8/26/07

Hello Again Blog Readers,

Happily, this report is being posted from Sekiu, WA, out on the Olympic Peninsula, where the RoVing Rods are having their annual salmon fishing event. We were able to join them on Friday afternoon. On the way here, we had our RV recall work done in Tacoma, and spent the night at the Escapees park in Chimicum. Some RV friends of ours, Ann Howells and David Brown, rent a lot nearby in Port Hadlock and we had a delightful Happy Hour and wine tasting there with them. Laurie Brown and Odel King were also there and we had an enjoyable time on a sunny and glorious day, made even more awesome by the views over the water. David and Ann rent a house near Capetown, South Africa every winter, and we were happy to get some travel information from them in the hope that we can still travel there this coming winter.

Friday we drove from Chimicum to Sekiu and joined the RoVing Rods at Olsen’s Resort and RV Park. It was great to see everyone again and hear that they had been catching quite a few salmon. Elaine went out the next morning with Doc and Ron and they caught 7 salmon. We brined them after they were filleted, and smoked them and canned them today. Unfortunately, today when they went out fishing, it was pretty rough on the water, with big swells, and they only caught 2 fish. Hopefully, things will pick up tomorrow. We have been having delicious potluck meals and Happy Hours too.

We are finding that we have a great appreciation for our freedom, now that we have quit our job. The job requirements weren’t that bad, and the people we worked with were very nice, but the hard part was just that we had to stay there all the time. Generally the campers were pretty nice, and the campground itself was very beautiful, with tall trees and a large, beautiful lake. Too bad the weather wasn’t better this summer. It was hardly ever warm enough to wear shorts or even think about going out on the lake. We only got out kayaking a few times, and even though we eventually got our inflatable boat set up, we never did get it out on the lake because of the cold and rainy weather.

I am going to put a few pictures below that I haven’t been able to post until now because of the lousy air card signal we had before. Now we have a good one; same with our cell phone. So call if you want to and this time you will actually reach us.

8/16/07

Sorry it has been so long since we have updated this blog. The word busy wouldn’t even begin to describe what life has been like here. The frustrating part is that we are working about twice as many hours as we are getting paid for. When we took this job we thought that we would have some time to go fishing, kayaking, etc. on the lake here during our own time. That has NOT been happening! Also, the weather has been fairly cool and overcast quite a bit of the time, and when we do have a nice day, the place is crammed with campers and day use people.

The good part is that we have been having lots of visits with family and good friends. Pat & Linda Jenkins arrived on August 3 and Mike and Marilyn Harrison came the next day. Joe and Carla Calwell arrived soon after and we were glad to have them considering that they were having axle problems with their 5^th wheel and left it to be repaired in Boise. They were willing to stay in a tent just to be here with all of us! Luckily, the camp hosts have the use of an A-frame cabin in the area so they were able to sleep there. We all enjoyed the lake one day and spent another day exploring Roslyn, Salmon la Sac, and eating at the Mexican place in Cle Elum. Everyone tried our inflatable kayaks on one of the only sunny days we had. There were lots of happy hours and group meals and everyone had a wonderful time.

Another great visit was from my brother Jerry, and his wife Diann. They flew to Seattle and rented a car and drove out here on Tuesday. We convinced them to stay in our new RV while we tried out the A-frame bedroom. Carla and Joe, we don’t know how you ever managed in that bed!! There was a dinner for all the camp hosts while they were here and we were glad that they could join us.

There has been a lot of wacko things going on here, as usual. A few weeks ago, someone used an acetylene torch to cut into the cast iron deposit boxes for the camper’s pay envelopes. When Elaine went to get into the box and found the lock cut off, the box was still hot! So she called on the radio and Marvin immediately checked the boat launch box and that had been hit by the robbers too. But all the other camp loop boxes were still intact. Our pay box is not located near our rig or any of the campsites which might be why they hit ours and not the others. The dumb part is that they did this on a Wednesday, probably our slowest day and the day the boxes would have the least money.

A few days ago, Jim, the camp host at Crystal Springs, our loop that is located about 6 miles from here, across the freeway, had a problem with some campers. When he tried to get them to pay the amount that they were supposed to, they ganged up on him and then they called Donna and Ken, our area managers. They are the ones that have been causing problems here the whole summer. Donna knows these campers from past years and decided to take their side. She called Jim and started yelling at him, so he said that he was paying for that phone and didn’t have to listen to her yelling at him on it at ten o’clock at night, and he hung up on her. She called up Laraine and told her to go over and fire him and have him out of there by noon the next day. Of course, all of us that are left here are upset by this whole deal and Elaine has been really pushing for us to just quit. She says we don’t owe any loyalty to an outfit that supports managers like this. So next week we are going to quit. We have friends coming on Tuesday and Wednesday and on Thursday we are out of here. After having an appointment at the Chevy place in Tacoma on Thursday, we will drive up to Seiku to join the RoVing Rods for the annual salmon fishing event. So we are busy packing and getting organized to make our escape.

Sunday there will be a big farewell dinner for all the camp hosts here. It will be sad to leave all our new good friends. I am feeling guilty for leaving all of them to handle everything during the last few weeks of the season.

We have some pictures of our visitors but I don’t know whether our air car will allow me to post them at this time. If not, I will do it when I have a stronger signal.