Our Next Vacation

We'll be heading to Pioche but taking a little longer route than straight down. Last year we went through Winnemucca to see the Gypsy Horse Fest show and it was very nice to see the horses but I was disappointed that there were only about 50 horses, max, at the 'west coast' show. I liked that they had it at all and that I got to go but it was a long way out of our way to see so few horses. It was an extra 500 miles and a day of driving to see the show.

This is the realtors photo of our house in Pioche, the one online for the sales photos, May 2024.

Our 1st visit, May 2024. 

I didn't think about taking a front yard photo on this trip.

June 2024,  our 1st trip as owners. 

When we arrived the front door was wide open.

September 2024, 2nd trip

December 12, 2024, no photo!! but I had just turned 62 & we flew down, went to Zion & got my America The Beautiful pass and went to Pioche.

April 2025, 3rd trip

September 2025

We had taken the trailer down in spring.

The yard was FULL of tumbleweeds, took me days to get them all pulled up.

I have full trips of photos missing or in other folders, lost for now. Dang. 

Its 5 weeks till we leave again to head down, we're planning on heading thru Utah & visiting the Dugway Geode state park where we will dig for our own geodes. I will definitely take an arrival photo this time, and every trip after this one.

I'm going to be looking for the perfect house numbers/sign for the front.

Winter Blues

I miss my brother, I miss my best friend and I miss the summer sunshine. 

I've been feeling rather emotional and depressed this last week and even though I just had a vacation, I know I need to get away again. I'm going to start planning my next vacation & the fun part is that I have two options, either go to Pioche with the sxs and do some work on the house 

OR 

do the BUCKET LIST  thing I've been planning for a long, long time.

Riding Amble across the state. 

I had originally planned on doing that with Joey but, life. Now I have the means to do it, I've got the time scheduled off and another horse that can go with me.

I've been working on Ambles cart; Meghan had taken it apart to 'refurbish' but she lost all the parts and did none of the furbishing. SOOOoooooo... I paid $200 for parts two days ago and I know I'll need to spend a lot more, I still need trace holders & they're $22.99 before tax and shipping plus I need two bigger wheels and tires since the cart is a good 8" too low to the ground for her. The shafts need to be level and that isn't negotiable. The harness needs a couple parts, not sure if I've ordered those or not... 

I also need to get her saddle fitted to her correctly or get another saddle and I just simply do not have the funds for that. I also need a 6" ported curb bit and good luck finding one thats not $200.

Next Trip

 We've got 3 weeks of vacation next May-June and we have several choices of what we'll do:

1. Ride Amble on the John Wayne train cross state BUCKET LIST ITEM

2. Go work on Pioche house

3. Travel anywhere and do whatever happens

4. Stay home & save money

5. 

1. I've been wanting to ride Amble (had planned on Joey but that didn't happen) cross the state for eons and now I actually have the means to do it. I've got the horse, she's trained and will get more training before then, I have a job that pays me well enough to afford it, we have the truck and horse trailer and there are the John Wayne Trail folks who put this event on every year. I have two choices, ride or drive her since I've got the covered wagon.

2. If we choose working on the Pioche house it will be that much closer to being livable. We could rent the excavator and get the bathroom, utility room and kitchen removed and a new exterior wall put up. We'd need (guessing) the excavator for 3-4 days at about $300 daily, new exterior siding and the wood to make the walls, building plans, patience and so much more. I don't even know all the stuff needed for this job. You don't just go knocking down sections of a house and not foresee issues. What if we accidently knock down the entire house? 

3. If we choose to travel, I'd like to go see parts of North America that we haven't seen before. Driving along the Trans Canadian Highway might be fun, or all along I-90 from beginning in Seattle to the end in Boston, or travel more of the mid west. The options are endless.

4. Staying home... hhhmmm... We could still go do daily trips, go to Mt Rainier or the Olympics, go on some trail rides. There are so many things we haven't done in our own state. Staying home allows us to repair fences, work on cars, house repairs, visiting family.

5. I could simply leave it up to Lan and see what happens. 

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?

 

We Travel A LOT

 We took another trip to Las Vegas, this time just to relax. But it as 103* there every day & we chose to do a lot of hiking in the desert. 

Day 1: to El Dorado mine area, about 7.5 miles. Then Jubilee mine & swam in Lake Meade.

Day 2: to Mt Charleston & hiked UP to a waterfall, 2.5 miles, then home to the pools.

Day 3: Didn't hike this day but spent the day in town going to junk stores & just doing nothing. Swam in the lazy river & the pool, felt great. 

Day 4: Valley of Fire State Park, which is BEAUTIFUL, and a hike to a ghost town, 2.5 miles.

Day 5: Started our drive home, up highway 93. About 40 miles north of Las Vegas we almost died when a semi truck didn't see us & drove into our lane of traffic, head on. He had to leave the road on our right to avoid us, and we had a semi passing us at 70mph on each side of us. Scary shit. But we made it to Jackrabbit Tunnel and explored there till dark. I found an old rusty metal bed frame, brought that sucker home.

I had flown down, Lan had driven with his parents. They bought a brand new class C RV & were picking it up in Draper, Utah, so Lan dropped them off & then picked me up on Sunday morning at LAS. I had paid for our R/T air flights in July, $255 for both of us & I only used one of mine, making it expensive but we had a better trip because we were able to drive home together and see more. 

Summer Vacation

This was supposed to have posted two months ago but it didn't so I'll share now.

We hooked up the new to us trailer on May 29th, 2020 and hit the road.

2014 Skyline 17' Nomad. Dinette folds down to a queen bed, 2 bunks, bathroom (toilet, tub, shower),

2 burner stove, sink, heater, A/C, power awning.

We paid $4,000 for this gem & are COMPLETELY happy with it.

We were gone for two weeks, from Washington to Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, 

Montana, Idaho & Washington. 

We had to go to Cody, Wyoming to get the title for the trailer filled out completely & properly as it wasn't done the first go around. Since the tabs expired 

THE DAY WE LEFT TOWN, 

we got 2 trip permits from the Washington DOT. The rest of the time we weren't worried about getting pulled over.

This spot was in Wallace, Idaho. As soon as we got set up it started to POUR, thunder & lightening. Awesome storm. Woke up to another storm in the morning.

We visited Yellowstone National Park on our way to Cody, then again on our way back into Montana. At the park we were lucky to see Moose, a lone Wolf, Bison, Elk, a black bear sitting in the woods, deer & a lot of birds. We didn't get to see any Grizzlies.

We were also extremely lucky because they only just opened the park 3 days previous to our visit, all National parks had been closed due to Covid19. We encountered very few people, no traffic and when Old Faithful was getting ready to go off, there were maybe 300 people all together not the 3000 that are usually there on a summer day.

They had all the campgrounds closed so we had to stay outside the park but that was OK, we hadn't planned on going in advance so had no reservations.

The places we did stay were still pretty dang nice.

This was about the 5th night of our trip & the first place where we were allowed to have a campfire.

The only problem we really had was the alternator on the truck went out & we had to drive into Sand Point, Idaho from Thompson Falls, Montana & then back without the truck dying & leaving us stranded. With the new part in hand & a solar panel charging the batteries, we made it back right at dusk. Truck was fine after that.

OK, not fine. Since then the BRAKE idiot light has been on & we can't figure that out. Its not affecting the truck brakes & the trailer brakes don't seem to work anyway.

Since then, we have gone on a couple other trips:

Vance Creek Bridge

Camped at Brown Creek camp ground

Took a day trip to Spider Lake on the Olympic Peninsula

John Henry slept so well that night

Last week we drove hwy 410 to Naches and bought 4 tons of hay.

Coming home with the hay over Chinook Pass, we decided we really do need a new truck. This old Dodge was only going 25MPH up the mountain & in the olden days it would have been going up at the speed limit. We had to stop & let it cool down, just a mile from the summit.

Promises Broken

I promised to write about England after France, then I didn't do it. I've been so busy, with work, holidays, shopping, more work. Seems every time I turn around I get called in for another shift.

We had a bid in early December for our winter season ( January 5th - March 15th) and I got a 36 hour selling shift. Sue & Lisa decided to go to Bainbridge and Joe made a bonehead mistake & faxed his bid upside down so I lucked out. Don't know how lucky I really am, since the first two days of each week will suck:
Sunday 8:05am-2:05pm
Monday 1:00pm-6:00pm
Tuesday & Wednesday OFF
Thursday midnight-9am
Friday midnight-9am
Saturday 8:25am-3:25pm
Beginning my work week with 2 graves sucks because I'll have to go to bed early on my days off in order to get up at 11:10pm but its guaranteed hours and winter schedule sucks for on-calls.

I HATE graveyards but getting a nice guaranteed paycheck every month for 3 months will be worth it.

We're planning on another home renovation which will include:
Septic Design upgrade from 2 bedroom to 4 bedrooms
Add another bathroom upstairs
Redo master bath upstairs, currently Jack & Jill bath.

This is into the bathroom from the other room, our current bedroom is on the other side of the far door. 

We will AT LEAST replace this dated cabinet, countertop & sinks with something pretty, maybe rustic. I'll be looking for a good used one and hope to find a good quartz countertop with 2 sinks. I'm sure I'll have to buy that new. We can add a nice back splash since we know how now.

I'd like a vanity like this, plain & simple

From our current room into the other bedroom, sinks on the right of this photo

We won't do anything to upgrade the tub/shower enclosure because its practically brand new. It needs a new fan as the old one is original to the house & has a red bulb meant to warm a person and the fan is LOUD. The sky light is awesome.

The floor is vinyl & we're going to get a plastic/rubber click in floating floor & just put it in right over the top of this. 

The new bathroom would be added beside this one, just reversed and instead of a tub we'll put in a standing shower. 

A new toilet is about $200 and I'd like to have a new one in each bathroom. 

I'd like a single pedestal sink in the new bathroom. We do have to figure out either a fan or small window & right now there will be enough room for a window beside the shower.

But I'll totally settle for a single vanity sink.

Our bedroom currently measures 14.5 x 13.5 feet, the new bathroom would take up 5.5 feet, leaving the bedroom 9.5 x 13.5, still plenty big enough for a kids bedroom. A doorway would be put in the wall where a closet is at, the closet would be removed. There is still another large closet in that room. The door that goes from the hallway to our room now would become the new bathroom door.

I don't think the carpet would have to be replaced, just cut down to size and the extra added to the new doorway. 

We would have to move into the other bedroom as we can't  use that room for the bathroom because of hallway doors & permanent walls. The door from our room into the jack & jill would be moved to the closet area so we wouldn't even have to purchase another door.

Its not going to be cheap, I'm figuring upwards of $10k. And while we're at it, we're going to get the septic tank upgraded to a 4 bedroom (currently 2 br) which could run an additional $10k if it all goes well. We can  only hope for that BUT doing these things will increase our homes value and make it a heck of a lot more sellable.

My Heart Is Full

We had a GREAT time in England & France

In Annecy they had a parade for us

This castle ruins was really cool

Scotland didn't let us down one bit

London

Someday we'll go again & next time we'll know more about what we will do in advance. This was such an awesome trip and we saw so many amazing things.

Next time we go we will have a lot more things planned out in advance. 

We'll do a lot more research (we did tons!!) into the things we want to see and places we want to go. 

In the past I've always had a plan, with a map & predetermined points of interest. This time it wasn't always like that. We knew our phones wouldn't work perfectly but hadn't planned on NO phones unless we were getting free wifi. I hadn't planned on so many people, since last time I was there it was shitty weather and this time it was FABULOUS most of the time.

Next time we'll have a hotel room in a central location & take day trips from there. Not another trip where we're driving most of each day to get to our next destination.

We stayed at a hostel in London, the White Ferry House, above a pub;

they had 9 males & females in our room, there were 8 rooms all together with only 2 bathrooms w/5 stalls in each. That's 10 toilet/shower/sink tiny rooms for 72 people to use. You couldn't get dressed in your room because there were people of the opposite sex in all the rooms and the bathrooms had an hour long waiting line and there were no toilets that weren't in the tiny shower rooms.

Next night was in France at an Airbnb in Montpellier.

It was hell getting into the room because of no phone service but nice people spent an hour helping us. The room was small & had a fold out double size futon. Check out @ 10am and no time to enjoy the cute little outside garden.

The 2nd night in France was another Airbnb studio with another fold out bed. Much cuter than the first place, this one was in Cannet, the old town just above Cannes. So beautiful, with tiny streets that everyone whipped through in their cars. parking was scarce, motorcycles & scooters everywhere.

This window looked out over the tiny alley, into & through the neighbors yard. It took us about 2 hours to find this place & another hour to park.

This is the stuff I wanted Lan to see & he loved it.

Tourettes-sur-loop village. 

This place was AMAZING. People still live there & work in the small buildings & run shops. 

 On Saturday we were in Annecy, where they had a freaking parade for us!!!!

The Return From the Alpine Pastures.

First there was delicious food, sausages & scalloped potatoes cooked in HUGE flying pans.

Then the parade.

We went to the Museum of the French Revolution

Back I n the olden times, Lans ancestors were 'ROYALTY' in France but were on the wrong side of the people & suring the revolution they had to leave France for America in the dark of night.

This chateau used to be a castle so while visiting it I made up stories of what Lans great-g-g-g-g grandparents would have been doing while there.

On Sunday we went to Chamonix, rode the gondola up to the top.

We spent 3 hours up there, 12,602 feet in elevation. Can't say enough about this place, LOVED IT.

Glass floors with nothing below you for 1,000 feet

When we were leaving the Alpenglow on the French Alps was oh, so gorgeous.

Then we headed back south Monday; this is the Carcassonne Castle.

We got there too late in the day to go inside but the church was still open & it was beautiful

We also enjoyed a vry nice dinner in one of the squares, I had blackened escargot in a tomato sauce. YUM.

Tuesday we were flying back to London but not till 2:30 so we had several hours in the morning to explore. Decided on a castle ruins 2+ hours northwest of the airport.

Stopped for a pee break along the way and found this gem. An old swimming hole with this OLD bridge over it. You can see where the old bridge was added to to make it fit present day cars.

Château de Peyrepertuse

next post will be all about the UK portion of our trip.