Sleeping With the Big Trucks

Arrival in Santa Nella about sunset brought us to a choice of two huge, overstuffed truck stops. We investigated one and decided we really didn't want to be stuffed in there with the trucks. After much mulling we spotted a truck parked in a large restaurant parking lot. I mean the lot was large, and not the restaurant, which was a normal sized Carl's Jr./Green Burrito. We went over to see if it was ok for us to park there overnight and the restaurant people were very gracious about it. Yes, we were welcome to stay over. So we ate Carl's to reward them.  

By the time we finished up and took the leftovers out for Norm (he adores fries) there were 3 big trucks parked out there and soon we were joined by a couple more. Everyone was quiet and we enjoyed an evening of Kindle-ing. There were even nice grassy areas to walk Norman. I am sure he enjoyed it after so much sand and dirt. We crawled into our bed and snugged down for the night. We slept pretty well with the trucks. None of them left until early in the am, so we got many hours of solid sleep. The only uncomfortable part was having to crawl in and out of bed, and the general squashed-ness of the motor home by the bathroom door. Enough to get in and out of the bathroom, but not roomy. I have to admit, I kinda got a kick out of taking a shower in the Carl's lot. Silly, isn't it? We mostly used our own shower on the trip home. It was SO cold outside at 0 Dark:30, which is when we had to get up, according to Ray, who is Road Boss. Before sunrise! Sheesh! I tell you, that part is no fun. I don't like to get up before the sun.

The next day we drove past Shasta and saw 2 lenticular clouds and a quarter moon. I tried to take pictures, but Ray says most of them were lovely pictures of the window screen. But we did stop at a rest area and take some Shasta pics. It's always nice to get thru the mountains and over the Summit before dark. We came upon our scheduled place of rest about 2:30 and decided it was too early to stop, pressed on to the Valley of the Rogue State Park south of Grant's Pass. It's a beautiful park between the Rogue River and the Interstate 5. We chose a spot near the river and the sound of the traffic blended into the sound of the river until all we heard was river. In this place, we had plenty of room to spread our wings for the evening and we did remember to turn on the furnace. Everyone slept like rocks. That featherbed substitute is a good thing.

Thursday we drove only as far as Chehalis and stayed overnight in a Thousand Trails campground some miles removed from the freeway and up a mountainside. It's one of those places where if you don't know where it is, you will not find it. By the time we got there, it was dark and we rejected the first site we tried as being too slanty. Then we tried another but it was too short, so then we got out with the flashlights and started hunting a level, long spot without trees encroaching too much so we could spread out. Found one, serenaded by coyotes again! That surprised me, as I thought we'd left them all in AZ. Guess not.

The living room slide out refused to slide out. It refused to do anything. It seems the entire circuit died that powers that slide. Ray checked all the breakers and fuses and could not find anything blown. So that's a mystery for the repair guys. If one of the slides had to fail, I'd rather it was that one. We had plenty of room to move around  and Norman enjoyed the couch eye view of the dinner table.

Sent off to sleep by coyote and owl serenade, we woke refreshed, cleaned up the motor home, packed things away and headed for home. We got here about 1 and missed the afternoon traffic. We had some lunch, and unloaded the motor home. I finally decided to take out the canned goods lest they freeze, but left the dry things in there. We were worn out by the time we were done and it was dark by then anyway. We scrounged around for supper, vegged out with tv and headed for our own familiar bed for a good night's sleep.

Ray has made a list of things for warranty work and we're scheduled to drop it off on Friday morning. McMahon's is, as we suspected, dragging it's feet on agreeing to pay for the damage to the hood that it had when we arrived. I wish they'd just give in and we'd all be done with each other.

Norman turns out to be a wonderful motor homing dog. He loves the motor home, loves to ride, loves to get out and smell new things, loves to look out the big front windshield and watch the world go by. Plus, he's very well behaved when he gets out of the mh. Perhaps he is afraid we'll leave him at the rest area if he doesn't behave. Whatever reason, I'm glad of it.

Cooking in this motor home is so much easier than in the old motor home we had 20 years ago. So much more space and countertop to work with. We were pleased with the results of cooking in the convection oven/microwave. Those are good additions to motor homes. Garbage disposals have to be next on the list, but with Norm along, I admit we did not have much garbage.

Our van now feels small when we drive it! But this Friday after we drop off the motor home, we will pack up the van and head for our annual weekend in Pacific Beach. We rented a house this year and Brett and Alayne will be joining us. I hope Brett's cooking again this year!

We've decided to put all the trip pics up in one post, if we can find any that actually turned out. Stay tuned!

Second Ride of the Season

It was a short ride, but we rode! This time Noman decided to accompany us. We three enjoyed it very much. We just went here and there, enjoying the day. We did go down by the sound and stopped by Richmond Beach Saltwater Park just to see the scenery. It's good to be out and about on the bikes after such a long winter.

But rain for the next 3 days, so there won't be much riding going on at our house.

hmm. We need to figure out what to do about the rain and Norman and his bed in the sidecar. hmmm

Going the Long Way Round

Today we took the back/residential roads north to Everett and then rode thru Marysville to the Commissary Store.

The speeds, for the most part, were in the 30-35 mph range, but the roads had loads of curves. Ray said it would have been more fun if the speed limit was higher, but it was challenging enough for this sidecar driver.

It wasn't until we got into South Everett (which, by the way, is really pretty on the roads closest to the Sound) that I actually enjoyed a sequence of curves. I think I began to relax into the ride a bit. And I remembered my training at last, outside, inside, outside. I was so focused on muscleing/steering around the curves that I forgot to use what I learned. Perhaps it was because this is a new ride and because it's been so long since we rode anything other than a straight line with a couple of 90 degree turns.

The back roads along the Sound are definitely the long way round, but it's much more enjoyable than the freeway or Highway 99. And lots of practice curves for me, which is also a good thing. But it did take us for ever to get up to the store.

We bought groceries at the commissary and some few things at the exchange and loaded up the sidecar. We had room for more, but didn't need more. Too funny when people realize you're loading that heap of grocery bags in a sidecar!

We came home on the freeway and that was fast easy riding except it was SO COLD. I could have worn my spring jacket instead of my mesh. The sun didn't come out the entire trip. It didn't even threaten to come out.

So handy to back the scoot into the garage and have the groceries so close to the house. Lazy woman's shopping. No, wait, that's Amazon Fresh, which I love and highly recommend to anyone who lives in the delivery area. Beautiful fruits and veggies, they put the stuff from the commissary (or Safeway or Albertson) store to shame. Imagine waking up to all the groceries you need on your doorstep! It's heavenly but it isn't exactly cheap.

Yesterday we took Norman out to dinner in the sidecar. He really seems to enjoy it, the breeze and watching all the passing scenery. He never tried to jump out, or even threatened to until we got safely home. We went to Red Line Burgers and sat at the picnic tables out front. Norman climbed up on the bench and sat there like a little hairy gentleman. They brought him a burger patty on a little paper plate and a paper cup of water. I broke up his burger into reasonable sized pieces so he didn't gulp it all down at one big bite. He ate a few pieces of burger, took a drink from the cup on the table, watched the traffic passing by, had a bite of onion ring, ate more burger, had a drink. Repeat patiently. He was so funny and seemed to think he was King of the World. When it was time to leave, he hopped right in the sidecar and off we went for a little ride.

People don't seem to notice the scoot and sidecar much, but put Norman in the sidecar and you get loads of attention.

Whoopie!

My sidecar is ready at last! Yippee! Hooray!

We'll take Mr. Burgman to Dauntless Motors on Monday afternoon to have his Kenna sidecar fitted and affixed.

To say I am very excited is an understatement.

Norman had a test ride in the back of the truck, safely tethered in. It appears that he may love riding in a sidecar. He sure loved riding in the truck bed.

If you don't see any entries here, it's because I'm out riding again.