Lake Toys

Chris didn’t waste any time getting his new toy.

Our dock the first day we arrived here for the summer on July 3:

Our dock exactly one week later with our new boat attached to it: 

It’s great to actually ride around ON the lake that we love to look at from our house. We enjoy going on sunset cruises. The swim platform on the back is my favorite spot for sunset viewing.

Chris has been playing around with the best way to tie up the boat to the dock. He tried switching it to the other side but trees blocked our view of it from the house. He is a little paranoid about the sustainability of his knots. One day a boat that looked very similar to ours went floating past. Chris did a double take thinking maybe our boat had come loose! The boat has been moved back to where we can keep a better eye on it.

Two things we’ve discovered from having the boat:

• Our absolute quiet when we sit outside is gone. There is now the almost constant lapping sound of water hitting the boat. I’m not thrilled about that but it doesn’t seem to bother Chris.

• Chris took the boat out on his own one day and discovered it goes a lot faster without me on it. Again, I’m not thrilled about the implications of that fact (ha ha) but getting the boat up to 40 mph definitely didn’t bother Chris!

Ryan was the first brave soul to get pulled behind the boat:

The boat is also somewhat of a toy for our granddaughter. She loves to crawl around in it while we are docked. It’s like a giant playpen for her where she is safe and can’t get into anything.

Life jackets are a requirement for both dogs and kiddos.

Our other lake toys (so far) are our kayaks. Savannah got to go for a ride on Mom and Dad’s kayak train.

Lovin’ the lake life....!

Critters at the Lake

One month has passed since we arrived at our Washington state lake house. 

We are enjoying the peace and beauty. But we do spend a fair amount of time reclaiming our house and yard from the spiders and vines. 

I spent an afternoon the first week brushing off spider webs from corners and around windows and under eaves. But the spiders do not give up easily. To my dismay, the very next week, cobwebs were reappearing.  

I’m not sure our lake house is officially in a rainforest, but our neck of the woods is definitely damp and thickly forested. Because of this, moss grows freely on our brick pathway and wooden railings. It looks quaint but we’re on a mission to scrape it from the walkway; don’t want it too slippery.

Ivy and other vines can easily take over the landscaping. Chris can’t seem to step outside without pulling up some wayward vines.

A few of our tree trunks are completely covered in ivy. Chris cut the thick vines at the bottom of the trees and now we’re waiting for the ivy on the trunks to die; could take years.

I’ve been enjoying the fact that I can go for walks any time of day, not just when it’s cool enough in the early morning or evening like in Houston. The fresh smell of pine is a nice treat too.

Some of the wildlife we’ve seen at the lake include deer, eagles, ospreys, rabbits, all kinds of birds, butterflies, small squirrels, and chipmunks. Jack especially enjoys viewing the wildlife. His favorite are the ducks that swim right up to him at the edge of the lake, taunting him until he dives in and chases them off. They quickly return to taunt him some more.

My favorite critter to watch at the lake is the Savannah critter, our adorable granddaughter, when she comes to visit.

Lake Time

  

We are now in Olympia, Washington in the land of evergreens and 60-degree weather. 

 

We made it to our lake house on July 3rd, just in time for the Fourth of July holiday. Thor is safely stowed away in his covered storage spot for a well-deserved rest after safely getting us here. It’s nice to be living back on solid ground. It took me a few days to adjust to having a dishwasher again; I found myself hand washing dishes as if we were still in the RV with no dishwasher.

We bought our lake house last September and have spent a few nights here in the Fall, Winter, and Spring seasons. We are excited to now spend our first Summer here. Jack already has his routine of swimming in the lake twice a day.

On the Fourth of July, we sat on our dock and watched a boat parade. Along with lots of flags and patriotic decorations, there was a pirate-themed boat, pink flamingos, a giant soccer ball, and even live music on one boat. 

Jack was not a happy camper that evening when loud fireworks were shot off right over the lake.

And now our exciting news: we bought a boat today!

A Yamaha ski boat. It will get delivered tomorrow. Maybe now we can get back to furnishing the house. I can’t wait to get some bedroom furniture so I can quit using a laundry basket for my bedside table. 

Day 8 - Final Day / Learnings

Our final day on this trip to Washington has arrived and only one day later than planned.

We will unmoor Thor from shore power for the last time and drive the final four hours to Olympia, Washington. The Jeep received the all-clear from the service guys after charging and testing the battery. They recommended that we start the engine daily when we tow it. Pleasantly, the work was covered under warranty.  

This was our seventh long-distance journey in Thor since we adopted him in 2016. Apparently we are still learning as we “go”.

Some other learnings from our experiences:

• 5-hour energy drink

 Chris doesn’t do coffee so he tried drinking small shots of an energy drink for the caffeine on this trip and it really helped him stay alert on the road. The small shots are nice because they don’t require frequent potty breaks.

• Rest Stop app

I now use a phone app to locate upcoming rest stops on the highway. Helps with planning our lunch breaks.

• Leave some food at home

In 2017, we came home from our summer trip just as Hurricane Harvey was hitting Houston. I had brought ALL our food on the trip. Why leave it at home all summer when we might need it on the road? We left Thor in Huntsville outside of Houston to be safe from the storm. We didn’t have room in the Jeep to bring the food home. The grocery stores were closed so we were stuck with no food. I won’t do that again. I now leave behind some canned items and other essentials (beer).

• Keep a Sense of Humor

It sure helps when you never know what might be in store “down the road”.

Day 6, 7 - Idaho to Oregon; Maybe on to Washington?

Today is the day we were supposed to be reaching our final destination in Olympia, Washington. That remains to be seen. 

After six days of our Jeep Cherokee being towed behind Thor, we were finally forced to unhook it. All the previous campsites were pull-through so that was nice that we could leave the Jeep attached. But our camp spot in Boardman, Oregon was a back-in site. No problem, we’ll unhook, but that’s when we discovered the Jeep had a dead battery. 

Fellow RV’ers are of the friendly sort so naturally a guy offers to help jump our battery. But it won’t charge enough so we have to call roadside assistance. The battery still won’t stay charged so Chris drives the Jeep to a NAPA Auto-parts store to buy a new battery. But NAPA says the battery is fine. Another call to roadside assistance and the Jeep gets towed to a Dodge dealer 30 minutes away. So the Jeep spent the night at the repair shop and we are waiting to hear today what the verdict is.

Meanwhile, we discovered our twin yesterday. We had seen another RV of our same model, Thor Tuscany, at the RV park in Utah. It’s always exciting to see another exact model. But the crazy thing is that same RV was also at the next RV park in Idaho. And then it pulled in right next to us at the RV Park in Oregon!

Three same parks in a row. So of course we interrogated each other: are you following us? They were a couple from Arizona who had the same idea as us to hightail it out of the heat and then drive shorter days as they approached their destination near Portland, Oregon. They had purchased their Thor the same year as us in 2016 but while they bought theirs brand new, ours was a used 2014 model. They said they regretted buying new as there were so many problems with it. The advice is always to buy a used one so the kinks can all get worked out. We enjoyed comparing notes on repair issues and RV life.

While we await word on when the Jeep will be ready, we are at least in a lovely campground. The Boardman Marina Park and RV Campground is located on the Columbia River. We can see Washington across the river. We have a large grassy space. Jack is enjoying the view:

I’ll keep you “posted” on our status.

Day 5 - Utah to Idaho

We headed north out of Utah and traveled across the southern part of Idaho, crossing the beautiful Snake River several times. Our drive was just four hours today, one hour shorter than yesterday. We are seeing more farmland and cows now. Maybe even some Idaho potatoes? Not sure.  

Apparently people like to put stickers on the welcome sign.

The days are still warm but at least the nights are cooling off.  

Jack threw up in the RV but thankfully it wasn’t while we were on the road. It’s always something.

When I let Jack out last night for his final potty break, I marveled at the stars in the sky. Usually Chris lets Jack out; now I see what I am missing, but don’t get any ideas, Chris, you can still have that job.

We got a request for pictures of the inside of Thor. Great idea. I took some while we were all cinched up on the road and then some to show when we are parked with all the slides out. Jack seems to star in almost every picture.

With slides out:

On to Oregon tomorrow where we’ll spend our final night on the road camped near the Columbia River.

Day 4 - Ahh... Lush Green Grass

We have progressed from dry, rugged Wyoming to greener, beautiful Utah.   

Jack is happy once again to be in soft grass, as are we:

It was just a 5-hour-drive day so we got settled into our campsite in Tremonton, Utah by 3 pm. Fun fact: Tremonton is near the site of Promontory Point where the transcontinental railroad met up in 1869. I had visited the site with my parents in 1980.

I put a load of laundry in our stackable washer/dryer and we headed out with Jack for a walk to a nearby neighborhood park. There was an inviting splash pad at the park but sorry, Jack, your kind is not allowed to partake of it. The city library is located in the park. I would’ve loved taking my kids to this place when they were young. The old Town Bell that tolled curfew for children for 25 years sits in the park too. The bell was replaced by an electric siren in 1936 to signal special occasions and emergencies.

Back at camp, we enjoyed a pleasant dinner outside for the first time on this trip. It’s been either too hot, too windy, or too cramped. Then Chris scrubbed bug carcasses off our giant windshield.

Even as we’re driving along and I go in the back to make myself a cup of tea, I find myself doing some dusting while waiting for the tea to steep. I guess after living in our vehicle for four days, the housekeeping bug sets in. 

Day 3 - Rolling Along

On Day 3 of our journey northwest we said goodbye to Kansas, did a quick cut through Colorado, and ended up in Rawlins, Wyoming. Drive time was about 7 hours. No mishaps with the slide covering today and only one broken kitchen saucer.   

Chris planned our trip to be front-end heavy on the driving to expedite our voyage out of the Texas heat. Each day we drive a little less and the weather has finally started to be a little cooler and definitely less humid. My glasses have stopped fogging up when we step outside. Our air-conditioning vents no longer have condensation on them.   

Less humidity may mean cooler weather but it can also result in a lack of grass. The RV park in Wyoming was all gravel. It made me long for the lush grass at the Oklahoma RV park that our dog Jack positively relished rolling in. 

Oh yeah, about that broken saucer... as we were turning out of the Kansas RV Park, one of our giant tires hit a dip in the road just so, and the sudden jolt caused a kitchen cabinet door to fly open and dishes to come crashing out. I learned that Corelle dishes do break. Luckily it was only one saucer that broke. Ironically, I had forgotten to bungee-cord shut the refrigerator and drawers that normally fly open but this time it was a different door that popped open. I might have to start duct-taping the cabinets shut. 🤣

We’ve seen a variety of scenery already: hills, plains, bluffs, snow-covered Rocky Mountains, not to mention flying cows in Kansas!

Here is our view driving through Wyoming:

We look forward to seeing what the road ahead brings.

Day 2 - Thor in the Wind

We’re taking a more direct route this year to get up to Washington state. So this is Thor’s first time through Oklahoma and Kansas. 

The Oklahoma sticker got added to our map of places where Thor has spent the night. 

Whereas Oklahoma was “okay” (see what I did there?), Kansas was windy as all get out.

“One of the worst crosswinds we’ve had.” So stated Chris as we drove through central Kansas heading west from Salina on I70. The wind was blowing from south to north, so right into Chris’s side of Thor. You could literally feel the wind blowing through the windows on his side and hear it howling. We pulled into a rest area but the truck/RV area was full, so we continued along the highway, battling through the gusts.

Strange banging sounds started coming from the roof and outside of Thor. We found a truck stop to pull into and Chris hopped out into the 30 mile an hour wind to check it out. The cover that rolls up over one of the slide-outs had torn loose. Actually it was the duct tape from a previous patch job that had torn. (You’re smiling aren’t you?) Not to worry, we carry the almighty all-purpose duct tape with us so Chris climbed on the roof and patched it up again.

It was no wonder we saw so many wind turbines. They were getting a workout.

Kansas must be the home of “amber waves of grain” because that’s the phrase that came to mind when I saw the wind rippling through the fields.

At the risk of carrying it too far, how appropriate that the song “Dust in the Wind” was written of course by the band “Kansas”.

We passed a sign for the “World’s Largest Czech Egg” tourist attraction in Wilson, Kansas. But Chris was not in the mood to see it. He wouldn’t let us pull over in “Russell”, Kansas either (home of Bob Dole) for a photo op.

On top of all this, the Astros were losing big time as we were listening to the game on the radio. 

Interesting way to spend our 32nd wedding anniversary. Through good times and bad, we’re still truckin’ along.... Happy Anniversary Honey.