We'll have a slight intermission. . . .

   

As we are now at our 'California home', in Visalia, most of our trips through the remainder of the year will be rather local, to SoCal, NorCal, the coast, Arizona and the like.  Therefore, for simplicity we have elected to not cover each of these trips per se'.

     We will keep in touch now and then, but for the most part, we will be in Visalia or somewhere in the Southwest.

     We love to hear from you and also to let us know what you are up too and where in the world are you!?

     Take care, be safe and as always, have fun, lots and lots of fun!!

-Jim and Marilyn

October 16, 2010

Klamath Falls, Susanville, Walker, Ridgecrest and on into Visalia . . . .

       As planned, we got underway from Bend, heading south down US-97, with our stop on Tuesday afternoon at Klamath Falls, Oregon. 
       Leaving the next morning, we headed to Susanville, CA where we had a planned dinner with our grandson Billy and his wife, Erica. It was our first visit to Susanville and to see Billy and Erica’s new home located there. We had a great dinner, and it was so good to see and spend a little time with them.

       On Thursday morning we continued south on US-395 down along the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada.  We passed through Reno, Carson City and then on by Topaz Lake, at which point we re-entered California.  At Coleville – Walker, CA we made a mid-afternoon stop at Meadowcliff RV Park.  We found the mountain there quite unique and interesting, as you may note in the attached picture.


       After passing Bridgeport, Mono Lake, the small town of Lee Vining, and then on down by June Lake, Mammoth, Bishop and Lone Pine, we stayed the at the Ridgecrest Elks Lodge (where it was 105F at the time we arrived).

   Lava flow that included Obsidian (the black ‘glass’ rocks)
       On Saturday morning we were up and back on the road going over the hill and down into the Valley at Bakersfield where we turned North for Visalia.  We arrived here at 12:30 p.m. We found the weather a little cooler than we had anticipated, but very pleasant and enjoyable.
      I think that since we have a number of things to take care of locally, as well as with the approaching holidays just around the corner, we will most likely keep our selves around here until January, when we plan on being at our next Discovery Club rally in Desert Hot Springs.  We look forward to seeing all our good Discovery Club RV friends once again in January 2011, if not before.

Hey! We’re ready to roll!!

[Me!]

      Well, ‘lucky day, lucky day’!  As I think that we are finally and hopefully, ready to hit the road once again.

      As I told Tom Halter, the Service Manager for Beaver Motor Coach Service Center, “this has been the longest year in Bend that I have spent over the last month!”  But really, it was not all that bad.  If you have to be stranded somewhere, Bend really is not too bad a place to be…some great sights, good eats, a relaxing river, good local beer, and super weather overall.

      The tech’s started the re-assembly on Friday afternoon, and continued with it at 6:00 a.m. this morning, and coming to a finish after testing and making a few minor adjustments, at 4:15 p.m. this afternoon.  The new custom slide-rods are now larger and heavier than the originals (…not to mention ‘straighter’).  It all works like a charm now and we are a couple of happy campers let me tell you.

      I must give kudos to the Beaver Motor Coach Service tech’s and staff in handling this issue for us.  I know we grew impatient and overly anxious as time flew by, but in retrospect these guys did what they could as fast as they could, and in the end it was a matter of virtually having to re-design and work the bugs out of the design, so as to have parts that were finished and ready to be installed for optimum operation.  I would definitely use this shop again in the future, especially for anything major (including paint and body work, as I saw some of the “before” and “after” work that Bruce did on a couple of damaged coaches. The final evaluation is that the finish work was like ‘new’; very nice and professional.  We are quite happy with the crew at Beaver, and the quality work that they performed for us, in spite of all the set-backs (out of their control) and delays caused over the past five-weeks, of which was through no-fault of Beaver Motor Coach.  We watched them do the assembly, make the adjustments, test, and re-test.  There were no ‘shortcuts’, but rather a high level of quality work, performed in a most professional manner.  Very satisfied with the work and even with the final bill (yes, it was rather sizable, but less than we had figured it to be; plus they cut me a good discount, which helped immensely I may add). 

We are so happy to be back in our own home once again (and with a ‘mended wing’).

      Our plans now, that we are basically ready to roll once again, is to stay over tonight in the Beaver RV park, and then beat a trail out of here come bright and early (…you know, at least by the “crack-of-noon”; no, seriously, it will be fairly earliesish (hmmm, is that a word?  It is now...kinda anyhow), around 7 or 8 a.m.).  We are headed south from here in the direction of Visalia, stopping tomorrow afternoon in Klamath Falls, Oregon, and then turning southeast to Susanville, CA on Wednesday to make a visit to our grandson Billy, and his wife Erica who have a new home in Susanville.  Then on Thursday we will continue south on US-395 through Reno, Carson City, Nevada and then back into California, through Mono Lake, Lee Vining, June Lake, Monmouth, Bishop (as in Mule Days and the old historic Bodie ghost town, Lone Pine (think we may be just a wee-bit late for the rally…unfortunately, but hey,we will be rolling!), and then on over to Ridgecrest, Tehachapi, Bakersfield and up through ‘America’s Breadbasket’, the San Joaquin Valley, to Visalia.  We are looking forward to it, and for certain, we will keep you posted here on our traveling blog.

      P. S. I should add that Kalua, who stayed with the two of us in the motel (and she is a real ‘trooper’, and such a good dog, albeit that she is old and in her twilight years now; she does take a lickin’ and keeps on tickin’!), and our Bailey-cat stayed with the coach (easier for the ‘putt’), and she had plenty of food, water, and her own potty.  But we made a ‘Bailey-visit’ (also known as a “okay guys, where are we at now?”, visit) every work day, so that helped Bailey as well as the two of us also of course.  The ‘kids’ did very well, in spite of the circumstances.

Did you know?:  Oregon is the only state flag in our nation of 50 states, with a different front and rear to their flag;  the state seal is on the front of the flag;  and, the Oregon beaver is on the rear of the flag.

I think we see light (or more accurately, our coach) at the end of the tunnel (SOON!)…

     We got some good news Friday afternoon – all the parts are now in, including the new slide rods (which had to be re-done) and the new ‘longer’ bolts, as well as the new ‘shorter bolts’.
The word now is that the assembly (‘re-assembly’?) was began on Friday afternoon and the anticipated completion should be on Monday afternoon.  We’ll see, and I will believe it, when I see our coach out of the service bay.  We are keeping our fingers crossed!

     This weekend our biggest regret is not being able to attend the Discovery Club rally in Lone Pine (CA).  I am sure that everyone there is having a grand old time, eating a juicy steak, and playing L-R-C of course.  Anyway, we hope to see all in January 2011 in Desert Hot Springs.

     We will let all know where things are for us come next week
.

 
Beaver Motor Coach Sales and Service Center
Bend, Oregon

14-Service Bays / 1-Paint-Body Work Booth-Bay / 19-Tech's / 2-Writer-Advisor's

Bend still? Ahh yes, we are still in Bend. . .

 City of  Bend from atop Pilot Butte

     Well today (Wednesday, September 1st) marks 18 days that we have been in Bend, Oregon.  Our coach still sits here at the Beaver Motor Coach Service Center, in Bend.  We are (have been) waiting for parts to arrive so that the tech’s can finish up with the forward driver’s side slide.  The good news is that the parts (well, a couple of them anyhow) are on their way, and the rest should be here by the end of this week (maybe???), or the beginning of next week, is the last word that I got today.  We have been basically in a “holding pattern”, if you will.  We like Bend, and it is not really a bad place to be, all things considered, but after a couple of weeks, we have just about seen (and eat) at all the places and ‘spots’ in the Central Oregon area, so we will be ready to move on when this is finished up.
     The weather, well that is another story, as we have had very nice weather, up until last Friday, when the temps dropped and over the past weekend we had lows in the morning at 33F, and highs in the day of 52F; cloudy off and on (and mostly on); and a cold stiff wind blowing that made it all that much worst.  Monday we awoke to very cool temps and heavy overcast, followed by heavy rain (and snow in the higher elevations.  Of course, that is a misnomer in itself since Bend sits at an elevation of 3,600 ft. (locally Central Oregon is described as “the high desert”), and the snow was down to about 4,000 ft.).  There was about 3” of that ‘white-stuff’ in Sisters (20 miles northwest of Bend, at 4,150 ft. elevation).  It feels more like winter to us ‘fair-weather-birds’.  But yesterday was a definite improvement, and today is down-right nice, with a high temp of 78F and party cloudy skies.  We are supposed to have fairly nice weather for the next week or so.
     We have met some very nice people here at the Beaver Motor Coach Service Center, from all over the U.S.  They are real busy here, that is for sure. 
     Now, we just wait for the arrival of our parts, and then the pau-hana (finish work) word on our coach.  And hopefully that will be sooner than later.

       Downtown Bend, Oregon


 

     Mill District in Bend





“Bend-cycles” (rentals @ Old Mill)



 
Marilyn at the Pine Tavern on the Deschutes River

Pine Tavern in downtown Bend

  
  Marilyn prepares a delicious roast-beef dinner

    

Jim “taste-test” one of the                    Marilyn at Deschutes Brewery

Deschutes Brewery beers                      downtown Bend

  

Good-bye Redmond (…its been fun!), …and hello Bend!

                      
     It is time to bid a farewell to the FMCA 84th International Convention, hosted in the city of Redmond this year.  We saw the new coaches, lots and lots of new “toys”, “gadgets”, and “gotta haves”, along with some seminars, entertainment and of course, good friends and fellow RVer’s from different points in North America.  And the good news is that we got a number of coach items serviced, adjusted and repaired by factory technicians on our coach, which is always a real bonus at a large rally such as these.  So, we are set to go, and ready to roll for the Sunday departure.  The weather has been very pleasant, with weekly temps in the 75F to 85F range and lots of sun and a nice, cool breeze.
     Saturday afternoon we took time to drive a couple of miles over to Redmond High School and visit the “Traveling Wall”,  a 3/4 replica of the original Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C.  As we have both visited the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington in the past, this was a special treat to have the opportunity to visit and pay our respects to the those who were not as fortunate as some of us who able to return home after serving on combat duty in Vietnam.  I have personal friends and former high school classmates who gave their all in ‘Nam and did not return.  As a member of the Vietnam Veterans of America, Jim appreciated this opportunity to pay his respects to those who lost their lives in Vietnam.  May God bless and keep them all in his infinite glory.  God bless America.

   

 

We are making a stop-over just a few miles down the road in  lovely Bend, Oregon, where we have an appointment with the Monaco Beaver Motorcoach Service Center to make a repair and adjustment on our left-forward ‘wing’ (okay, slide).  That is set for Wednesday, so once that is complete we look forward to heading west over the Cascades and to the Oregon coast, which has always been a nice treat for us on our numerous visits over the years.

     We were seriously considering a return back to Montana and the Glacier country, but with another rally set for mid-September, that does not give us the time up there in “the last best place” that we would like, and that would justify the distance.  Our next rally is a California chapter rally that is set for Lone Pine, California, along US-395 in the eastern Sierra (between Death Valley and Mono Lake, south of Bishop).  It should prove to be a fun rally for all.