Saturday..........

and still trying to get some stuff taken care of.........got the Suzuki in for a check-up and it seems to be running a lot better than it was. Guess the acid test will be to see if the gas mileage has improved. Dug and John did some more work on the Rhino, upgraded the highlights to HI beams and they outta work great at night. Ordered new front sand tires and they should be in before we head for Coos Bay.

The WA Morris' got a new puppy today so he was the highlight of the day. I forget what the heck he is; but, he's a little larger than a white rat and will probably be 10-12 pounds when he gets all grown up. I didn't get any pictures of him but maybe Becky will post some on her blog.

About 1700 we headed for Portland to attend a geocaching event. About 10 of us from the geocaching group in Yuma were there and it was nice to see old friends again. I also won a geocoin in a raffle and Becky won a couple of other items. When your ticket was drawn you had to draw a ticket for the next winner. Becky purchased some extra tickets and then drew her own ticket when she won the first time. I'm not even sure that anyone noticed except me.

Can you believe this..........Becky forgot to take a single picture! Mark that on your calendar.

Don't know what we'll be doing tomorrow............fireworks go on sale tomorrow; but, from the explosions we are hearing now you'd think they were already on sale. For the first time since 1962 Vancouver will NOT have their giant fireworks display...........billed as the largest display West of the Mississippi. Guess it too has become a victim of the economy.

Would liked to have made a speed run to Sand Lake; but, too occupied with other stuff today to get ready. Looks like we won't know how the mods on the Rhino will work until we get to Coos Bay. I'm still accepting donations for a new carburetor.

All for now. W&B

Friday...................

.........see Becky's Blog..................http://beckystravels.blogspot.com/

Thursday Afternoon And We're Freezing..........

our buns off! It's in the 60s and no warm up in sight! Did a few errands this afternoon.....ordered glasses, picked up some prescriptions, visited my old work site in Camas, stopped by Wally World and filled up with gas at Costco...........cheapest gas around at $2.69 a gallon. A doctor appointment tomorrow and see dentist on Monday and then maybe we can play..........if it's not too cold.

Some "nuts" are in the campground and walking around in T-shirts and shorts!

I messed around with the satellite dish this morning and finally relocated it about 4 feet from my original spot. It's up and running now..........I think yesterday it was a Hughes problem and not mine as it has flicked off and on this afternoon and finally settled down to where now it's working OK. I really like the air card though........it does a good job right now; but, that's because we're in a 3G area. Really neat to just plug it in and be on line. Will have to keep playing with it in different areas before the 30 days are up..........don't know if I'll be able to justify the cost for "convenience" though. I just ordered an external antenna for it so I'll be able to hook up my PowerMax Booster when signal is low. Gotta keep Hughes for at least another 10 months to fulfill a contract and then maybe I'll be able to say bye bye to it and keep the air card. Decisions, decisions..........?

Thanks for the note Judy.........I chose Sprint for the air card because it's much cheaper than the other carriers if you run over the 5 gig limit...........5 cents per MB..........AT&T and Verizon much more expensive.

Stopped by Doug & Tami's yesterday evening and checked out the Rhino..........the work Dug and John have put into it really looks good.............we might even have to make a speed run to Sand Lake this weekend to try out the new shocks, clutch, etc. I'm still waiting for contributions for a new carburetor.........right now I'm only $500 from my $500 dollar goal. Loosen up your wallets folks!

All for now..........later W&B

We're "At Home" In Paradise Point...........

State Park.........about 15 or so miles north of Vancouver, WA. Got in around noon and spent most of the afternoon trying to set up this *%&&** Hughes Network Dish. We're in the same place we generally park and I couldn't find the satellite to save my life. I probably spent over 2 hours moving the dish around. There's a tree that's kinda in my line of sight; but, I've never had problems before. Hell, the tree can't grow that much since last year. I finally got so disgusted that I drove into town, found a Sprint Store and got signed up for a Sprint Air Card. Got it working when we got back to the M/H. Don't have the best connection, around 60 - 80 % but I just checked the download and upload speed.........heck a little over 1 meg. down and 358 up!! I have 30 days to use it and I can turn it back in before 30 days is up if I so desire. The main drawback is that I only have 5 gigabites of downloads per month. I don't know how long it will take to go through that........should be ok with normal web browsing. If it continues to work as well as it is right now I may have to try and figure out how to drop Hughes Net without paying a big penalty...........I'm still stuck with it for at least another 10 months.

We'll be here through the Fourth and then on the 5th we all head for the Sand Dunes at Coos Bay for 6 days. Then back to Vancouver and Paradise Point.

Weather should be cooling down a bit for the weekend..........no plans for the next couple of days so guess we'll just kick back and see what happens.

Gimme a call Larry.

Later. W&B

Made It To Seven Feathers Casino...........

around 1500 this afternoon. Left Corning a little after 0900 and took our time getting here.........made a couple of pit stops and had uneventful trip. A little windy when we left but nice and sunny all the way.

Pulled into the casino dry camping lot and it was very warm..........almost hot when we stopped. Set up my MTV and turned on the computer. Last time we were here we were within range of an open wifi signal and it's still there so making use of it.

Called up Bill and Roberta and they drove down from the casino campground. We shot the breeze for awhile and then drove up to the casino for dinner. Tonight was steak and lobster night............decisions, decisions. I finally went with the buffet and Becky and Roberta had lobster with Bill choosing the "surf and turf". It was all pretty good.

We had to pay our dues and feed the slots for awhile.............I escaped ahead with $5.00 and Becky looked a lot lighter in the pocketbook when we left. The lounge had some entertainment going, 4 Black Dudes singing old songs from years gone by. They were very good but the lounge was full up so we stood, watched and listened. If seats were available I would have liked to stay as I'm sure they put on a pretty good show............even if some of their material was too old for me to remember............Becky recognized their songs though.

It's cooled down and I got my MTV going so we're "at home" in the parking lot..................joined by a lot of other rigs and owners too cheap to pay for an rv site.

Onward to Vancouver tomorrow. W&B

Spent Father's Day Weekend Feeding Our Faces.........

We'll start off with a picture of Sandy...........she occasionally checks my Blog. (I think the empties, except for the water bottle, belonged to her)




Finished Sunday morning at our favorite diner with biscuits, gravy, etc. etc. I even scored more loot here as the Pearson's presented me with a gift card for Don's Diner. Grandma and the boys, Bryce and Jace, Steve and Rhonda and Rhonda and I at the diner. Later Steve is checking out some of his Father's Day Loot. Nice windup for a Super Father's Day Weekend. I also got pictures of Rhino Goodies that Cassidy and Trace gave me and Dug installed on my Rhino. We'll be up there in a couple of days to try out the new Rhino stuff.






Saturday night Steve and Rhonda held a barbque for Steve's Dad, Ron and myself. Other friends were invited and again we ate too much.............but what a way to go! Grandma Becky had her camera going full blast as usual and she even managed to get included in one of the pics. Jace is the "techno weenie" and has the video games down pat. Ron and I both got DVD's with various pictures of us and the Twerps.

This was Friday's barbque at one of Steve and Rhonda's friend's house in the country. Man there was a ton of meat to eat...........tri-tip, elk steaks, beef steaks and all kinds of goodies to go with them. Steve, the host, started cooking and by the the time everyone had "samples" we all were almost too full to actually eat dinner. Last pictures were taken at Steve and Rhonda's house for the Saturday barbque.

Had a bit of excitement after we got home on Sunday...........when we left Woodland we unplugged from electricity and I laid a small lamp on the dinette cushion so it wouldn't get tossed around on the trip home. Well..........I left it on the cushion, got home, plugged into electricity, unloaded some goodies and shut the motorhome up. About 6 hours later some teenagers rapped on the door and said they thought they could smell smoke coming from the motorhome. I made a beeline out there, opened up the door and found the dinette cushion smoldering from the lamp which had been left on when we unplugged in Woodland.

Threw the cushion and lamp outside and hosed them down. Now we be looking for a new dinette cushion. We were lucky.............coulda burned the whole darn M/H up if the kids hadn't stopped by.............and we don't even know who the kids were.

That's about it for now............just listened to the weather report and it's going to be approaching triple digits later in the week. Lucky for us we be leaving on Tuesday for cooler (I hope) weather in Washington.

Also got another surprise..........received a phone call from friends from Yuma, who live in and around Oregon. They'll be at Seven Feather's Casino near Roseburg for a few days so we'll get hooked up with them for dinner on Tuesday and tell geocaching lies. They are doing the Oregon Delorme Challenge.................which entails finding a cache in all of the counties in Oregon. I guess they are well on their way to completion.

Well, that's all of now..........next post will probably be from Washington. W&B

HOT.........today........

........well, not triple digits; but, it kinda felt like it. Supposed to have a bit of a cool down for the weekend when we head for Woodland tomorrow. Not sure exactly what is going on; but, have a "bring your own beef" bar-b-que at one of Rhonda's friends tomorrow evening. Final awards ceremony for the baseball players on Saturday and guess we'll just kick around down there and come home on Sunday sometime. Last weekend before we head North so will give Mama Becky and daughter a little "bonding and shopping" time and say adios to the Twerpos.

Gas still hovering from $2.89 to $2.99. Hope it's cheaper in WA/OR. I guess it still beats $4.50+.

Hughes Satellite getting a little better nearly everyday..........still not up to the speeds they advertise on TV to fish in new customers; however, it's been usable the last couple of days at peak times. Just ran a speed test and it's downloading at l mb second..........which is pretty darn good for satellite. It's also 2334 and definitely not peak time.

Still have my days and nights all messed up..........going to bed late, getting up late and still dozing off in the afternoons sure messes up my schedule. Maybe I need a job.


With the terrible thought in mind guess I'll call it quits and see if I can find some "X" rated movie on the tube. Later. W

Dang.........Day's Are Flying By And..........

we're not doing anything interesting enough to report. Weather still hanging in there and it still hasn't gotten HOT! Doing a little bit to get M/H ready for trip North and now we're just left with the stuff we have to do on the day before we leave. Guess I'll take it out to the truck wash and let them clean it up for $28.00. They do a pretty good job.

Gas here is trying to break the $3.00 a gallon price...........hovering at $2.999 in places and about $2.87 at the Flying J.

Been giving a little business to my Red Brothers at the casino........went out this morning and left with $22.00 of their money..........out and about later this afternoon and gave them $20.00 back. Tomorrow is old folks day so might go out for 1/2 price breakfast. Becky is still watching what she's eating and doing a good job..........I'm just continuing to do a good job at eating.

Dug and John have been working on my Rhino and, from the pictures Dug sent, it's starting to look pretty good. They installed new shocks for me and Dug got a good deal on some used plastic.........it's used but looks darn near new. We'll be able to hit the Sand Fest at Coos Bay right after the 4th and we be styling on the dunes for that little annual event! To bad I not be rich........for a mere $500.00 I could get a new carb which would be the next step in my quest for more horsepower. Instead of sending "gas money" maybe all my readers would like to send "carb money" instead. I won't hold my breath.

Got my days and nights all mixed up............staying up to late to work on the computer when the speed kicks in; however, there has been improvement the last 3 days. The guy who was supposed to check out my transmitter never showed up so I called Hughes Net and found out later that the installer they contacted no longer works for them. I guess he wised up. Anyway, they gave me his phone number and I found out that his business was in Phoenix. Apparently, Hughes still thinks I'm in Yuma.

Well, that's it for now. W

Wow.......It's Wednesday And We............

haven't been doing much of anything since getting home on Saturday. Well, had a pile of dirty clothes to take care of and M/H to clean up. It's been keeping Becky kinda busy; but, she's slacked off the last couple of days. I had to wash and wax the Suzuki yesterday...........I may have to send her through my retraining program if this sort of behavior continues.

Weather has been SUPER.........mid 70s and hope it continues until we head North on the 23rd. Some geocachers from Oregon stopped by to check out our Muttley cache, as they hunted we chatted with them and found out that they are the #1 cachers in Oregon with something like 10,800 plus finds. They couldn't find several of mine.

There's a geocaching breakfast event on Saturday in Paradise........about 35 mile drive; but, we haven't decided if we want to go or not. It'll probably be a last minute thing if we do go.

Still having problems with my Hughes satellite system, finally got to tier 4 of their technical department and the tech "suspects" that I might have a hardware problem with my transmitter. I still don't think so; but, for a mere $125.00 they're sending out a technician to change out the part and run tests. No charge for the part............whoopee! If they get the damn thing running like it should be it'll be worth it. I still get excellent transmit and receive service from about midnight to 0600............so I think he's just guessing. Should have it checked out in the next day or so. Need to have it running before we leave 'cause they won't provide any assistance if they find out I move the dish where ever we travel.

Looked into an air card with Sprint and might have to try that out.

That's about it for us the last few days. W&B

Back to Woodland About Noon Today.........

Here's where we spent the last four days, I thought there were 52 steps from the bottom to the top; but, Beckys ses 50...........whatever, climbing them took "your breath away". Needed to drop into 4 whl dr to make it up to a small parking area. A curious deer ambled by when we were just sitting around shooting the breeze. Yesterday we did some caching around Angel's Camp and had lunch outside the tourist info center. Old Mark Twain lived in a cabin near Angel's Camp and this is where he penned his "Jumping Frog of Calaveras County". The whole town has a "Frog Theme" just about everywhere you go. I guess the big event, jumping frog festival or whatever it's called, takes place in May. We missed it! Here's a link you can follow so more info on the celebration..........http://www.frogtown.org/



We picked up a few caches here and there and one was located outside the fairgrounds where the festival is held. Not too far from the fairgrounds is where Mark Twain's cabin is located. Becky found a cache there.




Here's some pictures I took around Mark Twain's cabin. I was bummed to find out that this is a replica of the original cabin. Since he was here in the 1860's I guess I was being a little optomistic to think the original cabin was still standing. This replica is pretty beat up. If you enlarge the photo you might be able to read the info on the plaques.

Had a great time; but, those hills are tough on a old guy. Will take the weekend to get my knees back into shape..........and maybe some ice packs.

We'll be in Woodland until tomorrow afternoon. Bryce's baseball team is into the play offs and they won their first game so they'll be playing again tomorrow so we'll hang around for that and head for Corning tomorrow afternoon.

Later. W&B

"Leeching" A WiFi Signal ................

These were taken in Yosemite, we could see the falls and Linda said it was only a "couple of blocks" to the base of the lower falls. Well I said, OK, let's go I'll take my own sweet time and maybe I'll get there. Well, it was hellava lot further than "two blocks"; but I finally made it and the view was well worth it. On the way out we stopped to check out El Capitain (spelling ??) and talked to young guy who was watching the mountain climbers. He had friends who started out to make the climb on Thursday (they were supposed to have completed the climb on Sunday morning) and here it was on Tuesday afternoon and they were nearing the top. They expected to make it to the top on Wednesday. He was going to hike up the trail and meet them some time Wednesday. We could see his friends with binoculars but I couldn't get a good picture of them. In the last picture we had a good view of a lone climber who had a loooonnnng way to go to reach the top. Enlarge the picture and you might be able to see him in the middle. I guess it's a 4,000 foot climb.


Yesterday we went a caching and stopped at a Vineyard where they had this gold nugget on display. It was discovered in 1992 along with some crystalline leaf gold. This "specimen", guess it's not called a nugget, is the largest specimen of crystalline gold in the world. It weighs approximately 1,568 ounces or about 44 pounds. It's on display in the vineyards museum in a large walk-in vault. Value ---- priceless!



On our way to Yosemite Becky ses, "Hey there's a cache only a couple of miles away".........we we left the main road and eventually followed a cow path to an area where few travel. There was an old bridge and nice waterfall there. Well we hunted and hunted for the cache and finally I checked the Nuvi and found out that the last find was almost a year ago. We presumed it was missing so I planted another cache at the end of the bridge and sent an email off to the owner. Have to wait and see if he "OKs" my replacement. It's a long drive to find a cache and then "not find it". Scenery was great getting to it though.





On the way to Yosemite we stopped alongside the road to grab a cache and I took pictures of my only coins, logged them in and out of the cache for mileage purposes and continued on our way.

so will try to post a quick update. We're up in the "hills" near Arnold, CA visiting friends we had met in Yuma. Tree cover too heavy for my MTV but fortunately Jim and Linda's neighbor have an internet hook-up and have left their signal open so we can use. Still, it's haphazard so may or may not get this posted.

We left Corning on Friday, May 28 and spent weekend in Woodland. We were there to see Jace move on to the next step in Scouting and we managed to do a little geocaching with Rhonda and the Twerps. We left Woodland on Monday morning and headed for Arnold. It wasn't too far, a little over a hundred miles; but, roads got to be a bit steep and winding. Finally got to Jim and Linda's cabin in the early afternoon and there was enough room to park at the foot of their driveway. That afternoon we drove up to Calaveras Big Tree state park, browsed around and found a cache stuck out in the middle of nowhere. It's a traveling cache so Jim and Linda wanted to find it and move it to another location. Looked at the Big Trees and back to the cabin for supper.

Tuesday we headed for Yosemite and did a little caching on the way.

Naturally, the above pictures are out of order; but, who knows except me?

That about catches us up for the last several days. Probably heading back to Corning on Friday and don't know whether we'll stop in Woodland or not.

Later. W&B