Home again, home again.....jiggedy jig!

Sorry that we haven't updated this blog for several weeks now. We are actually writing from home as we arrived last Saturday, 4/5/08.



What a fun way to end our three month excursion. The cruise with our children and spouses


went extremely well and everyone had a great time. No one got seasick and Tim suffered the only injury when he tripped over another passenger while trying to exercise off some of the cruise food. No serious damage however, just a skinned knee and lots of tenderness. It kept him from exercising for the rest of the week though.



Note the photo of the three West boys waiting for the girls to finish shopping at Senor Frog's in Puerto Vallarta. This pose actually matches a similar shot taken several years ago so it has historical meaning. Tim and Andy took the opportunity in PV to go para-sailing. Good thing the boat had an especially powerful motor.



While aboard the Dawn Princess we celebrated Kristen's 27th birthday. We treated her to a special dinner in the dining room and the cruise line gave her a very yummy chocolate cake.



Please note the two medals around Tim and Diane's necks. They managed to place First and Second in a golf chipping contest aboard ship. Not too much skill involved when you are using a putter to chip into a hula hoop floating in a pool.




Upon our return to San Diego, Tim connected with an old Navy buddy, Don Spees. Tim had worked for Don during his service in Nha Be, Vietnam. Neither one of them seemed to be quite as thin as they appeared in photographs from forty years ago. It was good to catch up with Don and relive some of the old times. Don and his wife, Barb, just returned from Italy where they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.


The following Monday we sprang Samson from his week-long stay in doggie jail (while we were on our cruise), and began our northern trek home. Our intent was to take our time heading back as we did on our way down, but the urge to get home was stronger than the pull of the scenery and we made it home in six days.



It is hard to believe that we have now spent 291 nights in the motorhome. It will be amazing to us to hit the 365 night mark.



Thanks for riding along with us on this journey. We'll try to keep you better informed of any future trips. We do know that we will be returning to the Golden Village Palms in Hemet, CA for next snowbird season. Maybe you should come along with us.

San Diego Sightseeing!

We spent several days touring and sightseeing in the San Diego area. On one sunny Sunday afternoon, we were treated to an outdoor pipe organ concert in Balboa Park. The organ has over 4,500 pipes and produced some spectacular sounds. It was a wonderful experience and we highly recommend it to anyone visiting the San Diego area.



A few days later we took a tour of the waterfront area by riding on the "SEAL". It was a bus for about a third of the trip, then drove into the waters of the San Diego Bay for a tour of the harbor area with a waterseye view. We saw a lot of seabirds and sea lions sunning themselves on the anchovie baitboxes floating just offshore.



A different day found us atop one of the San Diego sightseeing double-decker buses that are commonly seen in London. While it was a bit windy up on top, we enjoyed the unimpeded views of the city as well as the history lesson provided by the tour guides. Our adventure began and ended in the Old Town area of San Diego - a state historical park. We wound up through the hills into residential areas, through Balboa Park, then down to the waterfront area and the downtown business district. It was a great tour.

We leave on Sunday with our kids and their spouses for our cruise down the Mexican Riviera so we will be out of touch for awhile, although we might have sporadic internet access. We are so excited to have the kids experience cruising. We hope they like it as much as we do.

On April 1st, we expect to be heading back up the highway towards home in the RV. It will probably take us a week or more, as we adhere to the motto of "two hundred miles a day on the road in an RV is good". Hope to see you all soon.

Watch Out LPGA!

After taking just one lesson from friend (and golf instructor) Ron Mountain, Sandy and Tim talked Diane into playing in the RV Resort's weekly golf outing at the National City Golf Course. Not only did Diane manage to make par on the ninth hole, but she walked away with the prize money for being closest to the pin on her drive on the fifth hole. Regrettably Ron had to fly home earlier in the week to WORK, and wasn't able to share in his student's success. It might be time for Tim to find a new sport if Diane is going to keep playing like this.

The two of us went out yesterday and played the same nine hole course so Diane could learn what a truly frustrating game golf is, and Tim managed to get two pars - a personal record for him

Things To Do In San Diego!

We have been enjoying our time here in San Diego. With friends Ron and Sandy Mountain, we headed out to Silver Strand State Beach on a recent evening for appetizers and to watch the beautiful sunset. Regrettably, the batteries went down in our camera so, once again we didn't get to capture the view we had hoped for. Guess it is just time to replace all of our "rechargeable" batteries.

Diane and Tim also spent several hours touring the USS Midway - a retired U. S. Navy aircraft carrier that is now used as a floating museum. It was a nostalgic trip for Tim as he was reliving his short Navy stint, although he served his four years without ever setting foot aboard a ship. He
did enjoy looking at the Vietnam era aircraft that
were aboard the carrier. The photo to the right was just one of the amazing compartments on the ship that showed many of the control valves, temperature controls, and thousands of knobs and buttons that were used to keep the ship afloat and moving forward. The audio tour of the ship was very informative and was responsible for the objects hanging around our necks in the picture.

Tim also visited many of his friends at Union Bank here in San Diego and we very much enjoyed a wonderful dinner with friend, Di Fibiger. Di has promised to visit us in Oregon in June - a promise that we hope she will honor.

We continue to be amazed at how easy it is to navigate around the city of San Diego. The freeway system makes good sense and you can move around here faster than you can in the Portland area.

We attended a Pizza/Karaoke party one evening here at the Chula Vista RV Park. It was a fun event and we met several new people that we enjoyed chatting with. RVers are always easy to get to know and, if you decide you don't like them, chances are that you won't run into them again any time soon. You can easily put several hundred miles between you and them.

Getting around San Diego!

Here is a picture of our site as well as a picture of the bay behind us. We have plenty of room and a picnic table where we can sit and see the bay. This is the park that Sam loves to visit. There is a long walkway that is available to the public and, unlike a lot of other San Diego areas, dogs are welcome.

We have been surprised to find out what an easy city San Diego is to navigate. The freeways are laid out logically and it doesn't seem to take very long to get anywhere. We haven't hit any serious rush hour traffic in any of our travels, nor have we gotten lost anywhere.


Our friends Ron and Sandy Mountain from Salem are here now and we have been doing much running around with them. Ron's daughter, Jennifer, is the Assistant Coach for the Gonzaga University women's basketball team. The team is playing for the Western Conference Championship so we have been attending her games at the University of San Diego. What a gorgeous campus this is. The girls have won their first two games and will play tomorrow for the championship. If they win tomorrow, they will receive a berth in the NCAA women's tournament. We spent so many hours in gyms with Kristen playing volleyball in high school, that this seems like deja vu but with a different sport.

Ron is also a golf coach and he spent Thursday morning giving Diane lessons. The session was quite intense and now she needs to find time to practice what she learned. Tim, Ron, and Sandy joined a golf tournament from the park and played at the National City Golf Course. This is an executive course that was quite challenging. Of course, Ron made it look easy as Tim and Sandy struggled.

We added up our days in the coach today and it is hard to believe that we have spent 263 nights on the road since we purchased the RV in 2004. It is amazing how comfortable we are living in such close quarters. Sam even has his own spot under the vanity. He enjoys it so much he often goes to bed early at night leaving us to wonder where he went.

There are many ducks in this area and we have had our share of duck droppings in our RV spot. However, today Tim was sitting outside reading the paper and I think it was the bird of paradise dropped some white stuff on his shirt. He was not a happy camper.

Chula Vista RV Resort

It was with a great deal of sadness that we left all our friends and the many amenities of the Golden Village Palms RV Park. After a very short travel day, we arrived at the Chula Vista RV Resort where we will spend the month of March. This is a very nice park and marina. Boy, there are some really nice yachts in the slips. Our site backs up to a view of San Diego Bay. Today is a beautiful day with temperatures in the 70's.

Sam is excited as there is a large park right behind us with lots of new smells and large picnic areas where people possibly may have dropped some food that he needs to find. There are many places to walk around here without a significant amount of traffic so he will be glad to get more exercise than he has been getting. There is no pool volleyball here to distract his owners so they can pay more attention to him.

Sam stayed in the coach for his afternoon nap while the two of us drove to the Embarcadero for a nice stroll. We watched the loading of the Dawn Princess before she left on her Mexican Riviera voyage. In three weeks we will board the same ship with our adult children and their spouses to enjoy the same cruise. This will be a highlight of our whole adventure.

From Palm Springs to Washington, DC

We took a trip to the Palm Springs area to visit with friends, George & Myrna Beeman. They were staying in a condo in the PS area on what has become an annual pilgrimage for them. The four of us did some walking around the downtown area before taking in the wonderful "Palm Springs Follies" in the historic Plaza Theatre. The show was a fabulous return to the Tin Pan Alley days, complete with showgirls and guys from the era. The youngest showgirl was 61 years old with the oldest being 84 years young. It was amazing to learn they do nine shows each week during the performing season. The women looked terrific and the men looked like they had lots of makeup on. It was a wonderful, fun day spent with good friends.

Following the performance, Diane headed out from Palm Springs airport to return to Portland for one day, before flying to Washington, DC to join daughter Kristen on a special tour of the White House and the Capitol Building. The trip home first was to get her grandkid fix with the ones that were available, to have lunch with some of her Ya-Ya friends and to gather some warm clothes for the east coast cold spell. Tim and Sam stayed in Hemet to enjoy a few days of bachelor life. Both of them, however, are much happier when mom is home.

While Diane's time in DC was close to a whirlwind tour, she was able to cross one item off her "bucket list". She has always wanted to visit inside the White House and the Capitol Building and, thanks to Kristen and her boss,who were there on official business, she got the insiders look at both.

We are sorry that there are no pictures to accompany this blog entry, but a technical problem with our camera appears to have wiped out the memory card. We haven't totally given up hope as yet as we plan to take the card to an authorized factory repair shop that we located in San Diego to see if the images can be recovered.

It is hard to believe that our time here at Golden Village Palms is coming to an end. We will be moving on Saturday, March 1, to Chula Vista RV Resort and Marina, in near San Diego, CA. Since Diane came back to town on Tuesday, the weather here has been spectacular. Temps in the 70's during the day, but still getting very cool at night. The skies up here are so clear that we enjoy seeing all the stars in the universe. Regrettably we were clouded over for the most recent lunar eclipse. We certainly are planning to return here next year as we have enjoyed this park and the people so much.

We're still here!

Wow! Has it really been 11 days since our last blog update? Things are just happening way too fast for us. Just to keep us humble, the weather has taken a stormy turn and we have had several days of rain. The weather at home seems to be better than here. No opportunity for pool volleyball or golf. However, we have still managed to stay busy with games, dances, and visitors.

Randy and Karen Wersch from Kamloops, British Columbia were in town for a weekend as they complete a loop from BC to the Yuma, Arizona area, then over to the coast route to make their return trip home. Randy is a cousin of Diane and Joyce. We visited them for a wonderful, adventurous week at their cabin on East Berriere Lake in BC a few years ago. They are traveling by car, rather than by RV and with one of the new navigation systems that takes all the fun out of getting lost. Where is the spirit of adventure?

Also, Bob and Betty Trappe made the drive from Borrego Springs to Hemet to visit us and tour the grounds of the Golden Village Palms RV Resort. We are trying to convince Bob to bring his motorhome here next year. He says a condo in the middle of the desert is more his style. It turns out that Bob and brother-in-law Jim West, have many common friends that also overlap with a number of Tim's clients and bank contacts. We spent quite a while just saying "What ever happened to .......?" After a great visit and a wonderful lunch, Bob and Betty returned to their desert condo.

On these overcast days, we really get homesick. Since we have now been away from home for over a month and a half, we miss seeing our kids and grandkids. Although the telephone and email are great ways to communicate, nothing beats a good old-fashioned hug. We miss you all! That also goes for our friends as well.

Anza Borrego Desert State Park

We made the trip again today to Anza Borrego Desert State Park to visit with one of Diane's Snow-Cap co-workers, Bob Trappe. He and his wife, Betty, are long time visitors to this area and usually have come here in their RV. This year, they tried something new and are staying in a condo in Borrego Springs for the month of February. Bob and Betty were going to show us around the desert area, but we got hung up at a lunch where the kitchen lost our order. What was supposed to be a quick lunch turned out to be a two hour affair. While the service was very deficient, the company was outstanding and we found we had many acquaintances in common. We saw a little bit of the area - just enough to know that we want to go back, then hit the State Park Visitor Center on our way out of town to get just a taste of what the desert has to offer.


We have been trying to obtain a picture of the area surrounding our RV park that does justice to the colors in the mountains. With the snow covered tops rapidly melting, our opportunities are getting more limited.



There hasn't been much blog updating as of late as we have been simply enjoying ourselves. The weather has finally taken a turn for the better and we are having 80 degree days and pleasant evenings and nights.



Samson enjoys his daily walks and is really happy just sitting outside sunning himself each day. Last night we said good-bye to new friends, John and Joyce Bird from Port Coquitlam, British Columbia. We look forward to seeing them again in the future.



We have been attending services at the First Presbyterian Church here in Hemet on Sundays. Although we have been away from the Presbyterian Church for a while back home, we feel very comfortable and have been enjoying the sermons and lessons.

Life under the palms

This picture shows one of the three swimming pools that are available to us here at the Golden Village Palms. There are also three hot tubs. They are hot, hotter, and hottest. We have so much fun at the pool. The pool volleyball is two hours of laughter since we all do our fair share of flubs.

We enjoyed the dance at the club house on Saturday night. The music group played all the songs we liked and we danced the night away.

Tim has played some golf recently and we both have been to the driving range a couple of times. Diane has not yet played her first nine of golf, but hopes to do so soon.

The weather today has been beautiful. We are really enjoying soaking up the sun. It was cool this morning and about 70 degrees this afternoon. Hopefully the sun will stay with us now for a few weeks. Diane and her sister, Joyce, spent the afternoon reading books in the sun and walking Samson, while Tim and brother-in-law, Jim, went golfing.

Our neighbors in the park, Mike and Judy, are from Federal Way, Washington, and spend several months here in Hemet. They also work as camp hosts at Wenatchee Confluence State Park in Wenatchee, WA. We have gotten together with them a few times and hope to arrange for an RV trip to their park in September or October. Mike is on one of the select sand volleyball teams, and they are having a big tournament here tomorrow against a team from an RV park in Indio, CA. The select team are the most serious volleyball players, although they still have their share of fun.

Sorry for the interruption!

We apologize for being offline for so long. We have been experiencing difficulty in staying connected when we have been able to get on the internet at all from our coach. After several days of troubleshooting with different vendors, we seem to have hit on the best solution for us.

We experienced several days of bad weather as you may have heard. Southern California was being deluged with rain and wind and we had to lay low and wait out the storms.

We finally learned to play Mexican Train dominoes, but don't feel we are quite ready to play at the competitive level that the local folks do. Also we aren't quite ready to part with the 25 cents per game that the rest of the group can apparently afford. They must think we are made of money.

On Saturday we were able to get together with Tim's brother, John, his wife, Bear, and daughter Connie in Moreno Valley for dinner. It was nice to be able to connect again and catch up on family happenings. It is hard to believe that Connie is already a senior in high school and her mom and dad are experiencing all the anxieties associated with college decisions.

Diane's sister, Joyce and her husband, Jim were finally able to catch a break in the weather and made it over the grapevine on Saturday from the Bakersfield area. They were as glad to arrive as we were, and it didn't take them long to make the decision to stay here for awhile.

We have been enjoying little trips around the area, locating some of our favorite places. Temecula is about 20 to 25 miles away, but has the Costco and Winco stores as well as just about any other store you can think of. We are amazed at the number of shopping centers there are in the Temecula/Murrieta Hot Springs area.

Except for the rainy days, we continue to do our two hours of morning pool volleyball. It is such a hoot! We talked Joyce and Jim into participating today and we think they enjoyed it. When we finish up we don't know if our muscles are hurting from the exertion or from laughing so hard.

Tim and Jim played 18 holes of golf Tuesday at Seven Hills Golf Course while Diane and Joyce hit a bucket of balls. The course was a little soggy from the recent rains, but very playable. Tim's best claim for the whole day was that he didn't lose a single ball - a record for him.

What happened to the sun?

After avoiding rain during the past few days, the big storm that has been hitting the California coast finally caught up to us. Heavy rains hit us during the night and it is still a bit showery this a.m. We found out that they play pool volleyball here, even during the rain, so we are debating whether to participate. The daytime temperatures are still hovering around 60 degrees, while nighttime temps dip into the high 30's.

We took a day trip to Temecula yesterday in an effort to find a Best Buy to purchase a gadget necessary to boost our wireless signal. Our resident computer expert continues to remain technologically challenged when it comes to wi-fi signals. One minute we have an excellent signal, the next minute we can't be connected. Even the new gadget doesn't seem to have done much to help.

Last night there was a wine tasting followed by a two actor play entitled, "Love Letters". It was a good play and a fun evening. We are still enjoying making new friends.

We are hoping to get out to some of the local golf courses during the next few days. We did find a nice course the other day and hit a bucket of balls, just to see if we could still do it. Actually, this was Diane's second time hitting the golf balls, trying to decide if she can play the game and lie as well as the men do.

Home Sweet Home!

Here is our home sweet home for the next month and a half. We have never been to any other park where people go out of their way to greet you or to invite you to join in activities.

So far, we have tried sand volleyball and pool volleyball twice. We didn't sign up for last night's spaghetti dinner and people said they missed us. We have tickets for tomorrow night's wine tasting and play, "Love Letters", that should be enjoyable.

We are having some trouble with our internet connection so if we haven't responded to an email from you, that may be why. We are now being told that our wireless card is probably obsolete so we need to buy a new one. If it isn't one thing, it's another.

Unfortunately we didn't manage to outrun the rain for very long. The last two days have been showery during the night, but have stayed clear during the day. The temperatures haven't been quite where we would like to see them, but it is clearly better weather here than at home. Since the swimming pools are heated, we do quite fine during pool volleyball until we have to get out. Then it is a little cold.

We need to venture out to one of the numerous golf courses around here so Diane can try out her new golf clubs and see if she enjoys the game. There are many golfers here in the park, but we suspect they are way over our skill level.

Relaxing At Last!

Now, this is the life. We are all set up, have been to the Welcome Reception, heard about all the activities, and met several people. Temperatures have been very cold at night, but most enjoyable during the day. We are enjoying our stay here at Golden Village Palms RV Resort so much that we have signed up to stay until the end of February.

We can say we are now officially old time RVers as we finally attached our map of the United States to our coach, and filled in the states in which we have traveled.

We went on an adventure in our car to the Anza Borrego Desert State Park today. It was a very beautiful area located on the valley floor, surrounded by large mountains. The road down to Borrego Springs was like a corkscrew for quite some time. We were overjoyed that we hadn't decided to take the coach. We passed through several interesting small towns as you can see.

Navels, navels everywhere

Navel oranges that is. After a very long driving day we finally arrived at the Orange Grove RV Park in Bakersfield, CA. This place is so much fun as all of the RV sites are between rows of orange trees. Visitors are welcomed and even encouraged to pick the ripe oranges for their personal consumption. We picked two dozen in a matter of minutes to take on the road with us.

The oranges sort of made up for the fact that their wi-fi setup left a lot to be desired. We couldn't get a signal inside our coach, and it was too cold to sit out at the picnic table to compose emails or blog entries. Sorry we got behind.

After the hard trip from Lodi to Bakersfield, we should have stayed here two nights to rest up. But, we got too excited to head to the southland, so we set off early the following day. Within the first 20 miles of leaving Bakersfield we were greeted with flashing signs warning of "High Winds Ahead. Campers and Trailers Not Recommended." Bummer! While trying to decide what to do, we decided to stop for gas and check with some of the locals. Diane found out from one of the cashiers that if the danger was too bad, the highway patrol would actually turn people around and not let them through. We made the decision to forge ahead. In hindsight we probably should have found a shelter until the winds died down. They made the driving more than interesting, and Diane wanted no time behind the wheel on this day.

Also, the California highway system definitely leaves a lot to be desired as well. We saw several work crews along the way that we swore were putting new holes in sections that didn't seem to have one. Every nut and bolt in the coach is being put to the test.

We are now staying at the Golden Village Palms RV Resort. We initially signed up for three nights, but are considering our options and may just make this our base. We are going to take a drive to Palm Springs to see if our favorite place is still an option, or check out some other parks we have heard about.

The overnight temperatures have still been chilly..... in the low thirties, but the weather during the day has been very pleasant. Still not terribly warm, but at least Tim got to wear his shorts. We met a number of other residents today at a welcome reception and it seems that all of Canada must have come here to stay. Easily 3/4 of the group were from different parts of Canada.

Chocolate and Good Friends

While exploring the local area, we found the Chocoholic Factory in Clements, CA. We enjoyed a interesting and information tour of the factory where they have created such items as chocolate body frosting, chocolatopoly game, chocolate checkers, chocolate body tattoos, and good old-fashioned chocolate candy. The factory certainly smelled good. It was not highly mechanized and we got to watch the workers dipping candies and packaging them for sale.

Diane will have to tell you the story behind the "Star" pin, but you are liable to see it in future pictures while it travels with us.

We met our travel mentors, Dave and Barb Schwartz, in Elk Grove today and were able to catch up on family doings as well as getting more travel tips. We are looking forward to spending more time with them when they venture south in February.

On The Road Again!

What a beautiful day for a drive! We both commented that this was one of those days when we could drive forever. The sun was out, the roads were dry, and the traffic was light. Diane did a stint behind the wheel and was extremely proud of the fact that she didn't hit the rumble strip once. Unfortunately, Tim couldn't make the same claim. However, he did more miles than Diane.

We are parked at the Flag City RV Resort in Lodi, CA. We are staying here for three nights. The park is very nice with level cement pads, and lots of amenities. Regrettably, we didn't read all of the fine print in the Trailer Life Directory and discovered that this is one of the few parks that doesn't have Wi-Fi access. We are presently at the registration office using their DSL connection.

We settled in yesterday and went for a nice walk around the park. The weather was warm in the afternoon but cooled considerably overnight. It was 36 degrees when we awoke this a.m., but we still did two walking loops around the park. Sam is really enjoying the exercise as well as all the new smells.

Exploring the Sacramento River

Finally we got a chance to get out and explore the area around Redding. We started out with Sam in the car, prepared for a nice, long walk along the Sacramento River. When we reached the park, Sam was extremely distressed to be greeted with a sign that said "No dogs allowed in park". He was extremely put out with Governor Schwartzenegger, but dutifully returned to the motorhome for a long afternoon nap. Imagine his distress if he ever realizes that, upon their return, Tim and Diane discovered that the sign pertained to a different section of the park --- not where the trail followed the river. There were numerous dogs out enjoying all the smells on the trail.

The Sundial Bridge, pictured at left, is really a beautiful span. Regrettably, there is no location where a good picture of the whole thing could be captured.

The trail that parallels the Sacramento River was very scenic and we watched several local fisherman in their driftboats, trying to land a big one.

The weather this afternoon was much improved
and the temperature was in the high 50's. Tomorrow will be a travel day as we head further down the highway.

Over the Hill

Wow, we never thought we would be happy to say that we are "over the hill", but we arrived in Redding, CA in early afternoon. The trip over Siskiyou summit was routine and uneventful. We joined numerous RVers leaving the Seven Feathers RV Resort this a.m. and heading south. The picture to the left was our site at Seven Feathers. It is so handy to use the laptop and Wi-Fi to check weather reports, highway conditions, etc. The road conditions were clear and dry, and the sun was out for quite a while to the point where the co-pilot was enjoying its warmth. There was plenty of snow beside the highway, and the mountains were spectacular with their coats of white.

We made it to Redding and are staying at the Premier RV Resort for a couple of days to rest up after two days of hard road miles. We plan to explore the area tomorrow. Although Samson enjoys sleeping in his bed between the two captain's chairs while the coach is in motion, he much prefers getting to explore new places when we stop. Sam loves to ride in the coach, but every big bump disturbs his sleep and he has to get up to see what is going on. Most of the time he likes to rest his head on Diane's lap, in hopes that she will pet him which she usually does.

So far, so good!

Hi everyone,

Thank you all for your comments and emails. We appreciate hearing from each of you and apologize for not being able to respond personally to you. Thanks also for all the news about the tornado and bad weather in the greater Portland area. Apparently we managed to leave town today during a window of time when it wasn't stormy. We did drive through several downpours and heavy winds that thoroughly tested our windshield wiper repairs as well as our steering.

We are safely tucked away for the night at a very nice RV resort in Canyonville, OR. After talking with a few other RVers, everyone seems to be waiting for good weather to head over the Siskiyou Mountains in the next day or two. We also will wait and see, and will check the weather forecasts and highway conditions before making the decision to continue. This wouldn't be a bad place to stay for a day or so, if conditions are bad. We'll keep you posted.

Ready -- Set-- Goooo!!

Many people have asked us why we haven't taken off for a very long trip around these great United States of America. Pictured above are five excellent reasons why we don't seem to stray very far from the Pacific Northwest. Aren't they the cutest grandkids?

We are now, however, ready to depart to the southwest in search of the sun. The weather here in Oregon has been terrible and we are hoping to catch a window of opportunity to get over the Siskiyou mountain range. That is, if we can get the motorhome out of the garage and into the street. It definitely weighs quite a bit more now than it did when we put it into its cozy little shelter. Check with us in a few days to see how far we have gotten.