In our case, it is brand new rubber… tires that is! We were still driving on the original tires on the RV, it was time to replace all 6 of them. Of course, these are not your everyday tires, they are oversized and really BIG. We checked around the Portland area (again, no sales tax) and found a place that could get the Goodyear tires that Jim wanted for a "decent" price. Luckily, there also happened to be a $75.00 rebate on the tires (mail-in, but better than nothing!). We also had to make sure the shop could spin balance them (a big deal in seems) and accomodate our RV to swap them out.

We had to check in on our way, to make sure the coast was clear. There was a truck getting new tires scheduled in front of us and we both wouldn’t fit. Timing was great, the truck was gone and we got squeezed onto the lot. They were fast and efficient, they had 3 or 4 guys working on the RV at once, but could only do one side at a time, they do not have a jack large enough to lift the whole RV.

We now have very stinky new tires; but it feels good to know we are safer once again. It’s amazing how much more road chatter you get with new tires and how bad the I-5 corridor has gotten over the years. Oh well, we will get this set broke in over the next few adventures!

and in with the new! We (I) decided we needed a new mattress in the RV, they don’t put very good ones in to begin with and it’s been 8 years already! Of course we have to do our shopping in Oregon, no sales tax! Jim and I headed out to check out the mattress sales (and there were a lot of them that weekend) to see if we could find a bargain for a great mattress. We shopped til we dropped, but mostly we laid around trying out each of the mattresses. We probably took about an hour at each of the mattress stores trying out various mattresses. I found the style I wanted, but had to check out the competition. Needless to say, I finally found the one I wanted after narrowing them down for over an hour of just lying around literally. We only need the top mattress since it goes on to a platform in the RV. It saves you a little money, but it also makes it so you can’t just shop anywhere, many places only want to sell in sets.

Since we were doing a little makeover in the bedroom, I finally talked Jim into buying me a new flat screen TV for back there also. We had the original, old, 13", tube TV and it was going wacky, you couldn’t get any sound out of it most of the time. We found a great little 22" flat screen, but we are having a little trouble with it (another story). Mostly, the bedroom is now a wonderful little haven.

Hey, the mattress is so tall (compared to the old one), that I now need a step stool to get up on top to go to sleep It took me awhile to find a small wooden stool, but now I have one. All is good, especially a good nights rest!

Lots of stuff going on in Sept. We will be spending it back & forth between Portland and Seattle. Between family & friends, and we will throw in a few visits to doctors and dentists   Here is some miscellaneous stuff so far:

As we drove from Chelan to Seattle, you follow the Columbia River for quite a ways. It was a beautiful morning, still and calm. There was some great scenery to watch as we passed by. If you mouse over the picture, you will see the caption

We got parked at one of our favorite RV parks, Issaquah Village, and a few mornings into our stay, we saw this parked across from us:

My niece works for Singing River Natural Medicine (and my niece also does massage through the office) and I have always wanted to try acupuncture. I wanted to see if it would help some of my aches & pains, but mostly calm down some of the issues I have with my low back. I have had two sessions now and will be back for more because it makes me feel so good

In the middle of the month, we got our invitation for the wine pick-up party at Cana’s Feast (formally known as Cuneo). We wandered down on Saturday to enjoy wine tasting with small bites of great food. The food was prepared by Lisa, the in-house chef, to match the wine created by Patrick, the winemaker. Cana’s Feast does serve dinner on most Friday nights and lunches on most Saturdays & Sundays.

There have been lots of mini adventures already, more to come!

We arrived in Walla Walla on May 31st, to enjoy 2 weeks of wine tasting, having friends visit us, and catching up with winery friends. The weather wasn’t that bad, but it wasn’t that good either. Other RV’rs in the park reminded us to not leave our awning out in the afternoons, especially if we were gone.

Well, we had been watching the storm clouds build up every afternoon, but nothing ever happened. No rain, no wind, no thunder, no lightening… until… June 4th.

We were sitting in the RV, Jim was working, I was sitting on the couch reading a book while watching TV (or was it the other way around?). The sun had been out during the day, the awning was out because the afternoon sun would beat into the two windows on the passenger side of the RV. I would look out my window just to check on the build up of the storm clouds to gauge the weather.

Nothing looked out of place; the sky looked no lighter, nor darker than the day before, then… WHAM! the awning made a horrible racket and the RV was rocking & rolling. Gusts of up to 43 mph slammed into the area, and it grabbed our awning and ripped the fabric and bent the main arm before we could even get out of our chairs and hit the button to retract the awning.

With it literally in pieces, it’s now banging against the side of the RV, we had to do something with it. Several neighbors came over to help, I am guessing they heard the noise too. Jim climbed up on top of the RV and started taking out all the screws that kept the awning attached to the RV. It was a little scary to see him up there while the wind was still gusting big time. Jim, with the help of the neighbors, got the awning down so that it wouldn’t create too much damage on the side of the RV. They got it down just in time, the lightening started and so did the rain.

Another neighbor helped Jim, a couple of days later, bend the pieces in half so that it could be put in the back of his pick-up truck and taken to the dump. We hadn’t a clue what we would have done otherwise, there was no way for us to get rid of it and we couldn’t just leave it there in the park when we left.

Even with all the help, we still have to have the paint fixed in several spots and then a new awning put back on. It’s on order, but the RV will have to be in the shop for a couple of days to get the paint fixed & cured before they can attach the new (and fancier) awning.

It will be just like new again, soon we hope!