Summer and Fall 2009

This is a long-time-coming update to our blog for the Summer and Fall of 2009 by date. Enjoy!


June 2-6: Molly flew to LA for grand-daughter Megan’s High School graduation in Thousand Oaks and a visit with Lynda. For her graduation present, Molly made Megan a beautiful quilt that she had been working on for quite a while. It was full of bright colors and she really enjoyed it.

June 6: While Molly was in LA, I went to the Sauvie Island Yacht Club picnic in Scappoose. It was good to see all the old gang again, even though we don’t have a boat anymore. They are initiating a new membership, however, for those who have sold their cruising boats. It’s good to still belong!

June 18: One of the first thing we did when we got back was to have dinner with Carrie and Mark and his son. Carrie has moved out of her apartment and in with Mark. They are waiting until the kids get out of school for any future plans. At dinner I met a high school chum, Roger Rimers, and had a good chat and reminiscing about our other classmates. We said we should get everybody that’s local together for a mini reunion. It seems like we are starting to loose some of them.

June 22 – 26: We had a great opportunity to RV to Bullards Beach State Park in Bandon with Tom & Sue Stose, Pat & Susan Caniff, and Tom & Cathy Edwards, to visit Tom & Sue’s RV friends that were hosts at the Bandon Lighthouse this summer. Good time had by all! Then we motored up the 101 to South Beach, Newport for a few days and visited the Oregon Coast Aquarium before heading back to Salem.

July 10 – 12: Molly & JoAnn went to Sisters, Oregon for the annual Quilt Show there. They drove over to Bend and stayed with MaryAnn and family. While there, they met up with JoAnn’s friend Susie Irwin to catch up on things. The quilt show was another very crowed event but the quilts were something to see.

July 16 – August 9: When I was informed that the new Desert Belle had arrived at Saguaro Lake, I flew to Mesa to work on it for while. I stayed in our park-model and boat-owner David lent me his car for the month. The temps were bouncing around 113-114 for the highs. I called Molly everyday and one day when the temperature only 107, she didn’t have any sympathy for me, because it was 107 in Salem that day too. For the next month I did quite a bit of work from painting, and cleaning, to ordering and picking up new carpet and linoleum. When almost complete we took it out for sea trials and finally took our first passengers out on August 8th. By then I had had enough of the heat and work, so flew home on the 9th and let the local captain take it from there. That’s when I’ll take the helm again at the start of the Fall season in October.

July 28: Molly signed up to Face Book this summer and made contact with several high school chums. We made arrangements with one of her friends Pat Short and her husband in Vancouver, WA for lunch to catch up on old times. Isn’t the internet great!

August 11: Grand-daughters Megan and Brianna came for a visit this summer all by themselves. We picked them up at the Portland Airport, but they stayed with Aunt JoAnn because she had more room and their cousin Karen was also visiting at the time. But they were close and we did quite a bit with them while they were here.

September 3: We found out that the "check engine" light on the Toyota was going to run into much more money than we were willing to put back into the car…again, so we started looking for another Rav 4 or a Honda CRV. Finally bought a 2 year old CRV in Salem with only 12,000 miles on it. The two criteria for the new car were, it had to be towable behind the RV, and any color but black (since both of our last two cars were black and not compatible with Arizona sun). We had a hitch put on it as part of the bargain so we could tow a trailer to Mesa, AZ.

September 8-9: We made a trip to Rockaway to visit friends Bud & Lisa Root at their time-share. We had great outings for eating, shopping, and just hanging around catching up. And this was the first trip in the new car.

September 17-18: Our Apache Wells friends Jim and Char from Wisconsin made a surprise visit to the Northwest. They called and we made arrangements to meet them in Portland. We spent a few days with them showing them the best Oregon had to offer for the newcomers who had never been here before. We stayed in an inn near the airport and on the first day of their visit we took them up the Columbia River Gorge scenic highway to Crown Point, Multnomah Falls, Bonneville Dam, up to Hood River, and around Mt. Hood with a stop at Timberline Lodge. The next day we took them to the Oregon coast at Cannon Beach for a bit of shopping and on to Seaside and Astoria with a visit to the Astor Column and a ride on the trolley. Then we made a quick trip back up the Columbia River to Portland. It was great seeing them and having them contact us during their vacation.

September 23: We decided to leave the RV in Salem this winter since we bought the park-model in Apache Wells RV Resort last year. There didn’t seem to be any reason to drive it down and spend all that money for fuel. Molly wanted a washer and dryer put in the park-model this fall, so we decided to buy it in Oregon with no sales tax, clear out our storage unit, and take most of it to Mesa in a U-Haul trailer. It took us only three days going very slow with the new car pulling the trailer at its maximum load.

We arrived in Mesa Sept. 25, unloaded the trailer, but couldn’t put anything away because we were having some remodeling done in the Arizona Room for the washer and dryer. They needed to get into the attached shed for plumbing, so I had to take everything out of there too. The carport was stacked with several rows of boxes and shelves. What was estimated to be a three-day remodel job, turned into a week and a half. We just kept coming up with "one-more-thing" as long as you’re here. But the final job was just what we wanted. It got done just in time for Molly to wash clothes for her trip the next day back to Oregon.

October 15 – 22: Molly flew back to Oregon to go to a quilt retreat up in the Cascades with sister JoAnn. So she missed putting all the boxes away in the storage shed and in every little hidey-whole after the remodel. All this while I was captaining the new boat on Saguaro Lake. But she had a great retreat and we wouldn’t want her to miss that.

October 23 – 29: Sister Jodene finally came to visit us here in Mesa the day after Molly got back from the quilting retreat. She wanted to see the place and go for a ride on the new Desert Belle. We showed her the area, took her to our favorite restaurants, and it appears she had a good time. She was the first one to stay in the newly remodeled Arizona Room.

November 8 – 12: Right after Jodene left, we got ready to fly to Las Vegas for our 35th anniversary. Tom & Sue Stose were flying in from Portland to share their 40th anniversary with us. Their anniversary is on Nov. 8th, and ours is on the 9th, so we have shared that event with them on several occasions in Portland and in Mexico. The first night we got there we went to see the finalists of the "America’s Got Talent" TV show. Then the next night we had tickets for "Jersey Boys". Molly & I had seen the show in Phoenix last year, but had horrible seats. So we were thrilled to see it again and enjoy it with good friends. Again, the show was superb! Tom wasn’t feeling all that great after a cold, so we had plenty of time to just lay back and enjoy a luxurious room in the brand new Trump International tower.

Albion Remembered

After looking through some of the pictures we've taken over the 12 years we've had Albion, I got the idea of selecting a number of representative photos and making a slide show of them on our blog. Please enjoy! [To watch a slideshow with larger photos and slower speed, click on the lower left icon and then "Albion". Then select "slideshow" on the web album page. A photo may be downloaded by right clicking on the photo and selecting "Save photo as".]

Heading back to Oregon the long way home

The following blog entrys are some emails sent back to family and friends about our trip back from Mesa to Oregon. We decided to take the long way home since we won't be taking the RV back down to Mesa next fall and the fuel prices were very reasonable. We will just be driving the car down and staying in our Park Model.

5/8/09 On The Road Again:
Hi guys;

Cortez, Colorado:

Just a quick update of our travels. We left Mesa last Friday (5/1/09) and didn't go too far for our first RV miles in 7 months. We stayed at a Coast-to-Coast park near Overgaard, AZ. As I was setting up the computer, I realized I didn't have the power cord . We looked at the time and realized we still could make a quick trip back to Mesa (135 miles) in the car to get the power cord. We got back about 8:30 pm.

The next day we visited a good cruising friend in Show Low (Irene Harlander--Hiafin). She recently lost her husband, Lou, and thought we should stop by and spend some time. We had a good visit and then went on to Sun Valley, AZ at the Root 66 RV park (Passport America). And yes, that's how they spell it!!! Since we got there late, we decided to spend two nights there and watch Tiger play his final round on Sunday. It was a time to finally get everything located and unpacked.

We took our time on Monday and headed up to Canyon de Chelly> in NE Arizona. We checked into their campground and made reservations to take the day-long trip down into the canyon. Believe me, it was a trip well worth the jerking and bumping ride, as they say in the canyon, these trips are called "shake & bake". Of course Molly had to buy some of the beautiful <Navaho wares that were displayed at some of the stops.

On Wednesday, it was another short day to Cortez, Colorado. We drove up into the Mesa Verde National Park> to make reservations for a few of the tours to see the cliff dwellings. The tours were at the far end of the park so it was going to be about a 30 mile drive from our park in the morning. We left early Thursday morning and spent the entire day hiking in to some of the ruins and driving to see others. Got pictures--will share!

The weather so far has been just great, in the mid 80's. It's in the low 100's back in Mesa, left just in time again.

Today we head off to Durango, CO (another very short trip) for another couple days so we can take the Durango to Silverton steam train ride again. We took it back in 2000, but decided it was so much fun and such a scenic ride, that we would do it again. This time we would take the train up the canyon, but take the bus back to make it a little shorter day.

Well, that's it for catching up. We will be going on through Colorado (Colorado Springs, Denver, etc.), then up through eastern Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and Washington, where we will stop in Pasco and take a look at the "new" Desert Belle that will be heading to Saguaro Lake later this summer. And then we will head back down the Columbia to Portland and Salem where we will probably be staying at the Salem Elks again. We've been out of Mesa now for one week, and the time-line for the rest of the trip is negotiable, but will definitely be back by the first of June.
We had good signal for the internet, so thought we would catch you all up.

Thanks for reading,
Brent & Molly

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5/15/09 Update of travels home:
Hi again,

Just another update from the last spot in Cortez Colorado on our way home.

5/8/09 Cortez, CO to Durango:

As we left off with our last update, we were heading off for another short trip to Durango, CO. It was in fact a very short trip of only 58 miles and just over an hour. We stayed in a real nice Coast-to-Coast park north of Durango on the Amimas River>. We were going to head back into town to get our steam train tickets to Silverton for the next day, but the park check-in person said she could arrange them for us. So we could just relaxed the rest of the day and read our books. We asked about nearby restaurants and she suggested a great steakhouse just down the road, but the "rare" prime ribs were over-done. But still a nice, unique restaurant.

Next day we headed into Durango very early to get our ticket confirmations at 7:30. We were in one of the nicer cars and got a "free" <Durango to Silverton RR mug. At first we were wondering if we should do this trip again since we did it nine years ago when passing through Colorado. But were pleasantly surprised at the renewed experience. There was much more water in the river and much more snow in the mountains than the August 2000 trip. Anyway, took lots of pictures, had a great lunch in Silverton, bought Molly some more unique ear rings, and enjoyed the bus ride back> through the 13 and 14,000+ foot> mountains to Durango.

We enjoyed the RV park so well, we decided to stay an extra day……just because we could! It allowed us to travel around the town of Durango, go to a local quilting shop for Molly to buy another project, and have dinner in town.

5/11/09 Durango to Blanca:

Yeah, who ever heard of Blanca, Colorado? To drive the 184 miles we had to climb over an 11,000 foot pass that was spectacular with snow all over along side the road. There was a Passport America park in Blanca, and it was just 20 miles from the newest <National Park called the Great Sand Dunes N.P. and Preserve. We drove up and really enjoyed the site of enormous sand dunes (750’ high)> tucked up in the corner of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The prevailing winds blow the sand to the northeast where it is picked up by a stream that transports the sand back to the southwest, perpetual motion!

In the morning after showing, I noticed water running out from beneath the RV. It was coming from the fresh water tank, which seemed to be overflowing, even though the "tank fill" lever was in the off position. Since we had another nearly 10,000 foot pass to go over, we drained most the fresh water tank and would examine the cause of the problem more closely later.

5/12/09 Blanca to Denver:

This was our longest day of travel so far at 220 miles, still not long by our standards, but on this trip we have just been taking it easy. In fact we were going to stop at the Colorado Spring Elks lodge for the night, but we were there by 11:30 and decided another hour or two to the Westminster Elks just north of Denver would be ok. It would still be an easy day and we would be beyond down town Denver to avoid the morning traffic for the next days travel. Another camper at Colorado Springs Elks recommended this lodge. Upon getting to Westminster, we enjoyed another fine prime rib dinner at the lodge and retired for the evening.

5/14/09 Denver to Casper, WY:

We thought we would finally put on some miles today and head for Kaycee, WY (340 mi), but the strong winds today (up to 35 mph) made it a difficult drive and very tiring. Our next option was Casper (only 280 mi) at a Passport America park. The only bright spot today was filling up with fuel. The needle was only on ½ tank, but we had gone 534 miles on that amount giving us 11.0 miles/gal at a price of only $2.18/gal for the diesel.

5/15/09 Casper to Billings, MT:

We were up early today and stopped for breakfast before we even hit the freeway, and were on the road again by 8:20. We thought we would make some miles before the wind started begin. It did, and started raining too, our first rainy day. Probably getting us used to typical Oregon weather again. There just seems to a lot of nothing in Eastern Wyoming, just miles and miles of miles and miles.

We did, however, stop for a short re-visit of the <Little Bighorn Battlefield (Montana). We watched a video and took some pictures in the rain, and then headed up to Billings for an over-night at the local Wal Mart. Today was still a long day making 286 miles and putting up with some head winds. More Montana tomorrow!

Thanks for reading. Keep in touch. More later!
Brent

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5/20/09 Kennewick—On the Road Home:
Hi everybody;

This will probably be the last update of our travels home. We are presently in Kennewick and heading home tomorrow. Here is a run-down of the past several days.

5/16/09 Billings to Deer Lodge, MT (262 mi):

Yeah, I know, where the hell is Deer Lodge Montana? Well it’s about 40 miles north of Butte and has a Coast-to-Coast Good Neighbor Park here. All freeway today and a beautiful valley drive up the Yellowstone River and the Clarks Fork of the Flathead River. We can’t get over how everything is so GREEN! The snow is still heavy in the adjacent mountains and the rivers are full. We started wondering about the road conditions going over Lolo Pass (5233’) between Missoula, MT and Lewiston, ID, our planned route. But after calling the road condition line, we found it would be clear over the pass. And when we went over the continental divide today at 6453’ it was clear with the snow level several thousand feet higher.

We have seen considerable wildlife on our trip so far. Through Wyoming we saw Pronghorn Antelope around every turn. Today we saw a Turkey along side the freeway shoulder and a moose eating shrubs along side the Yellowstone River as we crossed it. We have seen several herds of mule deer and keep our eyes open to identify the birds as we pass. Today we saw several flocks of White Pelicans, Osprey, and of course Red-tailed Hawks.

5/17/09 Deer Lodge to Kamiah, ID (229 mi)

Today was just a nice drive down the Clark Fork of the Flathead River to Missoula and then a fairly quick trip to the top of Lolo Pass> going into Idaho. This is the same pass that Lewis and Clark traveled over during their journey to and from the Pacific and that Chief Joseph passed over while trying to elude the Calvary on his way to Canada, before he was stopped. There was still snow on the pass, but the road was clear.

The next leg of the trip was down a very curvy road on the Lochsa and Clearwater Rivers. We eventually got to our Coast to Coast park in Kamiah, Idaho and relaxed for the rest of the day and the next. It was a very pleasant little community.

5/19/09 Kamiah to Kennewick, WA (204 mi)

Today we got up early, had breakfast at the park restaurant and hit the road. Last night it thundered, lightninged, and poured down rain. This morning it was fresh and green with some higher fog and a little sprinkle here and there. It was a beautiful trip down the Clearwater to Lewiston, but the wind just kept increasing until it was at least 35 mph. And after we left Lewiston, it was on our side making it a very jerky ride trying to stay in our lane.

Still blowing in Kennewick, we found the Elks lodge where we set up our dry camp in the parking lot and then tried to find the Columbia Voyager (aka the new Desert Belle). After considerable driving around and asking questions we located it in Richland, WA and called Dick Bonney (the other Desert Belle captain) to let him know where it was located. We were going to meet the existing captain and owner tomorrow and go for a test drive. We met Dick and his crewman, Gary, along with their wives, for dinner and to discuss the trip tomorrow.

5/20/09 Kennewick, WA

Today we slept late, then went out to breakfast and met everybody at the dock to discuss the working systems on the boat and take it out for a spin. WOW! What a pleasure. The 150 passenger boat handled great and will be a great asset for Saguaro Lake with dinner and entertainment cruises. We spent three hours going over the boat and took it out for some maneuvering practice in the basin and on the Columbia. We encouraged the captain to visit the boat after they moved it to Saguaro Lake and got it all put back together, and he said he would.

Tomorrow, it’s just a quick trip on down the Columbia to Gresham to get our mail at Jeanette’s and then over to Vancouver to spend a day or two with Tom and Sue at their place to catch up. Then it will be on to the Salem Elks again where we will be hanging it up for the summer.

Keep in touch!
Brent

Albion Sold

After a long hard decision, Molly & I have decided to make Mesa, Arizona and working on the Desert Belle Paddleboat on Saguaro Lake (www.desertbelle.com), our winter time activity for the foreseeable future. We came here in the fall of 2006 to captain the Desert Belle so I could get the necessary days to renew my captain’s license with the Coast Guard. After that season, we were going to return to Albion the next winter season to continue cruising in Mexico.

However, the owners made it very attractive for me to come again the next season. It was a great opportunity. We liked the area, we liked the RV park we were in, we loved the lake and the vessel, and we liked the opportunity to meet new people every day. So we decided to return to Mesa in the fall of 2007 and let Albion sit in the Mexican sun again in Marina Seca, San Carlos, one more year.

This year (fall, 2008) we returned again to Mesa in the RV and finally bought a comfortable park model with a nice Arizona Room. With that and the decision to make the Desert Belle Paddleboat a long-term prospect, we decided to put Albion up for sale. If she didn’t sell by the end of this tourist season in May 2009, we would take her back to the Northwest waters to use periodically in the San Juans or Canadian Gulf Islands during the summer.

Wouldn’t you know it, shortly after we made that decision, we had an offer and it was finalized by the end of the year. We are now boatless in Mesa…..except for the Desert Belle paddleboat. It was difficult to sell her, but it made sense for what we were doing and what looks to be a long-term situation here.

We are glad Albion went to a couple that appreciates her, will take good care of her and have as many great adventures as we did.