I finally got the motorhome washed today! I've been needing to do this since our return from Seattle three months ago. I tried taking it to Blue Beacon a couple of weeks ago but there were 15 trucks waiting in line and I didn't want to sit there all day. I usually pay $85-$100 at TNT Car Wash in Surprize, AZ, but they keep jacking up the price every time. This time, they wanted $175 but I talked them down to $120 (+ tip). I've tried doing it myself but the water spots terribly here in Phoenix. It might be time to seriously consider the CR Spotless Water System so I can wash it myself.

Technically, Freightliner didn't refer to it as a "recall", but a "campaign", but I had to take it to W. W. Williams Company in Phoenix and sit around for two hours this morning while they performed "Campaign TT8009EN", where they adjust the settings on the TCM because Allison and Cummings deceided that an adjustment was necessary. I figured that I better get it done before we leave for our 3,000 mile trip this summer. I didn't notice the transmission shifting any differently on the 20 mile drive home.

Jason joined us for a 3-week trip up to Seattle and back March 11-April 2, 2017 to celebrate my parent's 94th & 95th birthdays. My brother had a 30-amp service put into his garage so we squeezed the RV into the tight driveway between some businesses and enjoyed a week "camping" in his driveway. On the way up, we stopped at the Pomona Fairplex KOA (very poor wi-fi - worthless!!!). Otherwise, a decent park) for a night, drove to Lodi, CA the next day and stayed at the Flag City RV Resort (which we like because of the paved pull-through spaces, good wi-fi, and is a nice, mid-way stop between L.A. and Medford), while in Medford, we stayed at the very convenient brand-new Southern Oregon RV Park (no wi-fi but my Verizon phone as a hot-spot works well here) while visiting our son and daughter-in-law. Last stop before we got to Seattle was at the Pheasant Ridge RV Resort (super nice park with paved terraced spaces with a good distance between each one (Wi-fi was very slow but they're currently installing a faster version with 15 poles throughout the park. They have good fast ethernet internet in a room by the office. My Verizon phone as a hotspot works great here. They have cable TV but it's very fuzzy and has limited channels. No antenna TV channels available because of the mountain behind the park. No satellite channels because of the trees).

We averaged driving about 350 miles per day, which is the most I like to drive the RV at one time. The hills throughout California and Oregon were unbelievably green because of all the rain they've had over the Winter and Spring. We had good weather most days, except for the drive from Medford to Wilsonville, where it rained the entire way. Seattle weather was typical for March - mostly cloudy and raining about every other day. Kyle and Crystal drove up and stayed with us in Issaquah for a couple of days. We all enjoyed dinner at our favorite restaurant; Ivars Salmon House.

We left Issaquah and drove the entire 450 miles to Medford, Oregon in one day, which is more than I like to drive, but we made it OK. We stayed at the Southern Oregon RV Park for a few nights, then continued on our trip back home. We decided to change directions after leaving the Flag City RV Resort in Lodi because the winds on I-5 were very strong and the forecast called for wind speeds up to 60 mph in Arizona, so we headed out to the coast on highway 152 and stayed a couple of nights at the Santa Cruz/Monterey Bay KOA, where the winds were forecasted to be minimal. The park was great, except for the roads leading to it were not made for 35' long, 13' tall motorhomes. I wouldn't stay there again because of that. Our satellite radio wasn't working well the rest of the trip, I suspect, because of being scraped by low trees. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves with day trips in the Jeep to Santa Cruz, Monterey and Carmel, where we took the spectacular 17-mile drive through Pebble Beach. Our timing was perfect to return home (with an overnight stop at the Pomona Fairflex KOA again) because the wind died down for two days. The day after we returned home, the winds were howling again! 

Overall, we drove 3,235 miles over 3 weeks, averaging 9.5 mpg. 

What a beautiful four days we had at Lake Havasu, AZ this past weekend. We put our name in a year ago for a spot at the Islander Resort. They called me about six months ago to let me know that they had a spot available. We ended up with space #33, which was right on the lake with our own private beach for the granddaughters to play on. Son in-law Dave even got a little fishing in! Saturday’s festivities were rained out, but the rest of the time was beautiful. Highs were in the 60s and lows in the 50s.

​We had a great time dry-camping (no water, electric, sewer) in our RV this Labor Day weekend near Pine Flat (exact location: 35.051240, -112.154390) with a nice group of relatives, friends, and friends of relatives. It was a perfect, cool, 78° in the afternoons at this 6,500' high elevation about 20 miles south of Williams, AZ. Pam and I took a rigorous 12-mile day-trip in our Jeep Cherokee tow-car, but it was worth the jostling around because the views were spectacular overlooking the Red Rock Wilderness Area.

We wanted (needed!) to get out of the Phoenix heat so we went to one of our favorite spots in Arizona for a few days this past weekend. We stayed at the Woodfield RV Park, which is a brand-new RV park in Show Low, conveniently located right next to the White Mountain Vacation Village RV planned community. The weather was perfect around 80° for the highs and 60° for the overnight lows. Pam and I took a nice ride in the Jeep on Saturday and enjoyed watching the zip-line riders and the dark, black clouds, thunder and lighting at the Sunrise Park Ski Resort. We took the long way back home on Monday via Holbrook and Flagstaff to avoid the many up and down hills on Highway 87.

Thanks to the RV, we've been to some beautiful places and stayed in some great campsites.

Some of the best sunsets we've ever seen are right from our RV campsites!

After five weeks away from home, we were ready to go back. We drove the 1,000 miles from Medford to Peoria in three days, staying the first night at the Flag City RV Park just off of I-5 in Lodi, CA, which is a perfect RV park for us to stopover at on the way to and from Oregon. It has nice, wide paved spaces and all the normal RV park amenities such as sewer, water, 50-amp electric, pool, spa and a big dog park. For the second night, we stayed at Valencia Travel Village in Castaic, CA. It's a very tight park and I probably wouldn't stay there again.  We had major smoke from the "Sand" fire in L.A. all the way through California, then blowing dust in Arizona, which didn't make for a very pleasant drive, so we're very glad to be home. Now, time to start planning our next trip!

We left rainy Seattle on July 10th for the better weather east of the Cascade Mountains. Once we cleared Snoqualmie Pass, the sun came out the rest of the way. Temps were in the 70s and 80s, including a perfect 70° at 6,178' high Crater Lake.

We stayed at a cute little RV park right on the Columbia River in Goldendale, WA named Peach Beach RV Park. It was fun watching the kite surfers, which this area of the Columbia is famous for.

From there, we drove south and stayed five days in Bend, Oregon at the very upscale Crown Villa RV Resort. I've never seen so many top-of-the-line class A motorhomes in one park. There was even one with a trailer for their Porsche Cayman GT4 tow-car! The park was great because it was beautifully landscaped, nice wide spaces, the driveways were all paved with pavers, excellent wi-fi, and a great dog area for Spanky!

One evening, we took a drive on the Cascade Lakes National Scenic Byway, which takes you up past Mt. Bachelor and several beautiful high-mountain lakes. We ran out of time to take the entire loop, which would probably have been as spectacular as the first 30 miles that we took from Bend to Elk Lake. Maybe next time!

On Friday, July 15th We drove the 100 miles from Bend to our camping spot at the Diamond Lake RV Park, just outside of the entrance to Crater Lake. It was a very nice forest camping spot with a peek-a-boo view of the lake. No sewer, no cell phone service, no cable TV, no antenna TV, not even satellite TV because of the large trees. We rented a movie for $1 from the park office one evening and then enjoyed the peace and quite of the park for the two nights that we used this park as home-base to explore Crater Lake.

Saturday, July 16th was a perfect day at Crater Lake with the temp around 70°. Didn't even need a light coat! There was still some snow on the ground from the heavy winter snows they had this year. Until you see it for yourself, you just can't believe how clear and blue the water is in Crater Lake.