Comments........Thoughts.........

A reader, who wishes to remain anonymous, made a comment on our previous post. Here it is, for those of you who don't check the "comments" section:

Anonymous said...

I really think you two should apply for the next apprentice, don't you. When you become millionaires, remember your friends


Thanks for taking the time to visit and read about our journey. Your comments are always appreciated and welcomed. Your comment got me thinking......

First of all, while reality TV is fun and entertaining, its also sad what lengths people will go to for their "15 minutes". I'm not sure either of us are interested in putting our mugs on TV for the attention( I would think I have a face for Radio anyway ;) ). Although, it would be fun to see how we stack up against the other "apprenti", as we both love to play arm chair quaterback when we watch the show! ;)

As for the other part, we could never forget our friends, the ones we've left behind and the ones we've made along our journey....As for the millionaire part.....I don't think we'll ever have to worry about that :)~

Thanks for reading

-Rich-

Finally riding bikes in Eugene

The weather finally cleared up yesterday. It was sunny and in the high 60's, possibly even 70. We found a bike path that ran along the Willamette river on both sides. There were also bike/pedestrian only bridges, so we could cross back and forth easily. We got a total of 13 miles in, then headed back to the moho for lunch. We spent the afternoon cleaning, doing laundry, and taking Snuggles on a couple of walks + a bike ride. She was very happy to finally get out too. Dinner was a few frozen raviolis so we didn't get too full because we always make a big bowl of popcorn on Monday nights while we watch The Apprentice. Speaking of The Apprentice, can anyone believe the team that Lee put together??? Roxanne who doesn't speak up to save her life? Peppy who was gone the 2nd week? And of course, his buddy, Lenny, who uses his lack of knowledge of English as an excuse when his team lost a task to write a jingle?

Today was another sunny day and our last full day in Eugene. So we hit another bike path. It took a bit of searching after the path ended, but we found it. The best thing was, right about the place where we were going to turn around, there was a CHOCOLATE SHOP!!!!
I was a happy camper. What a brilliant idea to put a chocolate shop along a bike path. We stopped for a bite and a quick rest before heading back. Rich's allergies were bothering him.

Tomorrow we head out to McMinnville, Oregon, about 27 miles SE of Portland. It's only a 95 mile drive, so we can take our time packing up. We're going to do some packing tonight, especially getting the bikes inside the Suzuki since the forecast is for rain tomorrow.

-Laura

Rain; Eugene, OR

We sure don't have much to report! It rained just about all day on Sunday. The rain stopped just long enough for me to snap this pic of the campground. This has been our view out the front windshield for the past two days, its starting to get old!

It was a good day to take a long nap and read a book. We did manage to head out to the grocery store to get some supplies for our Morel dinner. We fixed, without question, the BEST meal we have had since we moved into our coach. It started with tenderloin grilled, medium rare, on the grill. We topped them with a morel sauce made with the fresh morels we picked up at the Farmer's market, beef stock, red wine, butter, shallots, garlic and Thyme. We sauteed some fresh spinach with the chantrelles the lady at the Farmer marked threw in our morel bag, for free. Some fresh hot bread with olive oil for dipppin', with a little fresh grated parm, Maldon Salt and fresh pepper completed the meal.

For wine, we had an amazing find at the grocery store. We found a 1998 Delille cellars D2 (Washington, $38.99) I think this is the most we have spent on a bottle of wine since we started the trip. We decided to splurge, the morels deserved this! I used to sell Delille wines back in Michigan, we classified them as, "The best wines you've never heard of". They are a small producer of Bordeaux style blends, just Northeast of Seattle. Normally, you would never find a bottle like this in grocery store(yah' gotta love the Pacific Northwest). You might find it a fine wine shop and probably only hear about if the wine clerk mentioned it! It was as good as we remembered and its smoky, earthy essence was perfect with the Morels!


After a great meal, we settled in for the evening with some TV, as the rain continued. The weather report for Monday is for partly sunny skies and high in the mid 60's. We're hoping we can get the bikes out tomorrow!

-Rich-

Another rainy day in Eugene

Today was day #5 of being in rain and we're getting tired of it. Today we went to the Saturday market. Most of the vendors are selling crafty-type stuff, which we don't really care for or have the room for. There is a small farmers' market, selling beautiful produce. Since Eugene gets 48" of rain per year, it seems natural that they get some nice produce. Our big find for the day was a pint basket of morel mushrooms for $8. Whenever you see morels in a store, they are usually much more than that. Since we already had dinner for tonight planned, we are going to figure out a recipe to have them with steak tomorrow. Yum! We also stopped at a very nice grocery store called Market of Choice, that came recommended by our friends, Susan & Rick. It was a beautiful store. We picked up some things we needed for dinner and headed home for lunch. Later that afternoon we went to see The DaVinci Code. I thought it was pretty good, certainly more attention-grabbing than the book. I read the book a while ago and had a hard time getting into it, but the movie was better. If you've only read DaVinci code, or none of Dan Brown's books, I suggest you read Angels & Demons, which I thought was more exciting than his other 2 books.

That was it for our day. Another wet day in the rain. The weather is calling for less rain tomorrow, and no rain Mon.-Wed. (we leave here on Wed.), so we'll see. It would be nice to get out and ride our bikes once before we leave here.

-Laura

Business Opportunity; Eugene, OR

Windshield Chip Repair

It all started, back in February, when we encountered a huge(golfball sized) chip in our windshield. We were on our way to Quartzsite, on I-40, when this golf ball sized rock few out of the bed of a truck and nailed us on the driver side. Luckily, it was not in a line of sight!

We stopped at a booth at the "Big" RV show, in Quartzsite, that advertised "no cost" chip repair. They bill your insurance company, which typically waive your deductible for repairs vs. Replacement. We signed up for them to come out, to our location in the dessert, to complete the repair. Now, as a reminder, we were parked with 40 other rigs, the Escapees club, celebrating the 2005 Full-timers graduation.

So, the guy shows up to do our repair. Since it was a larger then normal repair, it took him about half hour, about double the normal time for a repair. If you have any experience with RV'ers, the minute you start working on an RV, guys come out of the woodwork to see what you are doing. While the tech was working on our rig, four guys had chips they wanted him to look at. To sum it all up, the window tech spent around 2 hours on 5 repairs and scored about $300 for 2 hours of work! OK, now you have my attention!(insurance companies pay, on average, $60 for a repair jobs that takes an average of 20 minutes)!

As soon as our repair was done, I was on the internet researching windshield chip repair. The initial cost of investment is somewhat high, especially if you're only going to it as a hobby. The specialized tool kits are about $1,000. Certification class through Delta, is $300, and takes place at their Oregon headquarters, travel expenses. An account to handle insurance claims via the web is $20/month. Oh well, maybe its not worth it.

Then Laura has a brain storm! What if you can find the kits on e-bay, at a reduced cost? I begin keeping an eye on eBay for a kit. In the meantime, Delta, the tool manufacturer, and leader in chip repair technology, offers specials for the training classes, waiving the $300 fee, starting in May . HHHHMMMM, we are going to be in Oregon in May! Maybe this could work out!

After searching eBay for a month, I get hold of a repair kit for $450(with shipping). The original retail from Delta, $1,000, the kit had been used, maybe 2 or 3 times! I signed up for the May 26th training class, just before it filled up, and I was on my way!

The class was 8am to 5pm. I haven't put in a full day since we left in October! It was an intensive training program, teaching you how to use all of the specialized tools in the system and repair chips, cracks, deal with insurance companies and start your own business. It was very informative and hands on, I did maybe 8 repairs during the class. I ended up purchasing some extra resin, some spare parts and equipment that was not included in my kit for about $100. So, for a total investment of about $550, vs. $1,500, I am educated and stocked to repair about 200 windshields!

Only about 25% of the people out there doing windshield repair have any sort of certification, so I guess I'm among the elite! I'm going to have some removable, magnetic advertising signs made for the Suzuki, I've got my diploma and the proper tools.........I'm armed and ready to repair!


-Rich-

Eugene, Oregon: Cappuccino!

Finally....good cappuccino!

I had the day to myself after dropping Rich off at the downtown Eugene Hilton. He took a day-long class on learning how to repair windshield chips. On the way home, I picked up a cappuccino from on of the many coffee shacks around here. First a little background. I don't like coffee, but looovve cappuccino, especially with a shot of vanilla syrup in it. I'm also very picky about my capp. and have only consistently found good capp. at Starbucks, but it's expensive. My favorite Christmas present this year was a Starbucks card from my dad & step-mom. We managed to stretch it out until March. So, I was a bit skeptical when I saw the many shacks around here. I got a capp. yesterday and it was great. I got another one after dropping off Rich and it was great. Not only do these shacks make a great capp. but they are cheap. Starbucks charges about $3.50, the shacks charge $2.50. I guess the know their coffee because it's so cold and wet here.

Speaking of wet, we've been in rain since Tuesday and it's getting old. At least it's not as bad as California in March, when it rained non-stop for days and days. This is an off & on rain, with teaser bouts of sun. Tomorrow is the Eugene farmer's market. We're hoping the rain holds off at least long enough for us to pick up some fresh fruit.

-Laura

Eugene, Oregon

HANGING OUT WITH RICK & SUSAN

Today we went shopping in the morning with Rick & Susan. We all met up around 10am and headed over to the local Costco. We can't buy much there, since there's just 2 of us and not a lot of room for big stuff, so we only got a few things. Then Rick thought he knew where the Trader Joe's was, but it wasn't where he remembered it to be. So...after driving around Eugene for awhile, we finally used the internet aspect of my phone to locate it. Once we did, we were able to get some of our favorite things, in sizes we can handle. Rick & Sue invited us back to their moho for lunch, an introduction to our first salmon burgers. They were yummy! Then it was back to the moho for some cleaning, laundry, and naps. Naps were the most important. Later that evening they also treated us to a fabulous dinner of lemoned halibut, fried portabella mushrooms, & salad. We BYOB'd some wine, since they don't drink, and some bread from Trader Joe's. We headed back home early since they are getting on the road very early tomorrow to head for Vancouver. We were happy to be able to see them and look foward to seeing them in Vancouver in July.

-Laura

Eugene, OR

The Craziest 3 Days of Driving I've ever done!

We just arrived in Eugene. This is first time in the past 3 days that we have had internet or cellphone access. We've been tucked in among the redwoods between Eureka, CA and Eugene. We are glad to be back in civilization!

We left Healdsburg on Monday morning. The plan was a 260 mile drive up to Eureka and stay there for 2 days. Well, after just getting over my cold/flu thing, I was ready to give up after only 160 miles. Of course, it didn't help that almost 50 miles of the drive was US-1 from Fort Bragg to just south of Eureka. It was the worse 2 hours of driving, in the RV, I've ever done.

If you have never driven this road, let me explain. Its a beautiful drive along the Pacific Ocean. There are also numerous 15 and 20 mph curves, many 8 to 10% descents, with those curves thrown in the middle, and, they don't seem to be proponents of the "guard rail" on this portion of road. We also didn't see the signs that said "vehicles with trailers over 30' NOT recommended", until it was too late! Laura and Snuggles both knew not to say a word to me while I negotiated this stuff (thanks!) We got through it OK, but I was finished! Lucky for us, it was middle of the week and there was not much traffic. We only had one close call, on a 10 mph switchback, we used up both lanes and even then just barely made the turn without scraping the Suzuki on the side of Redwood tree that had to be 15' thick and literally was on the edge of the white line of the road!

We escaped that test unscathed. Got ourselves back on smooth, flat road, we searched for a campground. We found Dean Creek RV resort, in the middle of nowhere along side the freeway. The place was old, built before RVs' were built over 30'! They had a space for us, but we had to negotiate tight roads, huge redwood trees and roots that had made their way up through the pavement! Great, test number 2! Once we got parked, again unscathed, we discovered no cell phone service, not even a roaming signal, and no internet. We did pick up a few local TV channels. They did have a hot tub, just thing I needed after a stressful day (that and a drink!)

We divided the remaining 300 miles to Eugene into Tuesday and Wednesday. We stopped in Crescent City, CA at the Redwoods, KOA. Wednesday would include a 70 mile segment on 199 through Grants Pass, OR that would include many more 20-25 mile, tight curves and steep descents/climbs. Even though they didn't recommend trailers over 30', we knew from reviews on the RV board we could make it OK, especially if we traveled this portion separately, rather then hooked up. True to the reviews, we did not run into any problems. The drive was almost easy, especially after my "trial by fire" of the previous days. We arrived safely at Deerwood RV resort around 2:30PM, with our friends Rick and Sue having already picked a spot out for us!

After the past 3 days, I think I have graduated from Novice to expert motorhome driver...Don't I get some sort of certificate or something? ;)

-Rich-

Under the Weather

Somehow, somewhere, I caught a flu bug on Friday. It pretty much had me down and out all day Friday and all day Saturday. Laura managed to keep herself entertained by going to the coffee shop to surf and get e-mails and visit a few wineries. I slept, just about all of both days. So, needless to say, our road excursion to San Fran was cancelled.

Feeling a little better today. Every joint in my body still aches, I have zero energy, but the fever and runny nose is gone.

We will make a run to the grocery store (that will probably be the end of me!) and pack up for our departure tomorrow morning, destination, Eureka, CA. Then we’re off to Eugene, OR where we will reconnect with our friends Susan and Rick, who we last saw at the Pomona FMCA in March. We will be in Eugene through the Memorial Day Holiday.

-Rich-

Inexpensive Wine

OK, the "under $15 a bottle" comment on the previous post seemed to stir up a few people. I've gotten some e-mails and comments asking, "what are they?"

So, here are some of our discoveries. We'll call this "Rich & Laura's Best under $20" not in any particular order:

-Bogle Petite Syrah, CA ($8.99) great wine at this price

-Kings Estate Pinot Gris, OR ($14.99) great summertime sipper

-Sonoma Cutrer Chard, CA ($16.99) classic CA, buttery/oaky chard

-Las Rocas Garanche, Spain ($11.99) Greatest $11 bottle you will ever have(if you can find it!!)*Note: Be sure to get the 2003 as it's much better than the 2004. We've found it for as cheap as $8 in Salt Lake City.

Kanu Chenin Blanc, South Africa ($8.99) light, crisp amazing white at this price

Dry Creek Chenin blanc, CA ($11.99) a good find while biking in DC valley.

Lolonis Fume' Blanc, ca ($11.99) think smoky Sauv blanc, and you've got it

Arbios Cab, CA (17.99) a good summertime BBQ cabernet, not your typical heavy ca cab

Cline old vine zin, ca ($12.99) the best zin you will ever have at this price

Erath pinot, OR ($16.99) good, fruity entry level Oregon pinot

Golden Botrytis, Australia ($17.99) greatest dessert wine you will ever have (IF you can find it!)

Waterbrook Melange, WA ($12.99) a great meritage from Washington

Castano Solenaro, Spain ($11.99) a great Spanish blend zesty and peppery, like a zin great for making sangria

Cape Mentelle, Australia ($18.99) a good non-oaked chard

Andrew Rich Cuvee Pinot, OR ($17.99) a good entry level smoky pinot (there aren't many of those)

OK, now for the disclaimers. These are the prices we have paid for the above, your price may vary. Taste is an opinion, yours may vary from ours. We have tried each and every one of the wines mentioned above. We have also gone through a bunch of losers in this price group, I like to forget about them, so don't ask which ones we hated (I tend to only remember what the label looks so we don't buy them again) These are the only wines I can think of right now, there are a bunch more.

If any of our dear readers have good wines under $20, by all means share them with us! We have found Cost Plus World Market and Costco are both great places for under $20 discoveries. The best recommendation I can make, take a chance, buy something under $15, take it home and try it, you never know what you might discover!

-Rich-

Sonoma Wine Tasting

Spent the day Wednesday around Sonoma and NAppa, wine tasting. The great thing about this area, the tasting are free. Most of the other regions we have been too, central coast, Temecula, Oregon and Wahington all charge $5 to $10 for a tasting, which we would usually split. Of course, you get to keep the glass! Great, just what we need traveling in a motorhome, a bunch of wine glasses. Anyway, tasting in Sonoma makes for cheap entertainment. A common theme in Sonoma seems to be the $40/bottle wine. Well, that just doesn't fit in the budget. Since we've been on the road, we have discovered many fine wines under $15! Many of our favorites are every bit as good as the $40 Sonoma offerings. Lesson of the day: Big bucks on wine doesn't always mean better quality!

We are planning to take a road trip over to San Francisco, some time this week. We'd like to go to Alcatraz island and visit some friends. The weather here has been great, 75 to 80 during the day and 50-55 at night.

Not much else to report, for now......

-Rich-

Biking The Dry Creek Valley

Biking Dry Creek Valley

We got the road bikes out and headed, from the campground, to the Dry Creek valley. We had done this ride, with a tour group, a few years ago. Armed with a map, we were sure we could retrace the route. The Dry Creek valley is really beautiful. The smells in the valley, the vineyards, the roses and the eucalyptus are something you cannot describe; it just has to be experienced.

We stopped at a few wineries in the valley. You have to very careful about your consumption when you’re on the bike and its 80 degrees. We made stops at Long Bridge (mediocre wines), Dry Creek Valley (excellent Chenin Blanc, we picked one up for $11), Passalacqua (good chards, but not worth $40/bottle) and Ridge Winery (Excellent Zins, but again, too expensive for us). After the valley loop, we pulled into downtown Healdsburg and stopped at Oakview market, an excellent little cheese shop and deli, for some lunch.

We made our way up the bike friendly, Old Redwood Hwy (excellent bike lanes, all over the area, BTW) and back to the campground. Total trip 26 miles. We got back just as the afternoon sun started blazing, full strength. It was a nice casual ride, lots of stops, great scenery, some good wines and an excellent, inexpensive lunch. (It is not often you can use the word “inexpensive “when describing anything in CA!

Back at the coach, Laura prepared a great Chili Rellanos casserole recipe, she found on-line, for dinner. Later in the evening we walked over to “downtown” Windsor, to a little Gelato shop. I put downtown in parenthesis because its one of those manufactured communities that seem to be popular right now. One of those communities created in an open field, with shops on a main street, on the first level, and condos on the upper levels. This community was one of the better attempts I’ve seen to create a “community”. The condos, in true CA fashion, start at around $500,000 for 1,000 square feet.

We hung out in the town square eating gelato and watching the sun go down. A great way to finish up a great day of riding and tasting!

-Rich-

Travelin' Daze

We set out Saturday morning, destination Elko, Nevada, Super Wal-Mart. The drive was smooth and uneventful. The weather was noticeably warmer in Nevada then in SLC. We picked up some odd and ends in Wal-Mart and got permission from management to stay overnight. It is mostly understood that RV’ers can overnight in the Wal-mart. We always make sure we get permission and I make a mental note of the manager’s name, just in case we get that knock on the door from the local police at 2am saying we can’t stay there.

Sunday, an early start and the longest day of our 3 days of driving. We scheduled 360 miles from Elko to Sacramento, CA. The drive through the Tahoe area on I-80 was gorgeous. I am, however, revising my “Worst roads” list, and putting I-80 from the Nevada state line to Sacramento as the worst road we have ever traveled. We have traveled dirt roads that were smoother then this stretch of interstate! It was pot holed, had truck tire grooves in it and very rough. Most of this, I’m guessing is due to the chain requirements when the weather is bad. The elevation was around 7,200 ft. We reached our destination, a Camping World, located in Rocklin, just outside of Sacramento. Bad news, it was right along side the freeway. The noise was horrible! We headed out to find a quieter spot. We located a church with a huge parking lot only a few miles down the road. We had no trouble getting permission to stay there. We’ll have to remember the church idea in the future.

The extra mileage on Sunday left us with 120 miles for Monday. That would give us plenty of time to make all my account calls, set-up and hit a few wineries in Healdsburg. It is a good thing we pulled into our campground early; it was not at all what was advertised. They had no sewer hookups of any kind, not even a dump station. The nearest dump station was at a campground in Windsor, 12 miles away. Since we have been dry camping for the past few days, our tanks are filling up. “No problem”, says the campground guy, “when you’re ready to dump, just head over to this other campground and dump for $5.” “why would I stay here and go there to dump, when I can just stay there and not have to worry about driving somewhere else, and paying to dump”, was my reply. Of course, this kind of logic completely baffled this guy. “Sorry, we don’t give refunds,” was all he could come up with. They do have signs all over the office stating this policy. So, I see the game, lure you in with pretty pictures of the campsites next to the Russian River, advertise you have full hook-ups, but to them that means water and electric. We did manage to get the owners cell phone number and we are tormenting him for a refund, we’ll see how that goes. In the meantime, a notice to our RV readers, DO NOT stay at the Alexander Valley RV resort and Campground. There are many other alternatives in the area.

We pulled into the first campground around 11:30, by time we made alternative arrangements, drove the rig there and set-up, it was 3:30. We did manage to hit a couple of wineries before dinner time. After our morning, we needed it!

-Rich-

On The Road Again.......

......Bye SLC..........For now!

Today, we begin our journey to Healdsburg, CA. We have 3 days planned to get there (not in a hurry!) We have really enjoyed our time in SLC, and, we got TONS accomplished. Laura secured a job, we got the washer/dryer fixed(finally), the Suzuki got new brake pads, we got some great rides in, checked out neighborhoods, learned about life in SLC, explored the mountains and best of all, met a bunch of great people!

Special thanks to Karen and Rich for putting up with us the past 2 weeks. Carting us around while our car was in service, entertaining us, answering all of our questions about the Mormons, showing us the "good" neighborhoods, feeding us and convincing us that this was the place to be! As a thank-you, we made dinner for them (in their kitchen, boy, do I miss a "real" kitchen!). We made a Thai green mango and beef salad, I thought it turned out pretty yummy, but it had a KICK to it thanks to one too many Thai Birdseye chili peppers.


We are leaving SLC feeling like we have found "home". We met a bunch of great, friendly people. Everyone welcomed us into their lives, and in some cases homes, with open arms. Thanks to Cari and Gregg (the bird people) for your hospitality. Snug enjoyed meeting your "family", although I don't think she'll admit that! Thanks to Hank and Irene(Karens neighbors) who poked her head over the fence and invited two complete strangers over for a BBQ and introduced us to all their friends. We also met Joe and Shannon, who are hoping to one day head out on an adventure similar to ours. Tami and Ian, who moved here from Michigan last year and are enjoying life here. We also know Lou and Linda, formally from Ohio, who we know from the Spokejunkies riding group. Unfortunately, we didn't get to meet up with them on this visit. We really feel like we have a great circle of friends started and won't be complete strangers when we pull into town, permanently, next spring!

So, off we go, I-80 west towards Cali. We'll be making a short return trip to SLC in June, as we make our way over to Denver, CO. We look forward to seeing everyone again soon.

There may be a few days without any updates, as we do the "Tour de Wal-mart" to California. Unless, of course, we score some free wifi at the local Coffee Shop, stay tuned...............

-Rich-

I got a job for the winter!

We're leaving Salt Lake City and driving west along I-80 today, headed for Healdsburg, CA, but I wanted to update everyone on my latest accomplishment.

First a little background on our winter plans. As of now, we're planning on spending October of 2006 through the first of April of 2007 in Tucson, Arizona. We both really liked Tucson when we were there last winter, but it's just too hot to consider for a permanent location. Since our house money is tied up until April of '07 and our stuff is in storage until Oct. '06 (and will be extended until April '07), we decided to spend the winter working in Tucson. I started looking around for drug rehabs in the Tucson area, completely forgetting about one of the most famous in the country, Sierra-Tucson until it popped up on a Google search (duh!).

I went to their website and saw that they are hiring for an MAS counselor, PRN. MAS is the medical service side of intake, commonly referred to detox. PRN is a medical term that spells something in Latin that means, "as needed". Basically I'd be doing initial session paperwork on new clients on an "as needed" basis. That can mean when they get a lot more intakes than their regular counselors can handle, if someone calls in sick, or someone is on vacation. They are also expanding by 44 beds this winter, so they'll need help there as well. In addition, they want to use me to fill in with their case management (my old job!) department. So, after several phone interviews, I was basically hired, pending completion of a drug test and background check when I get there in October. The pay is even better than I expected.

Now the tricky thing is to find a place to stay for the winter. The location of Sierra-Tucson makes it challenging. They're technically located in the town of Catalina, about 10 miles north of Tucson. Most RV parks are on the south end of Tucson, including our favorite, Voyager. We'd hoped to winter in Voyager, but it's almost 50 miles from ST, so not really a possibility. The next closest place we've found is in Marana, which would put me 24 miles away. The woman I interviewed with, Kristine, suggested I type something up that she can post on the employee message board, because several homes around the Tucson area have full-hookups installed on the property. That may be something to consider. The good thing is that the park we're considering has monthly rates, so it'd only cost us $350/month + electricity!

-Laura

PS. (Rich, here!) I've got a couple of opportunities I'm pursuing in Tucson as well. One qualification we had for a longer term plan, one us had to have something nailed down. Laura scored first! I should have no trouble getting a short term gig with a food broker down there and hopefully can score something that would provide use of a car! As Laura said, we liked Tucson, a lot, but I'm not sure either of us could live their year round.

After spending the winter in Tucson, socking away as much money as possible, we'll begin the journey back up to SLC in April. We'll start looking for housing and permanent jobs in SLC prior to our arrival, again, the goal is for one of us to have something nailed down by the time we get into town. Since spring will have sprung by the time we get there, we will be able to live in the coach, until we decide on a house. Based on the past 2 weeks here, we have a pretty good idea of the neighborhoods that will suit us. Once we find a place, we'll sell the coach, move into a home and begin life 2.0!

-Laura

Birds Part Deux; Salt Lake City

Our new friends, Cari and Greg, invited us over for a BBQ and birdie play date. If you recall our previous post, they have 10 cockatoos of their own. We met them through the local bird store, who put us in touch with them. I don't think Snuggy quite considered it a play date, more like a fright fest. Snug was outnumbered 10 to 1, but managed to survie! (By the way, the only picture of Snuggles, besides the one on her cage, is where she's standing on Cari's shoulder, looking a little unsure.)

Here are a few photos of the craziness:




































Since we are leaving on Saturday, all the Toos' got together and gave Snug a going away present. Cari and Greg make their birds "stuff sock toys" with wooden pieces, rope and a surprise wrapped up inside a sock. Snug wasn't too sure about this at first, its as big as she is. But, here she is giving her new gift a once over.

Thanks, guys, look forward to seeing you all agian in June!

-Rich-

3,333 and Counting.............

...............Thank's for stopping by and checking us out. Special thanks to everyone who has continued to follow our journey, there's quite a few of you.

I post these count updates every once in while because I'm just amazed at the power of the WWW and how fast things spread! We started counting hits just about 3 months ago, 11oo/month avg, amazing for a site initially intended to let parental units know we weren't stranded on the side of the road in the middle of the desert!

-Rich-

Road Trip To Sundance

As you can see, yesterday we took a road trip up to Sundance Ski Resort outside of Orem. The pictures are of the narrow, winding road up to the ski resort and Bridal Veil Falls, aptly named. The falls were along 189, the road through Provo Canyon. We noticed a beautiful, paved bike path along there as well that we may check out today. It was a beautiful, 45 mile drive up in to the mountains. The beauty and access to the mountains never ceases to amaze me. We're liking SLC more and more everyday.

We also stopped by a few neighborhoods to check out some houses. The thought of being 20 to 30 minutes from Alta, Solitude, Brighton, PArk City and Sundance is just amazing. Not just for winter sports; Most of the resorts run lifts in the summer to hike and bike down from the mountain. A chair lift ride to the top beats a 3,000 foot climb anyday ;)

Later that evening we had Joe, Shannon and Karen over to show them our coach. If you recall our previous post, we met them at a BBQ the previous weekend. They are considering one day taking a year off to travel and wanted to see how we live. They were amazed by the variety of rigs in our campground, from small trailers all the way up to class A. We talked a little about budgets, planning, rigs and destinations. I think we gave them enough to think about. We offered to trade our coach for house with them when we come back to SLC next year. :-) Later we met up with Rich, Karen's husband, at the Red Iguana for dinner(he came right from work, downtown) . The Red Iguana is famous for it's mexican food, and rightly so. I had the best chili rellenos I've ever had. The drinks were good and reasonably priced as well. I definately recommend you try the Red Iguana if you're ever in SLC!

Laura

More SLC.........

..........Saturday afternoon, after bike rides, Laura and Karen were back at the house unloading bikes. Karen's neighbor comes over and invites all of us over for a BBQ. Smoked pork shoulder by a guy originally from North Carolina, how can you pass that up! We headed back to the coach, showered, did some errands and headed over for some down home BBQ.

We met a bunch of great people at the BBQ, like minded (read non-LDS), outdoor oriented and (no offense to our many fulltimer friends and readers) our age. We spent the evening chatting about everything under the sun. Of course, we had many questions for everyone about the SLC scene. Everyone had just as many question for us on our adventure. One common denominator, most of the couples there are not originally from SLC. A few in particular, had only been here since November, so we got the lowdown on their transition.

We struck up a conversation with one couple in particular. Shannon and Joe. They are childless by choice and dream of the same type of adventure as ours. They do not have any RV experience and had many questions on budgets, rigs, destinations etc.... They are coming by on Tuesday to see our coach and then we are heading out to dinner with them and Karen and Rich as well (they live across the street from Karen and Rich) to the Red Iguana, the BEST Mexican in SLC (I've been told, anyway!)

On another positive note, we've found a suitable substitute for Zingerman's here in SLC! If you don't know about Zing's, check out the link. It is THE destination for meat, cheese, olive oil and bread! I was looking in "The All American Cheese and Wine Book" for some appetizer ideas. I happened to come across a list of recommended cheese shops around the country. A store called Liberty Heights, in downtown SLC was on the list; Road trip time! We talked to the "Cheese head" there for a while. It turns out the owner is originally from Michigan and they are using Zing's as their business model, I guess imitation really is the best form of flattery! They seem to be doing a pretty good job too. They had all of our favorite cheeses, a knowledgeable staff, fresh baked bread, an olive oil tasting area, locally grwon fruit and veggies and tons of other gourmet goodies. Not as good as the original, but a great store none the less!

We'll fill the remainder of the day with such exciting things as laundry, cleaning the coach and enjoying the nice weather. We might throw a road trip in, just to mix things up!

-Rich-

Bike Rides

A BOYS Ride & A GIRLS Ride

Today, we split up. Karen took Laura out on a mountain bike ride. Rich and I met up to do a road ride. Here are our individual accounts:

Rich's Ride:

Rich (Karen's Rich, not me) is training for the Ironman triathalon. He was going to put in 5 hours in the saddle today. I, on the other hand, have no desire to do a tri or 5 hours in the saddle for that matter, but I did want to get a nice road ride in. Rich rode from his house, over to our campground(1 hour down). That's where I met up with him and we knocked down 37 miles in just under 2 hours, avg speed 18.8mph (3 hours down). We separated back at the campground, Rich sped off down the road (2 more hours to go!), I leashed up Snuggles and took her on a cool down ride around the campground.

The road followed I-80, along the Great Salt Lake, so, it was FLAT. It was probably the flattest road ride I have ever done. Now, you might think this would make for an easy ride. But, no, you are pedaling the whole time, if you stop, well, you stop! At least when you mix in hills, you get some coasting time. I can see why Rich uses this as an Ironman training ground, it keeps him spinning. I'm not complaining, I enjoyed the spin, it was a great ride!

-Rich-

Girls' Ride

Karen and I set off from her house to do a "girl ride". We were originally going to just take one car, park it, ride up 3 miles (at 6000') then ride back down to our car. Instead I got the brilliant idea to shuttle (I know, I'm a genius who HATES climbing). So our plan was to drop off a car at the bottom, and drive up to the gate, which would entail another 1.5 miles of climbing on a road closed to cars. We got about 1/4 mile in, with me huffing & puffing. We came around a corner to see snow all the way across, and about 6" deep. We tried hike-a-biking, but our shoes were getting cold and wet. So we rode back down, past our car about 1/3 mile to a parking lot where we could pick up the trail. The trail overall, was not too technical, but for most of it there was quite a drop-off. Karen kept offering to stop so I could take pictures, but I didn't want to look around. I told her to just pick a spot and stop.
The pictures are from my camera phone, so they aren't the best quality. The majority of the trail is flat or slightly downhill & meanders in & out of the mountainside. Then we got to Rattlesnake Gultch! The trail turns a sharp left and goes down...steeply through drop-offs and rocks. Karen & both got a little freaked out and started walking. I kept trying to convince myself I could get back on the bike and ride, but it was such a steep downhill, I was afraid I'd endo before I got clipped in. Needless to say, we didn't get any pictures on that section. Then we got to the switchbacks, which were very sharp, also a walking section. Finally we got to the fun downhill, and just flew all the way down to the parking lot. Whew! That was fun. I probably could have done it again, but I figured it was good to have survived it once, save doing it twice for another day.

-Laura

P.S. Here's a picture of my bike post-ride:

Day tripping to Park City

Today we decided to take a drive up to Park City, Utah, home of skiing, snowboarding, and various olympic sports. As you can see in the pictures, we were driving up and into the mountains on the way out. Park City is about 30 miles east and a little south of Salt Lake City. I think we got up to about 6500-7000'. Silly me was WAY underdressed for the temperature change. When we left SLC it was 68. When we got to Park City it was a "balmy" 48! Since I was wearing a t-shirt and shorts, we didn't do much walking around town. Such a midwesterner thing to do!

As soon as we got into town, we came upon the olympic park, home of the ski jumping, bobsled, skelton, & luge runs.



After we got back, we cleaned up and went for dinner at Karen & Rich's house, who also graciously let us do some laundry. It was a grill dinner of salmon, peppers, and yams. I've never had yams on the grill before, always just steamed them for Snuggles. They were excellent! Tomorrow Karen & I are going to ride the Pipeline trail in Mill Creek Canyon, while the Riches are going to do a road ride.

-Laura

Out & About in SLC

We paid up for another week here at the SLC KOA. Still have a lot of ground to cover! We haven't even made any road trips to check out Park City or Sundance yet. The weather the past couple of days has been less then desirable for biking or hiking, we need to get that in as well.

Since we have been out of "cilization" for past few weeks, we've had a lot to catch up on, its been a busy week! Laura posted earlier in the week on her job interview this past Monday. On Tuesday, the Suzuki went to the dealer for brake pads. Karen was nice enough to call in sick and shuttle us around for the day. She showed us the communities we should consider living in, drove us up to Solitude (they were still measuring snow in feet up there, but the skiing was closed for the season). We explored the canyons and had lunch.

Wednesday, we headed out to do some exploring on our own; We went grocery shopping, checked out the state owned wine store, got haircuts and explored the real estate market. The cost of living here in Salt Lake is really reasonable, especially for the west. Most of houses we see advertised have 4 to 6 bedrooms, aaahhhh, the Mormon influence! Square footage here always includes the basement, something we're not used to.

Thursday was Snuggles big adventure, and meeting some new friends (see the previous post). Kari and Greg are our age, bike, hike and ski, like wine and have birds, our kind of people. Later, that afternoon, a repair guy came out to look at our washer/dryer unit that has been out for a month. We called Splendide customer service a few weeks ago, based on our description, they thought it might be the main control board, not good. Sure enough, the tech confirmed this. New control board $300.00, ouch, that is definitely NOT in the budget. We'll be cutting back on a few categories this month to make sure we stay within our monthly parameters!

Today, Friday, the weather is improving, we may take a road trip to check out Park City and get a road ride in. This evening, we are going over to Karen and Richs house for a little BBQ. The weekend is supposed to be beautiful, weather wise. I'm sure we'll fill it with a bunch of outdoor activities!

There have been some questions about the LDS (Mormon) factor here in Salt Lake. Since we don't have kids, we won't be involved in the school system. We don't really get involved in community, political or religious matters. We are outdoor and activity focused, plain and simple. Our friends here(all outdoor orientated), are in a similar situation(no kids, similar beliefs) to us. They have confirmed our thoughts on this; LDS isn't really a factor in their lives. Live and let live seems to be the motto. The benefits, that we have noticed so far, a wonderfully clean city, friendly people with well behaved kids and VERY friendly and service orientated businesses.

It's funny, one of the first things people mention about SLC, or Utah are the wacky alcohol rules. Yeah, there are some confusing and inconsistent rules(you have to buy food to drink, you can only order hard liquor at the bar, members only bars and restaurants), but is it REALLY a determining factor in how or where you live your life(I guess it might be for some people)? We have yet to be in a place where we were NOT be able to get a drink in a restaurant. You do have to buy your hard liquor and wine at the 'state' liquor store, a minor inconvenience. Wine and beer prices seem generally higher then other states we have visited. My take on this, the overall cost of living is lower here then Michigan, California or Arizona; So in the end, I think it all evens out ;)

-Rich-

Playing with Birds

Today we took a trip to Cockatoo Street, a very nice home of 10, count 'em 10 cockatoos! We met Cari & Gregg and their 'toos. I'm not going to remember all the names, but I'll try to remember them all. We met Chickin, Sam, Buddy, Ellie, Cupid, Clancy, and that's all I can remember. When we went upstairs, they opened the door to the birdy room, and Snuggles FREAKED out. I mean there was ropes, toys, and cages everywhere!

It was a good day! By the way...we brought the camera, but forgot to take pictures. Hopefully we can get together with them again and get some good shots!

For more details, check out Snuggles' blog.

Salt Lake City, Utah

Not the Job for Me!

On Monday I went on an interview for a job at Aetna insurance company. The job formerly was with Magellen Behavorial Health. They used to contract for Aetna to manage their behavioral health benefits. About 2 years ago, they were bought out by Aetna, and are now Aetna employees with Aetna benefits and insurance. The interview went very well, and I learned that because I have 13 years of post-grad experience, I'd make the top of the salary range, which is about 10% more than I made before. So...based on the salary, it's the perfect job, right? Wrong. The job is a call center job where you are on the job for 8.5 hours a day, including 1/2 hr. lunch. You have to log into and out of your phone in your cubicle. You are expected to be "logged in" for 6 hours a day (logging off means every time you leave your desk for anything...potty breaks, copying, filing, etc.). I was starting to think, "this may not be the job for me". Then I got a tour and saw the sea of cubicles. Then I knew it's not the job for me.

While I was in the interview, I got a voicemail from another resume I'd sent. This one is for an on-call counselor at Sierra-Tucson drug/alcohol rehab in Tucson, Arizona. When I got home, I talked to the woman who called who was thrilled to learn that not only can I do counseling, but utilization reviews (calling insurance companies) as well. She just had to check with HR to see if she can interview me by phone, or if she'll have to wait until I get down there in October.

We're thinking that we'll continue our travel plans and land in Tucson in October and stay until April. During that time I'll do the on-call thing and Rich will get some type of job. By April we may come back to Salt Lake City for more permanant jobs, or see if we can "take the heat" of Tucson and hang out there. Who knows?

-Laura

House Update (or...Lack of House Update)

The closing is complete, the proceeds are safely tucked away in a one year bond (please, no e-mails on hot stock tips or fund schemes, we want to make sure its there when we land somewhere!) April 30th was the first time in 11 month's we didn't have to write checks for mortgage, gas, electric, security, lawn service, insurance and property taxes......What a relief.

With our belongings safely tucked away in temp controlled storage (pre-paid through September) we finally feel like the plan is coming together, as originally designed (we NEVER dreamed the house would take 11 months to sell!). We have our travel plan and destinations laid out through Labor Day (holiday in Lexington, MI with family/friends). After that, we plan on heading back to Southwest. Exact destinations will depend on outcomes of Interviews and job inquiries in a few different cities over the next few weeks.

The plan then would then be to have our stuff shipped out to a TBD destination around November. Now, the house proceeds are locked till April, next year, completely by design. We will probably rent an apartment or house for 6 month's to get a real good feel for the real estate market in our landing destination.

We think we have a great set of options available to us on landing. We can do the rental thing mentioned above. We can live in the coach for awhile to get established, or we can sell the coach, using proceeds from the sale for 1)a down payment on a house (avoiding the rental option) and 2) a second car and 3)a small rig, like a class c, for running around in on weekends. We don't ever see ourselves NOT having an RV, we just have too much darn fun with them!

We think we've done a great job of designing multiple exit plan options to cover any job or location possibilities we end up selecting . Ya' gotta love it when a plan comes together!

-Rich & Laura-

BBQ's, Picture Updates and Job Interviews

I finally updated the 'Mountain Bike Mecca' post from April 29. Go take a look at it, there are some great pics there.

We spent Sunday evening with Karen and Rich and Tammy and Ian. Thanks for the BBQ, K, it was awesome. Since everyone was originally from Michigan, now living in SLC, they teamed up to give Laura and I all the reasons we should make SLC our new home. Some very convincing points, we'll have to wait and see! I'll say this much, Utah has been the prettiest state we have visited so far! The roads are nice, the people are very friendly, towns are clean and the weather has been beautiful. The most intriguing part is the variety of places you can get to, within a days drive, just take a look at a map and you'll see what I mean.

Today is another packed day, Laura has her job interview with Aetna insurance. I'll be working in the AM. We have to get an appt for the Suzuki (basic maintenance) and make an appt for the washer/dryer in the coach (quit working). We plan on checking out the suburbs surrounding SLC and there is an art film at the library that Rich and Karen invited too. Hopefully, we can fit it all in!

Stay tuned......

-Rich-

PS - Man, its hard to believe its May 1st, already!!