Month: October 2017

Howdy!  I mentioned in my last post that I was writing from a hotel room….we spent 4 days and 3 nights at the Hilton Hotel in Ft. Collins, Colorado.  A very nice hotel, right next to Colorado State University.  AND they allow dogs…they even give you doggy dishes for the room!  It was Gerry’s first hotel stay and I think it would be fair to say he wasn’t wild about it.  We were on the 5th floor, he really didn’t like the elevators – they were glass elevators and the floor was slippery.  We used the stairs as much as we could (mostly going down, it was a long way up!)

We had to stay in the hotel while we were getting some repairs done to the RV.  Somewhere in Wyoming, at a rest stop, I noticed the tires on the curb side (passenger side) of the trailer were excessively worn, especially the one in the back (we have 2 axles, so 2 tires on each side).  We were pretty worried about continuing to drive very far on the tire.  So, many phone calls later, we found a truck repair place near the highway not too far from where we were staying that night who said they had the right tires in stock.  We arrived the next day for the tire replacement, and it didn’t go too well.  First, they said putting new tires on would only mask whatever the real problem was that caused the excessive wear in the first place and they didn’t do that kind of work.  And, after we said we would like the tires (2) replaced anyhow, so we could safely drive to somewhere that could figure out what the underlying problem was, they couldn’t get the hub off the first tire.  They tried for a short while, then said we needed to leave and find somewhere else to get repairs.  Yes folks, we were “kicked to the curb” on that one.  Gee thanks!

So we drove on to our next stop somewhere in Wyoming (we drove interstate 80 across the southern part of the state).  I spent hours (literally) on the phone and online, trying to find a repair place.  I tried RV dealerships with service departments (they don’t do this kind of work I was told by them all).  I finally found an RV dealership that said they would look at it, and the first available appointment was in 3 weeks!  After many calls and piecing together information from the folks I spoke with, I found a diesel truck and trailer repair place in Ft. Collins, Colorado, which is where we were headed for next.  This was a Thursday, and they had an opening for the next Tuesday – we took it!

Next, I called our super great helper, Rob, in Ohio and gave him the run down of what had been happening.  He had me go under the trailer and take a few pictures for him, and also pictures of the tires.  Well….why didn’t we think of looking underneath???  I’m telling you, our brains do not work that way.  Well….both shocks on the side of the trailer with the tire wear were completely bent!  They are supposed to be straight up and down, and the ones on the other side of the trailer were.  But these 2 were bent into a “L” shape.  Those pot holes on the Alcan came back to haunt us.  We do recall hitting one pretty hard on the way out of Alaska/Canada – we couldn’t see it until it was too late.

Rob did a great job of guiding me through looking at a variety of things on the trailer – he really is so patient and so helpful, explaining things in a way I can understand them.  He had us take the seal out of the hub and check for lubricant – bone dry!  Just like the batteries in the earlier story I told you – who knew you were supposed to check these things!!!  He sent us a picture of what to buy, and of course the local Walmart in Cheyenne Wyoming had it.  Steve was able to fill all 4 hubs with the lubricant.  I believe this is for the wheel bearings.

So we spent a couple days in Cheyenne – we had very high winds – steady at 30 mph and gusts over 60 mph.  The RV was rocking and rolling!  So much fun!  We then drove to Loveland, CO and spent a few days there, and then on to Ft. Collins on Tuesday and turned the RV over to the great folks at Diesel Services of Northern Colorado.  They even backed the RV around their building to the work area for us.  We packed up a few bags of clothes and things and headed to the Hilton.  It was very weird leaving the RV and moving into a hotel!

Steve has a client in the Ft. Collins area, and he spent part of a day there doing some work.  We caught up on errands and some shopping and did some hiking.  Gerry spent a day at doggy daycare and we went to Estes Park, near Rocky Mountain National Park. We had planned to hike that day, but it was snowing, windy and too cold!  So we walked around the cute town, had lunch and enjoyed sight seeing.  We saw several Elk, including some males with huge antlers.  A coyote ran across a field near us too.  The weather here in Colorado has been crazy – 80s one day and snow the next!

We also had a great visit with Sarah, Jeremy and baby Hazel (2 years old now!) who live in the Denver area.  They kindly had us over for dinner which was so nice.   Hazel was happy to show us her yard with a great play house and swings and her cute bedroom!  It was so good to see them and to catch up.  Gerry had a blast playing with their dog, Rio, too!

The RV was ready on Friday, as promised.  They had to order some parts from the manufacturer so that took a little time.  Luckily, the axles and frame were okay.  The wheel was not bent either.  So, new shocks, new tire and hub and we are good to go!

We were happy to get back into the RV and moved to another RV park in Loveland, CO, where we’ve been for the last few days.  It feels so much more like home than the hotel, and we really missed it.  Gerry is much happier too! On the day we moved into this RV park, there was an owl in the tree right above us.  I was making dinner, and I could see our neighbors out the window, looking up into the tree.  So I went outside and there was the owl!  They said a family of hawks had been here all summer, and they had enjoyed watching the young ones learn to fly and catch dinner.  I also saw an owl along the road from Cheyenne.  We see hawks almost everytime we are out hiking.

I’ve been cooking a lot and have made apple crisp a couple of times.  The leaves are falling here and it’s getting cold at night.  We purchased a special drinking water hose that has an electrical cord through it, and you plug it in, outside, by the water hook up.  Keeps it from freezing during the night.  Again…who knew???  A nice lady at the RV park we are staying at told us about it.  We’re pushing the weather envelope a little, I think, and it’s time to continue east for home!

I have a few pictures below and in the link of our hikes and time in Colorado.

https://1drv.ms/a/s!Ap-2lg-EnL0plh5E31vPFJBztvGS

Hi everyone!  We have been moving east, slowly, with plans to be back in Columbus before Thanksgiving.  My last post was about our time on the Oregon coast.  From there we moved inland Oregon, to the Columbia River Gorge area.  Unfortunately, we couldn’t access any of the hikes or scenic drive along the Columbia River Gorge, the roads were all still closed from fires this summer.  The highway, interstate 84, was back open, but the historic Columbia River Gorge road and all the state parks and hiking areas were still closed.  So we found a couple of hikes in other areas nearby, and crossed the Bridge of the Gods across the Columbia River over to the Washington side.  We did this in the truck, leaving the RV at the campground – Steve has a hard time with bridges and heights, and there is NO WAY he would have considered crossing this bridge with the RV in tow!  We hiked to a beautiful waterfall, hidden way back into the forest, I have a picture of it below.

We then moved on to Mountain Home, Idaho, then to Brigham City, Utah, then to Rawling, Wyoming, then to Cheyenne Wyoming.  We spent 2 – 3 days in each stop, and got in a hike just about everywhere.  We visited some sand dunes at a state park in Idaho – Gerry loved running up and down the dunes.  You can see our terrain is changing quickly!  From the lush, green forests and waterfalls of Washington and Oregon to very desert like terrain.

There’s not a lot to report about these stops, they were pretty functional.  We took interstate 84 to interstate 80, which took us through the not-so-pretty parts of Idaho and Utah and Wyoming.  We plan to visit these states again at some point, and go to the more attractive areas and national parks.  But, for this trip, we were ready to spend some time on interstates and wanted to get moving east, so this route worked for that purpose.  But, we still got out and hiked and tried to explore the areas we were in and enjoyed the good weather we have had.

I’m writing this post while in Ft. Collins, Colorado.  We have some repairs to the RV that are underway, I will have a separate post about all of that our our time at the Hilton Hotel (yes, they allow dogs and Gerry is not sure he likes hotel living!)

In the meantime, hope you all are enjoying fall and Go Bucks this weekend against Penn State!

Some pictures below, and also at this link:  https://1drv.ms/a/s!Ap-2lg-EnL0plXnzlR8S4Wu3mLgx

 

Greetings!

I hope you all are doing well and enjoying autumn wherever you are.  I love this time of year, the cooler weather, transitioning into different recipies, cozy fires and tea.  I’m writing this post at our current spot, which is east of Portland Oregon, on the Columbia River Gorge.  I’ll do a separate post of our time here.  We’ve had some great fall weather, but, yesterday it started raining, and its been cool (49 degrees right now).  So I have a cup of tea (Cinnamon Stick by Bigelow 🙂 )  and we’ve been running our fireplace almost non-stop.  Even though it’s an electric fire, it’s very cozy and provides a nice ambiance.  I have a cinnamon candle going too…guess I’m in a cinnamon kind of mood!

All morning I have been watching 2 hummingbirds that are enjoying the hummingbird feeder the RV next door to us has out.  The folks in the RV next door looks like they live here long term, they have a kind of deck built on their trailer, and have lots of “yard” kind of things set up including several bird feeders.  On the side by us, is the hummingbird feeder and these 2 hummingbirds are there all the time.  I am surprised, I thought hummingbirds migrated for the winter, but maybe the temperature here in Oregon is temperate enough they stay for the winter.  I will try to remember to research that.  Anyhow, I am happy to have them to watch.  And, Gerry finds them very interesting too!  He’s been sitting looking out the window at them for a long time this morning.

We spent about a week on the Oregon coast – we were between Seaside and Cannon Beach, which is in the northwest corner of the Oregon coast.  We loved Washington and the beaches there…but…the Oregon coast is simply amazing.  We fell in love with the area and really enjoyed our time there.  We did a couple of great hikes, in addition to walking miles on the beaches.  We hiked Saddle Mountain – about 7 miles roundtrip and it was a challenging hike.  The view at the top was outstanding – we could see the pacific ocean, Mt. Saint Helens, Mt. Rainier, Mt. Hood, Mt. Adams and a fifth mountain we are not sure which it was.  The photos in the link don’t do the view justice, it was starting to get hazy while we were up there.  There were 3 or 4 Peregrine Falcons flying around also, chattering away.  They followed us as we hiked back down, talking and chattering all the way.

We also hiked Cape Falcon (I am sensing a theme here!) a beautiful hike through a heavy forest then out onto a cape with a stunning view of the pacific ocean.  We sat and had lunch looking out into the ocean and kept saying, “I can’t belive we are actually sitting here looking at this!”  It was about 4 miles roundtrip, and relatively easy hike.  All of the forests here and in Washington are beautiful, heavy, lots of moss and various shades of green.  We keep trying to capture it with our pictures, it’s hard to describe the feeling you get while in the forest.  Enchanting, peaceful, alive and vibrant.

We drove up and down the coast, sampling a few different beach towns and beaches.  Hands down our favorite was Cannon Beach.  Super cute seaside town and very dog friendly.  We ate lunch one day at a restaraunt, with Gerry on the patio.  They invite dogs to dine alongside their people guests.  Gerry sat next to me on the bench, they had dog water dishes all over, and they served Gerry his very own plain hamburger!  Yes, we have become those people!!!

We went back to Cannon Beach two evenings for the sunset, which occured about 6:50 pm – early to us, especially after the very long daylight days in Alaska.  We loved the changing light and watching the sun drop into the pacific was spectacular.  We also purchased a “chuckit” throwing thing to lob a tennis ball for Gerry to fetch.  He has decided he loves the beach even though he tries very hard to not allow the surf touch his feet.  He also discovered it is very easy to dig in the sand, and spent the better part of one evening digging a tunnel.  Lots of pictures in the links below.

So happy fall to you all, hope you enjoy our pictures, and I’ll be back soon with an update on our next adventures!

Saddle Mountain Hike and Cannon Beach:  https://1drv.ms/a/s!Ap-2lg-EnL0plTMWUz-ZNuFyN_W3

Cape Falcon

https://1drv.ms/a/s!Ap-2lg-EnL0plU46rpJ-HWQGc9GS

 

 

 

Hi again!  We spent a great week on the Washington Olympic Peninsula.  This is home to the Olympic National Park, miles of rocky beaches and national forests.  We traveled to the Olympic Peninsula by Ferry, thanks to the advice by Steve H’s brother, Richard, and his wife Joyce.  Richard and Joyce live north of Seattle, and came to visit us while we were still on the “mainland” of Washington state.  It was so nice to see them, and since they have been RV’ing for many years, they gave us a lot of very helpful information.  (Picture below – those of you who know Steve H will notice how much he and Richard look alike!) We had planned to drive through Seattle and around to the Olympic Peninsula, but they told us about the ferry, and recommended it as a better alternative to driving through Seattle.  We were worried about managing the RV onto the ferry, but, it was as easy and uncomplicated as promised.  So glad we did it that way, saved us hours of driving and much less stress than navigating Seattle with the beast in tow.

We did have a couple of maintenance issues, right before we left to take the ferry, so we had to delay our trip by a couple of days.  I found a mobile RV service that came to the campground we were parked at and they replaced the breaker that controls the outlets and the gfci outlets (again!).  You may remember we had trouble with this breaker at the beginning of our trip, and had it replaced while at the factory.  We discovered our issue this time while parked at Walmart for a night, which was our staging area to get the ferry the next morning.  Since we had no hookups in the Walmart parking lot, we were using battery power and generator/inverter power.  That’s when the outlets quit working again.

A phone call to Rob (he is so nice to be our “on call technical support”! 🙂 revealed that our batteries in the RV – we have 2, 6 volt batteries, the same type used to run golf carts – were pretty low on water.  Who knew you had to put water into battery cells????  Not us!  A quick run into Walmart (they are smart to let RV’ers park in their lots, we spend a lot of $$ every time we are there) to purchase distilled water and Steve filled up the battery cells.  But, the gfci outlets would not reset (again).  So the mobile guys replaced the breaker the next day.  They also tested our batteries and said we should have them replaced.  They were losing their power and would not last much longer.  So, we found a battery place nearby and had them replaced the next day.  Was much easier than we anticipated, they were used to dealing with RVs, had a spot for us to pull up to easily, and half an hour later we were on our way to the ferry!

The Olympic Peninsula is very beautiful.  We did the Hurricane Ridge drive in Olympic National Park, and several hikes in the area, including one on Dungeness Spit – a long spit out to a lighthouse.  We love the rocky beaches in this area and also the mossy forests.  The weather was great also, which is a big plus!  We visited a few small towns in the area:  Sequim, Townsend, Port Angeles.  We found a local food co-op that had great produce and local meats, and we also found a local restaraunt that specialized in soups, bakery and coffee…we literally went every day!  There was an area that had a lot of totem poles and a Native American gallery – we enjoyed visiting it and purchased some gifts there.

Hope you enjoy the pictures in the links below!

Hurricane Ridge, Olympic National Park:  https://1drv.ms/a/s!Ap-2lg-EnL0pk1RMo-4ioXyxr6qG

Olympic Peninsula:  Ferry, beaches and totem poles:  https://1drv.ms/a/s!Ap-2lg-EnL0plQRrH_fktZ70rq2A

Hi!  We have been absolutely loving Washington!  We stayed for about a week in the Bellingham area, north of Seattle.  The RV park was one of the best we’ve been to so far, and the weather has been perfect which helps too!  We did so many fun things while in the area including a great hike on Mt. Baker.  We started our hike at the end of a long national forest service road (about 12 miles), at 4400 feet in elevation.  We hiked about 2.5 miles up, to about 6,000 feet in elevation.  The views were awesome!  As good as some of our views in Alaska.  A great hike.

We also took a ferry to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island.  We walked onto the ferry, we didn’t take the truck.  Gerry got to go, he loved the trip on the ferry.  So many people to pet him and tell him how cute he is!  You’ll notice in the pictures we have started using a “Gentle Leader” collar on him – it goes over his nose.  So if he pulls on the leash, it pulls his nose, which he hates, so it stops him from pulling so much.  He has gotten so big and strong he was doing damage to my arm and shoulder from pulling on the leash so much.  We will be taking doggy manners training classes when we get back to Columbus!  Friday Harbor was a very cute tourist town, we really enjoyed visiting it and enjoyed the ferry ride too.

One day we took Gerry to doggy day care are spent the day touring Bellingham, Fairhaven (a super cute historic area in Bellingham) and drove Chuckanut Drive, an attraction in and of itself in the area.  Beautiful drive, beautiful homes and a great little restaraunt too!  The restaraunt looks right out onto Puget Sound and an oyster farm.  So of course Steve had oysters!  Wish I liked them, but, they are not for me!  We also went to a Tea Room – first time I have been served tea with a cozy over the tea pot – loved it!

We did another hike in the area, in a beautiful forest – the forests here are very thick with vegitation and moss.  Like walking in an enchanted forest.  All in all a great area to visit and we loved it.  This was our first stop after the “Alaskan Adventure” and it felt good to be in an area with more “stuff” around.  But still beautiful.  I think we were ready for a little touristy activities and this filled the bill!

And I have to mention the blackberries!  They are everywhere – along the roads, along the trails, and our RV park had a large grassy area (great for running Gerry!) that was surrounded by wild blackberries.  We picked to our hearts content, I made blackberry cobbler and a blackberry syrup we put on ice cream….Steve literally cannot walk past a bush without picking and eating!

i’ll have another post soon about our trip on a ferry (RV and all!) to the Olympic Penninsula and our beach visits there.  In the meantime, hope you enjoy the pictures of Mt. Baker, Bellingham, Fairhaven and Chuckanut Drive!

https://1drv.ms/a/s!Ap-2lg-EnL0pk0cHsXn8Mbv75Nno