In and Around Newport

     We took some time out to explore the area around us. Just south of us, in the city of Newport, is the Oregon Coast Aquarium. While it is small, it has an impressive array of marine life local to the Oregon coast. You can get up close and personal with the sea lions, otters, marine birds and various animals that inhabit the tide pool area.

     This guy put on quite a show for us. He walked across the viewing glass and you could get a great view of the suckers on his arms.  He was HUGE!

     While we saw more than our share of puffins while in Alaska, I was surprised to know that they hung out along the Oregon coast also. You just can't resist taking their picture.

     There were several tanks filled with different species of jellyfish. You can get mesmerized by just watching them swim and drift through the water.

     I believe that this guy is called a wolf eel. Like his cousin the moray, he hides in the rocks and sports an impressive set of teeth when he opens his mouth.  He just looks cranky.

     Ok, the crab behind me is only a drawing. But it depicts a life size example of crabs found in fossils around the area. Don't think that I would like to meet this guy while scuba diving!  Wonder if the legs are good eating, though!

     Near the Aquarium is the Yaquina Bay lighthouse. Now closed and restored as a tourist attraction, this lighthouse once provided a navigation beacon and warning lights to mariners off the coast of Newport. It was only in service from 1871-1874 when it was replaced by the brighter and better placed Yaquina Head lighthouse. Oh, and they say that this lighthouse is haunted!

     The view out the front door of the lighthouse.

     The inside of the lighthouse has been meticulously restored with period furnishings. It is quite fascinating to see how the keeper and his family lived and worked.

     This is a unique piece of artwork. It is a cross decorated with delicate flowers. Upon close examination, the flowers and all of the leaves are made from human hair! It was a practice that, in order to honor the memory of loved ones who had passed, you took locks of their hair and wove them into intricate patterns or works of art. Creepy but beautiful.

Summer 2014 - Redeaux

     Well, after a bit of a fiasco getting the new AC unit installed in Tucson, we had cancelled a series of our planned campground reservations. Our plan to tour the West and Pacific Northwest states was shortened so much as to be pretty much scrapped. We were tired of the 100+ temps and were looking for a way to salvage at least some of the summer plans. We also had to make sure that whatever we decided to do, we were back in Rapid City, SD by mid September as both of us have to update our drivers' licenses. After much discussion, we decided that we might just try to find a work camping job in Washington or Oregon for the rest of the summer. It being well into the "season" I was doubtful that anything would present itself that met with our expectations. I sent an inquiry to the place that we had been accepted to once before in Westport, WA. It also just so happened that I was reviewing work camping opportunities when I saw a position available in a small town on the Oregon coast called Depoe Bay. I replied to that ad also not expecting much. Well, surprise! By the next morning I had two replies in my inbox! Both parks were interested in talking to us. In talking with the managers, the Westport park was a bit uncertain whether we could finish training and be productive by the time we would have to leave in September. The park in Depoe Bay was excited to have us and offered us the job immediately. We accepted. So once the AC was repaired we took a four day excursion northwards to end up at Sea & Sand RV Park in Depoe Bay, OR

Our Willow Beach campsite

     Along the way we didn't stop much, but we tried to at least see some sights and enjoy the dash north. Our first campsite was in an off-the-road state park near Las Vegas called Willow Beach. This place was a hidden gem! The campsites were paved and the pads offered a unique scenic mix of riverfront and desert hills. The low lighting in the park really allowed the stars to populate the night sky. It was a very relaxing way to end the first day's drive.

You can barely see Hoover Dam from the new road

     The next day we drove over the Hoover Dam. Now the last time we were here, we were one of the last folks that got to actually drive over the dam. Now there is a modern fly-over highway that reduces congestion around the dam. When we were here last, it was almost finished but not quite.

     We drove to a little campground in Nevada near the California border for the night, then moved on the next day. We finally left the desert landscapes behind and began seeing more forests and streams. Mt. Shasta in California was brilliant in its early summer snow cover and the skies were clear for good viewing.

Mt. Shasta in California

     We arrived at Sea & Sand and were shown to a very nice campsite in the park. Charlene, the manager, is great and was very happy to see us. There are two other work camper couples here and they are both very friendly and fun to work with. The park itself is another hidden gem. It is an older park but very well maintained. There is a section called the "Forest" which lies tucked away in the trees. Then there is the section called the "Ocean". This is a three tiered set of sites that face the Pacific Ocean. This is the only park in the area that has direct access to the coast and the beach so it is very popular with folks who stay here.

Our Summer home for 2014

Sea & Sand Office (this is where Barb works)

     There is a lot to do in and around here so we plan on spending a lot of our free time trying to take it all in. Subsequent blog entries should detail some of what we can do and see here. In the meantime, we are enjoying the cooler weather and the sounds of the waves hitting the beach.

Sunset and smiles!!

A Bit of a Delay

     On the way to Phoenix to visit with family and friends, we had a couple of small issues with the new coach (you always do). We decided to stop in Tucson and have the folks at LazyDays do some warranty work for us. The temps in the area have stayed consistently over 100 degrees since our arrival! We found a nice campground in Casa Grande. Being the off season, we had our pick of almost any of the sites. Our daughter Amanda and the grandkids (Tori and Belle) came out to visit us while we were here. We all trooped off to visit the Casa Grande Ruins and the kids had a great time.

Checking out the Casa Grande Ruins

     Unfortunately, they picked the wrong time to come! Not only was it hot during the days, one of the two air conditioners in the motorhome went out towards the end of their stay. The temperature in the coach, even with the other air on, was upwards of 99 degrees by 3:00 pm. I took the coach back to Tucson to have the AC looked at while Barb and the girls travelled to Sedona for some hiking and sightseeing.

Hiking in Sedona

     Naturally, when I got to the service center, they could not get the AC unit to fail!! I drove back to Casa Grande in a "not too good" of a mood, but the AC continued to work so I wrote it off to "gremlins". Barb and the girls came back the next day and guess what ??? Shortly after their return, the AC began to act up! Well, I was NOT going to go back to Tucson just to have it work OK so I contacted Tiffin (the coach manufacturer). I received a call back to my email in short order. Bob Tiffin was not in Red Bay but another executive called me. We discussed the issue and Tiffin agreed to ship out a new AC unit to Tucson and pay for the installation. They also agreed to authorize the second AC unit to be checked out and serviced if necessary (since it was pulling double duty in extreme conditions). THIS is why I buy Tiffin motorhomes. They support their products and are very responsive to customer inquiries.

    We did go up to Phoenix and visit with family. Our niece delivered her first baby and Barb and the girls got their "baby time". They also took every opportunity to swim. They had a good visit but I think that they were glad to head home and get to cooler temperatures.

     So the down side is we have to wait a week for the AC unit to arrive. This throws a kink in our plans and we pretty much have decided to skip visiting both the Grand Canyon and Zion National Parks. We've been to both before, but were looking forward to a re-visit. We now are sitting in the LazyDays delivery lot waiting for the unit to arrive. Luckily they have a place for us to plug in but it is still unbearably hot. We had to break down and stay at a hotel for a couple of nights. After some whining and inquiring, we were moved to a covered site to help ease the heating of the coach and make things easier for the poor second AC unit. Hopefully we are back on the road by this weekend!

Downsizing Further

     Well, with the completion of our facilities at The Preserve of Texas we now have a place to keep many of the items that we have carried around with us since we went out on the road. Living full time  in a motorhome necessitates that you have clothes for all seasons, tools for minor repairs (both home and automotive), picnic and outdoor cooking items, along with a host of other things that we did not want to store and would potentially have use for.  We can now store many of the things that we carried with us and now only need during the cooler months. So, with a summer of traveling all around the western US on the horizon, we made a decision to downsize our motorhome. After a few phone calls, we were off to Tampa, FL to the LazyDays dealership where we have bought and sold our last two coaches. They worked out a good deal on a 2014 Allegro Breeze. Once again, we bought a Tiffin made motorhome. Our experiences with Bob Tiffin and his company through the last several years makes us a loyal customer and we will always choose Tiffin products if given the opportunity.  The new coach is 8 feet shorter in length, 6 inches less in width and 1 foot lower in height. Doesn't sound like much  but the differences are obvious when looking at the two side by side.

Old Phaeton behind the new Breeze.

Our old Phaeton on the left, new Breeze on the right!

      You can notice the difference driving the Breeze also. It is lower to the ground so it doesn't feel like a Bus. It is lighter and has a shorter wheelbase so it turns easier. It is still a diesel pusher and has an airbag suspension and independent front suspension. It rides smoothly and is definitely responsive in the steering department. Kinda like the difference between a truck and a sports car. No, really!! Because it is lighter though, it is more susceptible to cross winds and turbulence caused by passing semi trucks. It gets half again better mileage than the Phaeton (which isn't saying much but with the price of Diesel, every MPG adds up!). It has two slide outs up front, one on the passenger's side, one on the driver's side. These open up the living room and galley areas and make a nice roomy space. The appliances are all smaller in the new coach so that takes some getting used to and there is not as much storage for pantry items. There are plenty of cabinets and drawers so it just takes some planning and organization in order to get everything into its new place. Our previous Phaeton is such a popular model line that it was sold before we had it unloaded and had moved out of it!! Our last day on the LazyDays lot saw the Phaeton moved to its new owners slot and they had begun moving in as we left!

Looking towards the rear of the coach from the front. (Slides are out)

Looking forward from mid-coach.

     The back of the coach is where we lost the most space. The Phaeton had two slides in the back that really opened up the bedroom and gave us a lot of storage space. The Breeze has no slides in back and the head of the bed is against the back of the coach. There is a little space on either side of the bed to get in and out but there are plenty of closets and cabinets to put our clothes. The nice thing about this arrangement is that we can easily get to our clothes no matter where we are stopped. In the Phaeton, when we stopped at a truck stop for the night, we had to quickly open a slide to get our clothes out for the next day then button back up. We also had to crawl over each other to get in and out of bed. This will be much nicer while traveling. 

Breeze Bedroom.

     We left Tampa and spent a day visiting with Rick and Kate Pierce in Zephryhills, FL. We worked for them in New Jersey at a park they managed. They have since transferred to Zephryhills and we took the opportunity to see them. We had a nice but short visit. Our next stop was in Robertsdale, AL near Foley. We dropped by and saw our friends at Bella Terra RV Resort. It was great catching up with them and seeing all of the new things that Bella Terra has done since we worked there. We had lunch with my financial advisor and friend Rick, and got to meet his wife and young baby son. Had a great lunch at a restaurant that would be right at home in the French Quarter of New Orleans! It was fantastic! We also had the "mandatory" stop at Lamberts for dinner. Lamberts for the uninitiated has two restaurants in Missouri and is famous for their homestyle dinners and "Throwed Rolls". Yes the rolls come hot and fresh out of the oven and are literally thrown to you. You catch the servers attention and he/she tosses it to you. The roll is a little bigger than a baseball and is thrown like one. That night we had a thunderstorm and questioned whether we were going to move on in the morning. We got up and looked at the weather and took the chance to go. Glad we did. That afternoon/evening, the Foley/Pensacola area got 22 inches of rain!!!!! Wow did we dodge the bullet there.

     So we got back and are now packing up for the summer travels. A quick trip up to Kansas for Mother's Day and some Doctors appointments and a graduation then back to Texas for a day. Then we head West for the next chapter in our continuing adventure. 

The new motorhome at the new winter home!

Building the Casita... Time lapse

     I haven't posted a blog entry for some time, but those who follow us on Facebook know why. As detailed on the last blog entry, we are building a spot to stay for the winter months that is warm (relatively) and yet conveniently near family. We have now finished 98% of the project and will be starting our summer travels soon. So, for those who are interested, we thought that you might like to see how the lot shown in the picture above became the site shown at the top of the blog.

     When last I blogged we were in the throes of having 100+ truckloads of dirt delivered and packed down to form the foundation of the site. Load after load were delivered, spread, and packed by an industrial roller. Once this was done the site was formed up for the concrete. 

The RV Pad area packed and ready for the concrete forms.

     The concrete pad was massive! Not only was it 6 inches of reinforced concrete base, but there was also a 6 inch edge around the entire perimeter. This edge does double duty. It serves to contain the brick pavers and also provides a clean, neat edge between the pavers and the yard area. It was determined to do the pour in one shot instead of multiple days of pouring. So, with the aid of a concrete pump, 9 truckloads of concrete were delivered, poured and finished. They started about 8:00 in the morning and worked all day, but the results were well worth it! The pads for both the Casita and the Spa were poured at the same time and were a part of the entire process. This made them an integral part of the concrete and not just sitting on or next to the patio. A much more stable platform and less likely to have problems later.

The pad for both the Casita (foreground) and the Spa (on the upper left)

     We were able to walk on the pad that evening but once poured and finished, we needed to wait a few days before we could start the buildings. We needed to wait a month for the concrete to cure  before we could start putting down the pavers or driving any heavy equipment on the pad.

Casita (left) and Spa being framed and sided.

Casita from the street. Spa to the left.

     It took a while, but finally the buildings started taking shape. As with all building projects, they seemed to grow or shrink in size as building progressed. Sometimes they seemed huge and other times they seemed waaaayyyyy too small. We found ourselves second guessing our decisions on several occasions. 

Sand around the Fire Pit area.

Pavers being started.

     The next big step was to add the sand for the brick pavers to set on. Once spread and packed, the pavers were placed using brownish-red bricks accented by a curving sidewalk pattern of white bricks. Once laid, a polymer sand was spread between the bricks. This polymer eventually turned into a grout like consistency and helped to keep the pavers in place. 

Doors are on and the cedar wrap added around the Spa.

     Once the Casita was sided and roofed, Brad was able to get in to begin finishing the interior. Our Platinum package called for The Preserve to finish the Spa but we chose to finish the Casita. After some careful planning, the first thing was the placement and installation of electrical lines. Outlets and light switches were planned and boxes installed. Wires were pulled and marked. The ends were coiled up and we waited for the breaker box to be installed and service power provided to the site.

Murphy Bed wall with electric wires and outlets installed.

Murphy bed wall and Sofa Wall as insulation was going up.

     After the electrical was finished came Brads favorite part...NOT. Insulation! It took a while but finally it was completed. Just in time as the temperatures finally began to rise outside and it was getting hot in the upper parts of the ceiling. We did encounter a pesky leak that ruined several of the ceiling insulation batts and resulted in the roof being re-done. 

     Our next order of business was to stain the concrete floors. Well that was the plan anyway. The stain went down on the Casita floor and instead of a nice smooth copper brown we had a splotchy patchwork that resembled a cheetah's coat! A second attempt only made it look worse. The Spa had a similar issue with coverage and then combined it with the most god-awful green color you ever saw. Not a pleasant forest green or even mint green, it was a pea soup nasty green. Not anywhere close to the color that we thought it was going to be. Well, we dashed off to our second home this winter... Home Depot, and picked out two new colors of concrete paint. We brought those in and had them painted on and were relieved that the uneven coverage and green tinting was gone. 

     Our daughter and grandkids were due out for Spring Break and we wanted them to be able to stay in the Casita. Things were running behind so we hurriedly put up the wallboard for the wall where the Murphy Bed was to be installed and wallboard where the HVAC unit was to be installed. So their visit saw only half of the walls completed and no running water in the Casita. The Spa's shower wasn't completed until the last day of their visit, but the kids got to take the inaugural bath in it. 

     After Spring Break, Brad buckled down and spent many long days finishing the walls and ceiling, installing the lights (both inside ceiling fan/light and exterior porch and floodlights). The kitchen cabinets came in and were built and installed. One cabinet stayed on the back order list for 4 weeks giving us quite a scare. It finally came in and we breathed a big sigh of relief. As the Casita and Spa interiors were  being finished, the outside was being landscaped and the sod brought in and laid. Both buildings were painted and the RV pedestal area (which provides electric, water, satellite and sewer hookups for the motorhome) was finished. One of the original ideas we had was to put a storage loft above the kitchen/entertainment center area. This took some designing and is supported in the front by two cables that are attached to the ceiling rafters. It came out better than we had hoped and provides a good amount of storage without taking up valuable living space. 

     One of the last things was the outdoor kitchen. It was the first time that this particular model had been built by the folks at The Preserve and it proved to be quite a learning experience! I won't bore you with details, but it is finally 98% complete as I write this blog and can serve as a cooking area if we need it. 

     So below are some photos of the completed site...

Looking at the fire pit and into the back of the property.

The Outdoor Kitchen and Patio table.

The "business end" of the Outdoor Kitchen.

The Casita and Spa as seen from the Motorhome.

The "monster" shower in the Spa.

Looking in the Spa. Shower to the right, Sink center, Laundry facility to the left.

Kitchen/Entertainment Center wall without loft and storage (before).

Kitchen/Entertainment Center wall with loft and storage (after)

Corner of Murphy Bed and Sofa walls (before)

Corner of Murphy Bed and Sofa walls (after)

View from the Casita porch!

Building in Texas

 
   After a quick trip through Colorado and Kansas to visit family, we headed south to Cleveland, Texas (a sleepy little country town about 45 miles northeast of Houston). Here we plan to spend the winter and build our new "Winter home" on an RV site at The Preserve of Texas. Way back in February of this year we made an announcement in this blog that we had purchased a site. Now we have come to build.

Our coach parked on the Platinum Model site back in March

     The first item of business is to finalize our development plans. We purchased what is referred to as a Platinum RV Homesite.  With that option you get a Casita, Spa, outdoor kitchen, and fire pit along with a pad and full RV hookups (50A electric, water, and sewer). Now you can take the base options or you can customize if you so desire. The folks at The Preserve have a design engineer on staff who works with you to design your amenities. We decided to make the Casita a little bigger and enhance the outdoor kitchen. After a few meetings and refinements to our designs, we arrived at a finished product. 

     The photo above shows our lot as of October 16, 2013. It extends well back into the treeline and ends up along Davis Bayou as it runs through the property. One of the first decisions we had to make was whether to remove the big Sweet Gum tree that is in the middle foreground of the photo above. It was positioned such that it was going to interfere with the back of our RV pad. We tried a variety of modifications but in the end, couldn't come up with a way to keep the tree. So, unfortunately, we had it removed. It is however, the only big tree that we needed to get rid of. The rest of the lot just needed some brush clearing and pruning. Mario and his crew came in and in the space of only a couple of hours cut down and removed the big tree and cleared a large area of brush from the lot.

Here the lot has been scraped and the Sweet Gum removed

Removing the brush

Nice view of the lot with tree gone and brush removed.
This was on 11-23-2013

     So above you see a progression. The Sweet Gum tree was removed and a company came in to grind down the remaining stump. Meanwhile, a bunch of the brush on the property was cleared out and removed. (Some by me, a lot by Mario and his crew) The front of the lot was scraped and leveled to a degree and prepared for the next step. It was determined that, due to the slope of the lot, that the back part of the pad would have to be built up by 6 feet in order to be level!!! That worked out to at least 100 dump truck loads of fill dirt. The dirt started arriving on December 4th and continues to today.

One of many truckloads being delivered

Our lot as of 12-6-2013

      The dirt comes in and is spread and will be compacted by a bulldozer in the near future. This will provide a solid foundation for the RV pad, Casita, Spa, and fire ring. Compare the lot photos from October to now. It is beginning to take shape!

Just for perspective... that's me on the left. The leveled dirt is about to my waist.

     In the meantime, we moved from the Silver model site to the Gold one. Gold sites have a nice shed built on them. This worked out well for us. The folks at The Preserve were kind enough to give us a key to the shed and we have been using it to store things that we have bought for the Casita/Spa. We have taken advantage of several pre holiday sales and of course, Black Friday. We are able to have them delivered to us here on site and can store them protected from the elements. The folks here have really gone out of their way to help us and make this transition time a little less stressful.

     So now you know what we've been up to for the last couple of months. The best place to see how this progresses is on our Facebook page. It's a lot more timely information usually with illustrations or pictures. Internet is limited to my MiFi card out here or sometimes I take the laptop into the Houston area on shopping forays. There I can get on any of a number of public WiFi spots. Guess what I'm saying is that the blog will continue to be more of a summary of happenings and Facebook will be more daily events.