What a great super bowl. Competitive, hard fought, lead exchanges, sentimental favorite overcomes bad first quarter to survive, great coaching, and good company. We watched at Tate and Jeff's with Chris and Loren and conducted the male rite of passage for Chris's son Henry, first superbowl with the "men". Henry did good for a kindergartner, lasting almost a whole quarter before being distracted by a flying toy helicopter that was also distracting most of the "men". Think I saw one too many commercials with men in underwear. Not sure I would ever say that about women in underwear commercials.
Suzy and I spent the early part of the day doing "drive bys' of homes we had seen on the web. Amazing how misleading some of those pics can be. We whittled down from 9 down to two we want to go inside. Still seeing lots more homes coming on the market at this time the year as people start to get serious again about selling.
OK, next up, Valentines Day. Why does it only get a week between it and the superbowl when the super bowl gets two weeks run up. Oh, yeah, not that I am a winter sports guy coming from northern Michigan, but there is some games coming up north of Seattle on skiis and skates and such. Hope I remember to watch as I prepare for Valentine's Day.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Seven Months, 26,000 miles
It went by too fast, the last seven months. We pulled the 5th wheel 12,500 miles and drove the truck alone 13,500 miles. A little over $6,000 for diesel and another $6,000 for renting RV parking spaces. Averaged 13 miles per gallon of diesel. Small price to pay for all the memories.
We are already thinking about future trips to Alaska, Arizona in the winter, and Washington State Parks. Also would like to park it at a lake site for the summers. In the meantime we will use it as a temporary home as we look for our non-mobile house.
I mentioned a close call on the last leg of the trip through California. As we were pulling through LA, keeping up with busy traffic, I-5 was literally falling apart, huge cracks and holes and I had to drive through at 60 mph. That I night noticed a huge amount of wear on one RV tire in back. Later the next day as I was making a turn I saw that tire scraping, and found it worn to the wires at the next stop. Pulled into Les Schwab and replaced the tire and then made an appointment with alignment shop in Redding. Turns out both yokes holding the springs on each side had broken and was lucky that the tires had not blown or 5th wheel dropped off springs on I-5 at 60 mph. Got it all aligned, balanced, new wheel bearing on one wheel, packed all bearings and back on the road with only one day lost. Got heavy duty yokes replacing factory ones and the new ones have zert fittings so I can grease them and keep them strong. Whew! I can just imagine us trying to head up over the Siskiyous and have it break down there at 4700 feet in the snow. Better then new now.
We are already thinking about future trips to Alaska, Arizona in the winter, and Washington State Parks. Also would like to park it at a lake site for the summers. In the meantime we will use it as a temporary home as we look for our non-mobile house.
I mentioned a close call on the last leg of the trip through California. As we were pulling through LA, keeping up with busy traffic, I-5 was literally falling apart, huge cracks and holes and I had to drive through at 60 mph. That I night noticed a huge amount of wear on one RV tire in back. Later the next day as I was making a turn I saw that tire scraping, and found it worn to the wires at the next stop. Pulled into Les Schwab and replaced the tire and then made an appointment with alignment shop in Redding. Turns out both yokes holding the springs on each side had broken and was lucky that the tires had not blown or 5th wheel dropped off springs on I-5 at 60 mph. Got it all aligned, balanced, new wheel bearing on one wheel, packed all bearings and back on the road with only one day lost. Got heavy duty yokes replacing factory ones and the new ones have zert fittings so I can grease them and keep them strong. Whew! I can just imagine us trying to head up over the Siskiyous and have it break down there at 4700 feet in the snow. Better then new now.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Gig Harbor
We had wonderful dinner/reunion with Tate and Jeff last night. BBQ'd some sockeye salmon, almost seemed like we hadn't left ten years ago. Tate is walking, limp free, and doing steps, the rebuilt knee is looking good. I like the way the surgeon made the incision to match the one on the opposite knee. Very artistic and who needs tatoos when they have matching knee scars. Suzy waited almost an hour before dropping a grandchild comment, an example of her patience in this area.
We found a great "possibility" house yesterday just looking at some open houses. It is nice to be able to have so much to choose from and so many areas to look at. Really great to see all the heather in bloom and all the rhody and azalea buds building strength.
We found a great "possibility" house yesterday just looking at some open houses. It is nice to be able to have so much to choose from and so many areas to look at. Really great to see all the heather in bloom and all the rhody and azalea buds building strength.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
100th Blog and We are Home
Good morning Gig Harbor!
After 566 miles of mountain passes, rain, traffic and completed the last leg of our journey yesterday, landing in Gig Harbor, just across Puget Sound from Tacoma, where we will begin our house hunting saga.
This also marks the 100th Blog of the trip. I think I will keep it going as it is a good form of communication and easy. Also it provides a quasi journal for me. Important when your memory has more loopholes then a congressional budget.
566 miles is way too far for one day pulling a 12,000 pound 5th wheel. Especially if you are crossing a 4700 foot mountain passes and lots of 2-3000 foot passes as well. But as we got within 200 miles of home it didn't make sense to stop for one night when we were so close.
Suzy hasn't been this excited since I don't know when and I admit I am happy to be back in the NW. We will now begin work with son in law, Jeff, in finding a new, non-rolling home. He has many lined up for us already. We chose Gig Harbor first so we can decide if we like living on the other side of the sound and a distance from Tate and Jeff.
Summary of statistics from the trip will follow in the next blog. Everything you wanted to know about traveling the U.S. in quantifiable hard data. Also a harrowing tale of what could have been with the trailer that wasn't, and hasn't been told yet, as it happened two days ago.
But suffice to say for now, we had a great trip, saw more then we ever thought possible, met interesting people, learned to live in very close proximity to each other in a retired mode, and did it all without an accident. Cheers
After 566 miles of mountain passes, rain, traffic and completed the last leg of our journey yesterday, landing in Gig Harbor, just across Puget Sound from Tacoma, where we will begin our house hunting saga.
This also marks the 100th Blog of the trip. I think I will keep it going as it is a good form of communication and easy. Also it provides a quasi journal for me. Important when your memory has more loopholes then a congressional budget.
566 miles is way too far for one day pulling a 12,000 pound 5th wheel. Especially if you are crossing a 4700 foot mountain passes and lots of 2-3000 foot passes as well. But as we got within 200 miles of home it didn't make sense to stop for one night when we were so close.
Suzy hasn't been this excited since I don't know when and I admit I am happy to be back in the NW. We will now begin work with son in law, Jeff, in finding a new, non-rolling home. He has many lined up for us already. We chose Gig Harbor first so we can decide if we like living on the other side of the sound and a distance from Tate and Jeff.
Summary of statistics from the trip will follow in the next blog. Everything you wanted to know about traveling the U.S. in quantifiable hard data. Also a harrowing tale of what could have been with the trailer that wasn't, and hasn't been told yet, as it happened two days ago.
But suffice to say for now, we had a great trip, saw more then we ever thought possible, met interesting people, learned to live in very close proximity to each other in a retired mode, and did it all without an accident. Cheers
Friday, January 29, 2010
I can smell the douglas fir!
We are within striking range of the NW! About 600 miles is all that's left. Had a tire go bad the fifth wheel yesterday. A bad tire will do that. Got into Les Schwab in Orland and had a new tire on and back on the road in less then 30 minutes. Will get an alignment this morning in Redding and be back on the road before noon.
We are so excited about the next phase, finding a house in Seattle. Suzy has been keeping current with the market via the internet and we have some possibilities.
Jet is getting excited too. He is getting so close that he is carefully smelling all pee at rest stops to make sure none of them are old ones of his. He still thinks we are going to Boise, so he is in for a surprise.
We are so excited about the next phase, finding a house in Seattle. Suzy has been keeping current with the market via the internet and we have some possibilities.
Jet is getting excited too. He is getting so close that he is carefully smelling all pee at rest stops to make sure none of them are old ones of his. He still thinks we are going to Boise, so he is in for a surprise.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Texas, Texas, Texas
Since leaving New Orleans a week ago we have been in Texas. We had a great stop at sister Helen and Dave's in Georgetown north of Austin. They showed us all the sites in the Hill Country of central Texas. Its an area I have longed to visit. We enjoyed being in a house again and all that comes with that, Helen is a great cook. Saw the LBJ library in downtown Austin, amazing place and free, unusual for a presidential library. LBJ got more done then most presidents but unfortunately will be remembered more for the Viet Nam war. His impact on education, civil rights, health care, and many more important issues are truly a lasting legacy for this great Texan. We visited his ranch outside Johnson City, TX and his family gravesite there. After a great hike in the hill country we stopped for some Texas BBQ. Wow, that is good. It is a toss up between NC BBQ and TX BBQ for best BBQ in the country but those two are way ahead of the rest.
Texas is 880 miles wide along higway 10 but the first 100 miles almost did us in. Actually just 20 miles going around Houston. A semi driver decided to play squish the RV off the road where two lanes became one in construction zone. Having the right of way does you know good when a semi decides to crowd you out of a lane. I have no idea how we stayed on the road but just as my pants were drying out, a pick up pulled in front of me and slammed on its brakes for stalled traffic. Once again I don't know how I was able to stop and avoid this guy, but by this time it was over I had decided to cross Houston off my places to ever visit again.
The horse has caught smell of the barn (Seattle) and our trip is finding itself going into warp speed. We are getting to the point where we are far enough west to be able to say we can come back via our new home in Seattle, so our pace is quickening. We now have to be sure we avoid snow until crossing the Siskiyous in Northern CA and Southern Oregon. Heading into Arizona today should end worries about snow for a while.
Texas is 880 miles wide along higway 10 but the first 100 miles almost did us in. Actually just 20 miles going around Houston. A semi driver decided to play squish the RV off the road where two lanes became one in construction zone. Having the right of way does you know good when a semi decides to crowd you out of a lane. I have no idea how we stayed on the road but just as my pants were drying out, a pick up pulled in front of me and slammed on its brakes for stalled traffic. Once again I don't know how I was able to stop and avoid this guy, but by this time it was over I had decided to cross Houston off my places to ever visit again.
The horse has caught smell of the barn (Seattle) and our trip is finding itself going into warp speed. We are getting to the point where we are far enough west to be able to say we can come back via our new home in Seattle, so our pace is quickening. We now have to be sure we avoid snow until crossing the Siskiyous in Northern CA and Southern Oregon. Heading into Arizona today should end worries about snow for a while.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
The French Quarter
Sure love this town with all its old buildings and big trees. Shirtsleeve weather as we walked about the French Quarter yesterday. On Bourbon street I wanted to go in and see if the topless dancers were also in shirt sleeves but Suzy insisted they would be so no need to check. Took the trolley through the Garden district and its old homes, laurel and live oaks, spanish moss and French influence. Beautiful place, Suzy loving seeing all the old homes, me loving not having to drive.
Life is good.
Life is good.
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