One man's junk is another's treasure.....

6:50 am - Friday - August 14th - Cashmere, WA - 59° F, 54% humidity, wind 7 mph out of the northwest......a few clouds today with a forecast high of 89° F.  On this day in 2010 we were riding our tadpole recumbent trikes on the Pacific Electric Trail in Rancho Cucamonga, CA........↴

Thursday was to be our last full day in Cashmere so we decided to keep our sightseeing local.  There are two large antique malls right across US-2 from each other, and there is nothing we like more than a couple of hours of junking.  We left home around 1 pm to drive over to the antique malls.  There are two things for which I look.....not necessarily to buy, but just to look.....colored glass........I particularly am drawn to blue glass......

 We've been looking for some unique Margarita glasses....killer deal at three for $18....yup, we did buy them!

......and old Corningware coffee pots.....percolators of the stove top and electric variety........

....both of which were in ample supply Thursday.  I also love these mid century patio chairs.....they, and their lone occupant are aging quite gracefully, wouldn't you say.....

.....TLE found this mid century hat similar to one my mother wore back in the mid 50's......

.....by 3 pm we had made our way up and down a lot of aisles coming away with just 3 blue glass margaritas glasses.....three for $18....we don't need three, but they came as a set.  If we happen to break one we'll still have two, which is what we wanted in the first place.

Junking usually works up our appetites, so on our way home we stopped off at Country Boys BBQ, just a few blocks from the fairground.....

....we ordered their #2 Combo plate (BBQ chicken, baby back ribs, and beef brisket) with potato salad and a basket of their homemade chips.....I didn't get a picture of the meat, but here is one of their amazing, other worldly chips.....

......Country Boys BBQ gets 4.5 stars from Yelp on 295 reviews, and we would be right there....I wish we had ordered two of the combo plates, but if we are to maintain our waistlines prudence dictates we must/should split an order.....nevertheless.....lol!

Around 4:30 pm our son Tim, and his wife, Laila, called us via iPhone's Facetime.  We haven't seen them and their precious son Crosby since January, and we miss them terribly.  We talked for about 1/2 hour before bidding each other adieu.  A nice way to end our third and last day here in the Wenatchee Valley.

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FYI the DYI went smoothly......

7:48 am - Thursday - August 13th - Cashmere, WA - 57° F, 47% humidity, wind 9 mph out of the north by northwest......high clouds today with a forecast high of 81° F.  On this day in 2012 we were at Hug Point on the Oregon Coast......↴

You recall my writing about the errant FedEx package which finally arrived last Friday, which we picked up from my sister's home on our way west from Coeur d'Alene through Spokane this past Sunday.  That package contained a passenger side inside door panel for our 2001 VW Beetle.  The original door panel was slowly deteriorating to the point where there was a large crack in the trim above the door pull (the same door pull I replaced when we were in Wittmann a few months ago because the original had completely broken away from the panel).  I found the exact replacement on eBay for $141 delivered, and while it shows its age, is in very good condition overall.  We've had the replacement panel since last Sunday, so Wednesday seemed to be a good day to switch out the old beat up one for the replacement.  I've had both door panels off in the past, so I was familiar with the vagueries of their removal.  As with any DIY project I undertake there is always the concern that the 'Hockwald Way' will rear its homely head and extend a seemingly simple, straight forward 30 minute project into two, or three hours, but I am happy to report it only took 30 minutes.....

 The nicer door panel installed

 The old door panel literally fell apart as I removed it 

.....and the even better news is that all the switches (door lock/unlock, electric window switch) still work as intended. With the successful completion of yet one my DIY projects TLE and I donned our Sunday best, even though it was Wednesday, and began our drive into Leavenworth.  It is only 10 miles from our current location into Leavenworth, but Mr. Murphy reared his head in the form of road work which had traffic backed up for miles in each direction as only one lane of traffic could pass through the construction in each direction at a time.  Instead of taking us 10-12 minutes it took the better part of an hour to cover the 10 miles, but alas we finally arrived in town, but only to find parking at a premium in this touristy, Bavarian Alps themed town.  After driving through numerous public parking lots looking for that single, illusive parking spot, we finally found one out on the western edge of town.  After a 5 minute walk we reached the tourist area.....

.....as one might expect, all the buildings look as if they had been directly transplanted to Leavenworth from Bavaria at some distant time in the past....

......as we edged closer to the center of town the crowds of people began to multiply.  There was about a 50/50 split of people wearing and not wearing face masks, however, every store required a face mask to enter, as well as restaurants until you reached your table, then somehow, miraculously, the threat to exposure to airborne virus ceased.  Only alfresco dining is offered at the dozens of restaurants in town, which is no problem for those of us who actively seek out such dinning opportunities, however, since indoor seating is eliminated your wait for a table can be significant.  

We determined pretty early on that we were not going to spend any time browsing through one store after another putting on, and taking off our masks like trained seals, so after walking around town to get the feel of the place we zeroed in on Icicle Brewing Company.  We put our names in for one of the alfresco tables, and were told it could be up to 45 minutes....that's okay....what else have we got to do?  The weather was pleasant, and the scenery was pleasant, so we continued walking around town awaiting a phone call advising our table was ready.  Thankfully, we got the call in less than 25 minutes, and were seated within minutes at our, apparently, force field protected table sans masks sipping our Porters, and awaiting our lunch selections........

.....TLE ordered their turkey sandwich, and I their meat platter (an appetizer)....we split both of them while enjoying our brews, and enjoying the safe, virus free environment of our table.....

.....by the time we finished it was approaching 3 pm, so we leisurely strolled back west along the promenade toward our Beetle snapping the occasional picture of the Bavarian themed architecture along the way......

.....of course, on the way home we ran into the same construction traffic, only not backed up quite as bad as it was a few hours earlier.....we were home by 4:30 pm at the force field protected Chelan County Expo Center where we are free to roam mask free.

By the way, I poke fun at the mask wearing regulations we run into as we move through these extremely rural areas, because they are not applied consistently, nor do they make any logical sense.  You can tell that businesses are just enforcing the silly rules to be able to open for business.  While I am grateful to be able to go to a restaurant the thought that we must wear a mask while walking from the host station to our table 8 feet away, but can take it off as soon as we sit, and are somehow then pronounced safe from the Wuhan virus as long as we stay within the small confines of our table is just silly.  We are sitting in an outdoor environment with a breeze, and sitting 6 feet from our dinning neighbors means nothing if they sneeze, or cough and the wind carries the expectorant quickly to our table.  And, yet, I am allowed, by law, to sit there without a mask eating and/or drinking.....how does that make any sense?  By the way, Leavenworth is in a county which has had just 10 deaths in 5 months, and less than 200 diagnosed cases.....I do not feel at risk here....this is not Seattle, or New York where one should feel quite at risk.

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Early out, early in.....

7:26 am - Wednesday - August 12th - Cashmire, WA - 62° F, 43% humidity, wind - 13 mph out of the west by northwest......heavy cloud cover today with a forecast high of 79° F.  The view this morning.......↴

We have passed through the Wenatchee Valley via US-2 a few times over the years, but have never taken time to visit Leavenworth, which we hear is the thing to do when in this area, so for our next stop we chose Cashmere, WA and the Chelan County Expo Center.  The town of Wenatchee sits at the confluence of the Wenatchee River and Lake Chelan, and Cashmere is just another 7 miles west....almost right in the middle begtween Wenatchee and Leavenworth.  

Although we only had an 87 mile drive ahead of us to Cashmere, and hadn't intended to leave too early Tuesday morning, we ended up rolling our wheels out of Coulee City Community Park around 8:30 am.  US-2 crosses Banks Lake via the two earthen dams, and then immediately climbs 1,000' in elevation up to a plateau where farmland irrigated by the waters of Banks Lake stretches to the horizon.  After about 10 miles the farmland gives way to more volcanic landscape.....

.....and eventually we transition to lake country, and Lake Chelan, the longest lake in Washington at 50 miles.....of the 87 miles we traveled Tuesday 45 of it was along the shores of this lake.......

 Down the hill to the shores of Lake Chelan......

....it just goes on and on

......before 1927 it was the largest natural lake in Washington by any measure, but in 1927 the outflow of the lake was dammed to raise the level of the lake by 21'.  It has an average depth of 494', and a maximum depth at nearly 1,500'.  The lake surface sits at 1,100' above sea level.

Not surprisingly we arrive at Chelan County Exp Center around 10:30 am....by and far the earliest we have ever arrived at any destination, but we wanted to get in early to beat the heat of the day.....87° F....yeah, I know what heat?  Temperatures along our travel route since we left Wittmann back on May 3rd have typically been in the 70's and low 80's....we have had some hot days thrown into the mix, but generally when it gets above 85° F it qualifies as HOT for us.....

......you can reserve a site online, however, I noted they had a 20 year old limitation on RV's, and ours is 38 years of age.  I saw that they had 30 sites available, and decided not to make the reservation, but just arrive and let the host see our rig in person....better to apologize than ask permission sometimes, right?  He checked out the rig, and gave us approval on the spot....hasn't failed yet!  The RV site setup is typical of most fairgrounds we have visited over the years....rows of electrical pedestals stretching across a field which could be dirt, gravel, or sometimes grass.....this time the field is grass.  We were assigned a site in the 'X' row on the end due to our length.......

.....the cost for 50 amps and full hookups.....$27/night.....suweet.....

....the last time we were in this area (2015) we visited a local micro brewery called Wenatchee Valley Brewing Company.  We loved their food and brews, so around 12:30 pm we drove back into Wenatchee to see if they were still up to snuff.....

....and the answer was a resounding 'YES!'......great alfresco ambiance, good brews......

 Nitro Stout for moi, and a Cream Ale for TLE....we'll take two of each, please

.....and fresh, rustic food......a perfect place to while away a couple of hours......

 Island View Taco plate for moi

 Bratwurst and chips for TLE

....I forgot to mention in yesterday's missive that on Monday I had my first virtual check up with my cardiologist (Dr. Mulvilhill).  It's been 8 months since my last 'visit' with him, and I needed to renew my blood pressure medication prescription.  The 'visit' lasted about 15 minutes during which time I provided him with my blood pressure readings from that morning (127 over 80). as well a my heart rate (67) and current weight (none of your business....lol!).  He asked me if I had had any chest pain, shortness of breath, fatigue, etc. to which I replied in the negative.  He advised that he would renew my prescription through December, but wanted to see me in person then.  There happens to be a COSTCO in Wenatchee, which was another reason for our sojourn in the area.  From the brewery we headed directly to COSTCO where I picked up my prescription ($9.99 for 90 days) while TLE restocked our adult beverage supply.  We were home just before 4 pm, and spent the rest of the day reading, and napping.  Around 7:30 pm we took a long, slow walk around the Expo Center RV section.....

 .....and then settled into watch a recorded Hallmark movie.  We will be here for 3 days, and then on Friday we'll continue our westward trek to the Pacific Ocean.

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It's so Coulee......

6:50 am - Monday - August 10th - Coulee City, WA - 58° F, 56% humidity, wind 6 mph out of the north...clear, blue skies today with a forecast high of 91° F.  On this day in  2016 we rode our Cannondale tandem bike from TVC to Meyers for breakfast at the Getaway Cafe.......↴

Our original Jello plan called for us to be in Coeur d'Alene around 2 weeks while we waited for several packages to be delivered, but within a short time of our arrival it was determined they would all be delivered, or so we thought, within the first week, so we paid for a one week stay at the Elks Lodge.  Of course, as you know, in the intervening time FedEx managed to lose, for 4 days, one of our packages, resulting in the extension of our stay by 3 days.  That errant package finally arrived at my sister's home in Spokane on Friday afternoon whilst we were riding the Hiawatha Trail.  We didn't want to drive into Spokane on Friday as we were tired when we got home at 6:30 pm, and we didn't want to make another 90 minute to 2 hour round trip drive there on Saturday, so we opted for a third option....pick it up on our way west through Spokane on Sunday morning.  I say all of that to say this......we were up before 6 am Sunday morning, and rolling our wheels over to the local dump station by 7 am.  By 7:30 am our black tank was empty, and cleansed.  Next stop was the local Exxon fuel station were I topped off our 180 gallon diesel tank with 24 gallons at $2.08/gallon....that is the least expensive we will find until we get to Oregon, and I wanted to be sure we could get through the State of Washington, including the Olympic Peninsula, without having to refuel in that state where diesel is anywhere from 40 cents to 60 cents more per gallon.

By 8:45 am we had retrieved our package from my sister's home, and were back on I-90 west bound to our destination for the day........Coulee City, WA.....about 30 miles west of Grand Coulee Dam......

.....about 7 miles after we reentered the westbound traffic of I-90 we exited to US-2, which will take us all the way to the west coast of Washington.  We have driven this highway twice before, and love the beautiful drive, and very, very light traffic.  Initially this highway runs through beautiful farm land......

.....and then you pass through miles of volcanic landscape......

.....and ultimately to Banks Lake in Coulee City.....

Banks Lake in the distance....almost there!

.....while doing research the other day on places to stay between Couer d'Alene and Whidbey Island along US-2 I found this little city park in Coulee City which provides over 50 full hookup sites next to Banks Lake.  All the sites are first come, first served, so we timed our arrival for late Sunday morning hoping that some people had already vacated their sites to head back to their workaday lives.....we were right.  There were at least 6 pull through sites available as we pulled into the campground, and we quickly settled on Site 5......

.....we have a nice view of the lake, as well as a few shade trees to shield us part of the day from the August sun, but do not interfere with our satellite TV reception.  Our site only has 30 amp, but that is more than adequate to run both roof A/C's if need be, but that is rarely the case as one usually keeps the interior quite comfortable.

Of course, Sunday was the final day of the PGA Championship, so we turned it on to watch the final groupings of the day play their 18 holes.  At one point there were 9 guys with a chance to win, but ultimately 23 year old Collin Morikawa won going away by 2 strokes.  He chipped in on hole 15 for a birdie for a share of the lead at 11 under par, and then drove the 16th par 4 green.  He then drained remaining 8 foot putt for eagle to get to 13 under par, and the two stroke lead he never relinquished.

TLE planned surf and turf for our dinner so at 6 pm I ignited the Sea-B-Que, ran the temperature up to 480° F, put on the filet first (takes a little longer to reach medium rare), then the salmon at the 3.5 minute mark.....they both reached their medium rare temps at the same time.....

Surf 'n Turf tonight!

TLE's side dish

......we chased the surf 'n turf with a bottle of Pinot Noir....does it get any better than this?  I think not!  We were blessed with a very subtle sunset, and quickly dropping temperatures about 8:20 pm....

....in all we covered just 127 miles Sunday, and were in Coulee City a tad after 11 am....well before the heat of the day.  It is good to be back in Washington.

Thanks for dropping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which over the course of a year adds up to enough to by a tank of diesel for which we thank you very much!