On the road finally! Travelling through Washington, Oregon, Idaho to Utah. September 26 - 28

 Yeah! On the road down the I-90 heading east.

Made it as far as Yakima and stayed at the Yakima Sportsman State Park for our overnight. We did stop at the rest area outside of town, but found it really hot and not too comfortable with the lack of room for the slides and all the traffic, so moved on to a pay site. Here's a couple of pictures Ray took from the Rest Area.

Fred G. Redmon Memorial Bridge

Selah Creek looking the other direction from the bridge.

Glad we decided to move to somewhere else, as it was hot outside and in the coach so 2 heat pumps running it took an hour to cool of the inside. Fortunately at night it cools off, so 8pm I turned off the last heat pump running and just open the windows for the night. We only hooked up power as Ray tried the water and it looked gross. We have a full tank anyways.

I had a great sleep but not so Ray. After all this bending and twisting over the past few days trying to repair things, the pain in his back woke him up at 3:30. Hopefully he has a better day today.

We were on our way at 7:45 this morning to get to Les Schwab Tire Shop to have the lug nuts checked on the front tires. P&R Truck Centre in Duncan installed new brakes last month and we needed to make sure they were tight. Back on the road at 8:15am with no charge. Thanks guys. Just after Pendleton we stopped for fuel for $4.97 a gallon. Cheaper than Washington but not by much. Back on the road to Hilgard State Park where we ate our lunch. This park was Freya's favourite with the creek right there. Miss her. We've stayed here overnight a couple of times. $10 per night with no services other than garbage. After lunch we took a bit of a walk to stretch our legs, then back in the coach to carry on.

Hilgard State Park,  La Grande, OR

Back on the road toward Farewell Bend State Park. Quite a bit of paving going on, so took a little longer. Boy did we hit some big bugs. The windshield was cleaned only an hour ago. lol Definitely high desert landscape. It was so hot that at 1 pm I started the generator and turn on the heat pump while we were driving as the dash a/c could not keep up at 88F outside with the big glass windshield. This happened yesterday afternoon as well. Glad we have options. :)

Arrived at Farewell Bend by 2:30 in site #42. The drive today is easier on Ray with minimal packing up in the morning and minimal set up upon arrival. As we have a full tank of water, empty waste tanks so we are only hooking up power.  

Last time we were at this park was our first trip south with our fifth wheel October 20th 2012. Freya kept barking at the cows next door. It was also cold then sitting outside, with me all bundled up. With the dog after travelling she just wanted to be outside. This time, 9 years later and 3 weeks earlier it's 88F and I'm inside with the A/C on until it cools down later this evening.

Sitting behind the 5th wheel out of the wind!

Glad we got here when we did as by 3:30 more rigs started to arrive. 

Farewell Bend State Recreation Area is named after Farewell Bend, the last location where emigrants camped and watered along the banks of the Snake River after following the river for over 300 miles. The next morning they would turn northwest and head into the desolate Burnt River country.

Not too far from the recreation area is the location of an 1860 battle between Snake River Shoshone Indians and emigrant travelers. The site is marked by a small, iron cross that is visible from Highway 30. Follow the short path from the highway to reach the site. Interpretive exhibits tell the story.

At 4 Ray headed out in the car to "see what there is to see" in regards to pictures. I am making dinner for the first time since we left :) Spaghetti with my frozen sauce I made earlier. He headed out at 6 pm to get the "golden light".

This was the first opportunity for him to wander around with his camera.

We enjoyed a quiet night even though A/C ran most of the night, as it did not cool off that quickly. Ready to hit the road to Utah today.

Tuesday morning we were on the road by 8:45, heading further south. Stopped in Boise Idaho at the Walmart for fresh produce to hold us for the next week while exploring the Flaming Gorge. Long day as we planned to get into Utah today and stay at the Earp and James Hitching Post RV in Snowville, UT.  This will be the last chance for a full-hookup to get all my laundry done and empty and fill our tanks ready for our next adventure. 

We lost an hour with the time change and arrived at 4:15 pm Mountain Time. After setting up, I started work on our laundry. Sure love having it in the motorhome. Another reason to stay at this out of the way RV Park is that they have a great diner, 2 minutes away by car to eat at. The Ranch House Diner is smack dab in the middle of cow country so we figured the steaks should be good and we were not disappointed. With travelling so much, we've not been eating very much or very well as no time to cook. 

Steak and potatoes with a lovely green garden salad, all for $21.99 each. That was our breakfast, lunch and dinner today., :)

This one got enough points for you Jim??

After dinner, I kept up with the laundry. No sitting outside, those darn biting +Black Flies were terrible and tiny damselflies that get through your screens on the windows. Needless to say I ran A/C instead of opening windows!

Ray stepped out to take some sunset shots, beautiful.

Good Night Snowville Utah!

Up at 6 with the time change so early for us again. Apparently it was quite windy during the night and Ray had to lower our satellite dish.

Beautiful sunrise as well.

Everett, Seattle Space Needle and Chihuly Glass Garden - September 23 - 26

Sept 23, Friday morning, all four loads of laundry done. Motorhome packed up and we headed over to Interstate Batteries where they installed the 10 AGM replacement batteries. $$$$. While that is being done, we drove to Patty's Egg Nest a short distance away for breakfast. The size of their menu is unbelievable! This is just their breakfast menu.

Their portions are huge! 

By the time we finished eating and stopped at Safeway for a few things, the MH was ready to go. Fast and efficient, done in an hour. Last time in 2017, Ray and Steve put in the new batteries which took some time, then Ray took a couple of hours the next day to do all the jumper cables between batteries.

City water connection appears to be fixed. Slow leak in rear tire is not leaking anymore? Phones are working as is Satellite TV. Batteries have been replaced, now we just need the slide to be fixed and we are good to go for the winter. :) Fingers crossed, knock on wood, etc.

Ray called several RV techs on Thursday but only one guy answered or had time to see about our malfunctioning slide. Tracy did not make it Thursday night but came at 1pm on Friday after we were back at the RV Park. Tracey used to work on Tiffin RV's so had a fair understanding on how our systems work. After 2 hours of trying and replacing the controller still no go. He did teach Ray how to "jump it" using a battery to get the bedroom slide back in for travel though. if this should happen to us again. At least it is in for travel not sticking out 4 inches! He will continue to fix it on Monday morning once he has some more parts/wiring harness. As we were only able to stay one more night, Saturday, at Maple Grove, the shop is letting us stay in their yard for Sunday.  So we are ready for them to continue to work on the slide control first thing Monday morning.

We met some neighbours next door, Andrea and Mike, who have a much worse problem. Their truck died on the I-5 pulling their 25 foot Fifth Wheel. Their friends brought their fifth to Maple Grove and go back and tow Mike and Andrea's fifth here while Mike waited 4 hours for a tow truck to tow his truck to somewhere it could be fixed. Took 2 days but he got his truck back tonight. Ray drove him so he did not need to take a taxi. They will be on their way Saturday morning to catch up with their friends in Oregon. They are from the lower mainland in BC.

The people on the other side of us, have an Allegro Red. They also are having a slide issues much worse than ours .... Tracey took a quick look after packing up his stuff from us and their whole gear and motor are hooped. It will be very expensive and at least a week to get parts. They still plan to visit Vancouver Island before heading home to California.

Ray called his Aunt and his cousin about catching up as they live in Lynnwood only a couple miles away. Unfortunately everyone at his Aunt's house are sick and his cousin Nicki and husband are away for the weekend. New plans ... we decided to go bright and early to the Seattle Space Needle and the Chihuly Gardens and Glass.

Saturday morning we left early at 8:30 to miss all the traffic and timed it perfectly. The I-5 is steady and parking easy. 

Seattle Space Needle

Getting there early we had no real wait for the elevator to take us up to the top of the needle. While going around the walkway, a drone came up to glass right in front of our noses! It looks like a big bug in the picture below. People were commenting how rude the operator is and Ray turned around an pretended to moon it. At that moment, the drone came right at us and hit the glass pretty hard and then fell to the ground. People around us were cheering its demise.

Who knew I would later find it while walking through the outside of Chihuly Gardens of Glass! I handed it off to one of the attendants.

Inner working gears on the glass floor below the observation deck. Ya I know... socks and sandals!

Chihuly Gardens of Glass  

Chihuly Garden and Glass is an exhibit in the Seattle Center directly next to the Space Needle, showcasing the studio glass of Dale Chihuly. It opened in May 2012 at the former site of the defunct Fun Forest amusement park.

Over the course of five decades, Chihuly has explored new and old techniques, pushing the boundaries of contemporary art. He draws inspiration from the world around him, creating statements using color and form to capture the imagination, and catapult beyond conventional ideas of function and beauty.

This stuff is amazing. Hard to image that it's all made out of blown glass.

Indigenous Blanket Display

Traditional baskets with blown glass vessels.

You pass through a room to the next display where the ceiling is all lit up with blown glass works. Stunning.

This room contained two boats.

The next room had a whole bunch of chandeliers.

Coming out into this room full of flowers.

This room was huge holding a whole undersea display.

Ray even took a video of the above display. Huge.

So intricate

This is the roof of the glass house.

A walk through their outside garden display.

A great hour wandering around.

Next up, a fabulous lunch at the Crab Pot Restaurant on Pier 54. We left the Chihuly Garden at 11:00 and managed to get another parking spot ($38 for 2 hours) close to the pier and were served lunch by 11:45.Ray always wanted to try an authentic crab boil, and it was delicious. Dungeness Crab, Snow Crab, shrimp, andouille sausage and clams and mussels with potatoes and corn. Also including a warm loaf of sourdough bread with lots of butter. We shared an order and it was still huge. 

And there it was ..... Gone!

We did go for homemade ice cream afterwards while we explored the rest of the pier. 

Inside the building they had arcades, shooting gallery and a carousel. This is also where we got our homemade ice cream. 

Walking back to the car, Ray snapped a few pictures of the waterfront.

When we left, there were lineup's everywhere as it's a beautiful warm sunny day and there were also 2 cruise ships in port. Home by 1:30 after a wonderful morning. Rest of the day we spent sitting outside enjoying the day. At 4:30 we received a call and Tracy the RV Tech wanted to stop by and try something else. He did and it did not work either, but it gave him a better idea on how to fix it..... so fingers crossed for Monday, especially as the slide is now sticking out a few inches again.

Sunday, moving day again. We lifted the jacks and headed for the repair shop to spend the night after Ray fueled up the coach so we are ready to leave town, hopefully tomorrow afternoon. Not a great view but we are tucked in behind their building so the traffic noise is somewhat deadened. So we test out the new batteries. 

After a minimal set up, we headed out to Costco for a couple of things we had forgotten to buy and then over to their big outlet mall as Ray is trying to get a new pair of sandals. Lunch was at Robin's Burgers and we also got a small pizza to take home for dinner. Ray's back is pretty sore, so time to just sit and relax and have a quiet night. We both slept for nearly 10 hours last night as we are exhausted.

Monday morning we got up after a restless night. This spot was not the safest in the area. We saw a few questionable people hanging around during the afternoon. Ray double checked all our outside lockers to make sure we were locked up tight. Fortunately everything stayed quiet but we definitely kept an ear open.

Tracy managed to rewire the control for the bedroom slide and was able to do it within 2 hours. Yeah! By 11:15 am we were finally on the road to start our winter trip. He had to take off the panel covering our water/black/grey water tanks to be able to feed the new wire through. This guys a wiring genius. He was badly injured in the Iraq War, hand cut off, bayoneted in the stomach etc. He managed to be rescued and was fixed back up amazingly with full function after they reattached his hand, fixed the bones in his neck. The scar on his stomach is quite ugly (he showed us) but he is just happy to be alive. What a guy.