A Stop in Rhode Island and a Long Drive to DC

We left wonderful Maine and headed to George Washington Camping Area, a state park in Rhode Island near Providence. It is a nice wooded small wooded park on the Bowdish Reservoir.

Can you see a little bit of our motorhome in the trees below.

We were not on the water but just a short walk from it.

We took a drive and made a stop at Trader Joe's. We hadn't been to one for awhile and were happy to get some of our favorites. 

Unfortunately while there at our no hook up site, we had what turned out to be a battery problem. Joe had called a Freightliner Dealer and he had Joe do a few tests to eliminate what would have been more serious and expensive problems. Friday morning we left early and got to the Dealer which is in Connecticut at 8 hoping they could get to it first thing. Well 3 hours later they were able to look at it and immediately determined we needed new batteries. They were in bad shape. They were the original batteries and we were lucky to have them last as long as they did. It was around noon when we finally left. We had thought about gong directly to Cherry Hill Campground in College Park, where we will stay while exploring DC. However, it is around a 7 hour or so drive and we would be getting there pretty late, especially if we hit traffic. So we decided to make an overnight stop at Elk Neck State Park, where we stayed four years ago when we traveled the east. It was suppose to be around 4 1/2 hours away. Or so we thought. OMG!!! What a mess. Traffic was horrendous.  As we were already pretty far south in CT and near the 95, we went that way. The closer we got to NYC, the worse it got. We tried to get off the 95 and take a different route but Gracie, our GPS, kept trying to direct us back to the 95 and New York City. Finally we followed her directions and did end up missing the City even if we got back to the 95 sooner than we wanted. Anyway, after being on the road for around 7 hours and still being a few hours from Elk Neck SP, we decided to just stay at one of the Service Centers off the highway. Their Service Centers are much bigger than the rest stops we have stayed at before. Lots of trucks and some rvs staying the night and just a lot of cars and people stopping for a break. They have a large area with many fast food stands.. We stayed the night and then stopped at another Service Center to get something to eat. What a zoo. Hundreds of people there and long lines at some of the food stands. We decided to head straight to Cherry Hill after calling to make sure we could get a spot for a week. 

Well, we made it to Cherry Hill and got a site for 8 days and got some relaxing in on Saturday. Starting Sunday we will be pretty busy as there is a lot to see in this area. Stay tuned for DC adventures.

A Shower in Calif-Baby Shower that is

 

We have been enjoying the sunny, warm days of So Cal and AZ this moment. However, not good that we have had no rain and drought conditions. Hopefully we will get some rain in the next few months. Our money seem to rain out of our bank accounts as well this month. First we had to go down to San Diego to take the MH in for its annual checkup. Then over to Fontana to have the slide and the roof leak fixed as well as a few other things that even with some paid by our maintenance contract still added up those dollar bills. Another big expense came later in the month. More on that later. Oh well, comes with the territory. After a few days or so at Fontana, we headed over to San Mateo Campground, near San Onofre for a night's stay. We had plans to go to Quartzsite and Lake Havasu but first I had a baby shower to go to so this saves a long drive I would have had to take from Jojoba. So, on Saturday, the 18th, we left the campground with Joe driving the MH over to a Irvine shopping area while I drove to my sister Kristi's house for the baby shower for Kori. Baby Kayla will be arriving in February, but first a shower with lots of goodies brought for her. The shower was fun with a few games, lots of good food, good conversations and fun watching Kori open her presents. Nice to see everyone including Heather's sweet baby Amber who is waiting for her cousin Kayla to arrive.

 

After the shower I drove over to meet Joe and we hooked up the jeep to the MH and drove as far as the Indio are for an overnight stay at a Casino and then onto Dome Rock in Quartzsite for another overnight stay. Due to the holiday weekend, I couldn't get a reservation at Cattail Cove State Beach until Monday. The Big Tent Show in Quartzsite started on this weekend and there were thousands of R Vs everywhere boondocking or in the different parks in town. We went into the show and got some more led lights and some new outdoor chairs as our old ones are kinda of worn. We also took our hitch to the Blue Ox people who had a booth set up outside the tent area. Normally it cost over $100 including shipping to get a tune up for the hitch, but they were only charging $25. What a deal you say. Ha. More on that later. We'll pick it up on Friday when we return to Quartzsite for a rally we are attending then.

The next day we had the hour trip with me following in the jeep to Cattail where we had snagged a great spot right in the front near the water. The view below is from our large site. Didn't take any pictures other than the one below as we have been here a number of times. We had a good time. We set up our kayak with the sail and took it out a few times. Unfortunately there wasn't a lot of wind. In fact, I ended up paddling back up stream as there wasn't even wind enough to get us going. Still fun to be out on the water again. As we were near the town of Lake Havasu we took Savannah in for a few vaccinations she needed and the health certificate she needs for Mexico. We have gone to this vet a few times. When she was weighed we saw she is still gaining weigh and the doctor suggested she go on a diet to lose a few pounds or so. So no more people food and limited dog treats. Sorry Savannah.

Friday we left and drove back to Quartzsite to the road runner area where you can boon dock free for 14 days. We met up with the RV Driving School get together. Most of the people there are instructors, but some like us are just people who took the driving school lessons. We had a nice time, with the first night a happy hour with lots of appetizers and a pot luck on Saturday night.

 

 

 

We were having a nice chat on Saturday but had to cut it short to go back to the MH to watch the Stadium Game at Dodger Stadium with the Ducks and Kings playing hockey in 70 degree weather outside. Wish we could have been there. What an event. There are four stadium outdoor games being played by different NHL teams. Ours with such warm temps compared to the next one played in NY with snow coming down.

It was a success with our Ducks again beating our cross town rivals in a 3-0 shutout. We had beaten them previously on Wednesday's game at the Honda Center.

Well, we went to pick up our hitch and what a surprise. Our $25 deal cost us for $600 dollars as it was recommended we trade our old one in on a new one. We have had it about 10 years and it has a LOT of miles on it and so we decided to bite the bullet.

We drove over to Crystal Hill in the Kofa Wildlife Refuge to check it out for possible boondocking but the road is pretty bumpy for a unit our size. The next day we drove on the road to Palm Canyon, also in the Kofa area. It is a gravel road also but much smoother. We found a number of great spots.

 

 

There is a nice hike up into the canyon where the palm trees are located. Palm Canyon is the only place in Arizona where native palms, the California Fan Palm, are found. We were going to hike it but decided to wait as we thought we might move over this way in the MH.

As most of the people in our group left Sunday and Monday and in fact, we are the only ones here as I write this on Thursday, we decided to stay in this spot until Friday. We will definitely keep the Palm Canyon area in our minds for sometime in the future. Joe is busy working as we won't have much or any internet access while in Mexico. Friday we will make another one night stop in Yuma to do some WalMart shopping and prescriptions for Joe. Then we are staying 2 nights at Silver Strand in Coronado and then meeting up on Monday at Chula Vista with the Mexican Connection for our trip down to Escenada. I should have a post or two on that trip once we get back to the states.

Just us

 

Our nearest neighbor

 

Another Desert Sunset

 

 

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Moving Rocks, Boat Ride and RV Repairs

Our site has lots of nice pavers and garden areas to plant bushes, trees and flowers, which we will do in the Fall. There are also a few large areas filled with rocks. Except one of the sections has only a few rocks. So we bought some rocks from the Park and they were delivered in two big piles. We then had to spread them out which is harder than it probably sounds. However, it looks nicer now that it is done. On Saturday, we met up with Chris and Karol. Karol's sister Kelly and brother in law Brian have a nice second home in Canyon Lake, which isn't far from Lake Elsinore, down the road a bit from us. Canyon Lake is a gated community and many of the homes are right on the water, as is Kelly and Brian's. They told Chris and Karol they could spend the weekend there even though they wouldn't be there and so we met them there. It is a very lovely home, nicely furnished and great views from inside and out. They have a boat dock and we went out for a short ride on the boat checking out some of the area.

 

Love that hat

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some houses, such as these across the water from Brian and Kelly's, have a way to go to get to the water. Their's is much closer to the water. We had a nice day, going out for some pizza to bring back to the house where we watched the Stanley Cup Finals between Chicago and Boston. Another overtime game which Boston won this time.

Monday, the 17th, we said goodbye, see ya later to Jojoba and headed to Fontana to have them fix a number of items in need of repair. We thought it would be done early Tuesday and they did spent about 10 hours of labor time. However, everything was not done until Thursday morning. They are a really busy place as they are known for great work. Not the most fun place to stay and not much to do around there but Thursday came and we were finally on our way north. YEAH!!!

We have been up and down HWY 395 many times, especially in our skiing days when the kids were young.We went skiing just about every year for awhile for long weekends and sometimes a while week of skiing. We took our kids and sometimes went with our friends Dave and Sylvia and their kids. Dave and Sylvia were the ones who got us into skiing and we are so glad they did. Anyway we have driven through Lone Pine but never stayed in that area even when we went to Mammoth for summer trips. We happen to read about it in Wheelin It's blog and a few other blogs and so decided to check it out. We got to Tuttle Creek, a BLM campground, which is just a few miles outside of the town. We got a nice spot with a creek in back of the motorhome, and beautiful views of the mountains, including Mt Whitney. No hook ups but water and dump available for $5 charge. No problem as we are only paying $2.50 a day with our national pass.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Eugene, OR for RV Work and Covered Bridges

We spent the first week of staying in the Eugene area at Armitage Park and Richardson Park, both nice county parks. We could only stay at Armitage until Friday, the 5th because the sites were all reserved due to the Oregon Ducks Football game which was a home game. People in this area really love their Ducks, with many signs in shop windows and on cars. We took this time to check out Davis Cabinets. We first just drove over in the Jeep and talked to Amy, part of this family business and she said to bring the RV
 over and Shaun, her husband, would be able to help us. Later that afternoon we did that and as we told Shaun what we wanted, he said come with me and took us to a motorhome in the back that they were working on. The desk they had custom made was exactly what we wanted and so we decided to go ahead. They will start working on it and we will come back in the week of the 15th to have it installed. We also stopped at AM Solar, where we had our solar panels installed in 2009. We wanted to find out the cost of boosting up the system in little more. We hope to boondock a lot this winter to save some money after our expensive, but worth it, Alaska trip. We contacted Carriers and Sons, another family business, regarding our slide problem and arrived there on Monday, the 8th. As they checked it out, it got worse and worse and now can't even bring the slide in as it is totally off and rubs into the inside wall. Ugh, we hate this slide equalizer system which is terrible. Anyway, we are stuck here until it is fixed. After going back and forth with Equalizer for 4 days, it was determined that the rams need to be replaced. This after only being replaced last October. Luckily, our insurance will cover it. The parts will be here Monday, the 15th and once the slide is working, we will head to Davis Cabinets. I hadn't been feeling well for over a week with indigestion and nausea and finally went to a Urgent Care. They took my blood and it tested for the H Pelori bacteria which is linked to ulcers. I am being careful of what I eat and taking acid reducers until we get to So Cal and will see my regular doctor. I have been so lucky to be so healthy but I guess old age is finally hitting me. Yippee. :( .

We did spend one day driving to Cottage Grove, which is  about 30 or 40 minutes south of Eugene. It is a nice place and home to a number of the famous Covered Bridges of this part of Oregon.

We first stopped at Currin Bridge, constructed in 1925 and restored in 1995. It features white portals and red sides.

Currin Bridge

Fall is here and it was a beautiful drive.

Steward Bridge was constructed in 1930 though the heyday of covered bridges building in Oregon occurred between 1905 and 1925 when there were around 450 covered bridges in the state. By 1977, there were only 56. Cottage Grove has the most of any town in Lane County with 7 of the 20 in the county.

Stewart Bridge

Dorena Bridge was built after the construction of Dorena Dam on Row River, forming the present day lake.

Dorena Bridge is one of those you can actually drive through.

Dorena Bridge

We drove along Dorena Lake where the water level is way down. When we were at Richardson Park, which is on Fern Ridge Lake, we were told they drain the lake every year. Maybe, it was the same for this lake.

Below are more bridges. They were interesting in how different each of them were.

Mosby Creek Bridge constructed in 1920 and restored in 1990.

Centennial Bridge was constructed in 1997 by volunteer labor to celebrate Cottage Grove's centennial and sits right in town.

Centennial Bridge

Chamber Bridge and Swinging Bridge were the last two just down the road from Centennial Bridge.

Chambers Bridge

Swinging Bridge

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