montemover

Pictures: Oregon Trail Days Parade Red Hats float; Chablie with a saddle; Chablie losing her brown baby hair and turning grey.

Hi All! I made it to Scottsbluff and arrived here on July 8th. And yes, this does seem like home. I’ve been busy since the moment I arrived so I’ll try to catch you up. I’m parked at the Davey’s and having a great time here. I get to help with the horses and the new filly, Chablie is a joy to watch. She is gorgeous and her Arabian blood certainly shows in her carriage, movement, form and beauty. She’s nearly all grey now but still has her white question mark on her forehead and white stockings. What a beauty and so curious about everything. And Toby loves it here. No leashes, explores the pastures, runs with Brandee and tries to keep up with his little short legs. He also thinks that he’s home. He has certainly made himself at home at the Davey’s house. He stays there and keeps cool while I’m working. He’s got his own little path worn between his big doghouse (Monte) and the Davey’s.

I’m subbing at the College in the ABE/GED and ESL classes so I’m picking up a little money which is much needed after putting in a new brake cylinder reservoir and a new starter. And I’m being kept pretty busy with the subbing. Seems as though I got back here at just the right time to help out. While I’m here I’ll be seeing my list of doctors for myself and Toby to make sure we’re in good shape before starting out again. I attended Donna Thompson’ combined birthday and wedding anniversary party at Lake Minitare last weekend. I took Monte out for two nights and that gave me an opportunity to dump my tanks. As an old RVer told me at the Escapade, “Only RVers can get excited about a dump.” I expect to be here through September unless the heat gets to me and I have to leave sooner, but while here I’ll be seeing friends and relatives.

I helped Donna work on the Red Hat float for the Oregon Trail Days Parade. I hadn’t been to a parade for years. It was really quite impressive for a small town. Some nice floats and some great horses. Seems there’s always something going on to keep me busy.

Now for the really good news!!!! I got a call last Friday and was offered a site at the Timber Valley SKP Co-Op and yes, I jumped at it. It came earlier than I thought or wanted, but I can’t pass up this opportunity. So I sent them my money and I’m waiting for the paperwork to get here and get it all signed up. As I recall, the lot that I’m getting is really a nice one with some trees and limited landscaping, a patio and walkway, and brick border around the lot. So right now, it looks like I’ll be headed back to Oregon this Fall and may spend the winter there, although if gas prices drop a bit more, I may head back to Texas for December and January. I’ll just wait and see how it goes. Sure is nice not to HAVE to be anywhere at any particular time. Love this lifestyle.

So, folks, it looks like I’m set here for the next couple of months and I doubt I’ll have too much to say until I hit the road again, but nevertheless, check in every month anyway, who knows, I may hit the powerball!
Kris

Picture: Donna and Toby have become very close.

Well folks, like I said in my last blog. My brake lights wouldn’t go off, so that meant low brake fluid or something worse. Naturally my brake fluid reservoir couldn’t be someplace simple, like under the hood, oh no, it’s under the front wheel well where it’s impossible for me to get to (it takes a small skinny person to get in there). Fortunately, through asking about, I found one of the vendors, from Grants Pass, OR, who is an RV technician who specializes in brakes and other things related to RV chassis. He came over and examined my brake fluid situation and sure enough it was low. The next day I got a ride to town to get brake fluid (I didn’t have my car since Donna took it to Scottsbluff Tues morn.) That afternoon Robert came and filled up the reservoir for me and discovered I had a leak in a very strange place and he recommended getting it fixed before going very far. So, since he didn’t have his tools here (he came to sell stuff not fix stuff), I called around town to find someone to fix my brakes. Found someone who can possibly get me in Tues. morning and who said I could park in his parking lot Monday night since I have to be out of the Cam-Plex Monday, today, by 4:00. So looks like I’ll get my brakes fixed so I can get on to Scottsbluff Tues afternoon or Wednesday.

Meanwhile, I attended all the seminars and activities I could while at the same time having to wait around for Robert to check out my brakes, come back on two occasions to fill the reservoir so I’d have enough fluid to get me to the garage. The seminars and activities were instructional, interesting, and most of all fun. Especially the social hours with a group called “Solos”. They’re a subgroup of the escapees club for singles. What a crazy, fun group. I went to a melodrama put on by the Gillette Repertory company. I’ve never been to a melodrama where the audience got so much so into the performance. Wow! At first I felt sorry for the poor actors, but then they got right into it and I’m sure there was a lot of ad-libbing in response to the audience. It was really fun!!! I booed, hissed, sighed, swooned with the best of them. The only thing we couldn’t do was throw popcorn since the Cam-Plex wouldn’t allow any food in the theater. Nevertheless, that did not deter our participation. I didn’t make it into town for the 4th of July festivities – parade, pancake feed, Bar-B-Que, firemens water fight, tug of war, etc.- since I was waiting to get my brake fluid filled to the brim so I’d have enough left on Monday to get me to the garage. But, the fireworks show was spectacular! It was a huge display that went on for a good 35 minutes. The Solos had a Bar-B-Que at the president’s RV in the evening which I attened briefly. I wanted to get back to Toby before the fireworks started. Needless to say, he wasn’t thrilled with the fireworks, but he did better than I thought he would. We had prime seats from our RV’s for the show and the towns people came out in throngs.

Saturday and Sunday I did some housekeeping and otherwise just lounged around Monte. I watched all the folks pull out. There are only 4 of us left in this RV park right now. There are others in some of the other parks on the grounds. Most of the folks still here are taking a DOVES course. This is for RVer’s who want to go and help at disasters such as hurricanes, etc. They finish up their training today. So I’m totally alone here. Of course, there are the Cam-Plex people and the construction people still around too.

Hey, good news! I just checked to see where I was on the waiting list for a lot at Timber Valley in Sutherlin, OR and I’m #4. I called them this morning and they thought I’d have a lot as early as next month. Wow. I was hoping my lot wouldn’t come due until this winter, but I’ll take it whenever it comes up. I don’t want to pass up this opportunity. I may be headed back to Oregon before I know it.

I’ll write again when I get to Scottsbluff. Kris

Click or double click on pictures to enlarge. Pictures are of: Water wheel and two story outhouse in Nevada City; Nevada City Hotel;Donna and her mother Grace; View from Betty’s backyard of the Blue Mountains; Betty and Jackie; Flathead Lake at Polson.

I picked Donna up at the airport on the 22nd and while she went off with her mother to spend some quality time, I continued to explore the Missoula area with Jackie and enjoy Ed and Betty’s hospitality. Jackie and I made a loop from Missoula to Polson to Whitefish to Columbia Falls and back to Missoula. It was a long trip with some beautiful scenery. Flathead Lake at Polson is beautiful and just happens to be where Donna’s mother, Grace, lives. Lucky lady! Betty took me around Missoula and we went to the Memorial Park where Ed was instrumental in getting a monument to law enforcement officers designed and installed, and she also took me to Fort Missoula, a fort without walls with a very interesting history. We went to the Hot Springs for a picnic with Betty’s grandchildren and Jackie and I stopped at Fort Fizzle (so named because the ambush the army planned against the indians, fizzled).We enjoyed many mornings and evenings on Betty and Ed’s back deck. What a great view they have of the mountains as well as a beautiful yard.

On the 27th, Donna and I took her mother back home to Polson and started for Gillette, WY for the Escapade (Rally) for Escapee members (or SKP’s – pronounced skips – as we call ourselves). The first night we stayed in Butte at one of Donna’s childhood friends who is also a horse person. We had a great time at Carol and Ray’s. The stories that man could tell – wow – and the food was great too. What fun people and I promised that when in the area again, I would stop. It’s always fun to make new friends and Donna and Carol had a great time reminiscing. The next day we traveled through Nevada City, Virginia City (old mining towns, now turned to the tourist trade), Yellowstone and on to Cody, WY. We’ve both been to Yellowstone several times, so we didn’t stop, but it’s still a beautiful drive through and surprisingly, there was very little traffic. We had a pleasant night in Cody and headed out on Sunday for Gillette.

Well, folks, what a trip that was. We went through some beautiful country. First it was the Big Horn Mountains. After a long slow climb up Powder River Pass to 8,000 plus elevation, we pulled over to let Monte rest at the top, and she died. Yep, there we were, stuck at the top of the mountain. Needless to say, we tried to call for help, but no cell phone service up there on that mountain. So we decided to have a little lunch and cogitate a bit on the situation. Well sir, about the time we finished lunch, a little Japanese fellow on a bike came along, so we flagged him down. He was traveling mighty light and appeared to be thirsty, so we offered him some water which he thankfully took. Seems he was riding from New York to California. As Donna was explaining our situation, I climbed into Monte to see if she’d start and lo and behold, she did. So we hastily said goodbye to our new friend and started down the mountain. We proceeded across gorgeous red rock country and then some high plains and on into Gillette. Since we were late in arriving (about 5:00 rather than the expected 2:00 pm) we missed the opening ceremonies and had to wait until after dinner for someone to direct us to our parking. At last we were backing into our site when I noticed the brake light had come on and was not going off. Oh! Oh! What did this mean?

Well I guess you’ll just have to read the next blog to find out about our adventures at the Escapade. Kris