We are finally back in the Mesa area. We will spend about 4-5 days at an rv repair facility to have some minor damage repair on our motorhome. We are pleased that they are allowing us to live in the motorhome while they are working. Views are of other motorhomes needing repair and smells are of paint and dust from sanding. But at least we can stay here and not try to find another place to live for the few days.
We are hoping that by Friday we will be able to go to our winter home in Apache Junction.
Love and hugs,
Linda and Barb
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Our adventure into Death Valley
Our experience in Death Valley was an adventure not to forget. Our expectation was that it was a desert, flat and expansive, with many desert plants. Well, we found out there is more to Death Valley.
First off, we discovered the sand dunes. The colors were layers of red, yellow and shades of lavendar. But that was not our adventure.
Using the National Park map as our guide, I saw a small road that was labelled Titus Canyon. Thinking that a canyon in the midst of Death Valley would be extremely interesting, I suggested we take that road. Since it was my birthday, Barb said we could go or do anything I wanted. It was a one way road and gravel.........no problem with that, so we thought. As we drove, the road got narrower and more uneven. In fact, there were sections with pot holes and large rocks that we had to go over. We were beginning to realize that this road really needed a jeep or other high clearance vehicle. Fortunately, at least, our Honda had relatively high clearance and all wheel drive. And since this was a narrow one way road there was no turnng around. So, we continued bumpy road and all. Until.................we began to climb. Looking ahead we realized we were going up the side of a mountain, with switch backs and S-curves and drop offs, all on a road which required going over large boulders and ruts. That's when fear set in.
For two hours we worked our way up the mountain pass, around the curves, over the rocks, into the ruts. I imagine the view was wonderful but have no idea since all I could look at was the narrow road in front of me. There were several parts of the trip that were especially frightening. We had one switch back that was only as wide as the car, that had several large ruts in it as we made the curve. As the car rocked its way through these ruts, our only thoughts were that it would not rock too much and go over the side. This could have been the Death Valley for us.
But we made it up the mountain and down the other side into the canyon. And finally we could look around. It was beautiful and refreshing and cool.
Three hours later we were back on the main road. Safe and sound :) Barb has now told me that for future birthdays, I cannot do anything I want.............
It was an adventure we will not forget.
Love and hugs,
Linda and Barb
First off, we discovered the sand dunes. The colors were layers of red, yellow and shades of lavendar. But that was not our adventure.
Using the National Park map as our guide, I saw a small road that was labelled Titus Canyon. Thinking that a canyon in the midst of Death Valley would be extremely interesting, I suggested we take that road. Since it was my birthday, Barb said we could go or do anything I wanted. It was a one way road and gravel.........no problem with that, so we thought. As we drove, the road got narrower and more uneven. In fact, there were sections with pot holes and large rocks that we had to go over. We were beginning to realize that this road really needed a jeep or other high clearance vehicle. Fortunately, at least, our Honda had relatively high clearance and all wheel drive. And since this was a narrow one way road there was no turnng around. So, we continued bumpy road and all. Until.................we began to climb. Looking ahead we realized we were going up the side of a mountain, with switch backs and S-curves and drop offs, all on a road which required going over large boulders and ruts. That's when fear set in.
For two hours we worked our way up the mountain pass, around the curves, over the rocks, into the ruts. I imagine the view was wonderful but have no idea since all I could look at was the narrow road in front of me. There were several parts of the trip that were especially frightening. We had one switch back that was only as wide as the car, that had several large ruts in it as we made the curve. As the car rocked its way through these ruts, our only thoughts were that it would not rock too much and go over the side. This could have been the Death Valley for us.
But we made it up the mountain and down the other side into the canyon. And finally we could look around. It was beautiful and refreshing and cool.
Three hours later we were back on the main road. Safe and sound :) Barb has now told me that for future birthdays, I cannot do anything I want.............
It was an adventure we will not forget.
Love and hugs,
Linda and Barb
Friday, October 15, 2010
Death Valley National Park
Beatty is the gateway to Death Valley. So off we go today to take a drive into Death Valley.
Last night we splurged as a beginning celebration of my birthday. We found a saloon in town that makes delicious BarBQ. We had smoked chicken wings and ribs. Absolutely delicious. And then we found a candy store with chocolates..........mmmmmmmmmmmm good. All the good thinks in life.....BarBQ and chocolate.
Love to all of you,
Linda and Barb
Last night we splurged as a beginning celebration of my birthday. We found a saloon in town that makes delicious BarBQ. We had smoked chicken wings and ribs. Absolutely delicious. And then we found a candy store with chocolates..........mmmmmmmmmmmm good. All the good thinks in life.....BarBQ and chocolate.
Love to all of you,
Linda and Barb
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Oct 13-16: Today Mina, tomorrow Beatty
Today and tomorrow are travel days. Tonight we are in Mina, NV and tomorrow , Beatty, NV. Mina is a small, small town with a very nice campground. We were very pleasantly surprised and pleased.
Tomorrow we go to Beatty for two nights. There is a casino there..........what more can I say.
Our plan is to be in Mesa, AZ by Monday to have some more work done on the motorhome.
Love , hugs, and safe travels to all of you,
Linda and Barb
Tomorrow we go to Beatty for two nights. There is a casino there..........what more can I say.
Our plan is to be in Mesa, AZ by Monday to have some more work done on the motorhome.
Love , hugs, and safe travels to all of you,
Linda and Barb
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Oct 10: We stayed at a Likely Place
We had a two day drive from La Pine to Reno. We stopped in Likely at a Likely Place in California.
More than likely we will visit Likely again.
It is likely that we will also send you hugs,
Linda and Barb
Oct. 11-12: Reno and Lobsters
Today is Reno.............poker tables and penny machines.
Last night I played penny machines and had an absolutely successful adventure. Ended up being $100 ahead after about 3 hours of play. That does not happen to me often so I was quite thrilled.
Boomtown Casino was having a special buffet............all you can eat lobster. And for seniors, it was only $14.99. So that was dinner last night. We each ate 3 lobsters. What a treat!
Today is blogging for me and poker playing for Barb.
Safe travels. Love and hugs to all of you.
Linda and Barb
Last night I played penny machines and had an absolutely successful adventure. Ended up being $100 ahead after about 3 hours of play. That does not happen to me often so I was quite thrilled.
Boomtown Casino was having a special buffet............all you can eat lobster. And for seniors, it was only $14.99. So that was dinner last night. We each ate 3 lobsters. What a treat!
Today is blogging for me and poker playing for Barb.
Safe travels. Love and hugs to all of you.
Linda and Barb
Saturday, October 09, 2010
Oct 4-9: La Pine, OR: Repairs on motorhome
We have spent about 5 days in La Pine which is about 20 miles south of Bend and have not done any sightseeing the whole time. We know that the Bend area is beautiful and there is much to see. We put aside this time to have work done on the motorhome.
As I mentioned in a previous blog, n Monday Dave Root's Glass Repair showed up to fix most of our windows that had fogged up inside the double pane. We know this is a common problem but did not expect to have to deal with almost all windows. We had the option to replace these windows but the cost for this over twice as much as having them resealed. So all day Monday Dave took out all the windows in the living room area first, resealed them and then reinstalled them. The temp outside was in the 40's. Very cold inside. Bailey and I were able to go to the bedroom area and shut door while he did the living room area. Barb was in the laundry room, which was also unheated. Then when he did the bedroom, we moved to the living room. It took him the entire day. We now can see outside. What a pleasure !
Then we had a repair person out to work on the water heater, slide out replace lights to LED's, etc. He was here almost two days. The biggest job was the slide out which was not coming in evenly and left a gap. To fix it, he had to get under the bed and rebolt all of the slide mechanisms. Never before has our motorhome been in such disarray with all of the bed stuff, mattress included sitting in the living room.
Yup, that is the mechanism under our bed that was installed crooked and was causing slide to come in at an angle. It finally pulled away from several of the bolts. Had to drill new holes and screws. But it is right now.
And that is our mattress, bottom of bed, drawers, etc. in our living room.
The good news is that everything work correctly now.
Love and hugs,
Linda and Barb
As I mentioned in a previous blog, n Monday Dave Root's Glass Repair showed up to fix most of our windows that had fogged up inside the double pane. We know this is a common problem but did not expect to have to deal with almost all windows. We had the option to replace these windows but the cost for this over twice as much as having them resealed. So all day Monday Dave took out all the windows in the living room area first, resealed them and then reinstalled them. The temp outside was in the 40's. Very cold inside. Bailey and I were able to go to the bedroom area and shut door while he did the living room area. Barb was in the laundry room, which was also unheated. Then when he did the bedroom, we moved to the living room. It took him the entire day. We now can see outside. What a pleasure !
Then we had a repair person out to work on the water heater, slide out replace lights to LED's, etc. He was here almost two days. The biggest job was the slide out which was not coming in evenly and left a gap. To fix it, he had to get under the bed and rebolt all of the slide mechanisms. Never before has our motorhome been in such disarray with all of the bed stuff, mattress included sitting in the living room.
Yup, that is the mechanism under our bed that was installed crooked and was causing slide to come in at an angle. It finally pulled away from several of the bolts. Had to drill new holes and screws. But it is right now.
And that is our mattress, bottom of bed, drawers, etc. in our living room.The good news is that everything work correctly now.
Love and hugs,
Linda and Barb
Monday, October 04, 2010
Oct. 4: La Pine, OR
We left Newport on Saturday, Oct 2 to get to the Bend, OR area to have work done on our motorhome. The drive from Newport to Bend was about 200+ miles on a windy, narrow road through the mountains with many hair pin curves. To make matters worse, as we drove up the mountain to about 4000', the fog came in. And so for periods of time the fog was so dense tha we could not see more than 10' in front of us. It felt very pecarious driving windy roads in the fog. But Barb did a wonderful job driving. We drove through some beautiful forests and countryside. We decided to stop halfway in Sweet Home, OR for the night. I found a nice campground at Foster Lake and could relax after the stressful drive.
Today, we are having our windows fixed. Many of our double paned windows have fogged over and we cannot see out of them. Dave Root RV Glass Repair will take the windows out and reseal them. So I am sitting here in 40 degree weather with the windows out and trying to keep warm. Barb is in the laundry room with no heat trying to get our clothes clean for the rest of our trip.
So it is a cold day in the mountains of La Pine, OR................we will be here until Saturday and hope it warms up.
Safe travels to all of you. Stay healthy.
Linda and Barb
Today, we are having our windows fixed. Many of our double paned windows have fogged over and we cannot see out of them. Dave Root RV Glass Repair will take the windows out and reseal them. So I am sitting here in 40 degree weather with the windows out and trying to keep warm. Barb is in the laundry room with no heat trying to get our clothes clean for the rest of our trip.
So it is a cold day in the mountains of La Pine, OR................we will be here until Saturday and hope it warms up.
Safe travels to all of you. Stay healthy.
Linda and Barb
Friday, October 01, 2010
Oct 1: Depoe Bay, OR
Yesterday we decided to drive to Lincoln City so that Barb could play in the poker tournament again. On our way back, we stopped at Depoe Bay for a few minutes just to watch the waves. The water was a lot more turbulent than the previous day and the water rushing into Spouting Horn rock formation caused spouting plums of water that was awesome. Lots of oooooh's and aaaaah's from the spectators.
I had not brought my camera so I took this photo with my phone.
I had not brought my camera so I took this photo with my phone.
Love and hugs,
Barb and Linda
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