Easter Weekend

We are having company this Easter weekend. Our daughter Kim is finishing her week with us, and our oldest daughter, Candy, with her friend Josh, along with her son (our Grandson) Chase will spend the weekend with us.

The Wenatchee Confluence State Park is a really nice clean park. And the weather this weekend couldn't have been better. Sunny, clear, and temps in the 70s.

We are set up in a great spot.

Our Gnome (Fergizmo) was happy.

When Candy, Josh and Chase arrived, they set up a tent for themselves.

I think Chase was a bit tired...don't ya think?

These two recliners are what we replaced the factory chairs that came with the rig.

The girls did a great job of preparing the Easter meal. Here is Donna and Candy working in the kitchen.

It wasn't too bad with all six of us inside for the meal.

Then some posing for some pictures.

Donna and me.

Here is Josh, Candy, Donna and Chase.

Our good friends Bruce and Carol even stopped by to visit.

We all went to Easter services at our church (Eastmont Community Free Methodist Church).
Then they all headed out and we were left alone. It was a very good visit. Time to clean house,

Late that afternoon, we visited our other Grandson Erik, and his son Oli. We took some Easter gifts to them. Oli got a play house.  Here is (Great Grandma) Donna playing with Oli.

It was a busy but wonderful weekend.

Now back to relaxing ... in our home on wheels.

;)

Move To Wenatchee Confluence State Park

After work on Wednesday, I 43 miles drove back to the Thousand Trails preserve in Leavenworth, and we proceeded to pack up and prepare to move. This park isn't quite ready for visitors this year. They have a lot of clean up to do after the big windstorm.

We drove 47 miles to the Wenatchee Confluence State Park. We arrived and were able to get set up before dark. It is $29.00 a night, but this is a nice park.

It is also about a half a mile to where I work. I can walk to work.

We will be here till April 4th.

Then back out to the Thousand Trails at Crescent Bar.

A Move To The Forest.

I took Tuesday off since this is a 'move day'. I am working four 10 hour days so I will work Friday to make up the day. Kim, our Daughter is with is for a week. She is between quarters at Eastern Washington University. A little crowded in the rig, but no problems. We packed up and drove the 73 miles to the Thousand Trails preserve just beyond Leavenworth located in the Lake Wenatchee area. This area had a huge windstorm a week or so ago and lots of trees were blown down. This is a thickly forested area and downed trees were everywhere. You couldn't drive 50 feet without passing many trees that had to be cut with chainsaws to clear the roads. These are trees as big as 2 feet in diameter. And there is still snow everywhere.

We got checked in at the security station. No charge for our 9 day stay because we are TT members.

There are 276 campsites here and I think only 10 or so have been cleared of trees that have been blown over. They directed us to an accessible area to choose a spot. We had our choice of a group of 4 sites. We picked our way along all the downed trees to spot 276 close to a lake.

This would be a great spot IF there was no snow, we were closer to the lodge (for the WiFi), and there was room to wander around without running in to blocked areas. There was another 5th wheel 3 spots down. That's all that was in this area. I also could not get a satellite signal for TV due to the thick trees.

Maybe we won't be staying here after all. They are continually logging all the downed trees out of here, but I am thinking we may need to try this park at a later date.

Tonight we will weigh our options and decide.

More Preparation (More toys)

As June 3 approaches, we are still looking ahead as to what we may need as full time RVers. Here are a few of the latest items we picked up.

Internet.
Donna has an Iphone 5 and I have a Samsung Galaxy S3. We each have internet access via our smartphones (4 gig/month) and will access wifi at our campgrounds when possible. I picked up a Cradlepoint MBR95 router, a Bullet2 2.4 Ghz 100 mW access point, a Power-Over-Ethernet power supply, and a 15 db Omni directional antenna. I got the router from the 3g Store, and the antenna assembly from Streakwave. Now we can pull in the weakest of wifi signals. Works great!

Cradlepoint MBR95

Bullet2

Onmi Antenna

 

 

POE

 

 

 

 

 

Now for the times we need connectivity and no WiFi. To feed our Ipad, 2 netbook computers and my laptop, I picked up the Verizon Jetpack 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot MiFi 4620LE. We have found only I area that it didn't work. This also works great.

 

With our new (er) 5th wheel, our tires are G rated and needs to be aired up to 110 pounds instead of the 80 that our old Cameo had to have. So I picked up a bigger air compressor from Sears. It was recommended by RV Dreams and Gypsy Journal. Good to 150 PSI.

I picked up these cool valve stem extensions for my truck dually tires so They can be aired up with out standing on your head.

And another must have is an inflatable sport kayak. We picked up the SE-270 from InflatableBoats4Less.com. Recommended by many.



 And finally, a pickup bed cover for the truck. This rolls up when towing, and has Velcro along each side to seal up your load. Looks good and works like a pro. It is a TonnoPro LoRoll Tonneau Cover from RealTruck.com.

Rolls up when towing.

Seals up great.

We are moving to another Thousand Trails Preserve located in Leavenworth, WA in a few days. Just kicken back for now.

Later....

A Relaxing Weekend

A weekend with nothing to do but relax. This must be a pre-curser to my retirement on June 3rd.
Donna has been working daily to get all our stuff organized and stowed away. It is starting to look like home.

Did you notice all the posted notes on all the cabinets?

Until we get used to where everything is. Pretty cool huh?

My hobby is genealogy. As long as I have internet access, I am still discovering my roots. We can't wait to actually visit some of our families old stompin' grounds. 

With nothing pressing going on this weekend, I finally have time to get some stuff done around our home. I just set up our external antenna so we can pick up the park WiFi better. I use a Bullet antenna and a Cradlepoint 95 router.

The weather is great today and we have the awning out for the first time since we have bought this RV.

I even am able to put our 'Ferg' sign out.

We really have a great spot in this park.

We are located right along the mighty Columbia River.

Anyone want to go hot tubbing tonight?

It is not quite ready yet. We can't wait till they get it open. It is going to feel great. That's our rig off in the distance.

We are using our Splendid washer/dryer combo unit while we are here and today is a great day to dry some laundry outside. Donna says it always makes the laundry smell fresh when dried outdoors.

While walking around today, we found a site that we want to get into on our next visit. This site has 50 amp service, and a killer view of the Columbia River.

This is THE LIFE!!!!!!!

:)