Idaho Summer

The view from our front door, Snake River RV Park
Homedale, Idaho

Well, we're on the road again. I admit I was a lazy writer during our two-month Idaho stay. There wasn't too much going on while we were there. My primary purpose was looking after my 8-year-old granddaughter, Sophie, over the summer break when mom & dad were working, and that kept me fairly busy. We had great fun together playing board games, putting together jigsaw puzzles, and hanging out with her plethora of stuffed animal friends. Of course, we also had everyone out to the campground a few times, made hamburgers and s'mores, and let Sophie play in the grass and the water sprinklers. 

The campground we secured, Snake River RV Resort in Homedale, Idaho, was situated right on the river. Our site was just across the road, with no campsites between us and the river. It was a beautiful setting, but we spent the entire two months fighting a losing battle with the bug world, primarily little gnat-like flies and spiders. We're still finding (and killing) spiders, and probably will continue to find them lurking around for days to come.

Yesterday we said goodbye to Homedale, Idaho, and hit the road for Spokane. Our first day was less than pleasant. We had planned to make a Walmart parking lot stop in Pendleton, Oregon, only to find out they did not permit parking. It was a hot day--over 100 degrees--and, for some reason that Mark was unable to pin down, our generator would not stay running. Consequently, we couldn't run the A/C and the temperature inside the motorhome was hovering close to the outside temperature. Finally, we thought it would be prudent to find a campground where we could plug in. 

There are quite a few choices in that area of the Oregon-Washington border (I-84), and we got on the phone and started calling. Some were booked solid, one could not take a big rig, some ended in "leave a message." One that we'd been to before, Agate Acres, didn't have a working phone number in our Allstays app. But after another hour or so of sweltering, we decided to just show up there and take our chances.

We pulled in at about 7 p.m. and found their office closed until Monday. What would YOU do? After a very brief conversation, Mark and I decided to look for an open spot and figure out the rest later. The last time we were there, the park was practically empty. This time, we found exactly one empty site and thanked the Good Lord for saving it for us. We were able to find all the information we needed to pay for our stay and dropped our payment into a slot in the office door. 

I'm not so sure I'm that fond of adventures anymore. Getting old? Mmmm.... I'll get back to you on that.

Today we're parked in another regular haunt-- Ponderosa Falls RV Park in the Spokane, Washington, area, to spend a weekend with two of my other kids -- Liz and Josh. We've been here several times and like the park well enough. Its only drawback is that we can only stay one week (through our RPI membership). After that we must be out for a week before coming back. That's not a problem this visit, since it's just a weekend.

That's all for now. Monday we head for Olympia, Washington.

God bless & safe travels to all!

Polly (Portrait Day)

Moo Moo (Portrait Day)

Liony (Portrait Day)

Sophie and Liony quite possisbly stalking someone.

Lunch time

These escapees greeted me on the road between
the campground and main road. Thankfully, it 
only happened once.

A visit from the kids--
Brent, Sophie, Mr. Quackers and Katie

Sophie & the gang

Our spot at Snake River RV "Resort"-- so, it's
not really a resort, but it's one of the best kept
parks we've ever been in.

Sophie and one of her school friends, Alexi (and her brother)
whose grandparents happened to be parked right
next to us in the campground.

The Snake River Valley is a wine region.
Sadly (for Mark), they make very little
sweet wines.

This little baby's nest fell out of the tree. We found it
perching in the most unlikely places.

Hurry, Rest... Hurry, Rest

Dry camping at the "Eclipse Rally"

Rushing from one place to another has been something I've vowed not to do anymore. But life has a way of disrupting plans and putting needs ahead of wants. Such has been our spring. 

We were going to make a slow but steady journey from Shreveport to Nampa, ID, where we'll spend most of our summer. Then Mark had his eye appointment with the ophthalmologist to see what could be done about his cloudy eye. The good news is it was an easy fix-- a laser surgery procedure they did on the spot. The bad news is they wanted him to return in thirty days for a follow up.

Ready for the big day

In the meantime we had an eclipse to see. So off we went to view what will probably be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity with a few dozen Alfa friends at a little campground in Bandara, Texas, right in the center of the path. Much to our disappointment, on the day of the eclipse, Bandara was overcast. Who expected that?! So, the event was less than spectacular. 

View through the filter

Naked eye

The next day, we moved our RV to a campground on the other side of Bandara for the annual "Alfa Owners Rally," where 50 or so Alfa RV owners gathered with their rigs for a week of activities, mostly geared to technical stuff for the guys, though they did have a nice ladies' luncheon that I attended where I got to meet some new people. 

Sue Rogers organized the event
(she and husband, Tom, are our 
Alfa Roadrunner club presidents)

Mark attended most of the "Tech Talks" to refresh his knowledge base on the Alfa and potentially pick up some new information. We both attended a fire safety presentation, after which I won a raffle drawing for a kitchen stove fire blanket, now suitably installed on a cabinet door next to the stove... just in case. We also replaced our smoke alarm, which was on its last leg. Our house is already supplied with three fire extinguishers-- one in the front, one in the back, and one in the basement... just in case.

We were reminded how devastating fire can be, especially in RVs, which are notorious for going up in flames in a matter of minutes. We passed this tragedy on the highway...

After the rally, we headed back to Shreveport for Mark's eye appointment. His eye is doing great, by the way. Except for a few buggy floaters that should eventually go away, his vision has returned to normal. Well, normal for him. 

Another issue that was uncovered with an inspection by some of his Alfa buddies was a problem with the rollers on our big slide. So when we left Shreveport, we headed back to see Ronnie Wolfe at his Alfa Shop in Choudrant, LA, to make the necessary adjustments. Now our slide rolls in more or less perfectly and we shouldn't have any more problems with it, at least for a while. By the way, check out our new floor. No more nasty dirty carpet. 

We were finally free to head north to Minnesota. Mark's sister-in-law Maxine (Merlin's wife) had passed away recently and her memorial service was scheduled for May 1. That gave us six days to get from central Louisiana to southern Minnesota. Hurry, hurry, hurry. Two days of travel, two rest days, and three days of travel later we arrived at Maegan's house (Mark's daughter) where we will be for eighteen days. Then we're hurrying west to arrive in Nampa, ID, by June 1, where we'll rest again for two months while I help watch over my lovely granddaughter, Sophie, during her summer vacation.

Part of the reason for this recent hurry cycle has to do with the difficulty in finding inexpensive campgrounds along the way. Thousand Trails has virtually nothing in the central states, and RPI parks have started adding what they call "resort fees" that range anywhere from $10-20 a night (in addition to RPI's standard $10/night rate). It's beginning to look like our days of cheap camping are over. So we've opted to spend extra time parked in the family driveway at the wonderfully reduced price of $0.

One last note...

I'm thinking about closing out this blog at the end of the year and calling it a good run. I invite you to help me in my decision by taking a moment to let me know in the comments if you would like to see the blog continue.

Until next time, God bless and safe travels to all!