Thanksgiving 2014

Dear Friends and Fellow Travelers through this life, Happy Thanksgiving! If you are among our international friends, I wish you a joyous Thursday.

We are on the road, but spending a couple of months in our motorhome in Tumwater, WA. For our older friends, that is the home of Olympia Beer. The massive brewery plant is empty now. The original plant sits at the bottom of a ravine next to Olympia Falls. Those falls and the pure water were Olympia Beer's claim to fame. You might remember the advertising jingle - It's the water, the water, the water, the water that makes Olympia Beer . . . 

It's frosty out today. Our car has ice on it. The sun is out, and it promises to be a beautiful day. So we are having coffee and waiting for the sun to get high enough to melt the ice off the car windows. We will be spending the day with our daughter Laura and granddaughters Madie and Kathryn. Last night we went over to their house and helped make pies, corn casserole, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole and stuffing. 




Today, the turkey goes in early, as Madie has to work this afternoon. Gary is in Houston with his sister Nancy's family, where he begins cancer treatment on Saturday. He will be down there getting treatment at MD Anderson Cancer Center until mid-January. Then he will come back up here to finish treatment in Olympia. Today we are thankful for his life and remembering him in our prayers. The rest of our family is in Kentucky, where they will be getting together with friends. We miss them, but love that we can "face-time" on our Apple computer devices.


I am thankful for many things. My family. My friends. My faith. I am especially thankful that Jesus chose to become human, for our sakes, and paid the ultimate price for my transgressions and for all mankind, that we may spend eternity with Him. I rejoice in my salvation, that has nothing to do with me, and everything to do with God.

A friend posted this on his page (Mark Mynheir) and I wanted to post it here. What an amazing proclamation. I am so thankful and grateful for a country where we can live in freedom, travel freely, speak and worship freely and enjoy all our god-given liberties.

"Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor, and Whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me “to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.”

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be. That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks, for his kind care and protection of the People of this country previous to their becoming a Nation, for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his providence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war, for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed, for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions, to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually, to render our national government a blessing to all the People, by constantly being a government of wise, just and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed, to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shown kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord. To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and Us, and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best." - George Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation, 1789

To Newport and Back

 

We've got the bug. The new car bug. We been talking about it for months. Since last spring. Our old dinghy - the 1998 Jeep Laredo that we tow behind the motorhome - is just that. Old. And tired. You would be too if you'd logged 165,000 miles. It's still running good, but needs attention, or a nice, easygoing place to retire. 

We've been looking. Towing a car 4 down (four wheels on the ground) requires a certain type of transmission. Few cars qualify. But we have found a few and test-driven three very nice cars. The plan is to trade our Honda Odyssey, which can't be towed, for a nice vehicle that we can tow and also use as our only family car. Now that we're retired, we only need one. But our Honda was in Newport, and we were in Olympia.

Yesterday the weather seemed to be improving, after three solid days of rain here, and snow at home, so we jumped in the old Jeep and headed across the mountains. It rained lightly going across the Cascade Mountains, then cleared up, but got windy over the plains.

The sun set before we reached Spokane. As it reached the horizon, it cast long shadows and golden light on the rolling hills and fields of wheat all around us. The drive over reminded me of the patriotic song, America the Beautiful.

O beautiful for spacious skies, 
For amber waves of grain, 
For purple mountain majesties 
Above the fruited plain! 
America! America! 
God shed his grace on thee 
And crown thy good with brotherhood 
From sea to shining sea!


As the sun set, it was behind us, so I set my iPhone on reverse, held it up to my side window and snapped a bunch of pictures. My pictures won't win any prizes, but they caught some memories.

We got to Newport around 7 PM. Spent the night at our house, thanks to Vickie’s hospitality, then switched cars and headed back to Olympia this morning in the Honda minivan. We’ve loved that car, so the drive back was a bit nostalgic. We’ve taken some wonderful trips in that car. The day was clear and beautiful, if a bit cold (27 degrees). Stopped in Ritzville for a nice lunch at The Cow Creek Mercantile. The highwas was clear with light traffic and no wind. As we neared the mountains, the high peaks were stark white against the blue sky. Breathtaking.

We were loving the drive all the way across the  and the mountains—that is, until we hit Interstate 5 just north of Tacoma. 

 For the next 2 ½ hours we crept along the three lane parking lot of red taillights in the early darkness. I hate traffic. But there were blessings. It wasn’t raining. It wasn’t snowing. And when we finally made it back to the motorhome, we were almost giddy with relief. 

Veterans Day in Olympia, WA

It has been a good day for this old vet.  

I was able to have lunch with my wonderful wife, daughter and granddaughters at a place on Budd  Bay called... Budd Bay Cafe.  

Ate a delicious bowl of clam chowder, and salmon caesar salad and enjoyed a window view of the harbor and marina.  Then splurged and shared a mud cake with strawberries.  

Boats in the marina

Too bad I forgot and left my wallet at home.  But they didn’t complain, just picked up the tab and paid the bill.  (heh! heh!)   

Afterwords we went for a walk around Capital Lake 

and ...

enjoyed the pleasant afternoon taking pictures and petting puppies. 

Travel Day Two Nov 3, 2013

Today was a short trip to our first destination, Olympia, Washington. The wind was still blowing, but not as strong. After two passes around the Pilot Truck Stop, we couldn't figure out where motorhomes were supposed to gas up for diesel, so we gave up and headed west down the Interstate. We've never had good luck at Pilot Gas Stations. Good Sam offers a discount gas card, and we tried it last year, but even with an 8 cent discount, diesel was generally higher than other stations.

Eastern Oregon is very arid along the Columbia River. We were surprised at the green vegetation still clinging to the craggy cliffs. The wind was still blowing, which seems a constant along the river. It's perfect for wind power, and the huge windmills line the tops of the hills on both sides of the river. Still, the wind here wasn't as strong as yesterday, and we had a head wind, so the Jeep didn't get pushed sideways. Better traveling. 

We passed several barges and a River Boat making their way along the river. I want to travel on a river boat someday. It's on my bucket list.

At Hood River, the weather changed. The wind died down a bit, and the rain began. We spotted a double rainbow at the bridge. We crossed that bridge a couple of years ago, pulling our 26' trailer. Very narrow, very old, and under construction. Not a fun bridge in a big rig. 

The fall colors through the Columbia Gorge were beautiful, even on a gray day. So glad we came this way. We missed the snow on the passes and got out of Newport before the first snow hit. 

We stopped for lunch at Multnomah Falls. As many times as we've driven by, we've never walked down to view the falls. We went down for a picture op. Beautiful!

We arrived in Tumwater about 4 pm. Pulled into Alderbrook Estates - a small mobile home park that accommodates RVs short term. This will be our home base for the next couple of months while we spend time with our family here. Son-in-law Gary is facing the challenges of cancer treatment. Not a fun journey, but one we will travel with him. Prayers appreciated.

It's 8:30 am, and the sun is shining in the window. Amazing! I thought the sun didn't shine through the clouds in Western Washington. Time to get dressed and go enjoy the day!





 

Day One, Getting Outta Dodge

Woke to rain this morning, and the promise of snow. Hadn't planned to leave home today, but the weather is only going to get worse, so we battened down the vents, pulled in the slides,

hooked up the dinghy (Jeep), and off we went.

It was a dark, stormy, and very blustery day. Then it got worse. 

We got out of the rain, and into gale winds. Weather channel said gusts up to 50 MPH, and I believe it. Last time we drove in winds like this, we blew a tire on the Jeep, so we pulled off and unhooked just past Ritzville. I drove the Jeep, following the motorhome for about 75 miles. The wind died down a bit just before Tri-Cities, so we hooked back up. It was getting dark by that time. We stopped just inside Oregon at an RV park behind a Pilot truck stop.  At least we missed the snow. Washington DOT website cams showed snow on the roads over all the mountain passes. We went south and will follow the Columbia River to Portland, then north to Olympia/Tumwater. Tomorrow afternoon we'll get to see our granddaughters and Gary. Laura is traveling to a meeting, so we'll see her on Tuesday. Can't wait!

Turned back our clocks/watches early and headed to bed. Getting packed and ready to leave was exhausting. But we made it.

Ready, Set, Go!

Leaving home for the winter isn't easy. It takes time and planning. That's what I'm doing now. Planning.

Let's see. Number 1. Make a To Do list.










Okay, then. The walk. Wolf Trails, the woods just beyond our house, are glorious. The sun is shining. The To Do list can wait.



Now back to the plan. Leave in about 3 weeks. The bigger plan. RV full time for next 3 years. We're renting out the house, furnished, to friends for at least this winter. But we plan to live in the motorhome, even when we are back in Newport for the summer. We'll see how that goes. You know the old saying, "The best laid plans of mice and men oft go askew," or something like that. It fits us.

This year, we had no idea where we want to go. Just away from the cold and snow. We have this big, beautiful motorhome. We need to use it while we can. Sometimes it's good to be free of all scheduling. This is one of those times. Our family in Olympia may need some help, so that is our first destination. Son-in-law Gary has been diagnosed with bladder cancer. We will find out next week what the specialists at the University of Washington and the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance recommend, but we're pretty sure it will involve major surgery and probably chemo and/or radiation therapy. Don't know how we can help, but we will be there for a couple of months, so we can be available. When we're not needed, we can explore. We've never spent time in that part of Washington state. We'll let you know what we discover.

 So, back to the To Do list. Here goes. . . (smoke coming from the vicinity of my computer, or my brain.) There. That wasn't so bad. I'm sure it isn't complete, but we can add as needed. Now to get to work. Maybe after a nap. All that fresh air, and taxing my brain, I believe I will take a nap first. Stay tuned. The fun has just begun.

More soon. . .
~Sunni