01-31MAY13 - Sultan, WA

Seattle didn’t break the record for the amount of rain in the month of April as we discussed in our last BLOG; but they did come in second!

Wednesday, 01MAY, Dan continued making repairs to the old Sears ride’m lawn mower that we got for “free” several years ago. With the money we have spent on parts & the time Dan has spent fixing it, free is turning out to be pretty expensive. Dan is still working on rebuilding the mower deck with the new parts he got last year before our departure (see our 16-31AUG12 BLOG about the original start of renewing the rusted out mower deck). Unfortunately last year there was one part left over & Dan can’t figure where it goes, even with the downloaded repair manual? To test out the Sears mower Dan needed to move the tractor out of the barn, so the mower could be moved. Unluckily the tractor wouldn’t start – possible a dead battery? This forced Dan to get his hydraulic car jack & manually jack the dump bucket up on the tractor, blocking it up with wood as he went.

Eventually Dan got the Sears mower out of the barn & running; the repairs appear ok even with a part left over. So for next two hours Corrie used the “new” mower & Dan was on the Sears mower as we tried to mow three acres of grass! Dan also got the tractor battery tested & charged, so now the tractor runs. 02-04MAY was fantastic weather so there was more mowing, yard work, & even some bush hogging with the tractor.

05MAY (cinco de mayo) we headed to the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle for a food truck festival – aka “Mobile Food Rodeo”. Turns out it was the same day as weekly neighborhood market. The Rodeo featured over 30 food trucks, with six trucks competing for the best taco. Since it was Cinco de Mayo most of other Food Trucks had changed their menus to feature at least one taco item. We shared a shawarma, a fish taco, & a tequila/wild boar crepe from different food trucks that caught our eye. In honor of Cinco de Mayo we were even entertained by a Dairiachi Band sponsored by Darigold Dairies. On the way home we stopped at Costco & had many tasty free samples that they give out on Saturdays & Sundays. Between the food trucks & Costco no one felt like dinner at home that night!

http://mobilefoodrodeo.com/

Monday our DISH satellite went down & we needed a service call. Some how the roof dish had mysteriously moved & had to be re-aligned? Re-alignment is not a warranty issue so we were charged for the service call! Once again the tractor battery went dead & we needed to call Marty our tractor guy; he suspects a bad generator.

Tuesday, 07MAY, Dan’s newest BBQ toy arrived from overstock .com. Those of you we have visited us in our RV know we carry a small electric smoker to BBQ ribs or smoke pulled pork in. For RV use where you are limited by storage space it is ok; but it does take constant tending to control the temperature & constantly adding wood chips. Dan’s new state of the art system has digital controls for the smoke & the temperature. It also has a self loading wood system that can go almost ten hours before reloading. Thankfully the next four days of May were more good weather to make up for April?

Sunday, 12MAY, we headed into Seattle for a Mother’s Day brunch at Teatro ZinZanni & to watch “Dinner at Wotan’s”. See below BLOG link for our first visit to Teatro ZinZanni & the craziness that occurs there. “Dinner at Wotan’s” is mostly Wagner’s “Der Ring des Nibelungen” (aka The Ring) with a little of Ibsen’s “Peer Gynt” & Monty Python’s “Life of Brian” thrown-in; with Thor (its hammer time) added in for good measure. For those don’t know The Ring is an opera “cycle” that occurs on four straight evenings taking about 15 hours for the entire opera to be viewed! The Seattle Opera is one of a few USA companies that will perform the entire cycle in the years they decide to present The Ring. The inside joke at ZinZanni is that we were getting the entire cycle in less than three hours. Another inside joke is that Valhalla in this play is located in Ballard a historically Norwegian/Swedish neighborhood of Seattle.

Thrown in was a rap number by Wotan father of the Norse Gods; another number called “With Every Bath You Take” sung to the Police’s “With Every Breath You Take” sung by Brunnhilde; ABBA’s “Fernando”; & an excellent classic Spanish Flamingo Dance not performed on a stage but on a 25 foot vertical pole! During this hilarious presentation our meal was served & Corrie went with the Beef Wellington, Dan went with the Dungeness Crab & Wild Prawn Frittata.

Trivia – what is Ragnarok (hint – party like it’s Ragnarok!)?

http://dreams.zinzanni.org/

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2012/08/16-31aug12-sultan-wa-wheres-rain.html

Monday we started prep work for a garden shed, & RV garage/shop building, plus pads for five sets of deck stairs that Dan didn’t get installed last summer. Tuesday, 14MAY, cement was poured for the garden shed & five sets of stairs for the two decks. Immediately after that Corrie starts cleaning up the mess created by construction vehicles, while Dan starts building the first set of deck stairs. Wednesday, Dan finishes all the stairs (3) for the large front deck, & Corrie continued cleaning up the contractor mess on the lawn until the rains returned. Marty the tractor guy installed a rebuilt generator & a new voltage regulator on the tractor & it seems to have solved the problem. The next day all the stairs for both decks are finally done.

Friday, 17MAY, Dan drove into Everett early in the morning to start the permitting process for our new RV garage/shop building. The county representative said it would take six weeks for the permit to be issued. Needless to say we were shocked when we were called on Friday, 24MAY, & told the permit for garage/shed was approved!!! Dan spent half the day in Everett paying for & picking up the permit.

For the last half of May between intermittent rain falls; Corrie continued to beautify the yard by adding many plants & shrubs, while arranging & mulching the various garden plots. Meanwhile Dan tried to finish the garden shed for her by:

---Saturday/Sunday, 18/19MAY, started building walls for garden shed.

---Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday start to erect walls & buy windows.

---Thursday start on trusses for shed roof.

---Saturday, 25MAY, nice weather returns & Dan gets half roof trusses built & mounted with Corrie’s assistance.

---Sunday & Monday of Memorial Day weekend we dealt with on again/off again rain showers, but Dan managed to get all the roof truss built & mounted with Corrie’s assistance.

---Tuesday, 28MAY, roof sheathing installed & no one fell off a ladder or the roof:)

---Thursday/Friday Dan finished the month of May by buying exterior wall paneling & installing them along with the two windows.

Hopefully June will bring better & more consistent weather so Dan can quickly wrap-up this project!

06-30APR13 - Sultan, WA (rain, rain, go away!)

Saturday, 06APR, we hit the road to our new house in Sultan, WA, driving thru rain & snow over Snoqualmie Pass. Unfortunately the rain continued all day; & even worse, for several weeks after our arrival! It took Dan a couple of tries to remember how to turn everything back on – like the gas, & the water treatment system in the pump house. But soon everything was up & running! As usual cousin Steve & Bonnie gave us some homemade treats as we departed. This time in addition to elk & deer snacks, they gave us some smoked Kokanee (landlocked sockeye salmon). So we immediately made some of Bonnie’s great dip for snackies & it disappeared. Once settled in, the rest of the month was spent:

---Unloading RV, big thing to Dan is getting tools set up & stored in garage (especially new miter saw & miter saw stand).

---Monday, 08AUG, was taking computer in for repair; & then taking the new Pioneer car stereo in for repair at another facility. Because of the computer problems, Dan visited the local library to get a library card so he could use their computers.

---Thursday Dan took the Toad in for an airbag alarm. There is ground somewhere, but the dealer says they can’t find it until the radio is back in. But we did get the computer back. Unfortunately the next day, Friday, the computer crashed big time. So it was back to the computer shop, where Dan now learned that part of our problem(s) is that we still run Windows XP & recent updates (ie for Explorer, Office 2002, etc) only work on later versions of MS operating systems (Vista, MS 7 or MS 8). Looks like we will be forced to buy a new computer in near future just to have the latest MS operating system, even though ours is all we really need (thanks Mr Gates)! Because of no computer Dan headed back to the library on Saturday to check e-mail & pay bills online.

---Sunday, 14APR, Dan went to Costco to buy a BluRay player for the house. Naively Dan thought it would be like the old days of stereo systems – buy any component, take out of box, plug wires in, & sit back & enjoy. Not so! Dan spent several hours setting up our existing 1997 5.1 surround sound with the new BluRay player & last year’s new TV. Turns out most of today’s technology is based on HDMI cables; but our “old” stereo is based on fiber optics, because HDMI hadn’t been invented in 1997. So the BluRay, which did not have fiber optic, was connected to TV w/HDMI cable; & the TV, which had fiber optic, was connected back to the surround sound. Then Dan had to program the stereo that it would be “receiving” 5.1 sound; & then navigate thru various menus on the BluRay & TV to tell them to “output” 5.1 sound (hint – the 5.1 option was NOT under the audio menus of either device where you would expect it?).

---Monday, 15APR, we picked up the computer w/fingers crossed. Most of the afternoon & evening was spent recovering the archived e-mails & address book. Turns out the easy part was getting rid of virus, the hard part is re-installing software.

---Wednesday, 24APR, we visited Spane Buildings in Mount Vernon, WA. But first we had a delicious Italian lunch at El Granaio in Mount Vernon. We (ie Dan) have chosen Spane to build a large metal garage & shop building on our property. We probably don’t really need it; but it will give us a place to park the RV out of the weather, a place for us to set up all our tools & gardening equipment thereby allowing us to park in our present garage, & just enough room to park the tractor when it is being used rather than walking back & forth to the barn.

---Thursday, 25AUG, we got the tractor & wood chipper out of barn to chip up some piles of tree debris. Then on Friday Dan got to remove the chipper & place it on a steel dolly our son Joe welded so we can easily roll the chipper around the barn when not in use. It works great, but 900 pounds doesn’t roll so easy (something to do with momentum?)!    

Sunday, 28APR, we decided to head into Seattle to catch the matinee of “Black Watch” at the Paramount Theatre. But the first stop was the Seattle Center for the Seattle Cherry Blossom & Japanese Cultural Festival. This festival is part of the Seattle Center’s annual Festál celebrations –

“Festál, presented by Seattle Center in partnership with community organizations, is a year-long series of FREE events that honors the cultural richness and diversity of the Pacific Northwest. Festál plays a vital part in Seattle Center efforts to connect our dynamic and varied communities.”

Turns out the Japanese Festival was the first & the oldest in the Festál series. There are 22 festivals on the 2013 calendar including Turk, Arab, Croatia, Italian, Hawaiian, Tibet, Mexican Day of the Dead, Sundiata, Tet, Hmong, Irish (on St Patties Day), & more. It was a very nice festival with many interesting exhibits, & we shared four pieces of Takoyaki (think octopus dumplings w/shaved fish flakes on top) & a Matsuri hot dog (sausage, Japanese onion, teriyaki sauce & sea weed). We even braved the rain to watch Takio drumming outside.   

http://www.seattlecenter.com/festal/

http://www.seattlecenter.com/festal/detail.aspx?id=4

Then it was off to find parking near the Paramount Theatre hoping for free street parking. There was no street parking left & we ended up moving the Toad twice before finding a “reasonable” price in a nearby lot. First about the Paramount, the Theatre is one of several built by Paramount Pictures between 1926 – 1928 when they endeavored to have a grand movie palace with their name in every major city in the USA. Just like most of the grand movie palaces from the 20s & 30s the Paramount started to decline following WWII, & fell into disrepair, eventually being closed on & off thru the 60s (complete history at below internet link).

Enter the 70s & rock & roll concerts, & Dan’s prior experience with the Paramount. From 1974 to 1979, Dan & his friends would attend many a concert/show at the Paramount; especially what was called “Catch a Rising Star” concerts produced in partnership w/KISW FM radio. For one dollar Dan saw numerous up & coming international/national acts - Clash, Talking Heads, Blondie, Rockpile, Devo, Robert Palmer, Elvis Costello, & many he can’t remember. As well as paying more to see the Kinks, Van Morrison, Lou Reed, & even Richard Pryor. It was in very poor shape then & seemed to get a little worse after each concert. Now it is been fully renovated & the bathrooms are clean to actually use, & w/o worrying about Reefer Madness! 

http://www.stgpresents.org/paramount

The play “Black Watch” deals with a Scottish platoon of the 42nd Royal Highland Regiment (aka Black Watch) at Camp Dogwood, Iraq, in 2006 (when there were coalition forces with us in Iraq). The story moves back & forth between Camp Dogwood, & a pub in Fife after most to the lads have left the unit. Interwoven throughout the play is the history of the regiment as the UK’s oldest & last “autonomous” unit, & the Regiments soon to be incorporation into newly created regiment representing all of Scotland (ie no longer a distinct unit made up of lads from the same area of Scotland). -

“Hurtling from a pool room in Fife to an armoured wagon in Iraq, Black Watch is based on interview conducted by Gregory Burke with former soldiers who served in Iraq. Viewed through the eyes of those on the ground, Black Watch reveals what it means to be part of the legendary Scottish regiment, what it means to be part of the war on terror and what it means to make the journey home again. John Tiffany’s production makes powerful and inventive use of movement, music and song to create visceral, complex and urgent piece of theatre.” 

Be warned the f-bombs abound in the dialog, & these actors are from the National Theatre of Scotland & their brogues are often hard to understand. The staging is very unique in that the action is portrayed on a long “run way” type stage with the audience on both sides within inches of the actors. The show is an intense two hours & there is no intermission! Corrie thought it was good but thought it couldn’t be 100% “real”. After thirty years of military life (never in a combat situation however) Dan thought it was awesome & probably was spot-on in depicting the endless boredom of waiting, punctuated by the terror of brief, unexpected attacks from an enemy willing to commit suicide to kill you.

 

Half way thru the month of April the Seattle area had already experienced the third wettest April on record. This meant we had half the month left to break the record! Thankfully Wednesday, 17APR, we had a week of great weather & the record was not broken. During that time we mowed 2 acres of grass twice; Dan built a second compost bin w/more scrap lumber from our original porches; Corrie continued gardening & renewing mulch in the flower beds; installed hose racks on the pump house for hundreds of feet of hoses; changed the oil & filter on the Toad; & much more outdoor maintenance & gardening, which we won’t bore you with.   

30MAR-05APR13 - Kittitas, WA (via laughlin, nv; bakersfield, ca; orland, ca; bend, or; & toppenish, wa)

Saturday, 30MAR, drove from Phoenix to Riverside Casino, Laughlin, NV. We first stayed here in April 2010 & again in April 2011 (see below BLOG for why Laughlin is so special in the world of casinos). Dan did very, very well at the Casino playing a penny video poker machine:)!

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

Easter Sunday we headed westward toward California. This was the first time we have driven on I-40E from Needles, CA, to Barstow, CA; the high desert country was actually very scenic. We then continued driving on CA 58 to Bakersfield, CA, where we overnighted at the same RV park we used when were “convoying” with the RV & a Penske rental truck w/our furniture to our new house in Sultan, WA, last March.

Monday morning we got on I-5N. We stopped for lunch at Pea Soup Andersens in Santa Nella, CA. This Andersens is supposedly the same as the original located on the CA coast in Buellton, CA. The original Andersens was (& still is) a traditional stop for people traveling along the CA coast on highway 101 about 25 miles west of Santa Barbara, & is supposedly known for their pea soup? All we can say is their soup is pretty poor; especially if you have ever tried real Dutch pea soup (aka erwtensoep)! After a long drive we stopped at an RV park in Orland, CA, & discovered a good BBQ joint called the Berry Patch Restaurant – Dan went with the tri-tip & Corrie had the hamburger steak.

http://peasoupandersens.net/

Tuesday, 02APR, we continued driving north, leaving I-5N at Weed, CA, & taking US 97N toward Bend, OR. Again this was another road we haven’t driven before. This portion of US 97 in CA was a nice drive with little traffic. Unfortunately the Passport America (a discount RV park club we belong to) map & listing of RV parks in OR was wrong & we end up 15 miles away from Bend, OR, for the night. The bad info in the book added 30 miles to our trip; but we were so tired we just checked-in & called it a day.

Wednesday we drove to Legends Casino on the Yakama Nation in Toppenish, WA. Dan no longer likes this casino because as we discovered on our last visit, 13SEP12, video poker costs $1 & he never plays machines over a nickel! Plus, this time they did not give us any comps.

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2012/09/13-16sep12-craters-of-moon-id-via.html

Thursday, 04APR, we made the short drive to Dan’s cousin Steve & wife Bonnie Kiesel in the rain. Most years we visit with them on our return to WA & on our departure. See below BLOG about last visit, including great boating trip on the Columbia River & an encounter with a herd of big horn sheep. That evening we took them & their son Kenneth out to dinner at New York Teriyaki & Burgers for an early celebration of Bonnie’s birthday. The menu was interesting in that it offered Japanese food, Chinese food, Korean food, sushi, burgers & pizza. The food was actually very good. 

The next day Steve & Dan had to take elk bones from a recently butchered elk to be disposed of; & then headed into the surrounding hills for a little off-road “sightseeing”. Steve has a “new” used four wheel truck that Dan found much more comfortable (& safer) than the very old Jeep Commander they normally travel in. Meanwhile Corrie went with Bonnie to a facility that assists with people’s various rehabilitations with therapy horse sessions. Bonnie is a volunteer there & Corrie found it very interesting. That night was great dinner with everyone cooking a dish – artichokes, soup, salmon dip, & BBQ’d deer & elk steaks. 

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2012/06/18-21jun12-kittitas-wa-via-glasgow_23.html

After another great but short visit it’s back to our house in Sultan, WA, tomorrow, 06APR.

25-29MAR13 - Phoenix, AZ (mesa, az, & tolleson, az, really)

Monday, 25MAR, Dan went back to Musical Instrument Museum so he could finish viewing the exhibits he did not see on our visit back on 19MAR. Although this meant purchasing another entry ticket, he was glad to now have seen the entire collection on display at this time. Meanwhile Corrie stayed home & enjoyed the pool & R&R.

Tuesday morning we headed to the Heard Museum in Phoenix – “The Heard is nationally and internationally recognized for the quality of its exhibits, which provide insight into the cultures and histories of Native people, and for the sensitivity of its presentation and interpretation of American Indian art.” Once again it was a museum visit where we couldn’t take it in all in one day! In addition to one docent let tour, we took-in the “Chocolate, Chili & Cochineal: Changing Taste Around the World”, “Native Words, Native Warriors & Navajo Code Talkers”, “Home: Native People in the Southwest”, “Barry Goldwater Katsinas Collection”, “We Are! Arizona’s First People”, & “Remembering Our Indian School Days: The Boarding School Experience”.     

Along with ancient artifacts & modern Native art, the museum also presents Native historical information, such as:

>Native Americans are three times as likely to serve during military conflicts as the rest of the population.

>The first Native “code talkers” were Choctaws during WWI.

>Sadly the Indian schools mission was to “assimilate, acculturate, & Americanize” the students by shaving their hair, burning their cloths, only allowing English to be spoken, & keeping the children from their families up to nine years!

>There are four principal crops in the world – wheat from the Middle East, rice from China, & potatoes & corn from Native Americas.

>Tomatoes were not used in Italian cooking until 1693, a hundred years after they were imported from the Americas.

>The Navajos during WWII spoke in a code they developed in the Pacific campaign. Many other Native Americans were used to speak in their tribal language but uuencoded in many theaters of war, because the enemy often still could not decipher the radio transmission.

Lunch was in the museum’s Courtyard Café where we shared bison meatloaf & hummus made with tepary beans; note - you can enjoy the café without paying to enter the museum. While touring the museum we even ran into a Miss Indian Princess who represented all the Native tribes in the USA & Canada. Another museum we highly recommend checking-out if you are in the Phoenix area!   

http://heard.org/

Wednesday evening it was back to MIM for another concert; but first dinner at Aunt Chiladas (aka enchiladas). They claim they are oldest restaurant in Phoenix. But there have been many different restaurants and/or owners at this location, that it hasn’t been the “same” over its history. Probably more correct to say its Phoenix’s oldest building that has continually had a restaurant in it? Its most infamous incarnation was as The Peek (note spelling) Steak House. The Mexican food at Chiladas was very good, including the Tres Leches Cake we had for dessert.

http://www.auntchiladas.com/

The concert was “Uncommon Time - Taiko, Tabla, Timbal”:

“The drum takes center stage in this commingling of three rhythmically complex musical traditions. Each musician is a master of own his genre: Kenny Endo in taiko drumming, Abhijit Banerjee in tabla drumming, and John Santos in Latin percussion. Each one is an experienced composer. What they share is a passion for exploring musical collaborations across genres and cultural backgrounds.”

“With Uncommon Time, the improvised drum exchange has evolved into a witty and heartfelt musical dialogue in which the three artists create new compositions using the rich palette of percussion forms, rhythmic interchanges, and instrumentations of diverse global cultures.”

“One of the leading American exponents of contemporary percussion and rhythm, Kenny Endo is at the vanguard of the Japanese taiko genre. As a performer, composer, and teacher, he has received numerous awards and accolades. He was the first non-Japanese to be honored with a natori (stage name) in Japanese classical drumming. Endo is a consummate artist, blending Japanese taiko with rhythms influenced by his jazz background and global collaborations to create original melodies and improvisations.”

“Abhijit Banerjee is considered among the top-ranking Indian tabla players. He is one of the most sought-after artists in Indian classical music, renowned for his unique style and creative approach as well as for his sensitivity, skill, and deep sense of musicality. In addition to his contributions to Indian music, Banerjee has left his mark in a diverse field of crossover music both as a performer and composer.”

“Five-time GRAMMY-nominee and a US Artists Fellow, John Santos is one of the foremost interpreters of Afro-Latin music in the world today. He is known for his innovative use of traditional forms and instruments in combination with contemporary music, as well as for his groundbreaking work in bringing together styles, rhythms, concepts, and artists from different generations. With over thirty-five years of performing and teaching, he has earned much respect and recognition as an educator, composer, and record and event producer.”

We weren’t sure what to expect from three percussionists sharing the stage, but it was an outstanding concert & highly recommended!!!

Thursday morning, 28MAR, it was time to shift from Good Life RV in Mesa (on the east of Phoenix), to the Freightliner facility in Tolleson, AZ (on the west of Phoenix). As we have discussed several times in this BLOG getting maintenance & service done on an RV engine & chassis is often somewhat difficult because this often requires taking your RV to a truck facility. Back in April of 2010 we “discovered” the Freightliner facility in Tolleson, AZ, that has dedicated staff & facilities dedicated to RV’ers. Now their facility is even better because they have built dedicated RV parking spots with 50 Amp electric, city water, & sewage dump hook-ups at every spot!

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2010/04/10-13apr10-willcox-phoenix-az.html

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

Dinner that evening was at La Piazza al Forno in Glendale, where we ate back in April 2010. As we said back then - they make their pizzas in wood fired, brick oven, from Italy; & the food is still outstanding!

http://lapiazzaalforno.com/

Friday morning at 0700 our RV was pulled into the service bay, leaving us (including Gumbo) to sit in the RV Owner’s Lounge for the day. Our RV was due for a major scheduled maintenance called “M3”; every other Freightliner service center we have had this done at, has needed two days to accomplish it. This facility not only finished everything in one day, but also completed all the required maintenance on our generator! End result we paid less here than at other Freightliner service centers because the number of labor hours was far less than elsewhere.

Tomorrow we hope to be back on the RV road to the Pacific NW!

http://www.fswaz.com/Tolleson.aspx