The Ryan RV Express

05-13FEB12 - Houma, LA (misc & more jaxson photos)

2012-02-14T15:50:00.013-08:00

If you read our BLOG back in DEC11, you may remember Dan & Corrie decided not to get each other Xmas presents. Sometime after the New Year, Dan mentioned that he had “planned” on purchasing a tablet computer for Corrie. All of a sudden Corrie was very much interested in the Xmas gift she didn’t get! So after a little research Dan purchased a Samsung 7 inch Tablet at Best Buy. As with the camera Dan purchased in our last BLOG entry, it was much cheaper to order online for store delivery & pick-up. In fact, he ordered it at lunch time & it was ready for pick-up one hour later (obviously it wasn’t shipped in; so what is the price break based on?).

Now after decades of ignoring computers, Corrie is in danger of becoming a geek. In fact, she now has a Facebook page & is learning how to post pictures of our new grandchild. At the same time she is starting to use her new cell phone to text to her friends. Dan even created a Facebook page, but his intention is just to link in back to this BLOG.

Meanwhile we finally called for the final inspection of the shed that Raymond, Joe & Dan recently built. At the start of the process Dan specifically asked the Parish what the “inspection” would entail. He was told not to worry; the inspection would only check that all the “setbacks” were correct at the end of construction. In fact, no one had to be home for the inspection & the shed could be locked! Unfortunately someone was home & the Inspector asked to look inside. He then come up with a really BS requirement concerning the ridge vent that is not even applicable to a newly built house! Rather than argue, we’ll get’r done.

Saturday, 11FEB, we (Dan, Corrie, Raymond, Rebecca & Jackson) decided to have an early Valentines dinner at one of the better restaurants in Houma. Why? Because there was a good possibility that Raymond would be working late on Valentines Day; and this way we could beat the crowds. Because it was the first weekend of Mardi Gras, many people were eating dinner out before catching that night’s parade. Although busy, it was not nearly as bad as we have experienced on Valentines Day. The best part was that the kids paid!

13FEB was Rebecca’s birthday & we were prepared to spring for a birthday dinner; but all she wanted was a home cook meal (specifically Dan’s garlic chicken), & no cake. So we cooked her meal, & Corrie even bought a small chocolate cake because we needed a place to light the candles. Rebecca is now 29 one year from the big three “O”; just another sign of how old we are getting!

26JAN-04FEB12 - Sultan, WA (skiing & boarding)

2012-02-05T07:52:00.000-08:00

Thursday morning, 26JAN, bright & early Dan & Joe headed to the New Orleans airport for nine days of skiing in the Seattle area. The plan was to use our credit card airmiles for the plane tickets, & use our recently built house in Sultan, WA, for “free” lodging. Upon arrival at the airport they learned that there were severe thunder storms threatening & their flight was delayed. At the counter they learned that they were rebooked for 10AM departure. But when Dan pointed out that they then would miss their Houston to Seattle connection, they rechecked the computer & got placed on an earlier flight that barely allowed them to make their connection. During the flight Dan remembered that he had brought everything needed for the trip, except the house key!!!

After picking up the rental car Joe started whining that he needed food now, so they stopped to eat at the Pancake Chef just like we did with Rebecca & Joe two years ago (see our BLOG for 07AUG10). We made it to the house in Sultan, where everything was ok & Dan figured out how to get into the house without a key. The two feet of snow from last week was gone but the house was surrounded by large pools of water. After unloading their luggage they headed to cousin Paul Peters in Lake Stevens to borrow sleeping bags. On the drive there the rental car shut down on its own, right in the middle of a right hand turn, almost causing a rear end collision. Dan restarted the car & safely made the remaining short drive to Paul’s & & called the car company. Their decision was to see if it happened again & then they would swap out the car. They had an excellent dinner prepared by Shanna, & a too short visit before grabbing the sleeping bags w/pillows & heading back to Sultan.

Returning to Sultan the head lights starting dimming & brightening on their own. Then they went out!!! There they were driving along at 55mph, on a pitch black night, on a major highway, & no lights, but the engine was still working. Joe suggested they pull over now! But they were on a portion of US 2 with minimal shoulder & Dan was afraid that if the flashers didn’t work, they would get rear-ended. Having driven this road hundreds of times Dan knew they were within a 1/2 mile of a major turnout & decided to go for it. Once safely off the highway & with flashers working, another call was made to the rental company. There was no question about a replacement car being dispatched immediately; however, Dan insisted that another Jeep product was not desired & that a Subaru would be acceptable.

Finally by 10PM the swap out is done & Dan & Joe were the first people to sleep in our house in Sultan. Friday, 27JAN, they headed up to Stevens Pass Ski Area. It was a beautiful day & with great snow! Dan opted for skiing, Joe for boarding. Dan lasted until 1400 & decided to go home. By this time Joe had discovered the “terrain park” & had signed the necessary releases & waivers to ski the park & see how much “air” he could get. The terrain park has many jumps, rails, half pipe, etc, for those that want to kill themselves. The plan was for Joe to ski until closing, 10PM, & Dan would time his return drive to pick him up. But at 8PM Joe called Dan to come pick him up because the mountain was shut down! Turns out there were so many accidents at one time (including three kids falling off a ski lift & falling 25 feet) that the ski patrol was overwhelmed & the mountain was shut down for because no ski patrol left on the slopes. In all his years of skiing Dan has never heard of this ever happening before!

http://www.stevenspass.com/

Saturday they got a late start & got to Stevens Pass for night skiing at 3PM. It was raining on the drive up, which turned in sleet on the hill. This resulted in an ice build up on the front of your clothes on the chair ride, than this ice would melt on the ski run down. This also resulted in making their goggles useless. Dan even considered purchasing new ones at the ski area store; but when he saw the cheapest was $105, he changed his mind. Conditions improved throughout the night, & the skiing actually was very good.

Sunday they awoke to steady rain in Monroe/Sultan. By using highway cameras on the internet Dan could tell the conditions at Stevens Pass were very wet. He decided that he would take Joe up if he wanted to ski in the rain, & Dan would skip a day. Joe got up later & seemed to be hurting a little, & not too enthusiastic about skiing. It was decided by all to skip skiing that day. And early in the evening they decided to head to K1 Speed for go-kart racing. This is an indoor track that uses electric karts that supposedly go 40mph. Everything is computer controlled; so that if you misbehave, they can start slowing your kart down until they get your attention. The best Dan could do was third, Joe eventually came in first. During one of the races Dan slammed sideways into the wall & could immediately tell that he had injured his right, back ribs. In addition Dan had his brand new camera fly out of his pocket & run over, destroying the camera.

http://www.k1speed.com/

Monday, 30JAN, they got-up early & made the long drive to Crystal Mountain on the backside of Mount Rainier. You may remember that back in July, Dan & Joe skied there during the longest ski season on record. This is the largest ski area in WA state & has always been Dan’s favorite. The had varying weather conditions – sunshine with great views of Mount Rainier, biting wind, fog, sleet, etc. Even with the variable weather, it was good skiing still, with Dan using the long cruising runs to work on his rusty skills. Joe was not impressed, especially when he discovered that the terrain park did not have any jumps. On the drive back they stopped at Best Buy, to replace Dan’s camera which he had ordered online the night before for store pick-up. The funny thing is that by purchasing it this way, you save almost 50% over the price on the shelf?

http://www.crystalmountainresort.com/

Tuesday morning Dan awoke to extreme pain. Seems the kart crash, followed by skiing, had finally taken its toll. So Dan took Joe to Steven’s Pass at 11AM. Dan then seriously considered going to the emergency room, but instead got stronger pain pills & stick-on “heat” patches. Wednesday Dan was feeling much better, but decided to give his body one more day of rest & once again dropped Joe off at Stevens Pass in the morning. But this time when Dan picked up Joe in the evening, they continued driving east on US 2 to the town of Leavenworth. Where they planned on staying two nights with cousin Sheila (ie freeloading). Sheila is a tenant at her landlord Laurie’s. Apparently there is a constant flow of visitors (ie freeloaders) at Laurie’s, & as a result her establishment is now called “North Road Basecamp”!

Thursday morning, 02FEB, Joe & Dan headed to the Mission Ridge ski area; a ski area Dan has heard good things about for years but had never skied. After a couple runs to warm up, they met up with cousin Sheila who was already on the slopes as a Ski Patrol. She then took Joe on the black diamond runs leaving Dan on the blue runs. One very unique ski run is “Bomber Run”. This run is named in honor of a B-24 Bomber on a training mission in 1944, crashed into the mountain in bad weather. At the start of the ski run is a section of a wing of the bomber from the crash; which skiers & boarders “touch” for good snow. Another unique thing about Mission Ridge, is that at the summit you can see the snow covered Cascades Mountains to the west, south & north, & see the snow “dusted” Columbia River basin to the east.

http://www.missionridge.com/

Eventually Joe & Dan hooked-up with Sheila’s daughter Tessa (also a Ski Patroller) for a few runs; once again everyone else headed to the black diamonds, leaving Dan to the blue runs. Eventually they all stopped for lunch & where they were joined by Marco (a displaced French Acadian). After a great day skiing/boarding it was back to Laurie’s where Joe attempted to light a fire; thankfully our survival did not depend on his fire building skill. That evening was another great home cooked meal by Sheila. It was a fantastic time, next year we need to spend more time there (ie more freeloading!)!
Friday morning we said our goodbyes to Laurie & Sheila, & headed west on US 2 back to the house in Sultan. Enroute Dan dropped Joe off for one more ski day at Stevens Pass; while Dan headed back to the house. Joe called it a day at 1700, wrapping up a great ski “vacation”!! Saturday, 04FEB, bright & early they had to run the borrowed sleeping bags back to cousin Paul’s. Followed by driving to SeaTac Airport for the flight out to New Orleans. Thankfully there were no complications & they were back in Houma & their own beds at 2130.

12-25JAN12 - Houma, LA (grandbaby 3 weeks old)

2012-01-25T07:27:00.000-08:00

Nothing much occurred over the last couple of weeks, other than the continued fussing over our first grandchild, Jaxson Joseph Pitre. Mom & baby are both doing well (not counting lack of sleep for the new parents), & it appears he is perfectly healthy.

On 16JAN, Monday, Dan finally finished the storage shed started last year on 12DEC. Just like in house construction, the little details at the end take much more time than expected. All that is left now is to put another coat of paint on it.

Tomorrow, 26JAN, Joe & Dan go skiing in the Seattle area. Last summer our son, Joe, remarked that now that our Sultan, WA, house was finished; he could use it as a base for skiing. So Dan decided to use our airline miles to get free transportation there for the both of them. However, we learned that the Sultan area got buried with two feet of snow on 17JAN! Hopefully our four hundred foot driveway will be clear by the time they arrive!

08-11JAN12 - Houma, LA (grand baby one week old)

2012-01-11T16:45:00.000-08:00

On Thursday, 05JAN, Jaxson & mom came home. The rest of the week was spent fighting over who gets to hold the baby (just kidding); discovering that sleep deprivation really is a form of torture; & trying to finish the small amount of work left on the shed.

10JAN, Tues, our son, Joe (aka Uncle Joe) stopped by for just one hour to see his nephew. Turns out that his company was moving him from one drilling rig locally, to another almost in Texas! Unfortunately at the end of Jaxson’s first week, Raymond had to go back to work, something all newborn’s fathers have to contend with.

05-07JAN12 - Houma, LA (two pictures of the grand kid)

2012-01-07T18:46:00.000-08:00

01-04JAN12 - Houma, LA (jaxson joseph pitre finally arrives!!!)

2012-01-04T12:26:00.001-08:00

We started the new year with the traditional Cajun good luck dinner of corned beef, black eyed peas, & cooked cabbage; trying to finish the backyard shed; & still waiting for Jaxson Joseph Pitre's (ryan) arrival. On Tuesday, 03JAN, the MD announced that labor would be induced at midnight Wed, for delivery on Thurs. Obviously Jaxson got the message, because by 0530 on 04JAN everyone (except Dan) was at the hospital for the eminent delivery. By 1400 Dan was called by Corrie & informed to park his butt in the waiting area for the arrival of his first grandchild! Some time after 1600 Jaxson finally was delivered, & now the fun (& memories) really begin!!!

01-31DEC11 - Houma, LA (xmas & still waiting for the stork!)

2011-12-31T06:16:00.000-08:00

First, as should be obvious for those that follow our BLOG, we spent the last month of 2011 waiting for the arrival of our first grandchild (aka our daughter’s, Rebecca, & husband Raymond’s first child). Now we will just have to continue patiently waiting in 2012! December was also more routine medical & dental appointments; while preparing for the Xmas holidays. Oh yeah, somewhere during the month was a 30th wedding anniversary!

One of the things we decided this holiday season was not to give each other presents, but to purchase whatever we wanted when we saw it on sale & start using it immediately. So on “black” Friday we purchased an Xbox video game system with a Kinect motion sensor. For those that don’t know, the Kinect motion sensor allows you to control the video game using body movements. Unlike the Wii system we gave Rebecca & Raymond two years ago (which we thought was pretty cool back them), no additional controller is necessary. As with the Wii it is hilarious to watch the bodily contortions of the player as they try to maneuver their on screen avatar. But be warned, the Kinect also takes pictures of you as you play, which it will automatically post to your facebook, twitter, or other internet “space” if you are not careful. Apparently this feature has caused embarrassment for some unsuspecting Kinect users.

Also, during the month our son, Joe, was back from working offshore plugging abandoned oil wells. Joe has been doing so well in his job, that the company told him that they would train him to be a supervisor, followed by a couple break-in shifts to “learn the ropes”. But someone got fired (or “run off” as the oil industry says) & he was immediately promoted to night shift supervisor. Anyway it was great to have him in town for almost all of December, & having over dinner almost every night (including one of the kid’s favorites – steamed mussels)!

Sunday, 04DEC, was our son-in-law, Raymond’s, last day in the Air Guard. With the increased demands of his civilian job (& Rebecca’s) along with the expected arrival of their first child; it was time to fully focus on family & career. That evening after Raymond’s last drill, it was time to decorate the Xmas tree.

As we usually do on our yearly return visits to Houma, we take on at least one major “project” at Rebecca & Raymond’s house. This year’s project is building a 10ft by 12ft storage shed in their back yard. However, Dan calculated that it would take over two cubic yards of concrete for the pad & demanded that someone make arrangements for a professional delivery because he wasn’t going to participate in mixing the concrete by hand. So after much dragging of feet, the concrete was delivered on 12DEC & transported into the back yard via Georgia Buggy.

Dan figured that after the concrete cured, that he, along with Raymond’s & Joe’s assistance, would have the entire shed done in five or so days. Especially since Dan purchased an entire set of pneumatic nailers on black Friday just for this project. Of course this resulted in a constant struggle among the boys to see who got to use the “big” framing nailer everyday. The project also resulted in a refresher course in high school math as Dan would be mumbling things like - A squared plus B squared equals C squared, & side opposite over side adjacent equals tangent. Even with the latest in power tools, the shed is only 90% complete & will need to be finished in the new year. (you might note in the pictures that some days we are t-shirts, some days we are in winter coats; such is the winter weather in south Louisiana!)

Xmas morning, Sunday 25DEC, we gathered around the christmas tree to open presents. The hit of the day was another Kinect sensor we gave Rebecca & Raymond for their Xbox game console, along with the game “Just Dance 3”. As happened two years ago with the Wii video game system, the best part was watching the antics of the game player(s) trying to keep up with the on screen action. Once again it was amazing how much of a work out you get in just a couple of minutes of “hopping around” while standing in one place! We even convinced Raymond & Joe to demonstrate their dance moves mano-a-mano. Their dance off was filmed by Rebecca & immediately posted to her facebook page; within minutes of posting Joe & Rebecca were receiving text messages about the video. As always, the holiday was finished off by another fantastic meal prepared by Corrie.

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2009/12/11-31dec09-houma-la-happy-holidays.html

Now we wait for the grandchild to arrive before the new year!!!

19-30NOV11 - Houma, LA (turkey day & m3 maintenance)

2011-11-30T07:48:00.001-08:00

Saturday, 19NOV, after recovering from the Willie Nelson concert we headed back to our daughter, Rebecca’s, & Raymond’s driveway in Houma, LA. The rest of the week was spent preparing for the Thanksgiving meal & Black Friday shopping (at least by Corrie). Since some stores (ie Wally Mart) are starting their “supposed” good deals on Thanksgiving evening; this resulted in Corrie leaving the house soon after the Thanksgiving meal was completed to grab a spot in line. But before she disappeared for the rest of the day, we had another great Thanksgiving meal; unfortunately our son, Joe, was offshore & not present.

After completing the majority of our Xmas shopping, it was time to string the Xmas lights on the house. As usually many of the light strings that worked fine last year wouldn’t cooperate this year. End result was all new strings purchased once again. Dan thinks that the manufacturers purposely make the light strings to self destruct after a couple of months, no matter how good you take care of them.

Sunday, 27NOV, we unhooked the RV & headed to Slidell, LA, for RV maintenance at the nearest Freightliner dealership. As we have described in previous BLOGs getting routine maintenance on your RV when you live in it as “full timers” is one of the few headaches with the full time lifestyle. As we have previously discussed for the more complicated servicing you must go to a semi-truck facility that often will not deal with reservations. See the below BLOG entry for more on RV chassis maintenance & our favorite service facility discovered so far.

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2010/11/06-16nov10-phoenix-az-red-stick-la.html

For our Freightliner chassis there are three recommended maintenance intervals – M1, M2, & M3; with the M3 being the most complicated & time consuming. Since we were due for a M3, Dan tried over the phone to convince the service manager that the required work would take two days. Eventually it was agreed that if we got there first thing Monday, 28NOV, morning they would get us in first & could get it done in one day. Since it takes almost two hours to drive from Houma to Slidell & because we didn’t want to fight New Orleans rush hour traffic, we decided to drive up the day before, ie Sunday, & stay at an RV park right next door. After checking into the RV park, it was into New Orleans for dinner at Roma Café.

First thing Monday morning, 28NOV, bright & early we were at the Freightliner dealer in Slidell. Once again Dan tried to convince the service manager that the M3 maintenance would take more than one day. Since the service manager felt it was doable, Dan asked that if it couldn’t be done, to leave the RV in drivable condition at the end of the day so we could go a RV park. We needed this as a back-up plan because the Freightliner dealership has no RV hookups & does not allow you dry camp on their facility. In fact, at 6PM they kick everyone out & lock the gate. We won’t bore you with the details, but they didn’t get it done in one day & we were back first thing Tuesday morning for another six hours! Then it was back to Rebecca & Raymond’s driveway in Houma.

14-18NOV11 - Various Casinos (willie nelson & family)

2011-11-19T06:19:00.000-08:00

Monday, 14NOV, we departed Rebecca & Raymond’s to do some sightseeing before catching Willie Nelson & Family in concert at Coushatta Casino, Kinder, LA. You may remember that back in October as we drove from our new house in Sultan, WA, to Houma, LA, our final stop was at Coushatta before making it to Rebecca & Raymond’s. While there we learned that Willie Nelson would be in concert on 18NOV, & bought tickets. So we decided to take off after the baby shower & take our time enroute to the concert.

Our first stop was to visit Natchez, MS; turns out that the closest RV park was actually across the Mississippi River in Vidalia, LA. It was a very nice RV park on a batture with excellent views of the Mississippi River. (Trivia – what is a batture?) That evening we headed to the Isle of Capri Casino back in Natchez. The first thing we noticed odd about the casino, was that there were no signs giving directions to the casino? We knew it was located on the river just below the bridge, but because of oneway streets & dead ends we couldn’t seem to find it. Eventually we were forced to ask for directions & made it to the casino (which was pretty poor in our opinion).

Tuesday morning we headed back to Natchez to spend several hours sightseeing. First stop was Melrose Plantation part of Natchez National Historical Park. Next was a walk about & in downtown Natchez. Natchez is unique in that it was a major city for the Confederacy during the Civil War that survived pretty much intact. This is because although it was a major port on the Mississippi River, it had minimal rail connections. Because of this, the Union bypassed Natchez & concentrated on taking Vicksburg with its important railroad connections.

After lunch Corrie decided to check out the shops while Dan followed the Natchez Walking Tour through the town. The walking tour includes the William Johnson House also part of the Natchez NHP. William Johnson was born a slave, but was freed as a child & lived the rest of his life as a “free” black in Natchez from 1820 to 1851. Eventually he became a prosperous businessman owning his own house & other properties (including his own slaves!). The reason his house is part of the National Park system is because he also kept a meticulous daily dairy of his life & business. Even though his dairy is very detailed, it contains no mention of slavery, or his position as a second class citizen with no political rights.

http://www.nps.gov/natc/index.htm

We then got back into the Toad & headed to the historic site of the Slave Market at “Forks of the Road”. Turns out even southerners were embarrassed by the sight of slaves for sale outside stores in downtown Natchez; so the sale of slaves was outlawed inside the city limits. This resulted in the slave dealers relocating just past the city limits at Forks of the Road. This resulted in one of the few spots in the South where slaves could be bought every business day, rather than waiting for an auction. Eventually became the second largest slave market in the USA. Unfortunately right now the site consists of a barren plot of land with historical plaques, in the middle of several busy roads (hence the name “Forks of the Road”).

Then it was back to the river & Natchez Under the Hill. “In its day, 165 years ago, Natchez-under-the-Hill was the most notorious river landing on the entire Mississippi. Although it was the financial pipeline to the opulent population on top of the bluff, knife fights and killings were part of everyday life at this lawless location on the river. It was also notorious for a row of saloons built on stilts over the river, called “trap-door saloons”. Naïve travelers who wandered into one of these saloons were often clubbed to death and robbed of their belongings; their bodies dropped into the river thru trap doors in the floor of the saloon It was often the case, during the 1840’s & 1850’s, if you got into trouble with the law in New Orleans, you’d take a steamboat up river to Natchez-under-the-Hill to hide out until it was safe to return to the Crescent City. The police never ventured to the river landing at Natchez-under-the-Hill, it was just too dangerous.”

Unfortunately, not much remains of the original buildings; other than the building housing the Under the Hill Saloon, which we did not check out. Last stop was the Natchez Visitor Center (we know, it should have been the first stop). It is a large, fairly new center with excellent displays on the history of Natchez.

Wednesday morning, 16NOV, it was off to the Paragon Casino in Marksville, LA. After setting up camp Dan took off to find the Sarto Old Iron Bridge, while Corrie checked out the casino. The bridge is a steel-truss swinging bridge built over Bayou des Glaises in 1916, & is a rare surviving example of its kind.
Thursday was sightseeing in Alexandria & Marksville. To say there was little to see in either city would be an overstatement. Alexandria is a fairly large city, but the downtown was basically dead! It’s not that the city is filled with boarded up store fronts, it’s just that there are no stores or cafes that we could see. In fact, the only open food establishment we found, was a coffee shop. Marksville is a very small town with the town square surrounded by boarded up shops; because everyone shops at the national stores located outside of town.

Finally Friday morning, 18NOV, we were “on the road again” to catch Willie Nelson & Family at the Coushatta Casino in Kinder, LA. For those who have never visited a casino; their intent on providing live entertainment is to get you into the casino before & after the show. We wonder how they were going to get the concert goers into the casino since the concert was in a separate building about 1/2 mile away. In fact it was so close to our RV spot, that we planned on walking to the show. But there was an extremely deep drainage ditch between us & the concert hall. Turns out the casino collects everyone in vans, transports them to the casino, where you walk through the gambling floor & board bigger busses to the concert. After the show, the entire process is reversed! Luckily we discovered a small parking lot close to the arena; so we drove the Toad to the parking lot & walked to the show.

After finding our seats, we wandered over to check out the Willie “merchandise”. Dan figures that since you pay $50 or more for your tickets, the merchandise should be cheaper than in stores. Wrong! Cheapest shirt is $30, & every CD is $25! One unique thing we discovered was not only did they sell beer in metal bottles, but you could buy as much as you could carry to take back to your seat. If you bought more than five, you got an insulated bag to keep them cold!

The concert started with Willie & Family playing one of his biggest hits - Whisky River. Their playing & singing was “off” & very “rough”; & we were afraid the rest of the evening might be more of the same. But by the second song they had warmed up & the concert was excellent. However, Corrie couldn’t get over the fact how short Willie is. Dan was surprised at how good a guitar player Willie is & that the drummer only played a snare drum (that’s it, nothing else, not even cymbals). Also, since this was a no smoking venue, no doobies were smoked; even though Willie sang his gospel song - Roll Me Up & Smoke Me When I Die. Remember, as Willie says - whisky for the men & beer for the horses!

Trivia – who or what is Trigger in relation to Willie?

http://www.willienelson.com/

16OCT-13NOV11 - Houma, LA

2011-11-14T05:54:00.001-08:00

As we stated in our last BLOG we are at Rebecca & Raymond’s awaiting the arrival of their first child (aka our first grand child)! Upon our arrival Sunday, 16OCT, Corrie immediately began “organizing” the baby’s room. By the second day she had repainted the room & then began on refinishing a dresser to match the color of the crib. Meanwhile Dan was tasked with assembling a “changing dresser”; a task that involved hundreds of little fasteners & 25 pages of instructions that were not 100% correct. He also assembled the stroller, a much easier task because the only thing required was installing the wheels & drink holders.

During this time we also started our annual round of doctor & dentist visits. Dan also had to attend a two day conference in Baton Rouge for his part time employer, NCBRT. We described in one of our previous BLOG entries about changing out our RV metal venetian blinds for custom day/night shades at the Tiffin RV factory in Red Bay, AL. Due to the cost we did not change out all of them at that time. Finally the amount of dirt & dust on the remaining metal blinds got to us & we decided to change out the remaining four using household plastic roller blinds Corrie bought at the local home center. The end result was a definite & inexpensive improvement; we should have done it years ago!

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2011/02/16-18feb11-red-bay-al-via-anniston-al.html

The “hi-lite” of the last four weeks was the Baby Shower on Sunday, 13NOV; held at Rebecca & Raymond’s friend’s, Beanie, house. It was a coed function, so Raymond & Dan were dragged along. From the pictures you will note that many of the attendees were wearing Saints football jerseys. Why? Because the shower was the same time as the game between the Saints & the Falcons (aka the Dirty Birds). It was very good time, & thankfully the Saints won in overtime!

06-15OCT11 - Various WA, OR, UT, NM, TX & LA

2011-10-16T17:46:00.001-07:00

We departed Monroe on Thursday, 06OCT, & stopped in Leavenworth, WA, for lunch with Dan’s cousin Sheila. Since we hadn’t been able to get together during the summer, we made a lunch date on our drive east & south. Although it wasn’t the same as spending a couple of days together like we have in the past, it was an excellent time together. Next year we need to try harder to spend a couple of days in Leavenworth.

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2010/08/01-07aug10-various-wa-if-its-tuesday-it.html

We then departed Leavenworth for cousin Steve & Bonnie’s in Kittitas, WA. Friday was spent on last minute errands, RV maintenance, & an oil change on the TOAD. Later that afternoon a “successful” hunter brought by an elk he had shot to be butchered. We know elk are large animals; but only when we saw the carcass being moved around on the end of a tractor, did we realize how really big they are! Meanwhile Dan & Steve were “co-cooking” BBQ ribs for dinner. They were working as a team because Dan had supplied & marinated the ribs, & the actual cooking was being done on Steve’s fairly new smoker. It was a constant battle between Steve turning the heat down & Dan turning it up. But in the end peace prevailed & the ribs were excellent.

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2011/05/01-11may11-monroe-wa-via-kittitas-wa.html
Saturday morning, 08OCT, we commenced our dash to Houma, LA. Why the hurry? Because our daughter, Rebecca, is having her (& Raymond’s) first child (aka first grandchild) in DEC, & for some reason Corrie thinks we need to be there NOW! Anyway, it was a beautiful drive to Huntington, OR, thru the Blue Mountains. Sunday we drove all the way to Provo,UT, only to find the off ramp to our chosen RV park closed due to construction. Luckily Dan spotted a small & partially hidden RV sign. It turned out to be the very same RV park we stayed at 17SEP04 while Dan got our computer fixed.
We then departed Provo early Monday morning on US 6 through the scenic canyons of Unita National Forest; driving the length of Utah through red rock country of Moab & the four corner area. We have driven through the four corner area a couple of times, but we need to come back & spend time in amazing National Parks & Monuments. Monday night was spent in Gallup, NM. Tuesday was a 500 mile drive through Albuquerque, Roswell, & Carlsbad, NM, to spend the night at an Escapee Park in Pecos, TX, that we had stayed at once before.

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2010/03/1718mar10-pecos-tx-roswell-nm.html

Wednesday afternoon, 12OCT, we arrived at Dan’s sister Sharon & Tim’s in Kerrville, TX, to spend the next two days relaxing & decompressing from the drive. While there we checked on our household goods that have been in storage since 2007. we are not sure how, but we need to figure out how we are going get all this “stuff” moved to our just completed house in Sultan, WA?

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2011/03/12-20mar11-kerrville-tx-south-by.html

Early Saturday morning it was back on the road to finish trip to Houma, LA, with an overnight stop at the Coushatta Casino, in Kinder, LA. There were no winners this visit, but Dan noticed Willie Nelson was playing a concert on 18NOV, at the casino. Since it is only a three hour drive from Houma to the casino, we bought tickets to see Willie & Family.

After a short drive Sunday, 16OCT, finally arrive at Rebecca & Raymond’s in Houma, LA, & are now parked in their driveway waiting for the stork.

01-05OCT11 - Sultan, WA (final construction thoughts)

2011-10-07T08:35:00.000-07:00

As we said in our last BLOG entry the house was finally 100% done at the end of SEP & we received our final county inspection on 28SEP. Are we glad we did it? Yes! Would we do it again? No (with caveats)! First, we are a little to old to be doing this; 10 or 20 years ago this would have been an easy thing to do. Even though the contractor did 95% of the work, we still did the remaining 5%; plus anything that had to do with getting utilities hooked up, & grading the property for future yard/landscaping.

If we were ever to do this again, we do it on property that had all utilities on site & ready to go. Looking back it took three summer visits to clean-up property, improve driveway for heavy trucks (& RVs), drill a well, run power over 450 ft, etc, etc. In addition to being time consuming, these items added substantially to the overall cost!

But the end result is a house that we are extremely happy with! Also, we feel this house is a fantastic value for the monies actually spent on its construction. Although it is a “basic” plan from Lexar Homes, it is a design we are both pleased with; & with the few upgrades we selected, feels a little “custom” (especially on the interior).

http://www.lexarhomes.com/

A pleasant surprise was the quality & strength of the overall construction, while remaining affordable. Way back when, Dan was on site when his paternal Grandmother had a “custom” rambler built on ten acres in Redmond, WA; & then when his parents had a bare bones spec house built on one acre next door. Neither house was as solid or skillfully constructed as this one. Why? Dan’s theory is because “back then” a group of carpenters showed up every day & did everything except the ventilation, plumbing & wiring; plus these carpenters had very few “power” tools. Today ever aspect of construction is a “specialty” contractor. The foundation forms are done by one team, framing by another, insulation by another, drywall by another, & so on, & so on. In addition, these specialists have the latest power tools, along with special materials that make assembly literally a snap. End result is that the back in the day a house took all summer with daily activity by multiple people to construct; while ours took all summer but with only about fifty actual days of construction & very few individuals to get it done, with better quality & far less waste!

Anyway, we reluctantly spent the first week of OCT11 cleaning up the property; parking the tractor & other equipment in the barn; & securing the house for our absence. Then it was back to our almost permanent spot at the Evergreen State Fairgrounds for one night to dump holding tanks & prepare for a hard drive back to Houma, LA.

07-30SEP11 - Sultan, WA (house construction finally done!)

2011-09-30T10:21:00.000-07:00

On 28 SEP, Wednesday, we received our final inspection from Snohomish County, & received official blessing to occupy our new house. As you can see from the following list of final visits by various contractors, that not much was really done for the entire month of September & the house was pretty much done at the end of August.

07SEP (day 45 of construction) – electrician came back to take care final items: connected plugs in way of granite back splashes, & officially connected hot water tank to circuit breaker panel (don’t ask how we were taking hot showers before this was done)

10SEP (day 46) – heating sub contractor returned to wrap-up AC/heating: installed heat pump (now we have AC even though summer is pretty much over for the Seattle area), connected gas stove, & installed programmable thermostat

12SEP (day 47) – gutters & downspouts installed; with the modern machinery that forms continuous gutters on site, this took less than an hour

13SEP (day 48) – finish carpenter returned to install microwave, install lock sets on outer doors (one doesn’t work), & install master bedroom double door. Also the propane company arrived to install our propane tank. Obtaining a propane tank was definitely an educational experience! First, way back when we had foundation poured we were asked where the gas would enter the house. We had no idea & depended on the foundation guy’s recommendation. Turns out three months later that his recommendation was too close to a ventilation opening into the crawl space & was against code. So after the tank was installed, Dan had to run PVC piping from the regulator relief valve to a “safer” point. Lastly, Dan asked the tank installer how we were going to bleed off the air from the tank to the stove after the pressure test & get the propane flowing? We were informed that for a fee they would return & do it, but it really was not that hard to do & should be safe for us to do. As you can see the house is still standing!

We were also told that no permit was needed for the tank installation, but one was needed for hooking up the gas stove. When the inspector showed up to check the stove, he asked when we were going to have the piping installed in the ditch we had dug & pressure tested at 60psi for his inspection? Turns out the county could care less about the stove connection, but they have many regulations concerning buried “fuel” lines. Thankfully the inspector did not charge us for his “wasted” visit & we got the proper inspection two days later. Now we have to decide how to “decorate” the propane tank. Dan wants to put a propeller on it, with a periscope, & a Coast Guard racing stripe; to have the first Coast Guard submarine. For some reason Corrie has doubts?

15SEP – not really a day of construction but the window screens were delivered; & best of all, the porta-pottie was removed!!!

19SEP (day 49) - “pressure test” of house; the house is so “tight”, that our result was twice as good as the national “green” standard

20SEP (day 50) – bathroom mirrors installed, closet shelving installed, glass doors installed on shower in master bath

21SEP (day 51) – one smoke detector changed into combo smoke/CO detector. Original plans showed CO detector, but this got “whited out” by someone unknown & the plans were approved by county. We showed plan to inspector; but we were informed that the code requires on CO detector if there is any appliance (ie our stove) that burns gas, or if you have any type of fireplace or kerosene heating appliance.

27SEP (day 52) – insulation added to air return at top of furnace

30SEP (day 53) – broken lockset to garage man door changed out. Unfortunately, contractor failed to read instructions properly (even though they were in English & Spanish), & the new lockset did not work either. So while the contractor ran off to Lowes to get a replacement, Dan read the instructions & practiced on the two working doors. When they returned Dan re-keyed the lockset & now we have three exterior doors, with working locks, all using the same key.

Although there wasn’t much activity by contractors, we kept busy by:

>>>Corrie continued to prep baseboard & door molding in small patches; Dan then installed the molding as each batch was ready, trim molding completed 29SEP
>>>Dan got tired of waiting for contractor to install interior door handles on bedrooms, bathrooms & linen closet; so he opened the boxes & did it himself
>>>built two small porches, one each for each sliding door. Both these porches will probably be replaced with decks next year, but you have to have a 3’x3’ landing outside every exterior door to pass final county inspection.
>>>we were given wrong info on locating the concrete pad for installation of the heat/AC pump; so we had to enlarge the existing pad
>>>dug a ditch for future propane tank & back filled after inspection; entailed renting a machine Dan calls a “ditch witch”
>>>bought furniture (2 lounge chairs)
>>>spread grass seed & fertilizer; continuing to battle moles; bush whacking
>>>installed propane regulator vent line, & bleeding excess test pressure from propane tank to stove
>>>rented a Billy Goat twice
>>>installed curtain rods & curtains on both sliding doors

>>>painted master bathroom & closet
>>>installed bathroom “hardware” in both bathrooms
>>>installed last window treatment in small bedroom
>>>painted the pump house to match house
>>>foamed in some minor openings in crawl space, & repaired small damaged areas of insulation in crawl space
>>>installed liquid filled pressure gauge on septic system piping

On 08SEP, Thursday, we were forced to make a garbage run to the local collection center. We haven’t really had to deal with local garbage collection since selling our house back in 2007/08. At RV parks you either take it to the nearest dumpster, or leave it in a plastic bag in front of your RV for pick-up. Sadly not many parks require recycling & we haven’t had to deal with recycling either. As part of the house construction we have accumulated larges amounts of cardboard & plastic shipping material we assumed the environmentally conscious county of Snohomish would recycle. But if you drive the material to the collection center, they will recycle the cardboard for free; but all the plastic is treated as waste & you are charged $20 for a small load. Funny thing is that if we paid for street side pick-up, we would get a big blue garbage can for recyclable materials only; & plastic would go in it for recycling?

Thankfully, Marty our tractor repair guy finally got all the parts to repair our tractor, & spent most of 14/15SEP putting it back together. There were several parts that clearly were well used over the last 55 years; & probably would have caused a major failure years ago on a newer tractor! Apparently older tractors were designed to be “used & abused”, with little or no maintenance, & often left sitting in a field unused for long periods of time. Remember the old Timex slogan – Takes a licking & keeps on ticking? Once the tractor was repaired, Corrie really got started moving dirt & leveling the “yard”!

On Tuesday, 22SEP, we had our septic maintenance firm come out to perform the first of the required quarterly “routine” maintenance on our system. Quarterly routine maintenance you ask? Apparently the county has a problem with owners misusing their septic systems to the point that they “fail” & pump untreated sewage into the ground water. Misuse can be overloading system with kitchen grease & fats; dumping chemicals into system killing the microbes; overloading system with fertilizer (ie laundry soaps) causing the microbe population to explode & then die; etc. So to solve this problem the county forces you to find a maintenance provider & sign a two year contract (ie a total of eight visits); then file the contract with the county. Of course this only solves the problems for two years! So at the cost of $200 dollars a visit, this was the first of our quarterly visits.

During all this, Corrie has been going across the street to our neighbors, Sara & Bob Johnson, to watch Sara train horses. She has gotten so involved in this, that Dan jokes that she will buying a horse & we will be forced to live here full time (even though Corrie hates the rain)! Anyway, a few minor details to tie-up & we should be back on the road to Houma, LA, within a week!

06SEP11 - Sultan, WA (chem 101 or do drink the water)

2011-09-07T08:14:00.000-07:00

Today we finally resolved our arsenic “issue” with Snohomish County Health District. As described in our BLOGs from the summer of 2008 the well we drilled on our property went far deeper & cost much more than we ever imagined. And it is not unusual for deep wells to contain minerals, chemicals, etc. Turns out not only did our water smell like sulfur & taste like iron, but also had minute traces of arsenic. In fact, the amount of arsenic was so small that our water was acceptable in every other county in WA state.

We were told that “all that had to be done” was install a point of use filter at the kitchen sink & ice maker. But you can’t just buy one & install it yourself; you have to have a licensed engineer submit a stamped plan to the health district first. Dan found someone that was highly recommend & gave him all our test results. Turns out the point of use filter will only work if all the other variables (hardness, iron, tannins, pH, manganese, etc, etc) are within certain limits! Naturally our water was not within these limits. So the engineer had to design a system to soften the water, remove the iron, reduce the acidity, & remove the tannins. And naturally this pre-treatment system was not cheap.

Finally it was time to obtain a point of use arsenic filter & install it under the kitchen sink. Turns out these filters are not available at Lowes, Home Depot, or plumbing supply houses. You can find them on the internet but we wanted one now, so we could take a water sample & get it tested at an accredited lab asap. It took two days but Dan finally discovered an independent driller that had one. After running water through it for an hour, we took a sample & drove it to the lab. After a week we received a report that shows no detectable amounts of arsenic. Another benefit is that our water has no smell, & tastes great.

But that is not the end of the saga. We then had to prepare a notarized “notice of well water arsenic disclosure” & record this document with county! So if you ever come to visit us make sure you only drink water out of the special spigot by the kitchen sink. Brushing your teeth in the bathrooms is at your own risk!

01-05SEP11 - Sultan, WA (construction, mohi, & family gathering)

2011-09-06T09:09:00.000-07:00

We started the month by Dan heading into Seattle because 01SEP, was the first Thursday of a month, & every first Thursday some of the museums in Seattle are free. The “big one” is the Seattle Art Museum (aka SAM), but Dan was interested in a much smaller one from his childhood called the Museum of History & Industry (aka MOHI). Although we have been coming to the Seattle area for over three years, Dan decided he had to revisit the museum this year because the building will be torn down for freeway expansion & the museum moving to a new location at the south end of Lake Union in Seattle. So Dan felt the need to visit MOHI one last time in its original building located on the edge of the University of Washington’s (go dawgs!) Arboretum.
Sometime ago in previous BLOGs we have discussed how often Dan & sister Sharon would be allowed to spend weekends (& sometimes entire weeks) at Grandma Jean’s on Capitol Hill in Seattle. Jean was Dan Sr’s mother, otherwise known as Dan’s paternal grandmother. On many of these occasions cousins Steve Ruttner & Rick Lee were also there. Grandpa Fred was also there, but let’s just say that he was a little bit grumpy & appeared not to appreciate all the grandchildren underfoot! Anyway, when things got too hectic even for Grandma Jean, she would load all of us into her big Chrysler New Yorker & drop of us at MOHI. Where we would amuse ourselves (usually by doing things that were not permitted) for hours. So Dan decided to check out the original MOHI before its move & modernization, to see if it was as he remembered it (even vaguely).
The first thing Dan saw upon pulling into the parking lot was a five inch 51 caliber gun from the USS Colorado. Back in the day this gun was fully operational (except for firing). One kid would sit in the left hand seat (or was it right seat) & turn the hand crank & slew the gun around in a 360 degree circle. While another kid sat in the other seat & turned their hand crank to elevate the barrel up down through about 75 degrees elevation. Now the seats are gone & the entire gun is locked down --- wouldn’t want anyone to lose a finger or get an owwie would we!?!

Upon entering the museum Dan was fortunate to catch a tour led by a docent. The museum is definitely not state of the art & has very few interactive exhibits. But it does offered a very good history of Seattle from Native American times to about the early 1990s. Key exhibits are the arrival of the Denny party, how Seattle benefited from the Klondike Gold Rush, the establishment & growth of Boeing, Sea Fair, 1962 World’s Fair, & WWII’s affect on Seattle.
Dan found one picture very fascinating, especially enlight of Seattle’s present emphasis (some say over emphasis) on the environment. The picture shows water cannons being used to “sluice” about two hundred feet of what was called Denny Hill into Elliot Bay. This created the only large “flat” area in Seattle & is now called Belltown. The picture shows some homes & businesses that refused to sell their land or move! The picture shows some of these holdouts precariously perched atop pinnacles of dirt as the surrounding area disappears right up to their door steps!

The MOHI now has the original sign from an infamous 24hr restaurant called the Dog House! The Dog House was a place that when Dan worked for the Coast Guard in Seattle, that he & friends would hit late at night to get cheap food & to “watch” the nightlife. The sign says “All Roads lead to the Dog House” & shows various “dogs” heading to the Dog House. These “dogs” are labeled – sailors, marines, blondes, redheads, soldiers, waitresses, brunettes, bowlers, lodges, nite owls, boozers, private secretaries, & golfers! Sadly the Dog House is no more.

Dan is not sure what exhibits were added or changed after he last visited in the 60s; but some things were still there – Boeing’s first plane, the hydroplane Slo-Mo-Shun IV, & the battleship gun. And this time he didn’t break any rules, & actually learned something about Seattle’s history.
Trivia – in 1880 Seattle’s population was 3,553; in 1890 it was 42,837 – what happened in ten years?

http://www.seattlehistory.org/

On 04SEP, Sunday, we headed to a family gathering at cousin Paul & Shannon Peter’s (see below BLOG for our last visit). The occasion was to celebrate Labor Day & their son’s, Spenser, birthday. Paul’s brother John & four of his kids were there; brother Jim was there with son, Brandon; & sister Jennifer with daughter Keely was also in attendance. Since Aunt Jan, Paul’s mom, lives on site, she was naturally there. Unfortunately, Jennifer’s husband, Mike, had recently got bonked on the head & wasn’t up to the festivities. As always, it was great to get together with relatives, enjoy good food, & in this case wish someone a happy birthday!

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2011/05/16-31may11-monroe-wa-construction.html

No contractors did any work over the Labor Day weekend but we accomplished the following:

>>>took delivery of a gas stove
>>>temporarily installed washer & dryer, test ran, all sat
>>>continued prep’ing molding & installing throughout house
>>>hand mixed & poured a three foot by three foot concrete pad to set the AC/heat pump on
>>>stacked the dryer on top of the washer to save space in the mud/utility room
>>>built a front porch & steps
>>>installed curtains in the master bedroom
>>>continued landscaping by adding plants/shrubs, & creating mulched beds
>>>misc small details; along w/cleaning of windows & wood surfaces
>>>since Corrie got to buy all new appliances, Dan bought himself a new “chop saw”

21-31AUG11 - Sultan, WA (house almost done & tractor repairs)

2011-08-31T08:07:00.000-07:00

Amazingly, almost nothing happened in the last 11 days in the way of house construction by the contractor. For some reason the builder likes to do as little as possible at this stage until the granite countertops are installed?

22AUG (day 42 of construction) – the poor guy who installed the laminate floors on the 18th of AUG was forced to come back & install expansion joints in certain locations. We pointed out to his crew that these expansion joints were clearly shown on the plan. When he did not put them in we called the seller of the flooring; apparently after three days of debate the installer “lost”.

30AUG, Tuesday (day 43) – the finish carpenter shows up to install interior doors; then the granite countertop guys show up to install the countertops; & then to add to the “confusion”, the painters arrived to paint the exterior.

31AUG (day 44) – plumber shows up to install all plumbing fixtures (including hot water tank). Finally toilets independent of the RV holding tank, & a hot bath with almost unlimited hot water (until we get shower curtains for showers)!!!

For our part we started out on Sunday, 21AUG, by taking a break & running into the Seattle neighborhood of Ballard for market day. Most towns in the USA have at least one market, if not more. In the last twenty years many of the neighborhoods of Seattle have started markets, usually for the summer/fall months only. Ballard’s is one of the oldest & one of the few that runs all year long.

We got there early which was a good thing, because this is a very popular market! Ballard was primarily a “Scandinavian” neighborhood for decades, but that has been slowly changing over the years. It was also the first incorporated city after Washington became a state. Ballard was bigger than Seattle, & might still be an independent city if Seattle hadn’t locked up all the surrounding water rights! Ballard realizing they couldn’t expand without drinkable water eventually voted in 1907 to be annexed by Seattle; this vote is still seen as a mistake by some a hundred years later.

On Wednesday, 24AUG, Dan BBQ’d some of his infamous pulled pork & we offered to share it with our neighbors across the road (Bob & Sara Johnson). The “catch” was that we would need to bring over to their house since our future yard is a dust bowl & our house isn’t ready for entertaining. It was a good time with good company.

Although things were pretty quiet on the contractor front, we did manage to accomplish the following during this time:

>>>begin staining molding
>>>begin installing molding
>>>installed “wells” around foundation ventilation openings
>>>installed arsenic filter at kitchen sink & refrigerator ice maker
>>>painted the mud room
>>>painted the master bedroom
>>>installed kitchen window blinds
>>>installed 2nd bedroom window blinds
>>>retrieved washer & dryer from cousin Paul’s
>>>took delivery of refrigerator & dishwasher
>>>installed refrigerator

During all this we also started on repairing our tractor. Like we said in our BLOG of 14AUG, it lost oil pressure & Dan then discovered “parts” in the oil pan. After consulting with a repair “guy”, Marty, it was decided that the parts were what is called a thrust washer & shims from the front end of the crankshaft. We then discovered finding these parts for a 58 year old Continental Motors engine is not easy. After internet searching & numerous phone calls we were directed to Montes Equipment in Chicago. Dan also learned that Continental made engines for many car manufactures (but not the big three) & others; & the old company slogan was - Powerful as the Nation.

We finally got the parts & the tractor is in the barn with the whole front end disassembled. (getting the tractor to the barn without a running engine was an experience) First thing Marty & Dan discovered was that the main bearing on the front of the crankshaft was for a different Continental engine. Their guess is some farmer in the past had to replace the bearing & used the closest thing he had. Since we don’t want to remove entire engine & crankshaft to replace this bearing, we are leaving it as is. Meanwhile we have discovered that the oil pump, water pump, & some other misc parts are bad. More to follow!

15-20AUG11 - Sultan, WA (latest on house construction)

2011-08-23T09:55:00.000-07:00

15AUG - enough work has been done on the house (ie electric, water, & driveway) that we can leave our almost permanent spot at Evergreen State Fairgrounds & "camp" on our own property

16AUG (day 39 of construction) - garage door installed; kitchen & bathroom cabinets installed

17AUG (day 40) - laminate floors delivered; measurements taken for kitchen countertops (granite); electric connection for "emergency" generator installed

18AUG (day 41) - laminate floors installed; vinyl floors installed in bathrooms (2) & mud room; vinyl countertops installed in bathrooms

01-14AUG11 - Monroe, WA

2011-08-14T08:12:00.000-07:00

Here is the latest summary on our house construction (see proceeding BLOG entries for past details), once again things have been going pretty “heavy” over the last two weeks:

01AUG (day 31 of construction) – taping & “mudding” of the drywall commences. Note to insure dryness & no mildew, the furnace is set at 80 degrees & left on 24/7.

03AUG (day 32) – taping & mudding of drywall is finished.

04AUG (day 33) – blown-in insulation is installed in attic over “flat” ceiling areas.
05AUG (day 34) – driveway is smoothed & covered in 5/8 inch minus rock, giving us a freeway smooth drive. Septic installation completed, now we need toilets. Drywall sanded & primed; primary contains a sealer in its mixture, giving another vapor barrier.

07AUG (day 35) – drywall in garage taped & mudded. (Oh - Happy Birthday Dan!)

09AUG (day 36) – second coat of primer on drywall.

11AUG (day 37) – drywall finish painted; kitchen & bathroom cabinets delivered.

12AUG (day 38) – installation of electrical fixtures throughout house.

During this time we didn’t really take a break from property/house unless you count shopping at Ikea, Target, Sams Club & Frys Electronics for household appliances. Meanwhile Dan was operating our 60 year old Ferguson tractor when he noted no oil pressure. Upon removing the oil pan he discovered what looks like bearing “parts” in the oil – not good!

Also, Corrie has started landscaping the “yard” by planting rhododendrons, various trees, heather, etc. In the process she has learned about the northwest’s gardener’s number one enemy – the mole. Just like all that have preceded her, she has tried traps, poison, etc, with only partial success. For every mole that meets its demise, it seems like two take its place! Whack-a-Mole anyone?

Tomorrow, 15AUG, we finally get to move from our almost permanent RV site at the Evergreen State Fairgrounds in Monroe, WA, to our property (& almost done house) just outside of Sultan, WA!!!

16-31JUL11 - Monroe, WA (house construction continues)

2011-07-31T10:54:00.000-07:00

After a relaxing week with the kids with nothing happening on the house construction (see proceeding BLOG entry), thinks have been going pretty “heavy” over the last two weeks:

15JUL (day 22 of construction) - septic system installation starts

18JUL (day 23) – septic, including electric controls, continues; insulation of vaulted ceiling in great room & insulation of exterior walls

19JUL (day 24) - insulation of floor

21JUL (day 25) - final power connected; garage floor poured; completed electric for septic system & pump house
22JUL (day 26) – Dan discovers that insulation in ceiling of great room not what we paid for, R11 insulation added to great room ceiling

25JUL (day 27) - water treatment system installed in pump house

28JUL (day 28) – drywall installed

29JUL (day 29) - drywall clean-up & paper floor; septic system tested; connected water to house; discovered furnace was broken which will delay completion of the drywall

30JUL (day 30) - drywall taping & “mudding”; furnace fixed

During this time we kept working on the pump house (including insulation, paint & roofing); along with continuous clean-up of the property (including planting Rhododendrons); insulating the garage ceiling; laying PVC piping for final electric hook-up to house; etc.

We did take a break on 27JUL to see “Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows – Part 2”. Dan decided that the local multi-plex was not good enough, even if they were showing the movie in 3D. No, he decided we needed drive to the Pacific Science Center at the Seattle Center to view the movie on a seven story Imax screen & 20,000 watts of gut wrenching surround sound. For more on the Seattle Center & its creation from the 1962 World’s Fair see the below BLOG entry.

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2010/08/test.html

When Dan was a kid the Pacific Science Center was one of Dan’s & his cousin’s favorite museums! The Science Center was created after the 62 World’s Fair in the building & grounds used for the USA pavilion. Even way back in the 60s it was based on interactive & hands on exhibits. We are not sure if was the first museum in the USA to take this approach, but it was definitely one of the earliest.

http://www.pacificsciencecenter.org/

After the movie we had lunch at the Center House which used to house the world’s only (bubbleator). Center House was originally built in 1939 as the old Armory Building. It housed the 146th Field Artillery and its half-ton tanks. The basement of the Center House still has markings from the old firing range and an unfinished swimming pool intended for the recruits. In 1941, Duke Ellington played on stage for the University of Washington's Junior Prom.

Trivia – what was the bubbleator?

For the 1962 Worlds Fair, the Armory was reconfigured into the first vertical shopping mall, called the Food Circus. It just pre-dated Northgate Mall, which was the first indoor mall in the United States. In the early 1970’s, the Food Circus was renamed Center House after some minor renovations. In 1985, the Children's Museum moved into the first floor of the building and expanded their space in 1995, building a giant toy mountain for the newly created Kenneth and Maureen Alhadeff Exhibit Center. At the same time, Center House was renovated and reconfigured to emphasize public programming, such as signature events, free family entertainment, and cultural festivals. In December 2000, the Kennedy Center designated the Center House Stage as an Imagination Celebration National Site, only the fifth location in the nation to be designated. Today, over 3,000 free public performances occur in Center House each year.

Lunch was followed by a leisurely walk through the Center grounds to the International Fountain. The International Fountain is a mainstay from the World’s Fair, but was completely replaced and expanded in a $6.5 million project in 1995. As the centerpiece of the broad open space and lawn, it has been transformed from its early days of hard iron nozzles and surrounding sharp-edged, white rock. Now children can play in the fountain bowl and venture right up to the smooth silver dome. By day the fountain is a favorite lounging area and delight for young and old.

09-15JUL11 - Various, WA (vacation time w/the kids)

2011-07-15T17:02:00.000-07:00

Saturday, 09JUL, we depart Kittitas & drove along beautiful Highway 410 over Cayuse & Chinook Passes to Packwood, WA, on the west side of Mt Rainier National Park. In previous BLOG entries about our return to WA state this year, we noted that western WA had one of the wettest winter/springs on record. This resulted in record snow levels in all of the mountain passes. So what? – you may ask. Well in WA state only two passes are kept open all year, I-90 at Snoqualmie Pass & US-2 at Stevens Pass. All others (Cayuse, Chinook, White, North Cascade, etc) are closed 01NOV hopefully to reopen before MAY. But because of the record snow many of these passes were still closed before the Fourth of July weekend! Needless to say this had very negative consequences on the economies of the towns along the effected highways who earn the majority of their income from tourists once the passes are open.

Packwood is just down the road from Ashford, WA, where we explored Mr Rainier National Park from last year (see below BLOG entry). After setting up camp Dan & the kids headed into the Park, leaving Corrie to recuperate from the long drive. Upon arriving at the National Park Dan realized that visiting Mt Rainier on a summer weekend may not be the smartest thing to do. He decided to skip many of the sites we visited last year & head straight to the Paradise Visitor Center; hoping to beat everyone else to the most popular spot in the Park. The whole way up to Paradise Dan & the kids kept passing signs stating – “no parking at Paradise, park here & take shuttle busses”. Dan being Dan, ignored the signs & promptly found the only empty parking spot at Paradise! Although it was enjoyable to view Paradise Lodge, Box Canyon, & Grove of the Patriarchs; the crowds were too large & detracted from the experience.

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2010/06/15-17jun10-ashford-wa-mt-rainier.html

http://www.nps.gov/mora/index.htm

Sunday we were up early to head to Crystal Mountain Ski Area. Thanks to the record snow this year, Crystal Mountain was also breaking records with skiing into the middle of July! For many years in the 70s Dan & his friends skied every chance they got, even night skiing several times a week. Crystal Mountain took a little effort to get to being on the backside of Mt Rainier, but it was their favorite. So to be a part of history Dan decided to get back on skis for the first time in fifteen years; while Joe opted for snowboarding. While the boys were skiing the ladies explored the few shops at the base of the mountain, & also drove to the Sunrise Visitor Center back in the National Park. A little after noon the boys were beat & called it a day. The ladies rejoined the boys at the Summit Lodge, where we all sat outside & enjoyed the view of four of WA’s five volcanoes. Then it was back to the RV to rest & recuperate all afternoon until dinner. This RV park had nifty way to sell firewood; for $5 they delivered the firewood to your RV site along with a metal tub to burn it in, & then come by in the morning to clean up! So after dinner it was a family campfire with S’mores for dessert.

http://www.crystalmountainresort.com/

Monday, 11JUL, we headed to Copalis Beach, WA; which entailed more scenic driving along highway US 12. After setting up camp we head to the beach for a walk. Then it was off to Ocean Shores for a drive on the beach. The beach entry points for cars have big signs warning how easy it is to get stuck in the sand, & not to call the police for a stuck car – call a tow truck company (especially if the tide is coming in & your car may become flooded!). Even on our short drive we saw two cars get stuck & the police drive right by without offering assistance. Safely making it off the beach we headed into the town of Ocean Shores for a little shopping at Sharkys “tourist” store; followed by a visit to a seafood market for fresh crab, clams & oysters. Dinner was fresh crab & BBQ oysters topped w/butter & parmesan cheese, & then back to the beach to view the sunset.

Tuesday around lunch time we decided to explore the towns of Aberdeen & Hoquiam; of course Dan had a list of eccentric sites to photograph, including brand new memorial to Kurt Cobain front man for the band Nirvana & supposed starter of the “Grunge” music movement. Cobain was from Aberdeen & apparently spent large amounts of time hanging out under a bridge on the Wishkah River. Unfortunately it appears that he couldn’t handle the fame & committed suicide. Just this APR the city dedicated a small memorial to Cobain next to the bridge, & we saw evidence that people from all over the world have already visited & left messages to Cobain.

Then we walked around the central part of both towns. Aberdeen’s, & the twin city of Hoquiam’s, economy are based on fishing & timber have be in recession since the late 70s & things haven’t gotten any better. Aberdeen has stars of fame for residents embedded in the sidewalk that have made a mark beyond Aberdeen (like Cobain; & John Elway NFL quarterback, Douglas Osheroff Nobel recipient, etc). Dan made the connection between the stars in the sidewalk & the “artwork” fences around nearby trees. Each tree is surrounded by a metal fence made of art that upon closer examination was always based on a “theme”. For example, John Elway’s star is next to a tree & the fence has many items representing football. Another tree was surrounded by a fence with many sword fighting scenes, & it turns out that the individual commemorated in the nearby star was an Olympic fencer from Aberdeen & trained many movie stars for sword fighting scenes. Also the town of Aberdeen has interesting surrealistic “animals” & “plants” decorating electric boxes. Lastly Dan discovered an alley way that was covered in some very interesting graffiti.

After returning to the RV Dan & Joe took off for a driving tour of the beach towns of Seabrook, Pacific Beach, Moclips & Taholah (Quinault Indian Reservation). Seabrook is a 2003 planned beach community that appears to be modeled on the award winning planned beach community in Seaside, FL (see our 11JAN09 BLOG), but not nearly as well done. On their return they did a little more beach driving, & stopped to view & photo some of the “political” signs of Craig Heiller. It appears he has some ongoing “feud” w ith almost everyone in the county & local gov’t. You can check out his website below but be warned – he minces no words!!! While driving on one of the beaches Joe & Dan discovered the only private airport in the USA where small planes can land on an oceanside beach (when the tide is out!). Dinner was fresh steamed butter clams; & although we thought we had more than enough, they quickly disappeared. That night Corrie & Dan headed for the Quinault Beach Resort & Casino to support the local Tribal economy.

http://copaliscub.wordpress.com/

Wednesday morning we made the long drive back to Evergreen State Fairgrounds in Monroe, WA. Thursday morning Dan & Joe headed to property to do some work but were chased away by heavy rain; meanwhile the ladies headed to the town of Snohomish to explore. That evening was an excellent “farewell” dinner at Ivar’s seafood restaurant in Mukilteo (or as Corrie always says – McIvars). Friday was spent finishing packing for the kids return to Louisiana, the return of the pop-up trailer, & then off to airport where thankfully the kids were able to board their flight with no problems this year.

Another great time together, that was too short, & it will take us at least a week to recover from!

01-08JUL11 - Monroe & Kittitas, WA

2011-07-08T08:34:00.000-07:00

As we did in our last three BLOGs we start with the latest on the construction of our house on our property outside of Sultan, WA:

On the 4th of July(!) the siding crew showed up; & spent two days siding the house with Hardie cement board & installing 3 exterior doors. Meanwhile Corrie bought a refrigerator & a dishwasher.

On 05JUL two guys show up and spend an hour spray foaming all the holes drilled in the framing for ventilation, plumbing & electric; plus around the windows & doors.

Meanwhile we spent the beautiful days of 01-05JUL at the property while Dan built a pump house to contain the future water treatment system; & Corrie spent her time moving soil with the tractor to fill in low spots & spraying to kill non-native blackberries. As we have done the last two summers we flew our kids, Rebecca & Joseph, in on 06JUL to join us for a week. First stop after their arrival was the under construction house, where each kid wanted to know which bedroom was theirs? The contractor has agreed not to work on our house while the kids are in town; lets hope he lives up to his word!

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2010/08/test.html

On Thursday, 07JUL, we all headed to cousin Steve’s & Bonnie’s in Kittitas, WA. Soon after our arrival Steve’s oldest sister, Kathie, showed up with her mother-in-law, Marge (for more on these two fine ladies, see the below BLOG link). We had an excellent afternoon & evening reminiscing about family memories. In addition Steve BBQ’d elk, deer & & Copper River salmon from Alaska. When Dan lived in Seattle he never heard of Copper River salmon. Somehow it has obtained the reputation as the best of all wild caught salmon. The end result is that the first fish of the season is flown direct to Seattle on Air Alaska, & the pilot of the plane is shown on all the local news stepping off the plane & holding the prized fish! It was very good salmon, but we are not sure what all the hoopla is all about. The day was capped by delicious root beer floats.

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2010/09/01-05sep10-various-wa-olympic-peninsula.html

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2011/05/01-11may11-monroe-wa-via-kittitas-wa.html

The next day Dan & Joe took off with cousin Steve to go fourwheeling through the surrounding hills, while Rebecca & Corrie headed into Ellensburg & Kittitas to explore. The rest of the day was spent relaxing. Steve decided that he would spend the rest of the afternoon rebuilding a gear box on some piece of farm machinery used to harvest hay. Dan & Joe assisted by standing around looking & asking dumb questions like – what’s this do? Once again we were treated to some excellent BBQ, along with fresh corn from the local farm stand. We were going to finish with root beer floats once again, but everyone seemed to have eaten a little too much in the last two days?

13-30JUN11 - Monroe, WA

2011-06-30T07:48:00.000-07:00

Since our last two BLOGs have discussed the start of our house construction on our property outside of Sultan, WA, we will commence this one with a brief summary of what has occurred to date:

Monday, 13JUN, framing “package” delivered; the delivery forklift gets stuck twice & we had to pull it out with our 4x4 Toad. The sill plates on top of the foundation were installed before we departed property for the day.

14JUN, Tuesday morning arrive on scene to find floor joists mostly installed; one man framing crew continued with rim plate. He couldn’t go any further until county inspector finally showed-up. After inspection floor decking installed along with garage walls, again all by one person.

Thursday, 16JUN, house completely framed & outer walls sheathed; along with framing all interior walls. Meanwhile Corrie finds an exceptional deal (& we mean exceptional deal) on floor models of a high end washer & dryer. So now we have them long before the house is done! To celebrate we have burgers & shakes at King Charley’s, a roadside institution on State Road 9 near Snohomish.

17JUN, which we count as the 12th day of construction, we arrive later than normal to find roof trusses had been delivered & 75% already installed; by the end of the day the trusses are done & the roof sheathing is installed.

21JUN the shingle roofing is done & windows are delivered; 22JUN, Wednesday, the windows & sliding doors are installed.

Thursday, 23JUN day 16 of construction, the plumbers (2) arrive & do their thing.

Nothing much happens until 26JUN when the electric furnace, air handler, & ventilation ducting are installed in half a day.

Then there is another lull until Thursday, 30JUN, when three electricians (father & 2 sons) show up & complete 90% of the installation in one day. Meanwhile three exterior doors & the siding “package” are delivered.

During this entire time we have tried to be on site whenever a contractor is there. In addition, when there are no contractors on site we still spend many hours at the site cleaning up after the contractors, since they “are not paid” to clean-up after themselves. Some are better than others at making an attempt at picking up their trash; but others make absolutely no effort even though we have placed a full size garbage can on site!

Also during this period Dan departed from 20-23JUN, to Tempe, AZ, on business trip for NCBRT; leaving Corrie to deal with the roofing, windows & plumbing. Thankfully everything went well, even though she is fully capable of handling anything that arose. Since 26JUN, Sunday, was forecasted to be an above average & sunny day, we headed to Snoqualmie Falls Park to view the Falls. This was a very scenic drive along what we call the valley road through the small towns of Duvall, Carnation & Fall City. The Falls are the second most visited tourist site in WA state after Mt Rainier. Thanks to the record high snow levels in the Cascades that is now melting, the Falls were much more impressive than usual. Snoqualmie Falls is the site of the first underground hydroelectric facility in the USA & is still generating non-polluting energy after almost one hundred years.

Right next door to the Falls is the Salish Lodge which is famous for their food, especially their breakfasts! You almost always need reservations for breakfast/brunch on weekends but Dan’s opinion was – what do we have to lose by just walking in? They found us a table, but obviously not one overlooking the Falls. The one brunch/breakfast menu item that they are renowned for is their country breakfast. This is a multi-course meal that a normal person can not finish (check out their website for complete details). Back in the late 70s, Dan & five of his friends each ordered this meal & managed to finish it! Today it costs $34 & we were thinking of splitting it; but they wanted anther $20 to split it! We went with the eggs benedict & croque madame; both outstanding. As usual Dan asked for tabasco, & was handed the world’s smallest bottle!

http://www.snoqualmiefalls.com/

http://www.salishlodge.com/

14JUN11 - Monroe, WA (construction photo)

2011-06-15T18:08:00.000-07:00

01-12JUN11 - Monroe, WA

2011-06-12T18:09:00.001-07:00

After the unexpected rapid start on construction of our house described in the proceeding BLOG things didn’t slow down! On 01JUN, Wednesday, the foundation walls were poured on top of the recently poured footings. When Dan arrived at the property he was just in time to find that the concrete pumper truck was stuck & our rock/gravel driveway was severely damaged. A “stuck” construction vehicle is a major headache & cost for the owner of the house, because most construction contracts have a clause that says the property owner is responsible for all charges for a stuck vehicle unless you can prove their negligence! This means that not only do you pay for a very big & expensive tow truck, but you pay for every minute the stuck vehicle can’t get to its next job! Thankfully they were able to get it free & back on the road; leaving us with a pretty trashed driveway.

The next day all the foundation forms were removed & we were advised to let the concrete “cure” over the weekend before back filling around the foundation. We then asked the lead contractor to give us all of next week (06-10JUN) to repair the driveway; install foundation drainage; backfill around the foundation; & “shoot” gravel into future crawl space. He agreed, & we spent the next two days, 03/04JUN, picking up debris, & purchasing the necessary piping & pieces for foundation drainage.

We did take time on Sunday, 05JUN, to have lunch with Dan’s brother Shawn & his girl friend, Cyndi, at the Buzz Inn by the Snohomish Airport. This is a small local airport that is used as a base of operations for hot air ballooning & skydiving. As we had a very relaxed late lunch we were constantly treated to the spectacle of dozens of skydivers bailing out of perfectly good planes over our heads & landing fifty feet from us. Hopefully we will see more of Shawn & Cyndi this summer, but first they are taking off for a two week road trip to Montana next weekend on their Harleys!

Monday first thing it was back to work on the property. First thing was repairing the driveway. This took three loads of rock (we’re talking 6 to 8 inch rock!), followed by two loads of small two inch gravel. Next up was filling the foundation walls of the future garage with washed sand in preparation for pouring a concrete garage floor. Lastly was installing French drainage tile (its really pipe, but they call it tile for some reason) around the outside of the foundation to reduce the possibility of water seeping into the crawl space below the house & causing mold.

This is not required by code but we decided on it just to be safe. It was not a simple task! First we had to lay a bed of gravel; & although we had a trackhoe to move & dump the gravel, we still had to level it with shovels. Then we had to place a “tubular” filter material around the drainage tile before laying it on the gravel (think stuffing sausage casing without the nifty sausage machine butchers have). Then the rest of the gravel had to be placed on the drainage pipe; & that covered with a four foot wide filtration cloth to keep dirt out, before the foundation could finally be backfilled! It was an all day affair & back breaking to say the least, even with the aid of a trackhoe!!!
On 09JUN, Thursday, we hired a gravel “conveyor” truck to “shoot” pea gravel into foundation in the area that will become the crawl space. Again this is not required by code, but we are taking this extra step to further reduce the possibility of water seepage after the house is closed-in. The conveyor truck was a very interesting device to watch in operation. It consists of a hopper that can be loaded with dirt, mulch, beauty bark, small gravel, etc; the hopper empties through the bottom onto an auger/conveyor mechanism that feeds to the rear of the rig. A 20 foot portion of the conveyor extends off the rear of the truck & can be swung side to side by the operator. By increasing the speed of the conveyor the operator can “shoot” the gravel from the end of the belt, all the way out to one hundred feet!

This is all remotely operated by the driver using a radio control device. The neatest thing to Dan was that the operator could also drive the truck with the remote control while standing seventy feet away! We’re talking forward, backward, & turning! To finish the day we rented a compactor to compact the sand in the garage foundation.

After taking all day Friday to recover from the week’s construction activities we headed into Seattle on Saturday to have a Mexican dinner at Dan’s cousin Steve Ruttner’s & wife Janine. Joining us was Steve’s brother Rick Lee & wife Sharon; & their sister Kelly, husband Les & their three kids. But before arriving there, we stopped at Kerry park on Queen Anne hill, which is famous for the view of the Seattle skyline & Mt Rainier. Unfortunately Mt Rainier was not visible but the skyline was beautiful.

The last time we had seen cousins Steve, Rick & Kelly, was Mother’s Day in 2009 at Rick & Sharon’s. We had made some effort via e-mail to get together last summer; but despite everyone’s good intentions, it didn’t happen. Anyway we managed to get together fairly quickly this time & had an excellent evening with good food. Hopefully we can visit a few more times this year before we hit the road for Louisiana.

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2009/05/01-14may09-monroe-wa.html

Sunday morning, 12JUN, we loaded up the rid’em lawn mower on the Toad & took it over to cousin Steve Kiesel’s in Kittitas for emergency repairs. Seems that all the tree stumps Dan has tried to run over the last couple of years have finally caught up to the mower. He has managed to completely break the steel mower deck in several places. With Steve’s welding skills & the help of a sledge hammer, it was repaired good enough for what we need it for.

Even with all this construction we do on the property Dan still goes into Everett every Wednesday to volunteer for Habitat for Humanity.

16-31MAY11 - Monroe, WA (house construction starts)

2011-05-31T07:22:00.000-07:00

After returning to our RV spot at Evergreen State Fairgrounds in Monroe, WA, on 16MAY, we began to prepare our property outside of Sultan, WA, for construction of a small three bedroom rambler. If you have followed our BLOG for the last couple of years you will remember we spent most of the summer of 2009 drilling the well from hell, dealing with environmental wetland issues on our property, & finally getting a permit for a septic installation.

In 2010 we settled on a house builder, while spending the entire summer trying to obtain all the other necessary permits, & finally getting the local power utility (PUD) to install permanent power. The permits & power installation occurred at the end of SEP10 & our contractor wanted to start construction immediately! Since we didn’t want to spend the next four months in the rainy season of Seattle, we said “no & we’ll see you sometime APR11 or MAY11”.

So once the local weather was reasonable (did we tell you the Seattle area has experienced the wettest & coolest winter & spring in decades?) we headed out to our property to do prep work like - installing a silt fence to protect the wetlands, staking out the exact house location, improving the gravel driveway for heavy construction equipment, installing temporary power, etc. In addition, there is the unpleasant task of finding & getting bids from sub-contractors for the digging of the foundation, digging & installing the septic system, & installing a water treatment system for our well (did we tell you that our water is safe to drink in every county in WA state except the one we are in?).

On Sunday, 22MAY, we took a break from the property work & headed to Dan’s cousin Paul’s & wife, Shannon Peters for a family get together & BBQ’ing hamburgers & hotdogs. Followers of our BLOG will also remember that we try to visit with them often during our annual stays in the Pacific NW, & that Aunt Jan (Paul’s mom) lives on the property. We were also joined by Paul’s brothers Jim & John (& John’s kids). So it ended up being a small family reunion. However, it was a bitter/sweet time because John’s wife, Michelle, had unexpectedly passed-away less than two months ago. Another sad reminder that life is far too short & nothing is guaranteed!
http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2010/08/08-20aug10-monroe-wa.html

The following day, Monday, our excavation contractor arrived on scene to dig our foundation. Dan thought this would be a two day job, but it was done in six hours. It was amazing to see how much dirt one man can move with the right machine (ie track hoe) & a laser survey system. On Friday, 27MAY, we learned that the forms for the concrete footings would be installed Saturday morning! So first thing Saturday morning Dan headed out to the property to find two workers staking out the location of the footings. Dan was surprised to hear that the entire job would be done in two hours (it actually took them three hours)?

The next step in the process was for the Snohomish County building inspector to come out & bless the footing forms. Since this was Memorial Day long weekend, the contractor assumed we wouldn’t see anyone until Wednesday, 01JUN, at the earliest & that he would probably return on Thursday or Friday to pour the concrete for the footings. So we were very surprised to hear late Tuesday, 31MAY, that not only had the county inspector approved the work, but the contractor had poured the concrete.
Dan immediately drove out to the property to find that the work had indeed been done; & also the concrete truck had dumped its excess load right in front of the future garage! So a less than cordial call was made to the lead contractor to inform him – 1) that we wanted to be informed before hand of any work being done; & 2) we wanted the mound of now hardened concrete removed. Hopefully the rest of the construction will go smoother than this, but we have a sneaky suspicion there will be other bumps along the way.

12-15MAY11 - Arlington & Anacortes, WA (casinos)

2011-05-16T08:36:00.000-07:00

12MAY, Thursday, we departed our almost permanent RV spot at Evergreen State Fairgrounds for four days. We did this because the semi-annual western Washington car swap meet was scheduled to start Friday & run thru Sunday at the fairgrounds. This swap meet, & the one in the fall, are very big events; & we just didn’t want to be bothered with the late night noise (ie parties), people not controlling their dogs, etc.

After deciding not to stick around during the swap meet, the next decision was – where to go? Since it was still pretty wet throughout most of western WA, we decided to re-visit a couple of the Indian casinos we visit every now & then. First stop was Angel of the Winds, in Arlington, WA. But at the very same time we received a call from our daughter, Rebecca, voicing some concern about possible flooding in Houma, LA, from the approaching high waters of the Mississippi River. Dan spent some time researching on the internet & talking to some inside sources from his Coast Guard days; then re-assured her, & gave her some phone numbers to get latest info & suggestions on how to prepare for absolute worst case scenario.

After checking in at Angel of the Winds; we received two coupon books, one for each day of our stay. As we have previously described in this BLOG, we feel these coupon books are an excellent deal (if you control your gambling)! You pay $17 for an RV spot each night, but you get a coupon book for each night. The coupon book has one coupon for a “free” $5 bill, one coupon to match your $5 bet on any table game, one free $1 Keno game, one $1 snack food item, $3 off at the restaurant, & $5 off their shrimp feast.

Saturday morning after loosing more than our fair share at Angel of the Winds, we moved to Northern Lights Casino (aka Swinomish Casino). After setting up camp, we then took a scenic drive through the North Cascade Mountains & the towns of Sedro Wooley, Concrete, Rockport, Darrington, Oso, etc. The most scenic town was Concrete. The town of Concrete has undergone several incarnations, the earliest being a settlement at the northwestern junction of the Baker and Skagit Rivers, known as "Minnehaha". In 1905, a settlement across the Baker River came into being due to the building of the Washington Portland Cement Company and was named "Cement City".
After the Superior Portland Cement Company plant was built in 1908, it was decided to merge the two towns. Inhabitants of the new community settled on the name "Concrete" and the town was so christened and officially incorporated on May 8, 1909. We wonder why the town isn’t called Cement, since concrete was never manufactured there; & everyone knows there is a big difference between cement (which was manufactured there) & concrete - right? The name of the town is more representative of the construction material of most of the buildings in town. After two devastating fires in the early 1900s, most of the buildings were rebuilt out of poured concrete (not cement). Upon first glance from the street, the buildings look like they were built out of wood siding in the early 1900s; but upon closer examination (ie touching) you discover they are poured concrete. For some reason Concrete believes it is the “center of the known universe”! We are not sure what the difference between the “known universe” & the “universe” in general is?

Saturday & Sunday nights were spent at the Northern Lights Casino; which didn’t give anywhere near the freebies that Angel of the Winds did & cost much more for a RV camping spot. The nice (or lucky) thing was that Corrie did very, very, well on the penny slots; such that, we almost broke even for gambling on all four days. One evening we went into the town of Anacortes for dinner & a walk about. On our previous visit(s) we notice they had city trash cans decorated to look like “old time” packaging on cans of packed salmon in homage to the numerous salmon packing houses that existed in Anacortes at one time. This time we noticed they also had painted “cutouts” of people, cars, boats, etc, etc, on the sides of various buildings. The 3-D effect is something different than the “usual” wall murals you see in a lot of other cities.

01-11MAY11 - Monroe, WA (via kittitas, wa)

2011-05-12T08:48:00.000-07:00

Saturday, 30APR, we arrived once again at cousin Steve & Bonnie Kiesel’s in Kittitas, WA. Followers of our BLOG know all about the Kiesels & how often we stop & spend time with them. Turns out Steve was off fishing for trout with the guys. So we decided to take Bonnie out for a belated birthday dinner. Sunday Steve returned with fresh trout for dinner & Bonnie prepared a delicious clam chowder. We were also fortunate that their son, Kenneth, joined us for dinner. The rest of our visit was spent just relaxing & visiting; with no heavy duty farm chores!

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2010/08/01-07aug10-various-wa-if-its-tuesday-it.html

Tuesday, 03MAY, we finally finished our cross country drive to our almost permanent spot at Evergreen State Fairgrounds, Monroe, WA. That afternoon we headed out to our property to check on things. Apparently western WA experienced a very wet winter/spring as shown by the amount of water on our property. Wednesday was an excellent weather day so we hauled a bunch of stuff to the barn, Corrie trimmed some trees & Dan washed the car.

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2010/05/01-08may10-monroe-wa-casinos.html

After a delicious Mother’s Day brunch on Sunday, we met Bonnie & Steve at our property to “trade” tractor implements. We gave up a fertilizer spreader for a five hundred pound block of concrete that you can hang on the back of the tractor. Why? Because we won’t be growing any crops on our property, so don’t need a spreader; & they had an “extra” concrete block, which greatly improves traction on wet ground. Although tractors have massive rear wheels often filled heavy liquid calcium (like ours), tractors still need additional weight on the rear when maneuvering on wet or loose ground; especially when using the front end loader.

Wednesday, 11MAY, Dan headed into Everett to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity. For a couple of years in Houma, LA, Dan volunteered with the Bayou chapter of Habitat. For the last two summers in WA he has meant to connect with the local chapter, but hasn’t. Anyway he finally got off his butt & tracked down the local representative, & was told to bring his tools to the job site first thing Wednesday morning. Although the two houses under construction are almost done, it was still good to do something constructive that benefits those less fortunate then us.

http://www.habitat.org/

22-30APR11 - Various Enroute WA (nv, ca & or)

2011-04-30T09:24:00.000-07:00

Friday, 22APR, we departed Phoenix for the finally leg of our drive to the Pacific NW. First stop was the Riverside Casino in Laughlin, NV. Read our below BLOG entry about how Don Laughlin turned an out of the way motel serving cheap chicken dinners into the second most visited city in Nevada.

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2010/04/1415apr10-laughlin-nv-happy-tax-day.html

Saturday, we overnighted in Bakersfield, CA; & Easter Sunday we ended up at Happy Time RV in Dunnigan, CA. We are not sure how the permanent residents of the “park” were celebrating Easter, but we noticed they were setting up a rock & roll band outside & everyone was clearly drinking large quantities of their favorite adult beverage. Must be why they call it Happy Time RV? We noticed the gas station across the road had $3.99 gas & was mobbed all night long with customers coming off the I-5 interstate. Monday, 25APR, we overnighted in Redding, CA, at an RV park we seem to stay at every time we pass through on I-5 (see below BLOG link for more details on Redding).

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2010/04/16-19apr10-various-ca-bend-or.html

26APR, Tuesday, we drove from Redding through two high mountain dry lake basins (aka Playas) to camp at Eagle’s Nest RV in Tionesta, CA. The object was to tour Lava Beds National Monument. Tionesta is near Tulelake, CA, & extremely remote. In spite of the remote location the owner of the RV park had a smart phone with an attachment to take credit cards, & when the transaction was done you signed your name on the smart phone using your finger as a pen & the receipt was emailed to you! Since there was some daytime left after setting up camp we took the Toad to explore the immediate area & Tulelake, a very small town (& we mean small).

Wednesday we spent all day at Lava Beds National Monument; the National Monument contains the largest concentration of lava tubes in USA (over 500 with more than 20 open to public). But the National Monument is not just lava flows & tubes, it is also the main battlefield of the Modoc War, 1872-73, the only Indian War in California, & Petroglyph Point one of largest panels of Native American rock art in the USA.

First stop as always was the Visitor Center to get info on the park & view the dioramas & video(s). From there it was off to examine several of the “easier” lava tubes. By easier it means no steep sections to climb up or down, & no crawling on your belly. Some of the more difficult tubes have passages that are twelve inches high! We then continued on driving on the park “loop” road to view Mammoth Crater & Hidden Valley. Next stop was the fire lookout at Schonchin Butte. Upon our arrival at the trailhead of the fire lookout we discovered the trail was about .7 mile straight up! At that point Corrie decided to take a break, while Dan decided to go for it. After narrowly avoiding a heart attack on the hike up, Dan was rewarded with 150 mile views of California, Oregon & the Sierras.

We continued the drive through the National Monument stopping to view the Fleener Chimneys, Captain Jacks (real name Kientpoos) Stronghold, & Petroglyph Point. At the Stronghold we learned the history of the brief Modoc War. The interaction between the Modoc Indians of the Tulelake area & the ever increasing European immigrants followed the path of almost all Native American tribes: first mutual cooperation & trade with the Europeans; then resentment as the Europeans settled permanently & took “ownership” of all the lands that Native Americans believed no one owned; & then finally armed conflict.

The difference in this tale was that the Modocs were forced to sign a treaty that moved them north to share a Reservation with the Klamath Indians in Oregon. Unfortunately the Modocs being in the minority were treated poorly by the Klamaths & even the representatives of the USA gov’t. This led Chief Kientpoos to leave the Reservation with about 160 Modocs & seek a Reservation of their own in the area of their traditional lands around Tulelake. Although he & his followers did not attack the “Europeans”; the newly arrived Europeans felt threatened & demanded the Army force the Modocs back to the Oregon Reservation.

Eventually the Modocs took refuge in the lava beds & tubes, & waged a guerilla action against the Army, holding off a superior force that was twenty times their number. The Modocs’ actions were widely publicized in the press back East gaining a large, sympathetic, support of the public. Unfortunately one of Kientpoos’s followers killed the senior Army representative during negotiations & the public opinion then turned against the Modocs. The Modocs that followed Keintpoos were eventually defeated & were not even returned to the Oregon Reservation, but shipped to Oklahoma. To this day the few surviving Modocs in Oregon & Oklahoma refuse to even visit Tulelake.

Trivia – who is the only USA Army General to die fighting the Indians (it is probably not who you think)?

http://www.nps.gov/labe/index.htm

Unfortunately we did not have time to visit the Tule Lake Unit of the “WWII Valor in the Pacific National Monument” created in 2008, to serve as a reminder of the hardships endured on the home front during WWII. As such the new National Monument has three separate sites dedicated to the home front: Pearl Harbor for obvious reasons; Attu Island & Kiska Island in the Aleutians because they were the only USA land occupied by the Japanese; & Tulelake, CA. Why Tulelake? Because it was the site of one of the ten War Relocation Centers used to “house” Japanese Americans who were forcibly removed from “exclusion zones” on the west coast. The vast majority of these Japanese Americans (NOTE - if you were 1/16th Japanese, you were relocated!!!) were loyal to the USA but they endured the “home front” hardships of losing their freedom, their possessions & their businesses because of their race. Tulelake was selected out of the ten sites because - it was the largest; the only one to be redesignated as a Segregation Center (not a good thing); & the only one where martial law was declared (a really bad thing). Right now there is no funding & the few exhibits are in a temporary location with no full time staff. We hope to come back when the National Monument has permanent facilities, & spend some time learning more details about this sad chapter of USA history.

http://www.nps.gov/valr/index.htm

http://www.nps.gov/tule/index.htm

Thursday as we drove north to Bend, OR, we were treated to constant snow & sleet flurries; which made the drive more stressful than usual. After arrival at RV park Dan discovered that we were near the world famous Petersen Rock Gardens. So naturally we had to take off in the Toad (in the snow) to visit them. Born in Denmark, Rasmus Petersen (1883-1952) built his rock garden in the last 17 years of his life, in tribute to his adopted new country, the USA. He collected rocks, petrified wood, glass, and shells from around Redmond, OR, & began building replica structures at the age of 52. His creative Dementia Concretia eventually yielded a scaled-down Statue of Liberty, a U.S. Capitol building, & impressive Independence Hall.

That evening, or more correctly Friday early AM, Corrie got up to watch the royal wedding, while Dan stayed in bed & ignored the entire affair. By the time Dan did get up, it had started to snow again in Bend; which led to a debate about staying another day in Bend, or driving in the snow again? Thanks to the internet we could see the highway conditions further north were clear & dry. So the decision was to wait for the temperature to raise & then continue driving north. That afternoon we made it to the Yakima Indians’ Legends Casino in Toppenish, WA, without incident. Where Dan did very well, but Corrie lost more than her fair share!

Tomorrow, Saturday, back at cousin Steve’s & Bonnie’s in Kittitas, WA!

14-21APR11 - Phoenix, AZ (mesa really)

2011-04-22T07:26:00.001-07:00

14APR, Thursday, was an uneventful drive from Ajo, AZ, to the Good Life RV park in Mesa, AZ (a suburb of Phoenix). We have been here before back in November of 2010. The reason for our stay this time is the same as last time. Dan has to fly out on a short business trip & Corrie would like a comfortable place in Dan’s absence. If you read our below BLOG entry about the last time, you will note that the park was just beginning to fill up with snowbirds. Now it is almost a ghost town because most of the snowbirds have “flown” north! Apparently there are only thirty or so full timers that are willing to endure the Arizona summer. Upon arrival Corrie took off on a grocery run, while Dan checked out happy hour.

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2010/11/06-16nov10-phoenix-az-red-stick-la.html

As noted in our NOV10 BLOG there are a ton of activities offered by the membership association. But Friday, Saturday & Sunday we spent most of the time lying around the pool. Friday night we did try our luck on BINGO; & Saturday morning we visited two local flea markets.

Sunday morning we jumped into the Toad & took off to Tortilla Flats on AZ Highway 88, which follows the Apache Trail through the Superstition Mountains. Tortilla Flats is at the end of the paved road & was the primary staging area for the construction of the Roosevelt Dam (Teddy not FDR) on the Salt River between 1905 & 1911. The Flats is a group of buildings constructed in a faux western style known for their barstools made out of saddles & their prickly pear ice cream (pretty good). Since the drive is very scenic, the restaurant & bar have become a “destination” for bikers & car enthusiasts. Beyond the Flats AZ 88 becomes 25 miles of treacherous dirt road all the way to the dam. The road is supposedly two way traffic, but many portions are only wide enough for a single vehicle! It was one of the most scenic drives we have taken, in spite of a few close calls.

http://www.tortillaflataz.com/

After getting back on paved highway we stopped by the Tonto National Monument. This National Monument preserves the remains of two cliff dwellings built by the Salado people. While reviewing the exhibits a quote from the Park Superintendent’s monthly report of March 1953, caught Dan’s eye – “On a busy Sunday afternoon, a pair of ladies briefs were found adorning an ocotillo branch right on the main trail. If this proves anything, it shows that the trail needs more careful observation.”

http://www.nps.gov/tont/index.htm

Monday, 18APR (tax day), Dan flew to Baton Rouge for business, & returned Wednesday evening. Thursday morning, 21APR, we took off for a tour of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West in Scottsdale, AZ, & upon arrival purchased tickets for the “Insights Tour”. The original Taliesin was (& is) located in Spring Green, WI. At some point Wright’s doctor advised him to “avoid” future winters in WI. Having visited the Scottsdale area a few times, Wright purchased a very remote piece of land & began creating Taliesin West. From 1937 until his death, Wright spent the winters in Scottsdale, & the summers in Spring Green (the first snowbird?).

From pictures we have seen of Taliesin West, we mistakenly believed it was similar to other Wright structures; ie substantial walls made of local stone, interior walls & ceilings made of local woods, & large amounts of glass to bring the outdoors in (& vice versa). Turns out we were somewhat mistaken. The walls are made of local stone held together with cement; but these exterior walls only supported a lightweight structure of wooden beams & a canvas roof system. Since the canvas leaked at the seams, Wright had to device a system of interior gutters to carry the infrequent rains away. And the floor to ceiling window openings were not covered by glass, but by canvas panels or canvas covers when needed. It took a few years for the third Mrs Wright to convince her husband that glass was a good thing.

How he built Taliesin West is another amazing story! For many years at Taliesin in WI, Mr Wright had “interns” that paid Mr Wright a yearly tuition to learn from Mr Wright. When he decided on Scottsdale as the location for his winter home, he loaded all the interns into several cars he owned & headed south. (Later in his life, he had all his cars painted the same bright red! It must have been quite the sight as a caravan of red cars filled with Wright & entourage spent multiple days crossing the USA?) Upon arrival the only accommodations they had were eight foot by eight foot shepard’s tents, & no onsite water (let alone electricity). During their six month stay Wright would sketch out his designs & the interns would build it. It took four years before they had permanent water, a decade for power, & the phone service came after Mr Wright died.

The interns were also expected to prepare all meals, create center pieces, serve the meals & do the dishes. Once a week everyone dressed in formal attire (we’re talking tuxedos & dresses) for a formal dinner followed by musical or theatrical entertainment provided by the interns! This tradition continues to this day, but on a monthly basis. Today’s modern interns still follow a “snowbird” pattern while paying $30K in annual tuition. Not a bad price really when you consider this is for a full year not just two semesters, & includes room & board; with six months in AZ & six months in WI. And today the interns are expected to build their own “abode” in the surrounding desert; or if you have seniority you can claim an existing structure & modify/improve as you see necessary. So there are a few interns still living in 8x8 tents!

Almost all of Taliesin West was built with local materials or items Wright salvaged at little or no cost. A prime example of this is what appears to be old Chinese ceramic figurines depicting scenes from various Chinese Operas. They were used by Wright to delineate between different spaces & areas both inside & outside. When you see them you can tell they were found in fragments & pieced back together; & you assume they were antique (ie expensive) artwork Wright collected on his Asian travels. NOT! Turns out these were cheap items mass produced by the Chinese in the 1930s for sale by the Gump Dept Store in San Francisco; & Mr Wright learned that Gump had boxes of broken ones they want to get rid of. He had the entire lot shipped to Scottsdale & told an intern to put them back together; a task that only took three years!

A fascinating tour of beautiful structure, while learning about a fascinating American icon! Now we need to include Wisconsin in our RV adventures so we can tour the first Taliesin.

http://www.franklloydwright.org/fllwf_web_091104/Tours.html

12/13APR11 - Ajo, AZ (organ pipe cactus national monument)

2011-04-14T16:29:00.000-07:00

On our drive Tuesday morning, 12APR, on Arizona Highway 85 from west Phoenix to Ajo, AZ, we noticed a significant law enforcement presence the entire way. There were sheriff, highway patrol, & border patrol units every few miles? Upon entering the town of Ajo (pronounced Ahh Ho) we noticed that almost every business (including gas stations) had large signs announcing they sold Mexican Insurance. Turns out AZ Highway 85 crosses the border & heads straight to some lovely beaches in Mexico nicknamed Arizona’s Beach (more on this later). After checking into the RV park, Dan took off in the Toad for an exploration of the town & surrounding area. He discovered a beautiful town plaza & railroad station. Guess what the railroad was called? – the Tucson, Cornelia, & Gila Bend RR! Two blocks off the plaza was an old hotel for sale. Guess what its name was? – the Hotel Cornelia! Dan felt this was a sign that we were to buy the hotel, renovate it, & become permanent residents of Ajo; Corrie didn’t see it that way.

There were two beautiful churches constructed in the Spanish style & majestic high school called the Curly School. The school was abandoned for years, but now has been renovated & provides subsidized housing for artists. While listening to the radio in the Toad, Dan discovered Native American Radio, KOHN, 91.9 FM, voice of the Tohono O’odham Nation. He found it interesting, especially the news which was entirely about Native American matters throughout the USA! Nothing about the budget mess, radiation in Japan, war in Libya, etc.

Ajo never really had a “mining boom” like Bisbee, Benson, & other AZ towns. There was no significant gold or silver in the surrounding area to cause the explosive growth (followed by rapid decline) so typical of other western mining towns in the USA. Starting with the Native Americans, Ajo was always known for copper deposits. Unfortunately it seems that every time someone started to actually make a profit from copper, the prices would drop. Right now there appears to be little or no activity at the giant pit right on the edge of town. Guess what the pit is called? - the New Cornelia mine!

For the last few decades Ajo was making some money as a way station for tourists from Tucson & Phoeniz heading to “Arizona’s beach” located in Puerto Penasco, Sonora, MX, on the Sea of Cortez (aka Gulf of California). Puerto Penasco means Rocky Port, but Anglos call it Rocky Point. Apparently the beaches are lovely & the deep sea fishing excellent. In the 1990s developers realized that this was an undeveloped area & was the closest beach to the citizens of Phoenix, Tucson & even New Mexico by car. So the building of beachfront condos & walled communities for the Anglos commenced. But even though Mexico’s recent drug war has not affected Puerto Penasco; tourism, & therefore the “traffic” through Ajo, is way down.

As a result of 9/11 & drug problems on the international border, the “big” business now in Ajo is the Border Patrol! Border Patrol vehicles are everywhere; cruising the roads, parked in the middle of nowhere, & appear to outnumber “civilian” cars two to one. In fact, about twenty miles south of town on the road to Mexico that cuts through the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, the Border Patrol is building a big facility for their increased presence in the surrounding area.

http://www.curleyschool.com/ http://www.isdanet.org/

Wednesday morning it was off to the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. First thing we noticed on the forty mile drive to the Visitor Center was more & more Border Patrol as we traveled south. Corrie figured there were so many of them, everyone visiting the park should get their own private escort? Dan had three thoughts – 1) we were extremely safe & protected, 2) we might not be that safe, 3) it was very sad that our “demand” for illegal substances had brought the USA (& the citizens of Mexico) to this point. This last point was driven home when we learned the Visitor Center was named after Kris Eggle, a Park Ranger killed by drug smugglers in 2002. After visiting the Visitor Center & being reassured that the Monument area was safe, we drove the Ajo Mountain Drive (21 miles of dirt & gravel) & hiked a little of the Estes Canyon Trail.

As you maybe able to determine from the name of the National Monument, it was created to protect the Organ Pipe Cactus. But as you explore the park you will see that the Organ Pipe Cactus is vastly outnumbered by Saguaro, Cholla, & other cacti. So why the park? Because this is the farthest “north” the Organ Pipe Cactus grows in North America. While it is very “common” as you travel south, this National Monument is pretty much it if you want to view Organ Pipe Cactus in the USA. In fact, the Monument has been recognized by the UN as an “International Biosphere Reserve” for its diversity, rare & endangered species, rich cultural history & ecosystem of international importance. Trivia – what is a Saguaro boot?

http://www.nps.gov/orpi/index.htm

10/11APR11 - Phoenix, AZ

2011-04-12T17:15:00.000-07:00

Sunday, 10APR, we finally “escaped” from the snow of Flagstaff & drove south to northern Phoenix. Snow from yesterday’s snow storm was on the ground for half the drive south on I-17. We could see several places where people had ended up in the median ditch, & could understand why I-17 was closed for most of Saturday. Monday morning Dan started the day by washing one months worth of dust off the Toad, & then vacuuming the inside.

After lunch we head out to hunt down & photograph eccentric sites in the northern Phoenix area. Two unique things happened during this expedition. The first was at the “Sunnyslope Rock Garden” (aka Grover Cleveland Thompson Museum), 10023 N Thirteenth Pl, Phoenix, AZ, 85020, where we ran into Marion Blake.

Grover Cleveland Thompson built this rock garden in the Sunnyslope neighborhood of Phoenix, AZ, from 1952-1974. He began building when he retired here at the age of 65. Thompson was inspired by Petersen's Rock Garden in Bend, OR, which was near where he used to live. He used concrete, rocks, broken pottery, bottles, and other discarded objects to create sculptures and fountains. One of his favorite materials was Fiesta Ware. It seems that at one time the bright pigments used to color the classic dinnerware was radioactive! End result was many people thru their Fiesta Ware away & Thompson scooped it up. Thompson died in 1978 and the property has been cared for by a new owner, Marion Blake, since 1979.

Our intention upon finding the Rock Garden behind a locked fence, was to just get a few photos from the road. Ms Blake saw us & immediately invited us in for a private tour. She also was a wealth of information on Mr Thompson. Dan’s favorite rock “sculpture” was an eight foot high model of the Seattle Space Needle.

The second unique experience was at the site of a Paul Bunyan Muffler Man located in a residential neighborhood, where we discovered an entire yard of eccentric stuff. Dan even got invited inside by the owner Don Parks, & was overwhelmed by everything taking up every square inch of the house!

He bought his house in 1971 and started "decorating with junk." There are road signs, telephone booths, & fire hydrants. The statues include a lifesize elk, a Humpty Dumpty, a cowboy on horseback, & of course the Paul Bunyan Muffler Man we came to see. In fact, there is no more room in Mr Parks house & yard, so he bought the empty house across the road!

06-09APR11 - Flagstaff, AZ (various national monuments)

2011-04-10T09:57:00.000-07:00

Upon arrival at Black Barts RV Park we headed to the Flagstaff Visitor Center. This is an excellent visitor center located in the restored Santa Fee RR station. Then it was off for a walk about Old Town. That evening we decided to have dinner at Brandy’s Bakery & Restaurant, which has been featured on Food TV. This is a small place located in an out of the way strip mall, nowhere near downtown. The Chef prepares only seven or eight entrees, all unique & very good! http://www.brandysrestaurant.com/ The next day, Thursday, 07APR, we headed to the Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument; which is connected to the Wupatki National Monument by a scenic “loop” road through the Coconino National Forest & private property. As always our first stop was at the Visitor Center to get information on the park & view any displays or videos they have. The Sunset Crater center was unique in that they had a working seismograph & we could see the shockwaves from the quakes that had just happened that day in Japan & Baja Mexico. The Sunset Monument preserves one of the largest volcanic cinder cones in the USA, & the surrounding lava flows. Back in 1928 a film company wanted to dynamite the cinder cone so they could film the resulting avalanche! The resulting outcry by locals resulted in the creation of the Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument. One interesting fact was that from 1963-73 the surrounding lava fields were used to train Apollo astronauts for lunar operations.

The Wupatki National Monument contains the remnants of five Pueblos – Wukoki, Wupatki, Citadel, Lomaki, & Nalakihu. You can walk thru Wukoki & Wupatki; & Wupatki has a very detailed brochure explaining what archeologists & scientists believe the function(s) of the Pueblo was. Much of what occurred at these sites & what the day-to-day life of the inhabitants was will never be known because the early Native Americans had no written language. One interesting feature at Wupati was an oval walled pit, with entrances at each end, that apparently was used for “ball games”? At the Wukoki Pueblo Corrie had an up close & personal experience with a four foot gopher snake!

http://www.nps.gov/sucr/index.htm http://www.nps.gov/wupa/index.htm Later that afternoon Dan took off by himself to the Walnut Canyon National Monument. The canyon is over four hundred feet deep & is very beautiful in its own right. But the reason for the national monument is the remains of numerous Native American “cliff dwellings” built into the natural recesses of the canyon about one hundred feet below the canyon rim (sort of like single family housing?). Dan hiked the Island Trail which is a one mile loop around a pinnacle of rock that rises over three hundred feet from the canyon floor, also containing cliff dwellings. Even though the impending shut down of the federal gov’t was not certain & still two days away; the budget mess was already effecting National Park Service operations! Usually your entrance fee gets you seven days re-entry privileges; but since the Parks might be closed starting Saturday, they couldn’t guarantee you would get the “full value” of your entrance fee. So the Park Service decided to charge no entrance fees for Thursday & Friday. We wonder how much revenue was lost to the gov’t? Trivia – Pres Roosevelt disliked the Army designed uniforms for the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), who did he pick to re-design the uniform?

http://www.nps.gov/waca/index.htm

Friday morning we woke up to a light, but constant, snowfall. We had planned on visiting the town of Sedona, AZ, & a few more National Monuments, but decided because of the weather to stick around Flagstaff. During the day Corrie managed a trip to the mall, & Dan went out to photograph eccentric sites.

We awoke Saturday morning, 09APR, to another snowfall & over a foot of snow on the ground & on the RV! Other than using the Toad for short errands we “hunkered down” inside the RV & watched the late winter storm outside our windows. At one point Dan climbed on top of the RV with a broom to remove over a foot of snow.

04/05APR11 - Holbrook, AZ (petrified forest national park)

2011-04-05T18:10:00.000-07:00

Monday, 04APR, was a very scenic & leisurely drive on “old” US180 from Silver City, NM, to Holbrook, AZ. After checking into the RV park, it was off to Jim Gray’s Petrified Wood Co. This is one of those “old fashioned” roadside attractions that lined the old two lane highways back in the day, trying to catch your eye & get you to stop; & as always in the back seat were several kids screaming “Can we stop?” “Can we stop?” Even though a tourist trap, some of the things made from petrified wood were extremely beautiful (if not very expensive)! http://www.petrifiedwoodco.com/

Upon returning to the RV Dan went on a photo hunt of eccentric sites in the Holbrook area. The “theme” for the area seems to be dinosaurs? Every business on the original alignment of Route 66 seems to have at least one, two, or more dinosaurs out front. One of the interesting ones, was very a detailed cast bronze dino made for someone in the Phoenix area for their pool area. Turns out the bronze casting was too heavy to lift over the house via crane! So the couple donated it to Holbrook.

Monday night we decided to have dinner at Butterfield Steakhouse on Route 66. This was a “theme” restaurant that was very common on Route 66 from the 1940s to the late 1970s. Every booth has displays of cowboys, Indians, lawmen, outlaws, etc, that supposedly roamed the local area back in the late 1800s. It was a very large restaurant with very few patrons when we were there; the steaks were good but not worth going out of your way for.

Tuesday, 05APR, we headed to the north entrance of the Petrified Forest National Park. Upon arrival at the Visitor Center we viewed the Park Service film & then started driving the park road to the south entrance, stopping at turn-outs to take in the views. The north portion of the park is primarily Painted Desert, & the south portion has significant deposits of petrified wood. While spending the day in the park we caught the Ranger led tour of the Puerco Pueblo & then rushed off to catch the Ranger led tour at the Painted Desert Inn, before driving the rest of the park road south to the Rainbow Forest Museum. Both of these tours were excellent & we highly recommend them if you are in the Park! To us the beautiful sights of the entire park along the 28 mile park drive were an unexpected surprise, & we highly recommended stopping by if you are anywhere close to the Park!

The Pueblo tour was extremely informative about a Pueblo that might have housed 1200 people; & had the added bonus of the Ranger pointing out Petroglyphs below the trail. The Painted Desert Inn was a “business venture” built by Herbert Lore out of slabs of petrified wood. Because Lore did not understand the instability of the ground he built on, the original Inn (aka Stone Tree House) was a maintenance nightmare! Eventually he sold the Inn to the Federal Gov’t; & in the late 1930s the CCC tried to stabilize the structure, while expanding it, & covering the petrified wood structure in a SW adobe style. In addition the CCC added some exquisite painted glass skylights. In the 1970s the Inn narrowly escaped demolition & now the Park Service is trying to extend the “uses” & open hours of the Inn for expanded use. Not to be missed in the Inn are the murals by Hopi artist Fred Kabotie, from the late 1940s!

Trivia – what National Park has a portion devoted to Route 66? What was the first National Park that had a portion of its area designated National Wilderness? http://www.nps.gov/pefo/index.htm

01-03APR11 - Silver City, NM (catwalk trail)

2011-04-04T14:26:00.000-07:00

After Dan toured the New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum in Las Cruces, NM, we finally hit the road to Silver City, NM. We have visited Silver City twice before while staying in Deming, NM (see below BLOG links). We have found Silver City an interesting place & had wanted to stay in a RV park near the city to explore if further. As we have noted before, the city is a unique mixture of cowboys & farmers, aging hippies, many artists, new-agers, etc.

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2009/04/28mar09-gila-cliff-dwellings-silver.html

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2007/10/2526oct07-deming-nm-happy-birthday.html

Upon arrival we learned that today, 01APR, was a “First Fridays Downtown” in Silver City; which apparently consists of a street dance, costume contest, stores open late, street performers, etc. So we decided to check it out & find a place for dinner. While window shopping on the main boulevard we discovered the Shevek & Co Restaurant. The Chef apparently learned cooking from his Jewish Grandmother in a multi ethnic neighborhood in New York City, followed by working in restaurants all around the Mediterranean, before graduating from the Culinary Institute. Needless to say the food was excellent, & best of all every item on the menu could be ordered in one of three sizes – tapa, mezze & entrée. We stuck to the tapa size & sampled eight different items & two desserts. We caught the end of the First Fridays Downtown & were not impressed, especially when it wrapped-up at 8PM.

http://silver-eats.com/

http://www.townofsilvercity.org/

Saturday morning we headed to the Catwalk Trail in Whitewater Canyon in the Gila National Forest five miles east of Glenwood, NM. This is a great hike through a very narrow canyon with some portions on cantilevered catwalks; very similar to the Johnston Canyon hike we took in Canada’s Banff National Park back in September 09. The trail follows the route of a four inch pipeline built around 1893 that brought water to an ore mill located at the mouth of the canyon. The pipeline had to be raised above the canyon floor & cantilevered to protect it from flash floods. Eventually the CCC was tasked with turning the remnants of the pipeline structure into a trail.

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2009/09/0203sep09-banff-ab.html

We were going to hit the road on Sunday, 03APR, but the weather service predicted high winds gusty to over 70 mph (equivalent to a category 1 hurricane). So we decided to stay one more day & not risk being on the road.

Late Sunday afternoon Dan went on a driving tour of Fort Bayard in spite of the gusting winds. The fort started in 1866 as a typical Army post used to suppress the Indians. Buffalo Soldiers were also stationed here, several of whom received the Medal of Honor. One Buffalo Soldier was Will Cathay (aka Cathy Williams), the only known female Buffalo Soldier. Rather than being abandoned in the late 1890s like many others, Fort Bayard became the first Army tuberculosis sanatorium. In 1922 the complex was transferred to the Veterans Bureau & continued to treat tuberculosis, as well as Veterans of WWI & WWII. In 1965 the Fort complex was transferred to the state of New Mexico which operated it as long term health care facility until 2010. In 1974 the Fort’s cemetery was designated as a National Cemetery. Unfortunately, almost all of the buildings are visibly deteriorating while the state tries to find funds to stabilize it & eventually restore it.

http://www.fortbayard.org/

29-31MAR11 - Las Cruces, NM

2011-03-31T19:55:00.000-07:00

Our first stop before departing Carlsbad on Tuesday morning, 29MAR, was at a Exxon station closed for remodeling. Turns out that you could still purchase diesel by paying with a credit card at the pump; & we are guessing that since they did not have to pay any employees, their price was ten to fifteen cents a gallon cheaper than any other station. Rather than drive on I-10 west through El Paso, TX, to get to Las Cruces, NM, Dan decided to go north on a secondary road via Cloudcroft. The last portion of this route is very steep & curvy with many warning signs for truckers about the steep grade; in fact our next door fellow RV’er couldn’t believe we were taking that route. End result was that it was a very scenic drive, with the last fifteen miles a bit of a challenge (but we have driven worse) & we avoided the “madness” of I-10 through El Paso. We set up camp & headed to the village of Mesilla for dinner.

We have visited Mesilla a few times already. The first time was back in 2005 when we met Dan’s sister, Sharon, & hubby, Tim Tompkins, there in our old gas RV, & spent a few days exploring. The last visit was almost a year ago (see below BLOG link) when we were El Paso for over a week. Mesilla has been a historic town as a part of Mexico & later as part of the USA as a result of the Gadsden Purchase. At one time it was the territorial capitol of Arizona & New Mexico. The town of Las Cruces would not be the second biggest city in NM if the citizens of Mesilla had not declined the railroads offer to run through their town. End result of their decision was the train line went to Las Cruces & Mesilla turned into a sleepy little village, surrounded by the ever growing Las Cruces. We had dinner at La Posta an establishment we had walked by before on previous visits. Apparently it is one of those must do things for tourists & we always saw people waiting to get in. We got their early & avoided the crowds. We found the food no better than most TexMex restaurants, but Dan enjoyed their Chili Rita.

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2010/04/01-09apr10-el-paso-tx-fort-bliss.html

http://www.laposta-de-mesilla.com/

Wednesday morning, Dan headed to the White Sands Missile Range Museum & Missile Park. The museum is being reorganized & most of the video equipment was not functioning, but Dan still found it fascinating. In addition to missile “history”, the museum also had displays on Mimbres pottery, early settlers, Bataan Death March Buffalo Soldiers, NASA, Victorio War, & other non-missile topics. About the Victorio War one 2nd LT Finley wrote – “It is the old story, unjust treatment of the Indians by the Govt., treaties broken, promises violated and the Indians moved from one reservation to another against their will, until finally they break out and go on the war path and the Army is called in to kill them. It is hard to fight against and shoot down men when you know they are in the right and are really doing what our fathers did in the Revolution, fighting for their country.”

Upon viewing the Bataan Death March display, it reminded Dan that we had seen Memorials to the event in many NM towns & we had even driven on the Bataan Memorial Highway. There is even a Bataan marathon on the missile range each year. Now he wondered why this tragic event was so significant to NM? Turns out that one of the largest USA units in the Philippines at the start of WWII, was the 200th Coast Artillery from New Mexico. They had been sent to the Philippines because many of them spoke Spanish. They held the Japanese off for four months with inferior weapons & no food before surrendering & then enduring the infamous march. By the end of the war NM had the most per-capita casualties of any state, & only half her men came home!

Another display was of an original German V2 rocket. This is a stand alone exhibit in its own building with a very detailed description of the German development program; along with details of the USA’s “race” to beat the Russians in seizing as many German scientists & V2 actual components before the war ended. The scientists were easy, since many of them fled to the west into the arms of the USA Army rather than be captured by the Russians. The Americans discovered a V2 factory in Nordhausen, Germany, an area that was to be handed over to the USSR. The Army quickly removed everything & shipped it west. The end result is in August of 1945, 300 railroad cars of V2 “stuff” showed up in Las Cruces, New Mexico, & every railroad siding for 210 miles was used to hold the freight cars. It took another 30 days to bring everything to the newly created White Sands Proving Ground (original name).

Trivia – more V2s were fired at targets on the continent of Europe than at the UK, what city was the primary target of 1,780 of these rockets (think diamonds)?

One of the most interesting “displays” was a photo album put together in 1999. It contained photos taken by a young Army enlisted man who was stationed at a very remote facility of the missile range sometime in late 50s or early 60s? The person that put the album together also penned some words about his recollection of what was occurring in each photo. To Dan it reminded him experiences of countless young men in the military - trying to keep their cars running with little or no money, chasing women, trying to fool the sergeants & officers, using their last dollars for beer & cigarettes, trying to sleep during duty hours, etc; while enduring the pettiness of military regulations & countless hours of boredom. One quote was about a rare party with women from the Womens Army Corps (WACs) - “Most of the women were wilder than the antelope.”

Trivia – how did the Army locate missile parts in the remote desert after test firing (think squalene)?

http://www.wsmr-history.org/

After Dan rejoined Corrie, it was off to explore the eccentric roadside attractions in Las Cruces. We discovered an armless Muffler Man, El Toro the Bull w/his blue balls, & a giant Geronimo statue by Peter Toth. For some reason Mr Toth started carving monumental statues in honor of Native Americans in 1972, & decided to place one in every state in the USA! Some states have more than one, & some of the statues have since “disappeared”. According to his below website, there are 55 statues in the USA & 2 in Canada. Something else for Dan to seek out on our RV journey! http://www.dcschumaker.com/ http://www.dcschumaker.com/statues.htm

Thursday morning, 31MAR, we had hoped to accomplish two “chores” & then hit the road toward the Gila Wilderness Area & the town of Silver City, NM. First thing to accomplish was having our TV antenna system checked out to determine way we can no longer receive the over-the-air digital TV transmissions we used to get? For those of you who receive your TV via cable or phone lines, you may not see the necessity of an old fashioned antenna. When the federal gov’t mandated all broadcast stations switch to a digital transmission it cost the stations money to make the shift, but the stations also received a benefit – instead of one frequency to transmit on, they now can have multiple channels showing different shows at the same time! For example, channel 4 in Las Cruces is now 4-1, 4-2, 4-3 & 4-4; all with different shows being broadcast at the same time.

In addition, we have found that that the cable in RV parks is often not digital quality, let alone HDTV. But the over the air broadcasts by law must be digital, & often are true HDTV. So in cities with ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, PBS, Univision, etc, we should get fifteen to thirty or more digital broadcast stations. However, starting about three months ago we noticed that we could only pick up two or three stations, & often none. Dan changed out several components of the system with no luck & finally determined the problem was in the RV roof between the antenna & the 12 volt booster. So we made an appointment at Camping World of El Paso to troubleshoot & fix. Joe the technician disassembled the antenna & determined that one of the fittings in the roof was rusted beyond repair – problem solved.

Second item on the “to do” list was pick up our mail being forwarded to us from Texas. Unfortunately, it did not arrive, so it was back to the RV park we had just checked out of this morning for another night in Las Cruces.

Friday morning rather than wait around for the mail Dan headed to the New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum. This is an excellent museum obviously depicting farm & ranch heritage in the Las Cruces area; but also had two unique displays – the history of the postcard in the USA, & a display about the Dust Bowl. Dan learned that the postcard was an Austrian invention in 1869, & was first issued by the US Post Office in 1873. Postcards in the USA remained a government monopoly until 1901, & it was illegal to write on the back side of the card, forcing people to write their message on the artwork on the front until 1907. Dan was surprised to learn the “dust bowl” was an event that lasted several years, & that the storms on rare occasion reached the west or east coast! In fact, one storm even reached Washington DC, on 21 March 1935, one week before Congressional Hearings on the matter. A dust bowl joke at the time was – “I hope it’ll rain before the kids grow up. They ain’t never seen none.”

While at the museum Dan also learned that the state is promoting a Green Chile Cheesburger Trail, apparently because green chile cheeseburgers have been getting a lot of play on TV food networks. All too soon Corrie called Dan & told him it was time to check the mail, so Dan had to cut it short & head back to the RV.

http://www.nmfarmandranchmuseum.org/

27/28MAR11 - Carlsbad, NM (guadalupe mountains national park)

2011-03-29T13:58:00.000-07:00

We previously visited Carlsbad, NM, & the world famous caverns located there a year ago last March. When we departed Carlsbad & drove to El Paso, TX, we were very impressed with the silhouette of El Capitan located on the southern edge of Guadalupe Mountains National Park, & placed the Park on our list of places to visit in the future. Unfortunately, the Park entrance is not “convenient” to any RV parks, & there are no stores or gas stations close to the Park. So this year we decided to stay in Carlsbad, NM, & “commute” in the Toad to Guadalupe Mountains National Park.

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2010/03/3031mar10-carlsbad-nm.html

After setting up camp on upon our arrival Sunday, 27MAR, Dan decided to drive the Toad to Sitting Bull Falls in the Lincoln National Forest. The Falls are a day use facility of the National Forest that has many stone picnic shelters in a very scenic setting. No one knows why the falls are called Sitting Bull, but agree that they are not named after the famous Lakota Sioux Chief who never came close to New Mexico! This area of NM, & most of Arizona & Texas, has been enduring a major drought (some towns have had no measurable rain in more than 150 days); so we were afraid there would be no falls to view. But it turns out that the falls are fed by an underground spring that has never gone dry. After a short hike we came to the falls; although not a dramatic “high volume” flow of water, it was still very scenic & a refreshing break from the desert heat.

Monday morning we headed to Guadalupe Mountains National Park, & it was a very windy drive. The Park has less than two miles of roads but has over 80 miles of trails. First thing we did was visit the Visitor Center to watch the slide show & find out if there were any Ranger led activities scheduled (there weren’t). Turns out the Guadalupe Mountains are a small part of a gigantic ancient reef that has only broken the earth’s crust in three locations – Guadalupe Mountains, Apache Mountains, & Glass Mountains. The Park has three distinct climates - Desert Zone, Riparian Zone & Mountain Zone. Unfortunately to see the truly spectacular sites of the Park, usually means a very strenuous hike. For example, to view the alpine environments means a vertical climb of 2000 to 3000 feet!

After visiting the Visitor Center it was a short walk to The Pinery, the ruins of a Butterfield Overland Mail Station. The Overland Mail made two trips a week over a period of 2-1/2 years, carrying passengers, freight and up to 12,000 letters from St Louis, MO, to San Francisco, CA (& vice versus). The western fare one-way was $200, with most stagecoaches arriving at their final destination 22 days later. The Butterfield Overland Stage Company had more than 800 people in its employ, had 139 relay stations, 1800 head of stock and 250 Concord Stagecoaches in service at one time; before the Civil War stopped its operations.

Trivia – what two present day major companies can be traced to the Butterfield Overland Stage (hints – one company still has a stagecoach on its corporate logo; & don’t leave home without the other one)?

From the Visitor Center it was short drive to the Frijole Ranch; a very well preserved ranch complex consisting of the main house, bunkhouse, spring house, stables, & one room schoolhouse. From the ranch we hiked the Smith Spring Trail, this a 2-1/2 mile loop, rated as “moderate”. Being out of shape, coupled with the rocky terrain & high winds; we rate it as “strenuous”! Once you leave the ranch there are no trail markers to indicate if you are still on the right trail or how far to go. Every now & then Corrie would ask if Dan was sure we were on the right trail? Eventually we made it to Smith Spring, another underground source of water in the Chihuahuan Desert. After returning to the Toad we decided we were so tired, that we would skip the supposedly easier & more scenic McKittrick Canyon Trial. We will just have to make another trip to the region in the future?

Trivia – the Frijole Ranch had a “gas generator” for lighting; since this was before Edison invented the light bulb, how did it work?

http://www.nps.gov/gumo/index.htm

26MAR11 - Fort Stockton, TX (buffalo soldiers)

2011-03-27T10:38:00.000-07:00

Saturday, 26MAR, we drove a little longer than normal to get to Fort Stockton, TX, before deciding where to head after that? It appears that Fort Stockton’s present claim to fame is a giant Road Runner in the main intersection. We can’t remember staying in Fort Stockton before, but somewhere in our photo collections is a picture of us sitting on the feet of the road runner during our DEC03 RV trip in a rental RV. As soon as we were settled in the RV park Dan took off to tour Fort Stockton (the fort not the city). There are only three original buildings left of the Fort; but two enlisted barracks have been recreated, & one houses the museum. There are only a few displays, but they are well done & there is a very good 25 minute video. Dan always finds the quotes from those stationed at these desolate outposts very interesting: “Dr Hall reports to relieve Dr Finley. I am rather glad to be rid of him. He is a poor specimen of a doctor and man. He has a brutal temper and is addicted to liquor.” “Stockton has not changed much except for the worst.” Despite what we all have seen in countless movies & TV shows, most of these forts did not have a fortified wall with towers for defense! That is because half the post was up and around at all times (approximately 125 armed soldiers 24/7), & any group approaching the fort would raise a cloud of dust visible for miles. The displays also showed that the horse was more important than anything to the mounted soldier, half the gear carried by the calvary was for the horse. A large portion of the museum is dedicated to the “Buffalo Soldiers” (ie African Americans, often newly freed slaves) who were stationed at the Fort after the Civil War. Some time in the recent past one of Fort Stockton’s residents wrote a moving tribute to these Buffalo Soldiers. We won’t bore you with the entire tribute, but just the last paragraph: “It is for us today, who walk in safety on this ground that they so ably defended, to remember and to honor these men who willingly gave, and sometimes gave all, to protect and defend this frontier. Here, they were willing to form the only line of resistance between a young America and the red man she fought so long and hard to displace. And while we can’t always know their names, nor have clear images of their young faces, we do know that we can leave them wholly in the hands of God. A God who understood their motivation, who knew their every thought and deed and loved them completely; who cared about their hopes and dreams and did as much to satisfy them as He could. He and He alone can be trusted with their valiant souls.” Trivia – why was the Comanche Moon feared? What is a crupper? When the bugle signals “fatigue call”, what is fatigue duty? http://www.historicfortstockton.com/ Although the surrounding area was the site of the fourth largest oil field in the USA, the town has long seen its glory days & is another historic part of America long passed-by. The town was originally sited here because of Comanche Springs. This natural spring used to flow at 60 to 80 million gallons a day, but today it only flows briefly during exceptionally wet winters. Why? Because Texas law is based on the old English law principle of the “Rule of Capture”; which basically means that a land owner has the rights to anything they can extract from beneath his or her property. This means if I have a water well at fifty feet & my neighbor later places his well at one hundred feet, I have no recourse when my well runs dry, except to drill deeper. In Fort Stockton’s case, a few big ranches have sucked the natural spring dry & deprived all the residents of the town of their historical water source! That night we discovered the RV park had a small café called the Road Runner Café, so we checked it out. Only five items on the menu – mesquite smoked pork country style rib, chicken fried steak, chicken nuggets, fried catfish, & fried shrimp. For eight bucks you get an entrée, mashed potatoes, green beans, salad, blueberry pound cake, & ice tea. Great price & good home cooking!

21-25MAR11 - Kerrville, TX (oops! my bad!!!)

2011-03-25T17:53:00.000-07:00

Monday morning, 21MAR, we departed Sharon & Tim’s to start heading west & north towards the Pacific NW. The last thing we had to do in Kerrville was fill up the RV with diesel. Unfortunately while maneuvering in the gas station Dan lost sight of the “guardian” pole on the right side of the RV & immediately realized his mistake when he heard a very loud scrapping sound! He got out of the rig to find one entire cargo door destroyed beyond repair. Corrie was not pleased to say the least! Dan wanted to drive away immediately to find a repair facility & to escape the stares of what seemed like thirty people getting their morning coffee. But Corrie insisted in no uncertain terms that he at least fuel the rig! Then it was down the road to the largest RV dealer in Kerrville to see if they could repair the damage. Turns out they only do minor fiberglass repairs, but highly recommended a small paint & body shop down the road. We pulled into Texas Paint & Body, & they said they could fabricate an entire new door by the end of the week. We then called the insurance company & started the process of getting permission for the repair. Dan even called the RV factory in Red Bay, AL, to find a new cargo door; but it turns out they don’t have any in stock & only fabricate them when ordered. By Tuesday we had received permission to go ahead & repairs started first thing Wednesday morning. Friday afternoon the repair was done & it looks pretty good to us. That night we went out with Tim & Sharon for a farewell dinner. Hopefully we can get out of town & even out of the state of TX without anymore problems!

12-20MAR11 - Kerrville, TX (south by southwest)

2011-03-21T06:12:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning, 12MAR, we drove the short distance to Dan’s sister, Sharon, & hubby, Tim Tompkins, place in Kerrville, TX. As noted many times in this BLOG, we usually stop by twice a year; once in the spring heading west leaving Louisiana, & once in the fall heading east back to Louisiana. Obviously having visited many times since becoming full time RV’ers in 2007, there isn’t much left for us to discover or experience in Kerrville & the surrounding area. So we use our time here to catch up on family "gossip", chores, check on our household goods in storage, & take turns preparing tasty dinners. For example, we took two days to wash the rig, & Dan smoked a pork roast for pulled pork BBQ.

On Wednesday we headed into Austin to check out the annual South by Southwest (SxSW) Festival at the world famous Continental Club on South Congress Ave. SxSW is an annual festival that started 25 years ago as a music festival to showcase Texas musicians. It quickly mushroomed into one of the largest events in the USA & now has three distinct components – music, film & interactive/multi media, & has participants from all over the world. In addition, there are hundreds of panels by industry leaders discussing music, film or multi media. The music portion is the largest part of the festival, & there are thousands of acts performing throughout the city.

http://sxsw.com/

Since the thousands of musical performers are only scheduled to perform once or twice during the festival, they usually have two choices – come to Austin just for their performance & leave, or find other venues to play during the entire festival. And probably due to the shear number of acts, they often play for free! Of course the “big names” often leave town after their performance. The end result is that almost every restaurant, bar, & even boutiques that can squeeze in a band has free music at night; & some even start free music at 10AM & go past midnight! Another by-product of the festival is that all the streets surrounding the venues have many “street fairs” going, along with their own outdoor stages providing free music.

Dan decided to check out the “Happy Hour” at the Continental Club; Happy Hour is free music from 12 to 6PM (five bands in six hours). The idea was for Corrie to also attend this free show, but for most of the time Corrie roamed Congress Ave checking out the boutiques, street vendors, & free outdoor music. Dan stuck it out for the entire Happy Hour & saw - Loves It! (Folk/Indie), Miss Tess (Jazz/Blues), Defibulators (Americana), Woody Pines (Blues/Country), & Stone River Boys (Rocking Country). All the acts were excellent, but the definition of free show is subject to interpretation? Obviously the Club would prefer you buy something to drink and/or eat; if you do buy something, the waitress expects a tip; & lastly each band passes around the tip “bucket” toward the end of their set. End result, free ended up being $20!

http://www.continentalclub.com/Austin.html

Since Tim had to work Wednesday & couldn’t go to the Continental Club with us, he & Dan headed back to the Continental Club on Saturday morning, 19MAR. Saturday was the day for Mojo Mayhem, an event they attended back in 2009. Tim & Dan missed the first few groups but caught Jade Idol, Stone River Boys, Jon Dee Graham (too mean to die) & the Fighting Cocks, Jungle Rockers, Mother Truckers, & lastly - Mojo & the Toad Liquors. As in 2009, there were many baby boomers in attendance. But Dan noted that almost all of them were wearing earplugs; to him that defeats the whole purpose of attending a live rock & roll concert?

Although Dan is still not a fan of Mojo’s shock-jock personae, he has to admit Mojo has unique outlook on things as shown by his two hit records – Elvis is Everywhere, & Debbie Gibson is Pregnant with My Two-headed Love Child. (Note – most of his other titles are not suitable for a family BLOG.)

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2009/03/05-24mar09-kerrville-tx.html

http://www.mojonixon.com/home.html

We were going to hit the road Sunday morning, heading west & north; but for some reason Dan was feeling tired & we decided to wait one more day.

04-11MAR11 - San Antonio, TX (via various la & tx)

2011-03-12T18:27:00.000-08:00

Friday, 04MAR, we departed Houma to begin the long drive back to the Pacific NW, but we only drove two hours to Port Allen just outside of Baton Rouge (aka Red Stick). Why? Because our son, Joe, had recently signed on with a new oil field service company & his first job was near a town called Plaquemine, LA, & we decided to have one more dinner together before departing LA. Turns out the closest RV park was in Port Allen; so after setting up camp, we met Joe at the hotel he had been in for over a week & tried to decide on a place for dinner. Whereas Dan can be in a town for less than a day & find many interesting or unique places to dine; Joe’s recommendations were mostly fast food. Turns out right next to his hotel was a good local restaurant that had an all you can eat fried seafood buffet w/boiled crawfish; good Cajun food for a reasonable price.

The next morning we headed to our favorite casino (Coushatta) in Kinder, LA. The fastest way to go was down Interstate 10, but the scenic route was down old US 190. Dan decided to take US 190 rather than I-10. We immediately hit heavy rain & when we got to the town of Opelouses almost all the streets were flooded (in fact in some sections the manholes were lifting off the ground from the back pressure of the draining water!). Thanks to the high clearance of the RV, we safely navigated the flooded streets – slowly! When we got to the RV park we learned that tornadoes had touched down right next to Interstate 10, the very route we would have driven if we had not taken the scenic route!

Sunday we traveled on down the road to the Escapees RV Park in Livingston, TX. We have discussed the Escapees RV Club many times in our BLOG & the many great services they provide to full time RV’ers. We went a little out of our way to be in Livingston on Monday AM to get our vehicles inspected for brake tags, since we now have TX license plates.

http://www.escapees.com/

Monday, 07MAR, after getting our brake tag inspection it was a long drive to Lackland AFB, southwest San Antonio, TX. The reason we came to San Antonio is because our daughter, Rebecca, & husband, Raymond, wanted to bring the two foster kids under their care somewhere away from Louisiana on a vacation while Louisiana celebrates Mardi Gras. After discussing the options with us, we all decided on San Antonio because March should be reasonable weather in Texas, it has amusement parks like 6 Flags & SeaWorld, has a pretty big zoo, has the River walk, etc, etc. We immediately planned on staying at the FamCamp RV park on Lackland Air Force Base. Turns out that since Raymond is in the National Guard he could get a “room” for three nights of the week on base, & they ended up being less than three blocks from our RV! Lackland AFB is the primary training site for AF recruits, & some sort of training for C-5 pilots. So we were treated to the very unique (& loud) sound of C-5s flying low & slow right over the RV park. Once the kids arrived on base, we all got together for dinner & started making plans for the rest of the week.

http://www.lackland.af.mil/

Tuesday morning Dan took off by himself on his bike to check out two museums on base, while Corrie checked out the Commissary & Exchange. Meanwhile the kids drove to San Marcos, TX, to check out some Caverns & other sights. The first thing Dan discovered on his bike ride was an “air park”. If you have followed our BLOG you may have noticed that many of the military bases we camp at have static displays of aircraft (aka air parks) on their installations. Sometimes they have direct relations to the base, but usually they are just the latest (& supposedly greatest) jet aircraft they could get donated to their display. This one was different in that the aircraft surrounded the parade field used for major ceremonies involving the Air Force recruits, & it was all propeller aircraft from just before WWII to the last one “bought” by the USA Air Force before the Korean War. Another thing that was different was that there were bronze markers giving the enlisted “side” of the air crews’ story that flew these aircraft (very fitting since this is the primary Air Force boot camp). Including the story of Private Chuck Yeager who joined the Army Air Corp in 1941, transitioned to the Sergeant-Pilot Program, became a 3rd LT (that’s right a 3rd LT), had 11.5 victories against Luftwaffe opponents, won his commissioned officer wings, & ended his career as a legendary test pilot!

After the air park Dan went to the Air Force Museum of the Airman dedicated to the history of Air Force recruit training since the Air Force separated from the USA Army. After that it was off to the Air Forces Security Museum. This museum is dedicated to AF security forces that started life as the AF Police (aka APs), then were called the AF Security Police, & now are known as the AF Security Force. Being an ex-AF brat, Dan remembers them fondly as the APs, & calling them the “apes” with respect (NOT). Probably why they changed their names? That afternoon we all met back up & headed to the on base indoor pool.

http://www.myairmanmuseum.org/

http://www.securityforcesmuseum.org/

That evening we had dinner with a Coast Guard District Eight shipmate & friend of Dan’s at Mi Terra. William Brown was the Coast Guard Chaplain for the Eighth District when Dan was assigned there right before the terrorist attacks on 11SEP. Although it was a stressful time for all after the event, William definitely always lessened the “stress level”. Dan & William have kept in contact via e-mail (& we know he reads our BLOG everyday); so we gave him a heads-up that we would be in San Antonio. It was an excellent evening & we ended up talking for hours after the meal was done. Mi Terra started 70 years ago w/three tables & now seats over 500 & is open 24hrs.

http://www.mitierracafe.com/

Wednesday was a full day with the family together on the Riverwalk. At one point Raymond, Rebecca, & the kids headed to Ripley’s Believe It Or Not, while Dan explored the Alamo, & Corrie went window shopping. The Riverwalk is one of Dan’s least favorite places when it is crowded; but we appeared to have beaten the tourist season & didn’t have to fight the crowds & even enjoyed an al fresco lunch without having our chairs elbow-to-elbow with everyone else. We even took one of the touristy boat rides around the entire Riverwalk, because there were no lines & the boats were half empty.

After returning to Lackland AFB, we then headed to Bandera, TX, to meet Dan’s sister, Sharon, & husband, Tim, for “steak night”. If you have followed our BLOG, you know steak night is a TX “thing” that usually happens on Wednesday nights at an out of the way restaurants/bars that is usually followed by live music. This one was at the “11th Street Cowboy Bar” in Bandera. It costs five bucks for all the side dishes & you bring your own meat of choice to BBQ on their extremely large wood fired BBQs. A great evening, with the foster kids learning how to “boot scoot” to live country & western music!

http://www.11thstreetcowboybar.com/

Thursday was all day at SeaWorld San Antonio. Turns out that it was the first day the park was open since closing for the fall season. As a result there were no crowds; but it also meant the staff was still learning the ropes & on occasion some of the rides didn’t open on time and/or broke down because the staff didn’t know their job. The high-lites were the Shamu killer whale show & feeding the dolphins. You could tell the park was associated with (or owned by) Anhauser-Busch, because the park maps clearly showed the location of the numerous beer stands in the park; something we hadn’t seen before at 6 Flags, Disney, or anywhere else.

Friday, 11MAR, Dan rejoined the kids for a trip to the San Antonio Zoo. Corrie was still recovering from being on her feet all day at SeaWorld & decided to take a break. Since Dan arrived early by himself at the Zoo, he checked out the San Antonio Japanese Garden right next door. This is beautiful site that was developed on the site of an abandoned quarry. One sad thing about the site, is that the Japanese couple who developed it, were enticed from Seattle by San Antonio to live on site & develop it; with the start of WWII the Japanese couple were interred & never returned to the house & gardens they had built at the request of San Antonio.

Eventually Dan joined up with Rebecca, Raymond & the foster kids to tour the zoo. Dan was not impressed with the San Antonio Zoo. To him it appears to be “old style” exhibits from the 70s that do not display the animals in anything close to their natural habitats. He has seen many other zoos when our kids were small that are more “natural” & not so jail like. The two high lites were - The butterfly exhibit, where hundreds of butterflies are free flying & will land on you if you if you stand still. And the lorikeet exhibit where you get honey mixed with water to feed to the birds. Again if you stand still the birds will land on you & eat out of your hand. For some reason the lorikeets loved Rebecca & would land on her even without food. For some reason Rebecca was not enthused about all the attention, especially when the birds tried pulling her hair out for nest building.

That evening all of us got together at Olive Garden for one more dinner before separating for many months as we head to the Pacific NW. You could tell that all the adults were extremely tired from the last four days constant activity, but the foster kids were ready for the next day! We are not sure how long Rebecca & Raymond will be foster parents but we will definitely miss the kids if they are not in Houma upon our return!

19FEB-03MAR11 - Houma, LA (via picayune, ms)

2011-03-04T14:04:00.001-08:00

We departed the Tiffin Motor Home service center in Red Bay, AL, Saturday morning, 19FEB, & headed back toward Houma, LA. As usual we decided to break the drive into two days; & this time overnighting in Picayune, MS. Right around lunch time Sunday, we were back in Houma & once again parked in our daughter, Rebecca, & husband, Raymond’s driveway.

We spent the rest of February f0llowing-up on medical & dental appointments, while the rest of Houma got ready for another Mardi Gras. One nice thing that also happened during this time period was our son Joe coming by for many “family” dinners. He is working for a different drilling company now & they have been keeping him employed in their fabrication yard until all his paperwork is in order. He would rather be offshore making the big money, but we appreciate his company!
At the end of February the weather finally warmed up & the rain stopped. So Raymond & Dan decided to begin replacing the four foot high chain link fence with a six foot pressure treated fence. We are not sure why but the “discussions” on how it should be done seemed to take longer than the actual construction process? For whatever reason, all that was in fact built was the short fifteen foot section visible from the street. That leaves about ninety feet left to be done on our next visit.

16-18FEB11 - Red Bay, AL (via anniston, al)

2011-02-19T05:47:00.000-08:00

We departed Gaffney on Wednesday, 16FEB, heading to the Tiffin Motor Home Service Center in Red Bay, AL. We decided to take two days to make the drive & stopped at a military FamCamp on Anniston Army Depot, Anniston, AL. the Depot is the main “rehabilitation” center for most of the Army’s mechanized armored vehicles. It is also home of large stock pile of biological & chemical weapons they are in the process of destroying! This process has been ongoing for decades & will take a few more to complete.

You may remember that we were just in Red Bay on 06JAN. On that visit we learned that Tiffin had just developed proprietary line of day/night shades & were offering them for a reasonable price to retrofitted into older RVs. By the time we signed up for them it was too late to be accomplished during that visit. So we had them take the measurements for our three main windows in the living area & made an appointment for installation on Friday, 18FEB.

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2011/01/01-06jan11-red-bay-al-via-jemison-al.html

The reason we wanted them replaced is because our coach originally came with cloth day/night shades that were one continuous piece & raised/lowered by a very complicated & fragile string system (see picture). These shades for some reason were used by every RV builder, usually on their higher end models. The strings are notorious for constantly fraying & breaking! You can buy restringing kits, but you need the patience of Job & the manual dexterity of a teenager to fix them (it usually takes over an hour for just one shade!)!

Apparently the original owner of our RV got very frustrated with the original cloth day/night shades & removed all of them & replaced them with metal Venetian blinds (8 windows total). The problem with metal blinds is they attract dust like a magnet, constantly rattle, & never block out all of the light. So on our first visit to the Tiffin Service Center in Red Bay on JUN07, Dan asked to have the original shades reinstalled. Thankfully the technician strongly advised him not to do it.

Along comes a company called MCD out of Dallas, TX, that developed a double set of roller blinds – one black vinyl with thousands of tiny holes in the fabric for use during the day (you can see out, but they can’t see in), & the other solid white vinyl to use at night or when you want complete light blockage. The majority of RV builders have since switched to MCD blinds. We have been very interested in their blinds but found them very expensive. Even at RV trade shows where everyone is offering special deals, MCD would not come down on their prices. We even inquired about driving to Dallas & having the work done there, no deal or discount offered.

Eventually the strings for the metal blind by “Dan’s” chair broke & he decided to get at least one set of MCD blinds for his side of the RV. So at the FMCA RV Rally in Albuquerque that we attended back on 27MAR10, we tracked down the MCD rep & ordered one set. Once again they would not come down on price, but Corrie did get us out of the sales tax & shipping. It is a great product & works well, but unfortunately it will not work with our valance & we had to leave the valance off.
So like we said, most of the RV manufacturers are now using MCD products; but Mr Tiffin must have gotten tired of paying MCD & he developed his own product called “Rollease”. This is not the first time he has done this. He now has own TV antennas, TV switch boxes, surround sound systems; & now builds his own chassis for all his high end RVs. The difference between his blinds & MCD’s, is that MCD has an automatic roll-up feature, & Tiffin’s has a beaded chain you pull on to lower & raise them.

So by lunch time Thursday we were once again back at the Tiffin RV Service Center in Red Bay, AL. We checked into the Tiffin RV camp & confirmed that the Service Center was ready to install our Rollease blinds first thing Friday morning (they were). At 0700 Friday morning we rolled into service bay #29, & in four hours they modified our three valances & installed three sets of Rollease day/night blinds. The cost for three Tiffin blinds & w/labor was only slightly higher than the cost of one set of MCD blinds & no labor!!!

We could have left after lunch for the long drive back to Houma, LA & the kids; but the exterior gasket on our front door was ripping & we had asked earlier if we could get it repaired that day. The rip was not leaking yet & we could probably go months without problems, but eventually it would need replacing. Normally they are fully booked & tell you to wait in line; but for some reason they said to immediately drive over to service bay #32 & they would fix it!?! The next thing we know, we have three mechanics disassembling the entire front door, laying it on a cart, replacing the gasket, & reinstalling the door. Our original gasket one was white, & we haven’t cleaned it too often; as a result it was covered with black mold spots. So Dan asked for a black replacement & was told that they had so many complaints about white trim & mold, they only offer black now! Of course after we saw the bill for the three mechanics time, we wonder if we should have super glued it & washed the mold off?

12-15FEB11 - Gaffney, SC (via lexington, sc)

2011-02-15T17:17:00.000-08:00

After a great three days in Savannah, we continued on Saturday, 12FEB, to our scheduled Freightliner school in Gaffney, SC, stopping in Lexington, SC, to spend the night. Our RV park was right next to Barnyard flea market which was going strong upon our arrival. So after setting up camp we headed next door to check out the flea market. It was a pretty big flea market, but nothing unique. One thing we noted was that about almost everyone was smoking! Why? Because South Carolina has the lowest cigarettes taxes in the USA; so you can get a carton of coffin nails for about $26! We hope the state has a good health care system?

Sunday, we arrived at our RV park in Gaffney, SC; after setting up camp Dan headed to Cowpens National Battleground, while Corrie explored downtown Cowpens. The National Battleground commemorates the 17 January 1781 battle in which Continental Army & militia forces under BGEN Daniel Morgan, defeated British Legion forces under LCOL Banastre Tarleton.

Back Story – By 1778 the war was pretty much a stalemate in the north; so the British mounted a campaign in the southern colonies & were very successful in Georgia & South Carolina. By May 1780 Lord Cornwallis was preparing to move into North Carolina & Virginia. That summer Cornwallis started moving north & soundly defeated Continental forces at Camden, SC, in September 1780.

In December 1780 MGEN Nathanael Greene was placed in charge of the southern Continental forces to try & salvage the situation. He immediately directed Daniel Morgan with 600 battled tested Continental forces to split from the main army to harass Cornwallis’s Army in hopes of slowing them, or forcing the British to split their forces. The strategy worked & Tarleton with over 1000 highly trained men was dispatched by Cornwallis to engage & defeat the Continentals. We won’t bore you with the details, but Morgan’s Continental forces with the aid of 200 militia (ie Patriot Volunteers) defeated the British, capturing over 600 men.

This small part of the National Park Service is free, easily explored in a couple of hours, & has a great walking trail tour of the battlefield. Well worth checking out if you are in the area! Note, the Battlefield is also part of the Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail.

http://www.nps.gov/cowp/index.htm

http://www.nps.gov/ovvi/index.htm

In case you have forgotten, we have been in Gaffney before. Back in OCT09 we were returning from New England & stopped by the Freightliner Custom Chassis service center to get some maintenance on the RV accomplished. Anyway, Freightliner conducts two day “schools” called Camp Freightliner for owners of RV built on Freightliner chassis. We have been trying for two years to attend one of these classes. Since they are only offered in the spring or summer, & only in Gaffney, we haven’t been successful. This year they offered the course earlier (ie FEB) & we signed up.

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2009/10/27-29oct09-gaffney-sc.html

The school was two days of constant & highly valuable info! We highly recommend it for anyone that has a diesel powered RV, even if it is not on a Freightliner chassis. Besides all the useful information they give you, they also provide some pretty good food for two lunches & one dinner. The only bad thing about the class was too much time wasted by certain participants who either “didn’t get it” or thought they “knew it all”! As we all know, every class/seminar has them, & you just learn to grit your teeth & hope the instructor can deal with them.

http://freightlinerchassis.com/Owner-Information/camp-freightliner/menu-id-98.html

06-11FEB11 - Savannah, GA (via al, fl & ga)

2011-02-11T14:22:00.000-08:00

Sunday morning, 06FEB, we started heading to Gaffney, SC. Why Gaffney? Because it is the site of a two day school run by Freightliner teaching RV owners the basics of a Freightliner Chassis. We have been interested in this school for years, but “something” always seemed to come up. This year they offered the school earlier in the year & we were able to fit into our schedule. So we decided to break the drive into several small segments, with the first overnight in Robertsdale, AL. Turns out the RV park was right next door to the Derailed Diner. The idea behind the Derailed is a truck stop that has had a derailed train crash into it; & supposedly some of the tables are pickup truck tailgates. But Corrie was still under the weather & we didn’t check it out.

Monday we stopped in Live Oak, FL, at Spirit of Suwannee RV. This is a very big RV park that appears to have some pretty big music events during the tourist season. Right now it is basically empty, & appears desolate & slightly run down. When Dan made a Wally Mart run after setting up camp, he realized we had previously dry camped at this very place on New Years Day 2009.

08FEB, Tuesday, we stopped at the FamCamp RV park, located at the Trident Sub Base, Kings Bay, GA, where we spent Xmas 2007. In our opinion this is one of the best military facilities we have stayed at. We were fortunate to get a site with a great view of the lake, & their laundry is still free.
http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2007/12/22-25dec07-kings-bay-ga-merry-xmas.html

On 09FEB, Wednesday, we decided to drive to Savannah, GA, & stop for a couple of days to sightsee. We decided to stay at another military RV facility, & after getting lost three times finally made it to Lotts Island FamCamp RV, Hunter Army Airfield, outside Savannah, GA. Hunter is the home of the aviation units for the 3rd Infantry Division headquartered at Fort Stewart, GA, as well as home of CG Air Station Savannah - the CG's largest helicopter unit.

Immediately after setting up camp we head downtown to the river front & discovered “Factors Walk”. First some history about Savannah – Savannah was founded by a “trust” headed by British Gen. James Oglethorpe in 1733. As a trust, Savannah did not “belong” to the Crown. The trust had four unique rules in its charter: no alcohol, no lawyers, no slavery, no Papists. Within twenty years the trust had failed, the rules fell by the wayside, & Savannah was “returned” to the Crown. But there was one great success of the trust & that was Oglethorpe’s world renowned city plan based on 24 squares. The idea was each square would be surrounded by churches, homes & businesses; creating a network of interconnected neighborhoods.

Unfortunately three of the squares were lost to mistaken attempts at modernization. But one of them (Ellis Square) was recently recreated when the city leveled some buildings, dug an underground parking garage, & installed the “new” Ellis Square on top of the garage. Many of the squares have monuments dedicated to important personages from Savannah’s history; but sometimes the monuments don’t match the square. For example, there are statues & monuments to Oglethorpe throughout the city, but there isn’t one in Oglethorpe Square; & the monuments in squares in honor of Gen Pulaski & Nathaniel Greene are not located in the squares bearing their names?

Anyway, back to the river front & the “Factors Walk”. The waterfront of Savannah is unique that the town was founded on top of a forty foot bluff. This was great for military protection & protection from floods, but made the loading & offloading of vessels very difficult. The solution was to build a small piece of level land at the bottom of the bluff with warehouses & extend the warehouses up vertically until the offices were on top, level with the top of the bluff. With the invention of the cotton gin these warehouses & Savannah became the number two cotton port in the world. With the advent of the container vessel, this portion of Savannah’s waterfront fell into disrepair. It has since been revitalized with shops, hotels, offices, bars, restaurants, etc. The two main areas are at the bottom on River St, & at the top along Factors Walk. It was an unexpected discovery & an enjoyable afternoon exploring.

Trivia – what is a Factor?

On our way back to the RV we stopped by Chippewa Square to find the bench that Forrest Gump sat on eating a box of chocolates while he waited for the bus. Every scene of Tom Hanks sitting on the bench was shot on the north side of the square; but as always the case in movies, certain liberties were taken with the actual location. Turns out all the “real” benches are on the interior of park not the exterior as shown in the movie, & face the monument in the center of the park not facing the buildings across the street. So what the producers did was place a fiberglass bench in the middle of flower bed on the outside of park! The fiberglass bench is now in Savannahs History Museum, & the flower bed has been restored.

Thursday morning, 10FEB, Dan headed to Fort Pulaski National Monument; which is also part of the National Park System’s Gullah Geechee National Heritage Corridor, & the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. Fort Pulaski is one of the more than thirty forts of the “Third System” of coastal fortifications built during the first half of the 19th century. What makes Pulaski unique was how it fell to Union forces on 11 APR 1862, signaling the end of all such existing fortifications from then on.

The forts of the Third System were pretty much immune to smooth bore cannons beyond 1000 yards. Even the Union Chief of Engineers when discussing Fort Pulaski stated “You might as well bombard the Rocky Mountains!”. In light of the success of brick forts to withstand long range bombardment, the Confederates were not concerned when the Union seized Tybee Island over a mile away. In fact Robert E Lee told the Fort’s CO that the Federal gunners could not breach the walls. But 10 of the Union’s 36 cannons were new experimental rifled cannons. The Union bombardment commenced on 10APR, & by the end of the day the southeast corner of the fort was breached & the Confederates surrendered on the 11th. One Union officer likened the significance of the engagement to the significance of the battle between the MONITOR & the MERRIMAC. Luckily Dan was able to catch the free walking tour of the fort led by one of the Rangers.

An interesting forgotten historical fact is that after the fall Fort Pulaski, the Union General Hunter issued a General Order freeing all slaves in Union controlled areas around the fort, on 13 APRIL 1862. But remember up to this point the war from the Union’s perspective was about secession, not slavery! So President Lincoln rescinded the order. It wasn’t until Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation in JAN 1863, that the war also officially became about ending slavery.

http://www.nps.gov/fopu/index.htm

http://www.nps.gov/guge/index.htm

http://www.cr.nps.gov/ugrr/about.htm

http://www.nps.gov/ugrr/TEMPLATE/FrontEnd/index.cfm

That afternoon Dan went to Old Fort Jackson which was a Confederate fort upriver from Fort Pulaski. This is a state park that has a little “southern” bias in its historical displays, as compared to the balanced presentation by the National Park Service at Fort Pulaski. The historical displays make much of the fact that although the Union took Fort Pulaski within one year of the start of the war, they never advanced upriver to Savannah. But with the capture of Pulaski, the Union effectively removed Savannah & all upriver ports as supply routes. And the Union could than remove many offshore vessels employed in the blockade & position them off other Confederate ports. So there was no hurry to try & seize Savannah from the Union view point, probably saving thousands of Union lives.
http://www.chsgeorgia.org/home.cfm/page/OldFortJackson.htm

That night we had dinner at the Olde Pink House. We did not know anything about the restaurant, & were surprised to discover one of Savannah’s oldest & finest restaurants! Corrie had the BLT salad & grilled lobster with baby corn, Dan went with the she crab soup & seafood platter (blackened oysters, seared scallops, & shrimp w/grits). Most excellent! Dan wanted the seafood tower at $115 but Corrie said no!
Friday morning, 11FEB, we headed back into the historic district to catch a “trolley” tour. You have probably seen these fake trolleys providing tours in most major USA cities. We have never taken one, but figured it was a quick one & one half hour history lesson on the city. Our driver also allowed an unauthorized stop at John the Baptist Cathedral to view the beautiful stained glass windows. After lunch Corrie went shopping on Broughton St, while Dan headed to the Savannah History Museum where he learned the about the siege of Savannah during the Revolutionary War.

In 1779 Savannah was a British city under siege by American & French forces. When they finally attacked the British Redoubt at Spring Hill, the Americans & French suffered tremendous casualties & eventually broke off the siege. Many historians theorize that this convincing British victory raised the moral of the citizens back in the UK & strengthened their resolve to win the war. As a result the war lasted another four years. Interesting thing is that although the war was between Britain & American Revolutionaries, this battle was mostly fought by other nationalities. The British forces were Scottish, German & loyal colonists; the French forces were Dominican Republic, Haitians, Irish & Swedish; & the American forces were revolutionaries, Austrian, German, French, Polish & Swiss!

Trivia – what does “15 minutes with Venus & 3 years with Mercury!” mean? The USA was the first country to gain independence in the “new world”, what was the second?

http://www.chsgeorgia.org/home.cfm/page/SavannahHistoryMuseum.htm

Although we have only scratched the surface, we were very impressed with Savannah & definitely want to return!

Trivia – what was the name of the first steam powered vessel to cross the Atlantic? What was the name of the USA Navy vessel struck by the first radio controlled bomb (ie forerunner of the guided missile)? What was the name of the first nuclear powered cargo vessel? (hint – if you get one right, you should get them all right)

01-05FEB11 - New Orleans, LA (mostly)

2011-02-05T15:07:00.001-08:00

February started off with another cold front passing through Louisiana. We know that not everyone believes global warming, but for what ever reason this has been an unusual winter in south LA. Of course we haven’t had to deal with snow & ice like Atlanta, Dallas & other so called southern cities. So on Thursday, 03FEB, we got back on the road & drove all the way to New Orleans! We set up camp at French Quarter RV Resort just around lunch time. Although a little pricey, you are within walking distance of the Vieux Carre & the Mississippi River.

http://www.fqrv.com/

Then we headed to Domilises for a PoBoy. This is a very small, out of the way, neighborhood bar known for excellent PoBoys. But it turns out they are closed on Thursdays & Sundays! Luckily Dan had noticed Pascal’s Manale on the drive to Domilises - founded in 1913, this family-run, Italian-Creole restaurant is located in uptown New Orleans & is famous for creating barbecued shrimp (note: if you order the BBQ shrimp & they offer you a bib, wear the bib). This neighborhood restaurant is vintage New Orleans, from the service to the décor. After our lunch we were going to check out the funky shops on Magazine St, but it was too cold; so we got a hot coffee & headed back to the RV.

That night it was dinner at Cochon. Chef Link and co-owner Chef Stephen Stryjewski, have embraced the old style Louisiana traditions receiving whole pigs daily & overseeing an in-house Boucherie; creating boudin, andouille, smoked bacon, and head cheese. The menu also features handmade crawfish pies, rabbit & dumplings, and spoon bread with okra & tomatoes. Most entrees & sides are finished in a wood burning oven; & Cochon offers specialties from the wood burning oven such as roasted oysters, suckling pig, ribs & beef brisket. Seafood from local waters round out the offerings with Chef Link’s signature roasted gulf fish “fishermen” style. The end result is that although only open a few years, it is already one of the top rated restaurants in New Orleans & a destination for “foodies” from all over the world. Corrie had the mushroom soup, fried green tomato w/shrimp & remoulade, & arugula salad w/pickled beets; Dan went w/the boucherie plate (a great sampler of their Boucherie products) & rabbit w/dumplings. A fantastic meal!

http://www.cochonrestaurant.com/

Since it was still early in the evening Dan decided to see if we could catch some traditional jazz at the Preservation Hall. The Hall was opened in 1961 to preserve traditional jazz music by providing a permanent place for nightly jazz performances. It has sense become on of those “must do” items on ever tourist’s list. For $12 you stuffed into a small room with about a hundred of your closest friends; probably in violation of multiple fire codes. There are only seats for about 40 people so everyone else stands in the back trying to catch a view of the band. The music starts at 8PM, with the band playing 45 minutes sets until midnight. Once you are in, you can stay through all sets. We had to stand through the first set, but had seats after that. The band will take requests - $2 for a traditional jazz number, $5 for others, & $10 for those tourists that HAVE to hear “Saints Come Marching In”. It was a good time with such standards as St James Infirmary, Going to New Orleans, etc; & yes they even finished w/Saints Come Marching In!

http://www.preservationhall.com/hall/index.aspx

Friday, 04FEB, Dan gets up early (at least for him) so he can catch the 0930 tour at the French Quarter Visitor Center of the Jean Lafitte National Historic Park & Preserve. This National Historic Park is unusual in that it has six different locations: a Prairie Acadian Cultural Center in Eunice, a Acadian Cultural Center in Lafayette, a Wetlands Acadian Center in Thibodaux, the Barataria Preserve, the Chalmette Battlefield where Jackson defeated the British during the War of 1812, & this French Quarter Center dedicated to the history of the New Orleans & the Vieux Carre. The French Quarter Center has numerous displays detailing the area history from Native American times to post Katrina. As usual with the National Park Service it was an excellent & informative free walking tour; but because of the cold & wet there were only 4 people on tour at the start & only 2 make it to the end (Dan was one). Then Dan went to the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park. This Visitor Center does not have many displays, but usually has two or more free musical performances during the day.

http://www.nps.gov/jela/index.htm

http://www.nps.gov/jazz/index.htm

After rejoining Corrie at the RV, it was back to Domilises for PoBoys; Corrie had her usual oyster poboy & Dan went with the roast beef & swiss w/gravy, both excellent. As we said this is small neighborhood bar & it turns out with a very small restroom (barely room for a toilet & no sink!). Since it was finally sunny out & having finally gotten poboys at Domilises, it was off to Magazine St for window shopping & coffee.

On the way back to the RV we decided to check out the NOLA visitor center at Basin St. This is a fairly new Visitor Center located in the last remaining RR building in NOLA. It was a freight office for the Southern Railway & has displays on NOLA history, music, food, etc, & plenty of parking (something impossible to find in the French Quarter). In addition, it is right next door to St Louis Cemetery No. 1, where you can visit & make an offering to Marie Laveau, the voodoo queen.

http://frenchquarter.com/sightseeing/basin-st-station.php

Saturday morning if was off to the Riverwalk Market Place where Dan checked out the Southern Food & Beverage (SoFAB) Museum which contains the Museum of the American Cocktail (MotAC); while Corrie checked out the shops. The Museum is a work in progress, but still worth a visit & gives an excellent overview of how different immigrant groups influenced & contributed to the culture & the great cuisine of southern Louisiana. One of the funniest exhibits was the Katrina Deli Lunch Cart which rolled during the 2006 Mardi Gras (the first one after the hurricane). Items included were Bush Baloney Sandwich, Heckuva Job Brownie, Levee Leak Soup, Red Beans & Maggots, etc. While Dan was still in the Museum Corrie headed to Harrah’s Casino where the gods of chance were very, very, good to her. After lunch in the Faubourg Marigny, it was back to RV to enjoy some more of the sunshine.

Trivia – what is the only native North American spice? Who said “where good rum is immortalized & drinking is an art.” (think tiki)?

http://www.riverwalkmarketplace.com/

http://southernfood.org/

http://www.museumoftheamericancocktail.org/

Unfortunately as the day wore on Corrie’s mild cold got worse & worse. So that evening Dan went by himself to a club in the Faubourg Marigny called “d.b.a.”, to hear John Boutte perform. Dan was impressed with John after seeing him perform at the APR08 French Quarter Festival (see our BLOG entry about the Festival for more details). His songs are sometimes featured on the new HBO series – Treme (which is neighborhood in New Orleans where Boutte was raised & now lives). It was good show, but not the same without Corrie being able to attend.

http://dbabars.com/dbano/index.php

http://www.johnboutte.com/

07-31JAN11 - Houma, LA

2011-01-31T07:47:00.001-08:00

We departed the Tiffin Factory Service Center Friday AM, 07JAN, & as usual we split the drive back to Houma, LA, into two days; with an overnight in Biloxi. This time we decided to try a new casino at Bay St Louis just outside of Biloxi. We decided to try this casino because this is one of two casinos in the Biloxi area with its own RV park. While it was a very nice RV park, we were very surprised at how expensive their rate was; considering that most casinos have much lower rates to entice you into the casino. We won’t be going back!

Saturday afternoon we were back at Rebecca & Raymond’s & spent all of the next week with more medical & dental appointments. During the week our son Joe came by & said he wanted to have a get together at Rebecca & Raymond’s for him & his buds on Saturday, 15JAN. It must be nice to have relatives to take care of your “party” planning?

Anyway, it was great weather & great time was had with the foster kids at the park play structure, blowing bubbles, etc. Rebecca broke out the horseshoe set & immediately the arguments started over the rules. Unfortunately Dan was tied to the BBQ or he would have whooped them all! Joe’s friends Matt & Victoria brought their son Ewan along & he soon became both the girls’ best friend. They also brought a large inflatable ball that you stuff a kid into & then roll them around until they get sick (just kidding). Thankfully Dan has a heavy duty compressor in the RV, or we would still be inflating the thing! The kids thought it was great; & eventually the big kids had to try it out! It was a great day with good food, good friends & no bones were broken!

The rest of the month was spent taking care of medical appointments, baby sitting the foster kids, & resolving a family emergency. We did find time to run into New Orleans for half a day. While there we treated ourselves to lunch at Casamento’s Oyster Restaurant. Casamentos is a small neighborhood place that has been in business for 90 years & focuses primarily on oysters. Almost the entire interior of the restaurant (except the ceiling) is covered in beautiful imported Italian tile. They make their own bread; so instead of an oyster poboy, you order an oyster loaf. Dan went with the gumbo & a trout loaf, Corrie went with the oyster loaf. Although primarily an oyster place with a limited menu, they are also known for their spaghetti & meatballs. Be warned though, they are closed during most of the summer! Something about months without “R”s?

http://www.casamentosrestaurant.com/main/main.html