Rike's Pages

Well, we finally picked up our "new old" trailer, and have been on two outings since. For our "maiden voyage" we went to Sumpter (Oregon) and had a ball. The refrigerator worked on and off, but the freezer was steady, so I put water bottles in to freeze, then brought them down to the refrigerator compartment. That seemed to remind the thing how to do its job, so it worked for a while and then got warm again. The water pump does not work, so we just hook up to the tank on the truck and that works fine until we get a new pump installed. The beds are extremely comfortable and we both sleep very well. Sumpter was great: the old Dredge has been leveled and restored, and we took a train ride on the narrow gage steam engine train that runs for six miles through the devastated area - absolutely stunning!

I didn't take the 4-Runner, so the Ford got its work-out on several FS roads. We camped at Phillips Lake at a FS Campground, very quiet, and we had no TV and no Internet! A real vacation!

For our second trip we went to Blewett Pass and stayed at Swauk CG. Again, no TV, no Internet, but lot of excitement nevertheless. We checked out many back roads (with the Ford again), and well, on one of them we just happened to highcenter, ending up sitting right on the oil pan! Whooo hooo! We managed to get out of there after standing on our heads in the ruts and being pretzled around the tire to place the jack in the right spot.... And then I didn't even take ONE picture of it all! I tried to talk Carl into going back but he wouldn't go for it... But this time, the refrigerator worked constantly, so we won't have to get a new one right away. We saw elk and deer and a shepherd with a huge flock of sheep grazing in the middle of the woods! I can't wait for the next outing!

Ok, so I tried my pen at story writing! But the truth is, we DID watch the tall ships "fight" each other here at Tri-Cities in the Columbia River, then we got to tour one of them at the Pasco Harbor and we enjoyed it so much that we decided to take one of the 3-hour tours. All tours at Tri-Cities were sold out already so we booked out of The Dalles. It was well worth it and we plan to do it again next year.

We have been here at Hood Park for a month now. The weather has improved, but we do have rainy days - to keep the grass green... When we came, the trees were bare; now the leaves are out, almost from one day to the next. We've settled into the 5-days-on-5-days-off routine, though it still takes me at least 2 days to "recover" from five early-morning get-ups! I'm no Spring Chick any more!

Carl's 75th birthday was on April 26th. We went out for dinner at one of our favorite restaurants in Ahtanum (just west of Yakima), the "Ranch House". Besides regular good food (Carl's choice: Prime Rib), they feature a Chicken Gizzard Plate (ah,yes, I know) which is my favorite. Also for his birthday, Carl bought me a new Camera. Now I'm trying to take pictures of any of the red squirrels that we have quite a few families of here at the park. There are several pairs of Canada geese that just had chicks, and the cherry and dogwood trees in the park and surrounding area make for good photo ops. Check out my "Hood Park" album, and come back occasionally since I will be adding photos to it throughout the Summer.

Well, here we are, in Eastern Washington, and it is cold and rainy... I had applied for a Campground Attendant job at one of the Corps of Engineers Parks here at Tri-Cities and was picked for Hood Park. There were 5 days of Classes at the end of March to learn the computer reservation system and park rules and regulations, and the Parks opened on April 1st. We traveled straight from Ajo to Walla Walla (where the classes were held) and we were extremely lucky with the weather during the trip: Sunny days and cold nights, no snow or rain.

The work schedule is  5 days on, 5 days off,  and I have to spend several hours at the Gate Booth during the day after opening the gate at 6:00 am! We are not very busy as of yet, but the first 5 days were exhausting, since I'm not used to getting up this early! We worked here ten years ago for two seasons, so, on our days off we explored the old "hunting grounds" and did a lot of reminiscing. We will be here for six months and I'm looking forward to the busier time of the year. The Snake is a beautiful river and we enjoy watching the tugs and barges.