On Oct 12, we drove the coach to Junction City and had Davis Cabinets install new snaps for our new outside solar screens. Yes, we still had the old snaps and some were utilized, but we still needed about half of them redone in different positions. The job wasn’t that difficult, and they were finished by early afternoon. Since we had a coach service appointment at Cummins in Coburg the next day, we moved the coach over there and got set up in their parking lot. They have power and water, so we were very comfortable.
At 7:30 the next morning, Cummins took our coach in for its annual service check on the engine and generator. What was supposed to be a 4 hour service job turned into 8 hours because they found a fuel pump leaking fuel and a gasket in the generator leaking oil. Well, the fuel pump and gasket had to be replaced ($$$) so they put two techs on the jobs and we were on the road at 3:45 pm. Good thing because we had reservations at Newport’s South Beach State Park (Oregon Coast) and sure weren’t looking forward to parking after dark. As it was, we were in our site and all hooked up by 5:45 pm.
The morning of Oct 14, Ken & I took a two mile walk out to the beach and found an earthcache on a walkway platform. An earthcache is not a physical cache, but somewhat like a "virtual" where you have to answer some questions regarding something to do about the local geological area. This cache was related to the Newport Jetty and after answering some questions, we had to post a picture of one of us with the Jetty in the background. Yeah, that's me looking at the telescope.
It was a beautiful, but cool morning and we totally enjoyed the walk. I was thrilled that my foot didn’t give me any problems at all. We did get a little mist around 3 pm, but it was completely over by 6 pm. Our friends, Rod & Lynda showed up about 5 and got set up in the site next to us. We spent the rest of that evening visiting and playing cards.
We woke the morning of the 14th to sun and 43 degrees (brr). Since it was such a gorgeous morning, the four of us (Rod, Lynda, Ken & I) took a hike to the beach, then over to the Jetty and back down the beach before heading back to camp. We figured we walked about 3 miles. After our walk, we all cleaned up and drove to Lincoln City and did some shopping at the outlets, then headed over to Mo’s for Clam Chowder and Garlic Bread……wonderful!!!
On the 16th, we slept in a little, then decided to go for a geocache about a mile down the beach from the day use area. Well, we were parked in the G Loop which is about a mile from the day use lot. I wanted to drive down to the day use area, but everyone else wanted to hike the trail, so I relented and we ended up walking about 4 miles for a cache. Hooray, again, I didn't have any problems with my foot. It was a gorgeous day and we totally enjoyed walking the beach!
Sunday, the 17th, no one wanted to do anything, so we sat by the fire most of the morning, then decided to have a late lunch, early dinner at a local 50’s/60’s style restaurant in town called Fast Back. On the way back to camp, Ken & I stopped for a cache in a little known cemetery, while Rod & Lynda took a beach short cut back to camp. This was our last day at the beach, so we made the most of it by enjoying a quiet evening playing cards.
After pulling out of our site and dumping the tanks, we left South Beach around 10 am on Monday, Oct 18. Once we got back home, we cleaned the coach and loaded the last minute stuff for Arizona. We couldn’t leave until Oct 21 because I had a Dr Appointment and had to get an allergy prescription filled.
We finally left Salem on Thursday Oct 21 and after a very uneventful drive, we got to Queen Valley on Sunday afternoon, Oct 24. We parked the coach in our site, hooked up to power and water, and didn’t even pull the big slide out because we were leaving for Texas (in Jeep) early Tuesday morning, Oct 26.
We spent all day Monday, Oct 25 getting the basics of the coach set up and loading the Jeep with what we would need for the next week or so in Texas. We had found out earlier in September that our grandson, Justin, was scheduled to graduate his Air Force Basic Training on Oct 27-31. I had already made reservations for staying on base the nights of Oct 28 & 29, but we had to stay off base the night of the 27th because Lackland Air Force Base is a closed base and no civilian could be on base till 6 am, Oct 28.
We left Queen Valley at 6:45 and drove 633 miles to Fort Stockton, Texas, where we spent the night. It was a long drive and we even lost two hours because of the time change from Arizona to Texas. The next morning we were up and on the road at 6 am and pulled into San Antonio about 11:30. It was a hot 80 degrees with 88 percent humidity. There was lots of fog due to the humidity, but it burned off by mid afternoon. At 2 pm, Justin’s wife, Holly and her mom, Colleen, landed at San Antonio Airport and made their way to the base. They were able to be on base because Holly being a military wife had her Military ID and was able to go right in the gate. At 6 pm, we were at the San Antonio Airport where we picked up my daughter LeighAnn, her husband Tim, and his mother Ann. They stayed at the same hotel we did, so after getting them checked in, Holly & Colleen met us, and we all went out for dinner at the local Cracker Barrel. It was a fun evening and Holly was so excited about seeing her hubby after him being away for 8 1/2 weeks. Of course LeighAnn was very excited about seeing her only son too. This is the longest that he has ever been away from home (Salem area) and mom was pretty teary.
We were up early the next morning and on base shortly after 6 am. We couldn’t check into our rooms till 2 pm, so we left all the bags in the Jeep and attended the day’s festivities. At 7 am, we had “briefings.” This is where we learned all the dos and don’ts for being on the base. We also were told what the graduating “Airman” could and couldn’t do. Sooooo many rules!! Did we remember them all? Well no one got in trouble, so I guess we did OK.
At 9 am, we were lined up along one of the roads on base and watched all the graduating “flights” run by the visitors and family. We were sooooo excited when we spotted Justin. They ran by us twice while we all cheered and yelled greetings. The airmen trainees couldn’t even acknowledge anyone or they would have gotten in trouble.
While Justin and Holly got reacquainted, we went for pizzas (off base) and brought them back to one of the rooms so we could all just visit and enjoy being with our boy again.
Later we walked down a couple blocks to the River Walk so he could see what it was all about. While some walked around the area, Leigh, Colleen, Ken, & I stopped at a small café and had some Margaritas.
San Antonio traffic was horrid, and Justin didn’t want to be late getting back to base, so we had him back on base in time for him to get something else to eat. He really wanted something other than military mess. We stopped at a Burger King (on base) where he got his fill (grin). It was great seeing Justin and it was hard to say goodbye, but we had to get back to our room and prepare to be up early in order to have LeighAnn, Tim, and Ann back to the airport at 5 the next morning. We were all in tears as we said our goodbyes, but we were glad that Holly was able to stay on a couple more days and have some quality time with her hubby.
Once we dropped everyone off at the airport, Ken & I headed to Dallas, Texas to see his son, Dean for a couple days. Dean had been having episodes with his heart the last few months and the doctors finally said his heart was only operating at 30 percent, and he needed a Pace Maker and a Fibulator. His surgery was set for 7:30 am on November 1. We got to Dallas about 10 am on Oct 30 and had a great visit with Dean. We went out to eat at a local mall and do a little shopping. On Oct 31, we did a couple geocaches and had more time to visit with Dean. We also had some great Mexican food at a local “Chuys.”
The morning of November 1, we picked Dean up and had him at the hospital in time to check in and be prepped for surgery. The surgery lasted about 2 hours and the doctor said he was pleased with how it went. We, along with Dean's mom & stepdad, were able to see him in recovery and then back in his room. Since things were going well, Dean was released after only spending one night in the hospital. We had to head back to Arizona on Oct 2, so after Dean's mom got him checked out and back to his house, we were there to say goodbye. While we were saying goodbye, a huge thunder and lightning storm hit with rain pouring so hard we had trouble seeing the road. We managed to get through the mid morning traffic and happily were out of the hard rain by the time we got past Fort Worth. We were both tired after the last few days of little or no sleep, so we stopped for the night in Odessa. At least we got some sleep after a light meal.
We were back on the road early and gained our two hours back as we crossed thru Texas and New Mexico back into Arizona. It was windy and there was some dust, but we had no problems on the road. We even managed to stop a few times to find some geocaches. We made it back to Queen Valley about 5 the evening of November 3. We were shocked to see that our total driving miles were 2,670 miles (whew)… It was nice to be off the road and back in our own bed.
It’s great being back in Queen Valley and seeing all our friends again. We will be here all of November, but plan on heading back to Salem (in Jeep) the beginning of December to spend the holidays with our family.
