Venture Inn

Yuma house, Jim & Katie's house, and our Minnie.  Packed up and ready to head North.  April 19, 2011

Jim & Katie thought it would be a good idea for a "Pie" Send off, so we went to see the Greek.

The "almost newlyweds".  The pie was great, and I was so excited I forgot to take a picture of it!  Thanks a bunch guys, for the pie and the send off.

Amber doing her waitress duty.  We'll miss her this summer.

Jim taking care of the bill.

It's nice to have friends like this you can depend to be working when you go out to eat!

First night on the road.  Dry camped, South of Quartzsite.  It was a beautiful evining, with more stars than you can imagine!

A Saguaro sentinel at sunset. 

After a stop at the Golden Coral in Lake Havasu City, we wandered up to I-40, then East to Kingman.

Double lot.  RV  port for a 40' er.  50 amp service, water and dump station.  Electric operated gate and garage doors.  Over size 2 car garage with work shop on the side.  large back yard.  3 deck areas.  The porch on the one side is huge.  Underground water system to every plant.  2 bedroom, 2 full bath, the Master is very large.  Walk-in closet.  All appliances, with a new central ducted heat pump.  It's on the market for $63,000.  I just happened by and was given an inside tour.  Very tempting!  It's ready to move into right now!

A Roadrunner outside the RV this morning.  He was moving right along.

From here on down, the pictures are from other times.  If you click on "older post" at the bottom, they go back a long way.  I'll be using this blog on the way home, and probably until I leave for the Rally in Deadwood, SD in June.

Faith is over 3 years old now, but is still a very bouncy girl. She's a beautiful animal. She belongs to our friend, Kay.


Table setting at the Venture Inn. Is that a Spider on the vase?


This guy died of a goose with a remote. He laid to rest on the pumpkins.


Shrimp Alfredo. With all the trimmings. I only ate 1/4 of the main dish, the rest will be a couple more meals here at home. Loaded with shrimp, and delicious!

When Pat went in for her annual "chest test", they awarded her with this beautiful pink rose! I though it was worthy of a picture. We'll probably take it to Arizona with us in the Minnie.


Ronda with Kizzy, Bob, Karen, Pat with Julie, Preston, and Ruth. "The Gang". We had a fine day. I forgot to take any food pictures, and it was some of the best ever! Oh Well, There will always be more of those. We're celebrating Pat's Birthday, since we're leaving in a few days for Yuma and will be gone on the 27th.


Please don't forget that you can click on a picture for more detail if you want. Looks like Minnie has a new Porch Light! This is at the top of the Hill at the King Estate Winery on Territorial Road out of Eugene, OR.


Fall is in the air, so the outside dining is empty. By the time we left, these tables were full, as was the parking lot! We had a nice cozy meal inside.


One of the wine tasting bars. There are several on the property. The King Estate is over a thousand acres of beautifully groomed vineyards, orchards, and gardens. Lots of flowers too, but most of them are gone for the season.


A nice hot fire next to our dining table. I was so excited about the meal, I forgot to take a picture of the food. It was excellent though. It was one of those "Quality, not Quantity" meals...


Ronda and the new Baby, Kizzy. Bob, Pat, Preson, Sherm, and Ruth. Karen took the picture.


Headed down hill after the visit to the Estate.


Harvest is done by hand, and was going on today. We passed workers with clean white bags, gently cutting the grapes.


Had to park and snap pictures in a hurry, there wasn't any pull offs, so just stopped in the narrow road.


A pretty young thing walking toward Trader Joe's in Eugene. Hair to match the colorful leave of the season.


Back near home, this is on the South end of the Oregon Dunes. North Coos Bay is the water. On the other side, a dune with lots of quad and other sand vehicle tracks. Taken with a lot of Zoom on the camera.


A Veteran's Memorial at the North end of the North Bend Bridge over the Coos River.


Last shot of the weekend. We had a very good time!

This mailbox won't be getting much use for the next 6 months! And, this helmet will also be staying here. The desert riding things have already been packed.


A limited edition helmet, purchased at the Sturgis Rally back in 1993. It's getting pretty well worn, but still a good helmet.


Does this guy look like he's full of Clam Chowder? Just had a very nice lunch in the old Humboldt Club in North Bend, OR. It's a landmark here on Hwy 101. First Harley ride since a little surgery, sure feels nice to be riding again.


A burl table all ready for the Halloween party that's coming up soon!


Dining room ceiling in the Humboldt Club. This is an old building with a lot of history. The bar is next door, and a small gambling room is in the back. This used to be a logger and sailor hang out back in "the day".

Bali Dinner

 A rainy Saturday in Coos Bay.   Ruth and Anita are in town working the Karen & Preston's Bali Trip plans.  Anita and her husband Dan will be going with them.  Ruth volunteered to cook a Bali dinner.  She went last year, and took a cooking class over there.

 Preston has a cold and stayed in while the rest of us visited Bandon By the Sea today.  Walked in the rain, visited the tourist shops, and had a nice lunch.

 Anita manufactures fine jewelery.  The main purpose of the Bali trip is buying supplies.

 Ruth used some special spices on white fish, then wrapped it in papers and steamed it.  Excellent!

 Big plate!  And the food was delicious.  Thanks, Ruth.

 Pat and Karen.  This place has gone to the dogs!

 Karen made some very high fiber cookies, and used Splenda instead of sugar.  I think they were as healthy as they were good.   Which was better than good!

 Visiting with a full lap and a full tummy.

It was fun to meet Anita, we all had a good day!

Maggie Valley 2010

Skid, Wiliedog, and Coyote.  3 Very, very, good guys!

 Ace is 85 today.  This is up at the Bay Area Athletic Club where we have coffee 3 days a week before getting into the pool for Hydro Fit Classes.  Ace drives over 60 miles round trip to attend.  He's checking out my Kindle eBook here.

 Pat, Karen, and Ronda.....Red Hat Ladies

Pat made this 12" Zuchini pie for dinner.  It was huge! and very good!

This is exactly where I hope to be in May 2011!  Porch of the Applecover Inn, in Maggie Valley, North Carolina!

Sunday at Bastendoft and Shore Acres

 The North Bend Board walk looking North toward the River and Coos Bay

 The house looks different without the red Maple tree.  Roots were doing too much damage, so had to take the tree out.  Pat will plant some colorful flowers next Spring.

 A Standard Poodle?  No, an Alpaca with a haircut.  She's a cute little thing!  They live up the street from us.

 Our long time friend Ken Goslin!  You never can be sure what he'll be wearing or what color his hair will be!  He has a pink match today!

 Coast Guard 47' Motor Life Boat. There were 2 of these out playing in the surf today.  This is off Bastendorf beach.  This one is just ready to pass the South Jetty and enter the Bar.

 Military honors was given to our friend Don Hedgepeth today.  It was his Celebration of Life.  It was a very touching, but excellent service at the beach.

 There are 4 huge planting areas of Dahlias in Shore Acres right now. They are all beautiful!  I took MANY pictures, but narrowed it down to just a few to post.  Hope you like them.

OK, you're off the hook.  That's all the flower pictures for awhile.  They are even more pretty when you see them out in the sunshine.