Lake Mead, GPS woes and the best hot tub soak ever

Always the ying and the yang of life.  Our Garmin GPS is giving us grief by powering down quite often and then taking a long time to come back up.  I checked the Garmin website for our model ( 1490) and they gave some ideas for correcting it, namely that I was to do a software download fix.  I downloaded the software, but was unable to run it, as my laptop operating system is too old.  I have a ten year old Mac laptop that is just great, but yes, things are moving beyond it.  We are so reluctant to get a new laptop. I had to download a map update to the Garmin on our son's computer. We needed to get a card for it, as the Garmin could not hold all the data with the new maps. Gertrude did seem to know all the new roads this time, so that was worth it.  Now if she can only have her power situation fixed.

The great thing about yesterday was an easy drive through the 'spaghetti' interstate/highway system through Las Vegas. The spaghetti term is something we heard yesterday from a fellow at the Beatty RV Park. Gertrude managed to stay awake through that.  Also, our Canadian friends that have a house in Henderson arrived yesterday and we did not think they would be here till after Christmas - what timing! They texted us looking for the website for setting up your Shaw satellite dish ( www.dishpointer.com) and we mentioned we had just set up at Lake Mead. Bonus! We had a lovely spaghetti dinner ( ha! again with the spaghetti! ) and a long soak in their hot tub.  What an absolute treat after 4-5 days on the road! It was the same for them, as they had driven from northern BC to Kansas, to drop off their custom 5th wheel for warranty work, and then drove to Henderson, an even longer drive than we had just made. Yes, Paulette, we will be quilt shop doing!!!! We have that mystery quilt to get supplies for. Donald and Rob call it the Misery Quilt Project.

We love Lake Mead.  Last spring they were renovating sites at Boulder Beach and we have a lovely one overlooking the lake, water very close, as well as washrooms.  We could be here awhile.

The drive from Reno south is pretty ho hum.

This trip we managed to avoid the sometimes chaotic traffic of southern California and drivers in the cities who think they can just weave in front of us.... so we changed our route and it sure is the complete opposite!  Today's route took us down the west side of Nevada, through Reno, Fallon, Hawthorne, Tonopah and our end stop was Beatty.  It seems we got one of the last rv spots open, as this weekend is  Beatty Days 2013.  The park is full, and the friendly park manager said all the hotels and motels are full as well.  It would be nice to stay, but I think we'll head onto Lake Mead National Park for some quiet time. This route would not be pleasant if it was windy or blowing snow.  At Tonopah you are up about 6200 feet.

Todays interesting items: not very much.  A long, mostly straight, desert vista.  Pretty boring and from Reno to Beatty, there is not much of anything for facilities or places to pull over.  We did stop for lunch at Walker Lake.  In fact, there is so little to see that as soon as we saw a yellow sign for cows or deer or burros, that was the highlight.  Next time is the weather is as nice as this, we may stay on US395 all the way.

A long drive day through the Sierra's

Long drive day yesterday, and we were sure tired at the end.  That must be why we slept in till 8 am today!  The weather was clear and lovely over the Siskyou pass, so lets do something different!  At Mount Shasta, we took a new route over 89 to Bordertown, Nevada which is about an hour from Reno.  The highways and roads were great, passing by Mount Shasta and Lassen National Parks, and some lava fields. What was interesting: cattle guards in the roadbeds that were so mild I am sure BC cows would have no trouble walking over them.  Massive trees and so many logging trucks full you would think all the trees would be gone.  Reservoirs that are completely dry. 

Most of Nevada is in higher elevations, so we will meander south today looking for some heat.

A busy 7 Feathers

Our plan yesterday was to stop by AM Solar in Eugene/Springfield Oregon.  Donald had wanted to perhaps get the technicians there to have a look at our solar things - we are having problems with our inverter ( again! ).  Well, they are fully booked till after Christmas and will only talk to persons with appointments.  Good for them to be so busy!   Their advice was to see our dealer ( in Q ) to get it resolved.  Having said that, we started on our way to Q.

Since we wally world camped the night before, we let ourselves have a little luxury at 7 Feathers and also did the buffet at the Casino.  I don't think we can do buffet's anymore - tummy aches.  It's just not the food we normally eat.  Well, it's probably all restaurant food we have can't tolerate more and more.

7 Feathers is almost full and usually when we are here there is perhaps only 20 - 50 rigs.  The upside of that is many  rv'ers stopping by to say hello.  The fellow across the street gave us a few Fuji apples from his trees at home as he had a bucket of apples. Delicious.

The morning fog has returned, but we will start on our way over the pass.  Weed, California  temperatures are to be warm with very little wind.

Escaping the Fog

Even though the weather reports showed about 10 days straight of sunshine, for the last few days we have been experiencing all day fog in Victoria.  Let's GO!  Last evening was spent with our Victoria family and their in-laws at a Mexican restaurant downtown.  We had parked the fifth wheel just before at the Black Ball Ferry docks.  This is the first year that we have paid the reservation fee, but lo and behold, we were the only snowbird rig there over night. Go figure. They told us it would be full and busy.  It was probably full when it left this morning at 10:30.  So, a foggy crossing on the MV Coho, and a completely uneventful disembark and procedures in Port Angeles.

Tonight we are resting up in Longview.  There will no doubt be fog in the morning but we are going to take it easy.  At least the temperature here at 5:30 pm was 17 C!

Enjoying beautiful Victoria weather

What a wonderful visit and time we have been having with our children living in Victoria and our two that flew down from the colder north regions of British Columbia to spend the last  nights with us.  Saying goodbye at the airport is not a happy time, but we are anxious to be on our way now that the weather seems to be clear sailing for us for the next 10 days or so.

Our youngest little granddaughter, Emma, was christened at Centennial United Church  with a beautiful service.  I was not sure if it was the occasion of Thanksgiving or not, but the huge pipe organ playing for the entire service was very moving.  After the service was over, the organist played an amazing piece, with the pipes " turned up ".  At the end, everyone applauded! The link for the church shows a picture of their pipe organ. Our son was married there, and our grandson christened there previously.

The travel 'list' is gradually getting smaller.  We hope to sail off on the Coho ferry this weekend and make our way.......

Hard to say goodbye till we meet again!

Victoria and Deck Pictures

Our trip over the Coquihalla started with fair weather from the Shuswap and Kamloops, but quickly turned into those monsoons as we hit the summit and started down the other side of the watershed, through the Great Bear Tunnel and beyond! Ah the wet coast!  Our first evening was spent with friends, Rob and Doris, in Hope.  They had a lovely supper ready for when we arrived and we had a great visit.  Rob and Doris are our neighbours at the Sands during the winter.

We have been requested to put up some pictures of Donald's major summer project:  the decks surrounding our new Park Model.  We have more landscaping to do next summer and finish off the stairs between the two decks, but we love it.  The top deck is covered in Trex decking, and the bottom is green treated lumber.

So ok, Russ! There it is!  For those quilty ladies, you can see just a bit of the roof of the blue quilting "hut" in the back.  We have grass behind the park model, and next summer there should be some in front of the lower deck.  Park model units are quite a bit bigger here than the ones in California and Arizona.  Ours is 46 x 14. 

The sun finally came out in Victoria yesterday, and we took advantage of this by taking our little 2 year old grandson to Juan de Fuca Community centre playground and then coffee at Timmy's.  His mum says he had a good nap in the afternoon, so mission accomplished!  

When we left the Shuswap, we were both running around trying to do as many chores as possible, and this was Donald's first time winterizing the unit.  I helped out where I could and remembered to take the Shaw HD receiver from the living room, but! I forgot the electrical cord as the plug in to the back of the receiver was one of those tiny circle plug ins, and I thought it was for something else! Oh no.  Yesterday we visited a Shaw store, and we were able to pick up another cord. Whew!  Who knows what else we have forgotten - we need to have better lists!!! I also really scrubbed out the fifth wheel, removing things we have carried for a couple of years and tried to get the weight down.  ( does that mean more room for the important Q stuff, Paulette?)  So, now its a game of " where is ???? "

Granddog, Finny, takes his first leap off the swim platform this summer

Ah, the sleep of babes