Things Change

Posted on September 15, 2025 by Jerrie Cate

By the time you read this we will be halfway home. As I sit here, thinking, I have absolutely no idea where halfway might be. But, we’ll be heading that way some time this morning.

The mornings here in Baker City have turned frigid and Max doesn’t like that much because he’s so short and his stomach hairs get wet in tall grass. He hasn’t complained openly about that, but it’s evident in he way he looks over his glasses at us that reveals the truth. He also misses all his squirrel friends in his back yard at home.

Yesterday we visited a museum in town that looked promising, and it was. The biggest draw was a gold nugget that weighs about 15 bs, seriously. It’s huge. They have it, and lots of other nuggets on display behind 1 inch glass vaults. The big nugget is valued at around 11-hundred-seventy-five-million $$, a worthy sum for something you could put in your pocket. Surely it would hasten your pants to fall to the floor should you attempt to carry it that way.

There are many more photos of this venture, but I need to get this thing into a current status. Working from behind wears me out, and Diane’s ill so we needed to make plans for heading west to home instead of north to Hell’s Canyon. Yes, we’re calling it quits for this trip.

Diane had an infection that I may have mentioned, and took a bunch of pills to kill bacteria. It cleared up the urinary tract issue, but apparently killed bacteria required to help digest stuff. That resulted in severe abdominal pain. Since she’s the driver on this trip we pooled our thought with the Daron’s and chose to depart this morning with a new destination.

While packing up, Max lounged between the trailer wheels to ensure he wouldn’t be left behind.

This is the dog run area that Max will miss when we’re gone. It’s nine acres of off leash freedom.

The original plan was to turn right on Highway 82 in La Grande and head for Elgin for the night, then move on toward Hell’s Canyon tomorrow morning. Instead, we turned left on Highway 82 in La Grande with a pause in Summerville (population 135) to find Cliff’s Grandpa’s Grave then continued on H-82 to Elgin for the night. Susie found the grave no problem.

The jaunt to Elgin from Summerville took about 15 minutes and it was fairly easy to find the Ha-Wa-Nu RV Park. It’s located on the banks of the Grand Ronde River. That seems odd to me because the Grand Ronde tribe owns the Spirit Mountain Casino. We pass it on our way to the beach once in a while. It’s odd because we’ve been traveling around in Oregon for many days now and all the cars have Oregon plates and we recognize names of places we’ve been before. Normally, when we travel, it involves many states instead of just one.

The end of this trip was the Umatilla RV Park on the Columbia River. It’s very pleasant here and ALL of the grass is green. Max loves it, as do we. After dinner with the Daron’s, we rested well in preparation for our next leg to The Dalles. Dusty is looking forward to that.

Sherwood, Oregon and Seaside, OR

Posted on March 30, 2025 by Jerrie Cate

Before I start this one, please forgive me if the dates are wrong but I have no sense of time anymore. Every day’s Saturday, or Sunday, but never Monday. Anyway, Diane and I took our trailer to the Sherwood Elks Lodge for a few days. We did a lot of visiting, watched the crews behind us put a bridge together, visited the local thrift stores, and gave Max a lot of walks around the parking lot. It rained pretty good during this visit.

Before the trip started, I took the trailer around the block and did my best to scrape the passenger side of the trailer off as I left first stop sign I encountered. It wasn’t pretty, but there was mainly a transfer of creosote from the pole to various parts of the trailer. I did manage to scrape the handy dandy assist handle into oblivion and had to buy a new one. Thankfully, I was able to remove most of the creosote. All that remains to make everything OK is to figure out how to bend the door back into shape so it’s easier to close. There is a solution. I just haven’t had time to deal with it.

This is the crew we mingle with. A great bunch of humans.

After spending many days at home after that trip, Diane wanted to visit Seaside to see the King Low Tide. Diane said that isn’t a proper description of the tide tables but I’m going to “King” anyway. Even though it’s just a really low tide. This morning was the first day and it’s supposed to do the same tomorrow morning. That would be Monday, not something I usually talk about. The only problem is it happens before 0900 in the morning. That’s early for me. The deal breaker for tomorrow is the rain. I will walk Max in the rain but I won’t walk a mile to see a low tide in it. Maybe when I was younger.

Diane has decided to use her Mom’s walker since it was still brand new. It was about 10 years old but her Mom refused to use it, so it was still new. We brought it to the beach with us to help Diane with her “failing get around bones” and it did. We took some long walks. It was a good time and will something we can continue through the summer at home. I’m looking forward to that. Here’s proof of low tide.

Tomorrow we go back home for a while. Maybe we’ll be able to clean up the garage a little. Also, maybe someone will drop by and make an offer on our RV. We no longer need it. Any takers?

Day 151 – Wednesday – NAS Lemoore

Posted on January 30, 2025 by Jerrie Cate

We left Tehachapi bright and early this morning with NAS Lemoore in our crosshairs. Today’s drive was about 150 miles, a little longer than the norm, but doable. It was actually a nice trip watching the scenery change from brown to green.

Just before we pulled out of Mt. Valley RV Park, the airport people started launching gliders. I have proof.

The tow plane took the glider to the end of the mountain range before turning it loose. Once it was free it quickly disappeared from my view. Honestly, it disappeared prior to that because they were so far away, I could only guess at where they were.

Since I was driving, there are no other photos of this trip, but I have a doozy for you that I captured after we got checked in at Bldg. 951. After I paid for our stay, I encountered Diane and Max who were out for a little stroll on real grass. Diane stopped me and said I needed to look at what’s in front of the rear wheel. Being a good husband, I immediately went there and looked.

His head was flat, so I didn’t think I was in danger, but these things give me the creepies. I suppose it’s possible that I may have run over it with the front tire when I pulled up to the curb. Considering its location, I’m pretty sure it got a taste of the rear tire, too. I did not stop to look. Perhaps tomorrow we’ll drive over there and see if it’s gone. If it is I will be on the lookout because I’ll be sure it’s out looking for me.

Once we got connected on pad 06, I took Max for a walk in the dog park. He’s been here before so it’s no big deal for him, other than the fact he gets to do it without a leash.

That’s him behind the tree just to the left of the bench on the fence line. This is the big dog side of the park. We had to pretend he weights 26 lbs. or more because that’s the rule. No one was there to check, and we were alone, so I took a chance.

Max circumvented the fence line smelling pretty much everything in his path.

On the way back to the bus we stopped here.

He wasn’t impressed. He’s seen grass before but that doesn’t mean anything since he’s color blind. It does, however, smell different. So, of course, he went about sniffing as many blades of grass as he could before I convinced him to move on down the road.

When we got back to the RV some of Diane’s friends flew over and gave us a little show.

If she could, she’d swap me out for a fighter pilot in a heartbeat. Can’t say I blame her because it looks like fun. They earn more money, too.

This is a photo of the RV Park taken from the dog park. You can see our bus just to the left of the 5th wheel in the middle.

As you can see, there’ plenty of room at the inn. Also, that tall fence on the left encompasses a golf driving range. Some of the balls wind up in the adjoining dog park so they became mine. I almost filled one of Max’s poop bags with them. Thankfully, it was brand new.

Next to park is the swimming pool that’s still full of water – it was 70 degrees here when we checked in. The pool has some nifty water slides, too.

I mentioned the temperature above. It was very pleasant when we got here, and we got to sit outside enjoying it for a bit. Later, it cooled down considerably. Not nearly as cold as it was in Tehachapi. It was 25 degrees this morning. I wisely left our water hose in its container and used the onboard fresh water instead.

Diane devoted her afternoon to doing our laundry. She noticed that I was almost out of underwear and figured it was time to get it done. I helped, when she let me.

The laundry is free, by the way. After the laundry was done, we took a trip to McDonald’s for a simple supper. It’s right across the street from the laundromat so we could have easily walked there, but Diane thought it would be more fun to use the drive thru. She got a fish sandwich, and I had a chicken sandwich. We both had milkshakes. It only cost us $27.00+. Not much of a bargain. Tomorrow I’m cooking.

We hope all is well with everyone.

Ciao.

Max says, “Hi”.

Day 150 – Tuesday – North to Tehachapi

Posted on January 28, 2025 by Jerrie Cate

Tehachapi, California is only about 93 miles from Barstow and is the home of two of the largest wind farms in the country. I know that’s true because I believe everything I read on the internet. You can confirm this claim by checking the above link.

It is currently 0800s hours and the base bugle has alerted everyone that it’s time to get to work. Thinking about that made me realize that I don’t believe I’ve ever mentioned the bugle calls that echo off the buildings and hills surrounding every military base we’ve inhabited. It’s so routine that I never considered it interesting. For those of you who have never been on a military base when the bugler is at work, perhaps you might enjoy this bit of news.

The most common bugle calls are Reveille, Retreat, and Taps. These calls are broadcast electronically on the base so everyone can hear them. In a nutshell, reveille gets you up in the morning at sunrise, retreat signals sunset, and taps signals the end of the day at 2100 hours. Please check the link for specifics about each call, if you wish. It’s quite a tradition. One that’s hard to forget.

The drive to Tehachapi on Highway 58 was uneventful and we easily found our new campground. All we had to do was follow the instructions provided by our handy dandy GPS. It new exactly where to go.

It’s a small park and we were the 4th unit to arrive. We’ve been here a few hours now and only two other units have checked in. So, it’s almost like we’re here alone. There is no sewer, so I hooked up just the power (50 amp) and called it good. We found it interesting that there is a lot of snow all around us. The elevation is just under 4500 feet so I probably shouldn’t be surprised. We’re in a small valley and in the distance, on the snow-covered hills there are dozens of windmills spinning for our evening enjoyment. Not true, of course. They are spinning to churn out megawatts of power for the masses. I may have stated in a previous post that there are two wind farms in this area that are the largest in the country. As we got closer to our destination, the wind farm revealed itself.

We drove around in front of the farm you can see, then wound up going through farm to the other side.

Once we made it around the hill on our right, our campground was very close. When we got parked, the other side of the hill became the view from the RV.

I expanded the above photo so you can get a better look at the other side.

The dark strips running across the field are runways for an airport that’s off to the right. Just little planes. When we checked in, the young lady (London) who greeted us said to go all the way to the back, but don’t drive in the field because that’s our runway. So, I didn’t drive in the field. But, when I took Max for a walk out there after getting things settled, he promptly pooped demonstrating how unimpressed he is about snow. He’s seen snow before. Once. He wasn’t impressed the first time, either. I would love to find a snowbank big enough to toss him in and see how unimpressed that makes him. We talked about his ho hum response so far and think once he experiences it in his own back yard it will be more fun.

I’m sitting on the sofa facing the starboard windows and saw this as the sun was going down.

I know. It’s a little repetitious, but still worth another look.

Now we rest. We’re here just one night then it’s on to NAS Lemoore.

Cheers.

143 – Tuesday – Barstow, CA

Posted on January 21, 2025 by Jerrie Cate

Here we are, level on a cement pad, safely tethered to power, sewer, and water at the Fam Camp on the Marine Corp Logistics Base Barstow. This facility is located just a little east of Barstow on I-40 (Route 66). Check the map here. There’s a ghost town a little further out of town that we plan to visit sometime during the week we plan to stay here.

Getting here was a breeze. As noted yesterday, I navigated the solution for allowing us to tow the car so we had each other to talk with. When Diane drove the car, however, she had the convenience of listening to satellite radio while all I had was the wind whistling on the driver’s window because I didn’t latch it. It was good to have company for the 2.5 hour trip, mostly uphill.

The uphill part, added to towing the car was an increased danger of the RV engine overheating. As it turned out, it wasn’t a problem. We went up and down a lot and the rig got along just fine. Jerrie is happy. I have new belief that replacing the leaking overflow tank will resolve the overheating problem for good. We may never know for sure because we hope to sell the RV when we get home and probably won’t be taking it on any more long trips. We’ll be taking short trips to the beach via other means.

There’s really not much to share about the trip to get here. Since I was driving the entire way, I couldn’t take photos. I think Diane may have taken one photo, but I haven’t seen it. I think I may have suggested that she take the shot, but don’t remember what it was. Oh wait. Here it is. It just magically showed up.

The reason for this photo is to let you know that 29 Palms has many, many barbers available along Adobe Dr., the road that takes you to the main gate at the base.

Max was happy for the short trip and we got to walk around a bit before dinner. Diane was the cook today and we had a pork loin, fresh beets, and baked potatoes. It was awesome. Should have taken a picture, right?

Oh, another thing we discovered is that the RV furnace works nicely. So far, the electric fireplace heater we have has been the only source of heat. Although it works Ok, it’s difficult to heat up the place when it’s 45 degrees inside, and 28 outside. We were a little leery about using it considering the dusty nature of our environment. We figured if it did work it would blow dust everywhere. That didn’t happen so that’s going to be my solution for the mornings. We’ve even agreed that we should have the furnace set to run at night to keep it from assuming the outside projected temps of 28 degrees. We figure 60 degrees at night is better for us than 45.

Right now it’s 1900 and we’re nice and warm inside. It’s 46 outside but will drop to around 27 tonight.

I’m sure talking about temperatures is very informative and entertaining for you. That’s a facetious statement so I think I’ll stop now before the hole gets any deeper.

I mentioned that Diane did our laundry yesterday. She does that once in a while. This time it was different because she had to compete with active-duty Marines to get a washer and dryer. She said the young male Marines were very accommodating, but the female Marines weren’t. She brought the clothes back all folded up, in the back of her car.

I can vouch for the willingness of young marines to help a young damsel in distress. When we stopped to get fuel before starting today’s journey, we were working at two pumps. Diane begged off reporting that she doesn’t refuel vehicles. The young man next to the bus immediately volunteered to get it going for her. She was pleased and grateful for his help. He was pleased, too.

See you tomorrow.

Day 137 – Wednesday – Twilight Dunes RV Park

Posted on January 17, 2025 by Jerrie Cate

This morning, we woke up to frozen water lines so couldn’t make coffee or flush the toilet until I remembered that we have a full tank of fresh water. All I had to do was turn on the water pump and we had running water. Thankfully, the water line (garden hose) didn’t burst so our next objective is to get some pool noodles to wrap the exposed hose. I don’t know what the temp was outside but inside the bus this morning it was 40 degrees. That’s a bit too chilly for me. I think I convinced Diane to leave the heater on during the night so we can avoid these low morning temps in the future.

We didn’t go anywhere today so the water hose didn’t get wrapped in pool noodles. By unanimous vote, we chose to take a day of rest. I did, however, give Max his long overdue bath. He asked nicely and it’s hard to turn him down. Bathing wears him out.

Twenty-nine Palms lives in a shallow valley and most of the buildings on the base are snuggled up against the eastern edge. This is what we see from space 72. First photo is looking north, second is looking south.

In the above photo, the main gate is the closest structure. The road from there to the next stop sign is a racetrack where motorcycles can easily attain 100+ mph. That’s done by those who are released into the public domain after their day shift is over. It doesn’t last long.

The structures in the middle are base housing. I have no idea what the other buildings are for. I do know that somewhere on the left side is a gas station, Carl’s Jr., and a bunch of other stuff.

The tire tracks up close on the left side of the photo is the path for getting into the RV park. It takes you across a fairly high curb to the paved street and causes a lot of rock and rolling to ensure that anything that’s loose will fall on the floor and cupboards that do not latch shut allow their contents to join the items already on the floor. It makes a tremendous racket. Amazingly, nothing broke. I’m pretty sure.

That’s our bus across from the kid’s playground and the dog area. Across the street from us you can see the individual carports at each site. I’ll get a better photo of our spot soon.

A neighbor moved in next to us, on the other side of the above photo. His name is Rich, and his wife is Susan. Their car and trailer are licensed in Oregon but they both grew up on Oahu. Their kids went to Mililani High School. This is interesting because that’s where our son, Jeff went to High School for a while. Rich is retired Army. That’s not pertinent, just another interesting aspect of our visit. We just had a short visit, but we hope to talk with them again.

Now I’ll stop.

Day 114 – Monday – Laundry (again)Today

Posted on December 25, 2024 by Jerrie Cate

After a chilly start, this day turned out to be almost like summer in Oregon. We took our laundry up the street to our very own laundromat and sat outside the bus soaking up the sun while the machines did the work. It’s just a short walk – about 100 feet, or so. Maybe even shorter. I’ll have to measure it the next time I make that trip to ensure I’m giving you correct information. I know all of you rely on me for valid information, right?

Yesterday we were going to take a trip to Green Valley to visit with Roberta, my cousin. I’ve talked with her on the phone a couple of times recently and she figured we haven’t seen each other for about 60 years. Yes, 60 years. So, Diane and I were primed for the visit. Sadly, on Friday, our neighbors here in the Bone Yard told us that we’ve been exposed to COVID and needed to quarantine for a week or so. It was good to know so we don’t show up at Roberta’s and spread the good news to her. I called her right away to delay our visit just to make sure we keep it away. So far Diane and I are fine, but Pat and Laurie next door have a pretty nasty case of this critter. Diane and I have had all the vaccines so aren’t concerned about coming down with the virus.

Last night, right after it got dark, Max jumped up to his window, the one next to the driver’s seat, and went ballistic, barking at something running by the RV. Shortly after that we could hear the coyotes howling very close to us. So, technically, Max saved my life by letting me know it wasn’t a good idea to go outside. Actually, I had no intention to go outside anyway, but it was still good to have him warn me.

Now I must do some catching up on stuff that happened previously. Most important was Diane’s birthday lunch at Mama Louisa’s.

Sarah, our waitress, took our picture to commemorate this moment.

Diane had ravioli’s drenched in pesto sauce and she swooned on almost every bite. I guess she really liked them. I was very happy about that.

I was looking forward to some spaghetti ala carbonara but that’s not a menu item. I really like that stuff. But I settled for giant prawns, gently warmed in a buttery lemony concoction, and lovingly placed in a bowl of linguini. It was pretty awesome as a substitute. For some reason I didn’t take a picture of my meal which is unusual. I almost always take a picture of my food, even at home. I did, however, get one of the tiramisù that Diane got for getting older. It was pretty good, too.

The candle was lit when it arrived, and Diane blew it out before the shot. She put the candle back but we didn’t have any matches to relight the candle so you’ll have to squint a little and visualize a flame on the candle so you can enjoy the original effect.

I’ll end this with a photo of Diane’s snowman collection that she’s accumulated since we’ve been here. She finds them in the thrift stores and I gotta say they are pretty cute sitting there on the printer.

Yes, there’s a reindeer in there with a snow globe, and he’s cute, too.

We pray that all is well with you. Peace and Joy to you and your families during this blessed season.

Day 78 – Sunday – Lazy Day

Posted on November 17, 2024 by Jerrie Cate

We didn’t go anywhere today so I don’t have a lot to write about. Also, I only have old photos to share, so don’t get your hopes up.

It was a cold 42 degrees this morning. Made parts of me shrivel up a little. Max didn’t care. I think he’s immune to cold. I guess that means I’m more fragile than him. I think it’s time for Max to say what’s on his mind since we’re going to be spending most of the day inside. So, here’s Max.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Hi!It’sme,Max.Iknowwhat’shisnamealreadyintroducedme,….let me start over.

I forget that I don’t have opposing thumbs and need to slow down so I can use one of my other toenails to hit the space bar. For the convenience of dogs everywhere, who know how to type, there should be a custom keyboard that has little space between the R & F, and the U and J keys. My little toenails will fit right in there with a little practice. Life has been a little hectic for me lately because Mom and Dad have been driving all over the place. That means I’ve spent a lot of time parked in the little bed they call my throne. I don’t know why they do that. It’s a bed. They bought it so you’d think they would know that, right. Anyway, the little bed isn’t really uncomfortable, but I’d rather sit in someone’s lap with my head out the window. I don’t think that’s going to happen for a while since I lost my mind for a moment in Bisbee and tried to jump out the window so I could catch that cat. I’m sure Dad has told you about that little episode. I really don’t know what I was thinking. On my last walk I ran into the neighbor who wears a beanie all the time. Her name is Laurie. She was walking a little black dog. I heard she has 3 of those dogs and this one is the oldest. Something like 84 years old – 12 years old in people years. She’s a French bulldog and she has an attitude. So, I gave her attitude back and got in trouble for my efforts. Laurie gave me bits of bacon treats anyway. She always has that stuff in her pocket, and she always gives me some. It’s really good. My Mom and Dad don’t get me stuff like that. The only treats I get at home are denta things for my teeth. They’re OK, but they aren’t bacon. I’m going to quit now because my toes are getting tired. They aren’t used to being used independently. First, here’s a photo of me when I was new to the family last year. It was before my hair went nuts and got all curly.

For comparison, here’s a more recent photo of me.

OK. He’s a quitter. I probably should have taken a photo of him working on the computer, but it didn’t occur to me.

Maybe next time.

Day 75 – Thursday – Patagonia

Posted on November 15, 2024 by Jerrie Cate

Today was another travel day as we wound our way back to the Bone Yard. We enjoyed our visit to Sierra Vista but it’s always good to get home, right?

Diane plotted the longest return route, one that took us to Patagonia State Park. We stopped briefly at the village of Patagonia, read Heritage signs, then drove to the lake. It was a very nice drive through the surrounding residential. The weather was awesome. There were trees all around us, most of the time, but the trees dwindled when we got closer to the lake and geology was more interesting.

In the park, we drove to the marina because the first public area wasn’t dog friendly. The marina was wide open, and they had picnic tables for us to eat our lunch.

Max had a good time scaring the ducks that dared venture anywhere near us. I think he was surprised to see them fly away.

We had lunch at that table -really yummy peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, green grapes and cinnamon cake. We enjoyed the peaceful solitude of the lake.

The trip to the Bone Yard was surprisingly quick and we were happy to have made it before the sun went down. I took Max for his normal walk around the park while Diane started emptying the car. It’s amazing how much “stuff” one can accumulate in a few short days.

Once the car was empty we spent some time on our little patio. There was a nice breeze and it was great just sitting there doing nothing.

Too soon it was necessary for us to contemplate supper. I ate the other 2/3’s of Diane’s chicken burrito and she ate what remained of her catfish and rice meal at Thuy’s. We both had great meals.

Now the day is done.

Day 69 – Friday – Massive Flea Market

Posted on November 8, 2024 by Jerrie Cate

This day took us to the Desert Skies United Methodist Church, which is far, far away from the location of our currently chosen domicile. Actually, it’s only 12 miles and 23 minutes away. The GPS took us through uncharted territory on the way so that was nice. We’ve been traveling around the area almost daily, so the roads are becoming familiar, so it was nice to go to a place where the roads were not familiar. We’re almost to the point where we could be dropped pretty much anywhere in the town by helicopter, and we could find our way home. That’s just a working theory at this point. We’ll probably never know if it’s really true.

We found the church easily, and we quickly discovered that it’s a large, well-attended church. The first clue was that we parked in one of the first spots we saw when we drove into the parking lot, then had to walk 1/4 mile to the church and the area where the flea market was being held. I didn’t measure it, but we could have parked much nearer to the action if we’d known how to get around in the large parking lot. It’s not one large area, but small pockets of parking spots linked to the main building by a winding lane and paths through a forest of native trees, plants and cacti.

Once we navigated the correct route, we were in the midst of the largest private flea market we’ve ever seen. All of the parking lot near the church proper was covered with very organized tables covered with small items, and segregated areas of appliances, furniture, and anything else too large for a table. It was amazing.

Diane found all kinds of stuff that she wished she could have snapped up for gifts, but our current living conditions aren’t conducive to hoarding so she withheld her desires and kept her wallet in her purse. Most of the time.

The prices were very reasonable, so it was a challenge.

Need cookbooks? They had a bunch of them.

It only took us a couple of hours to look at most of the things on display. Diane found 3 small items that she couldn’t live without, so we paid for them ($7 total) and went looking for the car. That’s not true. We sat Diane down on a handy bench near the front access to the church, then Max and I went looking for the car. I drove it back to pick her up. Then we went looking for lunch.

I found a place named Ziggy’s on Google and the name appealed to me because we once had a little poodle named Ziggy. We had him for 18 years. They had a few tables outside so we could take Max with us. Diane had a patty melt and I had a Ziggy burger. Both came with two 1/4-pound beef patties which is a lot more than we normally eat. Well, more than Diane eats, anyway. She asked for one patty on the side so she could give it to Max for his lunch. I ate both of mine which I’m sure doesn’t surprise many of you who know me. For some odd reason I’m blessed with the ability to eat an enormous amount of food. I may have mentioned this previously. If so, please forgive me for repeating myself.