Finally made it home!

After almost three months on the road we finally made it home to Oak Harbor, WA once again. After leaving Montana, which was not easy, we made our way to Coeur D'Alene, Idaho to the Blackwell Island RV Park for a relaxing evening. We had a great view of an Osprey nest with chicks inside and the parents making many fishing trips from the lake waters and back to the nest. A very enjoyable evening for sure.

Next we were off to Pullman to try and find the house that Lydia's parents lived in when she was born. We were saddened to see that it had been taken down and a large fraternity house had been built on the site. Walked the old town and saw the campus ... Go Cougars!!  Nonetheless, we had a nice time in Pullman at the city campground. We had several Magpies that would wait none to patiently for us to provide them with peanuts on the picnic table.

After Pullman we headed off for Yakima and the Sportsmen State Park on the East side of town. This was a great spot to rest up and prepare ourselves for the next days journey home. If you ever happen to be in Yakima and looking for a good camping spot, this is it. We had a great site with full hookups minus WiFi and cable but it didn't matter to us at all. Wonderful ponds and an interpretive trail for good birding as you can see.

The following morning we pulled out and headed for home back on Whidbey Island. It was nice to be back in our own home once again but after three months on the road the house certainly seemed larger than when we left. Our house sitter is to be commended here as flowers, a spotless house, and our attended birds were wonderful to come home to. Today we unpacked the truck and trailer, got a little lawn mowed and put water back in the hot tub. Yes, it is cool enough here to get in the tub again, eat your hearts out!! Tomorrow it is time to restock the pantry and get the truck and trailer washed and ready for our next trip into Canada and the Selkirk Loop. We will let you know when the blog is ready to go again.


Phil & Lydia

July,19 Butte, MT and points West

Well, the news wasn't as bad as we thought it would be. The turbo was okay but the boot and clamp had blown off. The fix only took about an hour and the nice folks at the Butte Ford dealer came and picked us up so we coul drive the truck back to the campground. Belive me, we were ready to depart form this place. The 2 Bar Lazy H is not a place we will ever recommend or visit again.

So we got the truck, and all hitched up to the RV and proceeded to do our walkaround and what did I spy, why none other than a nail in one of the tires on the passenger side of the RV! It was not leaking air so off to find a friendly Les Schwab (tire store) and get it fixed. We pulled in and a young enthusiastic gent came out, checked the pressure, which was still spot on, spread some soapy water on and still no leak. As soon as he touched the nail head it started leaking like crazy. So, off to the local A&W for a burger and a root beer while they fixed the flat.

By the time we ate and walked back to the tire shop he was done and we were ready to roll once again. This time to Missoula, MT and Jim and Mary's RV Park. Now we have hit 3 places that we would like to return to. This little park was superb! Clean, some of the nicest people you would ever like to meet, well treed and close to some of the best trout fishing in the country. We made a quick trip into town to visit the famous Grizzly Fly Shop and pick up some groceries and it was back to the RV park for some rest and relaxation with olives and onions involved.

It was not easy leaving Jim and Mary's this morning but we are nearing the end of our trip. Off to Coeur d'Alene, ID we went on some serious mountain roads. The views were magnificent and the roads horrible. 

Our park here in Idaho is at the Blackwell Island RV Resort right on the lake and is quite nice. Watching an Opsrey couple feed their babies.  We are certainly surrounded by some BIG class A RV's here.

Tomorrow we are off to Pullman, WA, the birthplace of my lovely wife Lydia, then Yakima and finally home on Whidbey Island. More to come..

Phil & Lydia

Casper, WY to Butte MT

Our sincere apologies for the delay in blogging again but the travel trail has been a bit rough lately.

We had a great drive from Casper to Sheridan and parked at the greatest campground we have been to yet. Peter D's Campground in Sheridan Wyoming is one of the few that we are already planning a return trip to. Some of the nicest people and the cleanest facilities we have seen to date.

Sheridan and northern Wyoming were great places to be. We both wish that we had a week to spend as there is so much to do and see. We made the most of what time we had and managed to squeeze in a nice little local museum, great restaurant, and attend a Vaudeville show at the famous Wyo Theatre. We decided to skip the rodeo even though it was their big event. A great time and we were sorry to leave but leave we must.

From Sheridan we drove on to Billings, MT to our second KOA of the trip. Not much to write home about from this one, other than it was our first back-in site of which we have had little practice. We did manage a trip to a huge Cabela's sporting goods store. Quite a place with just about anything you can imagine for hunting, fishing or anything else outdoors. We once again had some very serious thunderstorms in the afternoon and the roads in the RV park became little lakes and rivers.

So, there we were, surrounded by Indians! No, that was Gen. George Custer that was in that predicament. We were just taking a leisurly drive around the Little Big Horn Battlefield because it was so busy we couldn't find a parking place for the rig. What a change has happened over the last 30 years since I was here with my young (at the time) daughters. The last time I was here there was no driving loop around the battlefield. This time we could stop, make a cel phone call and listen to the story of what happened at a specific spot. The museum is still fantastic and really tells the story (both sides, Native American and Cavalry) of what happened during the battle. If you haven't been here then put it on your bucket list.

From Billings it was on to Livingston, MT and our second favorite RV park, the Rock Canyon RV park. We were right on the Yellowstone River and got to see White Pelican floating along, and a Peregrine Falcon on the cliffs.  It is located about 50 miles from the northern entrance into Yellowstone National Park but we were just too strapped for time to make the trip there. We did manage however to get into town and make a small birthday purchase for my 62'nd birthday. They had a closeout sale at Dan Bailey's Fly shop and I managed to snag a super nice graphite fly rod there. This shop has been around since 1938 and they really know their business. So, after several years away from fishing, and Lydia bugging me to take her, I am ready to get back into it once again.

Livingston also has a great railroad museum that we enjoyed visiting. I even got to send some code on an ancient Vibroplex bug/sounder combination. It definitely sounded like morse code but very different on a sounder.

From Livingstone to Butte, MT is where the fun begins. Lydia started off driving what was to be a rather short 110 mile day. With about 40 miles to go we switched seats and off we went. Headed up and over the Continental Divide and 20 miles short of our destination we heard a loud bang and quickly got over to the shoulder of I-90. To our surprise, no flats so I looked under the hood and saw nothing amiss and tried starting the engine. It started right up so we thought we would try and continue up and over the Divide ... that didn't happen. As soon as I took off I saw 0 psi on the turbo gauge and the truck would barely move forward. Still on the shoulder we parked again, chocked the trailer tires and called AAA for a tow. Anaconda was the closest tow that could take both truck and trailer so we waited almost 2 hours for them to arrive. We called the local Ford dealer to make sure they had a turbo in stock (which they did) and waited for the tow truck.

The ride up and over the Divide was pretty hair-raising with all of our posessions careening down the mountain with one of the good old boys from Deliverance at the wheel. We were happy to see the Ford dealer when we got there. No mechanics on Saturday off course so the driver pulled our trailer out to our next scheduled RV stop. Unfortunately this is not one of our favorite places to spend the night. What a great birthday!

Oh well, we are looking forward to getting our truck back tomorrow and heading towards home again. So, we have been delayed by only a day and a half so far. Doing housekeeping today and resting, reading and playing some banjo. Home is sounding better all the time..

Phil & Lydia

Colorado to Wyoming

Sorry about the delay in getting the blog current but internet access can be tough on the road.

We left you in Limon Colorado and that is when we drove to Littleton to see the last batch of relatives on this trip. We had a great visit (my first meeting) with Lydia's cousins Phyllis and Dave and got to see her Uncle Phil too. Had some great fajitas on the back deck and talked ourselves silly catching up after many years. That was until the daily thunderstorms arrived! I guess we had almost forgotten how loud thunder can be when it is up close and personal.

We spent the night at Chatfield State Park (thanks Steve and Sally) and can give it a great recommendation. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay there and wish we had more time to explore the area. I even had a fun little frog companion in the shower. He didn't think too much of the running water but came hopping back when I turned the shower off. We saw lots of King Birds, a Bullock's Oriole, and an amazing amount of Broadtailed Hummingbirds who were really putting on a show.

After Littleton we headed to Cheyenne, WY. Another nice little RV park and a visit to a Sierra Trading Post outlet store, which is a great outdoor products place to shop. Back at the RV park we found that they do a BBQ every night and we feasted on an order of ribs, spicy beans and potato salad. Good food for sure. Another nightly thunderstorm and we were off to Casper, WY the next morning.

We had a nice drive up I25 today if you can call the interstate highway system a nice drive. There is some spectacular scenery coming this way, and I suppose any route would have been the same. Even finally got to see an antelope along side the road. Lots of roadwork everywhere we go and boy do we need it. It seems as if the entire interstate highway system is crumbling under our tires!

Our campground here is one of our few KOA's along our route. It is a nice place to park for a night but once again the nightly storms have kept us in the RV for most of the afternoon. Watching the weather report tonite we were glad to be out of Cheyenne, as they had golf ball hail today!!! 

Tomorrow we are off to Sheridan, WY and a night of Vaudeville at the famous WYO Theatre.

Ten more days and home again..

Phil & Lydia

Out of Kansas and into Colorado.

After a fun time in Dodge City, KS we headed out to Lamar, CO. No internet there due to storms the day before. They also had some power problems but our site checked out good. The RV park was one of the rustic ones that we seem to favor. Everything was clean and neat, just no concrete slabs to park on. Here I am taking a picture of Lydia taking a picture of the great sky.

We had a great time at the Big Timbers Museum in Lamar. Some very nice displays about the early days of Lamar and a big massacre at Sandy Hill back in the 1800's. We are really having a ball at these small town museums and learning quite a bit about the areas we are visiting.

We did have a big thunderstorm pass us to the North and another to the South which gave us a little trepidation being so out in the open as we were.



Then we left Lamar for Limon, CO and another wonderful little museum, the Limon Heritage Museum. There was even a nice display brought in from the Smithsonian for our viewing pleasure. After leaving the museum a massive thunderstorm was fast approaching so we headed for the RV and a small measure of safety at the campground office if needed. Again we got lucky and the storm passed us to the North.

No special birds to report at either of these locations and I was surprised that we never saw a single antelope along the way.

We are off to Littleton, CO for our last relative visit with Lydia's cousins and a stay at Chatfield State Park. More to come and 1600 miles to go before home.

Phil & Lydia

On The Road Again!

We left Shawnee, OK the morning of July 6th and headed to Fort Supply, Oklahoma for our first night heading home. The trip up Hwy 177 was beautiful if ever Oklahoma was. The green rolling hills and farms were just magnificent. We are enjoying using backroads whenever we can, much less truck traffic and the scenery is much better.

Fort Supply is up in the Northwest corner of Oklahoma just before you enter the panhandle. The campground we stayed in was operated by the Corps of Engineers and was very nice. The only thing missing was bathrooms and showers in walking distance from our camping area. There were some in other areas that we could have used, but we still enjoyed our visit immensely.

It did cool off in the evening long enough to go for a walk by the lake and watch a Mississippi Kite pluck insects from the air ... a beautiful bird to see.  We also saw literally hundreds of Red-winged Blackbirds, and several flotillas of Canad Geese on the lake. A very nice spot.

We left Fort Supply this morning, July 7th, and headed into Kansas and Dodge City looking for Matt Dillon and Miss Kitty. Turns out that they were away on business so we made do by visiting the Dodge City Boot Hill Museum.

Even though it was a little touristy it was still fun and interesting. There were a few original buildings, some great artifacts and some true museum pieces on display. Called Boot Hill because of the old cemetary where they always buried them with their boots on. It was a good diversion, as we have a dear friend on our mind constantly today, who is having surgery.

Our campground here might not be to everyones liking but we are enjoying all it has to offer. A little rustic but good cable TV, internet and clean hot showers. Also quite a showing of King Birds nesting in the trees here. 

Tomorrow we are off to Lamar, CO after a fairly short drive, for another relaxing day on the road. We are both a little home sick and ready to see our little slice of heaven again soon.

More soon - Phil & Lydia

Oklahoma to Folorida and back again.

Our trip to Florida went off without too many hitches. Flying is absolutely a most miserable option for travel nowadays. Our first flight out of Oklahoma was delayed and the second was cancelled. The third time was the charm and off we went to Tampa Bay and more relatives.

Florida still has lots of sand, sun and humidity, but it also has some of our favorite nephews and a stirling niece (hi guys). We had a great visit with everyone, Lydia's dear sister Polly and her Mom, who took some time to remember her, and another newly found relative, Margaret Towner, first ordained female Presbyterian minister.

We saw some wonderful birds as we toured Miyakka State Park as well as the back yard. Roseate Spoonbills, Ladderback Woodpeckers, Cardinals, Bluejays, Black Vultures (great flocks of them), Great Blue and Little Blue Herons, Ospreys, Egrets and a few more that are escaping my memory at the moment. Good birding altogether and alligators to boot!

All in all, a wonderful week away from the heat of Oklahoma and into the heat of Florida.

Back in Oklahoma we are preparing to start our return trip to the Pacific Northwest. Lydia had her last infusion before heading home and tomorrow is an oil change and check up for the truck. A few minor fixes on the travel trailer and we will be ready to depart on July 6th. Off to Fort Supply, Oklahoma followed by Dodge City, Kansas. If internet services are good we should be blogging every day again soon.

We are ready to hit the road again and ready to be at home at the same time. I am afraid the travel bug may have bit us pretty hard. Shorter trips in the future, but certainly more of them.

See you soon....

Phil and Lydia

Stifling Heat!!!!!

If you have been wondering where we are as of late, we are in Oklahoma with my parents and attempting to breath what they call air down here. We have set record temps several times now and not much relief in sight.

We did make the trip to the greater Dallas area for my granddaughters high school graduation and had a great time. It is hard to get used to a graduating class of almost 1,400 but there we were. Texas was pretty warm also but not nearly as humid as Oklahoma. All in all, a great visit with my daughter and her family. We were also finally able to get the stereo replaced in the truck. As any of you who know Lydia and I know, we can't stand to be without our Jazz tunes and they can be pretty spotty while on the road.

It has been good to see my relatives and catch up on all the latest marriages, divorces and deaths in the family as well as look in on some old friends.

Next week we are off to Florida to see Lydia's mother, her sister and her family for a week. After that it is back to Oklahoma for another week and then hitch up the trailer and start our trip home. Lots of fun places to see and wonderful things to see so watch for more updates in the next couple of weeks. We will try and do another blog while in Florida and another before we leave Oklahoma. We have to find WiFi hotspots to even get online here.

More travel pictures soon..

Phil & Lydia

Across New Mexico and Into Oklahoma!

Sorry you haven't heard from us the past few days.  No internet, and not much to report ... the drive across New Mexico was uneventful and with apologies to New Mexican's, very forgetful.

We did have two nice campgrounds in New Mexico however. The South Forty in Las Cruces was quite nice and we almost wish we could have stayed an extra night. Great owners and very clean facilities. The little Oasis State Park in Portales, NM (in the middle of nothing) was also quite nice with excellent facilites that somehow manged to eat our soaps and shampoos. Either that or we just forgot them.

After leaving Portales it was a short drive to Texas and a longer one to leave it. This was our longest drive yet at about 325 miles. It wouldn't have been too bad if Oklahoma saw fit to place some signs on the road. It only took 2 u-turns, but with a 23 foot trailer behind you they can be exciting to perform.

Today, Saturday, we spent the day at the Wichita Mountain National Wildlife Refuge, Fort Sill, OK. The Refuge was first established in 1901 as a forest reserve by William McKinley. In 1905 President Theodore Roosevelt re-designated the area as the Wichita Forest and Game Preserve.

This is a truly magnificent place to spend some time. Bison, Elk, Deer, playful Prairie Dogs and wonderfuil vistas are everywhere you look. The only problem during our visit was some serious heat, 103F today as we tried to get in some bird watching. We did manage to see the endangered Black-Capped Vireo, Mississippi Kite, Black and White Warbler, Western Meadowlark, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher and a few other species while driving around. There are 470 species located here in Oklahoma, not bad for such a small state. Much like the Grand Canyon, this place should be on your bucket list.

Tomorrow we leave the Ft. Sill campground and have a short drive to my home town of Shawnee, OK after a brief stop in Oklahoma City for some needed trailer supplies. Little to no internet access means not much activity on the blog for a month or so but keep an eye open for the occasional post on our travels. We still have Dallas, TX and Sarasota, FL to do before starting our return trip.

See Ya - Phil & Lydia

A busy few days and no access again!

Wow, we have had an exciting few days. We arrived in Scottsdale for a visit with Barry and Cathy. It didn't take us too long to remember why we call them friends. In fact this whole trip so far is about seeing old friends and family.

We had an absolute ball with Barry and Cathy, spending time with them in their home and visiting new places in the Scottsdale area. It was a good thing we did have friends here as our air conditioner blower decided to go into failure mode on us in 90+ degree weather! We ended up spending an extra day there getting it repaired.

Off to the Botanical Garden our first evening and what a treasure it was. A pleasent walk with cactus and desert plants all around, mixed with wonderful conversation. Sometimes we tend to forget what a pleasant conversation can be worth to us.

This is Barry and Phil at the little RV park in Scottsdale. It was small but very nice.

And Cathy, Barry's wonderful wife and a dear giving friend.

Our next foray into the desert heat was to one of the coolest places we have ever been. The Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix will be one of the high points of our trip. The museum is just what the title says, all musical instruments from around the world and the ages. At every display and country there was information about the exhibit as well as recordings/videos to listen to via headphones they provide. You could spend a week in this place.

Again we saw some great birds in Scottsdale, including:
Gila Woodpecker, Abert's Towhee, Inca Dove, White-Winged Dove, Nighthawk and both Black-Backed and Green-Backed Lesser Gooldfinch. While we don't have a lot of time to bird, we are both adding some life birds to our list as we go. Thank you to our special friends Barry and Cathy for taking such good care of us.

After Scottsdale it was off to Tucson, AZ and yet another friend Celia.

We spent a truly great day with Celia driving us around Tucson. First we went to the Tucson Tamale Factory and I had my first Green Corn Tamale!! Man that was so good we bought some frozen ones to help us finish the trip.

Then it was off to the International Wildlife Museum. I can't belive we got to go to two museums in one week! What a treat. This one is hard to describe simply because it defies description. Think heads, hides and horns for a moment. It was all of that and more. Mounted (taxidermied) species from all over the world were on display in great settings.

Another very informative and exciting place to visit if you ever make it to Tucson.

We left Tucson this morning and had a rather uneventful drive into Las Cruces, NM where we are all settled in for the night. Lydia is planning on posting all of our photo's on her Facebook page so you can see even more of where we have been and what we have done.

Thanks for reading and traveling along with us.

Phil & Lydia

The Grand Canyon certainly is!

The drive to the Grand Canyon was very interesting. We arrived in Williams, AZ to be greeted by a small blizzard, almost an inch of snow blowing sideways. We stopped for a bite to eat and see what was going to happen.

After about an hour the snow stopped and we decided to continue onward to the Grand Canyon only to be snowed, sleeted, hailed and rained on all the way there. Once we finally arrived at our campground everything but the wind and a little rain was all the weather we had. Oh, it was also just above freezing. Fearless as we are, off to see the cnayon we went. Did I forget to mention that we didn't bring any warm clothes!!!! We layered up and off we trecked.

Even with the weather the views were spectacular. If you haven't been there yet then start making plans and go as soon as you can. Our main wish was that we were had more time to hike some of the canyon trails.

The campground was a little rustic but very nice. We had lots of wildlife including Mule Deer, ground squirrels visit us. We also saw Mountain Chickadees, Great-Tailed Grackle, Scrub Jays, Ravens, Crows, Red-Backed Dark Eyed Junco and Pinyon Jays. I do believe there was a Raven convention going on while we were there, we have never seen more Raven at one time in our lives.

One of our favorite stops at the rim was the Dorothy Kolb House at Hermits Rest. We are actually sitting in the fireplace here warming up before heading back to the campground. There just are not enough words to describe the views of this remarkable place. We also came across people from everywhere on the planet during our stay. We heared Japanese, German, French, Turkish, British, Brazilian Portuguese and even Canadian being spoken while there.

As hard as it was to leave we had to get on to Scottsdale and more friends. Before we leave, one last video of the Canyon at Yaki Point.

We arrived in Scottsdale to a sligth change in the weather. Low 90's and about 8% humidity. When we got out of the truck my first thought was that someone broke the atmosphere. For us Northwestern people this is quite a change!

More to come.

Phil & Lydia

Bakersfield to Needles

What a nice drive this turned out to be. A lot of up and down hill driving but quite pretty in its own way. We took a short break on Route 66 for a quick lunch at a very dilapedated old restaurant where the food was surprisingly good.

The RV park we are in is mainly park model mobile homes with some RV spaces thrown in for good measure. The Colorado River is running full and quite beautiful. We did manage a few pictures there on an early walk.

Off to the Grand Canyon tomorrow but no internet access so you can expect a long blog after we leave there on Friday. The weather promises some excitement while we are at the canyon, almost freezing at night (they are getting snow tonight) and thunderstorms and wind during the day!! We are having fun now.

More after the Grand Canyon trip.

Phil & Lydia

Fun time in Novato, CA

We finally made it to Novato after some harrowing experiences on Hwy 101 coming down the coast. Landslides at one point completely blocked the North bound lanes so we had the opportunity to share our South bound lanes for a while. Lots of construction underway on 101 and it certainly needs it. It is still a beautiful drive and was a memorable one for Lydia and I. Fun is not a big enough word for our trip so far.

Our friends John and Barb took us on a fabulous trip through Napa, Sonoma and Calistoga Valleys to see some great wineries, had a remarkable burger, at another one of Guy Fieri's favorite spots, and then they took us to a tremendous little olive oil pressing operation that also had some wonderful Italian cheese and meats. What a treat!!! This will be a high point of our trip I am sure.

We also had a fun visit at the Beringer Winery. The architecture of the house was magnificent and you could have spent hours going from room to room just looking at the wood and stained glass, etc. The grounds were gorgeous with landscaping and we had a wonderful time walking around.

Our visit with John and Barb was a special time well spent and we will treasure it for years to come. Good friends are a true pleasure. Good conversation and a wonderful introduction to the healing properties of a well made Manhattan cocktail.

Today we drove to Bakersfield, CA and tomorrow off thru the Mojave to Needles, CA on our way to the Grand Canyon and more friends in Arizona.

See more of you all soon..

Phil & Lydia

Made it to Novato, CA

Here we are just North of San Fransisco in Novato, CA. Another very nice RV Park and more friends to visit today. We are taking a side trip with our friends to Napa today and visiting a small family owned olive oil making operation as well as other sites.
We stopped in Santa Rosa on the way here for some fabulous Mexican food at a restuarant called La Texanita. It had been featured on a TV show called Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives, and it was well worth the stop and it more than lived up to its reputation. If you are ever in Santa Rosa you have to check this place out and try their Chiles Rellanos!

The drive down 101 South was supposed to be better than North of here but the road was pretty much a mess with major construction going on. Obviously the infrastructure here in N. California is in need of some help.

We did a minor side trip on the Avenue of the Giants and got to see some of the last old growth Redwoods left in the world. If you have never been up this way it is a must do trip just to see these magnificent trees. The info center had some amazing facts about the redwoods, size (tallest 364 feet), age (one over 2200 years old), etc and had one display that showed the oldest record of Redwood fossils at over 2 million years old. Very interesting displays and a nice break from the driving.

We are now seeing how and why some people do full time RV'ing. This is a blast!

More to come..

Phil & Lydia

Two days in Arcata, CA

Well, we survived another day of twisty narrow roads coming down the California coastline. Hwy 101 was beautiful through the Redwood forests. Not a bad trip at all until we got to Arcata, CA. The town has two strrets named Janes Rd and they are nowhere near each other. AAA, Good Sams and the GPS never knew where to take us so we got supremely lost in the local farm country on some of the worst two lane road imaginable! After winding around for almost an hour we finally got back on track and made it to the campground, Mad River Rapids RV park. It is another very nice park with great ammenities.

Just before we got to Arcata we passed a large field full of Elk! One very large bull, several smaller males and a harem of females all around the field. What a sight it was! We will try and get the pictures of them uploaded later today.

Today we are off to visit the local marshes and check out the bird life in the area. This retired life is pretty darned nice I must say.

Hello to Wesley, Anna and R.J. in Florida, see you soon..

Phil & Lydia

Made it into California

Hwy 199 between Grants Pass, OR and Crescent City, CA is not one for the faint of heart or in a hurry! It was a long 65 mile drive to get here but a beautiful one. The campground is another very nice one at Hiouchi River and we wish we could stay longer. Stellers Jays, Scrub Jays, California Quail and tons of Robins to watch and listen to.

Off to Arcata now to visit another friend for a few days. Lots of Redwoods to see on the way, so here we go.

Phil & Lydia

A Fun Day in Salem

We had a great day with Suzy B. We went to Ankeny National Wildlife Refuge and saw many birds including Scrub Jay, swallows of all varieties, Yellow Warblers, Yellow Rumped Warblers, Northern Shovelers, Osprey, Scarlet Tanager, hundreds of Canada Geese (with babies) and the list goes on.

Had fun at Jake's (Suzy B's adorable son) T-ball game and he got a couple of hits while we were there.

Off to Crescent City, CA in the morning and into the Redwood forest.

Phil & Lydia

1st leg

Well, hello all of you followers. The first leg ouf our journey went quite well. At times it rained like it was never going to rain again and then the clouds would part and it was a gorgeous drive. A little over 300 miles the first day and the truck and RV behaved quite well. Off to pick up a few items that neglected to find their way to the trailer and then see our friend Suzy B for the day. Retired life is GOOD!!

Phil

All hitched up and ready to go!

Here is a new picture of our truck and trailer ready for the road. It is hard to believe that we are almost ready to leave home for 3 months! The flowers are starting to bloom and the fruit trees are all blossomed out. We will miss spring and summer here at home for sure.

The birds have been wonderful here on Whidbey this spring. Hummingbirds galore and a flock of evening grosbeaks have kept us entertained for months now. The goldfinches are here in force and the chickadees have started the nest building already. We will be sorry to miss the chicks this year.

On the other hand, we are off to see some birds that are pretty rare for us in the Northwest corner of the USA. Cardinals, Bluejays and maybe even some real rarities in southern Arizona.

Things ahve kind of blown up here at the house just before we leave. First it was the lawn mower dieing a rather undignified death, then the microwave went and last but no least a major sewage/septic problem to deal with. We are both getting too old to be digging up septic tanks!
Two more nights at home preparing to depart and we can't wait.