01-07JUN12 - Enroute Manitoba (with 2 days in great falls, mt)

Friday morning, 01JUN, we departed Sultan & start eastward on US 2 toward Sprucewood, MB, Canada, (eg right outside Brandon, MB). We were doing this because Corrie’s nephew, Jason Riesmeijer (or in English – Riesmeyer) was getting married & there was also a surprise 70th birthday party for Corrie’s half-sister Alie. So Dan’s plan was a “reasonable” drive with a two day stop in Great Falls, MT (more on this later). The first stop was Spokane, WA; staying at Fairchild AFB FamCamp where we had stayed back in JUN08 (see below BLOG entry). This time there was no sightseeing in Spokane.

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2008/06/17-19jun08-spokane-wa.html

Saturday morning we were on I-90E. During the drive we had to make a “traditional” Ryan family stop at the world famous 50,000 Silver Dollar Bar, Casino, Motel, Restaurant and all around tourist trap in Haugan, MT (Exit 16 on I-90). Four generations of Ryans have made it a point to stop at this establishment any time they were traveling on old US 10, now I-90. For some reason people have donated silver dollars to the bar & they are then displayed for as long as the donor leaves them there (the bar does not claim them, they belong to the donors forever?). Our last stop here was also in JUN08 & is detailed in the above BLOG entry. We then overnighted on the outskirts of Missoula.

Sunday was scenic drive on US12 to Helena then I-15 North to the FamCamp outside Malmstrom Air Force, Great Falls, MT. The AFB is where Dan & family lived for the better part of 1967/68. Entering Great Falls on 10th Ave S, Dan remembered this was where he had his first car accident on the last day of Driver’s Ed! After setting up camp it was on base to the Exchange & Commissary; & a quick tour to find 4110A Dogwood St; the Ryan’s old base house. Once again the old housing was being torn down & being replaced. It appeared that the Dan did not remember the numbering system correctly & we could not find a 4110, but we did find a 410?

http://www.malmstrom.af.mil/

Monday morning, 04JUN, it was off to the Post Office for our mail; & then a walkabout on Central Ave. Lunch was at the Top Notch Diner, in business since the late 1950s. Then it was a drive along River Dr (south bank of the Missouri River) back towards the AFB stopping for photo ops at Black Eagle Dam & Falls, Rainbow Dam & Falls, & Crooked Falls. There were five falls in close vicinity to what is now the city of Great Falls. The first “Europeans” to visit the area & document the falls were the Lewis & Clark Expedition (more on this later). Now there are five dams, but four of the falls still survive. Back in the day the river bed below the falls would run dry around August, & Dan & friends would hike down the river banks to go swimming in the remaining pools of water; ignoring the signs warning that water could be released from he dams at any time! Now the river is fenced off with warning signs that violators will be arrested. Next stop was Giant Springs State Park (used to be a city park) & the Roe River (Trivia – what river does Guinness list as the world’s shortest river?)
Last stop for the day was the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center. This is a fascinating museum dedicated to the entire three year history of the Expedition; not just their harrowing portage around the five falls of the Missouri River in what is now known as Great Falls, MT. Lewis & Clark had been told of a “great fall” by the Native Americas that they would face further up the Missouri River. They believed the warning & planned one day to portage around one great fall. They were very surprised to find four more falls upper river of the “great fall”! It took them over three weeks to portage 18 miles! Like we said the museum covers the entire history of the Expedition from its commissioning to their “recognition” by the US government upon their return. But as you follow their history chronologically thru the museum, the opposite walls depict the culture of the various Indian tribes they encountered & how these Native Americans viewed the Expedition (& why they didn’t rob them, take them prisoner, or even kill them). We returned to the RV for dinner & learned the local area was under tornado watch & therefore did not go out anymore.

http://stateparks.mt.gov/parks/visit/giantSprings/

http://www.fs.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsinternet/!ut/p/c4/04_SB8K8xLLM9MSSzPy8xBz9CP0os3gjAwhwtDDw9_AI8zPwhQoY6BdkOyoCAPkATlA!/?ss=110115&navtype=BROWSEBYSUBJECT&cid=FSE_003798&navid=150000000000000&pnavid=null&position=BROWSEBYSUBJECT&ttype=main&pname=Lewis%252

Tuesday morning it was off to THE Great Falls at the base of Ryan Dam, & Ryan Island Park. One interesting thing on Ryan Island was a small building with very old Magic Chef electric cook tops? Apparently the idea was for people to drive all the way out to the island (we’re talking ten miles on rough roads) to see the “latest” technology being demonstrated by the local public power utility. Then it was on to the Charles M Russell Museum complex. CM Russell is a very famous “western” artist, primarily known for his oil paintings; but he also has thousands of water colors, along with bronzes. He lived in St Louis until he was 16 & then headed west to be a cowboy. He was there to see the last of the great buffalo herds, the loss of Native American heritage & lands, & even the reduced role of cowboys as cars replaced horses. As in most art museum dedicated to one artist there were also many other “western” artist represented; some contemporaries, some modern. In additions were several galleries devoted to Native American artists; including a very moving gallery about the cultural significance & value of the buffalo to the many Native American tribes throughout America (buffalo used to roam all the way to New York state & almost to the Gulf Coast). Sadly the European attitude to the buffalo was expressed by Gen’l Sheridan – kill the buffalo, kill the Indian!

Then Dan took Corrie back to the RV to rest, & Dan went to the Malmstrom AFB Museum. While there the docent discovered Dan & family used to live on the base & gave him a copy of the 1968 base directory that showed that the Ryan family did live at 4110A Dogwood St. The museum is dedicated to the Minuteman missiles & control systems that have been the primary function of Malmstrom since the early sixties (in fact the runway has been decertified because there are no longer any AF squadrons assigned to Malmstrom). Dan’s father was a computer tech in BLDG 500 (still the major control center) known as SAGE (semi automated ground environment). Back in the day the entire first floor was a 650 ton computer that was the “largest” computer ever built! It had less computing power & memory than your cheapest digital watch! It took this computer over two minutes to determine altitude, course & speed of a radar contact!!!

After rejoining Corrie at the RV it was off to Eddie’s Supper Club in business since 1944 for dinner. The steaks were pretty good but don’t order the chicken liver. That night was more bad weather, but no tornado warnings.

We had planned on three days to drive from Great Falls to Sprucewood, Manitoba; but decided to driver further every day & get to her brother Ed’s & wife Elaine’s house in Canada in two days. So the plan was driving over 350 miles on Wednesday to get to Williston, ND. So we started in high winds on scenic Montana highway 200 heading for Williston. The high winds did die down, but unfortunately we did get a major crack in our window & someone missed a fork in the road adding one hour to the drive. For some reason Williston sounded familiar to Dan, but he couldn’t remember why? Turns out Williston is the center of major oil drilling going on in ND!!! There are literally thousands of semis carrying supplies to the hundreds of drilling rigs, & as a result, there are no overnight accommodations for RV’ers within a hundred miles of Williston. We even got kicked out of the WalMart parking lot!

So at 10PM we finally found a gas station that allowed us to park overnight, & got some sleep after 14 hours since getting on the road. The next day we then discovered that the thousands of semis have destroyed all the secondary roads in NW North Dakota. The state is trying to repair them as fast as they can, but with their harsh winters the construction season last only half the year. Anyway after almost losing our fillings, we finally made it to Corrie’s brother’s early afternoon on 07JUN!

01-31MAY12 - Sultan, WA (let's build a deck or 2)

 

On Wednesday, 02MAY, we headed to Camping World in the RV to address a water “leak” issue with our slide. A couple of times in the last year we have brought the slide in after a rain storm, to end up having a major deluge of water in the RV. Apparently rain has found a way to penetrate the slide cover (ten year old rubberized fabric that has worn thin) & then make it passed the slide seal (ten year old rubber gaskets now dry with age). Unfortunately they did not have all the parts on hand; so we made an appointment for 16MAY, so they could order parts. Since we were in the area, we then headed to Angel of the Winds Casino for a little recreational gambling & to spend the night.

On 04MAY (May the 4th be with you! Get it?) we were treated to a pretty good hail storm that dumped over an inch of quarter inch hail on the ground, that didn’t melt for over an hour. Another example of the iffy nature of spring weather in the Pacific NW.


Every year during our stay in the Pacific NW it seems we are involved in some major project involving our property; from clearing the land, drilling a well, & last year building a house. This year we decided to build two decks on the house. Our intention was to build a 16ft by 40ft deck on the front of the house by the front door & dining room sliding door, & a 16ft by 32ft deck on the end of the house by the living room sliding door.

Realizing this was a major project, we decided to get bids from contractors. The first bid was “a jaw dropper” to say the least! We then tried to getting someone to just attach the ledger boards to the house & then install the footings level to the ledger boards. We would then install the joists & decking ourselves. The one contractor that said he would do it this way eventually called back after a week & said he really wasn’t interested. So on Saturday, 05MAY, we attended a free deck building course at a local lumber yard that lasted all morning.

The next day we started on the smaller of the two decks, which we decided to reduce to 16’ by 16’, outside the living room sliding door. We decided to call this deck our Small Test Deck (that’s right our “STD”). The day was spent digging four footing holes & pouring concrete in the holes for the pre-cast concrete pier blocks to set on.

Also, during this same time Dan continued adding shelving to the garage, & installing two RV receptacles on the outside of the garage. One was rated at 50 amps & the other at 30 amps (pictured in our last BLOG). On 07MAY we received our final electric inspection on the RV plugs. So now those of you who have an RV & want to visit, can have electric & water hook-ups. We’re working on the sewage connection. 

Our order for pressure treated lumber arrived on 10MAY, & the kiln dried cedar arrived on 11MAY. Note – we looked at the many different types of manmade decking material; but the cost was so much more that cedar, that we couldn’t justify the expense. So on Mother’s Day weekend we commenced construction of our STD. Saturday, 12MAY, we got the ledger board hung & then hung the joists. There was one minor accident when someone (who will go unnamed) fired the nail gun into their partner. As Monty Python’s Black Knight said - it was only a flesh wound. Sunday we began the decking, which was a slow & hot process, & only managed to get half of deck boards down. Each deck board (51 total) needed 26 nails. Thank goodness for the nail gun. We wrapped-up the STD on Monday morning; we were exhausted but very happy with the result.

Total Materials:
>one 4”x6”x16’ pressure treated beam (112 lbs)
>sixteen 2”x10”x16’ pressure treated joists (90 lbs each)
>four 1”x6”x16” kiln dried cedar deck boards
>fifty-one 1”x4”x16” kiln dried cedar deck boards
>four 80 lb bags of concrete
>four pre-cast concrete pier blocks
>fifteen joist hangers
>fifteen joist to beam brackets
>1326 deck nails driven by nail gun
>302 hand driven 10 penny nails
>110 stainless steel screws
>75 screws
>28 half inch bolts w/washers & nuts
>one large bandaid

Although we were happy with the results of the STD; we realized that to insure the big deck (16’ by 40’) turned out right, we needed to make sure the “foundation” was better than what we did on the STD. Coincidently we had just received an e-mail from the first contractor with a lower bid for both decks (still pretty high to us). Dan responded by telling him that we had finished small deck ourselves, & were only interested in someone to dig footings for big deck, poor concrete footings, install pier blocks, & install deck beams; all being level. Amazingly the contractor came back with a reasonable price that included a concrete patio connecting the two decks.

16MAY, Wednesday, the contractor started on the front deck & patio. If you remember from the start of this BLOG we had an appointment at Camping World on the very same day for repairs. So Dan drove the RV to Camping World for the awning/slide repair; while Corrie supervised the contractor. The contractor wanted to finish everything on Thursday, but we hadn’t purchased the necessary materials. The RV repair took most of the day & then Dan had to rush to the lumber yard to get six 4” by 6” by 16’ beams for the contractor, then off to Lowes to get twenty concrete piers. Thursday morning the contractor showed up early (along with the concrete truck) to finish the concrete patio, the footings, & install the beams.     

On 24MAY the pressure treated lumber & kiln dried cedar was delivered for the large deck. For the next few days we worked between rain showers to get the joists installed, so we could begin decking. The weather wasn’t terrible, but every time we set up all the power tools & commenced work along would come a rain shower & we would cover everything & head indoors. Only to have the sun come out in less than an hour. In spite of the weather we finished the deck foundation on 27MAY; we then spent 28/29MAY installing trim boards around the edges, & deck boards in middle section of the deck. One major change from the STD was our decision to use “hidden” fasteners for the deck boards rather than firing in very visible nails from a nail gun (safer too!). We had seen many hidden fastener systems previously but found them complicated, or expensive, or both. There is a new product called Camo that we are using & have been very satisfied so far.          

http://www.camofasteners.com/hidden-fasteners.html

We would have continued working on the deck but we needed to prepare the RV for a trip to Brandon, Manitoba, for Corrie’s nephew’s wedding (Jason son of her brother, Ed). So we spent 30/31MAY getting the RV ready, including moving our recently purchased Sleep Number mattress from the house into the RV. On the last day of May Dan discovered our water treatment system flashing an error code! We decided to secure the power to the system & deal with the problem on our return.

01-30APR12 - Sultan, WA (more unpacking, now home improvements)

The start of April was spent emptying the last few boxes & the rest of the month was spent trying to figure out where everything is to be placed! Of course rather than putting our nose to the grindstone, we allowed ourselves to get side tracked by other “projects” that probably could have waited a little:

>painting the great room & master bedroom
>landscaping
>finishing garage insulation & installing shelving
>installing cabinet & drawer hardware in the kitchen & bathrooms
>improving driveway

>adding a 30 amp RV plug & 50 amp RV plug outside the garage

  

 

Although this has been the third wettest winter in the area, we have been fortunate that every weekend in April was good weather. In fact on Saturday, 07APR, Dan took a break & went skiing with cousin Sheila at Stevens Pass (see below BLOG link about Dan & son Joe’s ski trip with Sheila back in FEB). It was great weather with excellent conditions.

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2012/02/26jan-04feb12-sultan-wa-skiing-boarding.html

  



On Friday, 20APR, Dan headed over to Camano Island to help cousin Mike Kiesel complete his move from Montana back to WA state. Mike is the older brother of Dan’s cousin Steve Kiesel who lives in Kittitas, WA; where we usually visit in the RV a couple of times a year. Mike has been living for several decades in Montana. Now that he is retired, he has decided to move back to WA to be near his children & family.

On 28APR, Saturday, we headed over to brother Shawn’s & Cindie’s to visit & BBQ. Also there was his daughter Alexandra (who we haven’t seen in over 20 years) & her daughter (eg Shawn’s grand daughter) Aleah(sp?). We were also joined by Aleah’s dad Taylor; & Cindie’s sister Kimberlie. It is always great to reconnect with family or friends, especially with Cindie serving up some excellent grilled steak, grilled asparagus, & fresh potato salad. We returned the favor by inviting Shawn & Cindie over to our place to visit us the next day. Sunday afternoon they showed up along with Cindie’s daughter, Shannon; & we enjoyed more time reminiscing, followed by a spaghetti dinner.

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2011/06/01-12jun11-monroe-wa.html

Also during the month we finally bought a mattress for our bed frame. When we place our furniture in storage, we decided to get rid of all our mattresses & box springs. Dan decided that since the mattress in the RV was over ten years old, why not get something that can be transported back & forth from house to RV & vice versa? So that pretty much limited our choices to a Sleep Number mattress system. The Sleep Number system is basically two heavy duty air mattresses contained in a custom mattress cover, along with several foam “framing” pieces, & other items that make it virtually impossible to tell the difference from a “real” mattress. We are not sure how “easy” it will be to move back-and-forth, but we are definitely impressed with its comfort!

  

19-31MAR12 - Sultan, WA (unpacking)

On Monday morning, 19MAR, with the assistance of Cameron we continued unloading the rental Penske truck. Our initial “sorting” of the household goods was all boxes in the garage for eventual unpacking & further sorting; & furniture in the house, hopefully in the room that Corrie would eventually decided it belonged. We then returned the truck Tuesday morning.

The rest of the month was spent off & on unpacking the boxes, along with installing shelving in the pantry/laundry room; then trying to decide where everything was to go! We thought we had significantly “downsized” our possessions five years ago in Houma, LA; but trying to jam what we had leftover into a house that is 1000 square feet smaller than the Houma house has been very challenging! Also, the amount of wrapping paper that came out of each box seemed to defy the laws of physics & exceeded the volume of the box itself? The end result was almost daily runs to the recycling center in the Toad to insure we weren’t overwhelmed by the debris.

During our almost two weeks of unpacking we were treated to snow on Thursday, 22MAR; supposedly the third day of spring. So much for spring in the Pacific northwest. Thankfully we also enjoyed a brief visit from Dan’s cousin Steve, wife Bonnie, & son Kenneth on Sunday, 25MAR. They had been visiting family & friends in the area, & were returning to their homestead in Kittitas, WA, where we have visited many times in the RV.

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2011/10/06-15oct11-various-wa-or-ut-nm-tx-la.html

Tuesday, 27MAR, the septic system received its quarterly service; see the below BLOG about why our system needs a $200 service, even though no one has used it for five months. Later that day we had a DISH Satellite system installed. In five years of RV’ing we have not felt the need for satellite TV & the cost involved. Most parks have cable, & many times we could pick up “free” HD TV from the a nearby city(ies). Unfortunately, where our house is located we cannot pick up any broadcast TV stations; which means installing cable & then paying monthly fees even for months we are not here.

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2011/09/07-30sep11-sultan-wa-house-construction.html

So we decided to have satellite installed in the RV, & then transfer the satellite box to the house when in town. We had been asking other RV’ers about satellite TV over the years. In general, the consensus was that DIRECT was better than DISH. So when Dan went to the local satellite store, he was focused on DIRECT. But DISH had one feature that DIRECT didn’t. DISH now has a one satellite box that allows two TVs to operate independently of each other!

In other systems you need one box for each TV to watch different channels. Of course each box results in additional leasing fees every month. DISH now has one box that provides full HD TV to the TV you designate as TV #1; then that digital HD signal is converted to an analog SD signal that is sent to TV #2. You also receive two special remotes to ensure that both TVs operate completely independent of each other without having two satellite boxes! Isn’t technology great? Unfortunately we didn’t have enough money to pay for all of the portable satellite dish.

The following picture has nothing to do with our RV adventures, just something Dan has added to his to do list!