We are still here in the PNW as Fall continues to envelope us in its chilly grasp. We are here in Bow Washington until Halloween at which time we will relocate to LaConner for the remainder of our stay as we await final coach repairs. Saturday was a fun filled day for both of us as I was able to watch Oliver’s football playoff victory over rival Arlington in the playoffs of his youth football game. They won 20-12 in an outstanding effort by all with Oliver leading the way at center. He and the other big uglies dominated the line of scrimmage moving them backwards 3 yards at every opportunity. Such a joy getting to watch him play.
Vicki got to spend the day with Elizabeth in what I’m sure was an estrogen filled man bashing shopping excursion throughout most of northern Snohomish County.
Sunday was a lack luster sort of a day as the rain has arrived in earnest here in Bow. Essentially confined to the rig and thankfully the satellite dish is pulling in television reception. Sadly, it was able to pull in the Green Bay game which was definitely as dismal as the weather. The bright side of the picture is that we got our season ticket line position, and we are at 322. Hopefully, with a bad season and a little luck we’ll get our first seat at Lambeau Field!!!
I will certainly be glad when this election is over. Here in Washington every other ad is a negative political ad about one candidate, or another followed by an immediate negative ad by their opponent. When have we become such a negative society? Instead of saying what they are going bring to the office, its how their opponent will screw things up. It’s terribly frustrating especially when they point out things that the office has nothing to do with. An example of this is the US Senate race here in Washington. The challenger says crime in downtown was all the US Senator’s fault. How on earth can someone make that leap? Run on issues and things you have control of and can change. Be positive!! Call me naive, but it is so frustrating that we’ve become a zero sum game. We have lost our humanity and trying to hide behind the vale of religion is we are better than you is so extremely wrong. The president doesn’t control gas prices, the oil companies do. The congress does not control crime rates, the state and local government do. How are things working out in Texas now that you don’t need a permit to carry a firearm. It’s the wild, wild west. We have to realize that we are a melting pot and that people are the most important thing. Lose the Race identifier and let’s all be part of the human race. Sorry, just went off on a bit of a rant there.
Happy Halloween everyone. Today we are on our way to La Connor as we wrap up our stay in the Pacific Northwest, get our rig repaired (finally) and make our way back to Texas. We should be turning our noses southward on Sunday and arrive back in Brownsville on the 30th. We not only have a day of repositioning, but we will have the honor of joining our daughter-in-law and grandsons as we help pass out candy to the local neighborhood. We’ll grab Frank, some pizzas, and make a night of it. Should be fun.
Halloween turned out to be even better than expected. Moved the rig from Bow to La Connor with no real issues. The rain did make it a bit soggy, but thankfully we had a rain free window around 10 as we put away our outside gear. A minor glitch as the front passenger side slide had a familiar, unpleasant pop, so will be keeping an eye on it for the duration of the trip back to Texas. Arrived at La Connor around noon and set up in a familiar spot next to the ranger station. No septic dump at all in the park so it’s a good thing that we are not staying for an extended period of time. Not as many trick or treaters as in previous years, but still a fun time. Oliver went with his friends all in Harry Potter Robes, Griffindor, RavenClaw and Huffelpuff. Such a site to see. Emmett wasn’t going to go until he saw his buddy Baxter and then he raced out the door as Ricky Vaughn the wild thing and wasn’t seen again until 8:30 having left at 7:00. Cousins Courtney and Robin came over with their son Mason and OMG is he just precious! His smile is infectious, and he was so cute as the Grinch for Halloween. They did a short stint of trick or treating and then we had a wonderful conversation until it was time to get Frank home and us back to the kids for a walk around 10.
November oneth is yet another day marking time waiting for repairs. Tomorrow cannot come fast enough. Spent the early part of the morning shopping at Walmart, which in and of itself an experience. After provisioning, it was back home to have a wonderful lunch of Pho and Teriaki Chicken. The temperature is falling each evening and with a heating system on the fritz, it does get a bit chilly in the coach. Also, the particular park we are staying in has only 30 amp service which means we have to limit our electricity usage or suffer the tripping of a breaker. Ah, such is the life of full time RVing.
We are the most satisfied dissatisfied customers and down the road we travel. Let me ‘splain to you. Friday greeted us with third trip Blade’s RV repair shop. We are happy with the service they attempted complete it was just that the manufacturer keeps changing the parts and making complete repairs nigh on impossible. They did fix the ice maker as it was totally burnt up. The big slide had its motors replaced but it still doesn’t close correctly. And the piece de resistance was the rear AC/Heat pump was replaced and totally rewired. As the rig was being fixed, the passenger side slide developed a quirk. No parts, so unable to fix. Also, with the replaced thermostat, now the propane heat isn’t working!!! It is one thing after another. Still loving the lifestyle, it’s just amazing the amount of repair work that goes into this rig. Thankfully most of the work will be covered with the extended warrantee. Also Vicki discovered that I have somehow dented our new awning cover, so when we get to a spot where it’s relatively warm and dry I’ll climb up the ladder and see what repairs I can render.
We are trying to stay ahead o the weather. November is not an ideal time on the west coast. Friday night we had an incredible windstorm that knocked power out. No problem there as we just fired up the generator and went about our business. It had been raining since early Thursday and the campground came by Friday afternoon and made us move as our site, which is next to a salmon stream, was filling rapidly and was expected to overflow its banks. Not Cool!!! So we broke everything down and moved to a spot we’d stayed at earlier in October. The only annoyance was with the wind and rain we had to listen to the rig being pelted with wet leaves, pine cones and an occasional small tree branch. Sunday and Monday the Siskiyou Pass is expecting heavy snow, so at Eugene we will turn west and take 101 to Red Bluff and I-5.
Our first night in Portland was very nice as we stayed at an Encore Resort. It had all the amenities we needed as well as great WiFi. We did have a minor issue with our surge protector. As we hooked up 50-amp service,…KaPow!!!! it exploded. Meaning it did as it was supposed to, however it definitely got my attention. Luckily there was a Camping World literally 1 mile down the road we from where we are camped on so getting a replacement was easy.
Well, not too much else to report for now, will post again next Sunday. Keep the comments coming on Facebook and while I’ve got high speed internet, will upload some pictures for next post. Still loving retirement and the adventures that it brings!
Yes, you are certainly adventurous. Good you are so clever at fixing things,as you seem to be. Continued fun and happiness. Fanny