Camping Fun

 We borrowed Terrys RV and took Soren camping at Spillman Campground, at Tahuya OHV state forest. He's 14 now, knows everything, still a kid at heart. 

We took the sxs and the guys took it out a few times and got good & dirty.

I stayed in camp, did a lot of cross stitching and relaxing.

BUT.

And there's always a BUT.

The neighbors were tweakers and on Thursday night they were screaming at each other for a while at about 10pm, on Friday they yelled a few times during the day and raked the forest floor...  We no longer felt safe with them there and more were showing up, plus their dog barked and barked and barked.

So we came home early.

And that was OK, since Soren had had his fill of camping, he missed his electronics and his girlfriend.

Fun was had, good food was cooked over the campfire, Soren had his Taki's and I hardly limited his eating. He also got to chop as much wood as he wanted and kept the fire stoked all day. 

Camping

 We're taking the 14 1/2 year old great nephew camping for 2 nights about 30 miles from home, taking the mtn bike for him to ride and the SXS for us all to enjoy. I'll take my cross stitch so they can go ride & I'll work on that, have a nap, enjoy snacks.

It'll be fun.

Black Orchid Ambleside

This was the trucks maiden voyage with the camper and I'm happy to say it did OK.

We got a late start and arrived at the area we like to boondock well after dark, so it was a bit difficult to find a spot. We did check out Kaner Flats but it wasn't on the river side of the road, and they wanted $10 to camp and I almost paid $40 because it was dark & didn't notice till the next day that I had put two 20's into the payment envelope. It's a good thing we didn't stay at that campground.

So this is the view we woke up to.

Our morning lesson with Amble turned into an afternoon lesson so we had 6 hours to use. Lan decided we should go check out Boulder Cave (it's only $5) and after the Ranger said it's reservation only, he said there was an opening so took our money and let us go in. There were only 2 other families there the whole time. It's a short cave, maybe 100 yards long and pitch-black inside. Its got bats but we didn't see a single one, since we forgot to take flashlights and my phone light sucks. But we still enjoyed the trek.

This little guy was on the hand rail of a walkway and we're sure he was trying to not get eaten by the Garter Snake that was hanging out below him. We left them both alone.

And, at 3pm, we got to see Amble. 

I got to drive my own horse!!!!!

I have a long way to go with driving but I hope I don't do her, or me, any harm. I definitely need to begin to use weights, my arms and hands were sore after I was done. And my feet were tired after being on the back of the cart for most of the hour from leaning to the outside of every turn.

 

Days Away on A Mini Vacation

 I have a lesson on learning to drive Amble tomorrow morning and I'd like to do it as early as possible, as its supposed to get up to 91* over there. We have decided to go camping tonight so we won't be driving for 3.5 hours at 0'dark:30 in the morning to get there.

I've checked out a bunch of the camping areas around Yakima and a few of them are on the Canyon Road between Ellensburg and Yakima, I don't know if I'd want to camp at any of them. The day use is OK; camping is only $5-$15 but the people are sketchy. They'd probably end up partying all night & we'd get no sleep.  There is the Sunnyside RV Park and it's still reasonable at $37 per night with electric and a pool but we'll be there too late to swim and leave too early to swim.  I did leave a reservation request with them so if the guy calls back, I'll ask about late arrivals, since we wouldn't get there before 10pm.

I'm excited yet nervous to drive Amble and to ride her. I'm not nearly as good a rider as I used to be and I've never driven besides one single time. This is why I need to go over, to learn to drive.

I've Been Waiting

 I've been waiting months, since we got back in December, to go back to Pioche. We purchased the

travel trailer to live in while we're there, We've cleaned, painted

Sewn

and built

as much stuff as we could to make it comfortable to use. 

The truck is ready to go, minus the hay. Fresh oil & fluids, bearings greased and brakes checked. A new console cup holder, 3 more power sources, and the new air bags he put on after the September trip, for comfort. Its freshly vacuumed and cleaned out with clean windows.

We just can't find the silly neck pillows, anywhere. I've searched our bedroom including inside the luggage and closets, I've searched the sewing room, the buffet (that's where I thought I'd seen them last week), I've searched all the other cars and the other camper. My goal today is to get EVERYTHING remaining on the list into the truck or trailer so we can be ready to go at 9am tomorrow.

I've got my older travel journal and the new tiny one I purchased at Zion National Park in December, I've got the house journal for house things and I've got plain paper for notes or shopping lists.

Some of the cargo going down will be the electrical sockets, switches, new wire and fixtures. We're taking our bikes so we can get in a few short rides on those; there's a mountain bike ride in Caliente during the first weekend of May and it looks like fun to go watch.  We're taking a telescope with a few attachments so we can look at the stars. This morning was the 'Smiley Face' with the 2 planets and the moon, I saw the moon through the trees but couldn't see the planets and that's OK because media hyped it up to be this great thing but it wouldn't have been like that at all.

Anyway, it's high time I get my shit together, we'll be on the road in 24 hours.

One More Week

In less than a week we will be leaving on our journey to Pioche, 

not on this exact path though because we'll be going through Winnemucca to see the Gypsy Horse Fest at the fairgrounds there.

Its about 700 miles and thats too long of a drive for 1 day so we might stop near Smith Rock in Oregon along the way.

I'm just excited to NOT BE WORKING.

 

Trailer Hacks from Dollar Tree

Went to Dollar Tree yesterday and loaded up with bins for the trailer. I've been using them in the RV and camper, so its only natural to use them in the trailer as well. 

 

I got a few of each kind; these white ones I got for putting our clothes in

I hadn't ever seen these egg bin / shelves before so I got 2. This will be an eggssellent way to keep the eggs out of the way. At home we don't refrigerate the fresh eggs, they are used or given away before they are old. In the campers there just isn't enough room on the countertops to hold eggs.

The bedroom is in the front of the trailer and the bed is made. Its NOT a comfortable bed by any means but its better than a tent.

SO FAR there's plenty of storage for whatever we need to put in it but that will become FULL as we go along.

I see NO REASON to hang clothes in thee tiny closets, plastic hangers don't fit well onto the bars and we just don't hang clothing often, we're tee shirt people.

So I asked Lan to 'help' me make shelves inside and he did. They will hold a massive amount of clothing now and this is where the bins come in.

Two of the bins fit on the bottom PLUS I can stack them with the neatly folded clothing in them to save even  more room. I have socks & undies  in one bin, tee shirts in another, pants and shorts in one and flannel shirts in yet another. I put my spare shoes on the top shelf but I will be moving those to the shelf/cupboard to the right, above my head area.

These are the curtains, same material I used for the camper curtains.

 I use elastic pony tails to hold them open so then when I close them they don't want to stay overlapped so I got these...

The colors are bright & happy and pretty much match the material.

HORSE STUFF:

Yesterday Joey turned 29 years old and I gave him a good grooming because hes just not shedding out well. He has really long hairs and a lot of it and keeps getting mats in his armpits and on his chest. So I wormed him. On his birthday. Poor boy.

He looks good for being 29

This morning Ambleside and Wifi were napping when I went out to feed them breakfast.

Amble is a BIG girl

I just love Wifi

Amble is so regal

Wifi has her udders swollen and I'm a bit concerned.

I clean their udders every week or so, they get so nasty and they LOVE to get them cleaned. Last week they weren't swollen.

The off side is smaller than the near side.

Its not the teats swollen, but in front of them.

I'm wondering if its a sign of being in heat? Neither mare acts any different when they're in season than any other time of the year.

I am looking for a stud for Amble...

 

Loading Up The Trailer

I bought 4 cases of water today to go with the 3 other cases we already have at home for our trip to Nevada in a couple weeks.  I loaded them into the trailer but I'll still need to move shit around because these cases leak and I don't want water sitting on the trailer floor.

We have a nice bed mattress on the lower bunk of the trailer and I'd like for it to be up on the top bunk and storage on the bottom where I can reach it easier. 

Think easier, not heavier.

The water will go into the bathtub.

We need to drink a LOT of water while we're there, if I don't drink lots then I get dehydrated and feel icky. Plus I get static electricity and shock my ass every time I touch anything.

I got these for washing dishes and cooking. 

The actual fresh water in the trailer will be used for flushing the toilet.

These bins are great for holding stuff in cupboards and I've got a few in the back seat of the truck to hold water and other drinks, chips and snacks and one for miscellaneous things like my wallet, notebook, sun glasses and hats.

We have a few of these neck pillows we always take with us on trips, I absolutely LOVE to nap while Lan is driving on long trips. I've had mine for a LOT of miles including England, France, Pioche a few times, Hawaii and Florida.

a full MONTH ago I began packing clothes to take to Pioche to be left there and now I can't find the damn things anywhere. I sincerely hope I didn't do something stupid like donate them, that would suck.

Where have you traveled to lately?

 

Shake Out Camping Trip

We went camping in the new to us trailer last night, just the one night, a shake out, to see what needs work and so on.

We went to Belfair State Park in Washington state, its only about 16 miles away.

The heater works well, the water heater works if the propane is on (hint hint) and the fridge might or might not work.

This is the first photo I've been able to take of the painted kitchen in real light, not electric lights. I really like it. I'll be putting a backsplash up on the surrounding walls before we leave for Pioche and the rest of the walls will be painted once we arrive there. I'm 99% sure the paint will dry faster there than here in the winter cold weather.

We have a good time.

 

The Trailer Awning

When we paid $1000 for this trailer we knew we were getting an extremely good deal, no matter what repairs it might need. We knew there was water damage and found out after we got it home that the awning needs repaired too so here are the before photos. We're just hoping we can get it fixed RIGHT and of course, we'll be doing the work ourselves.

This isn't going to be easy as the black material underneath is still completely intact and if we open it up we are going to then need to find a way to repair that.