Disconnected...This covers a wide span of time

Not a baseball photo, you take what you can get.

This was written before our son Scott passed away and I have decided to leave it as is. The next blog will jump over another long span of time and catch us up to the present.

This covers a wide span of timeThis blog post should really be two in one. We didn't have internet service for months while in the northwest, so what we have here is really old and just part of the junket. I will quickly add the next episode to get us up to speed, but no promises.   On the fast track from Las Vegas to La Junta, Colorado and Denver to Salt Lake City, then on up to the coastal mountains of the Oregon's Pacific coast where we've been settled in to a cozy spot in Thousand Trails Pacific City campground overlooking the sea. It's been a wild ride getting here, though! (Bear in mind this was originally written in Oregon last spring, June, 2019.

Las Vegas had been colder than we expected but the trip up to La Junta, CO was colder yet. Our son Scott and his family live there and our grandson Wyatt was to play baseball the next day. My old truck driving ways kicked in and I drove most of the trip without stopping except for fuel. I'm sure both of my sons who are truck drivers themselves are laughing at this, but we got there plenty early only to learn the game was cancelled due a nasty storm.

Granddaughter Kaylah with Organic Chem Degree!

Our stay in La Junta was wonderful and restful. They had room for our rig right next to their widened driveway and called an electrician to install 30 amp service. so all we lacked was sewer. We can go about a week in between dumps in normal conditions and longer if we're careful. 

Our daughter-in-law is responsible for elder care, as well as many social services and functions in La Junta and she treated us to a marvelous Mother's Day Brunch she organizes every year. It was a beautiful time and a blessed beginning of a wonderful week culminating with a granddaughter's graduation with her B.S. in Organic Chemistry. So proud of that girl!!! But we couldn't hang around to celebrate because...

Meet Mr. and Mrs. Jolly! 

A great granddaughter was to be married the very next day, 550 MILES AWAY! She and her new husband are Mormons and were wed in the Salt Lake Temple. Only qualified members are allowed in the Temple proper, so many attendees waited outside to greet the newlywed couple as they emerged from the building. 

Four generations.  

A delightful reception was held later in the day. The bride was beautiful and the groom handsome, it was a lovely party and we were tired out of our minds from having driven straight through in a raging storm that forced me to stop for a while because the snow was so heavy I couldn't see! Yes, I said snow, and lots of it. I was coming into SLC from the east when a freak storm hit, HARD!
We parked in a field out back of Norman our oldest son's house for a week, giving us time to see  enjoying our family so much. We have many relatives in the SLC area and got to see most of them. But all too soon, it was time to head to Oregon. The weather continued to be frosty but no blizzards to fight.

How nice to have breakfast with our talented and beautiful granddaughter Rio.

I love this picture, if I do say so myself.

The drive up to Pacific City was stunning. I love the Columbia River and was pleased to get a good shot of the train. We stopped and spent the night at a casino where they have a very nice RV/Truck lot. Across the street was a junk yard of sorts where I found a Nash Ambassador exactly like the first car I ever owned, even the same color albeit a bit rusty.

Many casinos have nice, safe lots and allow parking for one to several nights.

An aged twin to my first ever car.

We've been here in Oregon three weeks and it's time to move north to Chahalis, Washington for a three weeks stay with Thousand Trails there. It has been a wonderful stay except for electrical problems that new batteries didn't even cure. We bought deep cycle marine batteries and we have a portable solar charger, but the batteries either do not hold a charge or are not being charged. Isn long as we're plugged into shore power or running down the road, we're fine, but other than that, we have nothing.

Our site was quite small and way up on the mountain overlooking the Pacific. Lovely, but cold and often rainy.

Another problem is medical care. I have been trying to get in to see a pain doctor with no luck at all. No doctor of any sort will see me as soon as I say I have pain issues. I've been calling ahead to try to find care in our next stop... Praying someone can help. But, so far, no luck there, either. Yet, you can buy all the weed you want in both states!

This rig was stuck way out toward the water and the tide was coming in fast. The tow truck had quite a struggle!

Someone commented on a previous blog post that we weren't truly living full time on the road if we were using campgrounds much of the time. Well, it's all relative. We consider ourselves on the road but don't really mind if others have a DIFFERENT DEFINITION. We aren't here to prove anything, just living life the way we like it.

Las Vegas and Beyond

As we continued our trek from Orlando to Las Vegas for Richard to have a third eye surgery since he suffered a detached retina, we were constantly amazed at the mercy and grace of our Father in Heaven. Time after time, we were spared problems of weather and the inconvenience and costliness of breakdowns. 

We had a blessed Hanukkah at home, downtown, and at our synagog LevHaShem.

Richard with a giant Menorah in Downtown Las Vegas.

Once in Vegas, we checked into the Thousand Trails Membership Campground where we stay free for 21 days at a time. It was quite crowded with not even enough room between rigs to open the awnings, but  the people were amazingly friendly and helpful. We were in Vegas from October til May alternating three free weeks of camp with one paid week at Kings Row, which I must say was rather dated, but inexpensive and had roomy spaces... 

Richard sharing some cuddle time with Jasper shortly before Jasper succumbed to cancer.

We had volunteered here at the Lake Meade Nat'l. Recreation Area in the 2012-13 season and the 2013-14 season, so our recent stay was like a homecoming. During our first stay we adopted our dog Bingo from the Animal Foundation, and since our 25-year old cat succumbed to cancer while we were in Vegas this time, and we were all lonely, Bingo, Richard and I, so we adopted another furry family member, Baby Girl. She is elderly and had been abused but is learning that people can be loving and gentle. 

Baby Girl's contented face. She's not pretty, but she's sweet as can be.

The VA linked Richard up with Dr. Matthew Pezda, one of the leading retina surgeons in the country, and the surgery seemed to go well... however, as before, there was a bleeding problem which later proved to cause blindness in the center of vision. So, in spite of a six-month convalescence, he has peripheral vision in his right eye, but no central vision. 

Sharing a Passover table with old friends and new.

In spite of the disappointing results, our stay was greatly blessed. Especially dear was returning to our Las Vegas synagog Lev HaShem. And it was hardest to leave these precious souls we have loved so long. At least we did get to share both Hanukkah and Passover with them.

Real snow in a town of wonderful fake scenes.

We always try to poke around any place we visit and to experience it's uniqueness. We  visited  car show, trains, The Strip, some colorful monoliths in the desert, etc. Sometimes there are surprises, like the record-breaking snowfall that led local school systems to cancel classes for a "Snow Day!" 

My father Edgar Snider worked on this. It was called the Hoover Dam back then.

We are especially fond of the Lake Meade area where my Dad lived and worked for a time and where we volunteered.

A stop on our way to Soledad Canyon at the NV-CA state line.

Thousand Trails (where we stay free) at Soledad Canyon, CA

  

Exploring in California on my "Harley."

In the midst of our Vegas stay, we went to California for a month. We had plenty of time to explore around Soledad Canyon. It's such a blessing to have this scooter our kids got together and bought me.

While Medicare offers to provide a free "Health Coach" and other supportive services most of us don't need, they no longer seem to care if people need assistive mobility. 

We took a 5-day family cruise out of Long Beach, CA and it was wonderful!

While there, we sailed out of Long Beach. So wonderful to see so many loved ones. 

Phony anniversary prank.

As usual, our kids know how to have a good time. One daughter arranged for us all to dine together at two large adjacent tables. One night most of them decided to prank the eldest brother and his wife by telling the wait staff it was their anniversary (It wan't) And everyone had a great laugh. Note the big bow the staff made for our son.

Richard takes the little dogs on a walk at Lake Meade while our friends, the pros clean our motorhome.

We were especially blessed by special friends before we left. A therapeutic message and a professional house cleaning job made things so much easier for us. Sadly, we did not get such good service from the man we paid to clean the exterior of the motorhome. Perhaps we shouldn't have let him know we were leaving town, LOL

Heading northeast...

So now we are off to Colorado for a graduation and then to Utah for a wedding. The catch? These two. blessed events are one day and 550 miles apart.