Busy Week

We just completed three and a half fun filled days attending a Monaco Come Home Rally (22nd through the 25th) which was held at the State Fair Grounds here in Salem. Folks were allowed to arrive one day before the event took place, so we moved our coach to the fair grounds on Sunday (21st) morning. It was amazing how many others had the same idea. The entire north end of the parking area was full of coaches being staged and readied for parking. We got in line, and after an hour of waiting, were finally able to choose where we wanted to park. It cost us an extra $10 to come in one day early, but if we wanted electric and pavement parking, it was going to be another $90. Well, Ken did not want to park on grass (especially since rain was in the forecast), so he opted for the full charge and got us placed in the electric site. It was really nice because we had full power and no generator noise or fuel smell from our neighbors.

We have attended many of Monaco’s Rally’s, but this is our first that included all of their coach brands (Monaco, Holiday Rambler, Beaver, and Safari). Actually, this is the third “Western Family” (multi-brand ) rally that Monaco has held, but during the first two, we were in Alaska and couldn’t attend. We heard there were just over 500 coaches in attendance, which is very small considering the four makes of coaches involved. It is not surprising due to the cost of fuel and how far many have to travel to attend. We probably wouldn’t have taken the coach in, but we wanted a door arm replaced and a bay door adjusted, so with the “free” labor, we couldn’t resist.



Monaco always puts on a grand party because they have their new coaches on display and want people in the grand frame of mind to buy, buy, and buy. The new coaches are gorgeous, but also have a huge sticker price. We were very interested in a Beaver Patriot Thunder, but the one we liked wasn’t on display and we didn’t want to get excited about something we couldn’t actually see…. Besides, the base price started at $435,000 and then the options were tacked on top of that (yikes). We controlled our urges and decided to just look and enjoy our “old” 2002 Dynasty.

There is always a theme for the Monaco “party,” and this year’s theme was a Masquerade Ball. The three day “event” included catered breakfast and dinner, plus an all you can drink Cocktail Hour and all you can eat Salad Bar each evening before dinner. On top of that, the “sponsors/dealers” held their own parties: A Wine & Cheese Social, a Keg Party, and a Champagne Social. Again, it was an all you can drink (and eat) period which were designed to impress and encourage you to buy. We did find out there were 18 coaches sold (new and used).

After dinner was the entertainment. On Tuesday, we saw Bob Anderson: “The Dean of Impressionists,” who impersonated Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Tony Bennett, Mel Torme, Steve Lawrence, and many more. Wednesday was Jimmy Travis: Comedian, Singer, & Songwriter (he was fantastic), and on the last evening (Thurs) was the Four Preps. What can I say about them? Golly Gee, they are from my teenage/young adult era and were great!! We were seated center stage third table back during each show and had a ton of fun….even got some dancing in (grin).

Of course, the rally schedule was packed full of interesting classes, and informative seminars which were put on by the usual vendors, suppliers, and Monaco staff. There was even a pet parade which we missed because we don’t have a pet and were doing something else at the time. So many things were going on from 7 am till 9 pm and everyone was having a blast.

Our next big adventure is to take our "old" coach and revamp the front cabinets and replace the old TV with a new 37" LCD TV. Also, the rear TV will be replaced with a new 26" LCD TV. Sure going to make a huge difference!

Sorry for not having more pictures for this posting, but again we forgot the camera. The only two pics I took were with my iPhone. Check back in a week, and I will post pictures of the before and after work on the coach.

Fish Story

After just spending a week in blissful ignorance on what is happening in the world, we are now back to the rude awareness of all that has been happening across our country. Unbelievable of what can happen in such a short time: Galveston destroyed by Hurricane Ike, the Financial Institutions failing, and the Stock Market taking a nose dive. Although now, it looks like with the Federal Reserve ready to bail out the lending companies, the market is kinda rallying.

We had a great time in Yakutat, AK fishing with Ken’s brother Dick and his friend Bob (from Boise)…..sorry no pictures, we didn’t even take the camera this trip. Good thing, because all but two days were pouring rain with lots of wind. Temps were in the low 50s during the day and mid 40s at night.

Our flight out of SeaTac (Seattle) was to leave at 7 am on Sept. 9. However, as soon as we boarded and were ready to taxi out, we hear from the captain that there was a mechanical problem, and they were waiting for clearance to leave. After sitting on the ground for an hour, we were finally cleared for takeoff with no explanation of what had been wrong.

The flight was just over 2 hours to Juneau where we stopped for a short time, but we couldn’t get off the plane because they were so far behind schedule. Once we got back in the air, it was just a short hop across the mountains to Yakutat. We had clear skies and gorgeous views until we left Juneau, but naturally, it was raining when we landed at Yak, and it continued to rain for the rest of that day and most of the next week. We had a few hours before Dick and Bob were due in, so we got ourselves settled in our room and Ken got the boat motor (we had shipped it up from Portland earlier) ready for the river. At 6 pm, we picked the guys up and got them settled in their room. After dinner (and some drinks) we proceeded to map out our strategy for finding fish (grin).

Our daily routine was very basic: up at 5:30, eat breakfast at 6, and to the river by 7:30. Fish along the river until 4 (usually just after high tide), then back to the lodge to clean fish and vacuum pack them. Dinner was usually at 7 (after a happy hour session) and we were asleep by 9. The river we fish is a tidal river and we were catching fish that came up river with the tide, so they were still fresh and bright silver.

This year’s fishing was harder than in years past because the fish weren’t biting much, but when they did bite it was quite a ride. They were much larger than in the past and fought more. Don’t know if it was because of all the rain or the extremely high tides, but we had to really entice the fish to take our lures (no bait). Sometimes by just bouncing the lure off of their heads, they would get mad and bite at it, then we had them (grin). Our first day out, everyone got their limit, but after that it was hit and miss on who got what. We lost two lures in the seven days of fishing and several fish. Dick and Bob had their share of woes and some nice catches, but the end line was, we all did get fish and had a great time doing it. Ken and I brought home 120 lbs of Salmon filets (yea). I think I was the most fortunate of all because I had three handsome guys to fish with and they did all the work in moving the boat (to and from the water) and hauling all the gear. How lucky can a girl get??

We were due to leave Yakutat at 6:40 pm Sept 17. All was going well; we were told the plane was on time coming down from Anchorage (it’s not always). Anyhow, the plane landed, and we were in line getting ready for screening when we got notice the plane had a “bird strike” and they were holding off boarding until they could figure out an alternate plan. Seems when the plane landed and was heading for the gate, it ran into a flock of Seagulls or Ducks, and it messed up one engine and the air intake system. The passengers on the plane said all they saw was flying pieces of birds coming out of the engine and many parts on the ground with some limping away (ugh). The air intake system was affected and they said the smell was atrocious.

After a half hour of waiting for news, the airline spokesperson told us the plane was not able to fly, and they were dispatching another plane from Anchorage. Since it was going to take 4 hours for the plane to arrive, the four of us went next door to the airport lodge and grabbed a table where we had drinks and dinner. We were comfortable, and I even got free WiFi on my iPhone, so was able to check email.

Finally, the plane arrived, and we left Yak at 11 pm. The flight back to SeaTac was just over three hours (with a short stop in Juneau) so we all were able to get a little sleep. Once on the ground in Seattle at 3:25 am (1 hour time change), we said good bye to Dick and Bob who had to catch an early morning flight to Boise, ID. We then found an airline kiosk and cajoled them to put our fish boxes in their freezer until 9am so we could go to our hotel room and get some sleep before heading back to Salem. We got our sleep, picked up our fish and made the drive to Salem where we are now getting ready for the Monaco Come Home Rally.

That my friends, is the end of our fish story!

Phantom

What an evening!

After many hours/weeks of sorting through stuff in the squalid house of our deceased friend, Ken took pity on me and treated me and our daughter (who broke her foot a couple weeks ago) to an evening at the opera---a haunted opera.

Yep, on Thursday evening, we went to the Keller auditorium in Portland and saw “Phantom of the Opera.” It was fantastic!! Our daughter was thrilled to be able to get out and see this show. She was kinda bummed about her foot, and needed a break from "life." We sat 5 rows back from the stage and were just off the aisle next to the center; we could see everything perfectly without having to use binoculars.

The show literally started off with a BANG when the “haunted” chandelier started shaking, glowing, flying across the stage, and finally coming to a rest above the audience. Throughout the performance there were strobe lights, gunfire, pyrotechnics, and smoke effects being used to enhance the fantastic acting and singing. Need I say this, but we were all mesmerized throughout the 2 1/2 hour performance. It went so fast that we did not realize how much time had passed. It truly was a grand evening!!!

Now, back to reality!!

Yesterday, Sept. 5, we took our boat motor and a box of needed fishing accessories to the Portland Airport and shipped them to Yakutat so they would be there when we arrive on Tuesday. We also did some geocaching on the way to and on the way back from Portland. Can you believe we found 23 caches and still got all that stuff shipped? We didn’t even leave the house until mid-morning because Ken had some “executor” business phone calls to finalize before the weekend. And, we were home before the dinner hour!!

Now that the box and motor are shipped, we will finish up packing our “main” bags, then on Monday, drive to Seattle where we spend the night. Our flight to Yakutat is early Tuesday morning, so it is much easier to spend the night near SeaTac and leave the Jeep in the hotel’s “park and fly” lot for the time we are gone.