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Spark’s, NV – Saturday August 30, 2014

We went to the Reno BBQ Ribs Cook Off in downtown Reno in the area around the Nugget Casino.  Looked around at a lot of the craft vendors there must have been well over 100.  It was hot and all ribs venders wanted between $7.00 to $11.00 to try a sampler of four ribs so we went inside the casino and had a nice lunch with air conditioning.

Orovada, NV – Thursday August 28, 2014

Had a nice drive to this highway rest stop one mile south of Orovada. Traveled 450 miles all on two lane roads with speed limit of 55 mph. Left at 10:00 am and got here at 8:30 pm with only one truck and one trailer. I’ll have to take campsite pictures in the morning because it was already dark when we arrived.

We did see a lot of smoke from Oregon’s four large fires :-(.
The trip:

Maryhill State Park – Wednesday August 27, 2014

Left home at noon got here a 6:10, site 24.  Nice sunny drive with limited wind coming up the Columbia.

(I have campsite pictures, however this WordPress program will not insert them. I will add them later. )

( now I can add only one picture, another later.)

This was our first long day towing the Saturn and every thing worked fine.  Even stopped once for gas.  We do need to get better at picking a site and then finding a place to unhook the car.  Anyway over time we’ll figure it out.

I talked about getting gas because this can be a challenge. The issue is you can not backup a tow car which is being towed with all four wheels on the ground.  The motorhome and car are 54 feet long so the gas pumps need a pretty good size area around them.  Pulling into a gas station you have never seen before and deciding if you will have enough room to get in and out can be a challenge. Having to unhook the car in the middle of a busy gas station will piss a lot people off.  Hope I go a while before this happens to me.

 

Lodgepole FS CG, HWY 410 – Friday August 15, 2014

On Tuesday we headed back to Eastern Washington, going over Chinook Pass looking to stay at Lodgepole, Pleasant Valley or Kaner Flats all forest service campgrounds.
We ended up at Lodgepole in site 12.

In this picture you can see the traveling Flamingos.  The weather changed with one afternoon of lightening, thunder and heavy rain I was glad I was not on a long hiking trip.

Tuesday there were 5 occupied sites in the campground, Wednesday and Thursday 2 site were occupied, us and some people in a tent at the far opposite end of the campground.  Nice campground but no place to do any hiking.  Hank and I walked around looking for places to go, did find some cabins on the other side of Hwy 410 but that was about it.

Jean has volunteered to go through brochures to cut the travel pile down a little.

This week will be getting things ready for our trip south.  Brian is coming up tomorrow (Monday 8/18/2014) to help me redo some of the dual pane motorhome windows.  All the window have some moisture in them and need to be taken apart and resealed.

Last thing to comment on is the road repairs on Hwy 410.  So far we have had 3 rock chips fixed in the front windows.  Yesterday I washed the motorhome because it had a thin coat of road oil all over the lower panels and across the back.  I will need wash the back fiberglass back again and wax it before we leave. This morning I could still see some brown color from the oil.

Still have some Mt. Rainier pictures:  22. 23, 24
Deer tracks in the early morning snow.
New ice from the over night freeze.

Kaner Flats, Thursday August 7, 2014

After dinner Hank and I went for a walk. Went up valley and took the road called Quartz Meadow which goes off to the east. Before we left the main road a forest service fire truck went by us going up valley.  At about two miles from camp, we had moved into the next draw east of Naches River and I think we could start to smell smoke.  Looking back down the road we had just come up there looked to be a very light haze in the trees. Hank and I talked about it for a while and decided we should start back. We were almost back to the main road when a twin engine spotter plane flew over us. A couple of minutes later when we reached the road a helicopter hanging a water bucket flew past us and dropped the bucket in the duck pond a quarter mile up the road.
I will add a couple of helicopter pictures after I get them off the camera. (Here are the pictures)
Flying over us on his way the to pond.

Dropping down into the duck pond.
Dropping down into the duck pond.

Flying away to the fire.

 

Started reading the Harry Potter series today, completed the first book. About another 10 inches of Potter to go.

Here is our wanderings for the week.

Kaner Flats – Wednesday August 6, 2014

After breakfast Hank and I walked up the road a ways to: 47 1.61 N 121 9.072 W http://maps.google.com/maps?q=47.02684,-121.15121

We turned around because I was concerned the black road surface might get to hot for Hank to walk back.  He has had a good time this afternoon chasing squirrels, and barking to much.

One of life’s significant moments; Hank and I want for a walk this evening and saw my first cougar.  We were walking up a road that leads up away from the river. At a quarter mile off the main road we came around a turn in the road, he had crossed the road and was headed into the woods. He was about 75 yards ahead of us. Moving right to left, saw his front shoulder back. He had a really long tail. I don’t think Hank saw him, we turned around and headed back down the road.   The evening walk is the area below Kaner Flats.

Kaner Flats – Tuesday August 5, 2014

We don’t have cellphone here so this week is being written on my phone and will be posted later.
59° when I got up and got to a very pleasant 82° for the day.  I know we talk about this being the dry side of the mountains however it has been several years since we have been here to enjoy the dry.  No dew in the morning everything can be left out and it stays dry. The sky, it is all blue no white spots in it, interesting place.
After dinner Hank and I walked up on the ridge behind the campground and walked around on jeep roads for a while.  This is where we turned around:
47 0.877 N 121 7.304 W http://maps.google.com/maps?q=47.01463,-121.12174. It was a nice walk.
Jean and I played cribbage for a while, she took all four games. I think that puts her 13 games ahead.

Monument valley is a really beautiful place and well worth the visit.  The first we visited they had a campground which was very run down this must have been 2005. The next time the campground was closed however for $5.00 you could park on the edge of valley over looking The Mittens.  It was a really cool place to be and we stayed there several times. When they started to build the hotel even this area was closed. The last several years the official Navaho website has said the campground would reopen in December 2013 and it still says that.  The other day I found on the hotel’s website they now have a campground which is open and available for reservations. View sites on the edge are $39.95 a night. There is a restroom and shower but says nothing about water or dump station.

Here is were we went.

 

Need to add some more Mt Rainier pictures: 22, 23 and 24
Deer in the snow.
New ice from the over night freeze.

At Home – Sunday August 3, 2014

I spent the weekend working on Jean’s anniversary present.  We have never used the TVs in the motorhome very much, I watched videos over the years and that’s it.   Last year I took the TV out of the bedroom and made a nice cabinet.  However with our extended traveling schedule I decided to get Jean satellite TV as an anniversary present.

I forget to take a picture before I started.
This is the first step removing the old 27 inch tube TV.  It was really heavy and hard to handle.  Zach was nice enough to come over today and help me get it out of the motorhome.
I had to spend a lot of time putting some wood over the back of the cabinet to cover the insulation.  I had a couple of pieces of door skin and I was able to use it to give the hole a little more finished look.

I put this 28 inch HDTV into the motorhome.  It gives me an inch on each side and about 6 inches at the bottom.

I purchased a motorhome grade TV mounting bracket which will allow the TV to swing out of the hole and give me a bunch of storage behind the mounting bracket and board.  The mounting bracket is attached to a piece of oak.  I used oak because I was concerned that over time and road miles a piece of pine or even plywood might start to twist.
I even added two pieces of laminated oak strips to back side of the mounting board.
Here is the swing mounting bracket.

Here is the swing mounting bracket.

The oak board is placed between two 1×2’s which were glued and screwed to the sides of the TV cabinet.  I then put a pocket screw into the board and a support under the board so it can not slide down.  Don’t think this is going to go anywhere.
Here is the TV swung out of the cabinet.
Almost finished, the box on the right is the old switching box which will eventually be removed.  I also put in a small shelf over the Sat box so we can store something behind the TV.

Here is a final install picture I took this morning.  At this point I don’t know how I’ll finish off the space below the TV.

My next project is to handle the dual pane windows and the moisture which has started to collect inside them.  It is really expensive to have these windows taken apart and reassembled or buy new ones.  A couple of weeks ago I purchase all the necessary materials from a guy in Oregon with the plan to do this myself.  I really should get the two front windows done before we leave at the end of August.  In the instructions he says to use a 32 to 1 caulking gun or better yet a powered caulking gun.  The caulking is really thick and a powered caulking gun will provided smoother more even application of the caulking/sealant.

This is what I finally purchased.  It is one massive machine and should not have any problem applying the caulk.  It will produce 650 pounds of torque.

Finally more Mt. Rainier pictures.

19, 20, and 21