June 26, 2015 Eugene, Oregon

Today we boated the McKenzie river outside of Eugene, Oregon.  99 degrees, sunny and a great day to play on the river.

 

McKenzie River. Leslie and John in the front of the boat.

Annemarie the captain of the boat. Beautiful water.

Sue and John. Larry and Ann Marie on a rest stop.

My bad, I caught everyone with sandwiches in their mouths. John, Ann Marie, Larry and Leslie. A green tributary of the river.

More pretty water. The last photo is Brown’s hole. We skirted the edge, but backed back up to see how blue it is.

 

Sunset on the way back to the bus. Flowers seen today.

June 24-25, 2015 Eugene, Oregon

 

There were a bunch of women in these cute little vintage trailers traveling together in the campground this evening. We had dinner with our friends Scott and Leslie in Springfield tonight. Here is Scott BBQing dinner.

 

John and Leslie and Leslie and I giggling.

We took the coach to Oregon Motor coach for some work on the house part of it.  Here is John with Jim the manager discussing a problem with one of the walls.

 

John and Debbie the RV interior decorator. We want to replace the  carpets and tiles  with an easy to clean vinyl. And the mirrors on the back splash in the bathroom with tile.

 

Same with the mirror back splash in the kitchen. Here is our coach, the first on on the left at Oregon Motor coach. It is THE place to take Country coaches for work. When Country coach went under one of the owners and many of the employees started up Oregon Motor coach. All the other coaches in the lot are Country coaches. Many (like us) are repeat customers.

They have hook ups in the lot so you can stay in your coach while they work on it. Leslie and Scott were our first  dinner guests at our new home.  I updated our travel map with the trip of the new coach in red from Florida where it was purchased to Oregon.

Home sweet home before the remodel. Today we chose a new floor and new fabric for the couch.

June 18-23, 2015 Colorado to ONE THE ROAD AGAIN to Oregon

 

I did a marathon visit to my Dr’s.  5 appointments in 2 days, all at the Franklin/Skyline campus at Kaiser.Not bad scheduling. All routine visits and found out that I am healthy. Good news, but not a surprise. After my appointments I stopped at the Denver Botanic Gardens. This is a glass piece from the Chihuly exhibit last year.

I went to see these horses by Deborah Butterfield.  At first I thought they were just piles of sticks. But then I read on of the signs. These are bronze casts of pieces of wood, welded together and painted and patinaed  to look like wood. Really cool detail of the wood, and great kind of outline or skeletons of horses, that really look like horses.

I had dinner with Pam, Kathy and Linda who I used to work with at the Arapahoe clinic before I retired. It was fun to catch up. I visited the clinic first and it has been remodeled, I hardly recognized it and I heard they now have twice as much work than when I was there. I retired at the right time. I also had lunch with Julie at the Franklin clinic, where I worked before Arapahoe. Finally we are on the road again!!!!! This is between Fort Collins and Laramie. Beautifully green after all the rain. We are taking the new (to us)  bus to Oregon to drop it off at Oregon Motor coach for some work on the house part of the bus. John had finished replacing all the parts that wear out in the engine and coach on the last bus, finally had it the way he wanted it, so we have to do it to the new one now. Updating and some repairs, perhaps a new wood floor. Getting solar installed, new batteries, inverter etc, etc. It will take 3-4 weeks for the work, so we will drive back to Colorado in our towed car, then drive back when it is done. It is so exciting.

 

Crossing the state line into Wyoming.  We stopped for the night in Rawlins, Wyo on I-80. This is historic downtown Rawlins.

 

This is the Old Penitentiary museum in Rawlins. It was built in 1901 to replace the territorial prison in Laramie.  and was in use till 1981. It is after hours so we did not take the tour of the inside.  Here is the new bus with the new car at the RV world campground in Rawlins.  First night camped on the road in it!! This bus is the same year and model as the last bus. We liked the last one. We know how to work it and put everything away in the same places. Feels like home already.

 

RV world campground in Rawlins, Wyo. The next day we drove through the corner of Utah into Idaho. This is the bus at the RV park in Mountain Home, Idaho. High 90’s and not much shade. They had a pool, but it was not open until they put up a fence. I almost rebeled and used it anyway.

Our neighbors in Mountain Home, watching TV on the outside of their bus and they have 3 HUGE German shepherds. Three more states. Utah, Idaho and Oregon.  Way too many miles in not enough days. . .

When we went into Oregon we got off the divided interstate highway onto a two lane, not divided highway. First time since the accident for more than a short distance. It was a little freaky.  First thing two separate incidents of  people passing us on curves over the solid line. That and another car passing us just missed hitting an oncoming motorcycle. The cycle pulled over to the shoulder and averted disaster.  Morons.  Maybe it is miraculous that we went 5 years before we got hit head on. . . but the rest of the trip there were no incidents.  Scenes in Oregon from East to West. Mahler river valley, corn fields, mountains by Bend.

 

Beautiful tree tunnels  along the McKenzie river into Eugene. The bus at the Armitage State  park in Eugene, Oregon. We are going to drop the bus off at Oregon Motor Coach tomorrow for more work. It should take 3-4 weeks, so we will drive back to Colorado in the car and when it is done drive back again.

June 13-17, 2015 Fort Collins, Colorado

Sunset on big storm clouds.  We went to the Taste of Fort Collins at 8pm, and found out it closes at 8pm. It looked fun.

Sunday I drove down to Denver to the Glass Artist Fellowship meeting. This one was our annual picnic and hot glass play day. Above Deb is demonstrating making a glass bead with a torch.  And then our picnic. Lots of yummy Qdoba food.

After the picnic we got to try making glass beads and blowing glass. I am holding  a glass bead I made. Roxanne behind me taught me how to do it. Miya is blowing glass with Mike instructing.

 

Mandy and I want to see Les Sunde’s house in Bellevue, which is just up the road from Fort Collins.  It is called Swampgas and Gossamer. He calls it an art installation he has been working on for 19 years. He lives in a bus behind it that he customized into a cool house. His shower is a phone booth.  The house  was awesome.  Much too big and intricate to get good photos that show it. Mandy is looking in one of the windows  that is a seating area and he can open up a huge door and has a rain maker. You can sit in a chair and look inside and see rain.

These circular structures will be a walk way when they are done. The side of the house. It has lots of big windows all around.

   

You enter through the glass room and a rotating door, with a rotating piece in the middle.  As we were talking he pushed a button and this came up out of the floor, it is his elevator to his wine cellar in the basement.  The side of the  metal woman opens up and is lit up inside and has a sink in it.  The piano in the background is on hydraulics and can rise up out of the floor, or drop back down. He opened a cupboard in the wall , lights and music came on , inside was wine glasses and a bottle.

The inside of the elevator, it has controls from an old elevator from the Northern Hotel downtown. The actual elevator is a shower in the bathroom.  The kitchen. One of the sinks is in the foreground with the curly faucet next to it, the gas burners for the stove are on the wall behind along with a gas lamp in the port hole. The wall is under a spiral staircase .

Another view of the kitchen. Three sinks, with old soda fountain taps for the water. The refrigerator is lit up behind them. The next shot is of a sunken area with a fireplace.  The heat from the fireplace is vented behind the chairs in front of it.  

 

The spiral staircase goes to the second story here and out on the deck. On the deck is this round table and chair that rotates. Foot powered or wind powered with the cups on top, it is topped with tuba.

   

On top of the second story is this sculpture with a mirrored lightening bolt on top. The second photo is part of the dance hall, it is too big to get in a photo.

   

The fence beside the driveway. The place is enchanting. Way to many details for photos, you need to go see it. Mandy and Les at the rotating table. We sat in the sun and he told us about his house.

Here is my little garden. None of this year has gone as planned, so I planted basil, peppers and tomatoes  just in case we happen to still be here to harvest. The oregano and sage are perennials John planted.  It is loving  the sun and heat. It is growing inches a day. There are also two basil plants in pots that will go with us on the bus.