Woody Acres

The first time Dan & I came out to Woody Acres in Westport Wa was back in 1997. We were invited by our Friend Walt DeRosia. We have alot of fun venturing into town to watch the parade and Memorial Day festivities, washer toss games back at Woodys. Dancing to the music or playing cards in the clubhouse or singing around the fire in the gazebo. Everyone has fun with Woody & Brenda our Host & Hostess.
Many people in the group are from SRC which is a singles club, many have coupled up and married and still come out to visit Woody & Brenda.

Woody has two campouts Memorial Day & Labor Day
Great place to be and with great friends and they feed us too!! Boy Brenda can cook!

Betty Lee & Brenda McIntyre cooking up some good food. Brenda is our Hostess at Woody Acres













Walt DeRosia & Dan doing a great job cooking our steaks and Hamburgers












SRC singles group & friends of Woody's
having a great time and dodging the rain.

Lesson Learned

I learned a powerful lesson when I was in Bend Oregon.
One day Dan and I decided to go up to Lava Butte so I could get photos of the lava area. As a rule when we go some place we do not leave the awning out on the motorhome. I had two whirleygigs spinnning on each end of the awning. I bought them when Dan and I first started to camp together many years ago so I enjoyed the memories and the twirley colors as the wind would make them spin.

I took the whirleygigs off and placed them on top of each other on the picnic table and placed a large block on top to keep the wind from blowing them away. I rolled up the awning and off we went on a adventure. We enjoyed seeing all the area of Lava Butte and when we were walking around the top of the cinder cone it started to rain so we quickly headed to the car.
We had errands to do in town so off we went to Bend shopping and then when we returned back to camp I let the awning back out. I reached for the block on the picnic table to put the whirleygigs back on the awning.
Something was wrong......Didn't I put two there? There is only one and it is badly torn! Wouldn't I have noticed that when I took it down? Where was the other one? I'm perplexed, was someone watching me and then helped themseves to it while I was gone? Was it a kid? Why would someone take it?

I rode around on my bike in hopes to find it and to no avail I could find it. I came back with a heavy heart that it was gone . Dan said not to dwell on it but it was hard to not think about. Why would someone take it?

The next day maintenance was mowing around our campsites so I went out and put my satellite cord high so it would not get mowed over. After he left I went back out to put the cord back on the grass. When I laid it back down I suddenly saw some colored fabric.....was this the same material as my whirleygig? It seemed like it was and then I found a piece of plastic ring like on the whirleygig. Did the mower run the whirleygig over? How could it have gotten from the table to the ground? The block was still on the table on the other one!
I'm so confused!

Suddenly a large Gray Squirrel ran behind me and it has twigs and grass in it's mouth. I watched it as it ran past me and up the tall Pine tree behind us.
My mouth dropped open at what I saw next.......MY WHIRLEYGIG!!!

Mrs. Squirrel had been watching me like a hawk when I took the whirleygigs off the awning she decided she wanted more color in her decor of her huge nest!
So she had grabbed one , ran it up the tree and was trying to get the other one and ripped it!
She shredded the top loop and the 2nd and 3rd loop dropped to the ground so I got those back but they are ruined.

Dan and I were laughing big time after that!

Moral of this story.....Never think the worst of People and NEVER trust a Squirrel!!

Adventures in Bend Oregon

View looking up to the ranger station from the bottom inside of the cinder cone














sign post at the top of Lava Butte













As we were walking below on the trails along the lava flow area I came across a cache used for Geo-cacheing. It is like a Treasure hunt to find these with a hand held GPS finder. Inside is a notebook where you fill in your name and where you found it and a surprise and then you take the cache somewhere else put something different in it and hide it but tell others the direction to find it on the GPS.

Chipmunk running around the Lava Lands Visiters Center












close up of the lava rocks










trail around the lava area with Lava Butte above













Dan in the Lava flow area













Story about the flow 6,200 yrs ago

Sunrise at Sunriver Thousand Trails park











Old school house of the old West time village at the campground










Tree that had been carved by our friend Peter













Mist over the water next to the Swallows

Family Time In Reno

This is my Cousin Richard "Butch" and his wife Nancy. Richard kept teasing me that I did not remember him from my childhood so I made a promise I would keep in touch from now on so we weren't strangers.
Richard works at the Nugget Casino and Nancy works for the Silver Legacy


This is my Cousin Patsy, she gave me this photo of her that I love! I used to spend alot of time with her when I was a little girl. We are alot alike and she's fun to be around. I loved how she decorated her Condo and her cute dog . She made us a yummy dinner of Chicken Enchiladas....got the recipe! Hated to leave so soon. Only got to spend 2 days with her. We'll be back!!

Tuesday 16th we heard alot of fire trucks very close by so I ventured out on my bike to find out where they were. The managers were cleaning out the swimming pool and had spilled Clorine and were overcome by the fumes so the fire dept came and brought their Haz-Mat team to clean it up. When we saw the news cast on TV I had a brief part in the newscast because you could see me riding my bike over to see what was happening!

Rivers Edge RV Resort in Sparks Nevada, it was closest to Cousin Patsys house. Little did we know that we were right under the flight path for the Reno Airport!! This Alfa Gold was on the other side of us, see the plane over the middle above the word Alfa.


Snow could still be seen in the mountains with the Truckee river below. Back in 1997 the Truckee and Walker rivers flooded. The Rivers Edge Campground had to be evacuated.

Happy Times with Hapy Jac

Dan and I have a special Friend named John Champagne but to everyone who loves him like we do he is "HAPY JAC". We met Hapy Jac many moons ago when Dan and I were still living in Puyallup. We met in a chat room called C & J's Western Pub. C & J stood for Carolrose & Jenny. We used to have fun in this imaginary Bar with other people and it was like stepping into the old West. Carolrose and I would describe the Pub with the swinging doors on the front. Out front we have a area to tie up your horse or put them in the stable behind the Pub. Carolrose and I always made sure the tables were nice inside and I would put the checkered tablecloths on and Carolrose always had a rose in a small vase on all the tables. We had a huge bar that was 1800's style and Tony would be behind the bar ready to serve you whatever would quench your thirst
We had a dance floor and sawdust on the floors. We would turn on the jukebox and everyone would tell us their fav tunes. In the corner was my gift shop called " Miss Kitty's" .It was a fun place , Jefferson and Jaybrat were always getting into trouble and Hapy Jac and Rocky his racoon always tried to keep the peace so the pub would not get rowdy.

One time we all decided to get together in Sacramento and meet each other and we had a blast with all our imaginary Pub friends. Funny how we were so much different than our Pub characters. Several of us have remained friends through the years and thirteen years later Hapy Jac is still our special friend.

We were staying at the Walker River Resort in Smith Nevada. Hapy Jac lived over by the Holbrook Station outside Garnerville not too far away so it was a nice get together with him. Hapy Jac was my mentor to create a website. He is a webmaster. Hapy Jac created 2 DVD's and a CD for us. one of them was about the Flood of Reno and the Walker & Truckee rivers in 1997. So interesting because we were right next to these two rivers!

Pahrump Nevada

Dan and I stayed at the Preferred RV Resort behind Terrible's Casino. I went over to go swimming in their wonderful pool and who should I bump into but my Boomer Friends Jean & Barry Wilcox ( left: Jean Wilcox & Pat Collier).
Jean & Barry were staying over at their lot at the Escapee Park close by and had a membership to the Preferred campground and would come use the pool. The next day Dan and I went over and found Friends Pat ( right: Pat Collier & Shirley Grillo)& Fred Collier. We had fun going to the casinos and eating lots of yummies.
Got to meet Ralph & Shirley Grillo who were good friends of Barry & Jean's.



Pat Collier & Shirley Grillo
I found out just how talented Jean & Shirley are. Jean loves to Bead, sew ,quilt and redid the inside of her 5th wheel. Shirley is also a seamstress and loves to crochet.





Last time we came to the Preferred RV park they did not have this beautiful desert garden. It was so peaceful being around it and seeing all the different plants and fish.

Laughlin Nevada

This is a night time view of our motorhome and looking across the river to Laughlin. Ours has the blue handle by the door, Jeep in front.








Laughlin was started by Don Laughlin in 1966 and thrives to be one of the best casino's next to the Colorado river. It all started with a small motel and 6 acres of riverfront property. When it became a casino and had a post office the town then became Laughlin after Don Laughlin.







Now the casino has 1,405 rooms and suites in two towers.
It even has it's own 34 lane state of the the art Brunswick bowling center.
Celebrity Theatre that will hold 1,000 guests
Huge dance hall , Movie theatre, game arcade for the kids,
post office, waverunner rentals, Beauty salon, 5 Restaurants, 900 full hookup sites for RV's and MORE!
Mr. Laughlin put up $3.5 million to build the Laughlin Bridge to make access to Bullhead City. He also put up $9 million on flood control and planning for the Laughlin-Bullhead City airport. He has done alot of things to help the community and is the only family owned Casino.






Bet you can't guess which Casino this sign was on

Beautiful view of the Colorado river from the Laughlin side












river boat tour and Jet skis Galore


This is the clubhouse and Pool area at the Ridgeview RV Resort







The pool felt so good being 102 degrees out



Pool area overlooked Laughlin, you could see planes landing a short distance away

On the Road Again

Well folks we are on the road again, seems so strange after being in Yuma for 51 days. WOW 51...think that is the longest we have stayed put in one place other than when I was a Ranger up at Cascade a Leisure Time park in Wa a few years ago. We also did the shortest drive in one day from Ken Havens lot to our new lot...a whopping 1 mile!

We miss the Purr~fect Retreat already! Cats sure miss being outside in their own yard all the time. Never thought I'd say this but I miss the Mourning Doves waking me up with their cooing. I also miss all the elbow room we had to ourselves.
The journey to Bullhead City and Puhrump was interesting I was surprised at how Green the desert was with long stretches of road that could be seen for miles and miles. Saguaro's were blooming on top and looked pretty. I never realized how beautiful the desert is till I saw it blooming in the Spring time.
I saw lots of flowering shrubs like this along the way

Houston we have contact!

Our next door neighbor's
Earl Estes our computer Guru










Sandy Estes always smiling and puttering in her garden
























Dan helping Earl put up the new awning over his car

Hooray the new thermostat arrived by UPS and Dan got it all wired up and working again. Aaaaah! Feeling cool air again was such a wonderful feeling!
Dealing with the high temps was a challenge but we got through it great. Cats were not thrilled we dunked them in some water on Monday but felt cooler afterwards. Too bad they don't just shake the water off, instead they have to lick every single hair back into place!
We survived the hot weather with the use of Sandy & Earl Estes Fan who live next door. They are a fun couple , we celebrated having the air-conditioning working again and Cinco de Mayo with Margaritas and munchies.

Rain & Cold WANTED

Well folks, some people are smarter than the average Bear. Most folks left Yuma AZ before it started to get toasty hot down here. We thought, " hey it's only in the 80's we can deal with that". Well the 80's hit to 100 degrees yesterday and of all days our Air-conditioner went belly up!! Our new thermostat will not arrive till Thursday!! Groan!!!
Can't run the air-conditioner or basement fan.
Yesterday we had to dunk the cats to cool them off ( they were not thrilled about that, Dogs love water but cats don't!) and I kept standing under the water hose outside to keep cool.
RV was 97 degrees inside. Dan went down and bought more silver insulation material to put in the windows. We had lots of small fans going but no relief! Finally the sun went down and the temps dropped and a cooler breeze came through but we could not cool down the RV with all the windows open through the night till early this morning. It is 7:13 A.M. it is 70 degrees outside already!

I cat napped outside on my makeshift bed of pillows on the patio till midnight , boy if I had a inflatable bed I would have slept outside all night! I liked looking up at the stars and looking at the Big Dipper. The breeze felt good!
Silver sunscreens are back up on the windows, doors and windows closed earlier and fans on to keep us cool. Hopefully this works and it is suppose to be cooler today...hopefully.