June 25, 26, 27, 2010

Friday 25~~~~~Today is donut day, I have been promising them to everyone all week. Kent really likes these donuts and is the one most excited!!!! You buy the biscuits in the can. you cut out the center of the biscuit with a water bottle lid and fry them in oil outside on the camp stove. When they float to the top, you flip them and sugar them in a sack of sugar. They are soooooooo good you must make them someday. I had lots of help from the grand kids, they opened the can of biscuits, cut the holes in them and they sugared them, all I did was fry them and enjoy my time with the grand children. We had a big bonfire every morning and night, Kim and Tress saw some campers pack up and leave the park leaving behind a huge pile of wood. They drove Tress's car to the camp site and they loaded up all the wood. There was so much wood, we didn't even burn it all. Kim and Mike left to go home today, leaving Pamela to stay with us for a week. She has her own tent all set up in our campsite, she likes to sleep in her own tent, she has always been so brave ever since she was a very little girl. Cory and the kids carried the tent from the Madden camp site to our camp where she will be staying. I myself would be afraid to sleep in a tent alone. LOL Sunday 27~~~~Today is a busy day for Kent and I in the camp ground. Sundays are the day everyone leaves to go home and back to work on Monday. Tress and Cory packed up and left for home about 1:30. Kent was working in the office and I still had sites to finish. We are going into Salem in the morning because we have no water in our house right now. While I was in South Dakota, my grandson and his fiancee stayed in our house and the toilet kept running, so he tried to turn off the water at the bowl and he snapped the PVC pipe off, there was a real flood of water before he could get to the street and shut it off. He called Pam and Jeff and they came over and helped clean up the mess upstairs and down stairs. Water went every where. We have to get a plumber to fix the broken pipe and check to see if we have any other problems

June 22, 23 and 24, 2010

Tuesday 22~~~~~We got home from the airport late last night, my kids who are up here in the park camping were up waiting for us to get home. They are in the campsite across the road from us, so we stopped and visited with them for awhile before I went home and crashed for the night. I got up at 8 AM this morning and I went across the street to have my morning coffee with Thresa and the kids, Kim walked down from her campsite and joined us for coffee too. It sure feels good to be back home and back to normal. Today is our day off, so I got to spend the day visiting with the kids and Kent drove Mike around in the golf cart showing him all of the park. Tress helped Kent with his evening rounds around the park while I was gone and she had fun doing it and was a big help for Kent. Wednesday 23~~~~ Today was a busy day going back to work, Pamela, Bodie and Blaize all helped me clean my campsites. Bodie did the ashes in the fire pits, Pamela did the raking, Blaize picked up all the little pieces of candy paper and junk. They were sure good workers and I helped with all of it too. Tress made us a good lunch and we finished our jobs early and we played cards together. The theme for dinner tonight was "Italian", we all made part of the meal and we ate in the West's campsite. What a fun day!!!! Thursday 24~~~~~Another warm day in the park, the kids had a lot of fun riding bikes all over the park. There is a man whop raised Llamas and he brings them through the park quite often and today was the day he did that, the kids enjoyed seeing them. picture)

June 20 & 21, 2010

Sunday 20th~~~~~Carol still wasn't feeling too good this morning, so I went to Mass alone, I got to see several people who I hadn't seen yet after Mass and we had a good visit at the church. Carol was up and feeling better when I went back to her house, she said Debbie had invited us up for breakfast, so we drove to Deb's house where we had a wonderful breakfast and a real nice visit. Deb and I noticed Carol's head was nodding as we were visiting, so we quit talking and she never noticed it, she was asleep, so we decided she needed to go home to bed and get some rest from all the nights she was up sick. I dropped Carol off at her house and I drove to White Lake to visit my cousin Sandy, she was outside sitting on her deck where I joined her for a cold drink. We looked at a lot of pictures of her children and grand children and I showed her my family and pictures of my class reunion that I had on my camera. After I returned to Kimball, my high school friend Joyce and two of Carol's daughters came over and we looked up recipes and we played cards until about 11:00. Tomorrow I am leaving for Oregon, it seems like I just got here and it is already time to go home. I am ready to get home to see Kent and two of my daughters and their families who are camping at our park for a week who are waiting to see me. I hope my flight going home is better than the last time I flew home from South Dakota in the summer with all of their storms. Monday 21~~~~~After a late breakfast with Carol, I left for Pierre to catch my plane for home. My friend Bonnie called and she wanted me to stop at the station where she works in Ft. Pierre to say goodbye to each other. There were a lot of antique cars on the interstate on my way to Pierre, they were really beautiful to look at. (picture) I stopped to see Bonnie and we got to talking and I about made myself late for my plane. LOL The plane leaving Pierre was another one of those very small planes that I don't like very much. I was pretty tired when we were airborne, I decided to stay awake the one hour flight to Denver and take a long nap when I got on the flight in Denver to Portland. I read my book for awhile and I got drowsy falling asleep to awaken to the pilot talking on the radio. I checked the time and realized we should have been in Denver some time ago. The Pilot came on the radio again and informed us that the Denver Airport was shut down to all flights coming and going and we were headed to Cheyenne, Wyoming to refuel and wait for the storms in the area to clear. There were tornado's and an electrical storm near Denver and we had to wait for further instructions. They always park the small planes so far out on the runway and you have a long walk to get to the airport when the weather is bad. The airport was so little, all they had to eat was one poorly stocked vending machine (no Cheetos's) and one pop machine. I had skipped lunch planning to eat in Denver on my lay over there, so I was getting pretty hungry by now. We waited there for one half hour before we again boarded the plane for Denver. I called my daughter Kim and I asked her if she remembered the flight from Hell when we went to South Dakota one year when Mathew was two years old. She said she remembered it very well and I told her I was doing a repeat of the same flight. When we landed, I had to take the train to another concourse where the Denver flights were. We were one hour late for my flight: I was told to go to the information desk for information on another flight. Of course there were LOTS OF PEOPLE who had the same problem. I was in a line of people 4 persons wide and 1/2 block long when a lady beside me heard a last call to Portland Oregon!!! She said it was way too far and I would never make it to the location. I took off running with my carry on luggage clear across the airport. When I was almost there I saw the check in desk was empty and no one was in the boarding section. I said a quick Our Father prayer and kept running anyway. I ran to the boarding tunnel and there were two attendants there helping an old man board and they let me board. I was wheezing so bad with my asthma I could hardly breathe, when I got to my seat. There was a man sitting in my aisle seat and he told his wife to stand up and let me in to sit by the window. I was in no mood to be messed with at that point and I asked him what his seat number was, he said I don't know, not budging an inch out of my seat. I showed him my ticket and I said , "it says here I am seat number A 25, so I guess you must have my seat!! I think I shocked him when I did that and he moved over and gave me my seat. I later found out that they had a problem with the luggage compartment door and the plane was held up for that reason and I was so lucky to catch it. I found out this 68 year old granny can really run fast if she has to!!! I bought one of the deluxe lunch boxes they serve on the plane and that was my dinner, the man beside me ordered one too, but I got the last one and he had to order the small one. He was really upset with me for sure by then and never spoke a word the whole flight. That was fine with me, I was happy to have made the connection and I would soon be seeing my Sweetie waiting for me in Portland.
I am posting a picture of Patty Olson who was at the Reunion banquet for those who weren't there to see how pretty she is with her white hair. I haven't seen her since she moved to Texas years ago.

June 19, 2010

Saturday 19~~~~~ My cousin was not feeling well this morning, So I left her to stay in bed while I went to the retirement home and visited my cousin Jo Gough and my God Child Pam who works there. (pictures) Next I went and visited some good friends, Mary and Bucky Korzan. I stayed with Mary's sister Helen when I attended high school, Mary had lots of pictures of her sister Helen and her children that I babysat for and who I named my Pammy after, we looked at them together and had a great visit. From there I drove around town to my old neighborhood and took some pictures. Next I went to the high schools open house. I ran into my friend Bobby Brooks and his wife Nickie, we had fun talking about playing Cowboys and Indians together with our sticks for guns and arrows. I remember I never got to be an Indian because I had blond curly hair and Sara the neighbor girl wore braids with brown hair and she was always an Indian!! LOL I teased Nickie about her beautiful wicker doll buggy and dolly that she never let me push; she always said NOT NOW!!! I followed her for one whole morning waiting for my turn and after that I never played with her again. LOL After the visit at the school, I went back to see how Carol was feeling and I got ready for the banquet at 6PM Carol was still very sick, so I left her in her girls hands and I went to the dinner. There were 26 in my graduating class with three of them dying at a young age. There were nine of us from our class of 1960 (picture) we all sat together for the dinner. After the dinner they had prizes for the one with the most kids, traveling the farther est and all kinds of crazy things. I won the prize for being married the shortest amount of time; everyone really laughed when I did a big yahoo when I won the $10 gift certificate. I spent it on $2 beers for my girlfriends at the dance at the Legion Club. LOL I really enjoyed seeing all the different people from the different classes that I have known for so many years. I was disappointed to have such a small turn out for our class for it being our 50 years, I really did enjoy those who were there, some of us never ran around together when we were in school, but we sure had fun together at the reunion (picture with Mike and Joyce added to it) and I think we have more in common now than we did in high school. I didn't party to much, without Kent there, I went home about 11:30 wishing Kent was there with me.

June 18, 2010

Friday 18~~~~~~My cousin had trouble with her diabetes during the night and it woke me up, after checking to see if she was OK, I went back to bed finding I was wide awake again. LOL I read my book again for an hour or more before going back to sleep to be wakened at 7 AM for a call to breakfast. I was still on Oregon time and a little sleepy, but I got up for the day. I can sleep on plane going home, I don't want to waste any of my precious time here sleeping. Carol and her friend had hair appointments, so I drove them there and I sat and watched the stylist do their hair while we all visited. When their hair was done, we drove out to the truck stop where we met a group of ladies who meet for coffee every Friday morning, they do that sort of thing in these small towns. I had fun because I saw several people I knew who were home for the all class reunions and I got to visit with them. We went to the Class reunion party at 5:00 with my cousin Carol and her husband us. There were a lot of their class members there (picture) with pictures of their high school days to look at, I knew everyone in the pictures except one person.I had fun there because no one was expecting me to be there or be back home and the look on their face was funny, some said they thought maybe I was my sister Jan, but they knew that wasn't right, it had to be Sherrie. They told lots of stories of the good old days and everyone there gave their name and what they did after graduation and their spouses and family. It was very interesting and the BBQ Pork was delicious served with baked beans, chips and home made buns. Lori Heath made the Buns. Pictures of Lori and her daughter, Deb Gillen and my cousin Carol and myself. Tomorrow night is my graduating class party, the Class of 1960!!!!

June 16 & 17, 2010

Wednesday 16~~~~ We really worked hard at the camp ground today, getting things done before I leave for South Dakota. We got a late start leaving for Portland and it was late when we checked into the Raddison Inn at the airport. It is too late for Kent to drive back home this evening, so he stayed with me and he will drive home in the morning after he drops me off at the airport. My flight is real early, so we will both be tired in the morning. Thursday 17~~~~We arrived at the airport one hour early to check in, Kent left for the camp ground and I bought a bagel with cream cheese and a yummy cappachino drink. My flight was on time and the wait went real fast. I had to change planes in Denver, to a very small plane with very few seats; it vibrated so bad when it took off I could hardly sit in my seat. I rented a small car in Pierre, a weird looking little Chevy that was quite roomy and drove very nice. I was to have lunch with my friends Bonnie and Reube but she called me and said she was pretty sick and she didn't want to give me her germs, so I went to see my friend Pat Gregg who lived close to me all the years I lived in Pierre. She has 3 boys the ages of my son Bill and Tress. Pats son Clark died a year ago and she is still having a hard time over her loss, so we spent a lot of time talking and catching up on our lives. We drove over to see her son Scott (picture) where I got to meet his family. About 4:30 PM I started for Kimball where I grew up and where my reunion is held. Of course I had to stop in the little town of Vivian where my children were born and grew up on my way to Kimball. The town is almost a ghost town with all the old buildings and so few houses, I still like to stop and drive around the whole town, I call it going down memory lane. I arrived in Kimball about 6:30 PM and I drove straight to my cousin Carol Heath's house where I will be staying during my visit here. We went out to the truck stop for dinner after we stopped to check on the progress of the pig they had cooking on the big outdoor grill (picture) for the Classes of 56, 55 and 54 class reunion tomorrow night. I will be going to their party because I know so many of the people from those classes as a guest of my cousin. It will be a lot of fun I am sure. After dinner we drove home and we all went to bed about 10:30 as it was a long day for all of us. I had trouble going to sleep, so I read for a long time before turning off my light.

June 14 &15, 2010

Monday 14~~~~~ I gave myself another haircut this morning and then I met my girl friend Beth for lunch at the "Olive Garden". We had the soup, bread and salad; it was so good, we had two helpings. We sat and talked forever catching up on each others lives and families. She was one of my hair clients and we went out together before we met out two husbands on Match. com and got married. After lunch I did some shopping and then I went home and did some laundry and made dinner for Kent. It rained again, I am sure tired of rain and wish I could see some sun like we had in the South all winter. Tuesday 15~~~~~Kent went to Portland for a DR. appointment and out for lunch with his daughter Cindy. He had several errands to do there and he brought home our mail from Cindy's house. I refilled a prescription, bought some hair products and a few groceries. My grand daughter Shelby was getting a tattoo and she wanted grandma (me) to go with her to have it done. I drove over the the beauty shop and visited the girls for a few minutes and I got to see two of my customers I used to do their hair. A lot of hugs we exchanged, it was so nice to see them again. Shelby did real good with the tattoo and I was glad I was there with her. She got a cute frog on her front bikini area. She got the nick name Froggy when she was a very little girl because she had a froggy little voice and she still like the name. I am leaving for South Dakota on Thursday morning at 5:38 AM to go to my 50th class reunion. I will write all about it when I get back. How can it possibly be 50 years ago when we don't feel that old????

June 13, 2010

Sunday 13~~~~~Sunday is the day most people leave the campground to go home and back to work on Monday; Checkout time is 1PM, so we do a few of the early bird sites and then we wait for the late ones to leave. It is nice to be able to stay that late and enjoy a big breakfast and enjoy the campfire one more half day. While we were waiting for someone to leave, we did the recycle bins. They recycle everything here, not just the deposit cans and bottles, I mean everything, pickle jars, soup cans, batteries and lots of wine bottles! Yes there are lots and lots of wine bottles, I didn't know people drank so much wine. LOL After we did the recycles, we got the blowers and Kent and I did almost all the campsites here and all of the roads in the main camping loop. I didn't think I could carry one of those blowers, but I did just fine. We did all the sites, thinking when the other host got done with his work, he would help us do ours as we did all the blowing on his sites. His campsites emptied out early so he could start cleaning them and ours stayed late and we couldn't get into them. Well just as I thought, we did his blowing and he never came near our sites. Kent said "well we learned a lesson there today didn't we?" We actually enjoyed doing the work, as there were a lot of pine needles and it sure looked nice when we finished. Now with all this work, I thought I for sure lost a couple of pounds, no, I gained one!!! Kent has lost 10 pounds already, I just don't understand how men can do that so easy!! NOT FAIR!!!!!! We drove into Salem Sunday evening about 7:00 to spend our two days off at home.

June 11 and 12, 2010

Friday 11~~~~Today was a very busy day for both Kent and I, people were coming in real early this morning to get camp spaces for the weekend. Some of them had electrical problems with the voltage and their campers and Kent has to help them. We now have a host sign on a post beside out trailer, so we have people knocking on our door with questions quite often. I have to get up and get dressed earlier now as I don't want to shock anyone going to the door in my bathrobe. Kent is usually out the door by eight and is making his rounds and checking in at the office. Tonight is Breanne's graduation from High School and I am going to drive into town to go to it. I plan to spent the night at my house and get up early to come back to the park. One of the host couples has invited us to come for breakfast at 8 o'clock in the morning to their place, that should be fun. Kent is staying home and he is getting pizza to go for dinner. Saturday 12 ~~~~~The graduation lasted until 9:30 last night and it was about 10:30 by the time I got home after we visited and took pictures of Bre with everyone. I hadn't ate any dinner, so I went out and picked up some taco's and filled my car with gas. Now it was getting even later, I started watching TV while I ate my taco's and the next thing I knew it was 12:30 and I was wide awake by then. I woke at up my usual 6 AM to the rosary on the radio at my house and I was soon on the road heading to the camp ground in plenty of time for the bacon and egg breakfast we were going to at 8PM. Breakfast was great and we enjoyed meeting Kathy and Lou another set of camp hosts. At 1:00 PM We helped with the children's program: it was about the different pine trees and how to tell them apart; they tasted pine nuts and they got to plant their own pine tree in a cup and draw pictures of pine trees. I found the boys were the best artists and were better at giving the answers to the questions. Maybe they will all be future Park Rangers???

June 7 through 10, 2010

Monday 7~~~~~I had an early dentist appointment this morning, so no sleeping in on our day off. I lost part of an old filling and I was glad I could get it fixed before I head back to South Dakota. Kent went to Portland to go to his grandson Nathan's ball game and to take them out for dinner. I went to see my friend Bob to help him run errands, but he wasn't home or didn't hear me at the door. He is pretty sick with cancer and getting around is pretty hard for him. I did the dreaded job of coloring my hair today; it is easier to do it at home with my three way mirror than doing it in the fifth wheel with the small bathroom mirror. Tuesday 8~~~~We didn't do much today, I went shopping for a few things I needed for my trip to Dakota. Kent went to Costco (his favorite store) and did his shopping and had lunch. We visited my son Bill on our way back to Fisherman's Bend. Wednesday 9~~~~Today we really worked our tails off, the Park Ranger hauled gravel in a Bob Cat to most of our sites for us; he dumped a couple of scoops in each camp site and Kent and I filled all the pot holes and leveled out the sites with a layer of gravel. We had to shovel it by hand from the pile he dumped, as he couldn't get into the site very close with the bob-cat. We sure were tired when we got done, but we felt good as our sites looked so nice and we won't have our campers standing in water puddles with all this rain we are getting still. Thursday 10~~~~ Today we graveled our site, we had to haul the gravel in a cart behind the golf car. We had no help in loading and hauling it today, we did it all. We put seven carts full on our site and it sure made it look nice. Now Kent is anxious to have it rain again so the dirt will wash off of the gravel and look even better. I set out my pretty flowers from Mother's Day in the yard and with the new awning over our table, the place looks very nice and inviting. Two days in a row of shoveling and raking gravel was a lot of work; it was so rewarding to look at our accomplishments when we finished, it made us feel real good.

May 4, 5, 6, 2010

Friday 4~~~~ Kent worked in the office all morning and I stayed home and baked cake donuts from a new recipe in the cook book we received from the Heath family for a wedding gift. The Carmel roll recipe was so good, I decided to try another one this chilly, rainy day. The donuts turned out real good and were so easy and fast to make. Kent really liked them as he has been asking me to make him donuts for several days now. I kept the wood boxes (the campers pay $5 for a cart full of wood) filled with wood and I helped some campers with questions about the park. It is raining so hard again today we aren't very busy; this park has a lot of tent campers, and this sure isn't tent camping weather. They are true Oregonians, as they sit around the campfire in the rain; the trees give a lot of shelter from the rain so the fires still burn. Saturday 5~~~~~ It was a slow process cleaning the camp sites this morning as the campers slept in and I couldn't get to my job very fast. It was a good morning to drink coffee inside where it was warm. Around two PM, my grandson William and his girlfriend stopped to see us, they helped us put up our new awning and by the time we finished it, it was getting pretty warm outside. We all walked over to the activity center where I helped our Lady Ranger with the children's activities the park puts on for them every Saturday. Today the children learned all about Humming birds and we helped each of them make a small Hummingbird feeder to take home and we took them to one of the Hosts campsite where they have 5 or 6 feeders for the hummingbirds to show the kids how the Hummingbirds feed from the feeders. When we got back to our camp we played a game of cards outside at the picnic table. I built a big fire as Savannah wanted to cook some hot dogs over the campfire, I left them in charge of the fire while I went to Mass, Kent was busy with some campers; after mass, we picked up a big pizza which we ate outside and we finished our card game before heading over to the Amplitheatre to watch a movie. After the movie, we watched a little television before heading to bed. William and Savannah went outside to sleep in their tent they set up while I was in church.
Sunday 6~~~~We woke up to heavy rain again this morning, normally I would love the sound of it on the roof as I lay in bed drinking my coffee, but not this morning, Kent is working in the office and I am in charge of cleaning the campsites. Remember I chose to do the campsites and sent Kent to the office!!! I just didn't plan on all of this darn rain. LOL Larry, one of the hosts worked with me today and that was nice, as I haven't cleaned too many sites yet and I didn't have a routine worked out yet. He said I was too fussy with my cleaning, that is where men and women differ in cleaning. Some of the sites had a lot of water and puddles in them from rain all week, I wrote down where all the puddles were so when they dry up, I will know where the low spots are to fill them in from the gravel pit. (pictures of the Santiam River that runs through the park) We really hurried and cleaned each site as the people vacated them, two sites they left the fire burning in the fire pit (a No NO) and we had to pour a lot of water on it to put it out to clean out the ashes and cigarette butts. It was a fun day with William and Savannah here yesterday, they slept in late in their tent this morning; (picture) after coffee and donuts that I had ready for them, they took off for home, as they had to work later today. I got to visit with them a little as they had their morning coffee. I hope they come to see us again this summer. Kent got off work at noon, so I asked Larry to finish up the last two sites, I hurried to get ready to go to Justin's party that started at !:00 PM. We arrived at the party about one hour late, it was in full swing with a lot of people there eating and some playing beer pong and some playing with the Wii game. There was so much wonderful food and the graduation cake was delicious. I ate two big pieces of cake, so much for my diet again. I love cake!!!!!!! The kids who went to college with Justin played a real fun card game I have never heard of before, and it was sure fun. You have to drink a lot of beer playing it if you aren't on your toes playing the game and being quick with the answers. I like beer, so I had my usual fun playing the game. We stayed at the party until about 8:00 PM and it was still going strong when we left, we sure had fun. Kent played beer pong and won his game and I won my game also, Kent didn't play the crazy card game, he just watched the game, as he had to drive. He sure had fun watching all of crazy rules of the game and the silly answers we gave to the questions. The one picture of the water I posted is the bench that I posted the other day that I said I was going to sit on it and fish someday, it is hardly seen from the high water we received the last few days. I think it is raining everywhere!!!!!!!!!

June 1 , 2 &3 2010

Tuesday June 1~~~~It seems like when we go back to Salem for our 2 days off work, all we do is work and shop. Thresa says welcome to the world of working your days off!!! LOL We don't remember doing that when we worked, I think we are just out of the groove. Next Sunday is my Grandson Justin's graduation party from Oregon State College. They are having the party at Pam and Jeff's house, we have to work that day, but we will get off early (I hope) to make it to his party. Justin has a job up in Bend, Oregon, he and Jen got engaged last week and she will join him in Bend soon. Kent had some errands to run in town, I stopped at my friend Bob McCawley's house to see how he was feeling before we left town for the park. It was raining again when we got here, it felt warm and cozy to be inside with the furnace running and the gentle sound of the rain on the roof. There are hardly any campers in the park tonight. Wednesday 2~~~~It poured down rain all night last night, I kept waking up and looking at the clock, I just couldn't sleep. Kent worked in the office for a couple of hours, I had nothing to do with only 4 campers in the park, I was starting to get sleepy, so I went upstairs and layed down with Pepsi and was almost asleep when Kent came home and woke me up. Kent did a few odd jobs he needed to do on the trailer and we went for a walk in the park. We don't have a wood shed to sell wood from yet, so we help Bill with his shed. The wood is all cut and stacked in the shed for us by the park workers, we just have to keep these carts full for the campers to buy. (picture of Kent) Thursday 3~~~~ We had a few jobs to do today, and we helped Floyd (one of the host's) move some heavy picnic tables in on of the shelters in his area. I took some pictures of the river that runs by the park, there is a beautiful place by the river with a bench to sit on, that is where I told Kent I want to sit and fish when it gets warmer. ( Picture) We had just finished our dinner when we heard a knock on our door; we answered it and there was my grandson Justin and his kitty, Snooky standing there. They were on their way to Salem and stopped to see us again. The factory where Justin just started working at in Bend had a big explosion in the plant yesterday and we don't know yet if they will be shut down for a long time or what is happening. Justin just started working there 3 weeks ago and he has a nice apartment rented and everything. I sure hope the damage isn't too bad and they will be up and running soon. They told the workers to call in on Monday to see when the will be back to work. Now Justin can stay in Salem and attend his party on Sunday without having to leave early to drive back to Bend for work.

May 31, 2010

Monday 31~~~~It was pouring down rain when we woke up this morning, it had rained hard all night long. There was one family who were tent camping that Kent was talking to when he made his rounds in the golf cart this morning who told him it rained so hard last night they had to get up and sleep sitting up in their car all night to stay dry. We arrived in Salem about 11AM stopping at Dick's Sporting Goods to buy one of those big shelters to put over our picnic table for the rain and sun (I think it still shines in Oregon) we will need it when we have company, as we have found our trailer fills up pretty fast with extra people and eating outdoors is what camping is all about. Our next stop was at Macy's to return a shirt I bought for Kent that I got the wrong size. We were in the store about 20 minutes and as we drove away, Kent said "where is Pepsi"? Pepsi usually lays on Kent's seat and makes him move him when we stop somewhere and Kent had noticed Pepsi wasn't there as he drove away. I looked all over the back seat and there was NO PEPSI!!! Kent immediately stopped and turned the truck around and there in the parking lot about 40 feet in front of us was Pepsi all hunched down doing a scared slow trot across the empty parking lot. We both jumped out of the truck and by now Pepsi was under a car where all the cars were parked. He was so scared he was doing his yowling cry! I crawled under the car and called him and he actually came to me which he normally doesn't do when he gets loose and has a little freedom. Two ladies came right up to us and asked if that was our cat, as they had heard him crying earlier and they thought it was a baby crying, then they saw him out there wandering around and they didn't know what to do. They were sure happy we showed up and found him and we were even more happy. Pepsi laid down and was quiet the rest of our time in the truck, he was still scared. I made hamburger stew for dinner with cornbread and salad for dinner, Tress and the kids came over and ate dinner with us. We invited Billy, but he was too busy to come over. After dinner we played the golf card game, it is a good game for Bodie, as he has to do a lot of adding for our scores. The weather in Salem was just beautiful, sunny with no rain, it was pouring at the park.