Camp Monaco...

 
 
Here’s where we are…Camp Monaco! Camp Monaco is in Harrisburg, OR where one of the service centers for Monaco Coach is located. It’s about 12 miles from the factory in Coburg. We made this appointment in September 2005. We probably could have gotten in sooner, but there were holidays and other commitments that got in the way!

We had several issues that needed to be corrected but that is pretty typical of a new motorhome, especially considering that as you drive down the road in one of these it’s like a virtual earthquake! Camp Monaco can actually be fun (at least for me)! Of course, there’s bad along with the good! The bad…you have to be up and have your coach “road ready” (slides in, unplugged, unhooked…ready to go) at 7:30 each morning! Ugh! For those that know me…I’m NOT a morning person! The bad…you can’t have your home ‘set-up” unless you want to put it up and take it down every single day. The good…your motorhome gets all the bugs fixed. The good…they keep you well entertained! The bad (according to Don)…I get new ideas for things to spend $$ on! Barbara is the concierge, if you will. She does a great job arranging for us to do different crafts each day. While at Camp Monaco I made picture frames (2), bracelets (3), earrings (4), note cards using several techniques (4 or 5), also decorated a plate for Easter and a clay pot! I think there was something else, but off hand, I don’t remember! She also has lunches and potlucks, movies, cards (where you can win prizes – I won twice!) and on occasion a margarita party or two!  While there we had polish dogs and chili, soup, a Valentine’s Day potluck, root beer floats, margarita cake and a few other things! Yummy and fun! There are also seminars for the guys and various “vendors” for the ladies! We had Mary Kay and Tupperware parties while there.

You also meet a lot of nice people from the Monaco employees to the other Monaco coach owners (Monaco also owns some other “brands” such as Beaver, Safari, Holiday Rambler, etc.) While there we met some “new” friends and ran across “old” friends! You really find out what a small world it is…we ran into acquaintances Nick and Joann Backer in Bismarck, ND (knew them from our So. Calif. days). They parked RIGHT NEXT to us! Also had their appointment the same time as we did! Had a few meals out with them and got to know Joann much better! Met some new friends, Jerri and Lloyd Wood who are also from So. Calif. They were just moving into their new coach. Had a great time crafting with Joann and Jerri! Joann kept telling us that she was craft challenged! She found several crafts that really appealed to her! She and Jerri were so funny together! We also had a great time when we went over to Mike & Lucy Bassett’s house (Mike was our salesman and now also our friend). They have an incredible house about 30 minutes away. Lucy is an incredible cook and a very talented lady! Enjoyed a night out when we reciprocated with dinner at the Outfitters, a local hang-out in Harrisburg! It seems like we ate out a lot because we also had dinner out at “Outback Steakhouse” with Jerri, Lloyd, Nick, Joann and also Jerry and Sue Truelove! That was another fun evening! We were treated to our last night in Harrisburg, to a dinner in Jerri and Lloyd’s new motorhome! Another fun evening…but then again…I can’t think of any evening with Monaco friends that hasn’t been fun!

The other “bad” thing about Camp Monaco is when you leave or those friends you meet leave. The atmosphere is always changing with the coming and going of different people and personalities.

An Unexpected Bonus!

Since we weren't able to get a campsite in Arizona, we came back to So. Calif. It turned into an unexpected bonus for us as we were able to attend our granddaughter, Allison's 6th birthday party just days before we were leaving for Oregon! I don't know who was more excited, Allison or I! Another unexpected bonus was getting to see Allison's first lost tooth! She was so excited to show us both her tooth (she saved it instead of leaving it for the tooth fairy...another story) and the space it used to occupy! :-) She was so cute! She asked us to call her "6 year old" instead of Allison, but just for the day! Her party was held at a place called "My Gym" and I think she had a wonderful time! It's a great place to have a party...I know that the kids go home very tired and ready for bed! Allison went home, opened up all her gifts and then she was ready for bed! She told me it was one of the best birthdays she has had! I enjoyed the time watching her and playing with our grandson, Brian. We had missed his first birthday when we were waiting for a radiator. That's the biggest downfall to being a full-timer, we can't always be where we want to be, when we want to be, as fast as we would like! You can only cover so many miles a day! We had a great day spending time with our grandchildren and taking lots of pictures!

Quartzsite, AZ - AKA The Dust Bowl

This was our first time in Quartzsite…we had heard many things about it, but until you experience it for yourself – you haven’t DONE Quartzsite!

We met up with our friends from the GS Kountry Kampers at a campout the weekend prior to going to Quartzsite, in Banning, CA. On Sunday, there were 7 couples that caravanned from Banning to Quartzsite. Soon after crossing the border into AZ we stopped for fuel and at that point, we left the caravan. We were parking with friends from our MCOA (Monaco Coach Owners Association) group in another location. Ironically, we were probably less than 1/8 mile from each other and we walked past “their camp sites” every time we went to the RV show tent, Rice Ranch, or the other shopping areas of Quartzsite!

You know you’re in for an adventure as soon as you “crest the hill” coming into Quartzsite and the surrounding areas. There are motorhomes, trailers and RV’s of every size, shape, and vintage…some even home-made…parked anywhere and everywhere in the desert, in between the cactus! It’s really quite a site! There are a few companies that take aerial shots just to show you how amazing it is!

Anyhow, once we got off the Interstate we were greeted over our FRS radio by our wagon-leader, Lew Anderson! Don was getting a little panicky about just pulling off into the desert, so Lew actually met us at the ranger station! Sure eased Don’s mind! We paid our $$, unhooked the car and Lew led us into our “site”! We were greeted by Dottie (Lew's wife), Ostrander’s, Bahnson’s, Roe’s, Morrison’s and Rea’s. Clarkson’s joined us a few days later. Once we arrived, got set-up and had our chairs out the fun began! We had plenty of shopping at the different venues in and around the desert! There are swap meet type booths set up just about everywhere you look! I think you could find just about anything your heart desired from food, jewelry, clothing, tools, RV based products, etc., etc., etc.! The ladies in the group had fun finding all three of the craft stores that are in Quartzsite and had a few “mini” classes on their own! We also found the local grocery stores as well! The men sat around drinking beer and $2 Buck Chuck (a favorite of theirs) and solving all the problems of the world and of course discussing (and disecting) our Monaco products! Lew became our own resident barber! The women kept the men fed with hors devours and their regular meals…some shared and some on our own. Don talked the group into getting $1 burgers one night! $20 fed a lot of people with some pretty good hamburgers that came with buns and grilled onions. We supplemented them with condiments, cheese, chips, and of course, dessert! We enjoyed many toasty nights by the camp fire with plenty of wood, marshmallows and peanuts! Dottie likes hers burned to a crisp (I think she likes to see them catch on fire) where I like mine nice and evenly browned! Forgot to mention we had a potluck one night where Linda Clarkson shared some of her yummy chili! It was so good that she had won a chili cooking contest with it (she says one of her secrets is buffalo)! We also had some really yummy macaroni and cheese that Glenda Roe made! Lots of great hors devours and food - we never went hungry, that’s for sure! Seems campers of every kind do plenty of eating!

Even though we were in the middle of the desert, we had several visitors! My mom, sister, Kathy and her husband, Jon came to Quartzsite on Saturday to experience Quartzsite. Bill & Kathy Corroum, new MCOA friends that “rescued” us while we were in AR came over (they were parked elsewhere in Quartzsite) and a friend of mine from an online, tole painting list, Robin Cramer and her husband, Steve also stopped by! It was fun seeing friends in the middle of nowhere! It makes you realize just what a small world we really live in!

Don and I were going to stay in AZ for another week or so before beginning our trek to Oregon, but it wasn’t to be…there were no reservations available, so we headed back to Nuevo, our “holiday destination”! I thought it was kind of sad as one by one, each of us headed off in different directions and by the following Sunday, we all packed up and headed off for new adventures! We had a lot of fun with our MCOA friends and look forward to meeting up with all of them again! Once back in Nuevo I spent about 4 hours cleaning the dirt and the dust that seemed to find it's way just about everywhere in the coach! Remind me about that next year when we once again think about going to Quartzsite! :-)

Here we are in 2006!

The holidays are over, the Christmas decorations are put away and now we are into a brand new year! For us, it's started out with a BANG! Don had knee surgery last Friday...what a way to start out the new year! :-) It had been bothering him since we were in the mid-west, don't remember exactly where it began to bother him. A trip to the doctor once we arrived in Arkansas, gave him temporary relief. By the time we had reached sunny, So. California, it was time to see our long-time doctor. An MRI showed a torn meniscus and a large ganglion cyst. Another trip to our doctor to get the results and then some quick finagling to get in and get it taken care of! We saw our doctor on Tuesday, they referred us to an orthopedic doctor, they managed to squeeze us in the same day (you just have to explain that you travel for a living) and that same day we went to the hospital for all the pre-admit stuff! No time to back out or get too nervous by not having much time in between!

We were able to enjoy our holidays with family and friends, spending the week before Christmas helping my sister get ready for her wedding (don't ask...we've already told her she was crazy for planning a weddng at the time of year)! We spent Christmas with our family in Nuevo, ran off to Aguanga (Outdoor Resorts) to spend New Year's with some of our friends that own lots there and then off to the Rose Parade! (See Blog below for THAT story)! After returning to Nuevo we were able to join up with some of our Monaco friends for pizza (and beer) and hope to join them and more Monaco and non-Monaco friends in a few days in Indio for the FMCA Western Area Rally. That's the beginning of our whirlwind few months coming up in the first few months of 2006!

Happy New Year and a Rainy Day Rose Parade!

Who would of thought that we would have rain...and not just any rain, but torrential rain at the Rose Parade! Of course, it hasn't rained in 51 years! Figures it would rain on this one!

So this year we took my niece, Katrina and her two children, Harmony (3) and Justice (6). They live in Hawaii so they were freezing! The kids and I made it for almost the entire parade, but about the last 15 minutes. Katrina and my mom made it the entire parade...Don watched the entire parade on t.v. and in the comfort of a dry motorhome! I have to say, he was probably the smartest of the bunch! We were completely soaked once we came inside, even with the plactic bags, trash bags and umbrellas! Well, at least it's one parade we won't soon forget!

Baby It's Cold Outside!

Started out from Little Rock, AR on Saturday morning. It was a little later than we like, but hey, at least we were on the road! :-) NLR Diesel did a great job in getting our old radiator out and the new one in, they were just a little more laid back than we ex-Californian’s are used to! Made it to Oklahoma City, OK where we spent the night. We thought it was cold in Little Rock, but it was colder in OK City! The temps at night were low, low 20’s! Yikes! It was pretty nippy when we started out on Sunday a.m. The transmission temp of the motorhome was ONLY 31 degrees! Finally made it to the low – mid 40’s by the time we got here…Tucumcari, NM! It’s supposed to be in the low teens tonight here as well! Just keeps getting colder…until we get back to So. California that is! Just doesn’t seem like Christmas Day though when you have to have the a/c on because the temps are in the 80-90’s! Saw that there is a “chance” of snow showers here tonight! What? The entire time we were in Arkansas, Don wore shorts! It got mighty cold, but there he was in shorts! I didn’t think he was going to change into long pants until we got back into California, but guess what? This morning he put them on! Just went to take Tess out and guess what he asked for? A jacket! I think the temperature (or maybe it’s the altitude) is beginning to get to him! :-)

Had an e-mail message that one of our camping friends, Chuck Bashaw had passed away. He had been suffering from cancer for awhile now. While you always hate to have anyone pass away, I cherish the thought that at least they are no longer suffering. To have “quality” of life means a lot to me. Chuck was always one of the first that would volunteer and he was always one to help many of our single or older members when they needed help – in any way! Chuck and his wife, Norma were charter members of our camping chapter, Kountry Kampers so we’ve spent lots of campouts with them! Chuck was our best fire tender! He loved to feed the campfires often to Norma’s consternation! Don and I will miss Chuck!

The bottom picture is the view from our door...the field Tess loves to run in! I wish I had taken this picture right after we got here. The colors were spectacular! Now it's just nice! The picture here is just driving down the street!

Bad news/good news today! Last week our radiator finally arrived. It was the day before Thanksgiving though, so no work last week. They thought they might be able to get us in by Wed. of this week. Today they called and told us the earliest they would be able to get to us was the END of NEXT week! Not! Don and a new friend of ours drove into Little Rock and found another place to have the radiator replaced at! They were going to pick up our 400 lb. radiator today or first thing in the morning! They hope to get us started tomorrow! We might be on track after all!

It will be kind of sad leaving here...it's gotten pretty familiar after 6 weeks! Have had a chance to do a few things with our kids, that's been fun! I'm certainly not looking forward to getting back into the fast pace, crowds, and busy freeways! While we've been here we've gotten an education on weather! I think we've had at least 3 tornado watches/warnings while here! Since we don't have "local" channels (only east and west coast feeds...not sure what good THEIR weather would do us), we have no way of knowing when a weather condition exists! That's when the "Weather Bug" we have on our computer comes into play! It "chirps" whenever there is severe weather around us!

As the holiday season approaches, I'd like to share some of those things that I am most thankful for...




















Shae, age 6
Allison, Age 5
Haleigh (April 28, 2000 - May 10, 2000)
Ashleigh, Age 4
Justisse, Age 1-1/2
Brian, Age 1

Of course, this list also includes my husband, our children, family, friends and also the opportunity and ability to live this lifestyle that we have recently chosen! We are truly blessed!

A budding artist! Ashleigh painted this pumpkin with absolutely NO help! She even picked out the color! :-)

Haven't posted anything since we arrived in Cabot. Don and I are at a small RV park that is really very nice! There are only 20 sites with full 50-amp hook-ups. Behind us is a huge cut grass field that we can let Tess go in! She runs and runs and runs! Of course, when we come inside she then sleeps, and sleeps and sleeps! The guy that owns it has really just built it and he is continuing to improve things on a daily basis! We did have to change spots...there are huge trees to the south and guess what...we had no holes to seek out the satellite! Moved over though and no problem getting connected! Since we've been here he's added to the landscaping, added rock to level out a few sites, and put in three different water features! Can't complain about the price...$300/month!
We took Ashleigh to the pumpkin patch while my mom was also here and we all picked out pumpkins! I also made all of the costumes in the "pirate family" picture! Kim sewed on all 11 buttons on Tim's vest and my mom did some button sewing and hand sewing as I was furiously trying to finish all of them in time for Halloween! I did it! I did end up sewing on "coins" on Ashleigh's vest until the wee hours the night before! On Halloween we did have rain, but we went out with umbrellas in spite of it!
Still waiting on our radiator! At first we were told 2-3 weeks but now they've added on a week for shipping! The last phone call was still 2 weeks! We've heard they are shipping them out as fast as they are made! The "good" in all this is that we were planning on staying here until Thanksgiving anyway!
The falls colors continue to be vibrant and colorful although there are leaves falling constantly. It won't be long before the trees are no longer colorful and are bare instead! I am enjoying the beautiful colors as we drive here and there!