Today is Saturday, August 1st. It's hard to believe we've been here in Warden three months! The time is flying by! Sorry we've not updated the Blog more regularly ... but between working, playing lots of free golf and touring the area we've been pretty busy!
Right after we arrived we took a tour of the golf course and discovered there are thousands of ground squirrels living on the course and they are a pest. Unbfortunately the state believes they are an animal of interest and don't want them eliminated. The locals don't pay a lot of attention to what they say. Since it turned hot they have gone under ground and disappeared. At least for now.
In May (our first month here) we got used to working two or three days a week - 12 hour days! The hardest part is getting up at O-Dark-Thirty (5:00 AM) to be to work before 7. We found if we work together in the Pro Shop/RV Office that we can spell each other off and take breaks back at the motor home. We really love our jobs, and enjoy all the people we work with. There are five Workamping couples who do everything from mowing, maintaining the pool, coordinating tournaments, restroom cleaning, electrical work, washing and servicing golf carts, working in the restaurant, to working in the Pro Shop/RV Office.
One of the things we like about this place is the birds. There are all kinds of them . A robin built a nest on top of our engine battery and laid 4 beautiful eggs and they hatched.
We also have been following the progress of a killdeer who laid the eggs on the ground right next to a cart path. Here are pictures and if you look closely you'll see 4 little birds that stayed in the nest for one day and then they were out running. Note the mother trying to lead us away from them.
All the "locals" are welcoming and fun to be with. It's quite a social community -- and it all centers around golf. There are approximately twenty homes along the lower part of the golf course - most all golfers. There is a men's group called the "Gangsome" (the Gang and then some) who play golf every morning at 8:00 AM. The ladie's group is not quite so crazy - they only play on Thursday mornings. There are a number of tournaments here on the weekends - and many folks come in their RV's to "stay and play."
The RV park itself has about 45 spaces - and over 25 of them are filled with people who live here full time and work in the area. There are several large companies that employ them - some seed companies, some food processing, and another company working on solar energy. The "live heres" are like a family, and, once again, have welcomed us Workampers with open arms. There are spur-of-the moment potlucks, Friday night TGIF golf and partying in the restaurant/bar and Sunday afternoon tournaments. We have a very nice site with great views and wonderful sunsets.
Sage Hills is about three miles from the small community of Warden. Warden doesn't have much going for it - so we don't go there unless absolutely necessary. The next nearby town, Othello, is about 8 miles south of us - and we go there to Wal-Mart. Moses Lake (bigger than Othello) is 12 miles north - and it has Safeway, Ace Hardware, car parts stores, another Wal-Mart and Walgreen. If we need anything "major" we have to drive to the Tri-Cities (Pasco, Kennewick & Richland) - it's an hour's drive south.
In May we experienced a major problem with our motor home. The power inverter/converter quit working. This is the fixture that converts power from the power pole outside to our power inside. At first we thought we needed to replace our house batteries, as they kept getting low and not recharging -- so we spent $300 on new batteries. But, alas, it was the inverter/converter. Fortunately, there's an RV repair facility nearby and they quickly diagnosed that we needed to replace the "fried" part - but it had to be ordered in -- and it took over two weeks! EEEK!! So we kept power coming into the motor home by borrowing a big battery charger - and lived off our house batteries. $1,000 later (most of it covered by our extended warranty) we had a new inverter/converter installed and all is working perfectly.
In May we experienced a major problem with our motor home. The power inverter/converter quit working. This is the fixture that converts power from the power pole outside to our power inside. At first we thought we needed to replace our house batteries, as they kept getting low and not recharging -- so we spent $300 on new batteries. But, alas, it was the inverter/converter. Fortunately, there's an RV repair facility nearby and they quickly diagnosed that we needed to replace the "fried" part - but it had to be ordered in -- and it took over two weeks! EEEK!! So we kept power coming into the motor home by borrowing a big battery charger - and lived off our house batteries. $1,000 later (most of it covered by our extended warranty) we had a new inverter/converter installed and all is working perfectly.
Then, as if we were headed down that "three strikes" road, the mother board died on our computer. We found we had to have all the data taken off the hard drive in order to send it to HP for the new board. So we got to drive to Kennewick, get the data transferred to another external hard drive, ship the laptop off to HP by Fed Ex and wait for it to be returned. Fortunately they got it back to us in just a few days (and $400 for the repair) and the data was saved on our hard drive. Big relief! One of the reasons we decided to Workamp for six months was to save some money. HA! Next joke!!
David's brother-in-law, Al Isaac, came over to see us and have dinner one evening. We think he just wanted to see if we were behaving! Thanks for make the trip, Al!
On June 13th, we attended the Annual Combine Demolition Derby in the small farming community of Lind. What a hoot! The combines had to be at least 25 years old in order to participate. Attached are some pictures of the rigs. It got pretty loud and funny to watch those huge machines crash and bang into each other. There were about 17 combines that participated and the winner, of course, was the "last one still able to move around the ring." During half-time, there were wheat truck races and pick-up races! Talk about another great experience of "Americana" - we loved it! Note our red Saturn - and the dust it incurred in the parking lot!!
Farming is a huge industry here in the Columbia Basin part of Central Washington. Fields of wheat, alfalfa, hay, corn, , asparagus, potatoes, peppermint, and soybeans are everywhere. Unfortunately, there are also a number of cattle feed lots, which adds a not-so-nice odor if the wind sends the smell our way. We have enjoyed fresh asparagus in May/June, and are now feasting on corn from Walla Walla and cherries from the Wenatchee area. We also saw some watermelons being harvested about 30 miles from here. Fishing is also popular - and David is accumulating some gear so he can fish some of the local lakes and streams. He had bought some waders at LL Bean's mother store in Maine, and hasn't had the chance yet to use them. Then a couple of weeks ago he and Al went to Cabela's sporting goods store over west of the mountains and equipped themselves with new fishing line (David's old line was 45 years old!), "Wooley Buggers" and "Poppers." Now they just need a couple of float tubes and they're ready. I'm looking forward to eating some fresh trout or salmon, or Walleyes. David has his fishing license and is ready to go!
On June 20th we took a day trip up to Grand Coulee Dam. There are about 13 dams along the mighty Columbia River, and Grand Coulee is the largest. The terrain, as we drove along, changed from farm land to buttes and sage brush with numerous lakes. It was spectacular. We stopped by Sun Lakes Resort to see their RV facilities and hope to go over there for a stay sometime.
It was a great day and the scenery was well worth the trip.
On June 26th, we decided to pull a surprise on some of our family and drive over to Puyallup. It was the cancer Relay for Life in Puyallup that evening, and we knew Logan (our 7 year old grandson who had cancer) was going to be participating. We showed up at the school yard where it was being held -- a fun surprise! Logan, his cousin Sydney, and Logan's friend Chloe got to lead off the survivors lap - and Logan had a cool green super hero cape to wear. We all were so proud and he was thrilled to be there! Logan is missing a few teeth (as are Sydney and Chloe) so we have attached a couple of cute pictures. We spent the weekend with Jason and family, Pat and family, Kristi and family - and then an overnight at Kathy and Al's lovely condo before heading back here. Thanks, everyone, for spending time with us!!
On June 20th we took a day trip up to Grand Coulee Dam. There are about 13 dams along the mighty Columbia River, and Grand Coulee is the largest. The terrain, as we drove along, changed from farm land to buttes and sage brush with numerous lakes. It was spectacular. We stopped by Sun Lakes Resort to see their RV facilities and hope to go over there for a stay sometime.
It was a great day and the scenery was well worth the trip.
On June 26th, we decided to pull a surprise on some of our family and drive over to Puyallup. It was the cancer Relay for Life in Puyallup that evening, and we knew Logan (our 7 year old grandson who had cancer) was going to be participating. We showed up at the school yard where it was being held -- a fun surprise! Logan, his cousin Sydney, and Logan's friend Chloe got to lead off the survivors lap - and Logan had a cool green super hero cape to wear. We all were so proud and he was thrilled to be there! Logan is missing a few teeth (as are Sydney and Chloe) so we have attached a couple of cute pictures. We spent the weekend with Jason and family, Pat and family, Kristi and family - and then an overnight at Kathy and Al's lovely condo before heading back here. Thanks, everyone, for spending time with us!!
Logan had his quarterly scans at Children's Hospital July 9th and 10th, and we're thrilled to report the scans are clear and the cancer is still in remission! Thank you, God for this wonderful gift of Logan!
We spent another enjoyable afternoon with Kathy and Al when they met us in Ellensburg for lunch a few days ago. Ellensburg is only about a 70 mile drive for us - and we saw more beautiful farmland and vineyards as well as the Columbia River.
Last weekend we went to the Tri Cities to watch the Hydroplane races on the Columbia River. They were spectacular and we had seats right at the turn and no more than a few hundred yards from the action. They were getting speeds of over 160 mph and we've added a few pictures so you can see the action. Part of the festivities was an air show and a B25 flying over along with an F16 next to a WWII P51.
Well, enough of our rambling for now. We hope to do more day trips this month and next and also have an invitation to a Mariners game in Seattle with friends, Diane and Gary Cooper, at the end of August. Hope this finds all of you enjoying your summer! We'd like to send some sunshine your way ... our temps have been hovering in the 90's lately and are expected to be over 100 next week. Thank heavens for air conditioning and a nice pool nearby!