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Travel Scrapbook: A magical trip to Martha’s Vineyard!

By Kathy | Filed in Article, Travel

Before we go on to the next part of our extended RV Trip, our friend Joann – “Myheartsathome” on Twitter posted a great article set from her trip to Martha’s Vinyard.  I thought you might want to check it out too.  You’ll love the pics and great writing style.

Kathy

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A magical trip to Martha’s Vineyard! Part I: just getting there and why we went

I have wanted to go to Martha’s Vineyard for most of my life.  For me, there was some kind of draw to being near the water, having charming little villages to walk through and shop at, and the thought of an endless amount of gingerbread victorian homes and the very traditional New England white homes with black shutters and white picket fences.  All of this is an ‘over the top’ experience for me!! I love it all.  Don’t get me wrong.  I absolutely adore Colorado and I will never move as long as the other women in my life live there…..but should they ever move away from me, I could be inclined to move to New England or California—hmmmm, opposite ends of the country and VERY different weather conditions. 

Laguna Beach and Newport Beach, CA and Martha’s Vineyard actually have a lot in common.  #1 Reason = Lovely homes.  Aside from that, it’s fun to visit and explore and it’s all a wonderful learning along my journey to becoming an innkeeper with the man of my dreams. So, let’s just call him Mr. Dreamy.  We made it!!!! We flew into Manchester, NH airport after a short layover in Chicago and left the next morning for the ferry ride to Martha’s Vineyard.  I was thinking that maybe James Taylor would meet me at the airport.  He lives in the Berkshires now, but his kids live on Martha’s Vineyard and maybe, just maybe, he’d be there on a visit with them. We DID get our picture taken together at his last concert in Denver.  Doesn’t he (JT) know I’m coming to New England?  I guess not.

OK, well maybe Martha Stewart will be waiting for me when I get off the plane.  I just bought your cupcake carriers at Macy’s, Martha.  Don’t you want to meet me?  OH, it’s not YOUR Vineyard! Well, excuse me! Well, how about Carly Simon?  I mean….I love your music…I know all the words to ‘You’re So Vain.’  And, I’m going to visit your store on Martha’s Vineyard called Midnight Farm.  Don’t you want to meet your customers?
I’m really just joking about all of this….I came to see the leaves, the houses, the pumpkins on porches, the apples at farm stands.  I came to search through antique stores for barkcloth and vintage teacups and I came to walk through leaves!  And….it would be nice if a moose just happened to cross my path when we’re in New Hampshire. The last time we went to Maine, we saw and counted 37 moose….I’m not even kidding! I don’t believe there are any of ‘those’ on MV though—

See the full article at: http://thegirlgetsreal.blogspot.com/2010/10/magical-trip-to-marthas-vineyard-part-i.html

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Our 1st Extended RV Trip – Motorhome Gets a Bath

By Wes | Filed in Article, Freebies, Travel

Extended RV Trip – Motorhome Gets a Bath 

Breakfast at Heaven on Earth was fanominal!  Our stomach’s were happy and our energy levels were peaked.  It’s time to get back on the road and see what mother nature has to show us today.

The sun is out today, the fog, ice and snow are behind us, and warmer temps ahead.  Slides are in jacks are up and we are rolling down the road again.  Next stop, Redding CA.

We originally planned on getting a lot farther along on our trip, but Redding has a factory outlet shops right off the freeway.  The ladies (my mom and my wife) were ready for a break and shopping was just the distraction they needed… 4 hours of distraction to be exact.

To be totally honest, they had a really great hat shop there and dad and I both picked up new hats while we were there.  Not to mention the walk felt great after days of travel.

With the day mostly gone and dinner time just ahead, we decided to camp right there in Redding at one of the many RV parks just off hiway.  We got full hookups and large pull through spots for $30.00 a night with no reservations.  Of course this was in January and may be totally different during the summer months.

I have to really stress to you how nice it was to have a short driving day and an early evening to cook a nice dinner and relax.  We even got to watch a movie, re-adjust our travel plans and just talk for a while with my folks.  It turned out to be one of our most memorable days of the whole trip… the 100 mile day.

The RV Wash

Jan 19th – We got up well rested and really ready to go again.  We fixed a nice breakfast and it was time to get the slides in, the jacks up and head down the road.  It was also time to do something about the dirt and road grime that had collected on the outside of our motorhome.

All that snow, ice and freezing rain from the first couple days of our trip had left a sticky almost black coat of grime all around the rig.  It was time to take advantage of the warm CA sun and get the motorhome washed and waxed.

It was perfect timing as we headed into Corning CA.  A large billboard let us know that there was a truck wash just off the freeway. 

In case you didn’t know, big rigs or semi-trucks tend to get dirty on the road too.  They have, like an automated car wash, set up these large truck wash systems to clean the large trucks and trailers.  What many don’t know is that these truck washes are also perfect for large 5er’s and motorhomes.  So, what normally can take hours to do by hand, takes only minutes.

It cost me only a $1.25 a foot to wash and wax coat my motorhome.  The guys at Royal Truck Wash in Corning CA did a great job of pre rinsing and making sure the under carrage got clean.  The water preasure isn’t so high that it will do any damage to decals or trim and the use soft brushes to get any stuborn grime.  I’d feel safe with even the fanciest of paint jobs.

I do have one Truck wash tip though.

While the water preasure isn’t so high as to damage paint and trim, it is high enough to drip through crank window seals and on your slidder seals.  So, since you can be inside while they wash… just follow along on the inside with a couple towels and catch the leaks as they occure.  It’s easy and quick and saves on the water marks and mess.

Less than 30 minutes later and we were back on the road with a nice clean RV.  It felt great to have all the salty road grime behind us.  The other benifits were faster jack retraction and less noise from the seals on the slides.  It also keeps the corrosion down and helps make our motorhome as efficient as possible.

That’s all for now.  Next time we’ll tell you about the worst RV Park we seen on our trip.  This is one park to avoid if at all possible.

For now, here’s a link to some great Digital Scrapbook downloads.

FREE Photo Calendar Template Downloads

These are perfect for using all your travel photos to create beautiful picture calendars to keep your dates on while you travel.  They also make wonderful hand made Christmas and holiday or Special Occassion gifts.

My kids, my brother and sisters and all of Kathy’s family complain if we don’t have a new one made for them each year.  Kathy and I just take the time to collect photos from each family of their travels and special events from the last year and then we make a personallized calendar complete with everyones birthdays and anniversaries for each side of the family.

It doesn’t take much time and it’s a gift that keeps giving all year long.

Hope you have some great travels of your own this week… don’t forget to put them in your own “Travel Scrapbook” while the memories are still fresh.  You wouldn’t want to forget anything now, would you?

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Extended RV Trip – Down Into The Fog

By Wes | Filed in Article, Travel

Extended RV Trip – Down Into The Fog

 

We left off the other day parked at the 7 Feathers Casino with the troublesome electrical problem in my parents 5er (5th wheel) finaly solved and fixed.  Nothing like a good nights sleep and the excitement of a new RV travel day to get you moving in the morning with a BIG smile on your face.

My folks told us not to eat breakfast this morning as they had something special in store for us.  So, with only the morning coffee to quiet my stomach and the sun shinning away, we sucked in the slides, raised the jacks and headed out at a reasonable 9 am. Well, it’s very reasonable when you are not tied to a hard schedule and you are traveling for pleasure.

Breathtaking was all I could think of as I watched in awe as Mother Nature painted the valleys in fog.

This was taken just south of 7 Feathers in Oregon on I-5 headed towards the Sisqyous.  It was cold and we were just under the ice fog as we departed that morning.

Leaving Seven Feather Casino & Campground Jan 18, 2009

The Fog Above Us

And yes, that’s my parents 5er in front of us.

The Surprise

Like I said, we didn’t eat breakfast so it wasn’t long and my stomach was beginning to protest it’s miss treatment.  The good news was that just off I-5 on Exit 89 in Oregon was the best surprise you can treat your family too.  Just a little over 30 minutes south of the 7 Feathers Casino and RV park you’ll come to:

The “Heaven on Earth” Restaurant and Gift Shop.

If you have never stopped at “Heaven on Earth” you are really missing out.  They’ve won lots of awards for their apple butter and apple crisp.

While breakfast is our favorite meal there (I love the Potato Medley) all the meals there are fantastic.  What’s more, the free crisp samples (apple, merion berry and pumkin spice today) are larger than many full size servings!  The cinnamon rolls are the size of a layer cake… we’re talking HUGE!

Of course we had to try them all!  Mmmmmmm.

Sorry, I got side tracked.  But it’s sooooo good I just had to tell you about it.

RV looking out over the fog covered valley in Oregon.

RV looking out over the fog

At any rate, after breakfast, we headed up the hill and when we crested the first top… there it was.  The valley was covered in a thick blanket of fog and we were on top headed down into it.

Beautiful or what??????

We pulled off the road and took a few photos so we could record just a little bit of the beauty.

Next, it was time to head down into the sea of fog…

RV Motor Home headed down into the fog.

RV headed into the Oregon fog

Things cleared up pretty fast and the temperatures were warming rapidly.  We ended the day in Redding CA in 77 degree weather and sunshine.  It’s sooo good to be out of the cold.

I’m going to stop here for now, we’ll take you through our first Truck Wash experience with the motorhome next time.  Until then, here’s the FREE Digital Scrapbook Elements for you this week:

Free Printable Sticker Downloads

Until next time…

Kathy and Wes

http://www.Free-Stationery.com

 

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RV Enthusiasts Can Swap Travel Wheels for Rudders

By Wes | Filed in Article, Travel

What’s billed as the world’s first theme cruise for RV enthusiasts will enable RVers to combine cruising on a big ship with seminars about RVing. The seven day eastern Caribbean cruise will depart Miami on Nov. 6, 2010 aboard Norwegian Cruise Line’s newest ship, the Epic of the Seas. Besides the standard cruise events and amenities, the sailing adventure will include 14 hours of education about RVs and the RV lifestyle. Subject matter will be appeal to RVers who own or plan to own motorhomes, travel trailers, fifth wheel trailers or other types of recreational vehicles.

“There are other group cruises sponsored by RV-related companies, but none with seminars,” said Ron Jones, the cruise co-host along with David Bott. “Our seminars will …

Get the full article at: http://rvnewsservice.com/?p=356

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Our First Extended RV Trip – Part 2: The Electrical Problem

By Wes | Filed in Article, Freebies, Travel

Our First Extended RV Motor Home Trip – Part 2: The Electrical Problem

Jan 17th, 2009 Day 2 of our very first extended RV trip.

As we left off, we had traveled from Spokane (Deer Park) Washington and had made it to the Rest Stop just south of where I-84 and I-5 meet on Interstate 5 exit 282 outside Portland Oregon.

We got there yesterday just before the sun went down and we parked in the very back of the extended parking and picnicking area in this large beautiful rest area.  The parking spots were large enough that we were able to extend the slides and enjoy the space in the motorhome to its fullest.  My folks (Wes’ parents, Leo and Donna Waddell) met us there from Tacoma and had arrived about an hour before we did.

RV Tip:  When traveling with others in separate RV’s, the CB radio is invaluable. It made it easy to find where they were parked in this expansive Rest Area with multiple parking/picnicking areas and made planning stops and site seeing a pleasure.

While Cell phones are great for long distance, when you have coverage, the CB (Citizens Band Radio) and it’s instant transmit/receive are far more convenient than dialing a cell phone each time you wish to make a comment.  The new FM radios may sometimes have more range, but unless you have a base unit installed with a hand mic and everyone you travel has the same channel capabilities, the CB and it’s true universal compatibility are still today your best bet.  That’s why it’s still the truckers primary communications tool yet today.  The hand held walkie talkies are a pain to use while driving and hard to hear with road noise.

Back to our story…

After a good nights sleep, we were up about 7am and on the road by 7:30 am, planning to catch breakfast down the road a ways.  With all of yesterdays driving, we also needed to gas up the motorhome and check all the fluids.  After all, it was our first extended trip and we wanted to make sure all was working properly.

We hit Salem OR about 8:15 am and gassed up the motorhome (53 gallons – about 11 MPG) and had breakfast there at Denney’s.  Good food and wonderful service.  In just under an hour, we were fed, awake and ready to travel on down the road again.

By 2:15 pm, we found ourselves in Cottage Grove OR and in need of lunch.  We picked up some bottled water and a few groceries there. When traveling, not all water is as drinkable as others, so it’s always good to have a supply on hand that you know is good to drink.  Either that of equip your RV with a good reverse osmosis system for making your own on the road.

While there, my dad and mom discovered that the batteries in their 5th Wheel (5er) had totally discharged from use the night before and didn’t charge while going down the road. That led us to discover that my dad’s alternator on his pickup wasn’t working at full capacity.

There’s more to that story later on as we discovered, but for now, we were lucky enough to find a parts store just up the road in Roseburg OR that had the right part.  One more short drive, a quick stop and we had the new part in hand.  Dad decided to wait until evening to swap them out as it was keeping his truck battery from totally discharging.  Just meant that we would need to hook up to power tonight or run his generator for a while to charge things up.

We had a plan and we were on the road again.

The original plan had always been to spend the night at the 7 Feathers Casino and RV park in Canyonville OR.  That made for a nice drive from Portland OR without any stress of driving too late in the day.  We easily arrived about 4 pm even with the extra stop for truck parts along the way.

Since we had some time before dinner, Kathy and my mom (Donna) headed to the Casino to play while dad (Leo) and I took on the alternator before it got too dark.

While checking out the owners manual for alternator quirks, we found that there was a separate fuse for the trailer charge system coming off the alternator.  In checking that, we found it had blown.  This made for a very quick fix and some happy campers that that’s all it was… at least for the most part.  Again, there’s more, but I’ll get to it as it happened.

So, dinner at the 7 Feathers Casino, Free parking in the Dry Camp area for the night and a nice leisurely start in the morning.

Mom and Dad moved over to the full hookups area that night so they could charge their batteries in the 5er with shore power (external hookup power) from the campsite.  We were already parked and needed no power for battery charging, so we stayed put in the dry hookup area free of charge. 

Just a quick note: 7 Feathers is a popular stopping point for RVers, so get there early if you want the non reservation dry camp (no hookups, water or sewer) or make reservations for the beautiful new full hookup campsites on the other side (west side) of the Freeway.

18 Jan, 2009 – Day 3 of our trip.

By the time we got up, brought in the slides, topped off with propane and gas, it was a not so early 9 am departure from Canyonville.  That’s O.K. though as we were on no set in stone schedule and had, as we planned, left ourselves with lots of extra time to get to our set destination with reservations.

So, on the road again, with a stop just up the road at the Heaven on Earth restaurant in Azalia OR off I-5, Exit 89. This is a must stop for some of the best food, especially the home made desserts.  If you are in the area, this is absolutely a must stop!  Breakfast is best, but lunch and dinner are also wonderful.

The rest of the story…

Since we were stopped again, dad decided to check on the RV charging again.  To our dismay, the fuse was again blown and the batteries week.  This meant only one thing, something was grounding out and blowing the fuse with hooked up to the 5er.

Long story short, we traced the line and found that one of the wires in the 5er lights/break harness was loose. We disassembled the plug, tightened all the connections and replaced the fuse once again.  Everything worked as it should the rest of the trip.  Goes to show that it’s always good to have a few hand tools on board especially on long trips.

Well, that’s more than enough for another day.  Let’s cut off the BLOG entry here for today.  We’ll pick it up on Day 4 with our trip over the mountains and our first Truck/Motorhome Wash experience next time.

Until then, here’s a couple of wonderful Camping themed digital scrapbook page topper downloads for you.  As always, no hassles and no signups needed.  Just enjoy the scrapbook elements and embellishments and think of us when you use them.  If you like them, be sure and tell your friends and family so they can get them too.

http://www.freescrapbooktraining.com/freebies/free_scrapbook_elements.htm

Free Camping Digital Scrapbook Page Topper Element Download

Free Scrapbook Downloads

Happy Scrapbook Travels,

Wes & Kathy

http://www.FreeTravelScrapbook.info

http://www.FreeScrapbookTraining.com

http://www.Free-Stationery.com

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Our First Extended RV Trip – Part 1 – The Beautiful Oregon Rest Stop Meetup

By Wes | Filed in Article, Travel

Our First Extended RV Trip – Part 1

Jan 16th, 2009 – It’s time to leave.

It’s finally time to leave. We’ve spent the last 5 plus days planning and packing for the trip. We’ve even gotten some great tips and advice from Wes’ folks who have been taking these long trips for years now.  Still, we can’t help but be a little anxious and excited all at the same time.

The Plan:

The plan is to meet up with Wes’ parents at the first rest area after crossing into Oregon from Washington on I-5.  From there we plan on following them in their 5th Wheel (5er) down I-5 into CA.  From there we plan on cutting across to Laughlin NV for a week and then head up to Las Vegas for another week.  Once we finish in Vegas, we will decide based on expected weather, how to head back north to Tacoma and Spokane to finish the trip.

We have reservations in Laughlin at the Avi Casina Campground for Jan 24th and at the Oasis in Las Vegas for Jan 31st.  This gives us lots of extra travel time so we can loiter as we wish and take side trips if we see an opportunity.  Other than that, our stops will be planned on a daily basis as the weather and scenery present themselves.

Sounds like a lot of fun… don’t you think?

Starting out in the Snow:

It had been snowing in Spokane and most of WA State now for weeks.  We caught a little of it in Tacoma on our maiden voyage, but missed the real heavy stuff in Eastern WA.  Since we got back to Spokane, it had continued to snow off and on, but just in small doses as a time.  Still, the first couple hundred miles of our journey would be on snow packed and/or wet slushy roads. 

At least the sun was showing this morning at 7:35 am as we pulled out of the driveway and pointed the motorhome towards town (Spokane) and Interstate 90. 

The roads were snow packed, icy and bumpy for the first 30 miles or so. Boy were we glad we put the Styrofoam plates and paper bowls between our glass dishes. We thought the motorhome was going to shake itself apart even at the slow 40 mph pace we were keeping on the Freeway.

About 90 minutes after we had left, we were finally about 20 miles west of Spokane and I-90 turned to slush and then just to wet roads.  It was nice to be done shaking, but when we stopped at the first rest stop, WoW, what a mess our motorhome was with all the black asphalt mixed with dirty snow and salt.  The back end was totally covered and all you could see was the dirt.

No place to get it clean right now, so on we pressed on.

We turned off I-90 and headed south on HW 395/I-82 towards the Tri-Cities and the Columbia River. I was sure glad we had the Garmin GPS with us as the Tri-Cities had really changed over the years and the hiway over the bridge into Oregon and back onto the I-84 freeway west was total confusion.  We had to go almost south east to get onto the freeway headed west.

RV Tip: Never travel without a good GPS unit. This little piece of technology saved us a lot of aggravation and kept us from getting lost on numerous occasions. Better than a map alone any day of the week!

We hit a little mild rain in Oregon along I-84, but it was a welcome change from the snow we started out in.  As much as we hopped it would wash off some of the grime we had collected earlier in the day, it wasn’t to be.  Snow, salt and road grime make for one tough sticky goo that rain alone can’t compete with. 

Oh well, as long as the weather was gray, we could live with the RV being a little dirty… of course it was more than just a little dirty. We’ll fix that soon enough though.

We were behind schedule a bit due to the snow packed roads this morning.  So, we decided to test the fuel economy difference at higher speeds.  We weren’t pulling a tow vehicle (toad), so there was no problem getting the motorhome up to 65 to 70 mph on the flat smooth I-84 freeway in Oregon.  Speed limit was 75, so we also had no worry of getting a ticket either. 

The rest of the trip that day was smooth and at the higher speed, went rather quickly. It really made you keep an eye on traffic ahead and made Wes really pay attention when we went around slower traffic and especially trucks. 

RV Tip: When passing large trucks, they tend to pull you into them as you approach the back of the trailer, level off midway through and then push you away as you get to the front end.  When getting passed by a large truck, they push you away as they start to pass by and then suck you in as the trailer or box goes by you.  Be ready for it, especially at higher speeds and in high wind situations.

By 3:30 pm we had joined up with I-5 south and were pulling off at the exit 282 rest stop.

The Oregon I-5 Exit 282 Rest Stop.

What many people, even in Oregon don’t know is that this particular rest stop is HUGE!  It has parking area loops much like a campground in the trees.  It allows overnight stays and the back loops are far enough off the freeway that it’s actually pretty quiet.  The loops are meant for trucks as well as cars, so there is plenty of space even for the largest RVs and trucks.

Using the Citizen’s Band (CB) radio on an agreed upon channel we found Wes’ folks all the way in the back loop. We pulled up along side and had plenty of room to extend the slides, have dinner in the picnic area (or inside) and get a good nights sleep for an early morning start.

The rest stop really should be made into a campground as it’s really quite beautiful with lots of old growth pine trees and native plants.  One of, if not THE BEST, rest stops in the US.  You’ll have to make a point of checking it out for yourself next time you are in the Portland OR area.

I know, that’s already a lot for a BLOG entry, so we’ll cut it off there for today.  We’ll pick it up on Day 2 next time.

Until then, here’s a couple of wonderful Valentines Day themed digital scrapbook page downloads for you.  As always, no hassles and no signups needed.  Just enjoy the scrapbook templates and think of us when you use them.  If you like them, be sure and tell your friends and family so they can get them too.

http://www.freescrapbooktraining.com/scrapbook_pages.htm

Happy Scrapbook Travels,

Wes & Kathy

http://www.FreeTravelScrapbook.info

http://www.FreeScrapbookTraining.com

http://www.Free-Stationery.com

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