The Silver Dollar Casino

 On Wednesday August 18th, we left Pasco and headed north on US 395 towards Ritzville and I-90.  Nothing too much to report there.  We saw an interesting dust storm along the roadway.  Took a few minutes to determine it was dust and not smoke.

 

                            Rest stop lunch.  Lucky we can still move around with the slides in.

Really not much of note, just driving up to I-90 and then through Spokane and into the mountains of northern Idaho. We crossed Fourth of July and Lookout Passes, in the slow lane with all the trucks.  While we are happy for what we have, it sure will be nice to one day upgrade to something that pulls stronger on the hills.  

Too much excitement.

Our stop for the night was the Silver Dollar Casino in Haugan, MT.  It's claim to fame is that it has 50,000 silver dollars hanging on the walls and ceiling.  And a free RV campground behind it.  I'm enjoying finding unusual campsites, and this qualifies.  Not the prettiest campground. But, did I mention it was free?

 

The beginning...

 We left Ainsworth State Park in the rain.  Yes, rain.  Who knew...  We didn't.  Roz and Piper got showers in the RV in preperation for their flea treatment.  They were not happy, except for the peanut butter treat.  

We drove onto I84 and noticed that the status light on the brake monitor for Mom's car was flashing green/red.  One hour later, and drenched from the rain it was determined with Roadmaster customer service that nothing was really wrong.  Not their problem, just our unfamiliarity with the system.  But that was ok.  We were on our way!

                                                                                Rain?

I enjoyed a couple of white knuckle moments when Columbia Gorge wind gusts blew us around as we headed east.  Eventually we headed north and found our way to Hood Park outside Pasco.  We had never overnighted at a Army Corp of Engineers park.  It was quite nice.  Green, clean, shaded, with nice bathrooms/showers.  I see more in our future.

 

Pre-GLRRT (Great Longtine Retirement Road Trip)

 As usual for life, the Pre-GLRRT began in a whirlwind of activity.  The meeting in Meridian with our new home's site supervisor included 20 hours on the road over two days.  We got up the next morning and drove the motor home to Eight Mile Forest Service Campground along Icicle Creek, just outside Leavenworth.  And yes, it was warm.  But at least after arriving, we got to tube down the Wenatchee River for a couple of hours.  Then enjoyed pizza and beer with our brothers and sisters at Blewett Brewery.  The rest of the trip we spent just hanging out.

Drew Miller's Indian Roadmaster and trailer parked behind us.  When we left, he was riding to Minnesota for an Indian rally.  Jen was then flying out to meet him, and continue the GMRRT (Great Miller Retirement Road Trip) down to Arkansas, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and eventually back to home.

Upon arriving back at Brian and Micaela's house for another evening of "moochdocking" we had two problems.  A broken slide and a generator that needed oil.  Brian and I (mostly Brian) got the slide fixed.  Many thanks Brian!  I got the generator topped off with oil, which took trips to several stores to find a supply of the right viscosity.  Something else that's in short supply...

After church on Sunday, we headed to Vancouver to get Mom's car set up for flat towing.  On the way south we ran, or tried to run the generator for the rooftop AC.  It kept quitting on us.  The code it was throwing was basically that it had stopped without us telling it to...  Really?  Like I didn't know that...  The manual said to make sure there was enough fuel in the tank.  After stopping a couple more times, it now seems to be running normally. 

Anyway, like a motorhome full of heroin junkies, we parked along the curb outside Roadmaster waiting for our fix.  The neighborhood was only slightly sketchy, and I always come prepared.  We got a decent night of sleep.  The next day the Roadmaster guys got the car done quickly, and we got on the road quicker than we had expected.

We arrived at Ainsworth State Park (Oregon) at a decent hour and grilled up some burgers for dinner.  Simple life.

Potlatch State Park

Hood Canal

April and May found our RV parking at Potlatch State Park, nestled in the bend of the Hood Canal.  We needed to get out and use the RV, and clamming seemed just the ticket.  In April, it was just Janae, Colton, Rozzie, and I.  Between then and the May trip, we picked up our puppy, Piper.

Piper snuggling

About a third of a limit of clams

Clammers

We were also joined by KJ, and her boyfriend Jon.

KJ and Jon with Janae digging clams

A couple of times, dinner was served Crab Pot restaurant style.

 

Deer Hunting 2012

Micaela is gaining a reputation for bringing home the bacon.  I've been told by my hunting buddies that it's good that at least some one in my family knows how to hunt...

"Dad, I think I missed.  He ran off..."  Heart shot, and still ran 50 yards into the woods.

 Oh well, at least I enjoyed the thrill of gutting, packing, and processing it...

Silver Springs NFS Campground

Big trees form a canopy over the campground.

Just another short trip up the road for an end of season adventure.  We didn't take the Saturn, as we didn't really want to do anything at all other than hang out.  We actually hadn't been here for a couple of years, even though it is one of our favorite places to go.  We love dry camping.  Unfortunately, we discovered it's time for new batteries.  With our CPAP machines going, we ran out of juice between 0215 and 0515 every morning.  We didn't get much good sleep!

Rozzie seemed to enjoy his first RV trip with us.  Whether inside or outside he was having a good time. 

Too bad we elected to not bring the toad.  The weather was pretty good, and we could have taken some easy trips to Sunrise and Tipsoo Lake, both inside nearby Mt. Rainier National Park.  Oh well, we accomplished exactly what we set out to do...  nothing...

Bumping Lake

The morning walk at Bumping Lake.

Nestled in the Cascade Mountains on the east side of Chinook Pass lies Bumping Lake.  This man-made reservoir supports a private resort and a Forest Service campground and day use area.  We had never been to this campground, despite it being (or maybe because it is) relatively close to our home.  Originally, we had made reservations for Memorial Day weekend only to be cancelled due to it still being snow-bound.  August worked out better, as there was less snow!  After a relatively short trip across the pass, we settled into our spot in the Upper Bumping Campground.  Nicely treed and fairly private.  The best part of the whole trip was that we really had no plans to go anywhere other than Whistlin' Jack's restaurant in Cliffdell for breakfast on Saturday.  We must have gotten spoiled by the Washington State Parks, because I got a little upset about the Forest Service nickle and dimming us to death.  I figured since we had paid for a campsite, we had access to the lake.  Wrong!  To park at the beach/picnic/boat launch area, you need to pay.  Not a biggie for us, as Janae has a Golden Access Pass, so it was free.  But most campers have to pay.  That's just wrong.  And then, to use the dump station was $10 for everyone.  To make a long story short, we hauled our crap back to Buckley and dumped at the Eagles Club for $7.  But the beach was nice and we enjoyed it every day.  Cool thing was that we had an airshow every day.  Between 11am and 2pm or so, we had two F18s fly over the lake each day.  The sound of freedom!

Enjoying the beach.

  Colton's friend Alex came along again on this trip.  The boys did some fishing and swimming.  But mostly enjoyed catching frogs and tadpoles along the edge of the lake.  While at the beach on Saturday, Janae met a couple with two puppies.  She learned that they were called "Chugs".  Half Chihuahua, and half Pug.  Janae has shown no signs of allergies to either of those breeds.  She fell in love with them.  To make a long story short, within four days, we had a Chug.  Rozzi is almost two years old, and basically a rescue dog.  After a rough initial meeting with us, Rozzi is fitting right in with the madness that is our home.

Life can be strange...