Repairs

Randle, Washington            High 80 Low 54

The temperature today was a little cooler, but still warm.

Cindy was trying to get hot water out of the sink and finally told me that there wasn’t any hot. Since I’ve had this problem before I knew what it was. When I checked the temperature sensor and reset and sure enough it was burned out. I don’t remember if this is the third or fourth time I’ve had to replace it, but I have learned to have extras. I might mention that it is the electrical side and not the propane. The water heater is a Suburban and last time it happened we were staying in Benson, Arizona and I had to use propane until we drove past Casa Grande to get the correct part.

The other thing I worked on was to take the grill off the truck and wash all the bugs out of the radiator and air conditioning condenser. On our way here at one time the transmission got a little warm and I hope this takes care of the problem.

We are not doing much else except Cindy has been busy sewing.

Thanks for visiting. 

Mabel Was Not So Smart

Randle, Washington         High 84 Low 55

We finally got the warm weather. In fact it was almost too warm to sleep well. Today was hot compared to what we had got used to on the coast.

We wanted to drive to Mt. Rainier National Park. We picked a good day for it. When we left Randle it was about 75. When we got to the Visitor Center, it was only 69 degrees. When we got back to the RV Park it was 84 degrees.

After we entered the Park, we got to see several waterfalls and several glimpses of the Mountain. At first there were lots of clouds around the summit, but as we drove on, we finally got to see the top of the mountain. We got to see lots of snow drifts along the highway into the Park. Some of the creeks and rivers had glacier fed water running in them and some were cleaner from the snow melt.

 There are also several small lakes on the way to the Visitors Center.

This lake was called Reflection Lake. Anybody know why?

As we drove along we got to see several other rugged looking mountains. Mt. Rainier is totally snow covered. The parking lot had lots of water running onto it from all the snow melting. When we got to the Visitor Center, the clouds had obscured the top. We took several different pictures of the Mountain so you can see the difference in the cloud cover.

 These next pictures off of the Paradise Inn which was built in 1917, 99 years ago. It is on the National Historic Registry.

At the Visitor Center we watched a movie that told that the mountain is high enough that it creates its own weather. The warm moisture filled air hits the glaciers and snow pack which causes fog and then rain.

When we left, we decided to go back to our RV Park a different way than what we had driven in on. I finally made it to the highway leading back to Packwood and Mabel, my GPS, seemed alright at first. But as we got closer to Packwood, she had me turn off the main highway, to a secondary highway, FS-47, that was only one lane for most of it. And about a mile and a half in, she told me to turn on an unpaved road. She kept going from bad road to worse road and finally to an impossible road. I then turned around and went back to FR-52, which is the main road. At that point, Mabel agreed with me and we were soon in Packwood.

 From two lane Highway to single lane to dirt. I had a hard time finding a place to turn around.

When we got back to the trailer, I got on Google Earth and found the road she had me turn on at first (FR-47) and it was at least 10 times as far as the main road and then US Highway 12 would have been. I’m not sure what she was trying to get me to do. Perhaps she decided we needed to see a little more of the forests in Washington.

Cindy is improving a little at a time and keeps trying to overdo. We still are not taking any hikes.

Thanks for visiting.

Be Careful What You Wish For

Randle, Washington          High 75 Low 48

The rain quit late last night. Today we woke up to cloudy skies, which slowly gave way to sunshine.

We went for a ride, which I will talk about further on, and when we got back to the trailer, it was 75 degrees outside and over 80 inside. We had to turn the air conditioning on! The forecast for next week is up into the 80s. Better than being cold all the time.

From yesterday’s post, I was asked if our site was as unlevel as it looked and if I still liked the Level-ups. I had to answer Jan that I had no idea if the site is level or not and that the Level-ups are the best thing since sliced bread. They make it so easy to get level that is doesn’t matter too much what you start with. This Park has some peacocks walking aroung, including one white one. I couldn't get a better picture of it.

Just before noon we left to drive to see Mt. Saint Helens. The road to the view point at the top isn’t too good part of the way and it twists and turns so much that it takes a while to get the 32 miles we drove. It is quite scenic however. There are many places to stop and look at the scenery with pictures of what you are looking at.

At one of them there were a set of pictures a photographer took as the volcano erupted. One of the pictures told that he got 22 pictures in 30 seconds. Now days that probably would not be a problem, but in 1980 all they had was film, which would have had to be wound for every picture. It’s sure a lot easier now with digital cameras.

The pictures also said he had to race down the canyon to Randle to keep from being covered with the ash from the eruption.

There are several lakes along the way and I walked to one of them. It was a nice alpine lake. One of the stops had a view of Spirit Lake, which I thought was covered with ice, but found out at the next stop that we were looking at floating rubble from the eruption. It looked like about half the lake was covered with floating logs and debris.

This looked like dirty snow, but is actually debris.

The last stop is what is called Windy Ridge. There is a stairway to go to the top of a hill to get a better view, but I didn’t go up because Cindy still isn’t walking too well. This is the stop that lets you see Spirit Lake and where a lot of the slides went down the hill.

Another stop had a view of Mt. Adams, Mt. Hood in Oregon, and Mt Saint Helens.

Mt. Adams covered with clouds.

Mt. Hood in Oregon.

Mt. Saint Helens.

It made an interesting day.

Thanks for visiting.