Weekend Adventure

Mt Hood Timberline Lodge

5th Wheel Accident 7-24-10

Saturday we took a nice ride with some friends of ours, Paul and Kathie. We went to Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood. It was a beautiful ride up the mountain. Everything is so green and there are lots of flowers. As we neared the top of Mt. Hood, the vegetation thinned considerably. We saw many snowboarders and skiers getting ready for some fun. It's hard to believe there's still snow on the mountain in July. We explored the inside of Timberline Lodge and thought about having lunch there, but they only had a buffet so we decided to drive back down the mountain a ways and go to the Rendezvous Restaurant. On the way down, we suddenly saw flashing lights - a lot of them. As we drew closer we saw a fifth wheel almost turned over with 2 wheels off the ground alongside the truck that had been pulling it. Obviously it had jack-knifed. Upon some investigation by Tom and Kathie, we learned that a Toyota had pulled out in front of the fifth wheel and the driver of the fifth wheel swerved to avoid T-boning the Toyota. That's when they jack-knifed. Luckily no one was hurt. We weren't delayed at all because there was a parallel road that we took to bypass the accident. We were able to go on and enjoy a wonderful lunch at the Rendezvous and continue our drive. All in all it was a very good day - especially since no one was injured.

We have been staying quite busy here again this year - well, Tom does anyway. He is always fixing, improving, cleaning, watering and generally being on the go. It's what makes him the happiest. Donna is still working at the office only now it's two days a week, instead of three. Next week Donna is heading down to Ukiah, CA, to visit Beth and family. It will be a great opportunity to meet Hazel, the new family puppy. I'm really looking forward to it. Tom will be "batching" it for a week or so and I'm sure he'll do very well. He always manages to find plenty to keep him occupied.

We're really enjoying our new car and love the low cost fuel and ease of getting where we want to go. Tug is resting getting ready for our trek south in a few months.

Hope the summer is going well for all our family and friends.

Our New Addition

Our New Baby, Chase

Last weekend, Tom made a trip to Pennsylvania to pick up our newest addition - a 2005 Chevy Cobalt LT. We had been considering buying a car to do our daily running around in and not have to always use the truck (ol' Tug). This opportunity arose from our good friends, Paul and Cheryl in Pittsburgh and we jumped on it. Tom flew out to Pittsburgh and then drove back to Oregon in the new ride. We named it "Chase" because it's going to be our chase car when we travel. Donna will drive the car and Tom will pull the rig - Donna will follow him. On his way back to Oregon, he was able to visit Donna's sister, Sally; friends in Iowa, Nebraska and Colorado. That helped to break up the trip and make it more fun, but he enjoyed the trip too. He loves to get out and drive.

Tom arrived home on the 4th of July and got to spend some time with our good friend, Barb, from Victoria, B.C. She had come to Portland to spend the weekend with Donna for a "girl time" while Tom was gone. It was so much fun and we had lots of good talks, eating, shopping and playing cards. It was hard to see her go. We both enjoy her company very much.

Life is getting back to normal, working in the park, Tom working on his projects, and Donna knitting. The water aerobics is going well - Tom is very consistent with it and we're getting some people in the park to join us this year.

Hope you're all enjoying your summer.