September 27, 28, 29, 2010

Monday 27~~~~ We had a long day driving today, we drove to Caldwell, Idaho about 340 miles. I always pack a lunch with extra snacks and lots of water for us, so we don't have to try and park the camper and waste time. It is so nice having our own food, water and Potty with us, so we don't have to stop if we don't want to. I am reading an old book ( Backstairs of the White House) to Kent while he drives and this one is very good about the lives of the Roosevelt's, Truman's Eisenhower's and Kennedy's during their terms in the White House. We stayed at the Elk's Club, we were so tired and we didn't go inside, we just turned the air on and ate dinner and watched television. We are meeting our friends John and Linda tomorrow at Jackpot, Nevada.
Tuesday 28~~~~We got to Jackpot late afternoon and after we got set up, we walked over to John and Linda's trailer and the four of us walked to the Casino where we ate dinner and gambled a little. We were tired, so we didn't stay out to late. Wednesday 29~~~~We walked to the post office and mailed some cards stopping at a dumpy small casino on the way home and lost $10 real fast. I fixed us lunch and after we ate, John and Linda came over and we played cards until time to go out for dinner at the casino. The four of us each put $10 in a machine and we tried a few different slot machines before stopping at the "DUKE" slot machine. We started winning on the machine and then losing and then repeating it again. We had so much fun we played for a couple of hours on the silly thing before we finally lost all our money except 4 cents. It was the most fun and we each only lost $10. We are leaving in the morning for Selina, Utah.

September 19 through 23, 2010

Sunday 19~~~~ Today was a busy day at our house, I finally finished painting the bedroom I made into an office. It looks great, I am really proud of how it turned out and it is a room we both really enjoy using with the computer out and ready to use any time of the day or night. The desk we have in there is a big corner one that has so much room and many drawers for all my projects. I have all my stamp books and stamps and the books I am writing again at my finger tips, I can do a little and not have to put it away if I get interrupted. Kent can go in there and be away from all the noise and confusion if we have a houseful. LOL Lisa and Ray came over to see us before we leave and I gave Ray a haircut and Lisa a bang trim. Tress and her two came over and joined us, so we had a houseful before long. We had a simple dinner and had fun visiting. We will be leaving on Wednesday for Bend Oregon and then work our way to Colorado. Tuesday 21~~~~~We were busy taking everything from the house back to the 5th wheel so we can be ready to leave in the morning. Pammy and Jeff came over and spent an hour or more visiting with us. With us working at the park, we didn't get much time with the kids, so they all came over for last minute visits and hug and kisses. We are a very close family and we do miss being together when we are on the road so much. Thank goodness we have cell phones and computers to keep in close contact. Wednesday 22~~~~ I called Tress last night and told her to come over for coffee early this morning, as she didn't get to come over last night because of an open house at the kids school. She said she didn't think she would make it over, so I was slow getting up this morning and getting dressed. Tress showed up and caught me in my PJ's but that was OK as I was just happy she made it over. Saying good bye to Tress is always harder, as she will always be my baby. LOL We left for Bend about 11:00 AM, stopping at Fisherman's Bend park on our way through. It was such a good feeling to drive through the park where we had spent so many hours cleaning camp sites and meeting such beautiful people. We stopped a visited a little with the few staff that is still there for the winter and said our goodbyes again. We arrived in Bend about 3 or 4 PM and we stayed at the Bend Elks Club. We called Justin and Jen to set up some visiting time with them. They were busy tonight, so we will see them tomorrow night. We walked over to the club and checked in for the RV park. It was a warm afternoon, so we decided to join some of the people at the bar, some were locals and some RV' Er's like us. We were all having fun talking about where we were from and laughing together, I was giving the bar tender a bad time because she hadn't set up a free drink for us visiting Elk Members and others soon joined in on the fun. She then told us how she had just got back from Vivian, South Dakota from driving her mother there for her 50th high school class reunion. What a shock to hear her say that, because Vivian, S.D. is where we lived and where I raised my five children before we moved to Oregon in 1977. I told the bar tender that was my town and gave her a high 5 and everyone at the bar was so amazed over it too. She asked me if I knew any of the Huffman's in Vivian and I named off a bunch of them and asked her if she wanted to to name anymore. She asked me if I knew a Iola Huffman as she was her mother. I said I did and I told her the last time I saw Iola she was singing with Arlo Huffman and Lonis Wendt and the band and I told her the name of the song she sang that night. She picked up the phone and she called her mom who lives in Bend Oregon and asked her if she knew a Sharon Luke. She was so excited, she drove right down to the Elks and she and I had the best long visit ever. It was so fun getting filled in on all the people from the little town on the prairie that I loved so much and laughing over old memories we both had. It is so amazing that we think the world is so big and then things like this happen. Kent was so amazed at me again finding someone I knew so far away from home when he lived and grew up in Bend Oregon and he never saw one person he knew while we were there. Thursday 23~~~~~Today Kent and I drove to the many fishing holes Kent used to fish in as a little boy until he was a young man. Some of them were smaller than he remembered them to be and one we couldn't find. We tried our luck at fishing at one of his favorite spots, but the mosquitoes were so bad they were eating us alive and we had to quit. We had a picnic lunch along, so we ate it in the sunshine by the water where there were no mosquitoes. We then drove up to Pilot Butte where Kent and his friend John Burgelhaus used to ride their bikes as young boys, it is so steep I don't know how they ever made it up that big hill. I love the stories they tell when they get together about all they did while growing up. We just got home in time to go see Justin and Jen's apartment and take them out for dinner. We went to the Olive garden to eat where we had a nice dinner and we got to visit before heading home to play cards at our house. They both get up pretty early, so we said our goodbyes about 9:30. They are going to Salem-Eugene for the weekend, so we will see them again on Sunday for dinner at our place.

September 18, 2010

Saturday 18~~~~~Kent and I drove up to Portland to see the new house Kent's daughter Dee Dee and her husband Tony just moved into. The house is very nice, it has a beautiful swimming pool with lots of deck and a beautiful view of the Columbia River, Dee Dee was busy stripping wall paper with her girl friend. We bought lunch from Kentucky Fried, after a tour of the house and lunch, Tony and Kent settled down to watch the football game, the Huskies against the Corn huskers and I joined the girls in the bathroom stripping wall paper. I am getting to be pretty good at this by now remember!!!! We left there about 2:00 PM and we drove over to where Kent's grandson Nathan was playing football. We watched the game with Cindy and Erik and our team won. Nate did a real good job again, he has been averaging two touch downs a game. After the game, went over to their house and we ordered pizza to go from one of Kent's favorite pizza places. We visited after dinner and then we left for home as it was sprinkling and it looked like a rain storm was going through. Before we reached Salem, the rain was coming down so hard you couldn't see to drive, the puddles on the road really made driving miserable when the big trucks splashed the water on you. We had my car and I was sure glad Kent was driving, as I couldn't see anything through the windows. We were glad when we got home safely out of the rain.

September 15 & 16, 2010

Wednesday 15~~~~Today we are closing up camp at Fisherman's Bend Camp Ground and pulling the trailer into Salem to have a few repairs done before we take off for Colorado, Nevada, and Arizona, returning to Salem for Thanksgiving and Christmas. It was hard leaving a job we both enjoyed so much including the other hosts and Park Rangers. Kathy and Lew had all of us over for French toast this morning for a final last get together. We took a lot of pictures this morning of all of us sitting in the new golf carts the park got for doing work. They are the neatest ever, they even have a dump box to dump gravel or wood from the trailer box. They are taller than a regular golf cart, but they sure do go fast and ride smooth. These are like a Hummer to golf carts as a Hummer is to a SUV. The one Kent and I drive is so old, it doesn't even have two headlights, one is missing and the other one shoots straight up in the air. LOL That is real fun driving around the park at night to collect from a camper or to check on a problem. We didn't have a lot of work to do this morning after all the work we did yesterday getting the trailer ready for the road, so after all our goodbyes, we hooked up for our exit from the park. Kent pulled the trailer into Salem to the repair shop and I drove my car with Pepsi to our house. We had to empty out the refrigerator in the camper as they will be working on the ice maker and we will have to find room for all those bottles of stuff and keep it in our fridge at home. Usually we leave everything in the camper while we are home and we don't have to replace everything when we leave. It felt good to be home again even if it is for just a short spell again. Thursday 16~~~~ Kent has a Dr. appointment with his Dr. in Portland this morning, so he left for Portland and I baked another rhubarb cobbler because the last one was so good, we ate it so fast. This afternoon I started painting the guest bedroom that we have made into an office. I really worked hard today doing it as I had to remove some real intricate wall paper border. I thought I could paint over it, and I did about 15 feet and found I didn't like it, so I had to stop and remove it with the paint on it. YUK!!!! What a job!! Here is two pictures of what it was like to remove!!!!! Tress and the kids came over for dinner, I needed a reason to stop; I was working way too hard. Kent had dinner with Cindy and Erik in Portland, so I fixed some left over beef stew over buttered noodles, a salad and hot rolls for us for dinner while Tress helped the kids do their homework. After they left, I thought I had better get on the computer and get the blog updated with where we are and where we will soon be. I will catch up the old blogs from my journal later and post pictures with all of it.

September 4 through 8, 2010

Saturday 4~~~~~I hurt my back at work today and I don't know what I did to make it hurt so much. I drove into urgent care in Salem and had it checked out by the Doctor. He did and EKG on me and a chest ex ray and all was well, so he gave me a prescription and asked me if I had a boyfriend, I said I had a husband and he said, "I guess that will do". I am to have Kent massage my back twice a day and for me to do nothing (no work) for a week. I am not sure what the boyfriend versus the husband was all about, I told Kent maybe boy friends are more eager to give massages?????? We got a chuckle out of it anyway! LOL Monday 6~~~~ Kent worked in the office until noon and I had 20 sites to clean, so much for the Dr.'s orders of doing nothing. I got 16 of them done by the time Kent got off work and he helped me finish them. I drove into town late afternoon, Kent stayed at the park and worked both days off, I took off Tuesday and Wednesday. On Tuesday I stopped and visited the girls at the shop, next I met my girl friend Beth for pie and coffee. We visited for over an hour over several cups of coffee. When I got home, I gave my grand daughter Breanna a hair cut. Wednesday 8~~~ I went over to my friend Jean Marie's and she gave me a haircut and she sent me home with some more rhubarb from her garden. Kent will be happy over that. When I left there I drove home to the camp ground, we have one more week left working there for this season. It has been a lot of fun and healthy for both of us.

September 2, 2010

Thursday 2~~~~Kent worked in the office yesterday and today, we haven't had much to do with cleaning the camp sites as most people are staying for the labor day week end. Wood sales are doing real good and that keeps me busy in the wood shed refilling the wood carts. We are getting low on toilet paper for the bathrooms (the huge rolls for the dispensers) and we are having to use small rolls without hangers and that is a mess trying to find a place to put them. One of the hosts made a wire loop that hung on the frame of the big roll holders. All I could think of was stacking them on a bowl plunger handle. (the Red Neck Way) To our excitement a delivery truck delivered two cases of paper, the office called us on our radios "the Eagle has landed". Every golf cart in the park was racing up there to get their 4 rolls. LOL That night some of us hosts and Park Rangers each brought a roll of T Paper from home and we decorated the Park Managers office to remind him to not let us get so low on a crucial item like toilet paper again. I think we have way too much fun with this job, don't you?????