What a trip to Waco.

Time to think about traveling again.  To see if I can remember how to use this blog, lets revisit a 2014 trip. 

In March of 2014, we headed out with Stacy to pick up a car David had purchased on eBay.  It was to be a quick trip, leave late on a Thursday and be home Monday.   At 11:00 pm on Friday and 400 miles short of Waco, TX, the motorhome had a fan clutch go out, causing it to overheat.  David "McGivered" a fix letting us drive very slow, like 25-30 mph for up to 30-40 minutes, when the "fix" would fall out and he'd have to repeat the process.   Here is David figuring out what was wrong. 

The slow speed and frequent need to stop was made worse by the fact most all the roads we were on were 75 mph speed limits.  Below was one of our stops.  You can't see the drainage ditch David drove over and is straddling, but it felt like Mr. Toads Wild ride (old Disneyland ride) from the bed where I was trying to rest.  The RV was rocking and rolling.

The people we purchased the car from, Robert and Jan Franklin, creative folks in their own right, were also trying to help us find a fix.  They purchased an electric fan and drove it to a meeting place about 100 miles for them and 30 miles for us.  We arrived maybe 20 minutes ahead of them.

Stacy kept smiling and was a wonder with her smart phone, looking up parts and parts places.

Robert and David made a good team installing the fan.

Jan & Robert Franklin with David and I

 Unfortunately, while it saved us having to stop every half hour, we still couldn't drive much over 35 mph.  The boys decided there was room for a 2nd fan.  They headed out to the closest open auto parts place we found.  It was 60 miles away, but in the direction we needed to head.  David jumped in with Franklin's to go shopping.  Stacy and I plodded along.  Amazing how we kept finding places to pull over to let the faster traffic pass, even though we had about 55' of vehicle to move out of the way.

Installing the 2nd fan, unfortunately it didn't have the power of the 1st one.

 We met up with the shoppers and the boys got back to work.  Unfortunately they had to move the one already installed to make room for the 2nd one.   They started out with plenty of light, but by the time they finished darkness was closing in on us.

Our next stop was for some real Texas grub.  We realized driving that leg, that we were still limited to 50-55 mph, and these were speeds Robert had trouble keeping to.  Note, when we drove 30 miles in not much more time than he covered 100 miles, it wasn't all because we were going slow.  He was a test pilot and now works as a quality control engineer for aircraft.  He likes fast cars and planes and pilots both well.

We had to fuel up after dinner, so sent them on their way home.  Our destination was their home, but being self contained, they didn't need to wait up for us.  About 24 hours later, we finished the last of the 400 miles.  I don't think any of us had trouble getting a good nights sleep.

David's 1961 Lotus 7

Sunday morning we finally got to see the CAR.  We sold our honeymoon car in 1978, so it was a trip down memory lane to pick up the "new" one.  This is a replica 1969 Lotus 7, much peppier than David's original one.

David gets to drive it 1st.  I was just happy I could fit in the seat.

Stacy didn't hesitate to jump into the driver's seat (note the right hand drive).

Janet had been in Waco on Saturday and we planned to meet.  She had to get home that night, but when we didn't make it as scheduled, she drove the 125 miles again on Sunday to visit us.   We didn't have as much play time as we wished.  It started to sprinkle, so we loaded the trailer.  Not much ground clearance, so Robert made sure David put enough blocks under the ramp.

Janet let us use her car to make the evening Mass.  While we were gone, Stacy was able to visit with Janet and Mary & David, who came to Waco to pick up Alex.  He had been visiting his other "grands".   We were unable to find a high powered fan, at any of the few auto parts store open on Sunday, so we  decided to leave while it was cool and drive to a NAPA to be there when they opened in the morning and then limp home.   Robert offered to guide us to the freeway as the closest route was blocked by an accident.  Janet followed, ready to head for home too.

We made it about 10 miles, when the water pump belt broke.  We needed a tow.  We didn't know how long it would take to get fixed up, but we were just out of time to get Stacy home to meet her commitments.  She didn't want to leave us mid-adventure, but we took advantage of Janet being there to get Stacy to the airport.  

The system won't let me add any more pictures, so the story ends here.

July 22-24 - to Mt. St. Helen's & home

After having to straighten out some registration glitches the campground folks made, we were off on Monday morning for an easy drive to Mt. St. Helen's.  It was lots of climbing (with the resultant slow driving) for about 50 miles after we left I-5.  I wish we would have allowed more time.  There were two other visitor centers we didn't make before closing time.  This place fascinates me.  Unfortunately they have no place to camp close by.  If they did, we would have stayed and gone back.  We thought of staying in one of the viewpoints as they were not signed that it wasn't allowed.  We stopped in one and had dinner.  But then the go home buzz started circulating in our heads.  For our next trip, we'll have to park the MH first, then drive to the view points and visitor centers.

 It is chilling to think of the people miles away from the blast that were either buried in debris or obliterated by the force and heat of the blast.

This helicopter tour was just returning to base.  Have to consider doing this type tour too.

The landscape looked pretty bleak, but there were quite a few groups of elk that seemed quite content.

There is still considerable ash in the crater.  We were told when the wind picks up, it carries ash up and looks like smoke.  Some of the breaks in the glacial ice still show some white (before the ash covers it too).

The glacier in the crater is one of the fastest growing glaciers in the country.  

 

 

 

Hard to imagine the force that could break trees off like this.

More of the animal life.

The downed trees were a visual reference or the direction of the blast forces.

Spirit Lake was originally considered destroyed, but it was just remodeled.  The YMCA and BSA had camps on the lake shore as well as privately owned structures.  The lake was raised 210 feet by the landslide and volcanic eruption.  Previous lake shore property was buried and/or submerged. 

The Johnston Ridge Observatory is built into a hillside 5-6 miles away from the crater.  It is named for the geologist, Dr. David Johnston, who was at an observation post on this ridge when it blew, May 18, 1980.  He lived to see and report by radio the eruption, but his body was never found.  We heard various estimates of the blast taking 40 seconds to a couple minutes to reach him.  A RACES volunteer helping the observers was a couple miles further from the blast, but met the same end.  A photographer on assignment from National Geographic was about nine miles away.  His car was found half buried in ash.  His wallet and some clothing was found several years after the eruption, buried in ash.

 We spent the next two nights at rest stops.  Oregon at least posts signs so you can identify where you are located.  I would have liked to keep driving and get through LA at night, but our headlights were out of adjustment or the chassis was dragged down in the back by the bike.  Not sure what it was, but I just couldn't see well enough to continue.  To many dark spots and I didn't want a deer to jump out and me not see it.
 

 I walked all over the California one, but nothing there to tell you were you were.  On Tuesday we were able to get 693 miles.  Our only hold up was a circuitous route to find fuel in Sacramento.  David found a good price, so we got off and drove right to where there were two stations selling diesel.  Only problem was their pump area covers were lower than our vehicle needed, so we ended up driving through part of Old Sac and downtown Sacramento before finding our way to fuel and back to the freeway.  That fill-up was all it took.  We stopped just after getting into San Diego County at a rest stop with an RV Sanitation Station.

Last dump stop

We picked up some black rubber marks where a chunk of tire  carcass got thrown up at us in LA.  It made a big noise when it hit, but we weren't in a place to stop and look until we dumped.  Fortunately, it must be well supported in that area and the fiberglass cap was not cracked.

This note from our grand kids put smiles on our faces when we walked into the house.

87 days

8,871 miles on the motor home

620 miles on the tandem bike

est. 500 miles on the motorcycle (we only took it down in six places)

est. 350 more with friend and family

(Camden took us to Seward, Pam & Dave took us sight-seeing and let us use one of their cars too)

It took us 13 days to drive north to Seattle but only 3 days to drive home.

I could add up how many gallons and liters of fuel we used, but I won't.  It just doesn't matter.  This has been a fantastic trip.  I hope the readers have enjoyed my musing about it.  It was fun to keep in touch this way (at least it was fun when I had a wifi signal in the mh).

Many thanks to the friends and family we visited, to those whom helped plan the trip, and to the fellow Ventana owners who taught us helpful things about our motor home.

Anyone want to guess how many of the 8,871 miles David drove?

July 17-21a - to Kent and more Seattle

Wednesday was moving day.  We said our good byes to the Grudin's ROTT~N~RIDGE RANCH and our personal guard dog, Mister Magoo.

We moved about 60 miles south to Kent, Washington, (the Seattle/Tacoma KOA).   This is a very busy park.  We had only reserved for three days, but stayed the weekend to better fit Graham's schedule.  We'll have to move out of this spot tomorrow morning, as soon as the people in the spot we are going into move out.  The space on our driver side is on the third neighbor.  They don't give you much swing room, so watching a Monarch coach on a Prevost chassis (full size bus) was quite entertaining this afternoon.  He had to do lots of jockeying...and pulled right up to the awning of a trailer across the way.  The people sitting at a picnic table under the awning scattered...had to be scary with this big bus that close.  It is a beautiful motorhome, makes ours look a bit pedestrian (but I'd rather park ours). 

 This place has a nice playground for kids and a fenced one with toys for dogs too.

 We went bicycle riding on a mostly nice path on Thursday.  It took us through several towns, but at times the path would just disappear.  We would have to really look to find where it started up again.  These water tanks were interesting.  They are recycled water used for the landscaping.  Must work, as everything there was very green.

 Friday we drove into Seattle and met a friend for lunch.  Parking is at a premium down by the water.  No discount for motorcycle spaces either.  This space wasn't very flat, but the one next to it had a huge depression.  Neither suited well for bikes without center stands.  But it was only $4/hr to park.  Sir Paul McCartney was playing in town.  We rode by the venue.  They were charging $50 for the event parking.   Maybe that was their way to encourage the 42,000 ticket holders to carpool.  We looked at taking the bus into town, but unless you are 65 yrs old, it wasn't very economical.

We used all of our $8.25 parking fee time, then moved up town, closer to where Graham would be performing that evening.  We found a street spot (that is us with the cover).  Took a chance no one would take the cover, so we didn't have to deal with a damp bike (or helmets) after the show.

We were very close to the sculpture park. 

Sculptures seem to be most anything three dimensional. 

We were wondering if any of our kids would recognize what this was...Possibly Stacy might, but bet her kids can't identify it.

If we would have known that Graham and Mary Slate picked the Edgewater Hotel, which is right down along this waterfront, for their wedding venue, we would have taken a picture of it. 

 

 Graham was performing in a theater at the Seattle Center.  This is a very big area that we missed on our last trip when we drove down to see the space needle.  It was much nicer to visit coming in from the water side.  There was all kinds of events going on.  Taste of Seattle had food booths from a wide variety of sources.  There was a K9 competition, play activities, one we watched for a while had people climb into deflated balls, which were inflated, zipped up and rolled into a pool.  One lady in a dress was particularly entertaining when she rolled and fell, all the time working to keep her skirt down.  She must have lost a bet or something.  Mostly it was kids in the spheres.

We were able to connect with Mary Slate, her mother Louise and sister-in-law Jessica shortly before the show and visit with them and Graham after.  One of the younger dancers came up and asked Graham to autograph her program.  He was so gracious about it, making her sparkle by remembering her name.  I thought it was neat, so I asked him to autograph my program too.  I figured I'd give it to mom.  When I mentioned who it was for, he asked to take it home and bring it back when we met on Saturday.  He did a full page note to her.  I think she will be pleased.

The Seattle Center complex was wall to wall people before the performance.  It was so different just a few hours later.  The space needle looked grander somehow against the night sky.

Orcas.

Lousie and her husband Dave rented an executive apartment downtown for the month of July.  They had a parking space available, so we met the group there this morning.   Jessica and her husband and daughter are here visiting from Florida.  A second son lives close by in Seattle, but we didn't have the opportunity to meet him or his family.   Nine people for brunch today and three were named David.  Not too hard remembering the men's names. 

We went to Church Sat night, so we didn't have to juggle moving spots around it Sunday morning.  We were quite impressed with the priest.  He sang well, spoke well, and had a good sense of humor.  We spoke to him after Mass and David asked him about something they did during Mass.  He explained how David could verify it was "allowed" and said he really didn't care if it was done or not, but he found the kids (altar servers) really liked it.  He was all for stoking their enthusiasm.   We didn't ask, but I wondered later if that was why he used the altar servers to pass the collection baskets.

Nice ramp up the side of the altar.

While waiting until Graham and Mary Slate had time to visit us, we decided to see if we could get the tandem on the train to Seattle.

People on the car helped telling us where to put the bike.  It was much less crowded and much more friendly going into town than coming back.  We had to hold the bike upright coming back.  They have a hook for the front tire, but it isn't in the right spot for a tandem.

They had never been here before.

This bike has been in some very different places today.

This tunnel below the City is where we picked up the train back.  Graham walked us to the terminal to make sure we found the right place.  The buses drive over the the same place the trains run.

The bike didn't fit in the elevators.  Some of the terminals had escalators for some of the steps.  This is at the airport.  Just lots of stairs.

We had to move spots Sunday morning.  At least we have open bird sanctuary in front of us.