Here it is Labor Day already! What on earth happened to our summer? It seems like it was only yesterday that we arrived back in Salem after spending the winter in Queen Valley, AZ. On May 6, we decided to drive back to Salem via Laughlin and Reno instead of spending the next couple months on the road because a 92 year old lady friend (Naoma) needed our help. Ken is her POA (power of attorney) and we took her under our wing several years ago because she has no one else to rely upon.
Long story short, she took a hard fall late January and cracked a couple bones (one in upper hip and one in left shoulder) and was placed in a skilled nursing-rehabilitation facility for 100 days (Medicare’s maximum time). After that amount of time, she still was not in good physical condition to go home alone and would need 8-10 hours daily care if she did. However, her home was so squalid the caregivers said no to her going home (even with help) and recommended assisted living. She wouldn’t go to assisted living until we, and the doctor, said she had no choice. We found a very nice place and got her settled on the 21st of May. After getting her settled, we left town and went camping along the McKenzie River with friends, Rod, Lynda, and their family, for a week. After being involved with Naoma’s condition on a daily basis since January, it felt so good not having to deal with cell phone or Internet service. Of course that all changed once we went back home.
Back home, we still had to work on getting Naoma’s house and miscellaneous “stuff” sorted out and figuring out what to do with everything. We worked on that off and on during June then took off over the Fourth of July holiday. We spent June 28-July 8 at South Beach State Park on the Oregon coast and had a great time. We even managed to do some geocaching, which we hadn’t done much of since being back in Oregon. But once again, we had to go home and get back to working on our stuff along with taking care of Naoma’s stuff. Of course during the next couple months, we had several doctor appointments for us and for Naoma, plus managing to take her out to lunch and shopping at least once a week, if not more often.
In August, we took time to attend a couple RV Rallies: One was the Monaco Pre-FMCA Rally in Salem (five days) and the FMCA (Family Motor Coach of America) in Redmond (5 days). Instead of driving our coach to the rallies, we just walked into the one in Salem (extremely small and quiet) and drove the Jeep over to the one in Redmond and stayed at a local hotel. By driving the Jeep, we were able to do more geocaching to and from that event. It was great meeting up with old friends at the event in Redmond and of course checking out the huge array of vendors, educational seminars, and some really neat entertainment. Of course, viewing the new coaches of all makes and brands was a treat…..that just made us more determined to hang on to ours for a while. It is unbelievable as to what some of the new coaches are going for now….even with the gas and diesel prices the way they are.
So now here it is Labor Day and we are once again preparing for our annual Salmon fishing trip to Yakutat, Alaska. We leave on Sept. 10 and will be back in Salem late the 20th. The latest news from Yakutat is the fish are in the bay and waiting for rain before moving up in the streams. Of course, it is going to start raining just before we get there, so hope the fishing will be good. Also, have heard there is a chance of some very wet snow while we are there…..now that is very hard to believe. Again, we will have no Internet or phone service (except through the lodge) while there, so hope the emails don’t get too plentiful while we are gone.
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