Leaving Chehalis

We woke up to pouring rain this morning…nothing like breaking camp in the pouring rain! But we got everything ready to go and left Thousand Trails Chehalis a little before 8:00 a.m.. Our appointment at the repair shop was for 8:30 and they got started on the trailer right away. Didn’t take long to get everything done, about an hour and we were off. Yeah! We drove over to Jim & Kathy’s, dropped the trailer and went into Chehalis for a few groceries. After we got back to the trailer it was a pretty quiet afternoon, a little cleaning and a lot of relaxing.

When we were in town we picked up a u-bake pizza so Jim, Kathy, Dave and I had pizza this evening and some fun conversation. We’ve had a good time in Chehalis and it’s been great to spend some time with Jim & Kathy.

Photos:
all taken at Thousand Trails Chehalis, WA a couple days ago

In Chehalis a couple more days

We only have tonight and tomorrow night here at Thousand Trails Chehalis and then we move. On Tuesday we will drop the trailer off for some minor repairs we’ve saved up over the year and will spend the night at Jim & Kathy’s. It’s going to seem odd to not have the trailer to spend the day in!

The park filled up some over the weekend but it is back to just a few of us now. I did meet and chat with one couple that was parked next to us. They have been Thousand Trail members for 10 years and hope to become fulltimers in a few years. It really is a great lifestyle, I feel so lucky to be able to live like this. Just 10 more days and we will have been on the road for 1 year…amazing!!

Photos
Top: Cheye and the dog park sign
Middle: the ferns are coming out
Bottom: deer by the dog park
Video: The dog park and some deer.

Happy May Day

We had a beautiful day today here in Chehalis, a bit windy but warm and sunny. The weather seemed to inspire a few more RVer’s to come camping.

We had decided a while ago that we want to spend more time in Arizona this coming winter. With only one Thousand Trail park in the state we’ve been kind of looking around trying to figure out where to stay. While Dave was out cleaning up the pickup he got into a conversation with a lady that was walking by. She and her husband stay in Tucson in the winter at a park they really enjoy. We looked at it online, read a number of reviews, checked the prices and made reservation! So with Thousand Trails Verde Valley in Cottonwood and Desert Trails RV in Tucson we have north and south Arizona covered. Should be fun.

Photos: A couple views in Thousand Trails Chehalis, WA

Hidden deer

Yesterday was rainy on and off but the sun finally came out for the full day today… always a welcome sight. Even got to sit outside for a while today, had to wear a coat but I’m not complaining!

The park (Thousand Trails Chehalis) is probably as full as it’s been since arriving a couple weeks ago. Maybe 12 - 14 RV’s here right now. They still haven’t opened up all of the sections yet, no need to with so few people here.

When Cheye and I were out on a walk yesterday we saw some deer. Seems like there aren’t as many deer as when we were here last summer, so it is exciting when we do see them. One was trotting across the road ahead of us so I took photos (of course). It wasn’t until I got back, put the shots on the computer and cropped them that I saw there were 2 deer in the pictures! Those critters really blend into the landscape well.

Photos
Top: taken while on a walk with Cheye this morning
Below: the photos I thought was of just one deer...

This and that....

It started raining last night about 8:00 p.m. and finally slowed down about noon today. Not a hard rain, but very steady. Oh well, I guess all that rain is why it stays so green and beautiful in this park.

Laundry was on the list of things to do yesterday. I packed everything up to drive to the laundry room (we are on the opposite end of the park) and the pickup had trouble starting. So after laundry was done we made a trip over to Jim & Kathy’s to figure out the problem. One of the repairs Dave and Jim did to the pickup the other day was to replace the fuel filter and evidently something on that wasn’t quite right. They got it figured out and the pickup seems fine now. We certainly do a lot more maintenance on this pickup than we ever did on our cars, but then the cars didn’t haul our home around!

Since it was so rainy out today we didn’t do much…just a relaxing day. Did some reading, computing, stitching, cleaning (house and pickup), vacuuming, watched some TV, did the dishes, took Cheye for walks... actually, I guess we did do a fair amount. :o)

Photos
Both taken a couple days ago while walking through Thousand Trails Chehalis, WA
Video: Today in the park

Daisy

First let me say, no we did not get a cat. Today we spent the day over at Jim & Kathy’s (Dave’s brother & sister-in-law) and Daisy is Kathy’s new kitten. She is a Red Point Siamese and great fun to watch when she is out playing, so I made a short video of her that I posted below.

Dave and Jim spent the vast majority of the day working on our pickup. They replaced injectors, fixed the air brake, and cleaned the air filter. Kathy and I watched TV (The Tutors on Showtime) chatted and ran to Dairy Queen to get burgers for lunch. Hmmmm…kinda a girls afternoon off! :o) After the guys got the pickup back together we had a bbq’d dinner. We had a terrific visit and a fun day!


Photos
Top: Daisy the cat
Bottom: tonight's beautiful sunset here at Thousand Trails Chehalis, WA
Video: More of Daisy

Windows

We took care of a few errands today, grocery shopping and a stop a Home Depot. Kinda funny, Home Depot used to be a frequent stop to get home and yard improvement stuff for our house in Benton City, but it's not a place we usually stop at anymore. However we’ve been thinking about warm summer weather and wanted to see if they carried foil insulation for windows. Sure enough they sell rolls of it so we picked some up. We love our lovely big windows but when the sun is beating through them it heats up this trailer quickly! We will be able to put it in the windows or take it out easily, like the covers people use for their car windshields, so it will only block our view when really needed. The windows are tinted but since this insulation will completely block the sun it will really help out.

We also visited with Dave’s brother at his trailer sales lot. We walked through a few of the trailers, he had some real nice ones. Always fun to look at new RV’s, and fun to chat with Jim.

Photos:
Top: Clouds yesterday here in Chehalis, WA
Bottom: Cheye on a walk through the park

Nearly Empty Park

It surprises me how empty this beautiful park is. Since Tuesday there have been about 7 RV’s here, and I think 3 of those are coaches or trailers of people that work in the park. Over the weekend there were a few more campers, maybe another 6 to 8 rigs, so still not many. I’m not complaining at all I just expected to see more people here, after all Thousand Trails Chehalis has over 300 campsites. I imagine it will change drastically after Memorial Day.

The weather really cooled off yesterday here in Chehalis - back to long jeans and jackets. On the up side we still see the sun peek out between the clouds throughout the day. I took Cheye for a walk over to the dog run this morning and met a couple of ladies whose husbands work here at the park. I found out one of the reasons the new dog run area is so big is that the fencing was formerly around the pool area, which is good sized. They upgraded the pool fencing from chain-link to PVC fencing. They then decided to put the chain-link to use by creating a dog run…which I, and Cheyenne, definitely approve of!

Photos
Top: Our "patio" area
Middle: The new dog run here at TT Chehalis
Below: views around the park

A little move

The weather has been amazing the the last couple days. Unfortunately the weatherman is telling us it won’t last, but at least we’ve had a few nice days.

We went into Chehalis (WA) yesterday for a few things and picked up lunch at Quizno's. The rest of our time has been spent enjoying the park and weather...both were quite easy to do!

While out on a walk around the park today we decided to move. A couple of coaches had left and one of the sites was quite nice, great view out the back, in an area with a few more trees, sewer hookup and enough of a clearing overhead to get satellite. Sounded like a winning combination so we moved over a “street”. Our last site had satellite but not as good a view or sewer hookup. It’s fun being able to move like that.

Oooooo pretty sunset….I’ll go take a few photos and share!

Photos
Top: our new site
Bottom: tonight's fabulous sunset
Video: Views around the Lodge at Thousand Trails Chehalis

Fabulous Sunday

Wow…what a fabulous day! Made it up to 81 according to our thermometer. Dave and I were able to sit outside and really enjoy the day, plus we took a few walks around the park. The views of Mount St. Helens were striking, so photos were called for. You can see another mountain in the distance, I think it is Mt. Adams but I’m not real good at identifying mountains.

We did take care of a few things, a couple of the curtain tie-backs had pulled away from the wall so Dave fixed that. I caught up the checkbook…yep pretty strenuous day. :o)


Photos:
Top: Mount St. Helens
Middle: Mt. Adams??? - Not sure about that
Bottom: The sky line
Video: In yesterday’s blog I mentioned the gully washer we had the other day, I have a little video showing the end of the downpour, the rest is of Thousand Trails Chehalis.

Some rain and some visiting

We had an errand day yesterday, nothing really noteworthy except some weather. Rain was predicted but what we got was a real gully washer! After picking up the mail and a few groceries we were driving back to the park and the rain hit…hard! With wipers on full and truck slowed down it was still hard to see. There was some hail mixed in the rain so that added to the fun. It’s a very short distance between the pickup and the trailer but we still got drenched running to the trailer with the bags of groceries.

By morning the weather had cleared up and today was lovely. It was also Kathy’s (Dave’s sister-in-law) birthday. We were invited over for birthday dinner and had a fun time with Jim & Kathy and Kathy’s family. Good food and lots of fun, always a nice combination.


Photos
Top: Deer by the trailer
Middle: Recon, Jim's dog
Bottom: Kathy's horses

Full-time RVer day

Today was a true full-timer day, no schedule, no commitments, just a day of total relaxation in a beautiful setting...ahhhhhhh……. BTW Dave was kind enough to photo the sun coming up so I could see it too…. I’ve included the photos in the slide show. ;o)

Photo: When we were at Jim & Kathy’s yesterday Cheye pestered Kathy for a raw potato, so Kathy obliged and Cheye was so pleased.
Video: Scenes from today at Thousand Trails Chehalis.

Thousand Trails Chehalis, WA

We traveled about 80 miles this morning from Vancouver to the Thousand Trails Chehalis Preserve. They have done a lot of pruning and some cleaning up around the park since we were here last summer. Looks good.

After finding a site and getting set up we took Cheye for a walk. The park is pretty empty, Chehalis closes down over the winter and has only been open a few weeks. It really is a lovely park, lots of deer and nice sized sites.

This afternoon we visited with Dave’s Brother and Sister-in-law, Jim & Kathy. We had a nice visit and Kathy prepared a yummy dinner for us. I think it’s been almost 3 weeks since I have cooked dinner…I imagine that run will end very soon, like tomorrow!



Photos
Our site at Thousand Trails Chehalis and a visit from the deer.