Another Look at Bonneville Dam

There is a lot to see here in the Columbia River Gorge area.  We took a 30 minute drive from our campground on the outskirts of Portland and make our way directly east along the Columbia River.  About 40 minutes later we were at the US Army Corps of Engineers Visitors Center on Bradford Island.

We've been to this place before, having visited in five years ago when we made our way west through the Columbia River Gorge.  This place had a nice little museum and a fish ladder that was made to accommodate the thousands of salmon heading up river to spawn.

One of our goals this summer was to learn more about Lewis and Clark and this place was right along their route to the Pacific Ocean.

The Chinook Indians used to live in the area and they were one of the friendly tribes Lewis and Clark met along the way while exploring the area.

During their expedition in the early 1800's (1804-1806), they brought along many items to trade with the Indians including knives and glass beads.

I liked the map that showed their route from St. Louis up the Missouri River, across the Rockies and through the Cascade mountains to the coast.

This particular facility was name after this guy.  Bonneville became a pretty well know name in the history of our country but I never knew much about this guy but he was another of the many expolorers of the region, having visited this area in the 1830's.

This dam was one of eight federal dams and locks built along the Columbia and Snake Rivers.  This was built between 1932-1938 to provide electricity and spur economic development in the Pacific Northwest.   

I am amazed at the things this country built in the 1930's:  Hoover Dam, this, Golden Gate Bridge, Norris Dam in Tennessee (TVA) and I'm sure there is a long list...

Here's some photos of the area near the visitor center:

Outside the visitor center along the walkway that shows  some the fish ladders

And inside - I thought they did a good job with explaining all the fish that climb upstream.  You can even watch the fish do their thing

They have been counting types and kinds of fish for many years here.  These are the numbers for the 2015 and the 10 year average.

Fascinating!

It was another interesting time at the place.  We saw Boy Scouts there as well as a bunch of visitors like us.  It was a fun way to spend some time.

We drove around the property again and went over to the volunteer RV park where folks stay and check it out.  Would be a nice place to work/live for a few weeks or even the summer.

That's all for now on the Roadrunner Chronicles!  Thanks for joining us.

Repairs Day

While Pam and Kelly ran errands and did some shopping in Fort Worth, I got a couple of repairs done; namely Pam's bike and my laptop. I also had time to do some other chores around the Roadrunner back at the Army Corps of Engineers campground.

Early in the morning I got a call from the Dell Technician who was going to replace my hard drive. He said he'd be there after noon.

That gave me some time to work on the bikes. Pam's bike needed a new inner tube so I replaced it.

That didn't take too long and I pumped hers and mine up to the proper psi and put it aside for a while.

Next, since it was such a nice day I decided to get some work done on the Apple outside. A little while later Ray, the Dell technician called. I directed him to our campsite and he was ready to go.

He swapped out the hard drive in about 5 minutes and then spent about 25 minutes doing the paper work so he could ship parts back to Dell. I am pretty impressed with how their repair process works.

I went online with Dell Support on Monday night. They determined I had a hard drive failure and sent parts to Ray. He called Friday morning and set up an appointment with me and I am all set up. Hopefully in the next few days I can get my old laptop fixed up with all my software.

After Kelly and Pam got back by mid afternoon so I decided to clean Kelly's car. It was pretty dirty and I used The Solution. It took about an hour to clean it up and looks great, so she was pleased.

While Pam was cooking some lasagna for dinner, I went for a short bike ride around the campground.

The campground has some hills and goes along Benbrook Lake . I see a number of groups of cyclists every day riding through the campground. My ride was only about 30 minutes and I needed to get back so we could go over to Brad and Sue's.

We had a nice dinner and watched some TV for a while. We saw a portion of The Proposal but the DVD player messed up. It was about time for us to go back to the campground so we said good byes and returned home.

We watched the remainder of the movie back at the Roadrunner. The coach has 'Surround Sound' and we enjoyed the movie. It was a late night for us and we headed to bed after 11:30.

We had a good day of getting some things done and enjoying the day. Pam and Kelly made their way through some stores on Black Friday and picked up a couple of bargains.

That's about it for now. Hope you are having a good weekend. Thanks for viewing the Roadrunner Chronicles! Hope to have you stop by again!

Thanksgiving Days

Hope you all had a very nice Thanksgiving Day!

The last few days have been beautiful here at the Holiday Park, COE campground at Benbrook Lake.

Pam and I went for a little hike the other morning and had a good time. The park has a modest 'Nature Trail' we hiked. Then we walked around a large section of the campground and enjoyed the good weather and nice day. We need to walk more often.

After our hike we had lunch and Pam ran errands. While she was gone I decided it was time to 'wash and wax' the Roadrunner. It was pretty dirty and it has been a while since I cleaned it. I bought Protect All from Camping World but don't like it as much as The Solution.

When we were with Mark and Dortha the other day, I bought some from him. I like the way it cleans and it has a very thin film to wipe off compared to the heavier, more 'wax-like' Protect All. Both are waterless cleaners.

It took me about 3 hours to finish most of the coach. I will do the windshield and front cab when I have more time to get all the bugs and creatures off. After I finished the rest of it, the Roadrunner sparkled and looked great. Plus I got some good exercise. Kind of like mowing the lawn except not the same. :)

While were in Canada this summer we saw Ladderball, an outdoor game. It really intrigued us. Later, in Sioux Falls we saw the game again and bought it at Menards. Ladderball is really a lot of fun. I set it up and we played in the backyard yesterday while the turkey was cooking.

Each player has three 'balls'. They are actually a set of two balls that larger than a golfball and smaller than a baseball and soft plastic. They are connected by a 12 inch rope. When you throw them, they wind themselves around one of the blue/red/white bars.

Brad came out the big winner and retired undefeated. He had help from the cheering section on the sidelines where Sue watched.

Our Thanksgiving Day spread was buffet style. We put the food on the coffee table and ate on TV trays and a card table in the living room. Meanwhile, the Cowboys played pretty well and won again on Thanksgiving Day.

As usual we ate too much (who doesn't on Thanksgiving Day). Kelly is staying with us and we returned to the Roadrunner before the 10:00 curfew. We had a nice Thanksgiving but missed our boys (Adam and their two sons, Mark and Drew).

That is about it for today's edition of the Roadrunner Chronicles. Thank you for viewing! We appreciate it!

Full-timing in Fort Worth...

One great aspects of being full-time RVers is having the opportunity to be with friends and family. This one of the many things about this lifestyle we are very thankful for. We don't take this for granted and are so grateful things worked out so we be out here.

Pam and I spent 17 years on the East Coast and a large part of my family is west of the Mississippi. We have taken a few trips over the years to see family but never got see to our family as often we would like. Now - we look forward to setting up trips and expect our visits to increase. Right now we get to spend a few days near Brad and Sue for the second time in six months.

Yesterday before we went over to Brad and Sue's, we hit the gym. We used the Fitness Center at Naval Air Station, Carswell Joint Reserve Base. It is about 20 minutes from the campground.

We had a good workout and then ran a couple of errands before we met Mark and Dortha for lunch.

We got to meet them for the first time in June when we were here and continue to follow them on their blog. We had a ton of questions about their summer trip to the Midwest and Northwest. Recently they also took a trip to Red Bay (Tiffin Factory).

They have a beautiful 2009 Phaeton and invited us over to take a look. It is a beautiful motor home! They have a lot of different options and have had some custom work done in Red Bay.

Dortha picked up a little laptop table that looks nice and is very functional. It is near an ottoman/storage bin they had made at Red Bay. Both fit very well and look great.

We talked for a time and we had a thousand questions about things. They were glad to answer them all and our time passed too quickly. We look forward to seeing them again!

Next, we picked up some Thanksgiving food

before we went over to Brad and Sue's for the rest of the day.

Jo and Andy dropped by for a few minutes. Sue and Jo have been friends for a long long time. Sue continues to make very good progress. I am amazed at how this whole knee replacement process has gone...

Later, Pam fixed Sloppy Joe's and we watched TV before we back to the Benbrook Lake, COE Recreation Park and our campsite. We stayed up a bit, but went to bed pretty early (9:30 PM).

That wraps up another day in the life of the full-timing Warners! Thanks for viewing the Roadrunner Chronicles today!

Knee Replacement and Such

We were up early and I had a chance to take a few 'Sunrise Over the Lake' shots. Here is one of them:

Not bad for being 5 feet outside of our RV... :) This campsite definitely has the 'it' factor. We are at Holiday Park, Army Corps of Engineers (COE) Recreation Area at Benbrook Lake.

We got ready, had a quick breakfast and headed over to the Plaza Medical Center of Fort Worth.

Sue was scheduled to be there by 6:00 AM and got into surgery at 9:00 for a left knee replacement. Brad was going going to hang out in the waiting room so we met him there.

There is a lot to be impressed about with this hospital. In the waiting room a 'Patient Liaison Representative' met us and kept us updated on the progress and movement of the patient.

I also liked the hot coffee and breakfast muffins and danish rolls in the waiting room!

When I went back to the car mid-morning for something I noticed 'Complimentary Valet Parking' was in progress. It was a nice facility. And the people were very nice.

The cafeteria was very nice too. Quite a big selection for lunch. I had the catfish, Brad and Pam had fajita salad. While were eating, the doctor called Brad and said the surgery went off without a hitch and basically was a boring, uneventful procedure. (The way we like them.)

Sue was in recovery for another hour plus so we had time to finish and Brad went to be with her. We dropped in later in the afternoon and she was pretty groggy but looking great. Mark and Drew, (their sons) drove in from Houston and arrived while we were there. We said our goodbyes and will check in again on the weekend.

Back at the campground, I had a couple of minutes and took some evening shots of the lake near our campsite.

Nice place. We read our books (Texas and Centennial) for a while and hit the sack.

For all the 'silent majority' out there, we really appreciate you taking a few minutes to check out the Roadrunner Chronicles! That goes for 'Followers' and 'Commenters' too - Thanks!

That's all for now...

Travel Day to Fort Sam Houston

It was a beautiful day to travel from our campground site at Lake Lavon, near Wylie, Texas. Before I started with the disconnects, I wanted to make sure the sun was up and that I could see everything outside. No fun doing all that in the dark unless I have to. Everyone knows how to tear down and set up a motorhome if they have done it a few times. But we didn't quite get the idea before we became full-timers so I thought I'd briefly explain what we do. This is for those of you that haven't seen it.

Inside, we stow everything so nothing falls out of cupboards. Pam uses the no-slide cloth type of material between pots and pans and lids so nothing 'clangs'. I clear everything off the dining table/computer table. I usually leave the computer running so I can add a few 'Tweets' when we stop for a break.We clear off countertops, put bubble wrap in the pantry cupboards (and refrigerator if needed) and clean up the floor of the bedroom so the slides are not obstructed. We lock sliding doors and make sure all drawers and cupboards are closed. We close all windows too. We put away the computer printer and other things I can fit under the sofa.

Outside, we close the slides and lift the jacks. Our Tiffin Allegro Bus (the Roadrunner) came with a the metal rod to pull down three outside awnings. It also serves nicely to pull the orange plastic platforms I lower the jack onto.
I have to disconnect the 50 amp power cord, turn off the breaker, and remove the water hose. Once that is done I do a 'walk-around' to make sure all doors are closed and hoses are stowed. (The other day we saw a guy in the campground dragging his power cord when he went over to the dump station. I wish I had my camera!)

We don't hitch up usually until after we finish at the dump station. Once there, we take out and connect the sewer hose and connect the water hose which sprays the inside of the black tank to make sure no 'stuff' gets stuck inside.
We always empty the black tank first, then the gray tank. Once that is done we take the tow bar from its normal resting position on the back of the Roadrunner. Then we separate the arms into a fork which then attaches to the baseplate on the Honda for towing. We hook up the safety cables, the electric wire connection and put the lynch pins in place.

That is about all there is to it. If there is a problem with the sewer hose or an accident, a water hose is right their for clean up. I also carry a spray bottle full of Pine Sol and one with diluted bleach solution. Accidents happen...

It took us about a hour to get ready to roll and do our business at the dump station.

Once that was done, we hooked up the Honda and headed back toward Dallas and the Wednesday morning traffic. We went south toward Waco, Austin and San Antonio.

A few miles outside of Waco, my Pressure Pro tire pressure monitoring system showed the tires were a bit over the max air pressure, so I pulled over and let a few pounds out of each tire. It was easy and only took a few minutes. The readout we attached on the driver side of the cockpit beeps when the pressure gets above or below 12.5% of the programmed settings. It is a nice safety feature I am glad we purchased.

We successfully navigated through the busy San Antionio freeway traffic and found our exit to Fort Sam Houston. It was recommended to us by the camphosts (John and Maria) at Ellsworth AFB, SD (outside of Rapid City) when we there in August.

We arrived at Fort Sam Houston about 3:30 and ran over to the commissary to load up on groceries. We also had to get a smoke oomb to take care of some spiders and spiderlings we have seen in the Honda. Yikes! When did they join us?

The travel camp at Fort Sam Houston is really nice. All the sites have full hookups and drive-thru level pads.
We had a brief visit from Jim and Sandy who are fellow Tiffin owners. They spoke a bit about their new shades and their visit to the Tiffin factory in Red Bay, Alabama. We have an appointment there on December 3.

We also did a couple loads of wash at the laudromat 50 yards away. We heard from Linda, a relative of Pam's, who lives 40 miles away but we missed having dinner with her. We will have to get together next time we come through town. This is a place where we definitely want to spent some time. We have been to San Antonio before, but never in an RV.

That's it for today - we leave shortly for Mercedes/Progreso Texas for our dental appointments across the border on Friday. Thanks for checking out this post of the Roadrunner Chronicles!

Tires and Taxes

We will be leaving East Fork Park (Army Corps of Engineers recreation campground, east of Dallas) tomorrow so we are getting ready. Yesterday I attached a tire different adapter to my air compressor so I could finish filling my Roadrunner (RV) tires. The next thing was to plug in my Pressure Pro tire pressure monitoring system and check the readouts. It all worked like a champ! We feel much more comfortable knowing we can see when/if we have a problem with the tires. A blowout on this 38,000 lb rig would not be good. If a tire starts to loose pressure the Pressure Pro will give me quick notice things are not as they should be.

Posey and John are in a nearby campsite so we visited for a few minutes. They have been to South Texas often in their 10+ years of full-timing and Posey let us borrow some booklets and brochures. We are heading to that area tomorrow and now have some more good info on campgrounds and a local area map.

Next, we went to find the nearest H&R Block tax preparation office. It was about 8 miles away. We wanted some help with the latest correspondence we received from the IRS. We owned a house in Fairfax, VA. We also were part owners in our daughter's condo in Chesapeake, VA.

In tax year 2007, the IRS had a question on how much the mortgage interest and real estate taxes we paid. In order to reconstruct the situation I needed Form 1098 for both properties. We located one but not the other. We had to call the mortgage company to obtain the information which will take 10-15 business days.
Then we called the IRS and asked them to make sure we understood their issue and asked them to make a note of what we were doing to remedy the problem. Bottom line is that it looks like the IRS will be getting another check.

The good news is that since H&R Block did our forms that year and we had 'Peace of Mind' coverage, they may pay the amount we owe. Once we met with the tax advisor (Mike), he asked that we get a copy of or 2007 tax return and all supporting paperwork. We returned to the Roadrunner and located the documents and sat down with Mike again.

Our tax question will be re-visited once we get the other 1098 from the mortgage company. That will take a few weeks. We will be back in this area for Thanksgiving next month.

Later, we had dinner at the Roadrunner with Kelly (and Ed her dog). We watched another disappointing game of the Washington Redskins on Monday Night Football. (How messed up is that situation where the owner takes the play calling away from the head coach and brings in a 'consultant'? And a quarterback who is playing awful?)

And that was our Monday - thanks for viewing. If you haven't left a comment in a while on the blog, feel free to do so :)

Windy Cool Mexican Train Kind of Day

I am still working with my laptop making slow progress. I got the data backed up, then tried to go into the BIOS and check some things out and get Windows Vista SP2 uninstalled. I quickly got in over my head so I will resume my conversations with the Dell help desk and my friends in India.

We also took a look at the map and plotted our route out of here toward Mercedes, TX. We will be leaving next week to get some dental work done in Progresso, Mexico. Our friends Posey and John have an appointment too so we'll go with them.

I also made reservations at Holiday Park COE recreation area at Benbrook Lake near Fort Worth, TX for the week of Thanksgiving.

The rain finally stopped early in the afternoon, so we went for a walk around East Fork Park Army Corps of Engineers (COE) recreation area where we are staying.

It was still cool so Pam went back for her hat and I picked up a wind breaker. It was a nice 30 minute walk around the campground. It rained pretty hard for a couple of days so some of the campsites were almost under water.

In the late afternoon our new friends Gerri and Mike came over for dinner. In addition to Pam's great cooking, a highlight of the evening was learning how to play Mexican train. I think it is a common form of entertainment among RVers and something we have wanted to do for a long time.

It was a lot of fun and great evening! We enjoyed our time with Mike and Gerri. They are still at MCD Innovations getting new shades installed in their Dutchstar. We may see them again this Sunday at church. Hope so!

After they left we turned on the ACLS game and watched the Angels eek one out over the Yankees to extend the series. I would love to see a California / Philadelphia series, but the Angels have an uphill battle to make that happen.

Hope your day went as good as ours, and we thank you for viewing the Roadrunner Chronicles!