Made it Home

Friday morning (we overnited in Smith Center, KS), we headed to Chari's Granddad's farm near Lucas, KS. The farm has sat empty for over 25 years, so the buildings are showing their age. At the time these buildings were built, about 1905, they were some of the finest farm buildings/houses in the area.

The barn is still functional (roof leaks), but the "garage" is past it's useful life. The house needs a LOT of work, and I doubt it will ever be habitated again.

Years ago, I ventured inside the "smoke house", where the meats were smoked (before refrigeration!). You could still see the hooks (where the meat was hung) from the roof and walls, and the walls were still black with soot, after all these years.

When we hit KS, Chari got more excited seeing the pretty hills and farmlands, including the sunflower crops!

When we arrived in Derby, we found this chalk art on our drive. I think Sarah missed us more than our own kids did!

We were thrilled to get home, after 45 days on the road! We drove right at six thousand miles. We had a wonderful time, and yes, the morale is still EXCELLENT!

Ron

Headin' HOME

We spent a night in Billings, Montanna. Very pretty area! The motel we stayed in was probably the best bargain of the trip. The room was $65 with tax, and included a full order-from-the-menu breakfast at the lounge/restaurant next door. Other than the smokey lounge, the meal was excellent.

Driving in Montanna, we saw a lot of haze and fog, only when we stopped and got out of the car, we could tell it was smoke. I guess Wyoming must be on fire or something.


We said our goodbye's to Tally and Jack; they went north to Montanna and we went southeast to Cheyenne.

Driving by the National Park for Custer and the Indians, we stopped, grabbed a tour bus that was leaving five minutes after we arrived, and did the quick tour of the area. Realizing we wanted to learn more, we purchased several books about the battle. Our guide was Native American, and the story is now told from both perspectives.

We didn't arrive in Cheyenne until about 7PM, and the first motel we stopped at was one of the last ones that had any rooms left--and no internet (darn).

We met with friends of Chari's in Cheyenne, and enjoyed visiting with them.


Thursday morning, we were off early on a mission; the MacGregor sailboat shop in Kearney, Nebraska had a used sailboat that we wanted to look at. Sadly (or maybe gladly????????), that boat was sold, but the dealer had an trade starting that might yield him a newer trade-in that we certainly might be interested in. This dealer has been sailing for 50 years and is very knowledgable, so we learned a lot speaking with him.



With a strong tail wind, we headed south and ended up staying in Smith Center, KS. A nice room, a decent restaurant next door, and INTERNET! Today was one of the few days where we spent more on gasoline than food and lodging!



We'll stop by the Lucas farm in the morning, then head for Derby, hoping to arrive mid afternoon. We're both ready to be home.....................

Ron

The Country House

On Saturday, we headed to the country house at Cashmere, WA. Actually, it is five miles UP the Nahahem Canyon Road. You should hear our talking GPS try to pronounce "Nahahem"; it sounds like she is sneezing!

While Bellevue has miles and miles of trees, Cashmere, on the Columbia River, has fewer trees, but beautiful canyons.

We were able to help do some work around the house, and Ron especially enjoyed the tractor work!

The Aplets and Cotlet's Candy factory is in Cashmere! This small factory produced 2 million pounds of candy last year. The samples were excellent.

In the four vats, one thousand pounds of apples and pears are being cooked in prep for the candy. The smell was WONDERFUL!

Monday, we drove to Idaho. Jack and Tally will head north from here to visit the sites of his Mother's youth, and Chari and I will head south and east. This has been a wonderful journey with them. It's hard to believe that we've been on the road for 42 days................

Last night, we played yet another round of Mexican Train dominoes (a great fast paced game, nothing like the dominoes of old). For the first time ever that I've played, we drew ALL the dominos.

It's off to breakfast and saying goobye for now to dear friends...............

ron

Still havin' FUN! -- Catching up

Between my laptop battery only lasting 10 minutes and the lack of internet in the canyon house, the blog has suffered............ Here's a start at catching up:

The Museum of Flight was awesome. I’d been there 10 yrs ago, but they have really enhanced it. They have an SR71 Spy Plane on display, which I have seen at other sites. This one, however, has a remote drone on the top of it. Apparently they were flown close to the USSR, and the drone was launched. It flew around taking pictures of stuff, and then was flown out over the artic circle. Once there, a trap door in the drone was deployed, and the film canisters were jettisoned attached to a parachute. A C130 transport in the area, would do an aerial capture of the parachute, and reel in the films. The drones were then self destructed. I’ve read a lot about the SR71, and this was all news to me.

The first 747 built in on display there. It was built in 1969, if my memory is correct, and served as a test bed for updates for years.

A 707 Air Force One, the earlier sister ship to one at Reagan’s Library we toured last month, was open for touring.


A retired British Air Concord was open for touring. It was not nearly as big as I’d imagined. You could tell it was set up for plushness!

Friday, Sep 7

Chari and I took off early, fighting the I-5 traffic, to travel to Everett by 9AM! We arrived with a few minutes to spare, and were able to take a Boeing factory tour. Our tour (randomly assigned) toured the 777 and 787 assembly line. (The other group toured the 747 and 767 lines. Having worked on both 777 and 787, I enjoyed seeing them, especially the 787. Unfortunately, the 787 was far from us, and of course, no photos could be taken on the tour……………..

Outside, we did see one Dreamlifter, the modified 747s used to haul 787 parts from around the world to Seattle for assembly. The size of the plane is deceiving—you have to recall that this plane STARTED as a 747, which is huge in and of itself. The tail assembly swings out, so cargo can be loaded for flight.

One of the main differences in the 787 is that most of it is constructed of carbon fiber. Here’s a pic of the inside of a mockup, showing the composite structure.

For our last lunch on the waterfront, we ate fish at Ivars in Mukilteo. It was NICE, the fish was excellent, and the view of the ferries coming in and out was great.

Since we had some time, we went to the Ballard Locks to watch the boats traverse the locks. Being Friday on a sunny day, it was BUSY. Lots of pretty boats, all of which we could not afford. We even saw a C-Dory, like the one we checked out at a boat shop. No, we can’t afford it, but it was fun to look at on the water.

I urged Chari to watch what the first mates were doing as part of the locking activities, but I don’t think she’s up for trying it IF we get a bigger boat. It is a tight dance as the boats come in and tie off.

One sailor seemed to be having issues as he approached the locks……………… We had to leave before he finally made it in (if he ever did)………… He was crosswise in the inlet for a long time.

Then we headed to the country and Jack/Tally's "other house", near Cashmere. Will post that tomorrow.

Morale: Excellent!

ron

Ivars Clam Chowder

Made the trip to the waterfront on Tuesday. Had some great fish and chips, and chowder. Toured the Aquarium, nice.



Wednesday, we met a friend from Wichita for lunch, then toured the Museum of Flight. Pics to follow.

ron

Lots of catchup...............

We loved our time at Cannon Beach, OR. A great place to watch the ocean.








The rock is Haystack Rock.


Drove back to Seattle on Sunday. Wow, lots of traffic. An earlier wreck tied up I 5, and although the road was open and clear, the stop and go persisted hours after the wreck. It took us an hour to go fewer than 10 miles. Finally, we ducked off I 5 and traffic was better.

We've been grilling salmon and eating WELL. Monday, we drove to Gig Harbor to see the boats and enjoy a lunch on the waterfront. Must cost a lot to live there.................. Way outta my league I'm sure.












Outta Battery, Bye,
ron

Well, thanks to the King County Library's wifi, (and a power strip under the desk), I'm back in business in Issaquah..................

Today, Chari and I ventured to the Seattle waterfront and IVARS for chowder and fish. Then to the Aquarium. Then up to a boat sales place on Lake Union. I'd called ahead and the C-Dory dealer had both the 22 ft cruiser and the 25 ft (way better) crusing powerboats on display. I knew it was overpriced: The sales guys were wearing SUITS and TIES, and the two closest parking spots (the owners I suppose) had a Jag and a Mercedes parked in them. Hmmmmmmmmmmm, might be some big money in da big boats, huh? Walking on the dock to the C-dorys, we past a 65 cabin cruiser. Nothing good could come from viewing that boat and our salesman knew we couldn't afford it by our appearance...........

Chari thought the 25 ft cruiser was Nice. Well, duh, it costs about half of what our house is worth, so it should be nice...............

Tonight it's dinner with Tally and Jack at the house. Tomorrow I get to fix a massive breakfast. Then it's off to lunch at the Museum of Flight and meeting an old friend from Wichita.

Weather: Raining in Seattle, duh, what else is new........
Morale: Excellent!
Ron

Cannon Beach, Oregon -- AWESOME!

Tues, Aug 29
Victorian House, Built in 1888
We toured a beautiful mansion built in 1888 by a doctor in Eugene. It’s built on a hillside, and since the town water supply didn’t go that far, the doctor joined the water board, then paid to have the main water line run PASSED his house. He also provided an acre of his land on the hill to act as the city reservoir, and he paid for the pumps that could pump the water up the hill. The paper at the time said the house cost the doctor $8,000 to build!
He was only able to live in it five years, before he died. His daughter was married in the house, and lived in it over 60 years. None of her children wanted the house, so eventually, the City of Eugene acquired it and paid nearly $1M to have it restored.
It has 12 foot tall ceilings and exquisite woodwork inside. After the family sold it and before Eugene acquired it, it was used as a boarding house, so some later additions made it more practice for use as a boarding house.

Leaving Eugene, we drove to the Oregon Garden near Salem. It was spectacular and probably the model for how to operate a large natural display of plants and trees and make it easily accessible to the public. It also serves a great purpose for the city; the treated wastewater is too warm to return to the stream near town, so the city have to do something with the water.
The city constructed some “wetlands” near the gardens and pipe their wastewater into a series of 15 pools. As the water flows from the higher pools to the lower pools, it flows through plant areas. When it reaches the lowest level, it is stored in an underground reservoir for the garden’s use as irrigation, so the garden pays almost nothing for irrigating all their displays.
The site is a former horse ranch, so there are existing building that were easily modified for other purposes. With the natural slope of the lands, there is a large amphitheater, and the converted horse barn can seat 1200 for meals! They do a lot of corporate meetings there.
The latest addition is a hotel chain is building a large destination resort hotel on the edge of the property. Their goal is to provide $100/night rooms, which will include tickets to the garden.
The site is large enough, you can ride an open tram through the paved areas, with the driver narrating the different areas. Some of the gardens are managed by local nurseries, so they get a lot of advertising from their designs.
I pointed out to Chari how I wanted my burial plot to appear; she wanted me to lie down, so she could photograph me in it, but the rocks looked too uninviting; I sat in the chair instead!
Again, spectacular plants and flowers, and with the bright sunshine today, we took over 100 pictures!

On toward Portland, then left to the coast along Sunset Highway. That was appropriate as it was late afternoon. Tally and Jack left a phone message at 5:30 (mountains are a mess with cell phones!) saying they were 30 minutes out, which is about what we were.
We arrived about five minutes after they did. After lots of hugs in the parking lot, we shared a few glasses of wine, then headed to their favorite eating place, Bill’s Tavern and Grill.
The Clam Chowder was EXCELLENT. Chari and I each had Fish and Chip, again EXCELLENT.
We’d missed sunset by a few minutes, but walking back to the motel, we walked at the edge of the beach, and took some great pictures.
Jack & Tally’s dog Annie has some unique habits! While in their room before dinner, we watched as it jumped on the bed, then pawed at the bed spread to remove it, so the dog could sleep on the sheets!
Following dinner, in our room, Annie jumped on our bed, and likewise, pawed the bed spread and covers back to get to the sheets to sleep. When it was time for them to leave, Annie didn’t want to get up, so we almost had company for the night—Annie!
Temperature: Excellent
Food: Excellent
Morale: Excellent!

Wed, Aug 29
Tally came over about 8AM yelling “LOW Tide—we gotta go NOW!” So we did. Walked along the beach to Haystack Rock. It was Awesome. Lots of people; lots of dogs (Golden Retrievers are very popular here); and lots of fun!
Saw a group on horseback who were having a great time.
After a leisurely walk exploring all the ocean front, we returned to the lodge for bagels, cappuccino, and visiting. It was wonderful.

After late morning nap for Ron and Jack (the girls went shopping), it was off to window shop, eat some pizza, followed by ice cream, yada, yada.

Strange that I get unlimited phone reception ON the beach, but no service in the Motel! Chari talked to her Mom for a long time this morning, while strolling on the sand.........

This is the first motel we've stayed at that included a flier titled "Tsunami Warning Plan" in the folder! HUH? Basically, it said "run to high ground!"

Morale: Do you even need to ask??????????