17-31MAY09 - Monroe, WA

On Monday, 18MAY, Dan left on a two day business in Santa Rosa, CA. This allowed him to drive by “our” old house in Novato, CA, located on the abandoned Hamilton Air Force Base. Unfortunately it looks like half the beautiful Spanish style houses, with all oak floors, hand tiled fireplaces, tile roofs, wrought iron fixtures, are empty and slowly falling apart.

Upon Dan’s return the Seattle area began to experience some great weather. The month of May demonstrated the fickleness of Seattle weather. The rain that fell in the first half of May made it the 3rd wettest May on record; even though the second half of the month was completely dry and set records for high temperatures on some days. In fact, Memorial Day was the first dry one in 12 years! But remember some Seattleites call June, “Junuary”.

Since we are often the only ones in Monroe State Fairgrounds RV Park, we hang out with camp hosts Bob & Karrie when not working on our property. One day they brought home a new puppy, Beasley a Papillion terrier. Beasley thought Gumbo was just one big chew toy, and wouldn’t leave him alone. Gumbo would tolerate Beasley’s antics for several minutes and then snap at the puppy. This would send Beasley running and hiding for about five minutes, only to come back and start aggravating Gumbo again. One day a million dollar Prevost custom RV showed up at the campground. We have seen a few of these in our journeys (and we are not impressed), but this one was truly different in that it had custom “spinner” wheels on all six tires! Proof once again that having money doesn’t equal good taste.

Saturday of Memorial Day weekend cousin Paul Peters, Shannon & the boys, Spenser & Ryan, dropped by the RV before the big races right next door at the Evergreen Speedway. We’re talking monster trucks, figure 8s races with school busses, boat demo derby, roll over contest, Mr Dizzy jumps a RV in a RV, and fireworks! It sounded so good, that after snacking on brats, chips & dip, Dan joined them at the races. Memorial Day Monday we headed over to their place for a relaxing and enjoyable BBQ. During this time we continue to do maintenance work on the property. The latest lethal farm machine we are using is called a bush hog (aka rotary cutter).

15/16MAY09 - Kittitas, WA

Friday, 15MAY, we took off to see Bonnie & Steve Kiesel who live outside of Kittitas, WA. For more on Dan’s cousin Steve and wife Bonnie, see the below BLOG entry:

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2008/06/20-25jun08-kittitas-wa.html

Unfortunately, it turns out Bonnie would not be home since she was leaving Thursday with Steve’s oldest sister, Kathy, to check out the casinos in Reno & Tahoe. But Dan wanted to talk face-to-face with Steve about getting electricity on our property, because Steve was once a lineman for the county (or was it Wichita Lineman?). Steve wasn’t entirely free for the weekend, since he was playing RV host/security at the Ellensburg fairgrounds for a western art show that was happening that weekend.

http://www.westernartassociation.org/

Even though he was semi-occupied, we still found plenty of time to discuss the proper way to get electricity to our property, socialize, enjoy a catfish dinner at the Moose Lodge, and just relax and enjoy the excellent late spring weather. Steve & Dan also found time to check out the latest brews at the Iron Horse Micro Brewery. For some reason they both really like the Irish Death? Unfortunately the brand new Ellensburg Distillery, one door down from Iron Horse, was never open to sample their wares (probably a good thing). On Saturday night we attended the Art Show cocktail party followed by the Art Auction. In our opinion, it looked like the prices paid at the auction were much less than what was being asked for at the Art Show?

http://www.iron-horse-brewery.com/

http://www.theellensburgdistillery.com/1.html

Sunday it was back to Monroe area so Dan can depart on business trip to Santa Rosa on Monday morning.

01-14MAY09 - Monroe, WA

The weekend, 03MAY, after Dan’s return his brother Shawn, and Shawn’s significant other, Cindy, came by the RV for a BBQ dinner. Turns out Cindy’s uncle used to own the Evergreen Speedway, which is right next door to our RV site on the Monroe Evergreen State Fairgrounds. If you read our BLOG last summer, you will remember that we were treated to the sounds of numerous “events” that occur at the track on Friday nights, Saturday nights, and sometimes Sunday afternoons. Unfortunately, Cindy no longer has inside connections to get us free tickets. Anyway, it was good food and good reminiscing, and we all agreed to try to get together throughout the summer.

A week later it was Mother’s Day, so Dan took Corrie for breakfast at the Sultan Bakery, believe it or not located in the town of Sultan, WA. The bakery is a NW institution noted for their fresh baked goods in the morning (most popular are the huge cinnamon rolls, drowning in melted butter). On ski trips to Stevens Pass on US Highway 2 it was not unusual for Dan and friends to stop at the Sultan Bakery for baked pastries on the way up; and burgers and beer at other establishments on the way down. Even though the line was already out the door, we lucked out and got a table quickly and had an excellent breakfast (including sharing one cinnamon roll).

Earlier that morning Dan's cousin, Rick Lee, had called with an invite to come over to his and Sharon’s house in West Seattle for a Mother’s Day BBQ for his mother, Mary Ann Lee. Mary Ann is a sister of Dan Sr and therefore Dan’s Aunt. In the past when the two families would get together Dan would hang out with Rick and his older brother Steve Ruttner. Often Dan would be invited to spend the weekend at Grandma Jean’s (Dan Sr’s mother) house on Capitol Hill in Seattle along with Steve and Rick. Back in those days they would wander all over Capitol Hill, never thinking about kidnappings or other nasty things happening. Also, cousin Rick was a roommate with Dan for a short while, in Dan’s first ever house also located in West Seattle (see our BLOG for 05JUL08 for details on the house).

Anyway, turns out Rick had also invited older brother Steve, and little sister Kelly (along with her husband Les Baker and children). So it was like a little impromptu mini family reunion. Rick BBQ’d burgers, Steve brought some pork wrapped in bacon, and Sharon prepared many excellent side dishes. All too soon it was time for everyone to head back to their homes (or RVs). Hopefully, we will stay connected throughout our summer stay in the Seattle area.

Also during this two week period we continue to work on our property, but the intermittent rain makes it difficult at best. If the weather permits we like to spend two to four hours a day trying to prepare it to build on it. Unfortunately, there have been some days where the rain prevented us from doing anything. Our latest project was to rent a stump grinder to remove a few stumps from where our drive way has to go.

15-30APR09 - Monroe, WA (via centralia)

Wednesday, 15APR, we stopped in Centralia, WA, 130 miles short of our destination Monroe, WA, to celebrate Tax Day. Not really, we stopped because if we continued driving, we would have hit Tacoma and Seattle at the height of evening rush hour and we didn’t want to deal with that. We had dinner at the Country Cousin restaurant, where Corrie had the Yak burger. Turns out someone actually has a herd of Yaks in the local area.

http://www.countrycousinrestaurant.com/

Next morning as we got ready to leave the RV park we discovered that our tow bar for towing the Toad was broken. Amazingly the park owner was also a dealer of Blue Ox towing equipment and he was very willing to sell us a new and improved model. Soon we were driving north on I-5 with beautiful views of Mt Rainier off to the east. We arrived at the Evergreen State Fairground RV facility that we have stayed at in the past (see below BLOG).

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2007/09/13-16sep07-monroe-wa.html

We immediately headed out to our property outside of Sultan, WA. It turns out that western Washington had one of the “wettest” winters on record. The effects of all the rain and snow were clearly evident on our property; including one big pine tree that had fallen over due to the saturated soil. And thankfully our Toad had four wheel drive, because we got stuck in the mud several times. Saturday, 18APR, Dan’s cousin Paul Peters and his friend, Chris, came out to the property on their dirt bikes. Unfortunately, Chris’s stopped running for an unknown reason. We even tried to “pull start” it behind our Toad. Dan wasn’t sure this was a safe thing to do. But we gave it a try; the bike still wouldn’t start and no one was hurt.

We have quite a bit of tree limbs to dispose of on our property, so Dan has been looking a wood chippers that you run off the back end of the tractor. Dan found what he thought was quality model made in Canada. Corrie thought the price was too high and wanted to negotiate. The end result was not only the purchase of the chipper, but we also ended up getting something called a box blade.

Before we can build on our property, we need water; and since we are not near city water, we must install a well. Jerry Senner who Dan met at the Tractor Museum last summer, offered to “douse” for water & sighting of the well. Jerry even showed Corrie how to douse and it turns out she is a natural. The last four days of April Dan was in San Jose, CA, on a business trip for LSU.

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2008/07/26-30jun08-monroe-wa.html

13/14APR09 - Sutherlin, OR

After a tiring drive through the constant ups & downs of northern CA and southern OR, we decided to take a two night break in OR. Our decision was also based on the fact that Tuesday, 14APR, was forecasted to be a series of rain bands passing through Oregon & Washington throughout the day.

On the drive up I-5 out of Redding enroute Oregon, Corrie was trying to get picture of Mt Shasta as we drove. One good thing about digital cameras is you can shoot dozens of photos of the same thing without running out of film. On the drive we noted a statue of a cow made of steel decorated with an Easter bonnet; but what caught our eye was sign advertising the “State of Jefferson”. Turns out that late in 1941 the citizens of North CA and South OR made noises about forming the 49th state of the USA (remember Hawaii & Alaska weren’t states yet). Why? Because they were dissatisfied with their roads! So there were some half-hearted actions taken to form their own state named after Thomas Jefferson. Before anyone could find out if they were serious or if their movement would grow, Pearl Harbor occurred. But apparently the “idea” still has some supporters. Here is their manifesto:

You are now entering Jefferson, the 49th State of the Union. Jefferson is now in patriotic rebellion against the states of California and Oregon. This State has seceded from California and Oregon this Thursday, November 27, 1941. Patriotic Jeffersonians intend to secede each Thursday until further notice. For the next hundred miles as you drive along Highway 99, you are traveling parallel to the greatest copper belt in the far West, seventy-five miles west of here. The United States government needs this vital mineral. But gross neglect by California and Oregon deprives us of necessary roads to bring out the copper ore. If you don't believe this, drive down the Klamath River highway and see for yourself. Take your chains, shovel and dynamite. Until California and Oregon build a road into the copper country, Jefferson, as a defense-minded State, will be forced to rebel each Thursday and act as a separate State.

http://www.stateofjefferson.com/

We decided to stay at another Escapee SKP Co-op park Timber Valley in Sutherlin, OR. See the below Co-op parks and the Escapee RV Club. Although this park was not as scenic as the one in California, it still has a seven year waiting list to become a member! The park was also populated by numerous wild turkeys, rabbits and deer.

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2009/04/07-10apr09-coarsegold-ca-via.html

Even though Corrie woke-up to snow on Tuesday morning (by the time Dan got up, the snow was gone), we decided to do a little sight seeing to the Colliding Rivers at Glide, OR. This is where the Little River and North Umpqua River meet head-on, the only spot in the U.S. where such a phenomenon occurs. The river levels were not high so there wasn’t much colliding going on, and because of the trees we couldn’t get clear photo. Then we got hit with intermittent hail, rain & wet snow that forced us to scramble back to the car.

Next stop was Cavitt Creek covered bridge built in 1943. The design is unusual in that it features Tudor arch portals to accommodate heavy log truck usage in the past. And the upper and lower chords utilize raw logs as its members. Each side of the roofed structure sports three windows, and long narrow slits above each truss allow "daylighting" as well as ventilation for the bridge interior. Since the weather remained miserable, we headed back to the RV.

Trivia – What is unique about the Oregon state flag?

11/12APR09 - Lodi & Redding, CA

After leaving the Yosemite National Park area on Saturday, 11APR, we decided to spend less time sight seeing and more time driving to get to Seattle area quicker. But we did take time to stop and visit Dan’s niece Aimee & husband Ben Conant outside of Lodi, CA, along with two of their three children, Dustin & Fallyn. Aimee is the oldest child of Dan’s sister Sharon and husband Tim Tompkins, whom you have read about many times in this BLOG. We interrupted their work on improving the house they are renting, but truth be told Ben didn’t seem to mind! We had a great, but short visit. Dan “suggested” to Ben that he might want to install a RV spot with 30 Amp breaker for our future visits.

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The next morning we continued north on I-5. We saw several billboards advertising the Olive Pit in Corning, CA. So naturally we had to stop and try the many free samples. For some reason Dan had to have a bottle of the jalapeño stuffed green olives?

http://www.olivepit.com/

After driving a little farther than normal we decided to overnight just north of Redding. We knew it was Easter Sunday because we found one forlorn easter egg that everyone had missed right next to our RV spot.