Day 2015

 I woke up a little after 7:30 and played games for about an hour.  After that it was pet stuff and breakfast.  As soon as breakfast was over I went outside to the shed.

I cut a hole in the floor where it was rotted out.  It turns out a lot of the problem was squirrels.  The shed foundation is a thin layer of gravel with a metal grid on it for a foundation.  The floor is attached to the grid.  That works fine because the floor doesn't contact the ground.  The problem was the squirrels filled the grid spaces with walnut shells.  The shells got wet and rotted the flooring.

I needed a concrete paver and some 2x2 treated wood to do the repair.  That meant back to Lowe's.  We went there and got the stuff.  We went back home and I got to work.  I cut out all of the rotted flooring.  Then I dug out the shells and put a square of treated wood around the edges.  Then I cut two squares of OSB (they'll be stacked) to cover the hole.  The last step was to paint the OSB.  I'll put them in the hole tomorrow when the paint dries.

I went in ad had lunch - a BLT.  I was feeling ambitious, so I went back to the shed.  I made a shelf to holed the lead shot.  I have 400 lbs of it, mostly 9's.  I built the shelf sturdy, it should hold.  When I was finished I was tired, so I went back inside.

I watched TV and surfed for awhile.  I got bored though and went back to the shed.  I wanted to build a shelf in the corner to match the one I built yesterday.  I was about halfway finished when Ellen came out to call me to dinner.  She fixed pasta and hamburger.

When I was finished eating I immediately went back outside.  I knew if I didn't I never would.  I finished the shelf.  I didn't put anything on it though because I was too tired.  I just went back to the trailer.

It was in the high 80's today.  I was covered in sweat.  I took a shower and then watched Godzilla movies for the rest of the evening.  I did notice that the shower was still leaking a little.  I investigated and found a few voids in my caulking job.  Oh well.  Something to do tomorrow.

I'm pretty proud of myself.  I got a lot accomplished today.

Day 2014

 I woke up at 7:30, but played games until almost 9.  Then it was pet stuff and breakfast.  I'd made up a long shopping list,with 4 different places to go to.  So off we went.

We stopped at Jones Farm for strawberries.  Then it was Lowe's for materials for more shelves in the shed and repairing it's floor.  The next stops were Petco for cat food and Bed, Bath, and Beyond for a bathmat and soap dish.  We stopped by REI and I got a couple of dinosaur shirts - 25% off.  The last stops were Mickey D's for lunch and Harbor Freight for a grease gun.

When we got home I unloaded the car and started to work in the garage.  I assembled the new fan and put up some hangers for gun cases.  I'd started to fix the floor when I noticed that someone or something had punched a 6 inch hole in the side of the shed.  The siding board was also loose.  This might explain some of the water damage.

I cut patches for the inside and outside of the hole.  I had Ellen help while I reattached the siding and attached the patches.  Ellen did a partial paint job, but we need some painter's tape to finish it.

By then it was almost 6.  We went inside.  Ellen fixed BLT's.  Afterwards she watched chick flicks and I surfed.  We both watched Futurama when it came on.

Day 2013

 I woke up at 7:30.  I played games for a while and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After breakfast it was some surfing.

I wanted to continue my cleanup of the shed, so I went outside.  I rearranged a bunch of stuff and put some more things in the garbage and Goodwill piles.  There was too much stuff on the floor, so I built a shelf attached lto the wall.  That made things a lot neater.  By then it was noon.  Things weren't perfect, but they were much improved.

I went back inside and had lunch - the sandwiches we didn't eat the day we got here.  Then we watched several hours of TV.  I guess we're addicted to the DirecTV shows we haven't seen in a month.

I tried to order one of the ebike racks I want for the trailer.  I couldn't.  They're sold out again, with no new ones expected until October.  CRAP.

I had enough TV and thought about starting a Lego.  That's when I realized that another shelf would improve the shed.  Building shelves is the equivalent of Legos, so I went back outside to the shed.  I started by finishing neatening up the stuff on the floor.  I also had to patch a hole in the floor where the wood had rotted.  Then I built a second shelf and put some of the practice 20 ga on it.  The result looks really good.  I'll rearrange the shelves sometime if I feel ambitious.

By then it was dinner time.  Ellen fixed hot dogs.  After dinner was more TV.

Day 2012

 We didn't wake up until 9:30.  That's right, I just didn't feel like waking up.  Then it was pet stuff and breakfast.  After breakfast I made an appointment to get the Audi fixed next week when we have the dentist's appointment.  I also did a little surfing.

By then it was 11.  I decided to spend an hour cleaning up the shed.  I went out and identified some stuff that needed to be thrown away, and some other stuff that needed to got to Goodwill.  I hung some stuff on the walls and organized some more stuff.  I managed to get about half of the shed straightened out.

By then it was almost 1 and I needed to get the insurance forms mailed to Hooch.  So we went to the post office.  They charged me $1.40 to mail them because they were "too thick".  Then we went to Jone's Farm.  We bought some strawberries and whipped cream.  Then we went to the Keizer farm store.  We got stuff for stir fry and another small strawberry.  The final stops were Mickey D's for lunch and Roth's for orange juice and bananas.  I also got a six pack of Breakside IPA.

When we got home I had a beer while Ellen cut my hair.  It needed it.  Then I spent the rest of the afternoon sitting along side the trailer reading magazines and listening to music on the portable Bluetooth speakers.

Ellen fixed stir fry for dinner.  After dinner we watched TV.

Day 2011

 We woke up about 8:30.  Actually the CO2 alarm woke us up in the middle of the night with a dead battery alarm.  I took it down and put it in a drawer.  Then I went back to sleep.  When we got up it was pet stuff and breakfast.  

It was raining, windy, and cold this morning.  So going outside was out of the question.  We stayed inside.  I ordered the stuff I had been wanting on Amazon and Ellen dealt with the mail.  Eventually the weather improved and I went outside to start up the car.  It started up fine, but gave a warning for the start/stop not working.  The check engine light went on, too.  I ignored it.

I put the charger and extension cord away.  That's when I discovered that I have no Winchester 20 ga wads or primers.  I'm not sure what happened.  I was sure I had plenty of wads and some primers.  It's nuts.  Luckily I have plenty of Remington 20 ga wads and brought primers with me.

We left to do errands when the car warmed up.  We got the mail and drove up to Freddies to get fuel.  Gas is 90 cents higher than it was 9 months ago.  Fuck Biden.  I stopped at Audi to ask them to read the car's codes.  They wanted $180 to do it.  I said no thanks.

We stopped at Camping World so I could get a pin box friction disk to replace the one I broke.  Amazon wanted the same price plus $6 to $10 shipping.  Then we drove up to Washington Square.  I wanted to get something with my Lego points.

Washington Square was weird.  Of course all the people were wearing masks.  None of the directories worked because of Covid.  I ended walking all over to find the Lego store.  I had a $45 discount.  I bought a RC car.  Ellen bought a Bonsai tree.  Then we went to Cheesecake Factory for lunch.  We took part of it home for dinner.

We ended up walking all around the mall.  There were some people, but not a huge number.  There were stores that I couldn't figure out what they were selling.  We bought a couple of kitchen utensils and then left about 3:30.

Traffic was OK until we got to Tualatin.  It was a parking lot from there to past Stafford.  We got off and took Boone's Ferry.  It was crowded, so I'm not sure we saved any time.  We got back on in Wilsonville.  We shoould have gotten back on at Stafford.

Traffic slowed down to about 55 after Aurora.  I've never seen that before.  It was slow until Woodburn.

When we got home Ellen fed the cats.  I put the new friction disk on.  Then I tidied up the shed some and attempted to fix the pedestal fan.  We'll see if it works.  Hooch called and said he wanted me to mail the insurance forms to him.  All of our envelopes were trashed.  I also remembered that we should have purchased milk.  So I went to Gervais for both items.

I had leftovers for dinner.  After dinner I did Legos.

Day 2010

 We got up at 7:30 and did the usual leaving day stuff - pet stuff, breakfast, and hooking up.  The only differences were we didn't hurry, and I had to put the sewer hose away.  That meant we didn't leave until about 8:45.

The trip was pretty normal.  The road doesn't have a lot of passing zones, but we only got stuck behind slow people twice.  We did have to wait 15 minutes total at two one lane stops.  That's because they are still working on the road because of the fires.  The fires were huge.  Many places were small areas by the freeway.  I'm beginning to believe the people that say some of it was arson.

We got to the club about 11:30.  Setting up took a little longer than normal because I wanted to get the trailer positioned just right.  After we unhooked I unloaded the truck and put the stuff in the storage shed.  I moved some stuff from there to the carport.  Water took a little more time because I had to string out the long hose and conned up the T to switch between house water and the sewer flush.

When we got done we went to the club to pay for the membership.  We were going to talk to Dave, but he was selling a gun.  Then we went to pick up the mail.  By then it was after 1, so we went to AC Greasy for lunch.  It was OK, but not great.  We stopped at Bauman's on the way home where we bought a plant and some strawberries.

When we got home Ellen fine tuned the DirecTV.  Then she watched chick flicks and I went through the mail.  There was one thing about Mom's life insurance.  Hooch and I had a long conversation about it.  He's going to do some more research.  The rest was mainly medical notices and quarterly financial reports.  We got a lot richer in Q1.

Ellen fixed chicken for dinner.  I fixed the strawberry shortcake.  After the second or third chick flick I demanded that she find something else to watch for the rest of the evening.

Day 2009

 I woke up at 7.  There was no particular reason, I just woke up and didn't go back to sleep.  I played games for quite a while instead.  When we did get up it was breakfast and pet stuff.  Then I looked up Freddies and Wally World in Bend.  I needed a new wallet card holder.  The old one came apart and I was in danger of losing my driver's license.

I decided to go to Freddies before meeting with Grant.  We had just enough time to get there, buy the card holder, and drive to Grant's.

Grant has 20 acres east of Bend.  Most of it is in pasture.  He has a nice large house, a 3 car garage, a horse barn, and a guest house.  It's a really nice place.  We spent a lot of time bullshitting and some time on the money.  He's going to invest some of our cash in a new dividend oriented fund.  The paperwork will follow.

It was 1 when we left.  We drove back to Sisters for lunch at a new restaurant we saw yesterday.  It was good.  We both left with enough for dinner.  After that we walked around Sisters for a while.  We stopped at the art place and bought a couple of small herons land two pens.  We also got Oregon strawberries at the farmer's market.

When we got home Ellen did the wash.   I drained the tanks because we have to leave tomorrow.  I left the sewer hose connected so I could drain the shower tank in the morning.

After that it was leftovers for dinner and TV for the rest of the evening.

Day 2008

 We got up at 7:30, did the pet stuff, had breakfast, and hooked up.  We left at 8:40.  It took a little longer because I had to drain the shower tank and stow the hose.

Something really cool happened when we got to Baker.  We had to drive through town.  When we got to the block the knife store is on there wasn't anyone parked.  So we parked, went in, and bought a knife.  I'd been feeling bad because I hadn't don that while we were there.  It was neat.

The drive was much harder than I remember from last fall.  There's a lot of driving narrow mountain roads.  I mad pretty good time though by driving 65 in the 55 portions.  I still only had to pass three vehicles the whole way.

We got to Sisters about 2:15.  We'd asked for the option to stay an extra day.  They screwed up though and got the reservation wrong.  It looks like we won't be able to.  Crap.

We went into town to get some bananas.  Then we went to the art store.  We bought a couple of heron metal sculptures.  Apparently they will be there until October.  They may open a place in Springfield.

The card carrier in my wallet broke.  I'm going to have to find one tomorrow.  There's no place in Sisters that sells one.  We walked to a couple of other stores, but it was late and everything was closing.

We went back to the trailer for dinner - frozen spring rolls.  After dinner was TV and games.

Day 2007

 I woke up at 6:30 and played games for more than an hour.  Then it was breakfast and pet stuff.  I just didn't feel like going out to eat.  After breakfast it was time to start preparing to leave tomorrow.

I started by disassembling the DirecTV antenna and putting it away.  Then I dumped the tanks.  I left the hose attached though.  That way I could quickly dump the shower water tomorrow morning.  The last job was to clean up the storage.  I put all of the chargers away and returned Steve's.  Then I took the lead shot and primers to the trailer.  I removed the battery and put it by the door.  Finally I covered the Bronco.

That pretty much finished the preparations.  It was only about 10.  I went back to the trailer played games and watched videos.  Dan wasn't available until 12:30.  We had lunch and then somehow I took a nap.  That meant we didn't get to Dan's until after 1.  I stopped and loaded the batttery into the truck on the way over there.

We talked with Dan and Patsy until about 4:30.  Then we went home, fed the cats, and had dinner.  Ellen fixed tacos.

While Ellen cooked I replaced the batteries in the door lock.  Of course Oregon scheduled a short rainstorm while I was doing it.  I was afraid that the lock would forget the codes, but it didn't.

A note about showers. The new shower head is a lot better than the old one.  It's good enough that we like it enough to take showers in the trailer rather than walk in the cold to the restroom.  That's why I left the sewer hose up even though it will cost some time tomorrow.

Another thing.  The back of the trailer is really close to a big tree.  If I turn left (towards the exit) tomorrow the back of the trailer might hit it.  So I wrote a note and taped it to the dash reminding me to turn right.

Day 2006

 We woke up at 7:30 and played games until 8:30.  Then we got up to do the pet stuff.  We had to pick up the rolls at the cafe, so we went there for breakfast.

After breakfast we went over to the parks to see how the fishing tournament was going.  Everyone was out on the water.  All we saw was empty boat trailers.  So we decided to go to Halfway.

We stopped at both of the Halfway grocery stores.  We got bacon at one and pop at the other.  Then we went to the second hand stores.  We got a book on tape and a hair thing for Ellen.  Then went back to the parks.

Patsy and her friend were at Holcomb.  They were watching Dan and his son fishing out from the dock.  We talked for quite awhile and watched them fish.  Then Patsy went home and we went to the trailer.

Charging the battery is a bust.  After 18 hours the small charger had only gotten the battery up to 6 volts, not enough for the big ones to take over.  I'm going to have to take the battery to Salem.

About 2 we went back to Dan's.  He was still out at the tournament.  We talked with Patsy for quite awhile.  Dan came by, but didn't stay long.  He went back for the prize awards.  Neither he or his son won anything.

Patsy fixed us hot dogs and potato salad for diner.  It was good.  After dinner we talked for a while and then went home.  The cats had a very late dinner.

After we got home it was games and videos.  Tomorrow I have to pack up as much as possible before leaving on Monday.

Day 2005

 We woke up about 7:30, got up and did the pet stuff.  Then we went to breakfast at the Cafe.  We wanted to snag cinnamon rolls, but they didn't have any.  We had breakfast any way.

After breakfast we went back to the trailer.  I wanted to see about the battery.  The "recondition" hadn't done anything. I hooked up the trickle charger I had and it actually started charging.  So I left it on.  We surfed and played games for a while and then went to Dan's.  He wasn't there, but drove up while we were leaving.  Good timing.

From there it was hours of talk.  Eventually Dan's son showed up.  They went off to sign off for tomorrow's fishing tournament.  We hung around with Patsy.

About 4:30 we went home to feed the cats.  I'd hoped the charger had put enough charge in the battery that the bigger chargers could take over.  It didn't happen.  The small charger will be it for tonight.

We returned to Dan's and talked until it was time for dinner at the Cafe.  Dinner was great, and inexpensive.  The whole bill for 5 of us was $100.  When I paid I tried to order a dozen cinnamon rolls.  They woould only allow me to order 4, along with 4 pecan rolls.

After dinner we went home.  The rest of the evening was games and videos.

Day 2004

 I woke up at 6 (really 7 given we've been living in Mtn time).  I played games for awhile and then got up for pet stuff.  We were planning on eating breakfast with Dan at 9:30,  so no breakfast.

I did some surfing and then went to check the battery charger.  It hadn't done anything.  It thought the battery was dead.  So I took it off and put the other one on set to "recondition".  That's supposed to take 24 hours.

I got talking to Steve.  We had a good conversation.  He lent me a couple of old style chargers.  I tried them both, and neither worked, probably because they were old and didn't work anyway.  I put the recondition charger back on.

By then it was 9:30.  We went to Dan's, but he wasn't there.  So we ate breakfast alone.  After that I got parts to fix the pantry shelf.  We went home and I fixed it.  After that I put the DirecTV antenna together.  Ellen spent a couple of hours trying to get a signal and couldn't.  I think we need some sort of signal detector.

The nav system in the truck had quit working again.  Ellen got on the web.  The advice was clean the antenna.  That it got it to work.

We gave up about 2:15 and went to see Dan.  I stopped to check the battery on the way.  It was still reconditioning.

Patsy was there.  We stayed until about 5.  Dan had a great time reminiscing about his shooting days.  We were his attentive audience.

We left to go home for dinner.  Dan went to walk the dogs.

We had pizza for dinner.  After dinner was games and some surfing on the tablet.  We used 1.5 Gb on the MIfi yesterday.  We can't afford to use more than 1 Gb per day.

Day 2003

 We woke up at 8:15, got up, did the pet stuff had breakfast, and hooked up.  I had problems connecting the truck.  I had the trailer too low and pushed it off the blocks.  I did get it connected easily on the second try.

When we started out the nav system wouldn't work.  We drove for about 20 miles to a rest area.  I stopped, turned off the truck, waited for it to complete the power down, and then started it again.  The nav started working and worked all the way to Baker.

The trip was short, only 144 miles.  We got terrible mileage though because of a strong headwind for 100 miles of it.  We didn't stop for fuel.  We got to Richland with almost 3/4 of a tank.

When we got to Richland it was 46 degrees and raining.  We unhooked and I went over and hooked the battery charger to the Bronco.  I also hooked up the sewer because the restrooms are stilled closed.  Then we went into town.  We stopped at the hardware store for an extension cord.  Then we went to the cafe for lunch.  The final stop was Thorny's for sausage.  Then we went to Dan's.

Dan was there, but Patsy wasn't.  We talked with him for 3 or 4 hours.  By then the temperature was up to 66 degrees.  Then we went back to the trailer.  The truck nav was broken again.  I checked the Bronco.  The battery is at about 25%.

We surfed until dinner time.  The cats are having a hard time adjusting to the time zone change.  Dinner was a frozen dinner.

The MiFi is back to 0 GB used.  For some reason it accepted a connection later in the evening.  We couldn't find anything of ours connected so I blocked the connection.

After dinner was more surfing.

Day 2002

 We didn't get up until 9.  No games, just slept in.  Then it was pet stuff and breakfast.  There wasn't anything to do except wait until my anti-body test.  We've run out of MiFi data, so we played games.

The test was scheduled for 11:40, so we left about 11:15.  We got there and had to wait.  To people had called in sick and they were backed up.  When I finally got to the front of the line they said they didn't do the test there.  That's even though the website let me sign up.  I was pissed.  There wasn't anything to do except go home though.

Ellen fixed me a fish burger for lunch.  That's one more box out of the freezer.  Then I played games and napped until it was time to go to the club.

The club was nice.  They have a full course, but half of it was shut down because the 5-stand was open.  We shot the course and then did two rounds of 5-stand.  In both cases the targets were really good.  When we were finished we ate dinner there.  They have a grill with hamburgers, etc.

We fueled up on the way home.  We only needed 7 gallons.  I was sweating it because it's about tie for the truck to regen.  I really want it to do so while we're pulling the trailer.  It obliged me.

When we got home we watched TV and played games.

Day 2001

 We woke up about 8 and played games for a while before getting up for pet stuff and breakfast.  This was a "rest" day - nothing scheduled.  I did want to caulk the bathroom faucet.

I wanted to put that off though, so we went to Home Depot to replace the drill bits I broke.  I got them there.  After that it became a series of stops.  We stopped at Dutch Brothers for some drinks.  Then Best Buy where they told me they don't carry the watch I want.  The final stop was Albertson's for some groceries that we won't be able to get in Richland.

That was the last stop.  When we got home I rearranged the two drill bags that I have now.  It was the only useful thing I did all day.  

After that I went inside and Ellen fixed hot dogs for lunch.  I surfed and watched videos for a while.  I finally got guilty and started the caulking job.  I unloaded the bathroom cabinet and got the tube of caulk.  The tube was block even thought there was a toothpick in it.  While squeezing it the bottom exploded and ruined my shirt.  I tried to use the remnants to do the job, but it didn't work.

I went back to surfing.  CVS sent me a website to schedule an antibody test.  I signed up for one tomorrow about noon.  I want to find out if I had the Chinese flu in 12/19.  Apparently the results ar immediately available.

The chest tightness has returned a little bit.  I've found that I can reduce it by taking deep breaths.  I am starting to take really shallow breaths like Mom used to do.

Ellen fixed pancakes and sausage for dinner.  After dinner we walked around the park looking at the rigs.  It was fun.

The rest of the evening was TV and a few videos.

Day 2000

 We woke up about 8, but played games until 9:30.  Then it was get up for pet stuff and breakfast.  We couldn't leave until 11, so I went out to fix the gun cart.  I didn't get very far before I broke the drill bit.  It was time to hook up anyway.

Hooking up took a little longer than I thought.  We were two minutes late leaving.  I did manage to get out of the narrow space without scuffing the tires.

The drive was short.  I am worried about the regen accumulation.  It's up to over 70% and we've only gone 350 miles.  Hopefully we'll regen on the road in a couple of days.

We unhooked and then went to Tru-Value for drill bits.  They didn't have what I wanted, and what they had was really expensive.  So we kept driving to Lowe's.  They didn't have exactly what I wanted, but they came close.

We stopped at Freddies on the way home.  I really like their french fries and fry sauce.  

When we got home I started to work on the cart.  It was hot.  Working on it was a pain in the ass.  It was hot and I didn't have anything to hold the parts while I drilled the holes.  I ended up using vice grips and a C clamp to hold things.  It wasn't optimal.  I ended up breaking three drill bits because I couldn't get a firm grip on the parts I was drilling.  I got it done though.  The result is ugly, but a definite improvement.

That was it for the day.  I played games and watched TV for the rest of the afternoon and evening.  Ellen fixed stir fry for dinner.  It was good.

Tomorrow is a rest day, nothing to do.  I will put sealant on the bathroom faucets if I remember to.

Day 1999

 We woke up about 7:30.  I don't know why, we just did.  We played games for quite a while before getting up for pet stuff and breakfast.

The club didn't open until 10, so we surfed for a while before leaving.  We could have left a little sooner.  It took an hour to drive there.  All of the roads were country roads with pretty low speed limits.  There weren't many people on them though, so I did manage to make time most places.

The club is out in the middle of no where.  It's basically some guy's hobby.  His main business is farming.  Apparently he's been doing it for many years.  He's also an old buddy of Mitchell's.  There's two 12 station courses.  Most stations were report pairs thrown from a single machine.  There were a lot of easy targets, but there were some challenging ones, too.  It was entertaining.  I shot well until an attack of the floaters.  Then I sucked.

We shot Aquila shells at Sun River.  They kick like a mule and are the dirtiest shells we've ever shot.  They were so dirty that they clogged up the ejectors on my gun.  The gun still worked, but the fact that they didn't fully eject really bothered me.  So on the way hoe we stopped at ACE so I could get some picks to remove the ejectors.  I also picked up a drill with two batteries at a really good price.

It was 3 and we hadn't had lunch.  We stopped at an Italian restaurant near the ACE.  It was good.  We fueled up on the way home.  I'm a little worried about the regen system.  It's already back up to 70% after only going 300 miles.

When we got home I cleaned the ejectors before putting the gun away.  I hate that job, so I didn't want to put it off.  After that it was TV and surfing.  There was no dinner, just some snacks.

Tomorrow is just a change of parks.  The new one is 30 miles away.  We can't get into the new park until 11, and we have to leave here by 11.  It's going to be interesting.

Day 1998

 We got up about 8 and played games until 9.  Then it was up for pet stuff, breakfast, hooking up, and leaving.  We were on the road by 10 - no snow to deal with.

The road to Boise was pretty good.  120 miles of it was secondary road in really good repair.  There were only two towns that you didn't have to slow down for.  We did have to go through a mountain pass.  The truck with the exhaust brake meant that I didn't even have to hit the brakes on the downhill.  All in all we got 12.2 mpg.  The truck does well when it isn't fighting a strong headwind.

I am a little concerned about the last regen.  When it finished the regen % was 21.  It's now up to 50% after only 170 miles.  We'll see.

It took until 1:30 to get to the park.  I think we spent over half an hour going the 6 miles from the freeway to the park.  Traffic was horrible, even for a Friday.

The park itself is pretty nice except it has VERY narrow spaces.  On side of the space has the sewer connections in the parking area.  The other side is a concrete slab.  I'm going to have to be careful to not kill the tires on the slab when we leave.

The park is big, maybe 100 spots.  Many are long term.  After we unhooked and got set up we walked the park looking at the rigs.  There were a lot of Solitudes, but only one other Reflection.  Then we went to Wally World for DEF, milk, and bananas.

When we got home I dumped the tanks.  That should last us until Richland.  Ellen made the last reservation at Sisters.  I'd bought a Lego (Mandalorian and Baby Yoda) at Wally World.  I put part of it together.

Dinner was leftover Thai.  After that was games and videos.

Day 1997

 We woke up about 8 today, played games, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  The club didn't open until 10, so I decided to do something useful.  I got out the swiffer and window cleaner and washed the windows.  I didn't do a stellar job, but at least it's a lot easier to see out now.

After that it was videos until time to leave.  The club was really nice it had 8 stations as well as two 5-stands, trap, bunker, and wobble trap.  There were also pistol and rifle pits.  All in all a really nice setup.  The targets were very good.  It was nice to shoot some place with terrain.  We shot the course (with extras) and one of the 5-stands.  They did have ammo for sale - $17.50 a box for Remington Gun Club.  We passed.

We finished up about 12:30.   We drove into town for lunch.  The truck went into regen just as we got there.  I didn't want to stop, so we drove out the end of town and went 30 miles on the highway until the regen was complete.  I'd rather spend the money than have anther check engine light.

We ate lunch at this really cool diner sort of place.  We also stopped at the local yuppie grocery store.  We bought a couple of things and a really nice metal flamingo for my collection.  On the way home we stopped to top off the truck.  We also got some Thai food for dinner.

When we got home I set up the truck to connect tomorrow.  Then I just watched videos until time for dinner.  After dinner I had to switch to my tablet because we're almost out of data on the MiFi.

There's no need to get up early tomorrow.  We only have 160 miles to go.  Some of it might be over mountains though.

Day 1996

 We got up a little before 9, did the pet stuff and had breakfast.  Then we hooked up and left.  While we were hooking up we noticed that another 5th wheel in the park had serious trouble.  Apparently it wasn't hooked up and when they pulled the trailer forward it fell to the ground.  They were working on it all the time we were packing up.  When we left it was up on the jacks, but not nearly high enough to hook up.

We got to the park about 1:30.  We'd averaged just under 65 for 220 miles and 11.2 mpg.  The place we're staying is really old.  The spots are short and narrow and not level, but the power is OK.  There was no one at the park when we got there and they didn't answer the number on the door.  Luckily Ellen found out where the manager was from a resident.  She walked about a block to talk to them.  It turns out that the number was a land line rather than their cell number.  Stupid.

We unhooked and left for Sun Valley.  It's only 5 miles up the road.

Sun Valley is a little slice of California in Idaho.  It is yuppie in the extreme.  The grocery store looks like a copy of the one at Sun River.  We walked around a while and then left.  One thing of note.  The place is at the bottom of a valley that is literally surrounded by ski resorts.

We drove back to a couple of small towns we'd passed through.  The valley isn't very wide, so the towns have a main street (also the highway) with residential streets going off them.  The main street was VERY crowded in both directions even though it was 3 in the afternoon.

We had a really late lunch/dinner at a brew pub.  They had good IPA, a good sandwich, and fantastic clam chowder.  Then we went back to the park.

Ellen got a text from GM saying one of the tires was low.  I went out and checked them.  One front tire ws a couple of pounds low.  I filled both tires to 70, they'd been at 65 and 63.  The back tires were fine.

We were enjoying the warm weather, almost 70.  It's been cold everywhere we've been since Nebraska.

The financial guy got back to me.  He's open to seeing us in Bend at the end of the trip.  I suggested the 25th.  We'll see what he says.  Then we'll make the final reservation, either Richland or Richland and Bend.

We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening watching videos.  There's no TV here.  The place may be old, but it's nice.

Day 1995

 It snowed last night, about 1.5 to 2 inches of heavy wet snow.  We didn't get up until a quarter to nine for two reasons.  First, we only had 200 miles to go today.  Second, we thought we'd need to wait for the snow to melt.  After pet stuff an breakfast I went outside.  There wasn't any snow on the pavement, but there was some on the ground and a lot on vehicles.  The temperature was 38 degrees.

I really didn't have much to clear off the snow.  I used the "swiffer" to clean the snow off the truck bed cover.  It wasn't a good tool for the task.  The head is on a swivel and kept turning the wrong way.  The heavy snow packed down on the cover and had to be scraped off.

I finally got the bed cover cleared.  I backed up the truck to hook it up and then coiled up the hose.  That was a real pain in the ass because it was stiff, wet, and muddy.  While I was doing that I noticed that the street side slide was all canted when Ellen brought it in.  I had her put it back out.  The problem was the snow on the roof.

I couldn't climb the ladder because of the bike rack.  So I backed up the truck to the slide.  I had to sand on the closed tailgate, which allowed me to just reach up to the roof of the slide.  It took a lot of time and effort to clear the snow off.  Luckily the slide wasn't damaged.

The other two slides had gone in, but their tops were covered with snow.  I had to stand on a chair and use the swiffer and dust pan to clear the snow from the living room slide.  It almost filled the sink.  I did the same with the bedroom slide.

After all of that we managed to hook up and get on the road.  It was about 10.  The trip itself was OK.  The road was wet until Green River.  It hadn't snowed there.  Crap.  There was a whole lot of traffic, mostly trucks, on I80.  The traffic went way down when we were on on I84.

The CTS3 worked well.  I like the new display.  It's nice to have two more PID's also.

We got to Tremonton about 1:30.  We made 12.1 MPG.  It's amazing what a lack of a strong headwind will do for mileage.  There was a little water to mop up in the living room and some seriously wet carpet in the bedroom.  I used the hair dryer on the bedroom floor.  Ellen took the towels to the wash.

We had unhooked, so we went to town for fuel.  We'd used less than half a tank.  There wasn't anything interesting in town, so we just went back to the trailer.

We watched videos (no TV here).  Then we went around the park looking at rigs.  There are some really expensive ones.  The temperature was 60, the warmest we've been in for many days.

Ellen fixed sausage for dinner.  After dinner was more videos.  Tomorrow will be another sleep in day.  We only have 220 miles to go, about the same as today.  We won't have snow to deal with.

Day 1994

 I got up at 7:15 today, did the pet stuff and had breakfast.  Then I went to the Chevy dealership.  They ran the codes and agreed it was the transmission.  They took it in for more diagnostics.  About an hour they came back to say that it needed a software update.  I'm pissed at Covert for not doing the update.

I got back to the trailer at 9:30.  Ellen was still doing the wash.  It was off and one raining and snowing.  I used the time to find a place in town that had a CTS3.  When the wash was done we went there and bought it.  We decided not to go to Winton because the road is recommended for four wheel drive and not recommended when wet.  We went to Green River instead.

Green River doesn't have much to offer.  We did stop at the visitor center, but didn't find anything of interest.  However, outside across the river was an eagle's nest with two bald eagles in it.  We got out the binoculars and watched them.

After that we went back to Rock Springs.  We got DEF at Wally World and fuel at the Smith's (Kroger's) grocery store.  Ellen was hungry, so we stopped at Chicago Pizza for lunch.  Then we went home.

I80 had a hug me sign warning on slippery conditions until tomorrow night.  I stopped at the office and made sure we could stay an extra night if necessary.  Then I went back to the trailer and truck to install the CTS3.

I won't go into the gory details, but the process sucked.  I had to run the update process twice to get all of the updates.  Choosing the PIDs is as clumsy as a CTS2.  Some of them kept coming and going from the list.  It wouldn't read the parameters when I started the engine.  I had to change one of the PID choices while the engine was running and then it worked.  It locked up while I was trying to get it mounted even though the truck was off.  I had to unplug it and plug it back in.  I hope it works tomorrow or else it might go out the window. 

I spent a couple of frustrating hours working on the CTS3.  I swe won't have to get up early.    ill have some setup to do, but I just ran out of patience.  It will be OK for tomorrow though.

After that I went inside and watched videos for a while.  Dinner was leftover pizza.  After dinner was more videos.  We only have to go 200 miles tomorrow, so we won't have to get up early.

Day 1993

 We got up at 8, did the pet stuff, and had breakfast.  We weren't in a particular hurry, so we didn't leave until almost 9.

The road to the dinosaur monument was as bad as I though it would be  It went up 2,000 feet, down farther, back up again, and then back down again.  It was all secondary road, some of it pretty rough.  On the Utah side there was a 5 mile long stretch of 20 mph switchbacks.  It's not a road for trailers, ut we saw quite a few on it.  Luckily there was almost no southbound traffic when we were on it.

We got to the monument about 10.  They said we needed tickets to get into the quarry.  They gave us tickets for 1:30.  That turned out to be fine  There was a road that went through other attractions at the monument.  There were 15 stops and we hit them all.  It was fun.  There was good scenery and two places to stop to see pictographs.  We got back just in time for our tickets.

The quarry had been rebuilt since I was there over 50 years ago.  Surprise.  When I was there they were still digging out the fossils.  Now they are all done.  There were some neat interactive stations that allowed you to identify which kind of dinosaur a particular fossil came from.  I thought it was great and so did Ellen.

Because it's Federal property masks are required in the building and on the shuttle buses.  In addition the employees are supposed to enforce social distancing.  The people at the buildings were making no effort to do so.  In the shuttle bus this meant people were supposed to sit 1 person per two person row.  There were lots of people waiting.  The driver asked if anyone cared about social distancing.  Everyone said no.  In fact, everyone was cheering the driver for asking the question.  So the bus left with every seat taken.

In both the buildings and the bus half the people had their masks pulled down below their noses.  Nobody cared.  I only saw two idiots wearing masks on the trails.  They were Asian, so maybe they were used to doing so in their home country.

When we started to go home the CEL was on in the truck.  I thought it was the regen thing again since we'd had one on the way down.  It wasn't.  The code is for some sort of communication error between the engine control module and the transmission.  Fortunately the truck seemed to work fine on the way home.  I'll take it to the dealer tomorrow morning.  I'm pissed.  I've never had a vehicle throw a CEL before and this truck has done it twice in 10 days.

We didn't have any lunch, just protein bars at the monument.  When we got home Ellen fixed the last of the Costco bacon wrapped chicken things.  We also had the fry bread we bought from the Indians.  We'd never had it before.  We're not impressed.

The rest of the evening was TV, videos, and surfing.

Day 1992

 We woke up about 8 and played games until 9.  Then it was pet stuff and breakfast.  Then Ellen started to wash the towels from yesterday's cleanup.  That took a lot of the morning, so we just surfed and watched videos.  Ellen made reservations for the rest of our stops before Richland.  Getting places to stay around Boise wasn't easy.  I hate baby boomers.

The weather was pretty cold, about 50.  The wind would vary between a breeze and a strong wind that shook the trailer hard.  It felt like it might move the trailer.  The cats were not amused.  This happened all day and into the evening.

When the washing was done we went to Rock Springs.  The first stop was for cat food.  After that we hit some places we saw in a tourist brochure.  We had some coffee at the old train depot.  It was fun watching the trains go by, but the coffee sucked.  Then we went to a toy store.  We bought a puzzle for Martha and a little 3D puzzle of the lunar rover for me.  Then we went across the street to a gun store so I could get a small bottle of oil.

By then it was lunch time.  We were sick of the normal fast food.  There was a crepe place two blocks away, so we walked to it.  It was great.  I ordered another coffee.  It was much better.  I really shouldn't have had two coffees.  My chest is giving me a little trouble, something it hasn't done in days.

After that Ellen's asshole was giving her trouble, so we went home.  She sat on the can a lot.  I put together my puzzle and then watched videos.

Neither of us wanted dinner.  Eventually I had a spring roll for a snack.

The rest of the evening was videos.  Tomorrow is a 250 mile side trip to the dinosaur national monument.

Day 1991

 I woke up at 6 to some strange noise.  I couldn't figure out what it was because I didn't have my hearing aids on.  I went into the bathroom and stepped in a pool of water.  That was the clue.  The cats had turned on the bathroom sink faucet.  It had filled up the grey water tank and the overflow had dumped water on the floor and under the sink.  I had Ellen get up and dry out the bathroom.  I got dressed and went outside to drain the tanks.

While the tanks were draining I took everything out of the basement and dried it out.  The water had leaked there, too.  Luckily it hadn't gotten into the area behind the basement wall.  I put everything back and finished the tank draining.  It took until 7:20.

After that we hooked up and left.  We got out about 8:15.  The drive itself was OK except for crappy mileage.  We had a headwind down to Casper.  That and the 3,000 ft gain in elevation didn't help.  Neither did the regen.  It happened about 180 miles in and totally cleaned the system.  That made me feel good.

We got to Rock Springs about 1:30.  They gave us a crappy unlevel space.  It took quite awhile to unhook the truck because of it.  Then we we took Devon to the vet.  His eye infection is bad.  The vet gave us gel to put in his eye 3 times a day.  Oh joy.  We also stopped at Wally World for groceries.  I needed cereal because the stuff in the basement had been ruined.

After tht we went home.  Ellen fixed a tuna burger for dinner.  The weather was nice today, but in the evening the wind came up and shook the trailer.  I actually thought it might go over.  It calmed down though, but is picking up again.

Unfortunately the weather is supposed to suck while we are here.  Tomorrow is a low of 31 and a high of 54 with 25 mile an hour wind.  It isn't going to get better until after we leave in four days.

Day 1990

 I woke up at 7:30, played games for a while and then got up about 8.  After pet stuff and breakfast we left for Custer's battlefield.  The trip was exactly 100 miles up Interstate 90.  They Wyoming speed limit was 75, Montana's was 80.  It was nice to drive the faster speed limits.

The battlefield monument is really nice.  Unfortunately the visitor center was shut thanks to that pedo Biden.  There were a lot if informational plaques that explained the battle very well.  There were also informational brochures.  

We walked up to the last stand hill.  It wasn't a very defensible position, especially when surrounded by 1,000+ Indians.  There was a 4 mile road over to the Reno and Benteen battle sites.  There were plaques all along the way that described how the battle developed.  There were also headstones all along the way marking where soldiers, and a few Indians, had fallen.  Two of the Indians had been killed at ranges of at least 200 yds, one with a head shot.  Pretty good shooting.

Looking at the terrain and reading the plaques really gave a sense of how the battle went.  Custer was screwed from the moment he decided to attack.  He actually split his forces into 4, maybe 5 groups.  That made it worse.  There was a point early in the battle where he might have been able to withdraw, but apparently he didn't realize how screwed he was.  Past that point he and his men were doomed.

One thing for sure.  The soldiers were great horsemen.  Some of the ground they covered, both before and during the battle, was pretty challenging.

It also seems that there were actually three "last stands".  One was in a gully where 25 men from one company were slaughtered in a draw.  Another was at a hill a few 1000 yds from the last stand.  A company of men was overrun with many killed either on the hill or as they tried to get to Custer's position.

After several hours at the battlefield we stopped at the Indian run trading post for lunch.  It was pretty good.  Then it was back to Buffalo at 80 all the way.  That speed sure covers miles fast.

When we got home we went across the street to a mini-golf place.  Unfortunately it was closed.  there was a restaurant next door with a nice deck.  It was sunny and warm, so we sat there and ordered an appetizer for dinner.

Then it was back to the trailer.  We fed the cats and watched TV for the rest of the evening.

Day 1989

 I woke up a little before 7:30 and laid in bed until the alarm went off.  then it was up for pet stuff, breakfast, hitching up, and leaving.  We were on the road at 8:30.

The trip was 289 miles, all on an interstate.  There were several rough sections on the road, but only two very short construction zones.  We would have made it without a stop except for a really strong headwind for half the way.  Over all we averaged a little over 9 mpg.  Did I mention the headwind was vicious.  I ended up stopping for fuel at a really expensive station, $3.45.  The upside was it was a super easy place to get in and out of.  The convenience was worth the 6 extra bucks the fuel cost.

We got to Buffalo about 1:30.  We unhooked and immediately left for town.  It's an interesting old, small town.  The downtown is 2 blocks long and filled with tourist shops.  We went through a lot of them.  We had nice talks with several of the shop keepers.  On the way back we bought more Blue DEF.  We've been going through a box a day or so.  The ash level actually decreased today.  I think that's because the truck was working pretty hard most of the time due to the wind.

We got home about 5:30.  We fed the cats and then went to a restaurant next to the park.  It was really good.

When we got back I watched videos and Ellen watched TV.  I also did a little research on the bighorn battle for tomorrow.

Day 1988

 I woke up about 7 and played games until 8.  When getting out a new toothbrush I noticed water under the sink.  It's coming from the base of the faucet I installed.  We'll need some sealer.  Then it was start the wash.  While I was coming back I noticed that both braces on the bicycle rack had come loose.  I fed the cats and then went to work on it.

I had to take the hooks off to get the two braces off.  Then I had to do a lot of work on the end threads in order to get the nuts back on.  It took me all of the time the washing took to get that sorted.  Then I needed to go to a hardware store to get a center punch, drill bit (I broke one reaming holes on the rack), and pins to hold the hook.

The nearest hardware was 7 miles away at a Home Depot.  We went there with a shopping list.  They only had a spring center punch.  It cost $15.  Crap.  We fueled up and then came home.

I drilled holes in the hooks to run the pins into.  Then I crawled under the rack to reattach the hooks to the braces.  I installed the braces and used the pins to hold the hooks in.  Then I tightened everything up.  We also took off the bike cover and retied the bikes.  They had come loose and the inside one was rubbing on the trailer.  We tightened the wheel straps and reattached the center straps (they'd come loose).  I also attached the "safety" for the center straps tighter.  Hopefully that will take care of the problems.

I also set up the camera charger.  By then it was noon.  I was hungry because I hadn't had breakfast.  I was also tired.  Being old and fat has really sapped my strength.  I ate breakfast for lunch.  Then I watched videos for the rest of the afternoon.

A thunderstorm ran through about 3.  I had to run out and take down the camera charger.  There was a little rain and some small hail.  It didn't last long.

Ellen fixed pork chops and spring rolls for dinner.  It was pretty good.  After dinner was more videos.

Day 1987

 We woke up fairly early, at least in mountain time.  It was cold, 35 degrees and raining pretty hard.  So we stayed in bed playing games.  We got up for pet stuff and breakfast about 9.  By then there was snow mixed with the rain.  That continued for the whole day.  The snow never stuck though.

After a little bit of surfing we went back to town.  We went to the railroad museum.  Ellen says we've been there before.  I think so, but it's much improved.  We spent hours looking at the exhibits.  Cheyenne has a history with the railroad that dates back to the intercontinental railroad.  There's always been a huge service and switching center here.

We ate lunch at a cool old restaurant across the street.  It was really good.  I had a hot turkey sandwich and an IPA.  When I was finished all I wanted to do was nap.  So we went home.  With the cold and rain/snow we didn't feel like doing anything else.  It never got above 37 today.

When we got home I had my nap.  The cable here has 17 channels, but only one of them comes in well.  The rest range from bad picture to unwatchable.  So after the nap it was games and surfing.

Dinner was leftovers.  After dinner was more surfing, mainly videos.

Day 1986

 We got up at 7:30, did the pet stuff, had breakfast, hooked up the trailer, and hit the road.  There was quite a wind, but luckily it was coming from the south.  That allowed us to make pretty good mileage - a little over 10.

I was watching the soot level carefully.  I've been worried about them since we got the CEL.  They went up a little it at first, and then went down.  I was a little confused.  After about 200 miles the truck went into regen.  It started at 35% and immediately went up to 96%.  Then it started going down, about 1% every half mile.  The regen stopped at 33%, but a short time later the soot level went to 0.  It climbed up about the way it always does for the rest of the trip. 

All of this makes me really happy.  It means that the truck is still capable of cleaning itself out.  I'll keep a close eye on it for the rest of the trip.  The process does burn a lot of fuel though.  I think it cut the mpg by about 1 over 200 miles.

We got to Cheyenne a little after 1, due to the change in time zones.  We set up with a very cold wind blowing.  I put on jeans as soon as we were set up.  Then we went into town.  It's about 5 miles away.  We went to the old down town.  There's a lot of cool buildings.  We also went to the state capitol.  It's an impressive building.

On the way back we stopped for some groceries.  When we got home the wind was blowing hard enough to shake the trailer.  We watched TV.  Later it started to rain pretty heavily.  The wind's still blowing a little and it's 48 degrees.  It's supposed to get down to 29 tonight and snow.  Goody.

Dinner was chili dogs.  After dinner it was TV and surfing.  It's raining pretty hard.  If it turns to snow there could be a lot of it.  Luckily tomorrow is a rest day.  We don't have to go anywhere.

Day 1985

 We  got up about 8, did the pet stuff and had breakfast.  Then I loaded the stuff in the truck and we went to the club.  It's a nice one.  It's like TCGC, both shotgun and pistol pits.  They even have bunker.

The guy at the desk was very nice.  He offered to sell us ammo, so we bought a case.  We got a cart, too.  They have two courses.  We shot all of the hard course and part of the easy course.  The targets were pretty challenging, mainly because of a 20 mph wind.  We had a lot of fun and the cart made it easy to go where we wanted.  We even used it to take a tour of the pistol pits.

We ended up shooting more than a case of shells.  When we got done the cost was really reasonable.

It was about noon when we got done.  We drove into Grand Island just to see the place.  The downtown had a lot of cool old midwest architecture in it.  We had lunch at an Arby's.  Then we stopped at Wally World for a few items.

When we got back to the trailer it was TV and surfing.  There wasn't really anything else to do and we were a little tired.  Ellen fixed chili burgers for dinner.

After dinner was more TV and surfing.