Sophie's birthday outing in Lincoln city.

We stayed four nights at the chinook winds casino after Sophie's birthday.  The plan was to spend a couple of nights at camp WI-NE-MA but we had such a good place at the casino we just stayed there.  

We could watch the sun set through our dirty window.  

Whidbey island part II

Since I am behind in my blogging I will post that we stopped at the tulalip casino for a couple of nights on our way home.  It was real quite and we enjoyed visiting with other RV'ers.  

We enjoyed the Boeing tour or the everett plant. We even stopped by Jeff's place.  

We checked out some new old RV's at the everett Winnebago dealer.  

A week on Whidbey island was fun.  

Whidbey Island two week trip Part 1

I guess I better get started on this post since we have been home for a couple of weeks now.   And this will be a few different posts because of the length of the outing.  

We started at the Puyallup WA elks.  It's a nice one day drive and then moved the next day to Poulsbo RV in Kent WA for Friday through Sunday.   The dealership is managed by Scott.  He took us out for dinner Friday night and provided b'fast lunch and supper Saturday.  Sunday morning was coffee and muffins before we left.  You can see Smokey the second from the right.  Jeff and John are on the left side. 

There were games to play after closing in the showroom.   Sophie one a gift card to  Red Robin in a hot bingo game.  

On Sunday we headed to Whidbey Island where we parked at the Elks lodge.  

We have been to this Island before but never stayed.   Wilbur's main gas tank came from here many years ago and we did stop by the mans house to thank him again for the tank. 

Our favorite beach was close by. 

And in the deception pass area we enjoyed some hikes. 

ABBA and the coast.

We enjoyed ABBA music years ago so we relived the " good old days " with a concert at the casino in Lincoln city oregon. And after dry camping for three days seeing the town we headed north a few miles to one if our favorite places camp WI NE MA.  A couple of days here always seems perfect. 

When we came home I did some Subaru repair.   New valve cover gaskets. Venice and easy.  

They cleaned up good and hopefully I won't be marking my parking spots anymore.  

North to Seattle.

We packed up and headed north. First stop was Shelton WA.  The Elks have a nice campground behind their lodge.  We also enjoy the casino that is close by.  They have senior days Monday Tuesday and Wednesday.   So they give you a. $5.00 bill and a food coupon for  $3.00 off.   We ate in both the cafe and the buffet.  Both were great.  

Then we drove on to Bremerton WA.   The Elks have a large lodge with lots going on except for the first week of July. That is fix up week.   

And Sophie enjoyed Port Orchard (Cedar Cove) in her favorite authors books.  

Here Sophie is in the GWB store buying books.  

And here is the WW place. 

Macys in Seattle too. 

It's just a ferry ride from Bremerton to Seattle.  

Saint Helens outing

A quiet place to spend some time is in St. Helens Oregon.  The Elks have a nice lodge in a residential part of town.  And during the Summer on Thursday the town has concerts on the river.   Known as 13 nights on the river.  Take a look at the stage.  

Can you see the large cargo ship going down the river.  

And we did find a nice 9 hole disk golf course at a church.  

Prineville and points East

Prineville was the start of this week in central oregon.  A car show was going on at the fairgrounds and a couple of friends had trucks in the show. I enjoyed the tractor and old stationary engine display. 

We drove around the town and countryside seeing a couple of reservoirs and great rock formations. 

The fairgrounds has an RV park we spent 3 nights at.  

A night at the madras elks with friends. 

Then Sophie and I went to Bend for the rest of the week.  

It was our 38th wedding anniversary on the 12th of June.  

The Oregon coast (camp WI NE MA)

When the sun is shining on the ocean there is nothing nicer.  So when we get a chance to enjoy sun and ocean together our favorite place is a church camp right on the beach. 

And you can see the crowd. 

This is our view through the windshield. 

Then there was the bald eagle. 

Watching over the ocean was this guy pearched hi on a tree. 

We spent a couple of nights here and then the weather turned and we headed home.  Another great trip to the coast. 

We headed East again.

This last outing started with a belt on the engine squealing as we were on I-205.   But before we pulled off to the side the noise stopped.   The gauges looked like everything was good so we took off again.  There was something hitting the cooling fan but it stopped at 55 so we drove on to my good friend Terry's house.   Once we looked things over it seems like the two A. I. R. pumps are not really needed so the belt is off and one pump is locked up and it will probably stay that way for awhile. 

Then we spent the night at the Unger RV park.  The next day we drove on to The Dalles Eagles.  Yes we have been there 3 times this year but we enjoy it.   The weather was drier and warmer than most places. 

Then there was a screw in a tire on the wagon.  A trip to the tire factory took care of that.  

And we met some new friends who are the band that played at the Eagles club Saturday night.  Lots of country for The Dalles crowd but they also play classic rock.  Kent and shirey.  sunshine express.  

The RV Show in Puyallup WA

I guess it was my fault but we took a few classic Winnebago's to the WA state fair.  

We spent the Wednesday night in the RV park at the fairgrounds so we could drive into the fairgrounds and park next to the "non classic RV's" before the public was let in. 

We were able to plug into electricity and stay right here for the night.   Just us and the security guards.  Jeff only lasted a couple of nights before he took off sick.   And then Terry took a few hours off to check out the local emergency room.  But the big loss was when my fridge died.  That's another story.  

Hoodstock in The Dalles

It was taco Thursday at the Arie.  And good too.  

And for the usuall pot luck we ate outside too. 

And if we hadn't eaten enough we did one last meal the the cousins restaurant. They gave us plenty of birthday cake after breakfast.  

It's my birthday but Smokey got the gifts

Yes getting older has it's drawbacks but wait until next year.  That's when I might get social security and a discount on parks and good stuff like that.  It was very nice to get cake and icecream with my kids.  But back to the work.  

Smokey got new engine oil cooler lines. 

And a new oil pressure sender. The old one was leaking. 

And new oil that is good for older engines. 

And a new old vehicle license plate. 

And I drilled out the carb squirter nozzle to help it run better and finished the day with adjusting the power steering belt to fix the sqeal it was making.  All in all a good few days of RVing.  

A new oil leak

Yeah Smokey started leaking oil from one of the engine oil cooler hoses.  

After looking online for good fixes I decided to have the rubber hoses replaced.   But knowing how cheap I am I tried a quick fix before I get the new hoses made.  Sure I will probably spend $100.00 on the new hoses but much cheaper than blowing all the oil out and driving merrily along the freeway.   I took a couple of hose clamps and just put them over the crimped fittings.  

Now if you can see the streak of oil on the blue hose that is all that came out after taking a drive.  Before I put the clamps on it would leak much more oil just letting it run without driving.  

So if in a pinch just put some clamps on. 

Oh yeah Smokey is no stranger to oil leaks.  LOL

The Dalles Eagles

I can finally post on my first stay at an Eagles club.  One place we wanted to stay when we first looked at an Eagles club was in The Dalles Oregon.  And so far this place was worth joining the Eagles.  We have elect and water with a dump station close by.  And there are good TV towers close by for over the air TV watching.   Next month we plan to gather here with our classic Winnebago friends here in The Dalles.  

Here is the view from the parking lot side and then the view from the grass behind the RV spots. 

Cheap RVing

This might seem like an oxymoron, because those that know me know I am cheap. But since a friend ask me about cheap ways to RV I thought I would put together a few blogs to read.  Here are some.  I might go back and add more to this post later.  

http://www.frugal-rv-travel.com/rv-blog.html

http://www.stretcher.com/stories/07/07mar26c.cfm

http://www.cheaprvliving.com/

Smokeys new radio

Now I am not replacing the radio just for something to do.  The original one did not work good so here is what I did. 

The old one

I needed to cut out the old mounting bracket from a 2 hole radio to the new slide in radio. 

The wires are all cut and soldered.  I only had to add a couple of wires to fix a common ground problem. 

So now I have tunes again.  CD instead of cassette but still usable. 

Another trip to Eugene.

Some wonder why we would go to Eugene for an outing.  But sophie and I enjoy Eugene and when the weather is nice like this week was we always enjoy a walk along the river.  So that's what we did this week.  A couple of river trail walks and some time watching others ride bikes, walk and even joggers enjoy the sunny weather. 

We stayed at the Elks lodge along with a couple of other RV'ers.  

We are home now and I am putting a new stereo in Smokey.  It came to the house today and I am working on it now. So stay tuned for the radio project coming soon. 

Replacing an inside receptacle.

During the colder outings we use an electric heater.  Since Smokey is getting older some of the most used receptacles are not as tight. So here is how I replaced them.