Corning to Vacaville

Sept 13^th

A beautiful day! Blue sky, sun and mid 80’s forecast for this afternoon. Since we have a short mileage day (under 120) we take it easy until around 9:00 when Tina tries to bring in the bedroom slide and nothing is working. I got on the phone with Les Schwab in Clinton where we bought the batteries in March and they told us to call the Corning branch. 

I called the Corning Les Schwab and explained our situation. They agreed to send somebody over with four replacement batteries and install them for us. The technician was here by 10:30 and had the new batteries installed 45 minutes later. We only paid for a service call – the batteries were replaced under warrantee. With the new batteries in place the slides came in, we buttoned up for travel and were on I-5 by 11:30 headed for a fuel stop about 75 mile south. Since we had to keep our speed at 55mph (three of more axles) I found a semi doing 55 and followed him down the highway. 

We got off the freeway at MM 554 and pulled into a Pilot Travel Center. These are huge fuel centers for truckers with up to 15 fueling islands to allow trucks to fill tanks on both sides at the same time. We were third in line and there were five lines of trucks next to us, three deep! Since we’d be there a while, Tina went over to the attached “Wendy’s” and got us some lunch. Half an hour later we had filled up and returned to I-5. 

On our pad at Vinyard RV Park

Turning onto I-505 to San Fransisco we made the next 28 miles to the Vinyard RV Park with no incidents, registered and pulled into our spot. Once we were set up and took the dogs for a walk Tina pointed to the front of the car and the back of the coach and asked me where all the dirt and soot was coming from? It was all over everything, even the safety chains for the trailer and tie downs for the car. 

I was pretty mystified. I disconnected the car and had Tina drive it off and park it. Then I took the bikes off the bike holder and set them aside, they were grimy too. Then I dropped the bike holder and opened the door to the engine compartment to see if I could see anything that might be a problem. Nothing. So I got the wash bucket out, put some dish soap in it and started to clean everything. On close examination, it looked like particles of soot and they were on every horizontal surface all the way to the top at the back of the coach as well as on everything else, car, kayaks, bikes, trailer, unghhh! What a mess. 

I finally concluded that the problem was caused by following the trucker down I-5 at 55 mph for 70 + miles. The soot was actually carbon particles from his exhaust stacks. Put into the air above his cab and picked up by the airflow over our coach, sucked down behind us in the down draft and then deposited on everything in the turbulence behind the coach. This stuff wasn’t oily, it was like lamp black. 

Two hours later I quit trying to get everything clean deciding to wait until I could do a better job when I had more time at our Carmel stop. I got the car back on the trailer, bikes on and everything secured for tomorrows travel. Then I dumped the holding tanks, finished a few other minor tasks and called it quits. By now it was 5:15 and I needed a break. So I went inside to wash up and we both puit our suits on and went over to the pool for an hour. 

Back at the coach Tina made a great noodle dinner with scallions, small tomatoes, corn, garlic and parmesan cheese. Called “Papperdelle with Corn” (www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/pappardelle-with-corn-recipe/index.html) it was delicious! After dinner and doing the dishes we had some more of the Blackberry Crumble with a dollop of ice cream – mmmmmmm! With tea! 

What a great way to end a day! 

Today’s miles, 115. Total for the trip so far, 856 miles. 

No photos today.

Ashland to Corning, CA

Sept 12^th

Ahhhh, it’s nice to be on the road with no schedule. Since we only planned to do a short drive today, we had a leisurely morning eventually getting packed up and ready to go about 9:00 AM. We pulled out of our site and got to the entrance where another camper was in the exit lane trying to dump his tanks. Since we wanted to get propane in the main tank, we had to wait for him to finish. 

And this was on the down hill side...

Eventually we were able to pull up and fill up then pulled out of the campground onto OR-66 headed back toward Ashland so we could pick up I-5 south. We got on the freeway about 9:45 and continued to wind our way through the mountains of southern Oregon. Surprisingly the elevations get up to 4,000 feet but seventeen miles after leaving camp we reached the California border. 

Getting ready to start our descent to the Mt Shasta Plateau

Mountain driving is even more intense than driving on the flats – the road twists and turns going up and down to follow the valleys through the hills. Trying to manage our speed and spare our brakes I made good use of our “Jake Brake” keeping our downhill speeds between 45 and 55 and between 40 and 50 on the uphills, enough to play leapfrog with the semi’s, passing them going up, being passed going down. 

Dropping down into the Mount Shasta plateau, the haze was so heavy that Mt Shasta was barely visible until we were within five miles of it. It was still beautiful when we were next to it, but there wasn’t much snow on its flanks. Continuing through Weed, Mt Shasta and Dunsmuir we continued our slow descent down to the flats and the city of Redding. 

Set up in Heritage RV Park

Once down out of the mountains we made good time to Red Bluff only to go past our exit due to heavy traffic in one of the construction areas. No matter, Tina grabbed the Trailer Life Directory and looked for a place in the next city, Corning. Bingo, Heritage RV Park looked like our next stop. We pulled in about 1:00 pm and got a pull through site, set up (no problems with slides this time) and had lunch. 

We took the dogs for several walks around the park to enjoy the sunshine and 90 degree temperatures making sure they had plenty of water. The rest of the afternoon we relaxed, read and watched the US Open. Later we decided to walk to a small Mexican restaurant for dinner and stop at Safeway on the way back. Dinner was surprisingly good for a mall restaurant. We got done with our shopping and headed back to the coach about 7:30 pm. 

The rest of the evening we worked on trip planning, the blog and photos, finally calling it quits around 10:30 after a final dog walk. 

Miles traveled today, 178. Total for the trip so far, 741 miles. 

To see all our photos, go to: 

http://picasaweb.google.com/mjdolanski

Harrisburg to Ashland, OR

Sept 11^th

Another stunning day! We were up around 7:00 to start our day. After walking the dogs, getting their breakfast and then eating our own, it was time to start getting ready to leave. I disconnected the propane (we’re still working off the small auxiliary tank), dumped the tanks and disconnected the sewer hose. After taking then garbage to the dumpster I noticed that the tires on the tow dolly were low. I had pumped them up last night but apparently we have some sort of a problem. So I got the pump out and pumped them up again with the intent to check them when we stopped for diesel. 

Then we unhooked the water line and shore power, brought the slides in and released the jacks. Everything was going well until we heard several sharp, loud, bangs from underneath the rig. We quickly went outside and checked to see if we could find a problem. Nothing! So we started the engine and waited for the air pressure to come up so we could pull out. 

Releasing the parking brake and putting it in drive we pulled out of our site only to have a couple more loud bangs and the coach lurched from one of them. I stopped the coach figuring we had broken one of the springs that pull up the jacks, dropping a jack to the road causing it to catch on the ground causing the lurch.

Great, just what we need. 

Getting out of the coach again we checked underneath and couldn’t see anything wrong. I finally concluded that the air bags (air suspension) made a couple of adjustments in coming up to their final operating level. Back in the coach again we gingerly pulled out of the RV Park and headed for I-5. Easing onto the freeway about 8:15 we came up to speed (about 60mph) and with light traffic we sailed down the road toward Ashland.

Tina and the kids leaving the coach

We made a stop to get fuel and check the tires on the tow dolly (seemed okay) and made the rest of the drive with no problems pulling in to the Glenyan RV Park about 12:30. After registration we got the rig parked, leveled and started putting out the slides. The bedroom slide was okay, the driver side slide was okay but the passenger side slide was once again difficult to get out. Apparently something is binding  but we can’t find what’s wrong. Eventually we got it all the way out, hooked up water, power and cable and had a bite to eat. 

Cap'n Hotshot picking blackberries

After lunch we took the dogs for a walk to explore the campground then spent half an hour picking blackberries. Tina is going to make a cobbler. The rest of the afternoon we watched the Hawks play San Fransisco, read and relaxed. I worked on the blog and our photos. 

Miles today, 199. Total for the trip so far, 563 miles.

To see all out photos, go to:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mjdolanski

Lakewood to Harrisburg, OR

Sept 10^th

Up at 7:30 (hard to keep the kids in bed once the sun comes up) I sashayed over to Mom’s, put the coffee on, grabbed the paper then went next door to Shanda’s and had a bowl of cereal and a banana. Then Shandas boy friend Bob came over to get their coach ready for a drive to Lincoln City. Eventually Tina joined me and we went back over to Mom’s for a short visit before saying goodbye to everybody. Bob and Shanda pulled out around 9:30 and we followed fifteen minutes later.

On our pad at Diamond Hill RV Park

It was another beautiful day but traffic was fairly heavy through Olympia. We stopped in Tumwater for fuel the pushed on south. Just north of Portland we took the I-205 by-pass and avoided the Portland river crossing and bridge mess. Bob and Shanda had cut over at Longview headed for Ashland and ended up being stuck in a traffic jam for over an hour before finally getting into Astoria and heading south on Hwy 101.

Once past Portland the traffic lightened up and we stopped for lunch at a rest stop about 15 miles into Oregon. Once back on I-5 we pretty much sailed on through keeping the speedo between 55 and 60 arriving in Harrisburg and Diamond Hill RV Park about 2:30pm.

Sunset along I-5

We got set up and spent the rest of the afternoon napping and reading, having dinner about 6:30. After dinner we took the kids for a walk around the park, took photos of the sunset and retired for the evening.

To see all our photos, go to:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mjdolanski

Miles driven today, 231. Total for the trip so far, 393.

Mike and Tina’s 20th Anniversary Party

Back Row - Fallon with Makenna, Wesly and Laura, Middle Row - Kylee, Lori, Mike, Tina, Emma, Kevin, Sis, Front row - Amber, Shanda, Melissa, Mom Jarvis and Marni

Lakewood, WA
Sept 9^th

After arriving at Mom Jarvis's on Tuesday, we had a very nice Wednesday, Thursday and Friday with warm weather (finally) and time to relax after our labors at the park. There was time to visit with Laura, Zelon and their two younger boys Dakota (15) and Noah (9). They are on their way to the big island of Oahu. Zelon is going to a new posting and they are moving from Virginia for a four year period and stopped for a week to visit family.

Tina had time to do some shopping for the trip, get her hair and nails done while I washed the motor home and visited with Mom Jarvis. Friday afternoon, Zelon, the boys and I went to lunch at Red Robin for burgers as Dakota had never been there. Later in the afternoon the rest of the family started showing up – Kevin and Sis, Shanda and daughter Amber, husband Chris, daughter Kylee and son Brodie, Kevin and Sis son Wesley, wife Melissa and baby Makenna, our daughter Marni, her husband Daren and daughter Emma, our daughter Lori, Tina's niece Laura, her husband Zelon and their boys Dakota and Noah, Laura's sister Shelly and her daughter Fallon and her boyfriend Mark, and finally Tina's nephew Ron and his wife Dawn. 

Everyone had come to celebrate our 20^th Anniversary and wish us bon voyage. There was plenty of food, of course, and the drinks flowed with chocolate cake for desert, ummmm, ummm, delicious! With such warm weather we all ended up on the deck outside taking lots of family photos. Finally about 9:30 we did a quick cleaning, helped Mom Jarvis back into the house and wrapped up a really nice day.

Tina and I finally hit the sack around 11:15 since we didn’t plan on leaving until 10 the next morning.

To see all our photos, go to:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mjdolanski

SWSP To Lakewood, WA

Mike and Tina’s Excellent adventure Continues…
Sept 6, 2011

The alarm went off at 6:30 AM, unghh, roll over to shut it off and come face to butt with our smallest dog, Punky. Of course, once the kids know we’re awake it’s time to bounce around the bed and say “Woof, woof, grrrr, arff!” (Pet me, pet me, oh yeah, ahhhh).

Well, no point in laying about and so starts another day on the road. Yes, that’s right, on the road. After all we’ve been camping here at South Whidbey State Park since April 13th, but today we are leaving our Camp Host duties behind as we start trekking to our condo in Naples FL.

With our morning wakeup routine over, the dogs walked and fed, we had a cup of coffee and some breakfast. The past few days we had wrapped things up at the park, put things away, washed the cars, put the Mercedes in storage, loaded the kayaks on the car, swept and folded up the outdoor carpet and basically got ready to leave. Everything was in hand to get on the road early.

I fired up the rig to let it warm up and went to pull in the slides… nothing doing. The batteries were dead. With the generator running we gave it about twenty minutes and finally got the slides in – whewww! Then, with a lot of jockeying, toooing and frowwwing we eased our way out of the site and got ourselves pointed in the right direction. we attached the tow dolly and I headed out of the park and up to the entrance where we hooked up the car and headed for Sedro Woolley.

Our first stop was JR’s RV Service to have him check out a couple of problems. We got there about 9:30, dropped the car and disconnected the tow dolly. Since we needed to do something for the next several hours we went into town and mailed a package at UPS then drove out to Riverside Park where we spent a couple of hours walking the dogs, reading and enjoying the warm weather. From there we went back to town and had lunch at the town diner before returning to JR’s.

Dangggg, a Dingggg

They still needed another couple of hours so we went back to the car with our books for an hour then went back to a small park in town to walk the dogs. We finally wrapped everything up at JR’s and were headed for the freeway when I noticed a crack in the drivers side windshield.

Since we were close to the Burlington Camping World we pulled in and had one of their service techs take a look at it. He recommended we research a place in LA where we could get it replaced, call them early and make arrangements to get it done while we were there since we planned to stay in that area for a week to ten days.

With that out of the way and keeping a wary eye on the crack we headed for the freeway for the drive to Tina’s Moms house in Lakewood. Three and a half hours of white knuckle commuter traffic later we pulled into Mom’s driveway, set up the rig and collapsed for the evening.

Miles traveled today, 150. Total for the trip so far, 162 miles. To see our photos, go to:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mjdolanski

Maui Vacation

May 27th

The long awaited trip to warmer weather finally arrived. We left our motorhome in South Whidbey State Park at 4:00 AM and caught the 4:40 ferry for the Mukilteo and the drive to the airport. Leaving our car at the "Extra Car" car park, the shuttle took us to our check-in at Alaska Air to check our bags. Twenty minutes later after passing through security, we met Marni, Darren and Emma and had a bite to eat for breakfast.

The flight, though long, was uneventful as we landed at Kahalui Airport on Maui. The sun was shining, soft breezes carried the scents of Plumeria and Bouganvilla as we picked up our bags and made our way to Budget where we picked up our rental car. Then we were off to our lodgings at the Kaanapali Beach Club (http://www.diamondresorts.com/Ka%27anapali-Beach-Club-Photo-Gallery) arriving around 1:00 PM Maui time.

After checking in we changed clothes and headed downstairs for a bite to eat before heading for the pool and beach. It was a beautiful day even though the winds were fairly strong and the surf was running. Later that evening we went into Kaanapali to the Castaway Cafe (http://www.castawaycafe.com/) for dinner on the beach.

After dinner we all retired to our rooms to rest up and get ready for the next day.


May 28th

The sun woke us up coming through our bedroom window. Tina made coffee and a little later everyone gathered in our room to discuss breakfast. We decided to try CJ's Deli and Diner (http://www.cjsmaui.com/). After breakfast we headed into Lahaina for a bit of a walkabout and a little shopping.

Parking at the south end of town we walked back to the big Banyon Tree in Banyon Tree Park (http://www.hawaiiweb.com/maui/html/sites/banyan_tree.html) where there was a very nice arts and crafts sale going on. We spent an hour there then walked over to the Lahaina harbor marina where a fishing boat had come in and was displaying a huge Yellowfin Tuna and several other smaller Ahi. From there we walked through town checking out the shops on Front Street before heading back to Kaanapali and the pool.

We spent the rest of the day at the beach with pupu's and drinks from the poolside cafe, working on a tan, cooling off in the pool and checking out the waves. For dinner we walked across the street to a little place called "Nachos Grande" where we had a nice mexican meal of Burritos. Walking back to the hotel we went down to the beach to watch the sun set. What a beautiful day.


May 29th

Marni and Tina went grocery shopping this morning while Emma, Darren and I went down to the pool. We went to lunch in our room after the girls got back from shopping. The rest of the day was down at the pool and beach, after all, this was a vacation - heh, heh, with dinner at the poolside cafe.


May 30th

Today, Marni, Darren and Emma were going on a "Quad Tour" at the Kahoma Ranch (http://www.kahomaranch.com/) in the hills above Lahaina. Since Tina and I wanted to go to Hilo Hattie's, we dropped the kids off at the Ranch pickup point for their adventure. Then Tina and I went into town, parked in front of Hilo Hatties with the tour busses and went in to buy some new Hawaiian shirts for me and other goodies to bring home.

Leaving Hilo Hattie's we walked down to Old Lahaina and did some more shopping, finding a beautiful pendant necklace for Tina and and several nice pieces for Marni's birthday. The pendant was made from rose Gold with a curved setting for 1.6 carrets of Chocolate diamonds. The necklace was also of rose gold and even though the piece was deeply discounted, we weren't sure we wanted to spend that much. So we took their business card and said we'd think it over as we'd be in town for another five days.

By now it was time to pick up the kids from their wheeled adventure so we walked back to the car and drove over to the New Lahaina business park. They arrived a few minutes after we got there looking like they'd been rolling in Maui's red dirt. It was time for lunch but they didn't feel comfortable going out like that, so we drove back to Kaanapali and dropped them off at the hotel. I had found a great little place for lunch called "Star Noodle", so we drove back to Lahaina for lunch. We shared an order of Pork buns which was served kinda like a taco in that it was pork inside of a folded bun rather than the usual stuffed bun. Tina had Pad Thai and I had Star Noodles which had generous pieces of roast pork, egg & delicious broth. I couldn't finish both the bun & the ramen as it was just too filling! Definitely worth the trip.

After we went back to the hotel, Tina took Marni and Emma into Lahaina to show Marni the necklace she wanted. Needless to say, while they were ooohing and ahhhing over it Marni spotted a beautiful diamond crusted starfish pendant she fell in love with, naturally. Well, after drooling over the bling, the girls finally decided to forgo the thrill of acquiring some high end jewelery and came back to the hotel where we had a great pizza for dinner, ordered from the pizza place by the pool. And thus ended another beautiful day on Maui!


May 31st (Marni's Birthday)

Today we decided to do some exploring so we drove up to the north end of Maui looking for the blowholes at Nakalele Point. The drive from Kaanapali up past Napili through Kapalua and on to Nakalele Point is extraordinary and is part of the adventure drive around the North end of Maui over to Wailuku. We finally arrived and parked just off the road with several other intrepid explorers and walked down toward the lookout over the beach.

Nakalele Blowhole is the result of the ocean wearing away the shore below the lava shelf. With each wave, water is forced through a hole in the lava shelf resulting in the "eruption" of water similar to a geyser. The "blowing" of the water varies dramatically depending on tide levels and wave action. High tide and strong surf result in the best effects, but we could see the geyser erupting on the point axs the waves pounded on the shore. After taking some photos we decided not to try and find our way down to the point being content to watch the waves crash in sending great gouts of water flying up into the air where the wind caught the geyser and fanned it out in a large spray.

After returning to the hotel we got ready to go to Marni's Birthday Lu'au at the Hyatt Regency. Having special seating we are among the first to enter the dining area. The Lu'au started when we were greeted with a shell lei and fresh mai tais or fruit punch before being seated. While the rest of the diners entered the dining area a local group performed traditional Hawaiian music and several dancers performed on the stage. This was followed by the torch lighting ceremony and the unveiling of the main dish, Kalua Pua'a, pit roasted whole pig. During dinner we were entertained with a Polynesian fashion show featuring the islands most exotic pareaus (sarong) in creative styles.

After a sumptuous dinner and desert the second half of the entertainment proceeded with authentic dances and music of the old Hawaii, Samoa, Fiji, New Zealand, Tahiti, Tonga, and Rarotonga culminating with a fire dance and a return of the island princess. It was really spectacular and Marni enjoyed herself immensely!

After we got back to the hotel, Tina brought out a birthday cake and we had our own private birthday celebration, a nice way to end a wonderful day!


June 1st

After breakfast, Tina told Marni that we were going back into Lahaina to take them to Hilo Hattie's. Once the girls , including Emma, were done shopping, we decided to walk into Old Lahaina Town for lunch and to pick up the photos of Marni & Emma with the parrots. The guy with the parrots wasn't there so we stopped at Gold Island Jewelery to look at the necklace Tina liked. While I negotiated a price for the necklace, Marni showed Darren the one she wanted. While she was busy showing Darren, I asked the salesman to give me his best deal on both pieces. We struck a price and Tina told Marni "Happy Birthday"! Marni was blown away but we were happy we could get her a nice piece of jewelery she would enjoy and remind her of her trip to Hawaii.

After we returned to the hotel, Emma and I went and rented snorkle gear and went out to the reef in front of the hotel to get in a little practice in preparation for the next day. We went out twice during the afternoon and I was amazed at how quickly Emma took to it - she's a natural!

Later that evening we went to Moose McGillycuddys (http://moosemcgillycuddys.com/Lahaina-Maui.html) for dinner and to watch the sunset.


June 2nd

Another beautiful day in paradise. Everybody was up early as we had to be at slip 103 in Malea Harbor by 7:00 AM to catch our boat to Molokini. We got there a little early and found a parking spot within 50 yards of our boat, the "Quicksilver", a twin hulled dive boat with upper and lower decks and a cabin with a galley and bar.

After signing in we were shown aboard and given a light breakfast of fruits and juices before heading out of the harbor for Molokini. The trip out to the island took about 45 minutes which allowed us to get fitted with "shorty" wet suits to help us keep warm in the cooler waters out in the main channel. Once we arrived at the anchorage, the dive master had us in the water almost immediately and the five of us spent a half hour or more swimming with the fish and marveling at all the different coral formations and colors.

From Molokini, the captain took us to a place south of Makena called Turtle Town where there are usually lots of big green sea turtle. We saw several as we anchored then it was into the water to look for turtles and check out all the fish swimming in the coral canyons of the reef. Simply beautiful. And turtles too! Marni, Darren, Tina and I came in early but Emma stayed out until the call back signal. She had a great time and saw lots of turtles.

After leaving Turtle town we went in search of Dolphins while having a great lunch of pulled pork sandwiches, a great macaroni/potato salad, fruit and beverages of your choice.we didn't see any dolphins this trip but it was a really special trip with all the family time.


June 3rd

Our last day to play! We walked across the street for breakfast then went next door to Snorkle Bob's to rent gear for the day for me, Tina and Emma. The rest of the day we spent in the water, at the pool, relaxing and just taking it easy. Emma had a great time swimming with Tina and showing off her diving skills as we snorkled in front of the hotel. It was really special to spend time with Emma doing something she enjoyed that we could enjoy too!

Later we went to the Hula Grill (http://www.hulagrill.com/) in Whalers Village Shopping Center. We had an excellent dinner for our last night followed by one last opportunity to get in a little last minute shopping.

After our walk around Whalers Village we drove back to the hotel and basically called it a night since we had to be up early for our trip home.


June 4th

Once again we were up early for the trip to the airport. Everything went smoothly - the drive in to the airport, turning in the rental car, dropping off our baggage, getting through security and boarding our plane. The flight to Portland was uneventful (a good thing) as was our flight to Seattle. Arriving at SeaTac we all wnt down to the baggage claim area and got our bags. We were all sad the trip was over but happy to have had the opportunity to spend time together on a vacation we'll all remember for a long time!

Aloha!

To see all our photo albums, click on:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mjdolanski