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RVing Journal:

On December 26th, after spending time with my Family for the holiday, I went to Kalaloch Campground (click here for pictures). I had the week of Christmas off and didn't have to return to work until the 2nd of January. I left for Kalaloch at noon and didn't get there until after 5PM. It was pitch dark and raining but I managed to get a nice campsite even though I couldn't see much. It really was miserable weather; I was soaking wet by the time I got the tow car disconnected from the RV.

On the 26th, all I felt like doing is staying inside the rig and let the rain pass after I got set up. The next day I finally got a chance to level my RV a bit better and go on some walks with the dog. It was very windy and not much fun outside but by late afternoon, the wind calmed and I was able to have a campfire. From there on out it was calm with only a sprinkle of rain on occasion for the remaining of the week.

My friends Dean and Marilyn showed up on Thursday. I had held a beach front campsite for them. They arrived late but I had a campfire going. We stayed up late talking around the campfire. As usual, it was a fun time with friends. My friend Roger showed up the next day and then his wife, Cindy, and daughter Darcy on Saturday. We had quite the party on New Years eve that I won't even get into other than saying it was wild.

Over all, this was a wonderful time with good friends at a wonderful place. I highly recommend Kalalock campground in the Olympic National Forest particularly this time of year.

I'm looking forward to the upcoming trip at Kalaloch. Kalaloch is in the Olympic National Forest on the Olympic peninsula of Washington State. This is an annual campout that I take with close friends (Dean and Roger with their families) but we don't always go to the same place. We liked Kalaloch so much last year that e decided to visit it again this year for this trip.

The month of December has been a good one. I'm looking forward to the time over at my Sister's place on Christmas eve. We plan on exchanging gifts in the White Elephant fashion as usual except instead of prank gifts, we give good gifts of no more than a 50 dollar value. It works out good and no-one has to buy more than one gift. With the Niece and Nephew being adults now, we don't buy them separate gifts and they participate as we do.

I went to the Lights of Christmas in Warm Beach Washington on the 22nd. It was very nice. Over a million lights. I'll be going back there again next year (Without that wacky women).

I went to the Annual Halloween Campout this weekend. Was a ton of fun as usual. The difference this time was that not as many people showed up. Actually wasn't any less fun though.

This summer was an interesting one. I didn't go out RVing as much. I found it difficult to go out as much as I would have liked to. I didn't even update this website as much as I should have. But, with that said, it was still a fabulous time other then the heartbreak of a errant relationship., O'well, I got over it and learned from it.

The year at work has been pretty good. I have enjoyed the freedom that the company I work for gives me. I also really have enjoyed the travel even though I sometimes have pissed and moaned about it. It's been a challenge yet I feel like it's been rewarding at the same time. Never before have I felt a part of a company as I do now. I only hope I can maintain that relationship with the company. Hell, I even voted for them as best company in Seattle.

The year ahead looks positive but I must say that I have a lot to resolve in my life. Hoping for lot's of RVing and lots of work. I'm also hoping to get myself headed the right direction regarding my love life. Only time will tell.

I went to the PNWCO11 this spring. It was a great time with good friends. I'm looking forward to the next time.

The Season is starting now. Sunny days and they are long. I'm hoping this year will be a good camping (RVing) year but time will tell. This year is a bit different than the past year. I'm looking for a companion to enjoy my time with. Someone that enjoys the same things I do. I suppose time will tell how this Endeavour goes.. In any case, I'm looking forward to this RVing season..

I haven't done a whole heck of a lot of camping this year yet. Took a few trips to Tolt McDonald campground, one to Razar State Park and one to Deception Pass State Park this year so far. Those were all short weekend trips. Now that we are getting into the Spring months, my RVing should become more regular.

This year I decided it was time for a new car. Something a bit more reliable. It's not that the Festiva wasn't reliable but I was always worried about driving it more than a few miles away from base camp in boonies where there was no cell service just in case it broke down. It came down to three cars. The Toyota Yaris, Hyundai Accent, and the Ford Focus. The Yaris was the top of the list. Because the Yaris was a 2007 model, it was hard to get one with the options I wanted. There were only several hatchback models available in the entire state. After about 2 months of thinking on it, test driving and reading info, I decided on the Ford Focus. Click here to see the new car.

The next trip planed is the PNWCO11. This year it's in BC, Canada. After that it's Memorial day weekend but I'm still not sure where that's going to be.. Onward to the summer. :-)

I went to the PNWCO mid September. This is a twice a year campout with friends from the newsgroup, rec.outdoors.rv-travel. We have had these campouts now for 5 years and is a regular event that I attend in the Spring and Fall. We now have about 15 families attend. This Fall the campout was at Grayland Beach State Park. We had fabulous weather. This makes two in a row with excellent weather.

I stopped off at Brady's Oysters in Westport on the way down. This is a favorite stop of mine as they have the best fresh smoke oysters I've ever had. They aren't cheap though, but I was happy to give them my money for them fabulous smoked oysters. This trip I got to try out my new laptop with Delorme's Street Atlas software. I also bought a GPS and it worked very well directing me there (even though I already knew the route). Which brings me back to Brady's Oysters since they had free WIFI. I was able to check my email and browse the internet while sitting in their parking lot eating smoked oysters.. ;)

I met a character from the newsgroup for the first time, Bob Giddings. He's from Texas but was on his way back from Alaska and driving through at the right time so he decided to stop in and visit for a couple days. We all had a great time and I found his company a great addition to the campout. Hope he can make it to future campouts.

We had the normal Saturday evening potluck and, as usual, everything was fabulous. I think everyone ate too much but that's part of the fun. Dean, the host this time, then gave out the gifts. I won a nice battery powered lantern. I really needed a good battery powered lantern and this fit the bill exactly.

The magic PNWCO host's wand was passed to Wade and he accepted the job. He decided on having the Spring campout in Chilliwack, BC. Everyone thought it was a good pick.

Most of us stayed around the campfire late into the evening talking about everything from cell phone internet to high priced RVs. Another great PNWCO in the books. I look forward to next year's Spring PNWCO. For pictures, click here.

I took this trip Mid-August, 2005. I had the week off from a Wednesday to the next. It kind of sucked that I didn't get a weekend on both ends of the trip, i.e., it limited where I could go in the short time.

I ended up going to the North Cascades National Forest for 3 days. I stayed at Colonial Creek campground which is on the banks of Diablo Lake, 11 miles east of Newhalem on highway 20. Weather cooperated and was a nice time. I hiked the Thunder Knob Trail on day one of the trip. Mostly I just relaxed and took in the nearby sight seeing of the Diablo dam at the lookout points along the road.

I then went to Clear Creek campground which is on the Mountain Loop Highway just south of Darrington, WA. I visited Bedal campground afterwards which is 8 miles down a washboard single lane road not really suitable for an RV. Nice campgrounds but Bedal's campsites were much smaller than the informational flyer at the ranger station suggested.

I took this weekend trip the first part of August, 2005. I ended up going to Gold Basin campground. I had never been to this campground previously. I had left after work on Friday, around noon and was concerned I would have a hard time finding a campground with spots available since it was such a nice weather weekend. I arrived around 2PM and, luckily, not all campsite were reserved or taken yet. I found and paid for a nice campsite as shown in the pictures here.

I was impressed with this campground. I didn't know it until I arrived, but it's also the largest campground in the Mt Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. It has free hot showers and a river-front public access beach. At 18 bucks a night, pricey though.

There were a few mosquitoes but not too bad. A little Deet kept them at bay. As a matter of fact, I didn't get a mosquito bite until the morning and that was due to not using Deet before going outside.

All and all, this was a superb campground and I highly recommend it. I will be going back later this year or early next season to this campground. This campground closes October 2nd and reopens May 20th.

I took a trip with just the dog to the Washington Coast the first part of 2005. This was a fun time because I had plenty of head time and it was nice to go to places I hadn't been before.

The weather wasn't too bad; however it did rain at times, temperatures were moderate. I went to several campgrounds but I didn't take too many pictures other than at Kalaloch campground in the Olympic National Park simply because I didn't remember to or had already taken pictures on previous trips. I started at the Kalaloch campground and worked my way down the coast. Kalaloch is a fabulous campground located near Destruction Island off the coast of Washington state. Camping fee was $12 a night so not only the price was right but the campground was one of the best I have ever been to as far as location of sites in relationship to the ocean.

The worst campground I stayed at was Ocean City State Park. Campsites were muddy and the walk to the beach was near a mile. Thanks but no thanks. Ocean City is the only campground that I stayed at during this trip which gets a thumbs down from me.

It's interesting how easy it is to meet people while traveling. I met the friendly gentleman who was camping in the campsite over from me at Kalaloch. He was a wealth of knowledge about the area and all around good guy just to socialize with. We talked about everything from Politics to RVing. It turns out John is a ex-college professor of Philosophy who was writing a fiction book while he camped. It seemed every where I went this trip, I met nice people. At Fort Canby I met a nice couple who noticed I was alone and asked me to join them at their campfire so I did. Had a nice evening around the campfire with them enjoying a friendly discussion. I liked my time alone, but I also appreciated socializing as time all alone for days on end gets a bit lonely. On this trip I had a good mix of time alone and socializing time with people I met along the way.

I had never been to Grayland Beach before. I arrived Friday morning to rain. The rain never stopped. I took a walk down to the beach in the rain with Roger (who arrived to the campground just minutes after I did). We were soaking wet just 30 minutes later. Changed cloths then set up the table canopy & the RV awning and started a campfire in the rain. The campfire didn't last long before we decided to go back inside our RVs.

Kyia was soaking wet and I wouldn't let him up on the furniture even though they were covered with blankets. I laid a blanket down on the floor for him to lay on. He liked being inside in the warmth and dry just the same as me though. I stayed inside the RV for the remainder of the day watching movies (except to patch a new-found leak in the RV roof skylight <sigh>). It was just too stormy to be outside (the makeshift roof patch held very well for the entire time).

Deano and Family arrived late Friday around 9PM. It was pouring down rain. I wanted to go help him setup but decided there wasn't much I could do so I stayed inside and peered out the window while I talked with him on the FRS radio. He wasn't enjoying the setup in the rain.. I wonder why.. <grin>

I dozed off late Friday then I was startled awake at Midnight to the sound of a siren in the distance and severe winds blowing my RV awning aggressively side to side. I had to get up and get dressed to put up the awning before it was ripped off the side of the RV. Kyia followed me out the door even though I wanted him to stay inside. I was in no mood to watch the dog or get him back into the rig so I let him be. It was pitch dark except for my tiny RV porch light.

Just as I had gotten the awning rolled up and locked down, a truck stopped on the road. A lady hollered out the windows, "what is the siren on the beach for". I hollered back, "I haven't a clue". As she was pulling away, out of the darkness I saw the shadow of Kyia cast from the truck headlights; I realized he was headed directly in front of the truck. I yelled out quickly and sharply "STOP". Luckily for Kyia (and me because it only *almost* gave me a heart attack) the lady stopped the truck immediately. I was really flustered by this time. I ran over and grabbed the dog and said goodnight to the nice lady in the truck. At that point, Roger came out of his rig and hollered over to me "do you know what the sirens are for" (thinking the lady in the truck was a Ranger telling me what it meant).

Roger walked over and I explained I had no idea and that the lady in the truck asked me the same thing. He explained that he was also rolling up his awning for fear of it ripping off the side of his rig. We noticed that my table canopy was ripped up off the ground and was resting against a couple trees. Roger and I discussed it and decided the table canopy would be OK for the evening resting against the trees (neither one of us wanted to spend the half hour it would have taken to disassemble it). The sirens had stopped by this time so we figured it was OK and wasn't a tsunami.

Saturday morning I awoke to sunshine. Kyia casually opened his eyes when I got up then quickly went back to sleep. I made coffee then looked out the window. Oh sh*t, the table canopy poles look to be broken.. I got dressed and went outside to surmise the damage, Kyia finally awake enough to follow me out the door. Sure enough, two poles and one connecting brace were broken. Oh'well.. It was only a 35 dollar table canopy. Maybe I can buy parts online later. It's just not worth worrying about. Later, we found out the the siren was for a fire and was intended to alert the voluntary fire department (go figure).

It went much better after the first day/night. All was well on Saturday. Kyia and I went for several walks on the beach during the day. Jim and Sherry dropped by for a visit on Saturday afternoon. Roger C and Family came over for a dinner potluck. We watched a movie that Deano had recorded and gave me (Air-America, an HBO Documentary). Roger, Cindy, and I walked down for the sunset on the beach. Later that night Roger started a nice campfire. Deano came over and we all stood close to the fire listening to Art Bell (along with other AM radio stuff) and talked. Kyia even had a little excitement when he spotted some Badgers near the bathroom (Kyia has such a keen sense for animals near by). Anyway, Saturday was a good day and we all needed a good day after the terrible Friday we had.

I left for home around 9:30AM Sunday morning. It was a nice, relaxing, and uneventful drive home. Another RV trip in the books. I really do like Grayland for the layout and the beach access. I will be going back there (hopefully when there is no rain).

I went to Fort Stevens for the last week of the year, 2004. Met up with Roger M.. It was a spectacular time... Roger and I met-up at a pie place "The Berry Patch" on HWY 30 in Westport, Oregon heading towards Fort Stevens on Sunday Dec 26th. He had pie, I had a BLT for lunch. Was great food.. He bought a pie on the way out. Merionberry makes excellent pie as he shared it later on this trip. After the stop, we then convoyed to Fort Stevens, about an hour drive. We found adjacent sites ( after some looking) and we set up camp. No rain until Tuesday and then only a bit. We had great weather, really, for this time of year and there were lots of others there in the park too enjoying the time.

Raccoons, I hate raccoons and I'll tell you a little why.. Raccoons came to visit us every evening after dusk.. Nice raccoons and impressively huge raccoons but they were raccoons that Kyia, my dog, just wanted to eat. The problem was, they would have eaten Kyia if he were off leash.. There was no question in my mind that kyia wouldn't be coming back if he broke his leash and ran after them.. He wanted them bad.. Ran to the end of his leash so many times that I was afraid he was going to break his neck from hitting the end.. Good thing there was a spring on the end of that leash.. I tried everything to scare those raccoons away.. They would just run away a little then come back.

I'm absolutely positive if I didn't have Kyia, they would have been fine. They just didn't know when to stop.. BTW, A grown adult pretending to be a big growling animal running at them does not scare them. They just look at you funny, like you must be confused, then run a little if you get within 5 feet or so.. I know what they really wanted is food but was worried if I feed them that they would be back all the time (as if they were not back all the time to pester).. I'm sure others fed them when in that campsite hence they were around looking for more while I was there.

Back to the trip report, Roger made a very good Cajun tuna. I made Chili one night and Curry another. We both took our turns cooking.. He also brought a ton of firewood that lasted the entire time.. We also went shopping every other day into town and went to the beach..

On Jan 31st we both left and convoyed back on HWY 30 for about two hours until we reach the turnoff at the Lewis and Clark bridge. . He went south (home) and I went north (Washington).

I stayed at Seaquest state park the night of the 31st and Roger made it home that day. It's an entire different story but I'll tell you this: Seaquest State park is a mud pit and I'll never go back again. It's no wonder it's a park as it is obvious after a little rain that it turns into mud.. No perk on that land thus no build if septic is required. I.E., A little rain, a lot of puddles and mud.

I went Teanaway River campground this weekend with Deano and his wife. The weather forecast looked real bad but that never stopped us before and it didn't this time. I left work early on Thursday and arrived by 5PM. Deano had been there already for several hours and nabbed the best site on the bank of the river. Deano and I partied a bit Thursday evening.

The bad weather rolled in on Friday mid-day. We had sun then all of a sudden out of no-where, it rained sideways for about an hour. The wind kicked up and was blowing our table canopies around like tumbleweed as we both rushed to steak them down. The rain and wind died down as fast as it came. We had no rain after that for the entire weekend and there was sunshine both Saturday and Sunday. The weather man was foiled again.

Friday evening Marilyn arrived and we all had a nice steak dinner and watched the presidential debate outside on my portable TV connected to Deano's satellite dish.

Saturday we went up to check out "29 Pines Campground". Not bad at all and, in some respects, better than Teanaway River Campground. Both are free campgrounds and a good deal at twice the price.. <g> For pictures of this trip, click here.. For more info about Teanaway and other pictures of an earlier trip to Teanaway, click here.

I went to the semi-annual PNWCO a few weekends back and had a great time meeting up with the group from rec.outdoors.rv-travel. I've gone to all but one of these 8 campouts and the people seem like family extended family. For pictures click here..

Got Bad news on the Tuesday after the PNWCO. The company I work for is closing it's doors and all of us 160 employees will be looking for new jobs. This came as a very serious shock to me as I didn't foresee it at all. I've worked there for near 12 years and it's really going to be a difficult road ahead for me but I'll land on my feet and I hope all my co-workers do too. I had just gotten a promotion and just crossed over to 4 weeks vacation per year. The real bummer to me that I'm going to miss all my friends that work there. The reason behind the closure is the economy. I certainly won't be voting for Bush on November 2nd and I hope you don't either.

I went to Beckler River campground this weekend. The weather was fabulous on Friday and early Saturday. Was near 80 on Friday and partly cloudy on Saturday morning.. Then it rained, and it rained, and it rained non-stop from about 4PM on and didn't stop... Oh well, we had a rain canopy for cover.

Roger C., and I were the only two on this trip. Roger was in site 23 and me in site 18. It was very similar to a double site as both were adjacent to one another.

Roger brought his new battery powered scooter and we had a blast riding around the campground with it. That little scooter has some real speed to it. It was a kick.

Jackie and Wayne Jones who live in Skykomish (about 3 miles from the campground) came to visit with us on Saturday. It was fun to see them again. I know Jackie from where I work; she retired several years ago. These campouts at Beckler river are a great opportunity to see them again and are becoming an annual event. Wayne brought a pile of dry firewood as usual (thanks Wayne). We all sat and chatted for a few hours. Next year I'm going to make them stay for dinner..

The weather wasn't the greatest but the the campground was good, and the company was great. To see a web page with pictures of this campout, click here.

This weekend I went to Salmon LeSac. I left Kirkland on Friday around 11AM after working a half day. Traffic wasn't good until I hit I-90 and didn't get to the campground until around 1:30 or 2PM. When I got there, the campground was near full. This surprised me as I was thinking since it was raining and the weather forecast sucked that it would be wide open. Then I realized it was so full because of the fire ban as it was one of only a few campgrounds that allowed campfires due to the fact that they had onsite fire fighting ability. I believe this was one of only 4 campsites in the county that allowed campfires. Kind of ironic since it was raining cats and dogs all day Friday. I understand, though, that Friday was the first rain in weeks and I wouldn't be surprised if the authorities removed the campfire ban on the other campgrounds after this weekend due to the drenching they got this weekend..

With the above said, it was still a good time.. The clouds parted on Saturday afternoon.. I had good company with Deano, his wife and his son. It was a good time for all with friends. I really enjoy Deano and his family's company for more than a few reason. One thing about Deano is is political stance. Him and I can talk openly for, literally, *hours* about politics and never once disagree.

I didn't take too many pictures but I do have several panorama pictures to show.. Here is the first picture and the second pictures. Keep in mind that these are large panorama pictures so think twice about downloading if you are on a dial-up connection. Here is a pic that Deano took of Marilyn (Deano's wife), Kyia and me. Enjoy the pictures.

This weekend I went to Rockport state park. The weather cooperated nicely. Not a cloud in the sky the entire weekend and not too hot either with highs around 75-80. I went to the interpretive show about Salmon on Friday night that some State parks Rangers had put together. Very nice show and informative. Met some nice people there; afterwards I realized that the invite on the sign said "no dogs". Whoops.. Oh well, nobody seemed to mind Kyia. This was a trip alone with just me and the dog but did meet some nice people; lucky me, I even had a beer and a nice campfire discussion on Friday with a gal that I met there.

I took some pictures while there but I realized afterwards, not much of a variety so I decided not to make a web page of them. Here is one picture of my campsite in a 360 degree panorama view: (Click here). It's about 3meg so you might reconsider viewing this picture if you are on dial-up.

I woke up early on Sunday with an aching back. I could hardly turn my head.. Oh well, took some Tylenol and continued on. I was home by 11AM.. Back not getting any better, I sat in the a hot tub for an hour or so.. That finally did help.. :-) Woke up this morning again as stiff as a board; damn I must be getting old! Well, I showered and shaved debating all the while to stay home from work then go buy some Doan's pills and relax but I carried on. I got into the car and threw it into reverse then realized I had to look backwards to see.. Well, since I really couldn't do that, I improvised and used the rear view mirror. It was at the stop sign that I decided not to go into work after I realized I couldn't comfortably move my head side to side to see if cars were coming.. :-) So here I am with a stiff neck typing on my computer because I'm bored out of my gored and it's easy to look straight forward at the computer screen.. :-) BTW, Doan's pills don't work worth a damn but a sit in a hot tub works wonders.

Took off in the RV on Thursday morning around 7:30. I arrived at La Wis Wis campground, Mt Rainier, around 11AM. I arrived to warm temps and sunny skies. Roger Martin beat me there by about a half hour and already had the firewood unloaded from his truck.. He bought a ton of firewood and it lasted the entire weekend with a ton left over afterwards. Since we had beautiful weather the entire time, we didn't need all that firewood but really would have come in handy if we had gotten the rain that the weather guys said we were going to get. Every day it was in the 80's. Nice weather, no question.

Roger and I went into Packwood for lunch the first day. Found a nice pizza place called Cruisers.. It was such excellent pizza, we had to go back on Saturday for lunch again.. If you get the chance, check out Cruiser's pizza; you won't be disappointed,. It's a little pricey but well worth it.

We hung out at the campsite just talking and listening to the XM radio for most of the weekend.. Went for several walks to the river. It was a very relaxed time. This is what a long weekend get-away is all about.. Relaxation..

Went to Douglas Fir campground near Glacier Washington in the North Cascades for the 4th of July weekend. This was one of the few trips I've taken this year alone. Well, not really alone, I had Kyia, my dog, with me. I think these alone trips are the most relaxing as there is nobody to entertain and gives time for lots of thought along with catching up on some reading.

One issue I ran into was a rock.. Well, I tripped and fell and my out-reached hand hit a rock. I knew right away from the intense pain that I did some serious damage to my hand. I had no ice in the RV freezer so I dangled my hand in the cold waters of the Nooksack River. Over the next hours, my hand swelled up like a balloon.. Well, maybe not quite like a balloon but you get the idea. I put some ice trays into the freezer and finally had some ice later in the day. It's amazing the things I learned that I would use my left hand for normally. Things you don't normally think about but when the hand is unusable and painful to the touch, you learn real quick. Simple things like buttoning pants or a shirt or tying shoes were very painful. Have you ever tried chopping wood with one hand? It's not easy. Was even hard to drive my tow car as it does not have automatic assisted steering..

So anyway, it was still a good time at Douglas Fir. I returned home on Monday the 5th. By Friday, the pain wasn't getting much better in the hand so I finally decided I better go to the doc. Funny, it turns out I had a fractured bone in the hand.. No wonder it hurt so much. :-)

Roger Martin, Roger C., and family and Deano and family went to Marble Creek for the Summer solstice. Was a fine time and weather couldn't have been better. Temperatures were in the mid 80s. Both Rogers and I shared one site, site 12. It was one huge campsite. All 3 of our rigs fit nicely. We all had such a great time on this trip, we decided to do this annually. I can hardly wait for next years Solstice campout. For pictures, see here.

Salmon LeSac was the place of choice for the Memorial day weekend. Was a lot of fun with Roger and his family. It was a bit soggy due to rain but all and all, it was a great time. This trip was a little pricey due to the firewood AND gasoline. I think that I spent 50 bucks on firewood alone since I didn't bring the chainsaw.. Note to self: bring chainsaw when rain is predicted.. For pictures, see here.

Went to the RV Newsgroup spring Pacific Northwest Campout last weekend (PNWCO7). It was a great time with friends that I've met in the RV newsgroup. This was the 7th PNWCO campout in 3 years that we've had. Over that time, I have met some very fine people there. The weather was OK this time but it did rain Saturday night. No big deal, really, as we had shelter. One of the attendees, Don Bradner, has a Datastorm dish. This dish is a two way internet satellite dish. He connected his WiFi and gave everyone who had a laptop access to the internet. Was rather odd to be out camping and have Internet access. ;) We have rotated the campout Hosts at these campouts. This time I was "volunteered" to be the camp host for the PNWCO8 in the Fall. Traditionally, the camp host picks the place of the campout. There is so many good places to camp in Washington that I had a hard time deciding. After given some feedback, I decided on Deception Pass State Park for the PNWCO8. This is a campground that we had the PNWCO4 at two years ago but I opted for it since most people really liked the area.

I'm getting excited about the season of RVing coming up. I have 4 trips planned for the next two months. This is actually fairly lite compared to years past. With rising gasoline costs (now $2.36/gallon at the local Shell station), I've cut back a little on the planned trips but not too much. I am also trying to save some vacation time this year instead of using it all up early in the year.

Had an unexpected week off from work. The economy seems to be getting better but the company I work for still isn't doing as well as needed to maintain the bottom line. Their solution for that early on was lay-offs. Now their tactic is to close the plant for a week here and there to save on outflow of money during slow times. It was announced just last week that they would be closed for this week. Of course this means I had a week off work that I hadn't planned for so I made the best of it. My good friend, Dean, who also works for the same company also had the inclination to make the best of it so we decided we would go RVing. We decided we should go someplace that has free camping thus decided on Teanaway near Cle Elum, Washington. Roger C., also came along as he hasn't found work yet since being laid off a while back. All of us had a superb time. I would have stayed longer if it were not for a low propane issue. To look at pictures and find out more about Teanaway, click here.

I still have almost a half week to do what-ever. I probably should stay home and get some yard work done but now I'm debating heading out on Thursday or Friday for the remainder of the week. Roger C., is going the Olympic Peninsula this weekend and asked if I wanted to tag along. Might convoy over with him on Friday morning.. With gas prices now at 1.98/gallon at my local gas station, I probably shouldn't but it's hard to resist a good weekend out with friends. I have the RV out front and basically ready and loaded. It's just a matter of getting in and going but not today.. I'm going to wait to see what the weather is going to do..

Went to Birch Bay state park this weekend with friends.. An excellent time and a great park. On Friday when I got there it looked like it was going to be a fabulous weather weekend. As soon as Deano arrived it started raining.. Surprisingly, that rain only lasted about 20 minutes then the clouds parted and it was sunny as fast as it had earlier turned to rain.

We all were in close proximity in the campground. Rudy, Roger, and Deano all showed up just a little while after I did. Marilyn, Dean's wife, showed up after dark since she had to work a full day on Friday. On Friday evening Deano and Marilyn wanted to go out to dinner and I wanted to tag along.. We took my toad (since 3 in their truck is too crowded) up to Birch Bay (the town) and had dinner in a nice seafood restaurant.

Saturday I finally made it down to the beach.. Spent a few hours looking at the kits flying and the people wondering around.. The view of the mountains was superb.. I only wish it was a bit warmer. It really is a nice area and I can see why it's so popular during the summer..

On Saturday we had a potluck dinner. Plenty of food. I think I ate too much. Marilyn made her Apple crisp for desert in the Dutch oven and on the campfire. Was fabulous. Later we found an open area to look at the stars with Deano's telescope.. Saturn and Jupiter were amazingly sharp..

Another fine trip in the books.. I now have another favorite campground to visit. To see pictures of this trip, click here.

I haven't done any RVing since the post Christmas Trip to Deception Pass. RVing is starting to get a bit more thought since the days are getting longer and warmer. This weekend will be the first trip this year and am looking forward to it but not looking forward to de-winterizing the RV..

It's really been a busy couple months since my last note here. Kyia, the doggy, has had several issues requiring a few vet visits but he is doing much better now. He's around 10 years old and his age is starting to show. He's looking forward to this weekend's trip in the RV and still acts like a puppy when he knows we are going out in the RV. He really is my RVing buddy.

I refinanced the RV earlier this month even though I hadn't planned on doing so. I couldn't resist a 5.45% interest rate so followed through and closed the loan. The new loan will pay the balance off earlier than the original term.. It was a can't-go-wrong decision, really.

As some of the family and friends know, my Jeep keeps breaking down and the last two months was no exception. This time the alternator went.. Got it replaced along with the belts. Now it's not cranking right when starting.. Seems slow.. I think I fried the battery when the alternator went a rye. Not sure about the shop that replaced the alternator since I would have thought they would have checked for that. The alternator is working correctly but I don't think the battery is. 1989, Jeep and is starting to show it's age more than the dog. Of course, I'd rather have the dog than the Jeep, no question, but I'm still trying to get another 5 years out of the Jeep (hope the dog outlives that time span).

Another issue I dealt with is my lousy internet server of this web page.. After two years of paying 60 dollars per year for only 50 meg of space, I finally took the plunge and switched providers. You are currently viewing this site from the new service provider (even though you are visiting the same site). All documents were transferred and it was completed Feb 11th 2004. I now have 250 meg of space for 1/6th the cost per year and also have a few add-on functions as well. This change was long over-due. It was just a matter of the "hassle" factor stopping me before.. ;)

TAX TIME.. Well, not any more, it's done and been dealt with as well.. I took that little part of my life out earlier rather than later this year.. ;)

Busy busy busy... That's not all that the last several months threw at me but that's all for now on the news page... Thanks for visiting.