Cats and Answered Prayers

After moving into our house in 1992, we went to the local humane society and adopted PC (Presiding Cat), a gray tabby. Because we both worked full-time, a year later we adopted another cat from there, a white one with tabby spots. We named him Partner, because we wanted him to be PC's partner. From this photo, you can see they really are friends—at least most of the time.

Tuesday evening Partner began having a great deal of abdominal distress. About midnight we discovered he had vomited twice and was still miserable. We thought he might have a bowel obstruction. I slept on the couch so I could watch him overnight. In the morning we left early to arrive at the animal hospital in Astoria by the time they opened at 7:30. We drove west across the Young's Bay Bridge to their office. They checked him in and asked how they could reach us later in the day. Since the fish hatchery is more than 20 miles from the vet, we decided to wait in Astoria for a call on our cell phone.

So what to do in this small town in the rain? First we drove to Fred Meyer's, a store much like Wal-Mart, with a large grocery section, clothing, hardware and all sorts of other general merchandise. At the in-store Starbucks, we bought coffee and a scone. Next we drove back east on the Young's Bay Bridge into downtown Astoria and visited the tourism office for information on Portland, where we plan to visit next weekend.

Back west on the Young's Bay Bridge to the Chevy dealer to have two bolts replaced where our new transmission is connected to the truck frame. Next, we went to the Visitor Center at the Lewis and Clark National Park. We didn't stay long, but picked up a brochure so we can plan a quality visit when we aren't so worried about our sick cat.

At ll:30 we went back east on the Young's Bay Bridge, joking we had better not stop and take pictures or Homeland Security would be wanting to talk to us. We had lunch and the Pig 'n Pancake. Then back west over the same bridge to pick up a few items at Fred Meyer. We received a call from the animal hospital, asking us to come in to meet with the vet at 2:30. We didn't know if that was good or bad news, but it didn't sound good. We decided to drive a few miles south along the coast to the tourist town of Seaside, which has some shopping. We looked around for about an hour, and then it was time to return to the vet.

We left there very worried. Partner might be in kidney failure and he might have lymphoma—a cancer often found in older cats. Our two cats are really part of our family and we were very discouraged. We left him with the vet for another 24 hours so they could give him fluids and antibiotic treatment. When we arrived back at the RV we faced the second major problem of the day—our furnace didn't work! Since it has been raining and only in the 40s and 50s, our one small space heater really won't keep us warm enough, except when we are sleeping.

Thursday morning we went to work—to make up for spending Wednesday in Astoria. At least we had work to do to keep our minds busy till we were to call the vet at 12:30. We also made an appointment in Longview, Washington, for Tuesday afternoon to have the furnace repaired. That means we drive our home and our cats there and fill the time till it is repaired. We will do a major grocery shopping while we wait.

When we did call the vet, we were told Partner was doing much better and they wanted to schedule a pick up time. That was one prayer answered. We were due there at 2:30, so I quickly made a grocery list to carry us till Tuesday, drove to Astoria, over the Young's Bay Bridge to the Fred Meyer and then to the vet.

Hurray! Partner doesn't seem to have kidney failure, he was just severely dehydrated. He probably does have lymphoma, but those symptoms can be controlled for some time—maybe a month, maybe a year. On the way back to the RV, we stopped at a hardware store and bought an additional space heater. When we returned to the trailer, it warmed up nicely and quickly with both heaters running. A second prayer answered!

But remember the two cats cuddled up together? Forget it for now. Partner has never spent a night at the vet's before. PC has. And when we bring him home, Partner will hiss at him. PC never does that. But he is obviously very put off by the strange smells Partner picked up at the vet's. He won't eat when Partner is around, he won't let Partner get near. So much for their close friendship—at least until Partner again smells like Partner.

Living in the Northwest

It's not so much traveling that we enjoy, but living in different places and learning what life is like there. These two Coloradoans are learning how to cope with drizzle and rain for days on end. We bought rain jackets, and a week later rain pants. The jackets are really useful. They are great wind-breakers and help keep us warm when it is damp and maybe a few raindrops fall every few minutes. We have found that 50 degrees is much colder when it is cloudy and humid than when it is sunny and dry.

People who live in the Pacific Northwest, and probably along the northern Atlantic coast, learn to live in this. As I wrote before, when we were in Klamath, California, and on a rainy day told a woman where we were headed, she said, "You'd better get used to this." We are used to staying inside when it rains. If we do that here, we will never be outside. I remember a friend in Granby telling me that when they lived in Seattle, their kids played soccer in rain and snow. In Colorado, little league soccer games are canceled in that kind of weather. I'm not sure about pee wee football. Our sons never played that.

After a week or more of cool, rainy weather, the sun came out Wednesday afternoon. And by Friday Oregon was in the midst of the high heat wave gripping all of the West Coast. We have been able to watch the folks who live here celebrate the sun and warmth with shorts and outdoor activities. We even saw an Astoria police officer wearing shorts, just like two of the workers here at the hatchery. We understand how they feel. Life is just better, no matter what you are doing, when the sun comes out. And you need to wear clothes that celebrate that. Yesterday the high temperature was 93 and we turned on the air conditioner. Both the warmer temperatures and air conditioning help dry up some of the humidity in the RV.

In the volunteer jobs we have had over the past four years, we have learned about people who work in state parks and about the National Park Service, and now we are learning about fish hatcheries. We also are hearing and learning about the US Coast Guard.

From what we have read and heard, the Columbia River bar—where the river meets the ocean—is the roughest there is. We visited the Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria, where we learned more about the US Coast Guard, as well as about river and bar pilots, fishing along the Oregon coast. We also went aboard the US Columbia, a retired lighthouse boat.

Yesterday we visited Fort Stevens State Park. The fort was built during the Civil War and served as a US Army base until the end of World War II. In 1942 a Japanese submarine launched several rockets at the fort. The wreckage of the Peter Iredale, an English sailing ship, still lies on the Pacific Coast in the park. The ship ran aground during 1906 while headed for the Columbia River.

We rode our bikes for over seven miles on the wonderful paved bike trails in the state park. In places both sides of the trail are lined with blooming Scotch Broom bushes

Mole Hills

Don't make a mountain out of a mole hill. I have heard that expression all my life. But since I have never seen a mole, or evidence of a mole, it didn't mean a whole lot. Now it does.

Here in Oregon there are lots of moles, I guess. Or at least one very busy mole here at the hatchery. Anywhere we see green grass, we find these hills of brown dirt. I wonder if the moles are digging out so much dirt that their tunnels will cave in after a big rain.

I still haven't seen a mole. But I can see where they have been.

What we do see each day are these two ducks. They live here at the hatchery and one of our responsibilities is to feed them each morning. John usually is the one who goes down there with the feed and they quack and quack and waddle around, excited about breakfast coming over the fence. Here they are, wondering why he is pointing that black box at them instead of giving them their food.

The Mother That Wouldn't Give Up

This is the storage shed we told you about here at the host site at Gnat Creek Fish Hatchery. We have found we have to be a little more careful than we had been with what we put in the shed.

A mother field mouse wants to use the shed as her nursery! Early last week we found a mouse nest—about 7 inches in diameter—on the outdoor rugs we had unrolled on the floor of the shed. We put them there to dry out and planned to use them next to the RV when it stops raining. Mother Mouse liked our rugs. But we picked her and the nest up on a large shovel and moved it outside. We also moved out everything made of cloth so she couldn't chew up a blanket we use to wrap the king-pin stabilizer in when we travel and some towels the cats ride on in the truck.

Two days later she built a second nest, this one in a flower tray that had been left in the shed. We moved that out back.

Well, our persistent mother built a third nest, in the corner behind a plastic basket. This time we decided to leave Mama alone so she could have her babies and raise them. We do wonder how many baby mice we will have building nests in a couple of months.

Happy Mother's Day!

Gnat Creek

We've arrived! Gnat Creek Fish Hatchery has been our destination since we left Colorado. We are signed up to volunteer here for two months. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has 30 hatcheries around the state where volunteers can park their RVs for the duration and help out in any way they can. We know nothing about fish hatcheries, but at Gnat Creek hosts mainly help maintain the grounds while the full-time staff takes care of the fish.

Gnat Creek is 19.2 miles (our Garmin mapping GPS is very exact) east of Astoria on US Hwy 30. We are in Oregon's temperate rain forest, so everything is very green. It is amazing how rich the soil and how fast things grow. We have spent most of our first three days of work cutting grass, pulling weeds and marveling at the rich, loamy soil.--nothing hard and rocky like we experience in Colorado.

Our site is great—wide, level concrete, with 50 amp electric, good water that has good pressure. We also have a storage shed! That is something we have not had before. We can store some of the things that would usually fill up the RV basement, plus keep our bikes out of the rain. And it does rain a lot here. That is why everything is so green. Our site overlooks the hatchery tanks.

Yesterday they vaccinated the young Coho salmon. Yes, they vaccinated fish that look to be about three inches long. To do that, they lower the water level in one tank, use screens to herd the fish to a small area of the tank, then dip about 20 pounds of fish at a time out with a net, immerse them in medicated water for 30 seconds, then release them into the larger end of the tank. It is hard work and took three staff members over five hours to complete. Two at a time were standing in knee deep water for long periods. The water is cold; the air temperature was below 50. We were glad our job was to clean flower beds.

Oregon Coast

So far we have spent 8 days on the Oregon coast. It is cold and wet, but certainly beautiful. We have learned a new phrase—sunny breaks. That is when the sun shines for a short time between clouds and rain. Wednesday morning we took advantage of a sunny break to run 3 miles. Tuesday evening we took advantage of a sunny break to walk on the coast at Nehalem Bay State Park.

The Oregon state parks we have stayed in are great—good sites, well maintained, and in lovely locations. The nightly rate is very reasonable for a hook-up site--$16—and there is no day use fee on top of that. In April, the winter rates are still in effect and we have seen very few campers.

The coast has several lighthouses. We saw the Cape Arago one while hiking the Pacific Coast Trail out of Sunset Bay SP. And we visited the Cape Mears Lighthouse while staying at Nehalem Bay. There were many nesting birds on the rocks near this lighthouse—many we had never seen before.

Another interesting place to visit while at Nahalem Bay was the Tillamook Cheese Factory. The dairy farmers of Tillamook Country have been using their milk to make cheese, ice cream and milk for many years. Because of the demand for milk and cheese, there are

dairy farms all over the county. It sometimes smells like a feed lot. I have seen Tillamook cheese in the stores in Colorado and it was really interesting to see how it was made. The tour is free—but the gift shop and cheese sales shop get enough to pay for the tour. We

bought cheese for ourselves and gifts for our grandchildren and the son who takes care of our house as we travel.

One night at Nehalem Bay there was a group of about 20 tent campers from a local school. The next day, in the rain, we saw them riding the Pacific Coast Bike Trail. More power to them, but I wouldn't want to bike in that weather.

Since we left Klamath in California the truck—which just had a new transmission installed—has been making strange noises. So in Tillamook, we drove to a Chevy dealer to have it looked at. We really felt God was with us that day. The service department was fully booked, but a mechanic was sitting in the service office, waiting for a late appointment. When John described the problem, he came over and said, "Do you want to take a ride?" John said yes. All it took was drive around the parking lot and he said, let me put it up on the lift. He discovered the shop in Northridge had neglected to install two bolts that secured the transmission to the truck frame. The two bolts corrected the problem and now the truck sounds like it should. Hurray!

Between Sunset Bay and Nehalem Bay, we drove 200 miles. We saw great views of the ocean and drove through local farm communities. In one place we passed a huge field of daffodils. They must have been raising them for sale or something; we have never seen so many in one place. It was beautiful.

We may be at sea level, but it is early spring here, just like it is in Colorado in late April and early may. The crabapple trees are blooming and the other trees have the soft light green color of new foliage. We are excited to see what it will look like when everything fully leafs out.

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Coos Bay, Oregon

I don't know when this blog and its photos will be posted, because we don't have internet access at Sunset Beach State Park in Oregon, but I need to report on our wonderful day on Friday, the 25^th of April.

Thursday we drove here from Klamath. It was a beautiful drive through the Redwood forest then up US Hwy 101 along the Oregon Coast. We even saw some cranberry bogs. As we entered Oregon, we stopped at the Visitor Information Center. There we encountered the most informed and helpful person we have ever met in such a facility. She asked where we were headed and gave us every possible pamphlet and booklet covering everywhere we will be in the state. By the time we left, we were excited about what we would learn and where we could go while we are here.

Sunset Beach State Park is beautiful. The hedges between spaces are well-trimmed azaleas. We walked to the protected beach and watched the seagulls before dinner.

All day Friday was a delight. First thing, we were able to do our 3-mile run, the first in over a week. And this is the first time we were able to run along a sandy beach for that run. Anyone who remembers watching the movie Chariots of Fire, will have an idea of what that feels like. It was great.

Louis J. Simpson was a pioneer lumberman and shipbuilder in the Oregon area. He built a summer home on a bluff high above the Pacific Ocean 13 miles southwest of Coos Bay, called Shore Acres. He suffered financial losses during the Depression, causing both house and grounds to fall into disrepair. In 1942, Simpson's beloved Shore Acres was purchased by the state of Oregon for use as a public park.

We toured the formal gardens on the site. Even in late April (which for us is early spring) they are beautiful. The Japanese-style garden surrounds a 100-foot lily pond and has many varieties of azalea and rhodendron.

Shore Acres State Park is one mile south of Sunset Beach and one mile north of Simpson Reef. This lookout is also named for the lumberman. This lookout gives the opportunity to view offshore rocks, islands and reefs that provide breeding and resting areas for sea birds and marine mammals. We saw (and heard) California Sea Lions and saw Harbor Seals today. The public is not allowed to go out to the islands, but the overlook provides a good view, close enough to hear the see lions barking.

We also drove around Charleston, North Bend and Coos Bay and had a great seafood lunch at Captain's Choice Restaurant in North Bend. Coos Bay is the largest deepwater port between San Francisco and Seattle. However, we saw only small fishing boats today.

After days of rain, today was sunny and a wonderful day of exploring.

A Change in Plans

Today was supposed to be a travel day, but we woke to rain and the prediction of more rain for today and tomorrow. So we have decided to stay here in Klamath till Thursday. We couldn't see any point in breaking down in the rain, driving in the rain, and setting up in the rain when we couldn't go enjoy the ocean we were driving to. And there is a chance we would have encountered snow along the way! When we went to pay for two more nights, the woman in the office asked where we were going to work in a fish hatchery. When we told her "Astoria," she said, "well, get used to this weather." We'll see over two months, I guess.

We are using this day to work out, catch up on finances, blog and print photos. We are so glad we decided to hike in the Redwood forest yesterday! It was a beautiful hike—cold, since the temperature was only in the mid-40s. But the beauty of the Redwood trees, ferns and all sorts of other greenery everywhere is hard to believe. The trees are so tall it is impossible to capture it in a photograph. We tried, though, as we hiked three and one-half miles on the South Fork, Rhododendron and Brown's Creek trails just north of the Prairie Creek State Park Visitor Center.

The hike begins with a steep uphill climb, rising 650 ft in the first section. That brought us to where we could look down on some trees, not just up. Everything—trees, leaves, trail—was shiny from the rain overnight. The silence is amazing, broken only by a small gurgling creek and a few small birds. We did not encounter any other hikers on our trail.

In places where a Redwood tree has fallen, other bushes and trees begin to sprout along the trunk. Ferns grow in the hollow spaces of dead trees. Everything is so lush and fertile and green, unlike the fragile high altitude environment we are most used to in Colorado.

Our first day here, we noticed a Big Sky Montana trailer and saw the owners also belonged to the Montana Owners Club, an on-line association of RVers. When we talked to David and Jo-Anna, we learned that they are headed to Alaska this summer, so we got together yesterday for a glass of wine and good conversation about RV travel and the wonderful travel to Alaska.

We always try to get ourselves plenty of time to get from one place to another, so we aren't forced to travel in bad weather or feel rushed. That gives us the freedom to do what we did today. We can just relax and go with the flow.

California Scenery

        For the past three days we have been traveling through the incredibly diverse landscape of California.  We started Thursday in Castaic (Santa Clarita in NW Los Angeles) and today ended on the north coast of California at Klamath. 

 

        In the Los Angeles area we had noticed the steep-sloped hillsides and many canyons, covered with green spring growth, poppies and numerous yellow and white-flowering bushes.  Very soon, driving north on I-5, we moved into smooth, rolling hills covered by soft green grass and little other vegetation.  It was a sudden change of topography and plants. 

 

        Next, we moved into the flat, open Central Valley of California with mile after mile of wheat field, hay field, vineyard, and orchards growing pecans, pistachios and almonds, with some olive orchards as well.  We have long thought each farm field should have a sign along the highway, telling city-dwelling motorists what is growing there.  It sure would help us to know what we are looking at.

 

        We spent the night at a very nice RV and golf resort in Chowchilla, on California Highway 99.  The town has lots of new construction.  The RV park is two years old and lovely.  Each night's stay includes a round of golf for two at the course next door.  As we walked around the next morning we saw some of the impact of the current housing and credit crisis.  A sign advertised an upcoming auction of 34 houses in the developments around the golf course.

 

        As we drove north from Chowchilla to Redding, we saw more farm fields.  Then the road began to climb toward Redding and we were among low hills, more dense vegetation and wild flowers.  Redding is an attractive city and we arrived for "Cool April Nights," a classic car show that has been held for 19 years.  We were glad we had called ahead for a reservation.  The weekend included cruising by the old cars, a drag race, pancake breakfasts and a concert.  Nearby, the town of Red Bluff had a rodeo over the weekend.

 

        The trip from Redding to the Pacific coast showed us another side of California's scenery.  We were in the mountains most of the way, even though we only went up to an elevation of 3,200 feet.  There were pine and spruce trees, heavy undergrowth and steep grades as we drove California 299 to Eureka, then US 101 north to Klamath.  Much of the first half of the trip we could see snow-topped Mt. Shasta.  It is beautiful.

 

        I've always know lupine as a cultivated garden flower.  We saw whole hillsides covered with it today.  Also numerous red bud bushes and trees, flowering crabapple and apple trees and many unknown yellow, purple and white flowers.  The beautiful drive included several 6% and 7% downhill grades, as well as one 8% grade.  But there wasn't a lot of traffic on the mainly two-lane road without much shoulder.

 

        For two or three nights, we are staying at Camper Corral in Klamath, at the mouth of the Klamath River, where it empties into the Pacific.  We are here to see Redwood National and State Parks and explore whatever there is to see.

 

        I wish I could share photos with you, but we carry our bikes on a rack on the front of our truck.  Most of the scenery we see includes bike handles and seats, so it isn't very photogenic. 

 

        We started this trip March 21 and were snowed on that weekend.  In Arizona and southern California we saw warm weather and even a little bit of summer—80s and 90s.  Today, between moving to the sea coast and encountering a Canadian cold wave, we are back into the 40s—for the high.  In less than a month, we've seen quite a change.

 

Back to Normal--We Hope

Today we were able to pick up our Chevy truck with its brand new transmission, ready to pull our 5^th-wheel trailer down the road—we hope. It's been a long week. Los Angeles isn't a bad place to spend a week. We have enjoyed good weather, toured the Reagan Presidential Library and the California Poppy Reserve and eaten good Mexican food. But we felt helpless when we couldn't tow our trailer and travel whenever we wanted to. And this isn't where we planned to spend a week.

But now we are ready to move again—north through California to the Redwood National Park, then on to a couple of stops along the Oregon Coast before we begin our volunteer assignment at Gnat Creek Fish Hatchery in northern Oregon.

We're grateful to the folks at Rydell Motors in Northridge for their good treatment when are truck needed repaired. And we're ready to get "on the road again."

Glorious Color

The only other time we traveled in California, it was mid-summer. Now it is spring. So, as we drove down the road Monday, we wondered what the bunches of bright orange flowers were that we saw in nearby fields. Finally, there were flowers close enough to the roadway we could pull over and look at them. They were the California poppies that we were on our way to see at the California Poppy Reserve, but didn't expect to see the flowers so soon and didn't realize that is what they looked like.

At first, there were small bunches of flowers. Then they started to line the edge of the road and the edges of farmers' fields. Next, we came to whole fields full of the gold-orange flowers. In places they grew between the sage brush, providing wonderful contrast to the gray-green bushes.

At the Reserve, run by the California State Parks Division, there were ribbons of orange down the valleys, poppies growing with other purple flowers, a whole landscape of gold and orange. We are so glad we were able to see the poppies this week. They are at their height of bloom. The annual Poppy Festival will be this coming weekend.

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The Saga Continues

Now we know what is wrong with the truck and we have an RV site where we can stay till it is repaired. But it wasn’t easy to get to this point. About 7:30 pm Wednesday evening Jeff called from Rydell Motors, telling us the transmission on our truck failed. They removed the pan (whatever that is) and found metal pieces. Thursday they would order a new one.

I told him we could stay where we were only through Sunday. He told us best case, they would find a transmission locally and we would be OK. If not, it might take a week!

Thursday we did our grocery shopping and looked for another RV park. That afternoon, Jeff said they were working on finding someone to move our RV that afternoon or Friday because our new transmission was coming from Wyoming, of all places, and wouldn’t be here till Tuesday or Wednesday.

We notified the park where we were staying that we would be out on Friday and made the reservation at Valencia Travel Village a few miles north on I-5. Friday, after stewing and fretting most of the day because we weren’t in control of the moving of our RV and we didn’t know when it would occur, at 3:30 pm a former Rydell employee finally arrived with his truck and fifth-wheel hitch to tow us to Valencia.

This is a large, open park right next to California Hwy 126, one mile from I-5. Our site is large and shaded, with quite a bit of highway noise. We will enjoy our time here, waiting and being tourists in Southern California.

Saturday we drove to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley. This is the fifth presidential library we’ve seen in the past three years. It is interesting—focused on the close relationship between President and Mrs. Reagan, her style as First Lady, and Air Force One and the role it played in Reagan’s presidency. I feel President Truman’s was perhaps the best library we have visited. We learned so much about the issues he faced and life in America after World War II. We also have visited the libraries of Presidents Lyndon Johnson, George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

We had planned to be nearly into Oregon by Wednesday. Instead we will still be here. But, since we have a time schedule for the repair of the truck and we are safely parked for the duration, we hope to really enjoy our time here. During our two months in Oregon, the temperature will probably only get into the 60s most days. So, this is our time to enjoy summer. Yesterday it was 92 degrees, today it is already 95.

This Has Never Happened Before

Today was certainly a new experience. We have never been driving down a city street, applied the brakes and had the truck lock up—not able to move forward or in reverse. But that is what happened today. First we drove 160 miles from San Diego to Northridge in the northwest corner of Los Angeles. That, in itself, was a real fete. It went amazingly well. No real congestion, no problems. Just a long, rather tense drive. We arrived in Northridge at the Walnut RV Park—a clean, well-kept park with lots of long-term residents.

After setting up, we left to buy groceries. Driving down the street, John stepped on the brake approaching a red light and we heard a grinding noise and the truck stopped abruptly. It felt like the brakes on the RV had locked up, but we weren't towing the trailer. John turned the truck off, waited, then started it again. We drove another block or so, then had to brake again. Same problem. John got out and looked under the truck. He couldn't see anything. We punched the OnStar button and asked them to do a diagnostic. Nothing seemed to be wrong. Again, we drove down the street, braked, grinding noise, abrupt stop. John was able to move the truck to the side of the street, into a parking spot. Push the OnStar button again. They called Chevy Roadside Assistance. They called a tow truck, found the nearest Chevy dealer. They even knew what street we were on! Amazing. We just had to give them the address.

When the tow truck drove into Rydell Chevrolet in Northridge, the service advisor walked up and said, "What is going on? That is a brand new truck!" We agreed—what is going on? We learned our warranty and Roadside Assistance covers a rental car while the truck is being repaired. For the next hour or so we dealt with renting a vehicle. Back at Rydell, we found they had hoisted the truck onto a lift and four or more technicians were looking at it, trying to determine the problem. At least they were taking it seriously. We imagine all of them were eager to see what could go wrong in such a short time.

We returned to the RV park and told them of our problem. The real problem—for them, at least—is that we are unable to move our trailer out of the site we have rented for only two nights. And they have someone coming in to the site in two days, and another person coming in Monday for a month. At this point, who knows what we or they will do about all of this?

At 7:30 this evening we learned that the transmission will need to be replaced. And this truck has only been driven 3,600 miles! The question is, how long will it take to get a new transmission here? And where what where will be park the RV in the meantime? We are in the only park in town.

We feel very blessed that the transmission didn't go out as we drove along the I-8, I-805, I-5, or I-405 through Los Angeles. That would have truly been a nightmare. We travel with two cats, who wouldn't have liked riding in a tow truck. And we would have had to have the RV towed, as well. God was truly watching out for us.

Now we ask, Lord, please help us solve the problems coming up of where and how we move the trailer if the truck isn't repaired by Friday.

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New Experiences

No matter how long we RV, we keep experiencing new things. In 1988 we borrowed John's sister's very old tent trailer for a trip to the East Coast. That fall we bought our own Coleman trailer. In 1997 we bought our first 5^th wheel trailer.

Still, this past two weeks we have seen so many new things. All across southern Arizona there are RV parks, Park Model Parks and storage lots built to accommodate snowbirds. We are in Yuma, Arizona, and half the town seems to be RV parks and winter residences. The estimated population here in 2006 was 86,000. I wonder how many people are here in February.

In Florence, AZ, between Tucson and Phoenix, we stayed in a park where they are selling lots to RVers, as well as offering long-term space rentals and storage. Desert Gardens RV Oasis is a beautiful park with large sites and excellent facilities. They are truly surrounded by a desert garden. There is a trail that encircles the park that is nearly one mile long and passes through beautiful desert flora. It was a delight for running our three miles. Plus, there is so much oxygen here for running!

Before we checked into the I-10 RV Park in Benson, we used a car-RV wash. While we were waiting in line, a man approached our truck and told us about Western Horizons parks and gave us a certificate for four nights free in one of their parks if we would listen to a 90-minute presentation about the campground network. Since one of the parks was in Yuma, we decided the price was right for four free nights lodging. Saturday morning we will learn more.

There is a difference between RVers who have 5^th-wheel and travel trailers and those who have class A motor homes. Part of the difference is the amount of money they spend cleaning their rig. The biggest difference is that motor home owners really like to shine up their rig and clean the windshield. In Benson we watched our neighbor spend more than 30 minutes polishing his windshield and the front of his coach. He used two or three cloths to clean each area. I have never worked that hard to polish silver at our stick house. Since we don't care for our rig that way, I guess we can never buy a motor home.

On the south edge of our park here in Yuma there is BLM land with boon docking sites. A camp host oversees the registration site. Campers can stay 14 nights for $30, unlimited nights for $60. A nearby gas station has a dump station and sells water. We have heard of this camping. Even seen it as we have driven by recreational rivers in Colorado and Utah. But this is the first time we have seen it in the desert. The countryside here may be warm in the winter, but it isn't very pretty. Staying for two weeks where there are no amenities, no trees or other plants, doesn't sound very interesting. At least the RV parks here have landscaping.

Here in Yuma we are right on the US-Mexico border. Thursday night I watched 5 Chinook helicopters looking for illegals crossing the boarder. Among the materials we receive when checking in to our RV park was a notice reading: "While you are here you may experience brief interruptions in your cell phone service as well as interruptions in wireless internet or satellite television. This is due to the highly sophisticated surveillance devices used by the Border Patrol to detect illegal aliens crossing our border." We hear about these issues on the evening news. But, living far from the border, we haven't experienced any of this till now.

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