Posted Some Pictures Of..............

"art" in the following post. Becky found some more info on the pictures she took, if anyone is interested in learning more you can check out this link. Gee, we may have to go back when the joint is open......................http://www.roadsideamerica.com/sights/sightstory.php?tip_AttrId=%3D11755

This is kinda reminiscent of Leonard's "Salvation Mountain" that we visited near Niland, CA........this url has some info on Leonard's continuing creation:

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/CANILsalvation.html

Tuesday, I Think............

and we made it back to Vancouver this afternoon. Deception Pass State Park, and the whole surrounding area including Oak Harbor, Coupeville, Anacortes, etc, is really neat but without my MTV and "B" without her internet.......well it just makes for a loooonnnggg 10 days, so we left on Sunday and headed back to Millersylvania State Park just south of Olympa, WA. Spent two days there and I was able to hook up my TV satellite; but, spent over an hour and a half trying to get the internet satellite hooked up. No luck, the trees were just too tall in the campground. I was able to get a signal but unable to hold it for continued reception. Someone outta invent a laser beam that would cut a hole in trees, buildings, people and anything else that was in the way!

Millersylvania is a really nice state park, lottsa hiking trails, serviced RV sites, lake with something resembling a beach and is a great area for "twerps". Centralia is fairly close and it's about 20 miles to the Lucky Eagle casino for those inclined in that direction. (We contributed as usual because we weren't smart enough to quit when we were ahead!!) We browsed around Centralia, "B" went a little nutso at the Factory Stores and we found this "house" in Centralia which was, I think, was someone's conception of "art". It wasn't open when we cruised by but they had a sign by the door that indicated "free admission".........hell, I'd be first in line for a frontal lobotomy if it was advertised for "FREE". Unfortunately we didn't make it back when it was open so the contents will probably always be a mystery.

Got both dishes hooked up and we're at Dug's house until we mosey out to Paradise Point on Friday...........unless we head for Sand Lake for fun in the sand over the weekend. Will make that decision later. Got the license plates for the Suzuki taken care of today and will get a base sticker from the Portland Air Force Base tomorrow. Gotta go see Les Schwab tomorrow also to see if they can do anything else about the tires on the M/H. They got rid of the "wiggle" but still encountering a bumpy ride going down the road. Might have a out of round tire or one that isn't properly balanced. Sure hope they can find the problem 'cause it sure is a PITA the way it is.

Got Becky's internet connections up and running BEFORE I hooked up my MTV so she be slaving over a hot stove with pork chops, fried potatoes, gravy, etc. etc., as I update this Blog. Good trade off! Later. Wayne & Becky

On Friday, Took A Back..............

road to Anacortes from Deceptions Pass Park. Drove up to the top of Mt. Erie (actually Mt. Erie is just a tall hill) but it has a nice view from the top. The third photo is Mt. Baker that looks like another cloud. Kinda hazy but pictures turned out OK. Anacortes from Mt. Erie and San Juan Islands (I think).

Geocaching Around..........

Anacortes, WA. Some are easy........some are difficult when you gotta dive into shrubs, trees, etc. etc. to find a cache. Look closely at John Storvik Playground....do you see the cache? Took about 15 minutes to find this one. Finished up Friday at the Northern Lights casino where we enjoyed their Friday Seafood Buffet..................FRESH dungeness crab..........I scoffed up 3 chowder bowls filled to the brim with crab. I certainly got my money's worth and "B" won $17.00 on a penny slot machine so that paid for half our crab feed. Weather still great!!!

Saturday And We're...............

just messing around Anacortes, WA. We stopped at the Bowling Alley yesterday for fish n' chips and saw that they served breakfast all day long.........the biscuits and gravy looked good so we came back today for breakfast. It was worth the drive........yesterday's lunch was pretty darn good too. A little park on the way in to Anacortes.......there was a geocache hidden near here so had to stop and grab it. We kicked around the Farmer's Market for awhile until "B" spent her entire allowance on veggies, goat cheese, squash and only the good Lord knows what all she purchased! Waiting for library to open so we drove around and found a road leading to a viewpoint where we could see Anacortes, marina and surrounding area. Also found a benchmark embedded in the rocks at the top of the hill. Now I gotta remember to log it.

At The Oak Harbor Library..............

........and I'm sitting about 35 feet from the wifi connection and I keep LOSING my internet signal! This really sucks. Will make a quick post while I still have the connection. We drove south of Oak Harbor today to Fort Casey, browsed around, took some pictures, had lunch in Coupeville and are on our way home. Pictures were taken at Fort Casey.........we even saw some Bambis.

The Museum At The Lighthouse........

at Fort Casey had some interesting info about the Fort. The gun emplacements had 3 inchers, 5 inchers, 9 inchers, 10 and 12 inchers!! Enough to make some people lightheaded. Here's Becky with a 12 incher!

Drove to Coupeville Area................

this afternoon and stopped at Fort Casey. Couldn't resist taking this picture...............guess who was born in 1942............as for the "USED", well you'll just have to figure that out yourself.

We're Back At The Oak Harbor............

library. Just finished doing laundry, washed the "Suzy", scouted around town looking for the place where Becky lived a hundred years ago (couldn't find it...surprise, surprise) so we're logging in our cache finds from yesterday and maybe we'll go looking for a few more when we leave the library. Here's a couple of pictures from our Sand Lake trip, we drove through Pacific City and they had a parade going on celebrating "Dorry Days". We followed Dug and the Rhino back home on Sunday in the rain. Finally arrived at Deception Pass and this is our home until about Aug 2. Got a nice view of Deception Pass Bridge from the north end of the park. An A-6 greets visitors when they arrive at Oak Harbor. Some people have strange looking objects for yard decorations. We found a cache that was located out in the harbor...........at least the GPSr said it was. We had to walk out to the end of the docks to find it..........walk well worth it cause I "skimmed" two one dollar bills from the cache. Spent about 30 minutes yesterday trying to get a TV satellite signal through the trees............could pick up a signal but it wasn't strong enough to watch TV...........still get TV through the antenna but the best pictures are from a Canadian station...............I may have to move sooner then we intended!

As is the case with everywhere else we visit...........we don't recognize much in Oak Harbor. The OHT (Oak Harbor Tavern) is still there though plus another tavern that existed 40+ years ago!! Some things never change.

Just click on this line to see where we are: http://map.datastormusers.com/user1.cfm?user=3467

No plans for the remainder of our visit in this area...........just play it by ear I guess. Later, until we visit the library again. Wayne and Becky

Tuesday................

guess it's been a week since last update. Last Friday we packed up and left Paradise Point and headed to Sand Lake to play in the sand dunes for a couple of days. Got a new CDI box installed for the Rhino and needed to see how it would run. Well..............bad weekend to travel to Sand Lake as the sun quit shining and the showers started. "B" ses.........what difference does it make where we are, it'll still be raining. We arrived at Sand Lake Friday afternoon, got the TV satellite dish up and running but didn't try to set up the internet dish so we haven't been online for about a week. Dug and family and Mark and Laurie pulled in later Friday evening. We sorta holed up while the rains fell. Saturday we all drove into Lincoln City for lunch and to try our luck at the slot machines. I think we all contributed to the welfare of my Chinook Winds Red Brothers but Tami sprang for a nice lunch buffet for all. The Twerps spent a couple of hours in the casino play area. Got back to the beach and the rain had quit so was able to test drive the Rhino. Apparently the new CDI box is functioning OK as I raced a couple of other Rhinos and they declined to race again.

We left Sand Lake Sunday morning, stopped at Dug's house briefly and then headed up the highway north bound. We found a state park, Millersvania, just south of Olympia so spent the night there. Lottsa trees so didn't even try to set up satellite dishes. Monday we crept through Seattle, man that traffic is something else and we even missed the rush hour! Stopped at the Northern Lights Casino near Anacortes for lunch and made more contributions to my Red Brothers. Arrived at Deception Pass State Park to find trees, trees and more trees and don't believe we have a chance of getting any satellite signals. We might not make it the entire 10 days we originally planned. Today we drove to Oak Harbor, found the commissary and library so right now we're at the library and connected to the internet. Becky is getting her internet fix, I'm updating this and will try to download some geocaches so we might go hunting for some this afternoon. The sun has returned and the weatherman ses summer has returned and will be around for at least the next 7 or 8 days. Later, when the official photographer might have some photos to post..........my camer is busted and she won't share her camera!!! Will get back on line in a couple of days. Later. Wayne & Becky

Here's Some Pictures............

taken at Coos Bay when we were packing up to leave and some more taken by the "photographer". We took a different route home so we could stop in Florence, OR to indulge in the "best fish n chips" we've found so far. Across from the Seafood Station was a grill where "B" and I ate on our way up from Corning.............the grill had a 50s theme and put out a pretty good (make that "greasy") breakfast where the biscuits and gravy were darn good. The fish and chips were outstanding and Becky and I shared a bowl of clam chowder which wasn't too bad either. We filled up with gas and saw an unusual way to transport a Rhino at the filling station. Yesterday "B" and I were returning to the park and saw a couple of Bambis a short distance from our campground. Here's a couple of pictures of our Grand Vitara. Right now we're having the tow brackets removed from the little Tracker and, hopefully tomorrow, they'll be installed on the Vitara so we'll be good to go after the weekend. A little rain last night and some sprinkles throughout the day.........and it's nice and COOL. Tried to use my camera today and it apparently has given up the ghost........all the images turn out streaked and blurred. I'll have to send it in to Canon and with a little luck they'll send me an upgraded replacement like they did for Becky. Would be nice to spend only $97.00 for a new camera that about 3 steps up from my old one. More later if anything happens around here.

W&B

Monday................

Spent Saturday getting things squared away after Coos Bay trip, washing clothes, etc. On Sunday we went in search of a different tow vehicle........our little Tracker was showing signs of age, wear and tear, mileage, etc. etc. ........sorta like us. Looking for a Chevy/Suzuki similar to old one since tow brackets can be switched. Today we finally found one that we can be happy with so bought it. It's still old, 2002 model, but in great shape but with bigger engine, V6, A/C and all the bells and whistles. If we can avoid rocks, desert trails and no trails with this one it'll probably give us good service for a few more years. Almost too pretty to go charging through sage brush with this one; but, as usual with the first big dent then it won't matter. Weather great in low 80s. Dr. and dental appointment in the next two days and then maybe we can get into some serious geocaching before heading north to Whidby Island. Later...... W&B

Here We Be......................

back to Paradise Point State Park. Took a couple of hours to get everything set up, steak cooked for dinner with fresh crab salad and now all we gonna do is kick back for the evening. Looks like laundry day tomorrow :-(

Warmer here, but the 90 & 100 degree temperature is gone for another year.............so I hope.

Check this out for our location:

http://map.datastormusers.com/user1.cfm?user=3467

Thursday.............

and I'm beginning to feel like I'll live. Woke up this morning and wolfed down breakfast like I had never been ill. John, Char, "B" and I went out in the Rhinos kinda early this morning. On the way back both Rhinos started running ragged and mine finally stopped completely and John limped back to the camp. He needed a new fuel filter and my CDI box went south. We finally got the Rhino's running again. At least we made it to the beach but no Sea Lion today and no crabs. Speaking of crabs, I called two seafood shops and one of them finally got some fresh crabs in today. I ordered 6 of them and boy are they every spendy!!! Picked them up late this afternoon and now we have a quart and a half of crab meat. Don't know what plans Becky has for them. Tami ate hers tonight (I think) and John nibbled on his but I think he's saving most of it for something later. Becky has been looking for crab cake recipes and other crab recipes on the internet so she'll come up with something. The lady at the shop said this is probably the last of dungeness crabs until later in the year. Molting season is starting so no more this summer. No wonder they were spendy. We're sorta getting ready to pack up and leave tomorrow morning, picking up trash etc. All I gotta do tomorrow is load the Rhino, stow away the tv sat. dish and internet dish and we should be ready to roll by 10 o'clock. Only about 5 hours to get home so no hurry. Besides that, it's still HOT in Vancouver. Except for a little rain last night we've been cool and enjoying the weather.

We did manage to grab a couple of geocaches today and I placed my Red Jeep in one so it can continue its journey.

Should be back at Paradise Point late tomorrow afternoon. Will look for some pictures to post when the "official photographer" gives me her chip. Later, Wayne, Becky and the Troops

Some Weird Sights at the Dunes.........

kinda make one wonder if we're having any fun yet????

Tuesday.....Trace The Builder..........

always seems to have some fun. This was the fourteenth time he was rearranging the fire wood.

Finally........having some fun.........

on the beach. I didn't make the trip to the beach yesterday 'cause still feeling kinda crummy. This is Charleston Harbor where we didn't find any crab. On the beach the troops found an old Sea Lion sleeping on the beach. He looks dead to me but they said he moved whenever the water splashed up on him. The water must have been cold as Cassidy seemed reluctant to indulge! This was the only crab we saw all day long.........probably should have grabbed it and cooked it up. Maybe we find some fresh crab today as the wind and water are pretty calm today. Don't know what's on the schedule for the rest of today as the some of the troops are going home and we still have to make our annual run to Bandon for fish and chips and sweatshirts. More later.

Tuesday............and

still at the sand dunes. It's warmer today but it was cold last night. I'm still feeling crummy from whatever hit me on Saturday night so I took pictures from the M/H and watched my MTV. The pile of firewood logs have been keeping Trace busy stacking, restacking and building stuff. Pretty soon the wood will be gone and don't know what he'll do then. This morning John, Char, "B" and myself when to Charleston Harbor to fetch some fresh dungeness crab..........yummy......we could almost taste them. Bummer...when we got there we found the winds had been too high the last two days so the boats hadn't gone out to go crabbing. Picked up a couple of phone numbers so maybe we'll get some tomorrow. Some people were crabbing from the dock but they appeared to not be having any luck either. Stopped at the casino for lunch and John and Becky both won some money so we left before we gave it back. Next a stop at the Myrtle Wood factory. Becky found some stuff for BD presents..........unfortunately she didn't win enough money to pay for the Myrtle Wood; but, she has some unique presents. This afternoon we made a brief excursion into the dunes and now everyone is piling into the trucks to make a run to the beach. I passed on that one so it looks like a good opportunity to take a nap. Later. Wayne

Getting Ready and Arrival at Coos Bay............

When I picked up the new tires for our Rhino Becky couldn't pass up a used clothing store right next door to the shop. She was "thrilled" to find some "genuine Harley Davidson" attire.............and it was only $4.00. We're sitting in front of Dug's house on Saturday and getting things loaded up to go. Cassidy had to make a speed run out to the farm to take care of her calf. Saturday night was miserable!!! I had pizza for dinner and it absolutely did not agree with me so I was sick most of Saturday night. I made it to Coos Bay but had to make several unscheduled stops along the way. We arrived, got things sorta set up and John, The Firebug, soon had a raging fire going. I just laid in the motorhome while everyone else worked at setting up camp. I had another miserable night but woke up this morning feeling a whole lot better. John brought his laptop so he helped me set up the internet satellite this morning and now all three of us can go on line. Trace looks like he wore himself out. Guess we're all here, Doug, Tami, Cassidy, Trace, April (Tami's sister), Mark (Tami's brother) and his girlfriend Laurie, John and Charlene and "B" and myself. Should be a nice 5 days if the weather cooperates. Some more pictures follow.

Here's where we are if you're interested: http://map.datastormusers.com/user1.cfm?user=3467

Monday..........

At Coos Bay and getting ready to take our first trip into the sand dunes. "B" and I were a little late getting out there and when we arrived we found Mark riding Trace's little 80 quad and racing Cassidy on her 80. It was no contest.........Cassidy thoroughly trounced Mark..........was is probably due to Cassidy weighing 39 pounds and Mark considerably more! "B" got an interesting picture in the reflection from Charlene's helmet........that's us in our Rhino.

More Dune Pictures...........

Here's some "racers" trying to get to the top of the hill first and some other pics "B" took. My Rhino died in the sand! Checked the connections on the CDI box and apparently one had vibrated loose. Plugged it back together and we got running again. Pretty windy today. Weather report has a change coming tomorrow so hopefully it won't be as windy tomorrow..........or it'll be from a different direction. Tami, "B", Charlene and I made a run into town for gas and all I heard from the passengers was "Let's Go To The Casino"!! I lost $14.00, Becky won $4.00 and Tami showed us a "free" Pepsi that cost her $2.00. No report from Charlene on her gambling activities. When we got back we had NO TV. A wind gust blew the Sat. dish over but John got it back up and running again so I have my MTV and all is well.

Where Are We???.......

Paradise Point State Park, south of Woodland, Washington. Just click on the link below and you'll get a map of our location. We're users 3467.........

http://map.datastormusers.com/user1.cfm?user=3467


Forgot about using this little toy.........tried to use it the other day but the website was having difficulties so it sorta slipped my mind..........most of you know how that works. Wayne

Yesterday........Fourth of July.........

Happy Birthday USA! Well it's gone for another year and I imagine most of us over ate, got sunburned and tried to blow the sky to pieces. That's kinda what we did. We hung out at Paradise Point for most of the day and then drove into Dug's house in the evening. It sure is hard work waiting for the sun to go down so Dad can blow up his paycheck.

Becky and I picked up a Red Jeep from a Geocache and to enter a contest we have to submit a picture of the jeep and something pertaining to American Heritage.............whatever that is. Trace was our model and we took a bunch of pictures of him with the red jeep, fireworks, sitting on a motorcycle, sitting on his Mom's 4 wheeler and everything else we could think of. Posting a few of them. Nightfall finally arrived and Dad shot off his fireworks with neighbors on both sides of the street joining in. The Fourth of July Fireworks Display at Fort Vancouver started at 2200. It has been billed as the "largest display West of the Mississippi".........which is probably no longer true. I do remember when the display lasted well over an hour in the past but it has gone downhill since then and last night's display lasted about 40 minutes. Becky and I left Doug's house and drove down the freeway so she could watch the sky being blown up. We made a big circle around Fort Vancouver and managed to see some of the sights and we still missed the humongous traffic jam that always follows the display. Nice to say we saw some of the display but I sure wouldn't make a habit of it. Today was a domestic day so did our laundry and made a grocery run for goodies to take to Coos Bay. Tomorrow another "get ready to get ready" day and on Saturday we'll park in front of Dug's house and get everything loaded up so we can leave early Sunday morning. W & B

The Kids Took Turns............

added some color to each other. They were using Trace's Mohawk "spike" stuff which wasn't the thing to use to color fine blonde hair and certainly not the stuff to use on "old" grey hair! Both of them nearly lost their scalps when they removed the stuff. Today Becky bought some "spray on" goop which will probably work much better the next time they use it. They did this yesterday (Sunday). Who knows what will be next??

Today was Cassiday's day to go out to the farm to continue her lessons on showing her calf at the Clark County Fair. Fair time is only about six weeks away so they got some work to do and lots to learn.

Some pictures follow of today's "training" espisode.

Getting Ready For............

the Clark County Fair. We drove out to the farm where Cassidy's "borrowed" calf is being housed. With only 6 weeks until fair time both Cass and the Calf have a lot of work to do! Both of them have to learn how to walk, lead, stop, turn, get into the correct position and a whole bunch of other stuff. Cass slips on her boots to help guard against "cow pies" while Laurie, her 4H Leader, drags the calf out of the muck. Me and Grandpa observed from a safe distance. Man this is hard work!! Is it all worth it???

Saturday...............

We drove back to Vancouver and Doug and I headed for the tire shop to get new tires for the his 4-wheeler and my Rhino. Since we're going to Coos Bay where the sand dunes are longer and taller I figured it's time to bite the bullet and get some sand tires. No tires for the Rhino!!! Bummer, however the tire shop said the Rhino tires WOULD be delivered on Tuesday. I paid for them and will check back on Tuesday. We dropped Becky off at Doug's house and they headed for the playground at one of the local schools with one of Cassidy's friends. Got a picture of Trace and his Mohawk........he needs more color. Will have to talk him into using the Pink, even if he thinks it's a "girl" color. Yesterday we had a little hamburger/hot dog Bar-B-Que at our RV park. Doug, Tami, The Twerps, John, Mark and Laurie showed up. I picked up oldest grandson, Brian, as he didn't go to the VGSA ball park where Briana was playing in a softball tournament. Becky, as the official photographer, is really slipping as she didn't take a single picture at the Bar-B-Que! After our little picnic "Boo", Becky and I went to the ball park. They were just starting their second game and we watched Briana pitch the first 3 scoreless innings and score a run. After a pitcher change the "home team" ran into trouble and were behind when Becky and I left. Briana was picked up by another team for tournament play and she had a third game to play. That was a little much for us. Her buns were probably really dragging at the end of her last game. Today........more softball. More later. W&B