Getting Not Behind

Seems no one knows what we're up to. As of the date I post this I will not be behind!!! To take off where I left off, I believe we were in Washington at Battle Ground Lake State Park. We had made an appointment to have some solar work done on the RV in Springfield Oregon at the end of October and needed a place to hang out until then and Battle Ground was perfect! We did some sightseeing, found a few waterfalls and some lovely flowering shrubs.

What about Washington

Well, what about Washington?
We'd been to Washington State a few times during our motorcycling days. We had stopped in Seattle for a few days (it was sunny!) and spent time in Port Townsend (windy!) and stayed in a cottage on Orcas Island (fabulous!). The weather was ideal, but it was just a handful of days... Now that we've been here for nine weeks I thought I would make note of things that are different from what we are used to.

Disappointment Awaits - MORE sightseeing

Still at Cape D but leaving next Tuesday heading for Battle Ground State Park north of Vancouver/Portland area where we will camp host for the month of October.

Battle Ground Lake State Park

Better finish up with the sightseeing photos… This area is big on the Lewis and Clark expedition and me, not being big on history, will just note the places we went without the history lesson…

The view west from Dismal Nitch includes the Astoria-Megler bridge along with pilings from who knows what. 

Disappointment Awaits - some sightseeing

The weather is always a surprise here. Will it be foggy? Sunny? Windy or rainy? One never knows. Notice I didn't mention the temperature. It pretty much is constant with a 10 or so degree spread. High 50’s to high 60’s. Nice (no really, not cold!!!) Had a beautiful sunny morning one day and before we knew it the fog dropped in before noon. So we take what we get (like there’s a choice) and make it a point to take advantage of the outdoors when the sun appears. We've become more spontaneous as a result.

International Kite Festival…Long Beach WA (It was a nice windy day)

Disappointment Awaits

Saw this on a tee shirt and had to have it!

We are finding that Cape Disappointment State Park is super popular and has many long-time repeat visitors. We certainly are enjoying our stay here.  So why such a weird name?

Cape D - The first few weeks

Let’s see…We arrived and set up camp on Tuesday August 6^th. Wednesday morning Ranger Tom stopped by to meet with us. It was a very informal meeting. We got the particulars of the volunteer position and commented that it all seemed too easy. We started that very afternoon. Then we went to the beach!!!

It took us four or five days to work out the best way to clean the camp sites. Ranger Tom checked in with us often to see if we had questions, concerns or if we needed additional tools or equipment. We requested a leaf rake and a gas powered leaf blower. And he supplied both! Bob was VERY surprised with the blower! We were a bit disappointed to find we were not provided with any means of transportation (like a golf cart) to move us and our stuff around the campground. Well, walking is good for you, right?

Cape D Ilwaco WA

Isn’t it funny how things turn out? 

Last winter we applied to Washington State Parks because one guy we met said it’s a great place to volunteer. It was a bit of a hassle; we had to go to Phoenix to get finger-printed, then snail mail our application. Then we waited and waited some more, but heard naught. Bob got a little anxious, I think, in accepting the gig at Lone Pine Ranch. When we finally did start getting calls we had to decline. SO in addition to the Oregon State Park system we also revisited Washington State Parks. I must have left a voice mail because on our way from Valley of the Rouge State Park in Oregon to Brookings we received a call from Ranger Tom at Cape Disappointment State Park. Cape D is in southern Washington so travel expenses wouldn’t be too high. It sounded great! We accepted right away and said we would arrive on August 6^th.

This post comes to you from Cape D. We’d been here over a week before we had rain. 

This is our camp host site on a sunny day

 

But as usual I’m a little ahead of myself. Let’s talk about Julie and Doug’s visit to the ranch, our stay at Mike and Denise’s and our week in Oregon first.

Another likely story 2013.06.17

We are in our seventh week here in Likely, California. The workamping ad stated "must enjoy solitude" and we weren't really sure we "enjoyed" solitude. It means not being around many people right? Well I know I don't care for being around a LOT of people and I think Bob has daydreamed of going off into the wilderness to live off the land so it was a case of let's try and see what happens... 

In addition to Don and Dixie we have met Karen, a neighbor and fellow walker, and Gustavo, a friend of the two D's who sells eggs and honey and works at the ranch in Jess Valley. The UPS guy introduced himself and let us know he lives in Jess Valley too. That's about it so far. Here's a look at how we spend our time.

On one of my short walks around the ranch I found these guys...

An American Bullfrog

Frog legs anyone?

He's looking at me!

A likely story 2013.06.02

Don and Dixie invited us out to dinner at The Oney Frosty in Town in Adin, just over an hour drive from here. It’s their favorite spot for BBQ, which is served on weekends. It was very nice of them. Also nice to see the countryside with a personal guide. So far we have only eaten out three times and we've been here four weeks! Pretty good uh?

Here are some more pictures I took around the ranch.

Dance's Excellent Adventure - Lone Pine Ranch 2nd Installment

Those of you who know us well won’t be surprised that we immediately began working in our “yard”. It’s spring and that means weeds to be pulled. The path to the river was barely defined, the rock garden ignored by previous workampers, and the fire pit was full of ashes and topped with misplaced boulders. Compared to the park setting down at the main house, our hilltop site was lacking visual appeal. Dixie had planted some annuals for us and a few of the flower beds had iris and tulips waiting to bloom. Here’s some before and after pictures.

Dance's Excellent Adventure - Lone Pine Ranch 1st Installment

We (Bob) accepted a workamping position in Likely, California for six (whole) months! So here we are at Lone Pine Ranch until the end of October. It’s likely you aren't familiar with the town of Likely. It’s small. Only around 100 people (spread out).  It is north of Reno on Hwy 395 by about 165 miles. So call it extreme northeast California. What’s here? Cattle and sage brush mostly. Now up in the hills toward the Warner Mountain range you’ll find some heavily wooded areas and box canyons with cool rock faces. Blue Lake is a 20 minute drive up the mountain and West Valley Reservoir is larger and closer but access is via a 5 mile gravel road. Oh, and let’s not forget the south fork of the Pit River, which just happens to run through Lone Pine Ranch!

The adventure continues PART TWO

Back home to Sparks on April 22^nd  for a week of appointments which included doctor, veterinarian, financial planner, and lab work, how fun! Much more pleasurable was all the visiting and eating out at favorite restaurants. We met up with Daniel, Josh and Jene, Paul, Krystal and Ron at Sage Machine, Bob Hall, Rick, Keith, Fred and Bekki, RJ and Maureen, Chuck and June, and Mo and Quinlan. Favorites restaurants; BJ’s BBQ, PJ’s, Black Rock Pizza and a new one, Sparks Café on Oddie (thanks Keith!)

Without going into detail I want to say how very much we enjoyed seeing our good friends again!!!

An unexpected development resulted in Foxie coming back to live with us. Foxie is our first dog and is now fourteen years old. We left her behind with Daniel when we went on the road as she is not the best traveler. Think panting, drooling and shedding, poor thing…  But Daniel spent a lot of time with her, taking her along on short drives and she does much better now.  She still won’t lay down and rest but she is much calmer overall.

Well it was time to move on before we knew it.  As always we were a little worn out from the whirlwind of activity and were happy to be “on the road again”. First stop Janesville! It’s a small town just south of Susanville, on the way to our next workamping job. Our new friends Mike and Denise live in Janesville (when they’re not wintering in Arizona) and had invited us to visit for a few days. They have a good size place with plenty of room to park our big rig! What a lovely spread; tall trees, green grass, and a comfortable home, complete with gracious hosts. They live with two parrots, Widget and Sassy, but apparently they love dogs too because they gave Willie and Foxie the run of the house while we were there! 

It seems I don’t have any pictures, thought I did, but I can’t locate them. L

Maybe it’s because Foxie about ripped off one of her toe nails the first morning we were there. A blood trail from the door to her bed after she had tripped coming up the metal steps alerted me to the problem. As I put on my nurse’s cap and was assessing the situation, Bob (from bed) asked if everybody was okay and I said no, I have a bit of an emergency here. Well, he didn’t respond and he didn’t come to investigate. So there I was holding a paper towel to Fox’s paw to staunch the bleeding and the next thing I know there’s Bob standing naked in front of the shower! Communication fail! But that’s typical for us… So I told Bob that YES I have an emergency going on and to go put on some underwear and COME HELP ME! Anyway we got her bandaged up and made a trip to the local vet that afternoon. We settled on hoping the nail would die and fall off versus surgical removal mainly due to her advanced years. A shot of antibiotics, a bottle of pills and a $75 bill and we were good to go!

A couple of days later we left Janesville with promises all around to get together again soon. It was another 88 miles north to our current workamping gig. We arrived at Lone Pine Ranch, four miles east of Likely, California on Thursday, May 2^nd and promptly started getting settled in.

Day of arrival. That’s Freckles, one of the ranch dogs.

Ah but that’s enough for today! It’s likely you’ll hear all about Likely soon!!!

Kim (and Bob) Dance

The adventure continues PART ONE

It’s been awhile…  A good long while since I've put together a post on our blog. 

So let’s get to it! I believe we left off at our arrival in Mesa for our workamping job at Sun Life Resort last fall. The winter was spent socializing, making new friends, visiting with family, helping Bob’s parents get settled in at their new house, and of course working. At six hours per day, two days per week, it was rough but we managed through it. J Instead of partaking in outdoor activities we chose to shop and piddle about. We did however kayak once (it was great!) and hiked once. We made it to one Giants spring training game. It was good to experience a 55+ resort but we will try to avoid working in highly populated areas in the future.

Just a few of our new friends, Mike and Denise.

And Rose and Matt.

Mid February we took a “vacation” and attended a boondocking rally in Quartzsite. Remember boondocking is free or low cost camping usually without hook ups, otherwise known as dry camping. We looked forward to meeting up with Howard and Linda of RV-Dreams.com again. This was their first boondocking rally and they did a fabulous job. We spent a week and a half out in the desert learning lots of stuff with close to eighty people, many of them full-time RVers, just like us!

Valentine’s Day in the desert. I took pictures of the decorations and made a collage.

As part of the rally experience Linda taught a t-shirt braiding class and also some seed beading classes. I really enjoyed the intricate work of seed beading and am totally hooked now. I have been making and giving away bracelets and even sold a couple of anklets to Denise for her granddaughters. Here’s a few of my favorites.

We found out that I have a first cousin, once removed, living in Quartzsite. Small world? So we met up with Paul and Pat, former full-timers, for lunch and a local’s guided tour of Quartzsite. A visit to the bookstore is a must! Paul, Pat and I posed for a picture with the proprietor… Disclosure here: The guy’s a nudist so if that offends you skip the next picture!

Okay moving on…

Before we left Mesa I decided I’d like a window seat made for the back of our RV. Bob being the handy guy that he is (and a wonderful husband too!), built one for me. The cushion was made by Custom Cushions of Arizona and the arm rest storage containers were purchased at Hobby Lobby. The four doors were purchased from Heartland RVs. Bob made the rest himself! We have tons more storage and the cat box is nicely tucked away on the right side. We love it!!!

When we left Mesa on April 3^rd we spent our first night boondocking in Quartzsite! This was the view from our window.

Our next stop was at an Orange County campground up in the hills, only a hop, skip and a jump from Mike’s house in Irvine. Spent three days visiting with Mike, Julie and our grandson Caden. Went kayaking around Balboa Island!

Next stop Port San Luis at Avila Beach, just north of Pismo Beach.

Full hook ups in a tiny, tightly spaced RV park.

With a humongous ocean view.

And our favorite dog beach.

AND dog friendly pier complete with sea lions and pelicans.

Next stay was at John and Shaun’s home in Atascadero. We met this couple at the boondocking rally in Quartzsite. We took full advantage of their wonderful hospitality including dining at their café in Paso Robles, Odyssey World Café. The food was fabulous! Thanks guys, hope to see you again!

Our site at their house surrounded by very large oak trees.

Their backyard was beautiful.

We headed north for a week in Pacifica at the only RV park in town. Tight sites and lots of pavement but worth it for the proximity to Jim, Bob’s good friend from high school, and Bob’s sister and brother.

View from the ocean looking inland.

The RV park is at the ocean atop a sixty foot cliff that crumbles away every now and again. Only a year and a half ago we parked on the cliff side. This year those sites are without hook ups because the infrastructure for the sites fell off the cliff along with some of the pavement!

This is the cliff. It’s bigger than it looks!

Looking north from RV park.

We spent the week visiting with all our friends and family in the bay area. It was very nice to see everyone! Jim, Mary and Bebe, Dan and Sherry, Dave, Bing and David and their dog Koda, Leanne and John and their dog Duke, Doug and Carol, Julie, Doug and Melanie, AND Julie’s parents Bob and Karleta.

Off to Cloverdale we go to visit with Bob’s other sisters. Always a good time with lots of laughter and hugs. We spent three days with Jim and Kathy and their new rescue dog Sunny. Diane came up from Tracy for a BBQ with her dog as well and we had a grand old time! Kathy is a HUGE SF Giants fan so I made this bracelet for her.

Jim and Kathy admire Kathy’s new seed bead ring (That I also made for her!)

Sunny

Had time to kayak Lake Sonoma

It was a perfect day!

All good things come to an end and so it was time to head home. Still hard not to call Sparks home even though we don’t live there anymore.

This is as good a place as any to take a break.

See PART TWO to continue the adventure…

Kim (and Bob) Dance

Official Snowbirds and Tucson AZ

It's official. We have landed in Mesa, Arizona at Val Vista Village, a Cal-Am Resort. We will be workamping at Sun Life, also a Cal-Am Resort, 2 miles east of us starting November 5th (this information is for our personal stalkers, Ron and Donna, of Las Cruces, New Mexico :-)))). The plan is to be here until mid-April.

Desert Haven Recap and Pictures

Had to move on... Spent five weeks in New Mexico at Desert Haven Animal Refuge. We were supposed to work for two months but life is too short to be angry (when you have the ability to do something else). Let's just say we were at odds with their SOP (standard operating procedure). Learned this phrase from Charlie and Elaine, co-workampers, both retired military and very nice people.

Drama at DHAR 09-07-12

There was shouting. There was crying. There was local law enforcement. People felt bad.
It was just an accident and nobody was hurt. But let's start where we left off yesterday...

Dance Dialogue - Desert Haven Animal Refuge

Alrighty then... Let's do it! Boy, do I love air conditioning!
We knew it would be hot.  We were warned it would be hot. It IS hot. We arrived at 2:15 pm last Tuesday. Originally planned to be here on Labor Day but Costco stores are few and far between in this part of the country. Last fix was 7 weeks ago in Colorado Springs. Our only option was to stop at the one in Albuquerque (had to learn how to spell this!) and it was closed for the holiday. We had delayed our arrival and spent the night at an RV park west of town next to Camping World.

Workamping for Six Bucks!

Finally got the format right for sharing! Had to purchase a video converter to do it! Made the movie while we were workamping at Echo Basin Resort...

Workamping the Dance's Way

Apparently there are some misconceptions regarding our role in the workamping gig.  There is absolutely no "managing" going on.  We are all about the laid back, no stress lifestyle. Sounds good in theory right? A little hard to put into practice...

Dance Dialogue - The Here and Now 8-9-12

If the only thing I can find to stress about is not posting regularly to this blog, then I guess life is pretty darn good! As you may or may not know I am forever behind on my posts.  So I thought I would do a "real time" post. As I write this we are at Echo Basin Ranch up the mountain from Mancos, Colorado. The elevation is around 7800 feet.

One of the ponds

As it is 3:30 in the afternoon the temperature is dropping in anticipation of the almost daily thundershowers. Just as it feels like it's getting a bit too warm we are presented with a darkening of the sky, distant rumbling and slightly gusting winds letting us know what's to come...