Smith River

We spent the day at Mom G's. Michael and I did a bunch of "odd jobs" for her. The kids enjoyed the run of the river.....since they did 3 weeks of school last week, this seems only fair! ::wink::  OK - school for the day - P.E.; Science (buoyancy test, hydrodynamics, zoology, studied bark from Redwoods and Douglas fir, identified and avoided Poison Oak), genealogy, local history, ecology & civics (neighborhood water rights)...yep - it will count as a roadschool day!  

Lots of driftwood brought in by high waters

No matter the age - my boys like to play with light sabers, swords and sticks

Arrow continues to be our river buddy

Even Yuuki likes the Smith River

Smith River

Seven months ago, Alex lost an arrow while at the Smith River.....Look what he found today in the driftwood at the high water mark! 

 Spring Colors

The 411 on our current connectivity for those who want to know:

• Michael and Nolan can receive texts and calls
• De'Etta received one text today and no replies went out
• This valley seems to be a Verizon cell/data plan dead spot
• Our range extender is making the park's wifi work for us when we're at the trailer
• We will be going into town tomorrow - I hope to be able to get out some texts and Nolan hopes to use the Verizon mifi for Japanese.....
• BreZaak has the land line numbers for our RV Park and Mom G if any of you need to reach us and can't use Michael's phone or email. 

38 Weeks - Our Bella Will be here Soon!

Borrowing from Bre's blog to make sure I get it all right! LOL 

"(March 25th) ultra sound measured her (Bella) at 5 lbs 9 oz which would put her in the 9th percentile size wise. My OB/GYN (and us as well) felt confident her size is a genetic thing due to the fact that both my mom and I were born small. However, if a baby is below the 10th percentile, they like to send them to a specialist to get a second opinion just in case. 

Thus today found us in another last ultra sound at the specialist. This ultra sound was better as it is specifically for seeing small babies. We saw lots of details including every part of her spine, that she is very much a girl, that she has all her toes and fingers, and that she does indeed have a lot of hair. More importantly, we saw that she is absolutely perfect! The icing on the cake: this ultra sound measured her at 6 lb 1 oz which puts here in the 17th percentile. All is well and proceeding just right. We did get some new pictures including some 3D pictures out of our little extra excursion today." 

We have more pictures of our little princess to share! 

Sucking - a good sign.

From Mild to Wild in 1.2 Seconds

We woke up this morning with a view of the Rogue River. It was so peaceful and beautiful.....that we didn't really want to leave. We enjoyed our morning at the park. I tossed out the idea of detouring to see Mom G before we headed to Eugene. The more we thought about it - we were only TWO HOURS from Mom G - and the OR kids were all busy today. We decided to drive down to Crescent City, CA to visit Mom G - then head back to Eugene.  We called Mom G to be sure she was at home....

....and by 11:30 a.m we were on the road. We had two hours to drive over Hwy 199 and envisioned a late lunch, afternoon visiting, grilling around the fire this evening.....it was not to be. 

I had just told Michael I heard a flapping noise...when BANG.... (this is the Boo). 

Several things happened  at once, the van began to swerve, the trailer began to swerve, the road was twisting, Yuuki dove under Michael's feet, Michael threw Yuuki my way, my life passed before my eyes and Michael found a spot to pull over! I posted the above photo on Facebook and friends began to pray. I was especially heartened by the women in the RoadSchoolMomsBible study who knew exactly what this means for a full time family on the road.....as all prayed.....we began the chore of securing the area, calming the dog (below), disconnecting the trailer, raising the van, lowering the spare tire..... 

Yuuki does not approve of these sorts of shenanigans

The reflector was my job

While we were in the midst of this someone stopped - a man in white from Les Schwab! All those FB friends prayed in a Good Samaritan. He said he "happened" to have a tire to fix in Selma (a small town indeed) and was on the way back to the shop in Grants Pass.

 Yes, we check our tires OFTEN, every time we get gas. This is a 50k mile warranty tire - purchased nine months ago! It, and all the other tires, looked fine this a.m. We are not overweight. We balance the weight. We'll be stopping at a scale the next time we see one to triple check.

Lots of damage to the van

Stace from the South Grants Pass shop is a hero!

 We turned around (not an easy feat on Hwy 199 towing a trailer) and headed back to Grants Pass. Would you believe the tire was RECALLED and no one notified us???? They gave us another free tire and checked all our other tires. They all look fine and are not on the recall list.  They also told us to get two estimates to repair the damaged van. We'll send the estimates, with the damaged tire, to the tire manufacturer who will hopefully pay for the damage. The first estimate came in at $1800+.

While they rushed the van through the shop, we walked to a Safeway and grabbed some deli food for an impromptu picnic in Grants Pass - not the Redwoods - but it was fine.

We got back on the road and pulled into our site at 6:30 p.m.  That is how a 2 hour detour to see Mom G ended up taking us seven hours - and we've still not seen her. It was 8 p.m. by the time we were set up and had dinner. Note: Veggie Pot Pie was a great travel day dinner. Grilled Burgers not so much - you never know how late you'll arrive.  We are going to spend a couple of nights here. We need to get another estimate, have fun, hug some Redwood trees and relax.

Stacia was a bit clueless, about 30 miles from the Redwoods she said, "Wait! We WERE in OREGON! Are we back in CALIFORNIA? Are we EVER going to get out of California?" ::snort::

Lessons learned - listen and check out  any odd noises IMMEDIATELY, do NOT pick up a steel belted tire when it blows - OUCH.

BOO - well - the tire blew and we were on the road a long time

YAY - no one was hurt, the van didn't roll, there were no semis coming at us, no one tail ended us when we began slowing and swerving, there was a spot to pull over,  a Les Schwab man happened by, we got a "free" replacement tire, there was a grocery store within walking distance, Les Schwab moved us to the front of their repair line, we didn't have to spend a night in Grants Pass,  we were able to get into a spot for 3 nights without a reservation in the Redwoods, and can get another estimate here before heading back up the road to deliver all the paperwork on our way to Eugene.

YAY - we are so thankful we were on HWY 199 (with a turn out) when this happened. If we'd gone to Eugene, as planned, we'd probably have been coming down Sexton pass when it blew. If it had blown later on Hwy 199 it could have been much more dangerous.

BOO - no Verizon cell here (my phone and our data plan); YAY - the extender is picking up camp wifi and we can check email and FB when at the trailer.

Here are a few raw clips of the road today.....

We're Mobile!

God has been so very gracious to us. We thought we'd have to give up our dream of traveling the U.S.  - but here we are - ON THE ROAD AGAIN! There is no doubt we had to make some accommodations - and we probably need to find a rig I can drive more easily as the doctors suggest - but we're on the road! We did not make it all the way to Eugene.  Michael seems to have "sleep attacks" sometime in the afternoon; so we'll drive in the a.m. and stop as needed. I suggested stopping 1/2 way in Yreka, CA - but he's stubborn. He wanted to be over the Siskiyou Pass before we stopped.  He was doing fine - so we did it. We're within a couple of hours of Eugene....I think.

Any travel day that ends with a campsite by the river is a good travel day! 

We ran off to visit the river while the guys set up the hoses, jacks etc
I knew I'd be making dinner shortly

I prayed we'd have the "wind at our back" when we took off - would you believe we were on the road about 15 min when a wind advisory was put into effect for our area? 25 - 45 mph coming W/NW - we fought a head wind the whole way.  Stacia LOVED it when a gust would hit us and Michael had to fight to keep it in the lines. I wasn't so excited about this and fought motion sickness all day. I didn't want to take pills as I wanted to chat with Michael. There was even a touch of snow blowing in the wind coming over the pass which totally made Stacia's travel day.

The kids rock! Even after five months of being parked, the skills came back quickly and we were all ready to hit the road an hour after we started the routine.

We stopped, set up camp, got  Country Veggie Pot Pies in the oven, the boys and Michael took a walk (Stacia opted to read)  and then Michael and I walked along the Rogue River.

Nolan

 My man

 Um....so....."If you have Parkinson's WHY am *I* always on the ground????"  Yep - the state park jinx...another twisted ankle - but it's the other one and it's barely swollen as opposed to the size of a grapefruit. 

Perfect Travel Dinner

We've stayed here in the summer, the fall and now the spring - any time of the year, Valley of the Rogue State Park , is a nice spot to overnight. We'll meander the rest of the way to Eugene tomorrow.

Final Day at Beale Fam Camp

We woke up bright and early, thankful to navigate the shower house and make it on time for church.  Always a good time - and we're going to miss this church greatly.

We enjoyed our first Easter lunch in The Caboose,  then set about buttoning things up for an easy getaway tomorrow. Michael took wheels and pedals off bikes so they ALL fit in the back of the van. This will simplify the inside prep in the a.m. - and it will also make it harder for someone to steal bikes out of the van on travel days. They won't get far even if they do break in during our lunch.

When we'd finished we went for a walk - our mission to feed the ducks in the lake....doesn't everyone feed the ducks with sticks.....

We enjoyed ice cream around the fire.....and visiting with neighbors.

Nolan is still working on his book 

The Game - a funny thing happened with the game last night.  These two were walking around and around the loop.They'd done this for HOURS. The rest of us were content to chat around the fire. It was nearly quiet time - 9:50 p.m. A small white truck pulled into our loop, stopped in front of the kids and began talking. I heard Alex say, "My trailer is over there." The conversation continued. By this time I deducted someone was worried about Stacia and quizzing Alex. Social situations he has not anticipated are not his forte. He was making a gallant effort, however, and wasn't saying anything wrong......I could tell he was getting flustered. I walked over and it was security forces. He said he'd noted they were walking around and he was "just checking to be sure the young girl was o.k." I  thanked him. He said he didn't mean to scare them - but I was happy to know they were checking up on the kids' safety and that Alex  handled an unrehearsed social situation well.  The trooper couldn't see me by the fire. 

I settled down to do a final blog by this Beale campfire.....my fingers stung a bit. A cinder landed on my keyboard. I flicked it off - but it left a melted spot. Hot Metal!

It's a bit "sad" to pull away from Beale again - but if you're going to live in an RV, staying in one spot 5 months is a bit too long. We're happy to find  new adventures.  We'll pass through again on our way to TX and then on the way to ID......and....we'll be back in September to see the doctors again. LOL

Fam Camp and Lake Blackwelder

Beale Fam Camp has been a nice home for us while we worked out the details of Michael's diagnosis. We're ready to move on. Check out the link to see what it looked like before all this rain. LOL

Goodbye Swooshes!

Michael wanted us to spend the day on some maintenance issues around The Caboose. We planned to wash and wax the van and trailer, possibly replace a valve.....and begin storing some of the outside "stuff" in preparation for our Monday departure. 

The Caboose has legs!

Unfortunately, the BX did not carry buckets OR a long-handled brush. Plan B....the van is done. I went to the commissary and filled the freezer and cupboards.  Our laundry is done - 0530 is a nice time to do laundry at an RV park. We began work to remove old, sun-faded, peeling decals from The Caboose.  The directions we found online were pretty straight-forward....heat with a blow dryer, peel with your fingernail, clean with goo gone and wash right away.  I have no fingernails left - the kids discovered old motel room keys work great.

In reality, it was harder than we expected. The swooshes on the front are gone. We'll borrow a ladder and work on the Outback in OR.  If we ever buy one of these from the factory, we are going to get a "snowball" - keep the swooshes! They don't hold up well in the sun.

Why yes - it is delaminating - AFTER we fixed it - and this is nothing!
 The back is worse. #NeverKeystoneAgain

I first envisioned a pithy retiree saying, "Not all who wander are lost," "This is what retirement looks like,"  or some such thing. Next, I envisioned a full-color landscape photo (but seriously we are saving for a new rig - why pay THAT much?). Now, I'm envisioning a simple black logo - Courageous Joy - not sure at all what that looks like in a logo. ::snort:: BUT we have some pretty white spots becoming available.  Hmmmm....maybe "How's my driving?" 

 It was a great day.....I'm happy our lifestyle which allows for this....whether it's chronic fatigue  or sudden sleep attack as a result of the meds - Parkinson's makes a guy tired.  I'm  thankful he has the luxury of resting when needed -  playing, exploring  and working when he's feeling energized.  It's been a tiring week for all. {Editor's note: Seems I caught our first sleep attack on film- now he knows what it feels like.}

Nolan is desperately trying to finish this library book
before we leave on Monday.