Out with the King, In with the Queen

Ever been to a SquirrelFest?  Longview, Washington has such a festival and we decided to check it out with Tammi and Robert.  Longview does love their squirrels.  They have even built several bridges across the roadways to keep the cars from running over them.  At the festival there were many activities for kids plus vendors selling food.  There was also a musical jam session and everyone (including the squirrels) were having a great time.  We tried the food at a couple of vendors but didn’t stay too long.  You never can tell what excuse some little towns will use to get together and have fun. 

Every year on the third Sunday in August we join Sabrina and Lee at Horseshoe Lake in Woodland.   Sabrina’s church sets that Sunday aside for their “Church at the park”.   The weather started off chilly but ended up warming up and being beautiful.   In addition to being able to do some visiting we were also treated to a great lunch.  A group from Africa performed and they were absolutely fantastic.  We loved it.  I wish I’d taken some pictures but was too busy watching.     What a great time.  After that it was a mad dash to the airport for another trip to Arizona.

This summer we’ve been back and forth to Arizona several times.  That's unusual for us during the summer.  Tammi ended up watching Buck for us.  Every morning she’d send me a message from him.  She even sent one showing him watching and waiting for us to return.

It’s hot in Arizona during the summer and this year we’ve planned our trips there during a couple big rain storms but not intentionally.   Those storms are certainly beautiful to watch but with all that rain comes humidity.  Humidity even makes the heat a little more miserable.  Thank goodness for two air conditioners!

This last visit we had several missions.  The first thing we needed to do was unpack all the boxes we had packed up when we moved stuff out of the motorhome.   Whee!  That was a lot of work.  We also did a lot more throwing away and made one more trip to the Goodwill to donate.  What a job for sure! 

We also needed to move the king mattress out of the Alpine and deliver it to Terry’s sister.  She knew someone in need of a mattress and we were sure happy to provide it for her.   The idea of a king bed is good but we wanted more walk room around the bed.  The king mattress fit totally inside the back of our rental van.  We were even able to fold a portion of the side to fit and close the back of the van.  I guess that says a lot about the “premium” king mattress.

< ---- New king mattress

Next we were off to purchase a new queen mattress.  Fitting it in the back of that same van wasn’t as easy.  It was thicker and wouldn’t bend.  The mattress stuffing required the help of others getting it pushed in the back far enough that we could drive away with it.  We still couldn’t close the back “gate”.  After unloading the new mattress we measured and trimmed the base for a perfect fit.  Needless to say, we’re happy with the extra walk room and the much, much better mattress.

New queen mattress  ---->  

There was also time for a little casino visit with Terry’s mom.  She certainly loves her casino visits.  This time it worked for me as I walked out with about $250 more than I walked in with.  I think she walked out with an extra $350.   I just wished that happened all the time but it doesn’t.

Old Town Scottsdale is usually a fun place to visit.  Whenever we’ve been there in the past, the parking spots are hard to come by and the places are packed.  That wasn’t the case this time but it was summer and the snowbirds were still in their northern locations.  There are many unique things to see in old Scottsdale but it was hot.  We wandered a bit, checked out some unusual “gadgets” but didn’t last long.

 This fella could be yours since we passed on it.  Asking price?  A mere $24,000.







We also ordered two RV GPS units on Amazon.  The first one we ordered was the Garmin GPS.  It was ordered new but part of it arrived in a refurbished box.  It’s not that I would have cared had it been refurbished but I didn’t like the idea of it not being advertised as such.  Thus, I returned it and ordered the Rand McNally RV GPS.   A curve comes with learning anything new.  However, so far I really like it and especially after discovering the online free Good Sam routing map that can be downloaded to this GPS.  However, I’m sure it’ll be just like the older Garmin we have been using and take us on many new adventures we really don’t want to go on.  Don’t they all?


Time to start packing as heading back to Washington in the morning.


‘Tis life on the road.