Our bundle of joy arrives: The new Dually

It's here!

We drove over to pick it up today.  Yesterday morning we left our F-250 at the dealership so the overload springs, Happijack tiedown system, and torsion bar could be switched from it to the new F350.

When we got there yesterday, we saw a black Dually sitting in the lot.  We wondered where ours was.  Then we figured out that this WAS ours.  Only we had ordered it in "Green Gem."

It was explained to us that it wasn't REALLY black.  It was REALLY Green Gem, but only looked black because of the weather--it was raining.  When you live in the Pacific Northwest, the official color should be the one when you can see when it is gray and raining.  Someone explained:  "you can see the green if you look at the door jambs."  So we did--and they looked black too.

So, what do you think? ?  Green Gem or Black?

Poor Vicky.  To please me she had purchased a new "matching" coffee cup for me in green.  Isn't she so sweet?  When you live in the PNW, though, if your coffee cup doesn't match your brand new F-350 4X4 Dually, you clearly have to get a new pickup.

(By the way, and I hope this doesn't make me look too bad, but we have a rule:  Vicky can't say the word "Dually."  When she tries to say it, she sounds like such a girl.  The word "Dually" can only be said by real he-men, guys who used to be former effete college professors but who now are tough and mean.  She can say "new truck," "Ford," "our baby," or almost anything else, but "Dually" has to be said in a menacing, growling, male voice.  I'm sorry, but those are the rules, and I didn't make them.)

The guy who did the work on the new pickup (Trevor, at Brien Ford in Everett) impressed the heck out of us.  Although we didn't ask him to, he transferred the torsion bar from the "old" F250 to our "Dually" because it was sturdier.  He thought we would appreciate that because it would improve handling.   But then he cleared it with us.  He came up with the idea of switching bumpers instead of moving the tie-downs from the F-250's bumper.  Clever thought.  He knew I was trying to beat the rush hour traffic back to Whidbey Island, so he worked through his lunch hour (and took a late lunch) to finish it up for me.

Here is the torsion bar he installed.  It is the silver bar toward the bottom:

 

Here I am pointing to the overload spring that Trevor switched from the "old" (ha ha) pickup to the new one:

Brien Ford gave us a terrific price on this work, and in having several discussions with Trevor, it was clear he was doing everything with pride and correctly.

We got the heavy duty stuff for it--limited slip differential, skid plates, 4 wheel on-demand drive, bed mat, and only the bottom line interior package.  But this bottom line interior package provides everything a normal person could want.  And a lot of that, actually. 

 A person can pay almost $15,000 more for a similar pickup with enough goodies to make a Cadillac blush.  But as it was explained to us, when people do this, they often then buy a beater pickup to actually haul stuff.  We saw some models that were almost comical--pickups in name only.  

We also didn't get the diesel engine--a $8000 addition.  What I read suggested that the diesel engine was basically a macho upgrade--one hardly ever really needed it.  The engine in the F-350 is the same one as in the F-250, and it is powerful, with a lot of torque.  It may not pull an extremely heavy trailer up over mountain passes with the same speed as the diesel, but it will do it all the same, and the rest of the time it is no different.  Repairs and maintenance on the diesel are a lot more expensive. 

Driving it home (you can sortta, kinda see the green color in some of the photos):

The thing is a monster.  When we set the camper on it, the bed hardly moved (only 2 inches--we measured).  Its gross weight rating is 14000 pounds, as opposed to the F250s 10000 pounds.  The vehicle itself probably 1000 pounds heavier than the F-250, but that is the outside estimate.

We will be able to carry more, be safer, go more places.  We are so excited.

The only remaining issue is Vicky learning to say "Dually" without sounding like a girl. 

Today, and two years ago today

Two years ago today we took a walk to Ebey's Landing.  Today we went back.  Here we are two years ago:

And today:

The first Western Tanager of Summer.......finally

This is my favorite time of the year for birds.  Our yard is like an aviary--birds everywhere at our feeders, with the noise so loud that sometimes you can't talk over it.

Birds swooping in and out.  Going from the feeders to the bird bath, to the trees, and back again.

The hummingbirds so numerous that even with four feeders for them they fight and jostle for space.  If you don't know it, these little guys can be quite nasty to each other.

We like to sit on the porch in the afternoon and just listen and watch.

And yesterday we saw our first Western Tanager, my favorite.  Then we saw two!  I was getting worried that they may not be coming this year. 

These photos were shot while sitting on our porch.   The Western Tanager:



Eating with a Black Headed Grosbeak:

 

Hummers buzz and zip around us, squawking the entire time.  Mostly at each other it seems.

A Finch sitting above us:

 

Squirrels and Chipmunks run across our porch while we sit and enjoy the flowers and birds:
 

Removing the toilet from the Lance Camper--yes, I really have a blog entry about that

We haven't used the toilet in our camper, despite living in it for almost 8 months now.

Not counting the part that hangs over the pickup cab, our "vacation home" really is only the size of a pickup bed.  And we didn't want to be hauling around our raw sewage in a place as small as that--right next to where we prepare food and eat, and in the same "closet" where we hang our clothes.

Joke we heard:

Question:  Know why we want our new camper "home" to be so small?

Answer:  So the kids can't move back in with us.

 There are toilets in every campground, and then there is the great outdoors.  Really, it is kind of a glorious experience to go out into the wilderness in the middle of the night and gaze at the beautiful night sky in places where there are no city lights.  

But there were problems:  In crowded campgrounds this really isn't totally cool.  Someone might object (although I'm not sure why).  And when there is a full moon in a full campground one has to be really creative.  And it can be a long walk to the bathrooms, necessitating waking up more than you want to.  And sometimes it is very cold or is raining. 

So we decided we wanted a camper toilet.  But we still didn't want our rig to be a portable sewage treatment plant.

Solution?  A portable camping toilet.  We bought one and tried it out on our last camping trip, sort of stuffing it into the bathroom.  It uses almost no water, and the holding tank can then be just taken out once a week and dumped into dumping station or even a toilet.  We will use it for number 1, but still use campground toilets for number 2.  How's that for more than you wanted to know?

Next step was to remove the stationary toilet so we could place the portable one in its place.

Looked pretty easy.

And whenever anything looks pretty easy, it generally isn't.  This was no exception.

One of the bolts holding it down was accessible, and I removed it easily.  The other was a bear--almost no space at all.  Took about an hour to loosen it enough that I could grab it with my fingers.

 Not a lot of space to work:

Success!

Well, of course, I wasn't done.  I turned on the pump for sink water, and found that water was spraying out of the line that fed the toilet.  I needed to get something to stop that up.  It can be seen here:

I wasn't sure about the size of the plug that I would need.  So I didn't know what else to do except take the toilet to the hardware store and try to find a piece that would match what was on the toilet.

Here I am at Sebo's.

When I walked in, three employees at the cash register immediately turned and stared at me.

I explained that since they didn't have a public bathroom I had to bring my own toilet. 

As I said, one should always be leery about something that looks like an easy project.  It turns out that the flange on the toilet wasn't a standard size--it was made specifically for this unit.

So back home to try to figure this out.  What I did was remove the part from the toilet that flushed it, and just stuck it back on.  Wired it shut so we wouldn't accidentally turn on the water.

Done!  

Now we have more flexibility for camping spots.  Also, when it is cold or raining we don't have to leave the camper.  It will also be useful when we have grandkids in the camper who might need to use the bathroom at night.  

The Little Gymnasts

Today Luc brought Marina and Stella over because they wanted to show us what they had learned to do.  Marina had just learned how to do a cartwheel:



Stella was quite disappointed that she had not mastered the cartwheel.  Knowing Stella, she was not to be outdone.  She discovered that she could impress Grandma and Grandpa with a daringly leap off the porch!

 

These girls are best friends and love each other very much.  This is one of our favorite all time pictures of them:



They also love us.  They asked to use our art supplies and spent the rest of the afternoon making us fancy cards.  The cards were beautiful and we put up on our refrigerator.

The Dually is on a train......somewhere

It's amazing.  We got a VIN a few days ago, and found out our F-350 Dually is on a train somewhere between Kentucky and here.  For the heck of it, I went on-line to see what happened when I entered the VIN.

One of the things I got was the Window Sticker!  The Window Sticker?

 

We are getting ready for it to arrive.  We are very excited.  

Last weekend we met someone who had a 4-door F-350.  I asked if we could look in the back seat to see how much room there was in it.  Told her we had ordered one.  I think she thought it was a little weird that we have purchased a brand new vehicle and had never seen the back seat of one.  I didn't tell her that not only that but we also had never even driven an F-350, much less a Dually.  Or even just sat in one.   

One of the reasons for our excitement is that it is the first time in our lives, and now the only one, where we will have factory ordered a vehicle.  That's the way people used to do it, many years ago.  I've always wanted that experience.   

I'll just never have the experience of factory ordering a vehicle I've actually test driven. 

Yesterday I attached swing-out brackets to the front jacks.  The swing-out ones will allow the wider Dually to back into the camper.

Trying to decipher the instructions:

 Finally, I gave up, and just attached one to try to figure out how to do it that way.  

But, alas, it was wrong.  So I started over.

(see the toolbox on the ground?  I got that for Christmas in 1964 from my parents.  I needed tools to restore my 1931 Model A Ford, which I did;  they are Craftsman tools--still among the best.  Not a single one has given me a problem for now almost 50 years)

Finally got them on correctly.  

 This is me using my "muscle" to tighten the bolts.  I hope my Craftsman tools don't remember how much more muscle I had when I first used them in 1964 and feel bad.

Tomorrow's job?  Remove the toilet from the camper.  More on that later.

Addendum:  The back seat of the F350 is CAVERNOUS.  We knew it would be, which was what we were wanting.  One thing we need is to be able to carry more stuff since we are gone for so long, but the F-250 we have didn't have enough room or enough weight-carrying capacity. 

Inland Empire Bike Ride: Richland, WA

This is our second year of taking this ride.  But this year, as a treat, Jules joined us which made it extra special.

It is surprising that more people don't come from the Seattle area to do this ride--one of the organizers told us that only about 10 people from our area do so.  It is only a four hour drive, and so people could come the night before, stay at the motel Jules stayed at (Wright's Desert Gold) for $50, do the ride, and get back to Seattle the next evening.

The ride officially started at 6:30 a.m., but because the temperatures were predicted to reach the mid 90s, Vicky and I started an hour early.  Jules didn't need to since he is so much faster than us.  He started at 6:30 and did the century, finishing ahead of us even though we "only" did the 75 mile route.  When we do this, it is fun to try to anticipate when he catches up with us.

The ride is exceptionally beautiful--going through farm lands and vineyards, up a steep canyon (Weber Canyon), along Wild Horse Hills, along rivers.  Great support at rest stops and along the way.  

Vicky made a great meatloaf dinner for us Friday night, and then there was enough left for another dinner after the ride.  Then we all drove back to Seattle for mother's day celebrations. 

Vicky's meatloaf:  Yum!







The route is 75 miles.  Vicky got a flat tire ONE BLOCK from the exact same spot I got a flat tire last year.  Kind of weird.  She makes meatloaf. I repair tires.  Division of labor. 

Well stocked rest stops.

Finish line:

Park Lake Side Canyon Hike, Sun Lakes/Dry Falls State Park, WA

The description in the hiking book does not do this hike justice.  It is an easy/moderate hike that provides stunning views of cliffs and coulees, most of the time totally away from anything resembling civilization yet only a short ways from our campsite.

It supposedly follows an old jeep trail that travels up and along the south side of the coulee rim.  Sometimes it was difficult to pick up the trail, especially as we got farther into the hike.  But no matter, with minimal taking of bearings from the high cliffs it is impossible to get lost.

There are no trail markers, no official trailhead.  It doesn’t really appear to be one of the official park hikes, although the jeep trail is on the trail map we were given, and a description of the hike is in the hiking book for Eastern Washington that we have.

The trail has a total elevation gain of only 600 feet, yet you climb to high meadows flanked on all sides by cliffs.  It is clear that cattle were here at one time, probably not too long ago, but other than that, no signs of civilization except for the jeep road. 

We went out 3.3 miles and then came back, not wanting to do too much during our three hiking days this week so we would be fresh for our long bike ride on Saturday.

It was beautiful, and we agreed that it was one of our very favorites.  Nothing like we had ever seen before.  We’ll be back here some year.  

Saw another rattlesnake today.  A baby one.  Shaking its baby rattle at us.  

Umatilla Rock/Boy Scout Trails: Sun Lakes/Dry Falls State Park, WA

We are here in Eastern Washington because we don’t want to lose the hiking mo-jo we had acquired on our 7-month road trip. 

We will have three days of hiking, then go on to the Tri-Cities to do the Inland Empire Bike Ride with Jules—another step in our preparation for the Seattle to Portland  (STP) ride.  Last week we did a ride with him called the Brews Cruise.  Started at a brewery, rest stop at a brewery, ended at a brewery. 

Given that we are not dedicated beer drinkers we gave away half of our beer coupons.  We were popular.

The ride was fun.

Next day we headed for Eastern Washington.  We had a reservation in the RV section at Dry Falls State Park, but were allowed to look around the campground to see if there was a spot we liked better.  We found one—no hookups, but we don’t need hookups.  Our solar panel keeps us all charged up, and so as long as we can get water we are fine.  So we have a very nice place at the end of a cul-de-sac, with nobody close.  And saved money, which is always good.

 

Quail and other birds run through our site and up on the hill behind us.  Deer run through our back yard, and so do groundhogs and snakes.  Very pleasant.

The first hike we took was the Umatilla Rock/Boy Scout Trai.  The hike begins at the campground.  It goes a mile and a half on the Boy Scout Trail, which isn’t too special but is a nice trail through the coulee. 

Know what a coulee is?  I didn’t.  It is a big dry ravine.  This one was formed by a huge waterfall (many times larger than Niagara Falls) sometime around the last ice age.

After we hiked to the end of the Boy Scout Trail we came to the trailhead for the Umatilla Rock trail.  It is a loop trail.  We decided to do it clockwise, although wish we had done it counter clockwise, as I will explain.

The Umatilla rock is a huge monument in the middle of the coulee.  Many years ago it was an island in the sea of water when the huge bluffs on all sides were a giganteous waterfall. 

 

 

Going clockwise, we walked by several small lakes to a place where the map indicated we were to double back, and then take a steep incline over the Umatilla Rock, which we did.  

 

 

 

 

It was odd in that up until this point the trail (and the Boy Scout Trail) were extremely clearly marked.  Even color coded! 

But here the trail markers stopped.  All we could see was the faint outline of a trail heading over the Umatilla Rock through a gap.  Because there were no markers, because the map indicated that was where we were to go, and because other hikers had obviously gone there, so did we.  The trail map led us through this gap, which from here doesn't look too bad.

But up close it was wicked--more of a scramble than a hike.  Steep, with loose dirt and rocks.  When we got to the little notch in the rock and started down, I did it on my butt.  Last thing in the world I wanted to do was to slip and twist my already tender knee.  I scooted down the other side like I was on a park slide.  

 

 

 

 

No markers along the way up, at the top, or on the way down. 

But at the bottom of where we got down we saw another trail marker, suggesting we had gone the “correct” way.  The view on the other side was terrific:

According to the map, at this point we were to head west back to the trail head.  It looked to be about a mile.  But at this trail marker we could see the faint outline of a trail heading east.  Looking at the map, it appeared that if we went a quarter mile or so we could scoot around the east side of Umatilla Rock and get back to where we had, perhaps foolishly, tried to climb over it.  So we followed this trail, and found we were correct.

However, this ½ mile trail back to where we had climbed through the gap was not an official trail—there were no markers.

But we don’t know why anyone would design a trail for the Umatilla Rock that took you over such treacherous ground.  The hike to that point would have been classified as “Easy” but the climb up and down would be, as mentioned, more of a scramble than a hike—not for anyone inexperienced and who didn’t have trekking poles. 

So, our recommendation is that you follow the trail counter clockwise instead of clockwise as we did.  When you reach a marker showing a steep trail up over the notch, ignore it.  Instead, keep going east on the faintly marked trail and you will go around the Umatilla rock (instead of over it) and end up in the same place.  Then go to the bathroom (literally) and you will pick up the trail going west.  This trail is behind the bathroom, so don’t get fooled and take the trail in the front of it—that’s the one that goes to the notch.

Do it like this:

 

 

 (Another in our I-really-know-how-to-take-a-girl-out-to-lunch photos)?  When you get to the point of the arrow in the above photo there will be a bathroom.  We ate lunch there, but you could do other things I guess.  In my defense, it was the only shade on the planet, I think.  Anyway, pick up the trail on the other side of it:

We saw some beautiful, and unusual, country today.  We also saw a rattle snake that crossed right in front of our path.  It coiled up on the other side, so we gave it wide berth.  It shook its rattle angrily at us.  But maybe it was trying to say “go counter clockwise!”