Visit our Popular Forums

Gene · 11-21-2018, 10:29 AM

Great Bob.

Tony, hope your treatment goes well.

ROBERTSUNRUS · 04-17-2019, 01:58 AM

Hi, I recently un-winterized my trailer. Propane tanks are full and fresh water tank has been sanitized. Today I serviced my Equal-I-zer hitch and made a hitch cart for it. I used a small furniture dolly and some scrap pieces of wood. The cart holds all of my hitch parts and it holds the shank / head assembly about two inches lower than my truck's receiver. This way I can roll my hitch to my truck and only lift it a few inches to install it.

As for my F-150, I took it to a Ford dealer and asked them to machine all four brake rotors.

As for pictures; My camera died so I have a new one on order.

ROBERT CROSS · 04-17-2019, 06:04 AM

Wow...good choice on the Brownie Bob.
Glad to hear the positive negative reports, it's the not knowing that produces the most anxiety. Knock on wood it's been a steady ride for me since the diagnosis in '13.

We are also in the midst of AS get-ready...a little time consuming though. I'm finding it's taking longer to rest that it does to get tired. 😂
Thought I was done with the roof stuff after the clean & check last season, but seems the TV antenna took a poop, I bought a King Jack replacement head last year but never got around to the install. I think the coax has shorted where it exits the roof ahh well. Forgot to de-water the sink sprayer head last Fall and got punked when flipped the pump on.

Added another Zamp suitcase, looking forward to getting it incorporated into the system, a little re-wire needed, but the 300w total should help a lot, I'd like to see 49ah with a day of good Sun...we'll see.
We've started showing again and will have a lot of travel around that this Season. The Portuguese Water Dog National Specialty is in Greeley CO. in Sept, we will make it to the WC sometime after that....👍

Say hi to Lee, stay well.

BfloBob
🇺🇸

ROBERTSUNRUS · 04-17-2019, 10:06 PM

Hi, today I washed my trailer; Mostly I scrubbed off the green slime that grows on vehicles that live outside, in Oregon. While I was at it I opened my segment protectors to clean behind them. Yucko describes what was growing in there. Winterizing, and green slime is a bonus of living in the PNW.

Taking care of, or no need to take care of things, was a Southern California plus.

ROBERTSUNRUS · 05-04-2019, 12:06 AM

Hi, well we finally got out of the house and hit the road. [full trip report to follow] At a camp ground, I was asked if I had a reservation and I said no. A man who was checking in heard me say that I didn't have a reservation, so he said "good luck" to me. I explained that we have been traveling for over 13 years and never make reservations. And during that time we have only been turned down twice, but we still found a place to stay.

We had a delay due to the fact that we had to update our sprinkler system so Lee's plants wouldn't die while we are on the road. Also our time is somewhat limited due to medical appointments that I have.

Anyway, I will have a full report with pictures later.

xrvr · 05-04-2019, 06:25 AM

Looking forward to the trip reports.

Gene · 05-05-2019, 06:31 PM

Glad to hear you got out on the road again and I know too well that now I have to schedule between doc's appointments too.

If I recall correctly, this is the first time you have washed your trailer. It is big as a whale isn't it.

ROBERTSUNRUS · 05-11-2019, 01:23 AM

Hi,

We left our home in Salem, Oregon and headed North. We stopped at Multnomah Falls for lunch at the famous Lodge. [no pictures of the falls this time] After lunch we made it to Mary hill to see the Stonehenge. This was quite interesting. As we approached Stonehenge, it would have been perfect for pictures, as there was no-one else there. But just ahead of us was a tour bus full of students. Later two more cars showed up. I think we still got some good pictures. Did I mention that this monument is not far from the Oregon border? [in Washington] This is a full sized replica of the Stonehenge in England and was built as a WW-I Veteran's Memorial Monument.

We did pretty well considering that we haven't taken our trailer out for almost two years. I did conk my head twice today inside of my trailer. I will learn when to duck or stop. I filled several bottles of water for Lee, for this trip, but some dummy named Bob left them at home.

We decided to make our first camp site in Yakima, Washington so we stopped at Costco and Winco before we found a camp ground. The office was closed, but there were three spaces left; One was reserved and we had our choice of the two spaces left. The other empty space remained empty and an Airstream pulled into the reserved spot. There are four airstream trailers in this park now. We are at Suntides RV park in Yakima, Washington. This RV park is pretty nice and has it's own golf course.

**moosetags** · 05-11-2019, 06:34 AM

Great pics; safe travels.

Brian

Gene · 05-11-2019, 10:35 AM

I hope Lee got some water.

I didn't know about the duplicate Stonehenge, though it looks to be in better shape than the original. We keep thinking about a trip north sometime and want to go back to Vancouver Is., but it is getting easier to put things off. Maybe next year. Last time we were in Oregon we had to rush back to Colorado to solve medical problems for Barb's father. Fortunately Lee made us two great meals while we visited Bob and Lee. Maybe we shouldn't let everyone know about that or you'll have a steady stream of visitors. I have been posting here for about 12 years and Bob a little longer. A lot of people have come and gone during that time and we've both got a lot of miles covered over time. Glad to take another trip. And I hope to see Brian and SueEllen's trip to Alaska thread soon unless I have missed it. Just back from a short trip but 15 days in southeast Utah.

ROBERTSUNRUS · 05-11-2019, 10:52 PM

Hi,

Today we drove to Leavenworth Kansas, I mean Washington. We found a nice, virtually new KOA. This place is huge, new, and has everything. When signing in, I was asked if I had a reservation. I said no I don't. A man standing next to me who was checking in heard what I said and he said "Good Luck". I told him that in 13 years of traveling, we never make reservations and we have only been turned down twice, but we still found a place to stay.

I was asked if I wanted to re-new my KOA membership because my discount would virtually pay for it, so I said yes. Well for two nights, it cost me almost $190.00. This is the most expensive KOA and the second most expensive camp ground that we ever stayed at. The only one more expensive was in New Orleans. What they hey, it's only money and we are not going to let the price keep us from having a great time in Leavenworth. Leavenworth is a Bavarian or German town so we had to have a traditional lunch. I had a Schnitzel sandwich and Lee had a German sausage platter. We also stopped at a Ginger Bread shop where I bought a bag of cookies and we shared an ice cream cone. [I ate most of it]

I'm parked in the last row from the new KOA entrance. Every truck / tow vehicle in this row is a Ford; There are also two motorhomes in the row and one of them is a Ford Class C motorhome. This evening we went for a country drive and among other things, we found an Eiffel Tower. Tomorrow we are going to drive around a hug lake that Lee found on the internet; She said that we were almost there on today's drive.

Also tomorrow we plan to drive back into town; Today we walked into town, but took the KOA shuttle bus back to the camp ground.

ROBERTSUNRUS · 05-11-2019, 11:13 PM

Hi, pictures two and three are of the restaurant that we had lunch at.

OTRA15 · 05-12-2019, 05:22 AM

Thank you for the photos and detailed comments . . . inspiring us to get on the road more!

Peter

Gene · 05-12-2019, 04:59 PM

$190! That must include the membership and that has gone up 50%. It used to be $20, now is $30. So that means it was $80 each night there. Wow. I never have paid more than $50 for one night and have avoided that whenever I can. I got lots of emails from KOA since Barb was once a member—I used to delete them immediately, but unsubscribed recently. I think there are special KOA's that are much more expensive now. After staying at some bad KOA's, we avoid them because some are old and run down and all are expensive. When nothing else is available, we break down and stay there. We have stayed in some pretty strange CG's because we just wanted hookups and were mostly driving somewhere far away.

Since you last traveled, CG rates have gone up, maybe as much as $10 per night. I know the cheapest decent CG's in Pueblo, Santa Fe, Albuquerque and Bluff—since that's where we have been going in the past two years, we are traveling happily in the past. We don't use swimming pools, playgrounds, jumping pillows, and the occasional CG restaurant. But as much as I don't like it, I now make reservations because there are a lot more RV's and not much more in CG's. Good luck with your no-reservation policy—I hope it works.

I always try to figure out where you are going, but am usually wrong. Canada? Idaho? Montana?

ROBERTSUNRUS · 05-12-2019, 11:25 PM

Hi,

This morning our first stop was a pretzel bakery in Leavenworth, Washington. OMG they also sell so many good looking pastries too. Now those are real pretzels, about the size of my head and the pastries were great too. We found a huge lake and decided to drive around it and see what's there. Lots of nice houses were all around and no place to stop and look; Everything was privately owned. Thinking that I could drive all the way around this lake, but the road was blocked for no known reason. We had to turn around and if I had my trailer with me there was enough room to do it. We went to drive on the other side of the lake, but it was also blocked by privately owned property. And it also had a sign that said it was a dead end street. We didn't drive nearly as far on this side of the lake before Lee said to turn around, we've seen enough.

While driving back and forth we spotted a great looking fifties diner. This was going to be our lunch spot. The name of the place is the "59er Diner" and it was really nice inside and out and the food was good too. Lots of neat fifties items were on display and we were right across from a Wurlitzer Jukebox. [playing vinyl 45's] Our waitress was quite entertaining too.

We bought some firewood [something we virtually never do] because Lee wanted a campfire. Wouldn't you know it, I left all of my lighters at home, and I have several. Sometime back I bought a combination pack of 6 lighters and I have others too. I have four still in the package in my garage, I have two on my tool box, and Lee has two in the kitchen. And none in the trailer. KOA made a sale so I could have a camp fire. I had a hard time getting a good fire started. Later Lee got it to burn better. I blame the poor fire on the wood from Safeway market.

We drove to town this time to shop around and get an ice cream. We were very lucky to find a parking space, We were distracted [or I was] by all of the party girls having fun in the German town. Dinner was made from last night's left overs. We just can't eat that much anymore so it is either throw it away or bring it home for one more meal.

My trailer is hitched to my truck and ready to hit the road in the morning tomorrow.

ROBERTSUNRUS · 05-13-2019, 11:12 PM

Hi,

This morning we hitched up and left out expensive, but very nice KOA. Our first stop was at the pretzel bakery where we bought two more huge German pretzels. We also bought two cinnamon rolls for the road. We stopped at a turn out with a fantastic view of Mount Rainer; While there, Lee made us lunch. This was quite enjoyable. Lee wanted to take the Chinook Pass, but the roads were closed in all directions, so that didn't happen.

Now we are headed to Packwood City and will spend one night there, since there will be nothing to see or do there. We are going to shoot for a beach camp ground if we cam find one. The first one that we checked out was no-where near the ocean, so we kept driving. Our final stop for tonight is Grayland Beach State Park. This place is within walking distance to the ocean. Lee wanted another camp fire so we drove around looking for some firewood. There were many places [houses] selling firewood and we bought 30 pieces for ten dollars in front of a house located on a side street. Next to the stacks of firewood for sale was a coffee can with a slot in the lid for the money. [honor system]

I need propane and the only place nearby selling it was at a Good Sam camp ground located about one or two miles up the road from the State Park. I topped off both of my tanks shortly before leaving home. Actually I did it a while back when we thought we were going to hit the road and something came up stopping us from taking our trailer out. I left my thermostat in the on position and we had some cold nights. Not realizing this, one of my tanks was empty on the first night of our trip. Not knowing if it was going to stay cold out, and if our trip would be 7 to 10 days, I didn't want to depend on only one full tank of propane. Running out of gas in the tow vehicle or running out of propane in my trailer will get me into a lot of trouble with my wife. We have, more times than we should ran dangerously low on gas and that's not a good feeling when you are in the middle of no-where and it's over 100 degrees out.

We walked to the beach to watch the Sunset. After the Sunset, which was the only one seen on our trip. We were getting cold and I heard a mosquito buzzing my head so back to the trailer we went. Lee started another camp fire. She seems to have that magic touch for getting a good fire going. Me, not so much. We are wanting to spend another night here as this is a nice place. We both agreed that if we have to hook up the trailer and move, we will just leave. Since tomorrow is a Monday, my guess is the this space will be available for us.

ROBERTSUNRUS · 05-13-2019, 11:29 PM

Hi,

OTRA15 · 05-14-2019, 12:43 AM

Great photos, thanks!

ROBERTSUNRUS · 05-14-2019, 10:26 PM

Hi,

This morning was peaceful and quiet so we slept in a bit longer than usual. We are hoping to stay one more night in space #81. It was stay in this space or leave. It's just too much work to hitch up and 50 yards to another space. If I have to hitch up we are going down the road. Unfortuneatly we found out that this space was reserved from Monday to Friday. So we packed up and left.

ROBERTSUNRUS · 05-14-2019, 11:34 PM

Hi, this is a continuation of the previous post; I got timed out and have to retype most of it again.

Grayland Beach State Park was nice. It was decided that we would try to get a spot at in a state park in Long Beach, Washington. As we drove through Long Beach, I found a propane dealer. I bought 9 gallons of propane so I will sleep well tonight. Well we were very lucky to get a nice spot for two nights in Disappointment State Park.

After getting our trailer all set-up, we drove back through Long Beach again. We stopped at an ice cram, candy, mini-market type store and bought items needed to make S'mores out of. We saw a sign that said "To Beach" and followed it. Half of the beach allows vehicles to be driven on it. From the entrance it was hard packed dirt. Near the water the sand was packed firm. In-between it was very soft sand about a foot deap just guessing. We agreed that since we have a real four wheel drive truck that we can drive on the beach too. About half way into the soft sand my truck started to bog down. I didn't want to spin my rear tire and dig myself in so I just stopped and put my truck in four wheel drive. I could feel how easy it would be to get stuck in the soft sand. And off we went. There were two cars stuck in the sand, a mini-van and a PT Cruiser. What were they thinking? I played with some gears and four wheel drive low in second and third gears was the sweet spot. We stopped on the beach for some pictures proving that we were there. Similar to my old Jeep CJ-5 four low and second gear was the sweet spot for that vehicle when off roading.

On our way back to camp we hiked to see a light house. The hike was .6 miles each way. That was enough hiking for us today. OK the light house was a disappointment because it was run down, but everything else is good here. Washington State Parks charged us #35.00 per night for spaces with water and electric. We used their dump stations on our way out. If we stay longer that two nights I might need to dump my gray tank.

My hitch and propane tanks are getting heavier, fortunately I can still handle them. Back at our site Lee started a campfire in which she heated our dinner on. We also made some S'mores. What a sticky mess. This was the first time that we made our own S'mores. We have to burn up the rest of the firewood because we are close to the Oregon border and you can't or shouldn't take firewood across the state line.