August 2014

 

 

 

Our new home for a week - Newberry RV Park in La Pine Oregon.  Our friends Diane and Ray have joined us.  Decided to try this park for a couple reasons - 1) it is closer to friends Nita & Ken, and 2) it is a good deal with the weekly rate that includes all hookups (50 amp), free Cable TV and free WiFi!

 

Had a great lunch and extra good beers at what we thought was the Cascade Brewing Company Lodge in Bend Oregon.  Wasn't the Lodge, but the meal and company was excellent all the same!

 

 

La Pine has some beautiful sunsets also!!!

 

 

Moving day again ... this time about 40 miles to the North to Redmond Oregon and the site of the FMCA "Family Reunion".  We are settled in and have a wonderful site for the next 6 days.  Looking forward to seeing lots of old friends and making some new ones.

 

 

Lots of motorhomes waiting to get parked!

  

 

The view out of our windshield - still some snow on the local mountains.

 

Our good friend Lew stopped by and we did a little pub hopping - ending up with some great pizza and beer.

 

 

Had a couple "soggy" days, then the weather turned back into beautiful!  Seems really strange because every time we have been here for a FMCA rally it has been all sun and hot at 100 degrees or more!  This was a pleasant change of pace.  Even had to pull out some long pants and jackets!!!!

 

 

This is our beautiful parking spot from the back - easy walking to just about everything going on.  There was a Tram that stopped near us and the Golf Carts were giving rides to everyone - so we had it pretty good at this rally!

 

Especially right across the street we had this wonderful little "2 Barrel" Brewery and Pub.  Easy to walk to - no "drinking and driving" for us!!!!

 



 

Lots of vendors - and this was just one of the buildings!!!

 

 

Friends Nita and Ken drove up for the day to enjoy the rally and a great lunch at the Wild Ride Brewing here in Redmond.

 

 

Andy was the winner of the Grand Prize from the "Visit Louisiana" booth.  Lots of great products to make many yummy meals!

 

 

 

With the rally over, we headed back South to La Pine.  We liked the Newberry RV park so much, we decided to return and stay put until the Labor Day Holiday was over.  Unfortunately, we found out too late that our 3 weekly stays would have paid for a whole month!  We will keep that in mind for next Summer.

 

 

Rains here too!!!  Guess that is why Oregon stays so green and beautiful.

 

 

Nita and Ken took us to the Lava River Cave - part of the Newberry National Volcanic Monument.  We had seen most of the other parts, but had never stopped here.  It was beautiful.

 

 

None of us were able to make the trek down into the cave - So many stairs down and the same stairs back up, we decided to just enjoy the awesomeness from above.

 

 

Just about every corner of every town up North has these beautiful flowers - I sure wish I knew the secret of growing them like this.  I try in Yuma, but it just never works out like this!  The perfume from the flowers fill the air and it is wonderful......

 

 

We had a wonderful lunch with Nita and Ken at the Pine Tavern in Bend.  This is a very old, very nice restaurant.  We sat inside because this patio area was full - right on the Deschutes River at Mirror Pond - absolutely beautiful!

 

 

One last "gathering" while in the Central Oregon area - Nita and Ken hosted my "Gumbo & Beer" gathering.  Diane and Ray joined us for a wonderful afternoon of Gumbo and Beer from the Deschutes Brewery in Bend Oregon.

 

July 2014 - The rest of the story.......

 

 

Our "Fishing Fantasy" is done for this time, so we move on to the North.  This is a very nice little RV park that we lucked into.  Tri City RV Park is in Myrtle Creek Oregon - Passport America is like $15 a night for 50 amp full-hookup - not too crowded and just an awesome place to rest and get caught up with laundry and whatever.  We will be back......

 

Our main destination - Cummins NorthWest at Coburg Oregon.  We always come here every year for our normal annual maintenance stuff on the coach.  This is a Coach Care facility, so they do lots of little stuff to keep our coach in tip-top condition.  This year they discovered a small air leak in our air system between the coach and the toad - could have been a major problem if it was not discovered early.  We love this service and they have saved us from major problems before - we will be loyal patrons until we no longer have a big coach. 

 

Our beloved Monaco has gone thru some changes in the past years.  After Navistar tried to run them into the ground, they were aquired by Allied.  It was a little different to visit our Service Center and see the Monaco symbol at the end of a line of other manufacturers aquired by the company - I guess we are at the bottom of the barrel, but we are just happy that we have a manufacturers support for our coach.  We will be very unhappy if this service center should close - always a possibility since the main operations are in Indiana.  It is what it is.  On our visit this day we saw several friends and many service personnel who have assisted us in the past.  Help us keep our fingers crossed that this service center will remain open and available.

 

 

A great find in the little town of Coburg Oregon.  Chiefs Brew House has wonderful food and even better Craft Beer.  We enjoyed their food and fantastic Coffee Stout on Nitro on more than one occassion.

 

Time to move on once more.  We are in La Pine Oregon at Cascade Meadows RV park.  We come here at least once a year and enjoy it every time.  This is the first time we are enjoying 50 amp service - not really hot enough to make it worth while - no Air Conditioner needed - we are just enjoying the wonderful cool air!

 

Every afternoon it clouds up and the Thunder and Lightening gives us a show.  Rain comes once in a while, but is always somewhere.  That is why Oregon is so green - the storms come just about everyday - nothing major, just enough to keep it green.

 

Friends Nita and Ken have a home here and other friends Diane and Ray are planning on joining us in a day or so .... good times with good friends just around the corner!!!

 

 

July 2014 - Juniper's Reservoir

 

 

One night "sleep over" between Las Vegas and Lakeview OR.  This is Hawthorne NV.  Not much to talk about, but safe and free.... good one night!

 

Our favorite fishing spot - Lakeview OR at Juniper's Reservoir.  A little campground in the middle of an 8000 acre Cattle Ranch with a private reservoir - no license required and we always catch lots of fish!

 

Friends Nita and Ken came to join us for a few nights - lots of fishing fun and good times.  See, even Ken can catch a fish!!

 

End of the first day fishing - 4 people fishing and the take is 5 Cats and 5 Rainbow Trout... and they said the fishing was not so good this year????  We proved them wrong!

 

 

The "Super Moon" rising!  Was so much better in person, but this is pretty awesome also.

 

Just one more reason to love this place - the scenery is awesome!

 

End of day two - Ken and Nita left this morning, so only two of us fishing today - still the count is 7 fish total.  I forgot to count how many Cat or Rainbow Trout - doesn't matter anyway, both are good.

 



 

It is early July and the reservoir is already so low - they tell us that for the last 3 years they have gotten very little snow in the Winter, so not much to fill up the reservoir. This picture doesn't really show how low it is - trust us we know it is very low.   Kind of sad, especially for us who depend on our "fishing fix" every year.

 

This Miss "Bossy" is determined that we will not be going home.  Unfortunately for her, as we got closer she got scared and let us pass. Our Jimmy is big and black and I bet she thought we were the BOSS!   Glad not too many big Bulls in this herd!

 

End of our last day and we still didn't get skunked!  Count for today is "I don't know"!  Forgot to take the count again.  We don't really care how many - we are just happy to have the luck to fill our freezer with fresh fish!  The owner told us that he won't take any more water from the reservoir this season so the fish will not die - great news for us cause we plan on returning on our way back South the Fall! 

June 2014 is flying by.....

 

 

Time to get back to reality ... and back on the road.  First stop is Lake Havasu City AZ.

 

Our friends Willie and Shirley live here and they have an awesome pontoon boat.  We always enjoy seeing them and spending time with them out on the lake.  Here is Andy kicking back!

 

It is a beautiful day and we will all enjoy it and each others company.  Pictured are Willie, Marge, and Shirley.

 

With this edition of "play time" over for this visit, we move on to our "new home" Las Vegas Nevada.  We will be here to enjoy family and friends - and maybe a little slot play and movies.  Not too far from our Winter abode to lose our local TV on satellite, but far enough to know we are "on the road again"!   By the time we leave here it will be well into July - stay tuned for those adventures......

 



Spring East Coast Adventure....

Our main reason for being here is to help celebrate our Grand Daughter's High School Graduation!
 

 

Ready to party in Maryland!!!

 

The Graduate!  Miss Felicia Andrea Dixon.

 

Food to die for ... It was all delicious and all prepared on site by many family members.

 

The cake was awesome!

 

The Graduate in action!  It was a nice warm day and the "kids" had a great time having water fights.

 

 

The dance floor was crowded all day!

 

 

The time has come for Felicia's next big step - Graduation!  She will be attending Wesley College in Dover Delaware in the Fall.  It is a 4 year college and she will graduate with her Registered Nursing Degree.  We are all so proud of her and her accomplishments! 

 

Waldorf Maryland

 

It was hard to get pictures of what was happening.  This was on the big screen as Felicia accepted her diploma.

 

The graduating class of 2014 - Felicia is somewhere there in the middle!

 

 

The graduate and her proud "Pop Pop"!  Congratulations Felicia - you are on to the next chapter in your life.

 

The Graduate Felicia and her Mom Andrea and Dad Gerald.  Wow!  What a day.