Visiting PGE’s Trout Creek Rec. Area

Judy and I are still the only “host couple” at the park but we have been informed that permanent help is on the way.  Our boss, John, said he has hired a couple but it will be a couple of weeks before they complete the hiring process and get here from Utah. Our fill-in help has been great but I am sure they will be glad to get back to their normal schedule at their parks. 

Larry, a PGE temp like us is the care taker at PGE’s Trout Creek rec area who has been helping us out. He and his wife Marge, invited us out to the property for dinner a couple of days ago. The area is very remote, located approx ten miles at the floor of a volcanic rock canyon. The total area that PGE owns there is over 3000 acres. It is “a little rough” getting to it but the rugged beauty makes it worth the trip. To get there the road goes from a state HWY to a county rd to a  gravel road and ends with a three mile logging road (that is the way we would describe it in GA.) to Larry and Marge’s base.  The steep canyon walls are 300 to 400 feet in height.

Judy and I had a great time socializing with Larry and Marge. Marge served up delicious servings of Black Bean Soup and corn bread. The honey for the corn bread was quite a treat.  We got there a little too late to take an ATV tour of the property but look forward to that on our next visit.  THANKS a lot Larry and Marge for a wonderful evening.

Here are a few pics. ( the pics do not come close to conveying the vastness of the canyon walls and rugged beauty)

Larry, Marge and Judy

 

    

     

That is  all for now.  Thanks for stopping by.

Next Blog – About a week

Travel Day – To New Host Site

Pelton Park – Madras, Oregon

Wed. we moved to the park “Host” site near the park office. Even though it was a short move it required the same amount of “packing-up” and hitching up. The travel time was much shorter though.  The site is more convieniant for the campers and it is nicer than the host site we were in. The main short coming is the inability to receive the Direct TV SAT signal on our roof mounted ANT.  Direct TV has agreed to put a post mounted ANT on the site.

Judy and I have been very busy since we are now the only “host” for the park.  We have been putting in lots of time by choice because we want all the campers to have a quality experience at the park. We have also had help from “host” from other PGE parks in the area being assigned to give us a hand. I know our boss did a phone interview with a perspective couple who responded to a recently posted workamper ad yesterday.

WE have been seeing more of these!!   

That is all for now. Thanks for stopping by.

* Thanks to all who have left comments, we read all of them.

Visit With Old Friends

Wednesday Judy and I pulled out of the park for the 260 mile drive  north to Gig Harbor, Washington. We went to have lunch with a special lady and her daughter.  Way back when I was assigned to the “Personnel Exchange” program (87-88) in Southwick Village, Hampshire, England with the Royal Navy, Joan and her family lived across the street from us. Joan and her husband Alan took Judy under their wing. Joanna, was a young girl of 18 at the time and the frequent baby sitter of our son, Jason.

One of our favorite memories of our stay in England was when Judy had to call Alan to the rescue. I was at sea on the HMS Ark Royal in the North Sea on a NATO naval exercise conducting warfare training.  Judy went into the loo (bathroom) and noticed a black twitching object in the sink. Windows did not have screens on them. She determined that it was a bat, and she was not about to touch it.  She ran over to get help. Alan came to the door, Judy said “ there is a bat in the house”. Alan says, “ you have a Bear in your house!” Judy eventually solved the communication problem and Alan followed her back to to the house. He went to the sink and determined his course of action. He tells Judy to get him a “beaker”. Judy says, “we don’t have a beaker!”  Alan quickly solved the miscommunication and asked Judy to get him a glass! Problem solved.

Joan & Joanna w/us

Southwick Pics

        

   Village shoppe

We enjoyed a very nice lunch that Joanna prepared and Judy and Joan had a nice visit.  We also met two of Joanna’s three daughters.  Gig Harbor was a lovely area. Afterwards Judy and I drove back to Portland and stayed at Jason’s apt for the night. Unfortunately Jason was on a nine day hiking excursion.  Thurs before heading back to Madras I stopped in at my second favorite coffee Shoppe, “The Ugly Mug”.

We had to return to the park early because the other host couple decided to move on.  We will miss them.  Of course that means changes to the schedule.  As we told our boss we will do whatever it takes to keep the park operating smoothly. Maybe we will get a replacement host couple soon.

That is all for now.  Thanks for stopping by.

Next Blog: In a week or so

70TH Anniversity of D-Day

I thought it would be fitting to republish this earlier blog as the 70th Aniv. of D-Day is being celebrated. 

While visiting the Bedford area last week I returned to the National D-Day Memorial. I last visited it on its opening on June 6th, 2001. President Bush was the keynote speaker. Until then there was no memorial anywhere in the United States to the "Great Crusade" to free Europe and also the largest amphibious invasion in the history of the world. Of course the United States military was the main "tip of the spear." Thirty three soldiers in the first wave were from Bedford, nineteen of them were killed. This statistic highlights the fact that the town of Bedford, VA. lost more soldiers per capita than any other. I am sure this was a big factor in Bedford being chosen as the site for the memorial.                   I have mentioned that Judy and I lived in Bedford for nine years after I left the Navy. I think it is one of the best small towns in the country and it will always have a special place in my heart. I met Roy Stephens, one of the "Bedford Boys" who lost his twin brother on D-Day. He frequently went to area schools providing an oral history of D-Day. Roy worked tirelessly with other area D-Day veterans to have a memorial to the D-Day invasion. He has since past but, he was in attendance as an honored participant at the opening ceremony of the memorial. I am not sure if I have ever mentioned that Judy and I once resided in the small English village of Southwick seven miles north of Portsmouth England. I only mention it now because of its connection to the D-Day invasion and indirectly to Bedford.  Southwick was a small feudal village until the Ministry of Defense confiscated it at the beginning of WWII. The manor house was turned into the officers wardroom and it was “Ike’s” HQ for the D-Day invasion and the D-Day wall map for the invasion is still there. A tile mosaic above  the statue of Eisenhower at the memorial replicates the map. The columns are symbolic of the “Southwick House”  The property was never returned to the owners and continued as HMS Dryad, a naval training establishment.  I was assigned there as a combat systems instructor at The School of Maritime Operations.  I suggest that you watch the two videos links to see this connection.

Map Room                                                       Southwick House

      


The Golden Lion Pub( I had a few pints here while I was living in Southwick)

   

 

While at HMS Dryad I taught warfare skills to British Sailors and Officers at The School of Maritime Operations

Video Link 1: D-Day Memorial Annotated tour
Video Link 2 D-Day Memorial tribute video

I had some pics I took on my visit a couple of weeks ago but decided to only post a few because the video links are so much more powerful and educational. That is all for now. Thanks for stopping by. Next blog: Friday

Travel Excursion: Sisters Oregon

Judy and I chose to travel to Sisters, Oregon this week for our weekly daytrip.  Sisters is  located only a hour or so SW from the park.  The town gets it name from the three nearby mountain peaks aptly named the “Three Sisters” . All three mountains are still sporting snow covered peaks.  The town’s tourist shopping district is situated on both sides of HWY 126 which runs through the town center.  All of the businesses are required to reflect a 1890’s building motif.

Judy and I walked around and browsed the various shops for a couple of hours.  I don’t dread these outings now that we are living fulltime in the RV because I know Judy is not as inclined to buy every “cute” item she sees.  I was happy to stop in the small pizzeria for a delicious slice of pizza and a cold beer.  

Sisters, Oregon

       

We did have a small bit of excitement this past weekend.  Judy and I went into Madras Saturday before our afternoon shift.  As we were driving back to the park, Judy noticed an emergency vehicle approaching rapidly from behind us.  It passed us at a high rate of speed. It was a fire dept SUV with its siren on and lights flashing. As it passed us, I jokingly said, “I hope our RV is not burning”.  As it continued to speed away from us we saw it turn left on Pelton Dam Road.  Once we reached the turn, the SUV was out of our view because of its speed.  As we reached the gate to access our “host site”, two small forestry fire trucks passed by.  I failed to mention that as we left the park we noticed that a worker from the nearby marina was burning trash or debris in a 55 gal drum on a vacant lot that backed up to a steep canyon wall.  I hopped on my “gator” and went to check it out.  The area was a quarter mile away and I could not see it from the RV.  Once I arrived,  the crews of the two fire trucks were busy putting the fire out.  The fire in the drum had been left unattended.  That is a BIG NO NO here.  If it had not been spotted by an observant camper when it was, the fire would have spread rapidly up the dry brush covered canyon wall and spread “like a wild fire”. Thankfully, it was contained to a small area.

A quick response by the Firefighters

That is all for today.  Thanks for stopping by.

Next Blog: About a week