never lived in the house but was stationed there as a young captain.  It is now a restaurant, The Eatery at the Grant House.  We decided to have lunch at the Eatery but were really not very happy with our meal.  ‘Nuff said.

 Next stop on our tour was Fort Vancouver which was established by the British Hudson’s Bay Company to support the fur trading network throughout the Pacific Northwest.

 Pearson Field is one of the oldest operating airfields in the United States and today operates as a busy municipal airport.

 The Pearson Field Education Center tells the story of the airfield from the very early days on through World War II and beyond.  There are several displays including a model of the Spruce Mill that produced the lumber necessary to build the early airplanes.

Officers Row

George Marshall House

The Grant House.  The first house built on the Row.

Smith Rock Volunteers for the 2017 Eclipse.

Joyce & Linda

 Mike & Patricia

 Jerry, Marilyn, Stan and Joyce

Stan "The Man"

Stan & Ray

 Steve Leigh, Pieter & Margie

Ranger Josie & Joyce 

Gotta throw in a grand baby picture or two.

Travis's first day at preschool.

 On our drive back to the state park we stopped in the small town of Cascade Locks.  There was a small produce market going on so we bought some really nice peaches, apples and cherries.

 Just for grins and something to do we made reservations for a paddle boat river tour.

September 3, 2015

 This morning we got a call from the riverboat tour company to tell us that they were cancelling the days trip due to a new fire near Cascade Locks.  In fact, some of the homes south of I-84 are under Stage 3 evacuation orders (Get Out Now).
 We were getting a lot of smoke from that fire and it looked like there was no relief in sight.  Here are some links to what is being called the Eagle Creek fire:

http://katu.com/news/local/eagle-creek-fire-explodes-forces-evacuations-i-84-closed-multnomah-falls-threatened
http://www.oregonlive.com/wildfires/index.ssf/2017/09/eagle_creek_fire_zero_percent.html
http://www.wweek.com/news/2017/09/04/hikers-say-the-columbia-river-gorge-is-burning-because-teenagers-were-tossing-firecrackers-off-a-cliff/

 So with all of the smoke and the possibility of the fire spreading, we decided to leave Memaloose one day early and head on up to Hermiston.

September 5, 2017

 We left Memaloose about 11 AM and after a stop in at Fred Myers in The Dalles for fuel (paid $2.76 a gallon) we made an uneventful run up to the Pioneer RV Park.  We have stayed here several times in the past and have always enjoyed the Passport America discount.

 After getting setup we had supper with Mike and Dorothy Clements who we have hosted with in Oregon State Parks.  I will be attending the Hermiston Masonic Lodge tonight with Mike who is a Past Master of the lodge.

That's all for now folks.

Barry & Joyce

August 24, 2017

August 5, 2017

 Early last evening all power was lost in the Rex House District Office area where we are parked.  After starting the generator I check the breakers in the house and all was good.  Joyce got in the Gator and drove down to see if she could find what was causing the problem.  She found that a young fellow hit one of the power poles knocking it over.  He then ran away leaving his car in the middle of the road.  A sheriff deputy and the power company were on scene and the officer caught the driver in our day use area.  Alcohol/drugs seemed to be a factor.

 Joyce and I along with Stan and Linda spent a couple of hours escorting guests out of the area using some back roads through some private property.

 We ran our generator since it was still hot and went to bed.  About 12:30 AM I woke up and our power was back on so I switched to external power.  It’s really nice having the generator at times like that.

 Some of the smoke has dissipated so the views are much better.

August 13, 2017

 It has been very smokey here in the Terrebonne area due to the many fires that are burning near us.  There is a major forest fire out near Mount Jefferson that has been causing a lot of the smoke.  To top that off there are a couple more burning up near Madras and Warm Springs where most of the tanker support has been headed each day.  Those the one at Warm Springs has actually caused some loss of homes.

 How is this smoke going to affect the solar eclipse on the 21st?  Not sure but you can bet will impact all of the festivities in the area.

 Speaking of the solar eclipse.  The staff here at Smith Rock are in full preparation mode for the additional amount of visitors that are expected.  We have a very good plan that will be put in effect starting next Thursday which includes additional staffing, professional security personnel, medical technicians on site and much more.  Of course we know that even the best plans will not cover everything that might happen, but like the Park Manager says, “If we don’t have a fire or a death we will have successful event”.

Stan and I helped Steve Leigh wrangle up these tow guys, moving them away from the foot bridge area in the canyon.

August 16, 2017

 This Sunday evening the park is putting on a supper for all of the additional folks that are that will be here for the solar eclipse.  Yesterday Joyce and I went to Bend to do the shopping for that event.  Costco was a packed with people and the traffic in town has increased dramatically.

August 24, 2017

 Well, the 2017 Solar Eclipse had come and gone and we all survived.

 On Friday the 18th we had a pow-wow with all of the park staff, hosts, Oregon Rescue (emergency rescue and medical assistance if needed), Security Pros (security patrol, manning the barricades, etc) and other volunteers.  Scott, our Park Manager wanted to make sure everyone knew everyone’s responsibilities and that we were all on the same page.  After the meeting Ranger Josie taught an abbreviated course in Verbal Judo.

 We also started putting up temporary signage in the park, marking off the temporary camping sites and all of the other numerous tasks that needed to be done.

 Saturday and Sunday was more of the same plus we were slammed with visitors.  Sunday was the first time we have actually seen the park closed to vehicle traffic in our 10 years hosting at Smith Rock.  We had 485 vehicles parked plus a lot more parked out on Wilcox Road.  Amazing!

 Sunday night the security folks put up barricades at the entrance to the park to prevent people coming in and sleeping in their vehicles.  Scott had asked Joyce, Stan, Linda and I to be out early on Monday morning to help get everyone parked.

 Joyce and I were out at 4:30 AM and the first place we went was to see what was happening down at the park entrance.  There were cars lined up on both sides of Wilcox and a lot more just driving around trying to position themselves to get in first.  Then at 5:30 the gates were opened and we filled up all 485 parking sites by 7:10 when we closed the park to vehicle traffic.  The final count was the 485 in the park and another 420-450 out on Wilcox.

 How about the eclipse itself?  Well, it’s hard to put into words a awe inspiring it was.  it never got real dark, more like twilight but we had a sunset all around us and the temperature dropped dramatically.  There were about 1700 folks that crossed the footbridge in the canyon and a lot of those were on the top of Misery Ridge.  There was also numerous folks on top of the Marsupials Group and they were all yelling and clapping like crazy.

 Joyce and I feel that just to witness the event live was a privilege, even with all the work during and leading up to the event.  Check!  Another bucket list item gone.

Sunset on 20 Aug.

The temporary camping area in our RV lot.

Supper for staff and volunteers on 20 Aug.

Stan, Linda, Joyce and I gettin' our eclipse game on.

Misery Ridge

Wow.

I wish I had taken this picture.  This is the money shot!

Andrew Studer Visuals

The story behind the photo:  http://www.oregonlive.com/eclipse/2017/08/the_story_behind_viral_iconic.html

Barry & Joyce

August 5, 2017

July 15, 2017

 This is our “written in Jello” travel plans for this coming fall: 

1-5 Sep           Memaloose State Park, Mosier, OR
6-7 Sep           Hermiston, OR
7-10 Sep         Rathdrum, ID     Rick & Patty Stills RV Park
10-11 Sep       Polson, MT
11- 14 Sep      Columbia Falls, MT (Tour Glacier National Park)
14-17 Sep       Helena, MT, Fort Harrison RV Park (Just because we have never been there.)
17-18 Sep       Billings, MT, Elks Lodge
18-19 Sep       Kaycee, WY
19-22 Sep       Casper, WY (Visit Joyce’s family)
22-23 Sep       Cheyenne, WY
23-26 Sep       Denver, CO, Westminster Elks Lodge (Visit friends)
26-29 Sep       Colorado Springs, CO, Elks Lodge (Visit friends and tour some of the sights in the area)
29- 30 Sep      Las Vegas, NM, Elks Lodge
30 Sep-10 Oct Kirtland AFB, NM, Famcamp (May take in one day of the Balloon Festival)
10-12 Oct       Carrizozo, NM, Valley of Fires Recreation Area
12-16 Oct       White Sands Missile Range, NM, Volunteer Park Travel Campsite
16-19 Oct       Deming, NM
19-23 Oct       Silver City, NM, Elks Lodge (Great little town up in the mountains.)
23-26 Oct       Willcox, AZ
26 Oct-1 Nov   Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ Famcamp
1 Nov-1 Dec     Florence, AZ, Rancho Sonora RV Park
1 Dec- 1 Jan 2018    Casa Grande, AZ, Wild West Ranch & RV Park
1 Jan- 1 Mar 2018    Naval Air Facility El Centro, CA, Palm Oasis RV Resort

 If you live near where we are going give us a shout.

July 18, 2017

 Yesterday Joyce and I took a drive up into the Cascades to visit Sahalie and Koosah Falls.  Both of them are right off of Highway 20 and only a short walk from the parking lots.  Both are beautiful.

July 26, 2017

 A lot has been going on since I last wrote so let me get right to it.

 On the 20th we got word that Joyce’s mother who lived in San Francisco had another fall and is was in the hospital.  Joyce talked to the doctor and was told that Pat had a very bad infection and they were trying to find out what was causing the problem.  Later Joyce again talked to the hospital and was told they were still working on the infection and they they were considering putting her on a respirator.

 Friday morning the doctor called and told Joyce that Pat had taken a turn for the worse and probably would not make it through the night.  We then started looking at flights out of Redmond to San Francisco but we couldn’t find anything that would get her there in a timely manner and the cost was also very high.  So we then rented a car so she could drive down to California.  By the time Joyce got to Klamath Falls she learned that Pat had passed away.

 She then drove on down to Los Altos where she spent the night with her good friend Chris Herdell.  The next day they went to the hospital and to the home where Pat lived and picked up Pat’s things.  They then went to the funeral home to make arrangements for her burial.

August 2, 2017

  Joyce buried her mother on the 27th and then made the drive back up to Smith Rock with one stop on the way back.  It’s really good to have her home.  Joyce would like to thank all of you that called or wrote her with condolences for the loss of her mother.

 While Joyce was in California I made a trip over to Oakridge to visit Jim and Jeanne Glaspey.

The Gang

Randy & Bamby

 Yesterday we made the move from the Bivouac host parking site down the road to the Day Use Host site next to the Rex House, the district office for this area.

 Our duties have changed to taking care of the day use bathrooms, turning the water on and off in several places in the park, mowing the Rex House lawns and general cleanup of the area.  Joyce will probably still do some of the mowing in the day use picnic area.

Our Front Yard

Back Yard Views

 Also yesterday we welcomed our new Bivi Hosts, Piter and Margie who are originally from South Africa but now call Oregon home.  Piter is retired from the South African military and Margie is a retired school teacher.

August 4, 2017

 Not only is it very hot here in Central Oregon but we also have a lot of smoke to contend with.  The Whitewater fire that is burning in the Willamette National Forest near Mount Jefferson north west of Smith Rock is only 8% contained as of yesterday.  Hope that it dies down before the eclipse happens on the 21st.

Gotta throw in a couple of grandson pictures.

Travis

Barry & Joyce

July 13, 2017

June 19, 2017

 In our last post we told you about the Family Motor Coach Association’s new benefit for a Verizon MfFi Hotspot.  Joyce and I ordered it paying $43.99 for the device that came with 25 gigabytes of unlimited data.  Well, things have changed.

 Verizon has pulled the plug on the offering.  I’m not going to go into all the details here but if you want to read about the gaggle go here:  https://www.rvmobileinternet.com/verizon-pulls-the-plug-fmcas-insanely-good-verizon-unlimited-hotspot-deal/

 I will say that we are disappointed but we do plan to remain members of FMCA.  The other benefits that we have with them are worth the price of membership.  This one is really good for Joyce and I:  https://www.fmca.com/benefits/fmcassist.html
June 27, 2017

 Tumalo State Park has been very busy for most of the month with only a few open sites that could be had for one night and every once in a while we would get a cancellation on a yurt.  That said, for the past week we have been completely booked up.  One thing we have noticed is even though there have been no camping sites available we have seen some that go unused.  This morning when I made my early rounds I counted six sites that remained empty.  We wish that folks that are not going to show up after making reservations would take a couple of minutes to cancel.  It would be nice for folks traveling trough the area to get a parking camping site even for only one night.

July 4, 2017

 Happy Independence Day to all.

 On June 30th we left Tumalo State Park and headed up to Smith Rock State Park.  This will be our tenth year hosting at the amazing place.  Here is a great web site to learn more about the park:  https://smithrock.com/https://smithrock.com/

 I have said in the past and I will say it again; Smith Rock is very busy, especially on the weekends.  On Saturday night our Bivouac camping area was full to the brim and we had to turn folks away.  There are days here now that there is no parking to be had anywhere in the park.  Amazing.

 We will be here through August this year so that we can experience the solar eclipse on August 21st.  I have never seen a total eclipse and since they come around only every 23 years or so, this is the one for me.

July 7, 2017

  Things have slowed down a bit now that the temperatures have been in the mid to upper 90’s.  Most of the rock hippies have left for cooler climbing areas and those staying are mostly sight-seer’s. 

July 13, 2017

 Time flies when your havin’ fun.

 Nothing really exciting has been happening here at Smith Rock since I last wrote.  We have been taking care of doctor and dentist appointments and generally just relaxing.  Since we now have four host couples here our workload has been reduced dramatically.  Joyce and I are still taking care of the Bivouac area but now that there is not as many visitors during the week the bathrooms stay fairly clean.

This is Solo, the Bald Eagle that has recently left the nest. 

 

Barry & Joyce

June 18, 2016

June 3, 2017

 Things are rolling right along here at Tumalo State Park.  On Thursday we had to say goodbye to our cohosts Thom and Sharon Page who are off to new adventures.  At the same time we welcomed Dave and Patti to the park who took their place.  It’s always hard to say goodbye to folks that have become good friends but Joyce and I are sure that we’ll meet up again somewhere down the road.

 I’m not very tech savvy when it comes to syncing my iPhone, Mac Book Pro and iPad through the iCloud but I can tell you this, if you delete something from the Cloud from your phone and you have auto-syncing enabled that ain’t a good thing.

 I was sitting in the doctor’s office and while waiting for my appointment I started deleting some stuff in the Cloud that I didn't think I needed.  Not so good there Kee-Mo-Sabbe!  When I got up the next day and started my computer a lot of my files are gone.  Since I am very conscious about backing up my data, especially my genealogy files I just did a restore from my latest backup.  Well, that didn’t work out so good.

 After the backup finished and the computer booted back up Finder wouldn’t run at all.  On the MAC if Finder won’t start then the computer won’t do anything. I tried rebooting the computer a few times and that didn’t work either.  I thought about just going back to another backup and install that but since Finder wouldn’t run I was stuck.

 Next, I tried booting the computer in “Safe” mode but got the same problem. 

 Joyce looked up a company here in Bend called Mactek so I called them they said to bring it right on over.  It took them a couple of days to get my baby back to me and everything is right with the world again.

June 7, 2017

 Yesterday was my birthday but we didn’t do anything special.  I’m not longer celebrating birthdays these days anyway.  Also today was my mother and fathers 70th wedding anniversary. 

June 12, 2017

 A while back we met Trey and Sandy who are from Fredericksburg, Texas that just happens to be one of out favorite cities in the country.  After spending a few days here they took off to visit friends in Portland.  After almost a week they showed up back here yesterday.  After they got set up in their site we took off and headed out for supper at the Summit Pub in Bend.

 Joyce and I have been fighting colds for the past few days but it looks as we’re on the mend now.  I did have to take Joyce to the urgent care clinic due to her having laryngitis in addition to the cold.

Jun 15, 2016

 As most of you probably know Joyce and I use a Verizon MiFi device for 95% of our internet access.  Under our plan we have a 30 gb of data allowance that is spread between the MiFi and our phones.  Even though that sounds like a lot of gigs we usually bump up against that cap, sometimes going over.


  For awhile now we’ve been actively searching for another way to get more data with either another device or changing our data plan.  When Verizon came out with their so called “unlimited” plan we thought that would be the answer to our prayers.  However, there are some very limitations to that plan that we don’t feel would suit our needs.

 Just a couple of days ago I got an email from the Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA) that looked very promising.  Here is the new plan in a nutshell:
No matter where you go in the U.S., it’s easy to stay in touch using the Verizon Jetpack® 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot MiFi® 7730L.  You get “on the go,” unlimited internet access at a discounted cost.

For FMCA members only:
    Your “all-in” cost is just $49.99 for unlimited monthly service
    NO hidden fees, added fees or taxes
    Month-to-month service, no contract required
    BONUS: the Jetpack kit is yours FREE (retail elsewhere is $199)
    FREE shipping & handling

 I did some research and I found this link on the Internet For RVer’s Facebook page:
https://www.rvmobileinternet.com/fmca-rolls-out-unlimited-verizon-hotspot-plan/

 While at Costco yesterday I checked with the Verizon representative at the phone kiosk
looking for ways that we could cutback on our data plan with them to make up that
$50 and came up with a strategy to do that.

 So, we ordered that noble hotspot from FMCA yesterday.  While on the phone with their
representative I was pleasantly surprised to learn the price had dropped to $43.99.

Big Summit Prairie, 17 June 2017

Harold, Michelle, Abigail and Skyler, June 2017

Travis, June 2017.  At his first dentist appointment.

 

Barry & Joyce