Rain and More Rain........

has been falling the last couple of days. I'm just about ready to get out of here but still one more Dr. appointment and Eye Exam to go.

Took the tow bar into Roadmaster, they have moved from Portland to Vancouver. Got a Freebie...........they replaced the broken bolt, replaced a bunch of others bolts and washers and cleaned and lubricated it! Didn't expect that since the tow bar is about 9 years old. So, you heard it from me.........Roadmaster is #1 in customer service! (at least as far as I'm concerned).

Between rain showers yesterday we managed to get to Costco, Yamaha shop and a couple of other places so "B" could get her shopping fix. Stopped at the Mall and while I sat and observed the scenery (not much scenery on weekdays though) while she was shopping. Window shopping I should say because all she bought was candy at Sees.

Got some Pepsi at Costco..........nice to be able to buy some Pepsi without having to pay a nickle for the damn can.

Woke up early, really early this morning and couldn't get back to sleep so figured I'd update this. Update done so will turn on the tube...........with a couple of hundred channels I outta be able to find something.

Later. W

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

and we spent most of the day yesterday at the Skate Board park in Woodland. Doug and Tami hosted a little get together for family and friends. Kids burned up the skateboard park and everyone else enjoyed food, drink and good conversation. The only problem for Becky and I..........it was COLD. At least we were, no rain and it was OK when the sun popped out from behind the clouds. Everyone except us were running around in shorts and T shirts............well at least most of them were.

Started raining this afternoon so don't know how long that might last. We had considered going to Sand Lake for some Rhino riding; but, now will have to keep an eye on the weather. I don't particularly relish heading that way in the rain so we'll just wait and see.

No geocaching yet.........everytime we drive past one (within 500 feet) the NUVI lets forth and big old alarm. Gotta find some before we head back.

Today was "see the Orthopedic Surgeon day". He checked xrays and talked to me for 15 or 20 minutes. He said he'd replace the right knee but had some concerns about replacing the left knee. He was also concerned about the left knee holding up during rehab on the right knee. This the leg where I have some nerve damage and it's already weakened with muscle atrophy. He told me the decision was mine on the right knee. I asked about time frame and he said if I made the decision today for replacement it would still be at least three months down the road before it could be done. I told him that I'd like to try and lose some pounds off my mid-section and do some strength building excercises for both legs. He thought that would be a good plan, gave me some exercises to do and information on before and after knee replacement. I'll give that plan a try and see what happens.

Actually, I think I'm just turning chicken shit! See my rheumatologist on Friday so can discuss some other options with her at that time.

For now........no knee replacement in the immediate future. Huummm..........maybe "medical maijuana" would help for knee pain?

All for now. W

Freezing Out Butts Off ........................

in Washington! Last night the little electric heater was giving me problems.........or should I say yesterday afternoon. Finally got it running and let 'er rip all night long. Temp inside the M/H was a comfortable 68 when I woke up. Guess the outside temps dropped in the 30s last night and tonight doesn't look any better. We spend the day at Doug and Tami's and it might have reached 56 today. While Tami, Becky and the kids went shopping I watched John and Doug as they were working on my Rhino. I picked up a new clutch at Dragon Fire Racing in Lake Havasu when we were driving back North, some HI headlights and a horn. Today was installation day. We got to Dug's about 0930 and he and John were already working away on the clutch. It installed without much of a problem as did the horn. Ran into problems with the high intensity head lights...........this is the second set I've got that wouldn't fit. Guess I'll have to find some 06 head light housings to make them work...............or, send the damn things back again. At this rate I'll have to float a loan just to pay for the postage.

Apparently the other halves had a nice day shopping............Becky came home with a bunch of bags anyway. Tomorrow Doug and Tami are hosting a get together at the skate board park in Woodland..........about 5 or 6 miles away and are expecting about 18 or more people to attend. Hope it warms up..........guess it's no big deal since Becky and I are the only ones freezing. Anyway Tami and Becky stocked up on food and they spent the afternoon making stuff for tomorrow. We called in an order for Pizza.......it was delivered and they made an error. Tami called them back and they sent out the correct Pizza..........so we had a "free" pizza as we didn't offer to give them back the mistake.

Stopped at Home Depot to buy a new electric heater and even got 50 per cent off on it since it was left over from the winter season. Now we got a back up when the old heater decides to give it up for good.

That was about the extent of our day. More later. W&B

Friday Afternoon..............

and we made it to Vancouver, WA about 1300 today. Right now we're sitting in Paradise Point State Park north of Vancouver. A little far for runs into Vancouver; but, the price is right...........a freebie with water and electricity. Unfortunately no sewer hook ups so we always have to unhook and dump about the middle of our stay here. Can't complain too much as I said the price is right.

Got everything hooked up........my MTV and Becky's internet so now all we gotta do is figure out something for dinner. Kinda cool, at least for us, but the locals are running around in shorts and flimsy halter tops. Becky just plugged in the electric heater! At least there's no rain and there are no clouds in sight.

We spent last night near Roseburg at the Seven Feather's Casino in their parking lot. Bad mistake for a "free" parking spot. I shudda realized that it was going to be an expensive night the minute I pulled into the parking lot. I made a left turn to park and heard a loud "pop" just as I was stopping. Looked around a found a nut and washer laying on the ground. The bolt the nut was attached to sheared off and I found the remaining portion on my tow bar! The bolt holds the tow bar together and if it had happened while we were tooling down the road it coulda been nasty. Anyway, that was the start of our problems..............we had a nice late lunch/dinner and then the slot machines gave us a good spanking. Not believing that it could possibly happen again caused us to go back in for breakfast before we left. Wrong move........breakfast ended up costing a bit over $30.00.

Tow bar made by Roadmaster and they are located in Portland. Guess I'll drive over on Monday and see if parts are available for a repair and try to get a "freebie" from them. Probably won't work as the tow bar is probably 9 or 10 years old.

That's it for us. Later if something happens. W&B

Taking The Satellite Dish Down............

in about 15 minutes so no more internet for awhile........unless we find an open wifi signal someplace along the line. Becky isn't here so it seemed like a good time to dismantle the system. We've got a few more goodies to pack in the M/H and we should be ready to leave in the morning. I think we'll stop at Canyonville (Seven Feather's Casino) for an overnight. I've located a few geocaches around that area so if we get there early enough we'll probably hunt down a few and then stay in the casino parking lot. Should get things up and running sometime Friday afternoon/evening when we'll be at Paradise Point State Park north of Vancouver, WA. We'll be there until May 4 and then head back to Corning.

Got get started on this stuff as we're going to make a speed run down to Woodland to watch the kid play baseball later this afternoon and visit with Rhonda & family before we head North.

Later from down the road...........or is that "up" the road since we're heading north???? W&B

Somehow Made It To Tuesday............

and it's 0545..........woke up and didn't go back to sleep so just got up. This morning we're meeting Bob and Judy at the Old Folks Breakfast at the casino........still the best deal in town as you can get 1/2 price on a decent breakfast buffet. Went last week and at least the breakfast is consistent. Also tried the Friday Night Seafood Buffet and the dinner stuff has continued to go downhill............no dungeness crab, just snow crab that you have to really work for to get a bite. Hope to fix the crab situation as we're taking the M/H up north to WA for about 12 days. Nothing better than fresh Oregon/Washington dungeness crab!

Leaving on Thursday and should return to Corning around May 5th. Will be nice to get a little "cool down" as it's been in the 90s and expect it to continue so for a couple of more days. Aside from Dr. appointments we hope to get in a little geocaching while in WA unless rain slows us down.

Going to make a speed run down to Woodland for Brutus' baseball game on Wednesday so gotta get the M/H all packed up and ready to go in the next two days. I'm just about done with my stuff and then have the last minute things to pack up like computer goodies and satellite dish. Oh yeah, after spending about 3 hours on the phone I was finally able up to upgrade my Hughes modem. After trying to talk to three different people in India, and one roundeye in the U.S., I finally talked to a technician who determined that the problem I was having wasn't my problem after all................seems like Hughes was having a problem with one of their satellites. The technician told me I'd have to try to register my modem after their problem was resolved. Finally got back on line about 5 hours after I started! Maybe it's time I started looking for some other way to connect to the internet.

That's about it for now. More later if anything interesting happens. W&B

Income Tax Day......Have You Filed Yet???........

Well things have been a bit hectic the last week or so; but, hopefully we'll get back into our mundane routine, maybe grab a few caches and check my own in Corning to see if they're still shipshape. Weather shaping up here too, been cool to cold since we got back on April 5th; but, supposed to hit 80 by the end of this week. Normally, I'd be grumbling about HOT weather; however, I think I'll just enjoy it for awhile.

I made a speed run to Washington on Thursday, got some business taken care of, and arrived back in Corning yesterday afternoon in time to catch Old Folks Lunch at the casino. Lunch good.......gambling not so good.

Coming over the pass south of Roseburg, Oregon yesterday I ran into snow........not much; but, believe old mama winter was making a "last gasp" appearance. She can go into hibernation now as far as I'm concerned.

Didn't do any updates while I was in Washington.............my cheap son is still using dial-up for his computer; so, aside from checking email I wasn't doing much on the computer. Had nice visit while I was there. Gotta head back for an orthopedic appointment on the 27th to see what I can get done on my knees. The sooner I can get them worked on, the better.

We discovered a water leak, again........had one last year too....... so hopefully the fix-it dude will be able to take care of it before time to go back north.

Becky cleaned out the motorhome while I was gone..........or so she ses.........the exterior didn't look like she waxed it to me! Guess I can't complain too much as she was fighting the sniffles when I left..........better now so I'll give her a few more days before I turn her loose with the wax.

That's about it.................I received an upgrade modem for the satellite system........supposed to be faster and for an additional $10 bucks a month I get more mega bites per day. On the phone they said it's a piece of cake to switch over............I got a 74 page booklet full of instructions! If anyone doesn't hear from us for awhile it's because the "piece of cake" turned into a monster.

Later if I can get the new modem working. W&B

In California...............

We arrived in Woodland about 1300 today and are presently camped out in front of Steve and Rhonda's house until they come home from work.

We had intended to spend the day in Fallon, NV and hunt down some geocaches and then head for Woodland on Friday. I was watching the weather reports and got scared...........when we got to Fallon it was short-sleeve shirt weather; but, the forecast for tonight was 28 degrees with rain and snow coming in. Didn't want to travel over the mountains in that kind of weather so we abandoned Fallon and had a nice drive to Woodland in bright, sunny weather.

Birthday party this weekend for Becky's youngest grandson, Bryce, so we'll hang around and probably head for Corning Sunday afternoon.

Spent a good part of the day on Wednesday in Tonopah caching with la84fishn and we finally left there with 50 cache finds under out belt. Grabbed a few more alongside the road on the way to Fallon. We managed to visit the commissary and exchange while at NAS Fallon since we probably won't be seeing any other military facilities for quite awhile. Stocked up on some of those "cheaper" items while we were there.

Anyways, just wanted to let everyone know where we were and what our plans were. I got a doctor appointment in Chico on Monday and then I'll probably drive up to Washington sometime next week. I bought some goodies for my Rhino when I stopped in Lake Havasu City so will deliver them to Doug and John for installation. Got a "first" appointment with orthopedics in late April so will return to Washington for that. Need to get the old knee (or possibly knees) taken care of as soon as I can.

That's it for us..............now we're only about 95 miles from "stick house"! W&B

Fought Head Winds All The Way..........

from Las Vegas to Tonopah today and arrived shortly before noon. Got rigs set up, had lunch with Larry and Audrey and then "B", Larry and I set out to hunt down some of the caches here in Tonopah. We've got around 60 on our list and this afternoon we found 19 before the COLD got to us. Man, we left Yuma too soon............filled up the M/H with gas when we arrived and couldn't wash our windshield 'cause the washers were still frozen over!

Will try it again tomorrow, if the winds die down it won't seem as cold; but, expect it to be around 28 degrees tonight. Got the electric heater going and it's losing ground to the cold. Guess we'll have to fire up the propane heater pretty soon. Lucky we made reservations 'cause a lot of rigs came rolling in and there's only 20 RV spaces with hookups. We got electricity, satellite dish set up, gambling hall about 50 yards away so we're doing OK..............except for the gambling. Made a $20.00 contribution to them and called it a day.

More caching tomorrow. Fortunately we're able to connect with an open wifi signal so making use of it while we can.

They got some pretty good biscuits and gravy at the restaurant.........and they even give "old folks" discounts! Doesn't get any better.............more tomorrow if we don't freeze our tails off tonight. W&B

Sitting in Sam's Town in Las Vegas...........

and we in for the night. Arrived about 1300 with Larry and Audrey (la84fishn). They were in Laughlin too and this morning Larry, Becky and I went to Bull Head City to grab a few caches before we headed to L.V. We both had reservations at Sam's Town and will leave again tomorrow morning for Tonopah. Two days there and we hope to pad our cache finds. Good thing we weren't driving too far today as the head winds were beating up on us..........we'd drive three miles and the wind would blow us back a mile. Took quite a while to get here from Laughlin. Hope the winds subside tonight as we expect to drive a little over 200 miles tomorrow.

Had lunch at Sam's Town and "B" and I debated taking the shuttle downtown. Gave up on that idea because of the walking you have to do once you get there. Instead we just gave our money to "Sam". Had a nice lunch.

We plan on leaving kinda early tomorrow morning.......somewhere around 0700 so should be in Tonopah and set up at the RV park around noon or so. That'll give us some caching time in Tonopah. This little burg has a lot of caches that were placed the Nevada Geocaching Association. Hope they won't require much walking to find.

Will publish this and then let Becky have the computer before she "completely" goes into withdrawals. I was sitting here watching the tube and I thought she was on line..........she was just putting puzzles together so I had to spend my $5.99 for 24 hours of internet. She outwaited me again.

Larry just stopped by and said there were two caches near here...........about a couple of hundred yards away. Socks off so I had to pass on them.

Later. W&B

Dang.......Where's The Time Gone................

????

we've been doing a little caching, planting some caches and made a couple of casino runs. Other than that I don't know where the week has gone. Sue & Frank needed some caches to complete their Alphanumeric Challenge so I put 4 of them out there and now their challenge is complete. I've been trying to reach 2,000 cache finds before we leave Casa Grande and today we finally made it! We went to the casino for Old Folks lunch and then hunted some caches down in Maricopa. There was a new series of 7 caches placed recently and today we found all of them and the last one made my 2,000. Now only a thousand more to go for the next milestone.

Casino got some of it's money back from me today and "B" gave a few bucks back also.........she's still ahead after hitting a nice jackpot a few days ago.

Tomorrow we're pulling outta here for Quartzsite........it's only about 180 miles so we're in no hurry. We'll boondock it tomorrow evening so probably no internet and maybe even no MTV!! Gracious........what will we do...........after I whup Becky at cribbage a few times she quits and sulks with a book. Maybe I can watch some dvds since that's easier to do then set up little generator and Sat. dish. Saturday we head for Laughlin with a brief stop in Lake Havasu City. There's a Rhino Performance Shop there and I'll make a quick stop and pick up a new clutch for my Rhino. If they have any good deals on other stuff I'll have to check them out and see if I can afford anything else. Will probably stay at the Avi Casino in their dry camping lot so probably no internet there either. Becky will be in withdrawals by the time we get to Las Vegas Baby on Sunday evening. Hope they got wifi there in the RV Park.

We'll spend two nights in Tonopah, Monday and Tuesday, to do some geocaching with our Yuma Friend, la84fishn. I'll probably have to set up the internet dish there.

Going to the Naval Air Station at Fallon, NV for Wednesday and Thursday.

Arrive in Woodland late Friday night..............about 2300.........for most of the weekend.

That's our schedule and we're sticking to it! B&W

More Tombstone...........

Caching takes us to some interesting places. Old Ed Schieffelin kicked around for over 20 years prospecting and finally his travels brought him here. People told him all he would find would be his tombstone. Instead he found silver which lead to the founding of the city of Tombstone. Outside of Tombstone this 25 foot tall monument was erected in his honor. Driving by the Tombstone Graveyard and found this interesting "headstone" so had to stop and take a picture. The story goes that a bad guy wasn't hung with his buddies and the local citizens thought that he should have been. They broke him out of jail and hung him from a post. The plaque marks the spot of the hanging and the stump of the post still remain. The coroner reported the cause of his death to be "lack of oxygen". The story goes that it took 25 minutes of "hanging" before he finally expired. Guess the citizens were plenty pissed off.

No visit to Tombstone is complete without a visit to "Boot Hill". Some interesting markers............the one on George Johnson's grave is partially cut off in this photo.........it ended with: "But We Strung Him Up and Now He's Gone". The Clantons and McLaurys are buried here with a marker proclaiming that they were "murdered"..........by Holiday and the Earps. Some interesting history here; but, actually I feel that it's hard to separate myth and legends from the actual truth. Anyway, it's good fodder for the movie makers.

That's it. W&B