Monroe, WA

November 11-15 Thunderbird TT near Monroe, WA

Beautiful area and drive. Our spot backs up to the river! No Sat, no tv, sporadic wifi (so far the latter is the norm with RV parks!). Getting more comfortable towing, still don't like bouncing bikes. Fun times not planning gas stops more carefully! Firsts: totally level spot in a campgound. Full in off season?! Was able to get Friday night after all when calling that day before leaving. Unhooking the car then look for site but still didn't know where sats were. Choosing river view over TV (news withdrawal and no Seahawks? gasp!). Lesson we never seem to learn: check satellite view of route and gas stop to make sure you know route so if GPS decides to reroute, you can assess AND you know if getting gas will be FUN (or not). Costco gas in Federal Way bad idea! Other lessons: cable from satellite antenna to roof (trying to find sats) gets tangled in slide out if you decide to check satellite before deploying slides. Tumbling satellite sound confirms worst (thankfully not off the roof!). Later: working satellite confirms best!. What we are wondering: why did we want a DISH if you can rarely have an unobstructed view of the south or you have to pick lame sights to get it? Will it always be like this? How to add a camera to the back so we can monitor the bikes on the car while driving or change the current camera to tilt up more or better yet - remotely tilt where you want! How to fit in walks on beautiful days when it's travel day or other time commitments. Now we're settled with no hard plans and it's raining! How do we find time for all the things we want to do? Video tour, explore, visit, shop for stuff we want, blog, plan next segment. Highlights: view of river, waking up at 3:00 and seeing big dipper out bedroom window. Seahawks win against Patriots (bad for heart). Wallace Falls hike. Visit with family! Lowlights: Trying to find unobstructed south view for satellites. Watching Seahawks game on smartphone (but it was free on Verizon and didn't use data!).

The first stop: Chehalis

Nov 9-11, 2016

We have officially started our great adventure by heading north and staying at the original Thousand Trails near Chehalis!  Visiting dear friends on our way north to see family before heading south!

We broke one of our guiding rules right off! Arrive by 2:00 and never at dusk or later! With a late dental appointment to fix my broken tooth and a couple of other unintentional poorly timed errands, we got out later than hoped and arrived at dusk. Consequence: choosing a site because it's getting dark and not knowing where South and satellites are!

Firsts: Official trip towing. Arriving at dusk. Experience trying to find satellites. Dumping at campground dump station and attaching toad (car) while waiting for dump to finish!

Lessons learned: follow your rules, hooking up at dump station works well if it doesn't hold anyone up!

What we are wondering: Is our DISH receiver really broken? Forums say the new Wally won't work with less than 3 satellites but DISH says it should so exchange it.

Highlights: Beautiful November weather, sunrise, fog "lake", visiting friends

Lowlights: learning about DISH and satellites (but great knowledge to build!)! Planning your next segment and the desired campground is FULL in November????

We did it!!

With my last day yesterday and Pat's last day last week, we are officially both retired - oh my!!

Gifts from co-workers to remind us to take it EASY!

Our first official day was full of family, errands, and another CHECK off the list.  As a going away gift, folks at work gave us a DISH TV antenna and with money from other dear friends, we got the rest of the equipment to go with it so we can continue with our TV addiction (after long days of exploring we hope!).  We will often not be near over-the-air tv so this will allow us to record our favorite shows, stress out watching our Seahawks games and keep up on the news (which is also recorded so we can skip the parts we don't want to hear - election news maybe?!!).

Wow, I think we've finally completed the big stuff!!  Now we're hanging around for Pat's last few dental appointments (and hopefully a new one for me since I broke a tooth last night - arghh!).  All before we lose dental coverage at the end of the month of course!  THEN we can finally hit the road.

So, stay tuned and hopefully we can start the real adventure!!!

The next big step - check!

We feel so official now!  Not only do we have our tow car but now it's connected!!!  Thanks to Graham and his superior tow equipment selection and installation.   This is a whole new world for us as we have never towed a car.  So much to remember and scared we'll mess something up!  Hopefully we'll be pros in no time!

Here we are on it's maiden journey with Graham pulling forward so we could see it "set" as the tow equipment fell into proper place.  Test drive completed and towed the car to the RV park and unhitched!

Whew!  Another item on the checklist complete!!

It's FINALLY here!!! For one of us at least!

Today is Pat's last day at the Post Office and we're so excited!  Can't believe how long we've been dreaming of this day and it's finally here!  Time to celebrate!

I went down to Pat's work where he was presented with a certificate and his co-workers went all out with a cute cake and a mickey chair and "cooler" with drinks so he could sit and watch them case the mail (as he was often teasing them he would!).

 Great group of folks that he will miss (but not the work!!).

It was meant to be!!!

We FINALLY have our tow car!  And it's the perfect color - maroon to match one of the swirls on the motorhome!

Low miles (28k) and the last year that Honda CRV's can be flat towed (2014).  We got it last Friday and we are thoroughly enjoying it!  Next step:  getting it ready to tow!

My sis said it's hitched up backwards... :)

We are waiting, waiting...

We were having trouble posting this back awhile so here it is finally (was originally for the weekend of Oct 14-15)...

View to the west facing the RV park

We are still at Tri-Mountain RV Park in Ridgefield, WA waiting for our retirement date(s)!

Today was our first windstorm in the motorhome.  But it wasn't a big storm (here at least) - a lot of wind and rain (and a little shakin' goin' on).

We are fighting fruit flies (we think that's what they are)!  Can't seem to get rid of them.  We just read about sewer flies (ewww, really?).  Just in case we did the boiling water down the drains trick.  And fruit fly traps.  But they are still here.  Dag nab annoying.

Still looking for the tow car.  Haven't found that magic combination of year, mileage, model, price and NOT BLACK!!  Currently top on our list is 2014 Honda CRV EX-L with low miles.