We're back in Cathedral City tonight. We spent last night in LA and had a great dinner with Dupre and Ginny. I forgot to bring the camera so no pics. Nice thai/sushi place with great decor, good food and a martini bar. Very LA.

Talked to Country and Sky as we were driving into the Palm Springs area, they told us to meet them for dinner at the River, at a sushi bar! So, sushi 2 nights in a row but both nights really good.

It's too dark to see what's happened to the pond here while I was gone. Apparently some raccoons jumped in and did some damage, the fish food went bad and all the original Wakin goldfish died, the pump stopped working and the big filter at the head of the waterfall is losing water. I'll see tomorrow what I can do.

We're driving down I-5 tonight, I'm online with my cell phone. One thing about this endless boring highway, it has great cell coverage. Spent a couple days in Petaluma, got the annual mammograms done and spent some time with our good friend Marlene. We traded iTunes songs and talked computers and music and stuff all afternoon.


She brought her shepard Scout over and the dogs all got along, that makes me happy.


We will be in LA tomorrow for dinner with the number one son and his wife.

Oops! Spoke too soon about leaving tomorrow. Turns out the Jeep's brakes are a mess. We need to have all 4 replaced completely. Yes, it's expensive but we haven't had to put this kind of money into the jeep in the 4 years we've owned it. It's cheaper here in Oregon, no sales tax and lower labor charges, and we have a lot of confidence in this place. So, we've called and told our mammogram appointments that we may not make it and we will stay here until the jeep is completed. We're comfortable here with fast wireless, electricity and good weather.

It was a great week with the LaDeze and on Friday several of the husbands arrived for the weekend along with some other Lazy Daze couples. That was great! Not so much to do and time to get to know them. Many of the people in both groups are active on the Lazy Daze forum and I always enjoy meeting people face to face that I've known online. Still, after 8 days Mimi and I were tired and more than a little ready to drive off alone and just relax. We left Honey Bear late (as usual) and arrived in Grants Pass, OR around 10pm. We had an appt the next morning at Henderson's to get the rig aligned, brakes checked and the whole suspension checked. We couldn't find the place in the dark so we spent the night at WalMart and came over here at 8am.

Here's Tortuga with her shoes off.

The alignment was fine, they are packing the wheel bearings and sanding the brake discs to take off some glazing, the brake pads are fine. While we are here, we decided to get them to check the brakes on the jeep as well, we've seen a lot of red powder on the front wheels lately.

Not only is this place well recommended, it has plug ins if you need to spend the night and free WiFi. Not cheap but the perks are good. We may spend the night tonight and head south tomorrow.

We took a jet boat up the Rogue River this morning, really early this morning. I don't know why this stuff has to start at dark thirty in the morning. We had to be ready to leave at 7:30am, it was like working for the govt.... get there early and then stand around and wait. Once you get to the boat, you sit around and wait some more. All this in the damn fog and cold. I pulled my hood over my head and fell asleep on the bench seat of the boat, I slept for the first hour or so of the trip. It got warmer and I woke up in time to get a picture of this Bald Eagle on a spar.


Shortly after that we got to the town of Agnes for lunch. The trip back was great, why couldn't the whole thing have started at noon and I could have enjoyed it all. I am really grumpy and unhappy when I have to get up too early, especially if it is cold as well. It's a lot easier to get up early when it is warm. The boat driver with all his cutsy jokes designed to get more tips really irritated me on the way up, I just thought he was a dork on the return trip.

Mimi got this great shot of some of the Lazy Daze lined up by the pond here.
This is a beautiful park, we are spread around this lake with a fire pit and lots of tables in the middle. Good choice Marial!

Our newest rig is about 3 weeks old, 'Serenity' belongs to Kate and Terry and is a 30' twin bed.

We have a note you can put in your window if you are available to show others your rig. Kate has had a lot of visitors, everyone wants to see a brand new LD.










Vicki has our oldest rig, a 1987 Front Lounge. She's fulltiming in 'Hiccup' with her two cats.

Today Mimi and Joan had a class called 'Greasy Gals' that went through the engine and demonstrated maintenance tasks. Air cleaners, brake fluid, transmission fluid, coolant... how to check them, or clean them or fill them.

We also had a campfire and did a lot of schmoozing. I have our satellite dish set up and an open wireless network. The rigs right around us can pick it up inside and anyone can sit at our "downtown" area and use the internet cafe.

There are 17 rigs here and 20 women. The idea is give women owners a chance to learn how their rigs work, diagnose simple problems and have a supportive environment for asking questions.





We also have a lot of fun. Our first night we had a tasting of ales from Oregon micro breweries.

We've arrived at Honey Bear Campground on the beautiful but foggy Oregon coast. We're attending a rally for women who own Lazy Daze RVs, the same as our Tortuga.

It's great greeting old friends and meeting new ones. All ages and colors of LD's, it's fun going in different rigs and seeing how they do things and where they put things. Lots of dogs too and they are having their own 'happy hour'.

It was a beautiful drive over the mountains west from Bend towards Eugene... and then it got dark... then it started raining. I was driving our rig and Mimi driving our friend Marial's rig. I'm not fond of mountain driving, especially if it is dark, raining and a narrow road. The lightening and thunder added a bit to it as well. I'm one of those drivers you probably hate, I will not be pushed into going faster than I feel safe no matter how many people ride my tail. So, I proceeded in a stately manner at 40 mph. What amazed me is that when there was a passing lane and I pulled into it and slowed down so the whole train could pass me, several times cars would just pull in behind me and not go around. Maybe they liked me blocking the rain for them, or maybe they too wanted to only go 40 mph and I was their excuse. I was very happy to see lights and a freeway, I am more of a freeway driver than a twisty mountain road driver. At one point Mimi called me on the CB and asked how I was doing. I answered that I'd much rather be on the Ventura freeway at 2am on NYE. She thought I was joking.

We found a WalMart outside Eugene, pulled in and heated some split pea soup I made yesterday along with grilled cheese sandwiches. We will continue to the coast tomorrow, no more dark, rainy, mountain driving for me tonight.

We had warm, beautiful weather this last week but a cold wind and rain chased us as we headed east from Portland over Mt Hood. It's arrived here in Bend as well. This is a pic from our front door where we are parked in our friend Marial's pasture. We're heading for the Oregon coast later today, beautiful but also cold. I think we'll be getting out our catalytic heater soon.

We sit here reading and watching the reports from New Orleans, I feel anger and disgust but mainly sadness. I love this country and feel such disappointment in how poorly prepared, how poorly executed the relief is and how poorly we have responded to a much anticipated disaster. It's shameful and I am ashamed for all of us.

We left Seattle yesterday and arrived at our friends house in Vancouver, WA last night. It's a gorgeous location and we are enjoying the great views. Chica seems to love laying in the grass near the edge of the forest, I think she's waiting for squirrels. It's a large property and the dogs can run around free, they are really loving that after being on leashes in Seattle.