YESTERDAY IN THE PARK.

Jim went to town to get a new battery and an alternator for the Bronco, and I stayed behind.  Our neighbor has a permanent site here. They’ve had people of all ages coming and going and one guy offered to sell me these two motorcycles for $50 bucks each.

I found out later it was his friend, not his father who offered to sell me the bikes. He laughed when I told him. His bike is worth $70,000  He and his wife took off for a big bike rally a couple hundred miles away in Idaho. The son told me his dad had a house near Bellingham, a great big Victorian with lots of maintenance needed. He and his siblings got together and decided none of them wanted to maintain the place when dad died, so they convinced Dad to sell it, buy this permanent site and retire from housekeeping at 84. He loves it. And, he gets lots of company. Interesting idea.

We take a brisk 20 minute walk every morning and this cute little rig seemed so appealing. The owner has taken excellent care of it and told me it is 40 years old. Super. Last night she had a ring of chairs around a portable fire. With a small rig, you spend most of your time outside.
By the time Jim got home it was parking time. Rigs were pouring into the park. Huge rigs trying to avoid trees and other rigs attempting to wedge themselves into spots meant for much smaller motor homes and fifth wheels. Jim and a couple of neighbors were acting as parking attendants, guiding people into tight spots. The park is full to capacity, something we’ve never seen before.  Jim used to sell memberships in Thousand Trails. One selling point is how great they are for kids. You can turn them loose to have fun and not always have to have your parental radar on.  And it is so true. The kids just have an all out blast here. Riding bikes, swimming, flying kites, using playground equipment, and taking part in activities at the family lodge. Something for every age. The place was jumping.

ELEPHANT BAR AND A ROLLS ROYCE

A bunch of the gals were whooping it up at the Elephant Saloon-whoops, I mean, Bar.  The Elephant Bar is a huge restaurant with a full service bar, great food and a dignified atmosphere. They have outside tables and gentle fans. As I mentioned in an earlier blog,  I wondered what would happen when I showed up with 14 others and only two people could drive? Apparently nothing daunts the recreation director for Thousand Trails because it all happened and we caravaned to Palm Desert for a fantastic lunch and shopping.

So you meet all these new "friends" and one of them quipped, after we all gave our names and where we were from, "So, you are all going to remember our names, right?"  And another, "There's going to be a test!"
Well, the friendly woman who drove three of us in her dualie is parked in the middle above. She is Virginia. Easy for me since I have a daughter by that name. And, I learned about parking a dualie.(Two or more spaces, yah!)

On the left is an Asian Chicken Salad.Well, at least I remembered what she ordered.  And on the right is Earletta, named for her father Earl, an only child. Earletta lived in Germany for awhile and reminded me of the famous pageants they have in this secluded mountain town where the townspeople prayed for and end to the plague. They promised God if they didn't get any more plague they would put on this pageant to honor God. That was in the 1400's or something. The plague ended. They still put on the pageant every 10 years. Now I'm inspired to re-read my journal so I can remember the details of that trip. See what casual friendships can mean to you?

These two brave women wore white and ordered, (at least one of them did), something with tomato sauce. My mother would never let me wear white to school on sloppy joe day at the cafeteria. Tsk, tsk! One of these gals, (left) likes to iron. LIKES to iron? I told her my brother used to call his wife, LONI. It stood for little or no ironing.

These two gals were already friends and I caught one name, Betty, on the left. Pretty soon you find out that almost everyone here is from California, Oregon or Washington state. Are we having fun yet?

Our Make-It-Happen director from Thousand Trails on the right with a gal from the South, I think. We eventually find out we all have something in common, but it isn't wearing white or pastel blue at a luncheon. (Remember that sloppy joe!!) 

Here is Linda, on the left. I'm cheating on this one. I met Linda in the laundry and she helped me fold sheets. She is a full timer like my partner, Jim. Linda explained to me that most of her friends are people she has met at Thousand Trails because she has been on the road for so long. It happens, I've seen it. Not only that, she has beautiful, thick hair that she can and has donated to "Tresses For..." . I can't remember the rest of the name of the organization that provides hair pieces for cancer patients and others needing hair. And, on the right is the $65 haircut. That is, she asked someone where to get her haircut locally and it cost her $65 bucks. She warned us, "...ask the price first." Whew! That could save me a bundle.

Now, here I am with my table partner to my left. And, being a name dork, I don't remember her's. But, you know, it doesn't really matter. We chatted, and enjoyed each others company because women are wonderful. Who knows when you might meet a Ya Ya from the Sisterhood.

I must share with you my braised lamb shanks-(to die for.).  THEN, we went shopping.  Remember, this is second hand store stuff. I wanted a silverware divider to fit in my motor home drawer. My daughter-in-law gave me a ration about "...setting my sights a little higher". So, how is this Laurie?

This beautiful leather and fox coat was only $995.00. Laur, I WAS tempted.

I really liked this painting if I could have gotten it for $75. But, I wasn't willing to pay $295 for it.

This might have looked good on the Christmas shed wall, but its too big to carry in the motorhome.

 

 So, I settled for a Rolls Royce.

For a link to all 34 pictures I took, click here: https://picasaweb.google.com/1579penn/3411GirlsLunchShopDay#

COWBOY JACK

Thousand Trails typically has some sort of program on Saturday nights. It could be a dance, a potluck, or a professional entertainer. They hired a good one when they invited  Cowboy Jack to play for us. His father gave in and bought him a guitar at age 12, knowing the music business was a hard way to make a living. Jack went professional right after college and never looked back.

A deep base voice on Johnny Cash songs can make you think the "Man in Black" is in the room. Jack played the Opry, and his band was the warm-up act  for many famous musicians. He's done the honky tonks in the U.S. and his music has taken him all over the world. The best Thousand Trails entertainer I've heard, so we had an enjoyable evening with the lone cowboy.  He does solos in the Southern California area and gigs with his bands. He plays under several names for various events. He is Paniola Jack, for Hawaiian venues, and Cowboy Jack, for Western music. His band is called The North County Cowboys and another is the Band In Black.
He sings mostly country music but his two most popular productions, are a Hank Williams Sr. Tribute and a Johnny Cash Tribute. His website has a number of pictures of him and his bands and a clip of him singing, though the clip doesn't do him justice. You can check him out on the following link.
 http://www.hankshow.com/1events.htm
When he performs, he uses an old, favorite, Martin Guitar and a harmonica. The website give his performance schedule. Very enjoyable performer who engages the audience. It was a full house for Cowboy Jack.

Da tee da...."I'm so lonesome I could cry"...

GRANDY CREEK

Grandy Creek Thousand Trails sits near the town of Concrete. At one time, Jim worked selling memberships in 3 of the last four parks we've stayed. He considered it a healthy pursuit for families within range of numerous beautiful parks in Washington to buy into the park concept of not only vacationing, but spending weekends with their kids away from television and electronics. Even young children can be turned loose to run and play within the guarded park complex with multiple fun things to do, giving parents moments of respite and rest as well.
I usually ride my bike around the complex then check out the internet signal in the lodge. I notice that the parks become a nature preserve because all around them, trees are gone. Here the old growth trees remain. The one above was situated in such a manner I could get far enough back to photograph the entire tree, five times taller than the building next to it.
I didn't walk the entire tree bridge because of my recent surgery, but I would have liked to.
This camper obviously has a number of girls.
All ages enjoy jumping on the jumping "pillow." Other offerings: swimming pool, horse shoes, trails, berry picking, mini golf, basket ball, plus the planned activities.

Jim's rig among the trees.

RV TRAVEL, DIFFERENT LIFESTYLES

Jim is a full time RVer and it tickled me when I got to meet his friend, Shawn Newman. As an attorney, he is living the stress filled life that made Jim turn away from business as usual, retire early, and hit the road full time in an RV. Many people envy that lifestyle. But, if Shawn had retired we wouldn't have learned about all the good ethnic restaurants in town. We ate at Capitol Cho, a Korean restaurant with great food, and we spent a wonderful hour catching up with the news, and the food, and the brews in Olympia. Shawn does a lot of pro bono work, has tried cases in State Supreme Court, and is mentioned in Ann Rule's true crime book, End Of The Dream. He once represented Scott Scurlock, the guy who lived in a treehouse and made his living robbing gas stations. www.newmanlaw.us

We visited his friends, Sandy and Ted Wallden, who fed us a sumptious homemade lunch of spinach torta, fruit salad and banana bread. Their RV lifestyle is called snowbirding. They typically spend cold months in Yuma, AZ, park in the same place every year, and thus have a whole community of friends in two places. Then they return home to Bremerton and park their rig. Jim met them on the road.
Whereas, Larry and Jan Seberg don't even own an RV. They have a Thousand Trails Park membership and rent an RV owned by the park. They have their choice of about 40 different places to stay just on the west coast, but typically move to Palm Springs every year for 3 or more months and return to Olympia. We had a deli lunch at the Red Wing Casino, belonging to the Nisqually tribe, of which Larry is an elder.
The RV life is new to me. Right now it is like one long vacation, but there is another style of RV life possibile. That is where the full time RVer, Jim, has a groupie, me, who follows along in a van seeing every nook and cranny of this U.S. and regrouping with the "mother ship" along life's RVing highway.

LAKE MINDEN

Lake Minden is a private lake, part of A Thousand Trails, and our first stop on our journey north to Oregon and Washington. Its hot here, 95* just outside of Nicolaus, a small town with a visible tavern, church and post office. East of town is a High School and a small, expensive store.
What I like about the parks is their location away from city centers. They serve as mini-preserves for wildlife and birds. Its been a joy to take our morning walk each morning and watch the sunrise over the lake and see, and hear, a large variety of birds, none of which I could photograph. Herons, ducks, jays, bluebirds, swallows, woodpeckers, crows, and many I don't recognize. Bullfrogs drum in the cattails and plop in the water as we walk by.
Cottontails inhabit nearby fields and walnut orchards. Active in the early morning they remind us of the fragility of nature in the concrete, traffic swamped world we normally inhabit.
Even though we are well connected with laptops, internet signals and cell towers nearby, the phone hasn't rung once. However, the park resembles a parking lot with rigs so big and comfortable, most of the inhabitants stay inside and replicate their lives at home. We, too, don't want to be untethered from our computers and phones, but divide our time to include what nature has to offer.
Tomorrow, daughter Virginia and her children will join us for a day of play. At this particular park, people can bring and house their horses in a barn on the property and ride the back roads. The lake is stocked with blue gills, sunfish, catfish, and, I'm told, bass. Somehow, the carp found their way here and are easily the biggest fish in the lake.
Kayaking, canoeing, paddle boats and swimming are attractive activities. Hopefully we'll catch a mess of fish before we leave.

Planet Earth, Local Herons On The Road

A Fabulous 14 hour video entitled Planet Earth provides an extraordinary view of our living quarters and the fact that we share it with so many creatures and places of great beauty. Its been a joy to see many birds as we roamed. The most spectacular at this time of year are the sitings of blue and white herons. The pictures don't always do them justice and the smaller birds are the back-up chorus that we hardly ever see fit to photograph and so often take for granted, even the loudmouth crows. Egads! The Matzek's have a few loudmouthed members if I do say so myself.
Cedric Puleston's family are bird people from way back and if you go to
http://puleston.osprey.bnl.org/OspreyFund/ospreycam.php
The ospreys are now hatched in his Grandmother's backyard. The fledgelings have left but if you click that link at Brookhaven, NY you'll get a number of interesting cameras for birds that you don't have to register to see. There are live cams and some not so live for kestrels, great tits, barn owls, peregrine falcons, black storks, gentoo penquins. Too many to list.
We are still at Pio Pico Thousand Trails. Pio Pico was the Governor of Mexican California. He owned this property as a Spanish Land Grant. Interesting man of mixed decent, African, Mexican, Indian, Spanish and European. When California became a state an assigned a new governor, Pio Pico fled. His land got promptly gobbled up.