April Fools

Looks like snow here in Cloverdale, Oregon, but it's just pea-sized hail.


Just when the sun comes out and I say to Rick, "How about a little walk while the sun..." it starts to rain again. This latest big storm has brought hail everyday. It doesn't stick like snow, but looks "cool" with temps in the 40s and 50s. As long as the hail is small and not big enough to dent the car or break the skylights in the motorhome, I'm OK.

What sun?

I love our interior sun screens, both for privacy and for blocking out the hot sun. When we get to our destination we always put them up in the big front windshield and the driver side window. However, being in Oregon there isn't much sun. It's got lots of moisture, just not much sun. I don't think we've hung up the screens since we entered Oregon. We want to let all the sun and natural warmth in that we possibly can. Having a small electric heater keeps us warm and toasty.

Privacy is not an issue for us (we could close the curtains), partly because we are in a secure campground and there are no close neighbors that we feel we need to hide from. And I'm doing a pretty good job of obscuring the view on my own. It seems I get the urge to make chili or soup on these cold days, totally fogging up the windows. I tell Rick having some moisture in the air is good for us. No more dry heat for us.

If you're interested in some nice interior sun screens for your RV contact Tim & Crystal at http://www.rvsunshades4less.com/home.html. They also sell Sea Eagle inflatable boats!

Newport, Oregon

This would be a nice place to take a summer vacation.

Newport, Oregon

There is a lot of history in this region and interesting sites to see.

This is a great place for local fresh seafood.

Great for fishing and crabbing.

Lots of history and interesting places to visit.

Plan a trip to Oregon!

Think about it!

Here we are! Hint #5

Beach-combing.

Scenic coastlines that go on and on.

Lighthouses on the jetty.

Driftwood.

A couple years ago I stumbled upon someone's Internet story about staying here. For 2 years I had hopes that we would be near it and able to find a way to visit.

More than a few months ago Tim Cooke, the service manager at our wonderful RV dealer, Guaranty RV, sent us a note and an invitation to stay at Pacific Surf Motorcoach Estates. Unexpected and unbelievable! We were planning our Spring 2010 itinerary and when I looked at the maps I realized that we would probably be in the vicinity. Knowing that plans can quickly change, I hesitated to make a firm reservation at my dream location. When we were a month away I sent an email to the broker, Scott, and asked about availability. He said we were early in the season and it would be very possible. When we were about 2 weeks away I looked at the weather forecast and I could see that there would be a window of sunshine between weeks of probable rain. So we rearranged our Thousand Trails reservations and picked 3 sunny and bright days to spend at this remarkable "campsite". It was wonderful and I challenge anyone to find a better view from a motorhome!

Where are we? Hint #4

"She flies with her own wings"
is the state motto.

Where are we? Hint #3

It's sunny so that might throw you off the "trail."

Nearby are sand dunes and a jetty.

Looks like we're camping in a tree cave.

Where are we? Hint #2

Stairway to heaven.

Where are we? Hint #1

The photos in the prior post about driving in the rain were taken by Rick as we traveled north on the Grapevine, I-5 or Tejon Pass. So this photo is taken north of Los Angeles. Where is this?

Driving can be fun

I did not like driving to and from work. I did not like the traffic. I did not like the roads.

But I like love driving the motorhome! I love driving in the rain and even the icy, almost snow. I love that I can drive where and when we choose. And I love where we go because its not to work!

I don't like driving in windy conditions, but being retired allows us to stay put and wait out the wind.

Not in hiding

We've gotten calls and emails asking if we are in the wit-sec program, running from the law, or just in hiding. Hah! We're just retired! And up to our ears with living.

We don't have enough time in the day to do all we want to do. How did we ever get it all in when we were working? I know how... we were up at 4:30 AM, driving from 5:45 til 6:30, in the office until 5 PM, home by 6:30, and in bed around 10. Okay, 11. Too much driving in bad city traffic, too much time indoors in the office (almost never going outside, even for lunch), too little sleep, and no time to do nothing. (how did I get by on so little sleep?) Now we have time to do nothing if we choose. Thank goodness we worked together or we would have seen very little of each other. Now we are busy, busy, busy and thoroughly enjoying it. Very minimum stress and mostly good weather. (I'm in the periodontist waiting room & not wanting to look at the stock market, but that's about the only stress we have right now.)

With retirement comes no schedule to adhere to. Up at 7:30 (or so), breakfast when we want, driving when and where we want (will it be highways or scenic back-roads today?), and 9 hours of sleep if we want. Rick has a saying...2-2-2. Drive 2 hours, arrive before 2 PM and stay put for 2 days. It's not always like that... sometimes it's 5-5-5, but still, it's good and it's what we want to do, when, how and where we want to be.

So, no, we are not in hiding. Just taking a break from blogging. Having a home on wheels gives us the freedom to follow the sun or run from it, whichever it is. I know I need to catch up on our activities and adventures. We've done a lot and been to lots of places since leaving Montana in October. Just lovin' life and each other. More later.

Merry Christmas!

With ice or straight up?

A friend called the other day while driving from Texas to Colorado. He was on his way to pick up his son and then they were going ice fishing! Ice fishing! I know a lot of people like to ice fish, especially when it's winter and the only way to satisfy that craving for fishing to to cut a hole in the ice, but those 2 words don't go well together for me. I like to fish without ice. See, I like to wet wade and having ice on the water is just too much for me to handle. I like it when the water is at least 56 degrees.



Anyway, Eric wanted to know what we were up to since we sort of dropped off the blog world and weren't reporting in. I thought I'd do a quick update on a recent fishing excursion. Lucky for us, here in Arizona during the winter the ice is rare.

Our nephews came to visit last month and the 6 year old was like a typical eager little boy wanting to fish. We took them to the local urban lake where Fish & Game had just finished stocking catfish and had started stocking trout.

When the nephews are older and we're on a stream we plan to introduce 'em to fly fishing, but for now we had to "stick" with the garden hackle variety of store-bought worms. On the first day of the urban lake fishing they caught a nice little bass and let it go. The next day they caught a crappie and a good size trout (for an urban lake). This time the fish swallowed the worm-fly and a neighbor fisherperson wanted them for dinner so we gave them up. However, we were able to share with our young nephews that we put the fish back to live another day whenever possible.

The older boy was very interested in the fishing adventure, but the 3 year old was easily distracted by the other kids playing in the playground and wanted to feed the ducks more than he wanted to wait for a fish to bite. Sort of like me when the osprey flies overhead or the deer wander down to the river bank, it's easy to be distracted.

Although Rick cast the line out most of the time so the worm had a good chance of finding a fish, he let Josh practice casting and soon realized that he was pretty darn good. He'll be able to cast a fly rod some day soon.

We were just as thrilled with our days of fishing as our nephews were. We look forward to the future when we can share fly fishing in Montana with them.