Springfield OR to Eureka CA

We had a great drive today. Left Springfield OR at 9 am this morning. I really like the drive through to Florence on the coast. Twisty, moss covered trees then you break out to see the ocean. Just amazing!! It takes about 1 hour to get to the coast. From there we tracked due south and now we are in Eureka, CA at Shoreline RV Park with Al & Colleen. We decided to stay here, rather than trying to find a hotel. It will be a bit chilly but Doug already has the heater going in the van. If it gets too cold, we will don the toques from last year (remember, Protero State Park-March 13th?). But hey, we are burly West Coasters!!

First though, a funny story. Last night at about midnight (after we had been nicely asleep for 2 hours...) the phone rang in the room. At first, there was no one on it. Doug hung up. Then it rang again right away. The young man on the phone said, "This is Daniel, from the front desk and I would like to confirm the high charge on your VISA for movies rented" Well, to say the least, Doug went ballistic. "There have been NO movies rented in this room" He responded to Doug, "Yes there have been sir, about $120 worth" Doug says, "I will be right down to the office". He storms down there (yes, he got dressed first!!) Well, there is NO Daniel at the front desk. In fact, the very nice young man said that someone had just called and asked for Room 111. Guess it was a total crank phone call. If that is where the story ended, they probably had a good laugh HOWEVER. Doug then decided to call VISA to report this bogus charge. He looks in his wallet and CANNOT find his card. YIKES!! Now when he calls VISA he cancels the card. The young fellow there says, should I put a hold on it while you look for it? Of course, we say NO. Cancel it. About 10 minutes later he finds the card, which he had put in a different part of his wallet for some reason.Too late for VISA though, you can't "uncancel" a card. We are now waiting for an emergency card to be sent to our friend's house in Palm Springs.....Oh the joy of travelling and life!! A new card awaits. If this twit that called us knew all this, they would really laugh!!

Enough of that, here are today's pictures. Chicken stew is indeed, in the crock pot. Sorry no pictures of it but I am sure you can imagine what it looks like. It smells great. Everyone should order one of these. You could do dinner while you are at work!!

 Sunny, Al & Colleen's motor home, in front of us, westbound on Hwy 126 to Florence. 
Notice the trees, all covered in moss!!

Mary Beatty, this is for you - my lap blanket. I love it!!

Florence, OR

It's nice to have an extra set of hands for picture taking!!

Port Orford,OR area

Euri, finally enjoying his road trip to the sun!!

 

Well, tucked in, safe and sound tonight at Shoreline RV Park. No Scrabble, sorry!! BUT, for those keeping track, there is NO make-up!!

Cheers Friends!!

White Rock BC to Springfield, OR

It seems like so long wince we have been on the road! Tonight, our first night, finds us in Springfield, OR (just outside of Eugene, OR). Let's check out the day. First stop this morning, White Rock, BC @ 7:45 a.m. was for coffee.



 

 

Our HUGE travelling friends in Sunny the motorhome in Marysville, WA

 

Nothing like Wal-Mart shopping. These photos are for you Kathy.....just remember

when you open your Christmas stocking next December!!!

 

 

 

In my slightly small kitchen, I assembled my chili. You do have to get used to working in a small space when you live in a VW Westie. Fun anyway!!

 

 

 

 

 

On the floor behind me, cooking away down the I-5!!

 

Dinner's ready!!

 

So, that's our first day. We are tucked in at the Motel 6. Plan is to meet Al & Colleen at 8 am and then we are off, heading west towards Florence, OR. and the west coast highway!!

 

Cheers friends!!

Tick tock, look at the clock....

Yesterday, Monday the 21st, we went for a walk to a great local park in South Surrey, Campbell Valley Park. Super foggy day but still, it was a very nice walk. First, though, this is a site to see. Don't worry, he didn't sleep on his tummy unattended.....

  Couldn't we all look this comfy when we sleep??

 Grandpa and his hmmmmm....coffee (yes, with Gus!!)

With Josh, it's always a race!!

Almost surreal, huh?

Yup, you waited patiently for it......GUS!!!

Me and Kathy (pretty much the most amazing daughter-in-law....ever!!)

Josh & Kathy....

The rise of Batman (a.k.a. Gus)

Now, bathed and ready for bed, yes he is still Batman!!

Today, a very Happy Birthday, January 22nd, to my amazing husband, Doug!! Someone tells me he is 60 years old, but I do not believe it!!

Gus is hanging out with the birthday boy....

I don't think he likes the cake!!!!

Well, tomorrow morning we leave. Seems pretty C-R-A-Z-Y!! We are happy to be travelling with our friends, Al & Colleen Unrau. Check out their blog too for more crazy adventures. www.http://ramblinonwithalandcolleen.blogspot.com. Sign up as followers. They LOVE new friends!!

So folks, starting tomorrow you will see lots of travelling pictures and stories. Don't worry, I will still give you all your Gus-dates so you will get to see what is happening with him (through the magic of emails and nagging, you will see the pictures...notice the nagging part, huh?)

For now, I will leave you with one of my favourite pictures........

Gus and Grandma Nancy, signing off...for now!!

Cheers friends!

Party Night!

Many thanks to our kids, Josh & Kathy, who planned and successfully executed a great surprise party for Doug's 60th Birthday. What a great night!!

It's always fun to see family and friends. We love you all and MANY, MANY thanks kids, family & friends, for a great evening!

Doug blows out the cupcake tree!
Thanks to Bob & Danna for the baking!! Bob & Danna are our very dear friends.
You may know them from http://www.dbitalianjob.blogspot.com

Daughter, Teagan & hubby, Shawn flew in from Edmonton...

 

Cindy & Bruce Ewing. 
Great friends that we have known for over 20 years!!

 

Brenda Rossi. She & husband George have been 

wonderful friends since 1997 when we started go-kart racing with Josh....

Please notice that Gus came appropriately dressed to Grandpa's party with a "tie"!

Nancy, Gus, Josh & Teagan

We were super happy that Teagan & Shawn were able to fly in from Edmonton. We "pretended" to pick them up at the Seabus terminal with Doug just before the party started, even though they had already been here at the pre-party set-up! But he didn't know that!!

That's it. We really enjoyed our weekend and our time with everyone. You all mattter in our life. Thanks to you all for an awesome evening!!

Super BIG thanks to new parents, Josh & Kathy for being the brains of the party!!! We guys rock!!

Countdown to leaving for Mexico is now 3 more sleeps!!! YIKES!!!

Peace!

Sad News

This post is to offer our heartfelt condolences to our dear friends, Sal & Barb Contreras on the loss of their daughter, Cynthia. 

This type of loss is just so very hard, the loss of one's child, no matter how old they are. We wish we could put our arms around them and make any of the hurt just go away.

Sal and Barb and family, if you read this, please know you are loved and cared about so much and we send our thoughts, prayers and support to you.

We ask our readers, even though you haven't met them, to say a little prayer for them as well.

Peace to our friends......

Picture Updates

Of course, my R&D expert figured out how to get me back into blogger. I have to enter through Google Chrome. Not sure why, but it seems to work for now. Here is a photo montage of the last week or so (....spoiler alert - there are some Gus pictures here!!)

Just me and my fox, sleeping off the excitement!!

The Beatty clan, fully outfitted with their pirate patches!! 

(L->R: Gus, Mary, Megan, Ted, Kathy Josh, Hannah, Dayle)

..don't worry, I will grow into my patch!!

Happy New Year everyone!!
(Clockwise from bottom L: My arm, Lacey, Colleen, Susann, Doug, Al)

Four generations!!
(L->R: Josh, Nancy, Gus & Great Grandma Nadyne)

Our dear friend, Danna (dbitalianjob lady) with guess who!!

Grandpa time...

No, I wasn't sleeping, just hangin' out with my little boy...

...and this is what today (Jan 8th) looks like!!!

Just so you all know, there are MANY more pictures of Gus (can you imagine??) but I won't put them all on here - just now, anyway!!

We are looking forward to leaving the snow and rain behind. And for all those who keep asking...."Yes, it will be VERY hard to leave Gus for a few months". Luckily, he won't remember!! We will miss him and will need to be skyped weekly but we will come back with lots of stories for him and it gives us opportunity to show him off, EVERYWHERE!!!!! 

I will leave you with my new "other" favourite picture. Just sums things up nicely some days! (Thanks to Diane & Brian for sending this on!!)

Peace everyone!! 

Happy New Year!!

Hope everyone had a wonderful wrap up to their year. First, a re-cap:

We spent a wonderful Christmas day at Josh's in-law's, Rick and Mel Beatty and the whole clan. We L-O-V-E this family. They are wonderful people. Everyone who enters here is welcome. 

We arrived back in Nanaimo on December 28th. Al & Colleen Unrau dropped by for a visit and spent New Years Eve with us and my sister, Susann & her daughter Lacey. Yup, we even made it past midnight - quite nicely I might add. (Some tequila shots were had...)

We headed back over to the mainland this past weekend for an Shower/Open House for Gus, our grandson. Lots of people dropped by for the "Gus-travaganza". A big shout out to Mary, Dayle and Hannah  Beatty (and Mel & Rick - again) for hosting this fun event. Gus and his parents, Josh & Kathy, were very spoiled and very happy to see everyone!!

We spent time with my Mom, Nadyne (always, thanks Mom for putting up with our comings and goings) and with our great friends, Bob & Danna (http://www.dbitalianjob.blogspot.com). They also always make room for us and we enjoy many late nights and many bottles of wine with them!! Thanks guys!!

About now you may be wondering WHERE are all the pictures??!!! Well, seems, after Doug (my Research & Development guy) spent lots of time checking it out, that Blogger is having some technical difficulties right now. They hope to have it fixed soon and then I will torture you all with more pictures (yes, even some of Gus.....)

Until then, just wanted everyone to know that we are still out here and to wish you all a wonderful 2013!!! 

Countdown has started to departure........16 days!!! (I know, almost as exciting as how many days I went without make-up, huh??)

Peace and Cheers
Beglaw out......