Jeep Repairs

Our family time in Puyallup was briefly interrupted with repairs to the Jeep. We need to make sure all is well with that vehicle before we travel again so I took it to the local dealer - the Larson Group - in Puyallup to have it checked. The appointment was for 8 AM yesterday and I was there at 7:45 and checked in with the service advisor. He indicated that they would run tests on the coolant system to check for leaks and to discover the problem for our temperature fluctuations. It turned out to be a bad rubber gasket on the radiator cap which resulted in liquid being discharged when the engine was running which ultimately caused the low fluid levels. All hoses and the radiator were fine, so we had to just replace the cap and do a total system flush to replace the old coolant with new. Not bad at all. They also discovered that our front brake pads were very low so we had those replaced while in the shop. The Jeep is ready to roll again and all the work, including new brakes, was done for less than $500. They had a shuttle service to take me back to the rig while the work was done and I was picked up again to get the Jeep at 3:30.

Kristine came over to the rig while I was at the shop with a girlfriend of hers to drop off  Harmony to spend a night with us. We went to Walgreens to pick up a prescription of mine and we got a few items for Harmony to use while here. We had a fun evening and watched some TV along with a couple movies before turning in at 9:30 last night. Here's a shot of her taken while watching TV:

She's a joy to be around and is a real sweetheart. We plan to take her shopping today for new shoes for school and enjoy another day with her. It is our final day to be with her and Kristine's family before we head to La Conner and they begin another week of school. Kristine is also a student once again as she is taking classes at the Community College toward a degree in Business. We are trying to coordinate a visit with Justin which will most likely be next weekend, and we are still trying to coordinate a visit with Tracy.

Everybody is up now so it's time to get on with our day...

Arriving in Puyallup

We left Chehalis at around 9:30 yesterday morning to travel the approximately 70 miles to the new campground - Majestic Mobile Manor RV Park - in Puyallup, WA. We arrived right at 11 AM, registered and got set up for the next few days. Let me just say that it is not Majestic, nor is it even close to any Manor we have ever seen before:

On top of being a ho-hum site, there is a railroad not far from the campground and so far we have heard train whistles every half hour or so. We do have 50 amp service and a full hookup which are things we needed to have while we are here. It's good that we only have three nights scheduled here.

We were in touch with Kristine and she had a couple appointments that would require her to be gone until around dinner time so we agreed to wait until today to get together again. She has also been in touch with Tracy and we hope to see her while we are here this weekend.

We made an appointment this morning at 8 AM to take the Jeep into the local dealer for a check up on the cooling system to see what has been causing the over-heating problem lately. The trip from Chehalis to this location was a normal run as far as the temperature goes in the Jeep, but I had topped off the water in the radiator reservoir before we left. We'll get the news this morning.

We caught a brief glimpse of Mt Rainier yesterday which was the first view we have had since we arrived in WA. It has been so overcast and wet that we haven't had any chance to see the northwest trademark since we've been here. We hope to get some good shots of the mountain while we are so close at this campground - if the weather would just cooperate for a little while...

Final Day in Chehalis

It was a quiet day in the campground yesterday. We didn't go anywhere except to the local store to grab a few grocery items for dinner. While out with the Jeep, we discovered a problem with it starting to overheat. It appears that we have some problem related to the cooling system - either a thermostat or radiator problem. I scheduled an appointment at the Jeep dealership in Puyallup for Saturday to get it checked before the problem gets serious.

Our time here at the Chehalis preserve is now coming to an end. It hasn't been our favorite park in the portfolio of preserves, but was good enough for a few days. We don't know much about the place we are going today - Majestic Mobile Manor and RV Resort - in Puyallup, but we will make sure we get a 50 amp electric hookup so we don't have to be careful to watch what appliances we are using. The trip is only about 70 miles, but puts us within a few miles of Kristine's home in Spanaway. We have clearance to arrive before the normal 12 noon check-in time, so we plan to be there by around 11 AM to get set up and settled.

The next few days should be fun for all of us. We plan to spend much of the time with Kristine and her family and we hope to see Tracy also during the weekend...

Shoping in Olympia

There was nothing on the schedule yesterday so we decided to go to the Capital Mall in Olympia. I had been to Olympia many times as that was part of my territory in my career days, but Josie had never been there. The Mall is not actually in town, but just south of all the Capital buildings. Olympia is a nice town and the Mall was a nice one, as far as Malls go. I wanted to find a new pair of tennis shoes and was successful at the Foot Locker in the Mall.

We then stopped at the Costco that was in Tumwater - just south of Olympia - and did some shopping there for items that we usually get at a Costco. The day was pretty much taken by these excursions and we settled in at home for the rest of the day. We did see the local deer again in the campground while returning home:

(Notice the rare sun break)

 

We ran out of propane in one of our tanks so I had that refilled at the ranger station. Their price for propane was reasonable - $2.23 per gallon - so it wasn't a tough decision to make to have it filled here. With the 30 amp service at this campground, we have been using our propane more than we would like. Normally, we would only use our electric fireplace heater, but that seems to trip the circuit breaker when we concurrently use any other appliance. I think there is a problem with the circuit breaker at our site since we've never had this problem before with 30 amp service. We only have one more day at this location before we move to a campground in Puyallup tomorrow to be closer to Kristine for the weekend...

Taxes Done

The biggest chore accomplished yesterday was completing the taxes. Not only are the Federal taxes done, but also for two states - AZ and CA. WY has no income tax and neither does the state of FL which is our official state of residence. We ended up owing on the Federal return, but received enough refund on the state returns to actually have a positive for the tax year. Always a blessing.

Josie was able to do all of our laundry while I worked on the tax returns and we also had the "honey wagon" stop by and empty our holding tanks. That almost didn't happen except I called the ranger station at 2 PM to find out where the guy was to empty the tanks and it prompted him to call the individual to come and perform the task. If I hadn't called, we wouldn't have seen the guy. He said we were the only job scheduled for the day but nobody notified him until the call was made. He apologized for the miscommunication.

I never did discover the reason for our period of no water in the AM yesterday. It suddenly was available again about an hour after we got up in the morning. I suspect that there was an ice blockage somewhere as the temperature dropped to 39 during the night and may have been low enough in some location along the water line to temporarily freeze a section of the line. At any rate, it now is OK and we have water this morning, as usual.

We even had a couple sun breaks yesterday and we know how welcomed they always are in this part of the country at this time of the year. It looks like we are back to clouds again this morning and probably more rain...

Local Shopping

We took advantage of a dry period yesterday and went to the Outlet Stores in Centralia. Josie and I both need new tennis shoes and we also looked for jeans that would fit us better following our weight loss. Josie found some tennis shoes and I found some jeans. That was about it. We also treated ourselves to a Dairy Queen in town and then came home to drive around the campground and explore the facilities while it wasn't raining. We went to the two clubhouses and then looked at the rental units. This is, as mentioned before, the first and oldest of the Thousand Trails preserves and the buildings kind of reflect that. There is also moss growing in most areas of the park which is understandable for most areas in western WA. We then spent the rest of the day catching up on some of the taped shows we missed while traveling and visiting over the weekend.

We will get a visit from the "honey wagon" service today to empty our holding tanks. We also have a mysterious problem with our water this morning. There is water at the faucet, but none inside the fifth wheel. We can run the pump and have water from our fresh water tank, but the running water at the faucets is not working. I'll have to figure out that problem pretty quick. The only other item on the agenda for today is taxes. I dread that job but it has to be done before Monday the 15th...

Dinner Treat

Yesterday morning we figured out a solution to our long distance visiting situation while Kristine, John and the kids all went to church. Since we won't be visiting them again until the coming weekend, we decided to stay here (for free) until Friday, and then move to a campground that is only 12 miles from them in Puyallup, WA. I then changed our reservation in La Conner to Monday the 15th and scheduled the "honey wagon" mobile dump service to come and empty our holding tanks on Tuesday morning which will get us through the week.

In the afternoon we drove the long distance to Kristine's home where we visited for a couple hours and Kristine gave me a haircut. I only get good haircuts when she does the job so I wished that we lived closer for those. The kids played their Wii games and we visited until John suggested he treat us to dinner at a local restaurant. That was a nice suggestion and we piled into the two vehicles and drove to the El Toro Restaurant in Spanaway where we enjoyed a good Mexican dinner. It was a challenge to keep the boys still and quiet, but we managed:

 

 

We left them following dinner and got back to Chehalis at around 7:30 PM in time to watch the CMA Awards show on TV.

There are some things we need to take care of this week - including finishing our taxes before next Monday (UGH!). If the rain would stop long enough we could even get out to do some other fun stuff...