A Giant Cinnamon Roll And Moving Day To Blaine, WA

Saturday, April 26th, was moving day. But before the drive, we had to visit the Maltby Cafe (www.maltbycafe.com). This place is rumored to have the world's biggest cinnamon roll.

The cafe is located on our way to my Son's house in Bothell. The actual address is 8809 Maltby Rd, Snohomish, WA 98296.

This is a pretty neat little place. Very popular. And yes... a BIG yummy cinnamon roll.

Then we packed up and made our 104 mile drive to the Beachwood Resort in Blaine, WA. This is a KM (www.kmresorts.com) park located on Birch Bay, just 7 miles from the Canadian boarder.

It was a nice easy travel day north on Interstate 5. We did hit some stop and go traffic near Mount Vernon because the famous tulip festival is going on in the area (www.tulipfestival.org).

Also encountered a slow spot near Ferndale, WA. A nasty wreck. Nasty! I'm sure a fatality or two happened there. Some people are in such a hurry these days.

In the last couple of parks, we have been parked in spots that were very wooded, dark and wet. At this park, we opted for a spot in the open for a change.

The sun was out and the weather is warming up. Temps reaching close to 60.

We are spending a few days here before the Good Sam rally in Lynden, WA this weekend. We are going through 'stuff' again, purging and making piles to take to Goodwill. It is always a good feeling to lighten the load and become more organized. A continuing process for RVers.

It is nice to have good weather and down time to catch up on a few tasks.

I have also updated our web site at www.thefergs.com with the Ferg's RVer's Budget. I think it turned out very well. Here is more options and things to think about for full time RVers and future RVers in their plans to change their life.

A direct link is here ... http://www.thefergs.com/1/stats/stats.html

Next update at the Good Sam rally in Lynden.

We Finally Got Our Mail...and Tested Our Health Insurance Too.

After having our mail sent from Box Elder, SD on April 10th, by Americas Mailbox, it finally reached us here in Monroe, WA. The priority 3 day mail only took 13 days. This is the only time we have had an issue in over a year with them. Of course, it's not their fault. The shipping label wasn't damaged, so I have to blame the USPS. Must have got on the wrong conveyor belt... twice! Sorting gremlins!

We were expecting our new health insurance ID cards from Avera Health, out of Souix Falls, SD. And we got them. This new health insurance, we bought through the Healthcare.gov website. Right off the bat, I looked at the back of our cards for the special Logo of PHCS.

There it was.

That verifies that we can receive routine care from thousands of medical facillities through out the US, at the In-network rate. That was the big stickler for RVers getting insurance out of South Dakota.
We then headed over to Safeway, presented our new ID cards and set up our pharmacy accounts. I needed a prescription right away. I had only 3 of my blood pressure pills left from when we had our old insurance last year. Safeway contacted Express Scripts and had my prescriptions transferred to them.

They gave me a 90 day supply..... for free! Regularly priced at $14.99. Free prescriptions comes with the new insurance (new Obamacare rules). Then the pharmacist asked if we have had our Shingles vaccine. She checked and said it was at no cost to us through our insurance if we wanted to get them. So we got shot! The cost usually was $223.99 each! Wow!

They also said Donna's doctor was faxing her prescriptions in and she had a couple coming. We picked them up the next day. Two bottles, each a 90 day supply. One was $60.99, and the other was $444.99! And we received them at no charge. This insurance is really working out for us. We pay $317.37 per month and have a $2500.00 deductible each. We are going to schedule our annual physicals with our old doctor in Wenatchee soon...also at no charge.

I love it when things work out.

I also have been working on fine tuning our full timer RVers budget. By using examples from various sources around the internet, Dave Ramsey's envelope method, and our experiences, I have a great RVers finance plan I would like to share. Details will be posted on our web site at www.thefergs.com, and on our blog.

We will be heading up near the Canadian boarder in the next day or so. Meanwhile... we are enjoying our Grandsons here in wet, soggy, western Washington.

Loving life

Allen & Donna

A Flat Tire, Mail Woes, and Easter

I took my truck in for it's first service, an oil change. I chose a Chevy dealer in Issaquah, WA. I have 2 years of maint. that came with the truck. I had just over 7,000 miles on it and the display said the oil life was at 8 percent. Time to see how the 'free' maintenance plan works.

I was at the dealership at 8:30 AM for my appointment. They not only changed the oil and filter, but checked all fluid levels, brakes, tire rotation and pressure.... all for free. Kinda!

They found in my driver's side rear tire, a big staple....in the sidewall!! And it was leaking air. Not free! 

I normally don't have my TPMS turned on unless I am towing and it wasn't flat at all. I must have picked it up on the way to the dealer. Good thing I wasn't towing. And I guess it is another good reason to pull with a dually.  7000 miles on the tires and I now have an unrepairable tire. Crap!

They put on my spare and I told them I would get it replaced. I ordered a Michelin LTX A/T2 LT265/70R18 becuse they didn't carry that tire in stock. A few days later they installed it. $311.00!

It's only money....

I have been having a heck of a time with the USPS. I had my mail sent from Americas Mailbox in Box Elder, South Dakota, having it sent to General Delivery in Ellensburg, WA. It left SD on the 10th. 12 days ago!

While in Ellensburg, we checked both days and it wasn't there. They tracked it and it was in Dallas, Texas for some crazy reason. We had to move on so the Postmaster there said he would forward it to Monroe, WA as soon as it arrived. He said it finally did and forwarded it on the 17th. After 5 days, still nothing. I checked the tracking numbers and it made it to Seattle from Yakima, but for some reason instead of continuing on to Monroe, it went back to Yakima.   **** They are so sorry, and are working on it *****

Arrrrggggg!!!!

But, Easter time was great. We took our Grandson Roman to the mall and visited the Build-A-Bear store for Roman's Easter gift from Nana and Papa. He picked out a cool puppy.

He got him stuffed, with a heart and all. Then Nana helped fluff him up Rome picked out a name... Boomer. How cool it that?

He even picked out a feeding dish and got a birth certificate for Boomer as we left.

We went to Tim and Shannon's house that Easter morning and spent the day with them. It was Ryker's first Easter.

The Easter bunny had brought him a basket full of goodies, and even hid some outside.
The hunt!

I think someone is having as much fun as Roman!

And some bubble time too.

Then for some family Easter pictures.

The next day we had Roman spend the night at Nana and Papa's RV. We watched a couple of movies... Monster's University and The Wizard Of Oz. And played outside at the park.

At the playground in the RV park.

Nana took him through the Mini-golf area. Just walking through today.

And I had to add a couple of pictures of some strange things we have seen at this park since we have been here.

I know that Howard & Linda at www.rv-dreams.com, found a good deal on getting your RV roof re-sealed. But here is an alternative.

Kinda strange... don't ya think!

Now these folks pulled their class C motorhome in and took some extra time to get setup.

I suppose so!

Yep.... kinda strange!

Each to their own.

Fall City to Ellensburg to Monroe, WA

Monday, the 14th, we headed over the mountains

to a Good Sam Staff campout and meeting.

We have been at the Tall Chief RV Resort in Fall City for the last 6 days and have been visiting Tim, Shannon, and our grandsons Rome and Ryker each day, doing some good catching up.

We then drove the 100 miles over Snoqualmie Pass on I 90 to E & J RV Park in Ellensburg, WA. A good centrally located park for everyone to meet.

We found a nice spot next to my brother Jim & Eileen.

The campout was for the Washington State Good Sam staff to get together, do some planning for some up and coming events, and so Donna could hand over all 50 green vests that she had made. Everyone got their new vests and some new Good Sam shirts (our new staff uniforms colors).

We had meetings each day, and played some games in the evenings. We played bean bag baseball (the guys won), had a nice big potluck, and we played a new (to us) game called 'Left, Right, Center'.

Wednesday, we drove back over the pass to Monroe, WA where we checked into the Thunderbird RV Park.

It is a Thousand Trails park that we have stayed at several times. It is pretty close to Tim & Shannon's house. We will be here 10 more days.

Visiting Our Son & Family

While at the Tall Chief in Fall City, we have been driving into Bothell everyday and spending time with Tim & Shannon & the boys. It is a 28 mile drive each way, and sometimes the traffic sucks. But are having some great times together.

Ryker is 5 months now.

Rome , goofing around.

We took Rome back to the RV one day and he spent the night with us.

First on the agenda was a campfire.

And some mores.....S'mores!!!

Donna loves making them too.

Then Rome and I explored the park. And played.

And golfed.

Grama Nanna and Rome making cookies. Choco-Scotch cookies!

Rumble Bunny watched...

Rome played with some of my toys.

And we watched a couple of movies.

The Croods and Despicable Me 2.

Yes.... a good visit.

Tomorrow, moving day to Ellensburg, WA.