Out of Klamath.....

7:35 am - Friday - August 28th - LPG&RVR - 60° F, humidity 23%, cloud cover 69%, wind 14 mph out of the south by southwest.....cloudy today with a forecast high of 82° F.  On this date in 2016 TLE and I were in South Lake Tahoe....

....taking a bicycle ride to Baldwin Beach....moi in the foreground, and TLE (lower right background) already down near the water.

All good things must (sometimes, but not always) come to an end, and Thursday marked our departure day from Klamath Falls, and our return to LPG&RVR.  Checkout time at the Fairfield Inn and Suites is not until 12 pm, but our plan had us in the VW heading over to Fred Myers to do our weekly big shopping by 9 am, and we were.  We were up by 7 am, so there was no rush to get packed quickly.  I might add a side note here....the king sized bed with pillowed mattress was SOOO comfortable!  Everything about the suite was perfect, and well worth the extra dinero we spent.

By 10 am we had done our shopping, and filled the VW Beetle fuel tank with almost 13 gallons of premium unleaded, which is the most we have purchased at one time for the VW in a few years.  The tank is just over 13 gallons, so we had less than a gallon left, and almost 340 miles on the tripometer for that tank.  The drive south was beautiful, and uneventful, and we found ourselves at Coffee Adventure in Canby by 11:20 am (Canby is less than 40 miles from LPG&RVR) where we bought a loaf of bread, and some scones before resuming our journey home.  We stopped at Holiday Market in Alturas to buy some produce, and then another quick stop at ACE Hardware (they had free popcorn on this day), and home before 1 pm.  

It took us almost an hour to unpack the VW, and stow all of the things we had purchased on our trip to and from Klamath Falls.  The forecast high for Likely was supposed to be 90° F, but it only got to 86° F due to the heavier than expected cloud cover...no complaints here.  We love our road trips, but it is always great to return to our home on wheels after any trip.

We begin another 8 day cycle Saturday.....four work days followed by a four day weekend....there are just a few of those cycles left now. We've been here, as of Thursday, exactly 4 months, and just have the month of September remaining before we bid adieu to another summer season here at LPG&RVR, pack our stuff, and head south for the winter.

Thanks for stopping by!

You can't always get what you want....

 6:56 am - Thursday - August 27th - Klamath Falls, OR - 53° F, humidity 17%, cloud cover 29%, win 16 mph out of the southwest......partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 90° F.  On this date in 2017 TLE and I were in Yellowstone National Park.....

The Yellowstone River

We had to ford Hellroaring Creek at one point getting our shoes wet

.....hiking the Hellroaring Creek Trail.  In all we covered 11 miles that day on our way to 100 miles hiked in Yellowstone NP that summer, leaving just 10 miles to reach 100.  By the end of the summer we had hiked 110 miles.

We were up before 7 am Wednesday.  Why?  Well we, intentionally, left the window blinds up when we went to bed Tuesday night so we could slowly awaken to the rising sun.  By 6:40 am it gets quite bright in our room....

....we're on the 4th floor, which is the top floor, so we don't hear anyone walking above us, and no one can see inside our room, so we leave the blinds open all the time in order to enjoy the view for which we are paying extra.  The water on the lake was glassy smooth Wednesday morning....

.....perfectly reflecting the sky and shoreline.  After posting my latest missive we headed down stairs to have breakfast alfresco....

....we were the only ones having breakfast outside....I don't know why.  Fairfield serves a pretty decent Continental Breakfast, and they have great coffee.  The icing on the cake, at least for us, is the lakeside dining, and we had it all to ourselves.

An interesting observation about our room.  As one might expect, each room has at least 2 fire sprinklers.  The one in the bedroom is over 9 feet off the floor, and there is this little sticker next to it on the wall....

.....see it there, up high?  Here is the sticker close up....

....warning you not to hang clothes from it....lol.  As I said, it is over 9 feet off the floor, but someone at some time in the past must have tried to hang something from one of these sprinklers.  I think you would need a step ladder to get up there.

Around 10 am we headed out to do some 'junking' and found a great thrift store called Treasures, A Unique Thrift Store....

....there are actually two stores at this location, one of which has strictly dinnerware, and glassware.  The second store has everything else.  We bought a few items there spending about $7, then headed over to the larger store where I found a pair of extra long mud boots for $12.  These things usually cost, new, over $50.  From there we headed to Sportsman's Warehouse so I could buy a new 'bucket' hat as I lost my Outdoor Research hat I've had for a couple of years.  I'm hoping it shows up someday, but so far I cannot remember where I left it.....lol.  And with that we were done with our shopping, and headed back to the hotel room to take naps, and read.

Around 5:10 pm we headed out for our anniversary dinner at J's Steakhouse on Sixth Street.  Yelp gives them 4 out of 5 stars, so we were hoping for good fine dining experience....

....they offer outdoor dining, so we reserved an alfresco table.  For our cocktails TLE ordered a dirty martini, and I a glass of Catena Malbec, one of my favorites.  They brought bread and whipped butter to the table which were very good.....

.....for our entrees TLE ordered their Grilled Salmon, and I their Filet Mignon.  Along with the entrees we both had dinner salads, which were great.  So far, so good.  Unfortunately, the entrees were underwhelming.....not bad, but not great either.  The plating was not inspiring,  both the salmon and filet were a little overdone, and the vegetables did not seem fresh.  I deliberately did not take picture of the entrees.  I will add, however, the baked potato I ordered was very good, also....

....so our quest for an above average fine dining eatery in Klamath Falls continues.  We did enjoy the alfresco dining ambiance, that is until the flies arrived, then not so much.  We were home just before 7 pm.  I took a nap while TLE read, and then I read for a while before we called it an evening.  Lesson: Life is a crapshoot, and in spite of your best efforts, you may not always get what you want.  On the plus side, we still have each other after 55 years, and that is worth more than anything.

The Rolling Stones - You can't always get what you want

Thanks for stopping by!

Travels with TLE.....

 6:52 am - Wednesday - August 26th - Klamath Falls, OR  - 50° F, humidity 35%, cloud cover 44%, wind 10 mph out of the southwest....partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 84° F.  On this date in 2013 TLE and I were on Whidbey Island, WA....

.....I think I publish this picture every year on this date....I am so beguiled by this woman's smile.  It's been 59 years since the first time I met her and lost myself in her smile.

It's always my intent to 'sleep in' on our days off, even when it is a day we are taking a road trip.  We didn't plan on leaving LPG&RVR until 10 am, or later, to make the two hour drive to Klamath Falls, but there I was wide awake at 6:20 am.  I said 'good morning' to TLE to see if she was conscious, and her reply was "Why are you awake?" to which I replied "I don't know, I can't help it"....lol.  I guess I am as excited to take a road trip with TLE today as I was that day  55 years ago after our wedding in 1971 when we hopped in our 1967 Datsun 1600 Roadster.....

1967 Datsun 1600 Roadster....baby blue with removeable hardtop...was the forerunner to the 240Z

.....to begin our trip to South Lake Tahoe for our week long honeymoon.  While today is not our anniversary, the memories of that first week living together as man and wife are thick as I sit here in our wonderful suite composing today's humble offering to the blogosphere gods....

The suite

Lake Ewauna

.....we did, in fact, leave just before 10 am.  The drive to Klamath Falls is about 118 miles, give or take, and we usually arrive there within 2 hours.  The drive was uneventful except for a 10 minute delay in a construction zone, and who cares when you've got all day to get where you're going.  Even with that delay we still arrived at the Walmart Supercenter before 12 pm.  After picking up a few things we headed up to Fred Meyers to get a new battery installed in my 35 year old Casio Quartz diver watch....

....it is the oldest watch I own.  I bought in on our 20th wedding anniversary on our trip to Kauai.  I wear it when I am working.  I've changed the battery at least 17, or 18 times over 35 years, and she just 'keeps on keeping on'.

From there we back tracked to the local Goodwill to do some junking.  I almost always find something there without which I cannot live, and this time was no exception. I found another Hawaiian shirt, and a nice long sleeve hoodie t-shirt that says 'Life is Good', and indeed it is....

.....all of the clothing Goodwill sells has colored tags, and each day they designate a specific color that will receive a 50% discount.  I managed to find the Hawaiian shirt, and this long sleeve 'T' with blue tags, so the total price was around $8.

From Goodwill we headed directly to Nibbley's for some coffee, and a piece of pie...

.....they have the best coffee in town.  TLE ordered a piece of their Mulberry pie, and I a piece of their Apple Crisp pie.  We lingered over our coffee and pie for almost an hour before heading over to our hotel to check in for our two day stay.  The last time we stayed overnight in Klamath Falls we stayed at the Fairfield Inn and Suites, and paid for the lake view (about $75 more per night).  We used to stay at the Shilo Inn and get a suite with a view of the valley there, but they have been remodeling the hotel for almost a year now.  Whenever we are picking a hotel at which to stay we like one with the 'IT' factor....for us a great view is the 'IT' factor for us.........

.....once we were unpacked I took a nap while that Apple Crisp pie was digesting.

Around 5:30 pm we took a short drive over to old town to have dinner at Wong's, a local Chinese eatery which we had been told by friends had great Chinese.....

(Yelp pictures)

My new Hawaiian shirt

Egg Flower soup

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Mongolian Beef

....we each ordered a small bowl of their Egg Flower soup (pretty big bowl), a for our entrees we ordered Sweet and Sour Chicken (moi), and Mongolian Beef (TLE).  Of course, as is often the case with Chinese portions, we were served enough to feed 4, or 5 people.  This is some of the best Chinese we have had in years, so thank you to our friends for recommending Wong's.  In case you are wondering, Yelp gives them a solid 4 stars on 143 reviews....we would be more around 4.5 stars.  We were 'home' by 6:30 pm, and with that the first day of our 55th annual Anniversary trip was in the books....

.....thanks for stopping by!

Celebrating early.....

 7:27 am - Tuesday - August 25th - LPG&RVR - 63° F, humidity 26%, cloud cover 54%, wind 15 mph out of the south by southwest.....cloudy today with a forecast high of 88° F.  On this date in 2022 TLE and I were in Tahoe City, CA.....

Anniversary dinner at Christy Hill

....celebrating our 51st wedding anniversary.  We had to celebrate early as the hotel we wanted to stay in had no availability on our actual anniversary.

The fourth day of any 4 day work cycle always seems to pass by quickly, and Monday was no exception.  I haven't cleared the driving range of range balls on a Monday in quite some time, and usually Mondays see the most range balls harvested, but the range has not been very busy since last Thursday.  At any rate, I always allot an hour to clear the range, whether there are a lot of range balls, or just a few like Monday, as it always seems to take an hour to walk the course retrieving the balls.  On this particular day I garnered about 2/3's of a five gallon bucket. It's the last thing I do before TLE's lunch break on Mondays and Thursdays, and that hour always seems to pass by quickly.  

Initially I staged the five Club Car electrics, but we only rented two early on, and by 10:30 am we had still only rented to of them, so I put the last three away and staged three Yamaha gassers in their place.  Why?  Well, we don't rent the electrics after 10 am, because if we do they will not all return before I leave work at 3:30 pm, which would mean I would have to return around 4:30 pm to wash, stow, and plug them in to recharge.  Ultimately we rented 9 golf carts.

I ran two sprinklers down at the 'Night Office' for much of the day, and to keep busy, mowed the small gazebo grass, the large grass area by site #30, and the group fire pit grass between 10 and 11 am when I headed out to clear the driving range.  By 3:30 pm only 3 of the 9 rented carts had returned so Steve will have 6 to wash first thing Tuesday.  

Speaking of Tuesday, we are heading up to Klamath Falls for two days to celebrate our 55th wedding anniversary.  We're celebrating early this year, because our next four day work cycle includes our actual anniversary.  We'll be leaving here in about 3 hours to make the two hour drive north to Klamath Falls, where we'll have a view of a lake, just not Lake Tahoe.

Anyway, I headed for home at 3:30 to begin our four day weekend.  By the time we finish our next 4 day work cycle we'll have around 4 weeks left in our sojourn here at LPG&RVR.  Our last work day will be on my birthday, and within a week after that we'll be heading south to our third winter at The Wilson Wilderness.

Thanks for stopping by!

Biggest day in weeks....

 5:53 am - Monday - August 24th - LPG&RVR - 56° F, humidity 35%, cloud cover 64%, wind 14 mph out of the south....cloudy today with a forecast high of 86° F.  On this date in 2020 TLE and I were near Coupeville, WA....

Chilled Rose

....on Whidbey Island taking an e-bike ride to Greenbank Farms where we had a picnic.

As you know, I had issues with a program on my computer Sunday morning which I use to compose my daily blog, so I didn't publish about Saturday's shenanigans until late Sunday afternoon.  I had time after work to fix the issue that I did not have Sunday morning.  At any rate, all is now well again in the blogosphere world.  I really hate when my stuff doesn't work....lol!

Sunday was a typical laid back Sunday.  By 11 am around 12 RVs had departed.  Golf began slowly, but by the end of the day we had had our biggest cart rental day in quite a while, which saw 17 of our carts rented.  By 3:30 pm only 9 had been returned, so I'll have 8 to wash first thing Monday....a nice problem to have.

In between all of that I set one sprinkler to run most of the day down at the 'Night Office', made several repairs to our drip line system which we use to water trees other than junipers.  As you know the junipers are an invasive species, and are water hungry, so in order to keep our non-juniper trees alive we must irrigate them once a week during the summer.  That took most of the morning.  As I made several runs back to the 'Caddy Shack' for needed replacement parts for the drip lines I continued staging more carts.....two, or three at a time because I was skeptical that we would rent as many as we did.

Soon it was 12 pm, and time to give TLE her 90 minute lunch break during which I answered a couple of phone calls, sold a visor to one of our members, checked in one RV, and sent 3 folks out for 9 holes of golf.

Remember that bush I trimmed a few days ago?  Well, the owner's wife decided she really wanted the bush cut down, so Dennis (owner) cut it down himself (thankfully), but asked me to haul away the cuttings to the burn pile.  That was a big bush, and it took three large trailer loads to get it all removed.  By the time I finished it was almost 3 pm, and I had those 9 carts to wash/stow before quitting time.  I managed to park the final cart in the cart shack at exactly 3:30 pm....perfect!

The day time high was forecast to be 90° F, but due to the cloud cover late in the day it only reached 86° F.  I'm fully acclimated to the higher temps now, and really don't notice the heat unless it gets well over 90° F now, which is great, but now we're heading back into the lower 80's and high 70's between now and early September.  The morning chill is lasting longer, and the sun is not rising until after 6:30 am now.

Thanks for stopping by!

Two rounds and out.....

 6:04 am - Sunday - August 23rd - LPG&RVR - 48° F, humidity 28%, cloud cover 18%, wind 13 mph out of the west.....partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 90° F.  On this date in 2011 TLE and I were in Dallas, TX....

.....at a college reunion....we were so young then!

I was just beginning to compose my latest missive this morning when I ran into a problem with a program on my computer that allows me to connect to my cell phone and retrieve pictures stopped working.  I didn't have time to fiddle with it so I decided to wait until after work to figure out what was wrong when I had more time.  I was able to fix the issue, so here goes with my post about Saturday.

 As is our daily habit when working we were up at 5:30 am to get ready for our 2nd of 4 workdays this 8 day cycle.  It did not cool off much overnight, at least not to the degree to which we are accustomed.  It didn't get under 70° F until very early morning, so I did not sleep well, and neither did TLE.  Nevertheless, the 'show' must proceed.  I left the Newell about 7:15 am (about 10 minutes early) to turn on the irrigation for the 10 back in sites, and the 10 tent sites.  We haven't done it for a couple of weeks, so it was time.  Once I did that and flipped the sign down at the 'Night Office' I returned to pickup TLE and deliver her to the Clubhouse.

As I had on Friday I staged the 5 Club Car electrics, and then the 6 EZ-GO gassers.  We ended up renting 14 carts in all.  I spent part of the morning moving sprinklers around the 'Night Office' grass, staging more carts, and mowing the parking lot grass, but that was about it.  I gave TLE her lunch break at 12 pm, and then washed 9 carts before heaving for home to change clothes and return for the weekly putting contest at 4 pm.

A number of people who signed up for the contest did not show, so I had several 'byes' and didn't hit my first putt until the quarter finals around 5 pm.  My lack of taking even a single putt while others putted through several rounds turned out to be a disadvantage.  In my first match I was down 2-0 after two holes, and then I began to putt better tying the third hole, and winning the 4th hole, but failed to win the 5th hole so I went from the winners bracket to the losers bracket....

....I putted well in my second round, but lost the 2nd hole to go down 1-0, only to pull even on the next hole at 1-1.  I tied the 4th and 5th hole with my opponent, so we went to a one hole putt off to break the tie....one putt, closest to the pin.  I made a terrible first putt, and lost the playoff hole....doh.  Two rounds and I was out.

TLE made stuffed mushrooms again for dinner....so delicious!  We read until around 9 pm and then it was time to hit the sack to rest up for our third day, which I have just now completed.  Thanks for stopping by!

Hard to believe.....

 5:56 am - Saturday - August 22nd - LPG&RVR - 64° F, humidity 25%, cloud cover 25%, wind 17 mph out of the south by southwest....partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 89° F.  On this date in 2012 TLE and I were near Vancouver, WA.....

....riding our bikes along the Columbia River....the Washington/Oregon drawbridge across the river from Portland.

It was back to work Friday for another four day shift.  The weather forecast was guessing that the temp would get as high as 91° F, but we had very heavy cloud cover all day long, which suppressed the temp enough that I do not believe it reached 90° F.  Every little bit helps.  

Initially I staged the 5 Club Car electrics as there were only 8 people signed up to play golf.  Then the walk in folks began to arrive, and before we knew it we had rented 11 carts.  Not a very busy Friday by LPG&RVR standards.  Once the carts were staged I grabbed the cordless hedge trimmer and headed up the hill to the residential area to trim a large bush between two of the houses.  The last time I had to trim that bush was our first year here, so it is not really a very fast growing bush.  In all I spent about 30 minutes trimming that bush, then raked up the clippings and hauled them to the burn pile.

Around 10:30 am I hopped on the 2 bag Husqvarna and headed down to the #4-10 tent sites to finish mowing them before proceeding to mow tent sites 1-3, and then all 10 of the backup RV sites along the meadow.  That took me to TLE's lunch break time.  I do not believe I answered a single phone call in 90 minutes, and sent out just one couple to golf; that was our 11th cart.  By the time I returned to the 'Cart Return' area after TLE's lunch all 5 of the Club Car electrics had returned so I began washing them, and while I washed them 2 of the 6 EZ-GO carts we rented had also returned.

In between washing carts I ran 4 different sprinklers down at the 'Night Office' grass, and one at the parking lot grass, and made multiple trips down to the 'Night Office' to move those sprinklers  from place to place.  By the time 3:30 pm rolled around I had washed all but 2 of the 11 rented carts, so I'll have the final two to wash first thing Saturday.

The 15 day weather forecast shows no more temps in the 90's, just 80's as far as the eye can see.  There are just 9 days left in August, and then we will have just 4 the weeks of September left in our sixth summer sojourn here at LPG&RVR.  Hard to believe, but there it is.

Thanks for stopping by!