A Circle Drive

 

This morning we set out to make the circle to Ellensburg and back. We drove to Wenatchee, east to Quincy, south to Vantage, west to Ellensburg, and north back to Wenatchee over Blewett Pass. Here is a great view of Wenatchee taken from across the river. The sun had just hit the peaks above the town where you can see a fresh dusting of snow.

 

As we were driving down the freeway towards Vantage we could see these windmills way off in the distance. We said "What are those?", hoping a get a better view somewhere. Sure enough, on a back road heading west to Ellensburg we saw them from this view point. It was striking to catch them seeming to emerge from the fog (or is that a cloud?)

 

 A truly amazing sight, wind turbines. There was a visitor center up a gravel road but it was closed till April, naturally, so we couldn't go in. We might have learned how they operate.

  

 We explored the tiny town of Kittitas, just outside Ellensburg. Since Wilson is the 8th most common surname in the U.S. it's not difficult to find places with that name. There is a Wilson Park also in Rapid City where we took a similar picture.

  

 Another Wilson

 

This very colorful old farmhouse was just outside Ellensburg.

 

Leaving East Wenatchee this morning we looked up to see this V.

 

And returning in the afternoon we were greeted by another V, this one made by two jets passing.

A Travelin' Table Cover

 

Here is an project that might interest you other RVers, and it could also work for anyone with a yen to see the world! Early on in our travels, actually when we had just moved into our 5th wheel, I had an idea to cover a U.S. map with contact paper, put it on the table for a table cover, and thus plot our travels and our dreams while we ate or did whatever at the table. Over the course of 5 years the edges got raggedy and more raggedy and I kept cutting them off till I was about to cut off Washington. Since that's our home state I didn't care to see it succumb to the scissors.

My husband recently began working at an art center. We had another map, which I was about to cover with more contact paper, till we thought about the possibility of having it laminated at the art store. Voila! Here it is! It's stiff and shiny and seems sturdy, and the cost was minimal. I don't anticipate having to cut the corners off this map, so Washington will be saved for a good long time, I hope.

 

Here is our kitty Montana, maybe plotting his own route to travel! This project could be applied to any map. I plan to do one of Montana, since we'll be working there this summer again, or I may do one with just the western states. Or maybe the eastern states, or the south....or...or... 
The World!

Recapping 2009

It's been a momentous year for us, as for many. Here is a brief recap of our adventures.

We worked at a kangaroo ranch near Deadwood, South Dakota, for 4 months, ending in January. It was the most unusual and challenging job we had ever had, caring for, feeding, scooping poop, etc, for 60 some roos and about the same number of other marsupials and some more common critters.We did all that amidst sometimes blizzard conditions. We wouldn't trade that experience with those animals for anything!

  February and March 2009 found us near Gordon, Nebraska, with its own siege of cold weather and blizzards. I often thought of the song "Oh, Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie". The vistas were vast and looked all the same. I was reduced to taking photos of the cows who came to look at our RV parked next to their pasture. I'm sure we relieved the boring landscape they usually looked at, too!

 

 Good and faithful friends are not so easy to find. Here is Keith with Faisal, the friend who let us park in his backyard on the prairie.

 

 Back to the Black Hills, finally. Our first trip of the year into Custer State Park gave us another unusual experience. We were used to the 'wild' burros in the park begging food from the tourists, but we had never seen the mountain goats doing that. This one was quite persuasive!

Two or three blizzards later, we were finally able to leave Rapid City and were on the road again headed for our spring and summer job in Montana.

 

 We finally made it to Missoula, (where the Clark Fork River runs through it) the first week of April. In this photo you can see the 'M' above the University of Montana. We hiked the zigzag trail to the 'M', quite a feat for 2 old coots. Missoula is beautiful. We enjoyed our job there at the KOA.

 

 A highlight for us while in Missoula was the visit of our best friends from Washington. We headed for Glacier Nat'l Park for a couple of days. Here we are at the top of the "Going to the Sun" road.

 

 Our job at the KOA ended the middle of September and, like homing pigeons, we headed back to Wenatchee and our family there. We have a new appreciation for the beauty of the whole Wenatchee Valley where also "A River Runs Through It".

 

We finished out the year parked in a friend's orchard along the river, a truly awesome gift in a lovely setting, where we will be till we hit the road again in April 2010. We are thanking God for His many blessings over the past year, and for His continual guidance! He is good!

The Lighthouse

 One of the main reasons we believed we were to stay in Wenatchee for the winter was to help with a new ministry to the homeless, recovering addicts, and other needy people. Our friend Bob leased this building, in awful shape to start with. In this photo you see the shell. The partial wall to the right was removed by Bob and his son.

 

Here's the same view, mostly finished, with a stage for musical groups. There will also be a soup kitchen, and Bible studies every day.

 

The outside of the building, a former tavern. It was actually called "The Lighthouse Tavern"!

 

A lighthouse painted on the front window! We're already having a Bible study here, and the grand opening will be December 18, with 2 Christian rock bands performing on the new stage. It's going to be an exciting ministry, put together by God!

Check out the website:
http://wenatcheelighthouse.org/

A memory from childhood

This photo of my granddaughter, taken by her aunt and stolen by me from my daughter's Facebook page, reminds me of something I used to love doing as a child. We lived on a farm, and of course in those days we made our own entertainment. I would make little teepees from construction paper. It's simple—you cut out a circle, any size you want,
cut it in half, and fold the paper to make 2 teepees. More circles, more teepees. I would get some kind of tray, cardboard or otherwise, fill it with dirt, then gather pieces of moss, twigs and little branches and put them in place beside the teepees to make trees and bushes. A tiny mirror made a great little lake, and tin foil would look like a stream. Pathways were pressed into the soil with my fingers, and I would add a few rocks and whatever else I could imagine. Voila! I had a great Indian village, good for hours of fun!

A Fruitful Afternoon

We walked down from where we are parked, through an orchard to the Columbia River, with our granddaughter. This is the mighty Columbia, looking south toward Wenatchee from just below the Rocky Reach Dam.

Here we are looking north, towards the dam. You can barely see it in the distance. (click to enlarge) Nat is always finding sticks to pick up.

 

 Heading home through the orchard. There are still  lots of apples here and there, very tasty, though on the verge of getting rotten from the cold and from being on the ground. You can see our 5th wheel at the end of the pathway.

 

A golden treasure along with some "junk" she found in the field. She ate all these apples in one afternoon!

A Porch Project!

Whenever we know we're going to be in one place for a few months we like to put up our porch. It's a lot nicer than the standard RV steps, which can be awkward and dangerous sometimes. We store the porch, completely dismantled, in the back of BigTruk when we don't want it up. On this lovely day we had a surprise visit from our daughter and granddaughters. Keith asked Natalie if she'd help him get the boards and supports out of the truck so he could start assembling the porch. She did, and then she stuck with him throughout the whole process! Pretty good for an 8 year old!

 In this photo Mom came out and helped with the nuts and bolts, too.

 

 Here is the finished product! A great porch and steps for our RV!