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PHOTO GALLERY 2014

See the USA in a Motor Coach
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The Tour begins - Shakedown Cruise at Fairview Park


Early spring can be pretty wet in the northwest, but undaunted we're heading for Fairview RV Park for an initial shakedown cruise in our new 2010 43' Tiffin Allegro Bus. It is very close to home and to the dealership where we traded in our Country Coach. Both are in Portland and just minutes from our new home in Vancouver, WA. We want to settle into the new coach, figure out all the systems and test everything before we head south in May for Fernridge Reservoir, near Eugene for several weeks of sailing to start our summer travels. Be sure to check back regularly as we'll be updating the blog several times a week beginning in May.



On our way to Fairview RV Park, we stopped off at the 42nd Street boat ramp in NE Portland. It is where we usually launch our Catalina sailboat on the Columbia River so we are very familiar with it. The large parking lot there affords a good opportunity to park the coach along the river and snap some good glamour shots for the website.



Another impressive angle on the new Allegro Bus at the 42nd Street boat ramp in NE Portland. The coach is 43' long and 12'9" high. This is the business end of this big diesel pusher, with the powerful 8.9L Cummins ISL 425 diesel engine located at the rear of the coach to push this 20 ton monster down the highway. All this weight at the rear is supported by six wheels... duallies for the drive axle and two more for the tag axle. For more photos and info, see the Windseeker homepage




Sailing my new Victoria model yacht at Lacamas Lake


The other day, I stumbled onto a local chapter of the Oregon Model Yacht Club prepping their remote controlled model yachts for their weekly regatta. We talked to the guys and watched a bit. They were racing their one meter boats and one of the guys said he had a 30" Victoria he would be willing to sell. I met up with him today, Friday, April 18 over at Blue Lake Park in Portland, and he demoed the boat for me and let me sail it. The price was right and the boat has been tricked out for competitive sailing with mylar sails, more technical rigging, carbon fiber mast and booms, better sail servos, stainless boom bang, etc. So I bought it. Here's a closeup. Decided to head home and take her right over to a local lake to try her out!



After I bought the boat I went back home to get ready to take her out sailing for the afternoon. Libby is visiting friends on Arizona, so first thing I had to do was walk the dogs. I was anxious to get going but Corey decided to take some time out to smell the flowers. Couldn't resist a photo.



After rooting all around in the bed of Candytuft, he decided to come up for air. I think there might have been a mouse in there or something. Westies are bred for rodent hunting and Corey is always on it when he smells a rodent of any kind.



I dropped the dogs off at home and headed over to nearby Lacamas Lake. Just a few miles from the house it is the perfect spot there by the new Lacamas Lodge and Conference Center to learn to sail my new model yacht. It it only about 120 yards wide down by the dam and with the breeze blowing from the northwest, there's no danger of the boat getting away from me... it would just drift to shore somewhere into the deadend corner of the little lake. I had perfect light breezes and sat on the stone wall by the Lodge and piloted my boat back and forth, up and down, with ease. What a pleasant little activity!



One of the real jewels of life in Vancouver is Lacamas Lake, a small beautiful 300 acre lake in Clark County, Washington, just east of the city. Just 2.5 miles long and 1/4 mile wide on average, it is a quiet spot, popular with nature lovers, hikers, bikers and fisherman. It is stocked each year with rainbow and brown trout. It ranges up to 60 feet deep in spots and the water is relatively warm. With liught afternoon breezes, it makes a perfect quiet spot to enjoy sailing my model sailboats. Here's a full page showing the beauty and tranquility of this special place.



As a sailor for most of my life, it is quite easy to control these model sailboats. There is no motor... you must use the wind to navigate. You basically have two joysticks on the battery powered remote control unit . The left one controls the sail trim, sheeting in and out, and the right one controls the rudder. It is very responsive. I can see I am going to enjoy whiling away many hours at the lakes we travel to playing with my little model yacht. I can do it when there is not enough wind to be sailing the Catalina. This little sailboat will do just fine in just a couple knots of breeze. Here's a fun video of Victoria Class racing on Youtube.



The Angelina was named for my beloved mother, Angela Aversa Burkle, originally of Philadelphia, PA. She was an elementary school teacher for most of her life, and a Navy wife for 25 years with my Dad, a Navy doctor. She passed away in 2004 at age 84 and is deeply missed by me and my brother and sister.

Here's a good closeup shot of my new Remote Control Model Yacht under sail. The hull is 30" long and the boat is 52" tall from the bottom of the keel to the top of the mast. I shall name her the Angelina, dedicated in loving memory of my dear mother Angela Aversa Burkle, or 'Angelina' as she was called when she was a child. She always loved nature and would have enjoyed the serenity of Model Yacht sailing. She passed away in 2004 at age 84 - I look forward to sailing my model yacht well into my 80's!




First Travel Destination - Eugene & Fernridge Lake, OR


On Wednesday May 15, all our dealer headaches finally concluded, we headed down to Fernridge Lake with the sailboat for our first real trip of the season in the new coach. Enroute, we stopped in Junction City on Weds, and had Oregon Motorcoach do a PDI (post delivery inspection) on Thursday, just to make sure we didn't miss anything. We took off for the day in the Suburban with the dogs and bikes and drove over to Eugene's Ruth Bascom Riverbank Trail, one of Eugene's finest attractions. It's a beautiful venue for exercise along the banks of the Willamette River as it winds its way through downtown Eugene. The dogs enjoyed the ride as well in their custom looking doggyride bike trailer.



You can park your car at Maurie Jacobs Park on the west bank of the Willamette River and ride out from there all along the Ruth Bascom Riverbank Trail, as it winds its way along the banks of the Willamette River through downtown Eugene. When we considered moving to Eugene a year ago, this bike trail was one of the major enticements. In spring, the banks of the river are covered in wildflowers which it appears the geese enjoy as well. And of course Corey and Gracie enjoy watching the geese... but we don't let them get too close as those buggers can be mean!



We enjoyed sitting on a park bench in the cool shade along the river listening to the gentle sounds of the rapids and watching the geese grazing below us. Libby snapped this nice photo of Corey and me relaxing in the shade.



We arrived on Friday May 16, at Richardson Park Campground by Fernridge Lake, just east of Eugene. We had reserved a nice shady campsite for our mega coach just a quick stroll thru the woods to the marina where we will moor our sailboat for the two weeks we're here. Wish we could stay longer, but this is a county campground and they have a 2 week limit for visitors. Fernridge Lake is one of our favorite lakes to sail... we have been here a number of times before. It's a really nice campground, very reasonably priced and right on the lake and the marina - perfect for us. This is our first real stop on the 2014 travel tour, now that we have our trial stops out of the way. We look forward to a full summer of sailing.



This is more about camping than many of the RV parks we stay in. Because of the trees we get no satellite reception, but we have our harddrive full of DVR'd movies and a stack of DVDs. And we'll be pretty active while we're here anyhow. The Verizon 4G is working well here at least, so we have good internet in this spot. Just beside the coach is our quiet shady campsite with picnic table, and just a short stroll through the woods to the marina where we'll moor our sailboat for the next two weeks. We set up the little portable dog run, our trusty stainless infrared gas barbeque grill and our campchairs. We are ready for action! Time to break out the burgers and the beer!



Our first day sailing on Fernridge Lake this season was picture perfect... temps in the mid 70's with plenty of sunshine and good winds 12-14 most of the afternoon. It doesn't get much better than this. After all the hard work getting moved last year... all the projects, work on the house, the yard, storage garages, then buying a new coach and moving everything over after having work done.. it seemed like it would never end. Today it ended... we were out sailing again... and on a perfect day on a perfect sailing lake. Ah the good life!



Heading toward Orchard Point at about 6 knots on a nice heel against an azure blue sky and puffy white clouds in the distance... lake sailing at its finest. Fernridge Lake did not disappoint!



Day 2 was as glorious as the first. Another picture perfect day on Fernridge Lake. Winds were just a little lighter but still very pleasant and I had the boat up to hull speed a number of times. We took Corey along today. He is a seasoned sailor at this point and has logged numerous sailing sessions over the past two years since we got him from Oregon Dog Rescue... and he enjoys his time on the water as much as we do.



Another relaxing afternoon at Fernridge Lake.... Corey, Gracie and I walked down to the marina, sat in the shade in the marina park and whiled away a couple pleasant hours cruising the model sailboat around the inner basin. When it is even moderately windy on the main lake the water gets too choppy for the little boat and it takes on too much water, so the inner basin is a much better bet. I snapped this photo of the little Angelina flying along while the Anne Marie, our Catalina 22, (indicated with the yellow arrow) sits calmly by in a slip behind waiting for her turn (a few hours later as it turned out.)



In the foreground, The Anne Marie is in her slip at Fernridge Lake awaiting an afternoon sailing session. Click to visit her own website.

The winds were irresistible later in the afternoon, so we took Annie out for a sail. That is the Anne Marie, our Catalina 22 MKII, the quintessential trailer sailor, in the foreground waiting patiently in her slip to head out on the lake. Click on the photo to bring up the Anne Marie's own colorful website in a separate window. We counted 40 other sailboats out around 6 pm.... this is definitely a sailing lake with a capital "S". There was one water ski boat out pulling kids back and forth close to the lee shore and one obnoxious jetskier, but we steered well clear of him. So now we have sailed 3 days out of three. The 10 day forecast looks promising to sail almost every day we have the boat in the water while here!




StoneRidge Resort, Blanchard, Idaho


Here we are at StoneRidge Resort, a golf and Motorcoach resort nestled in the mountains north of Lake Coeur d'Alene and south of Priest Lake. We have friends who own a pad and spend their summers here, and another set of Motorcoach friends from Scottsdale AZ who are joining us here for a week as well. We don't play golf but it is a lovely setting and there's a nice little lake for sailing the RC sailboats and a big lake close by for using the pedal kayak. The bicycling is great here - that's Corey's DoggyRide Coach hooked up to my bicycle... Took him for a spin our first morning here. Should be a nice relaxing week.



Our friends' corner... That is Myra and Dennis Bailey's 41' Beaver Patriot Thunder coach in the foreground, next to our 43' Allegro Bus, and Bill Evans and wife Ginny's 45' Country Coach Magna behind us. All magnificent motorhomes.



Stoneridge is one of those golf resorts which combines housing and condo options and RV Pads. The RV section here is actually an exclusive Motorcoach resort and you need a mega coach to buy in here. Our 43' Allegro Bus is middle of the road, as there are a lot of Prevosts, Newells and other super high end coaches here. A lot of the folks do major "build-outs" on their lots with pergolas that include outdoor living areas, storage sheds, hottubs, outdoor kitchens and the like. Friends Gene and Barb have a particularly nice build out and we enjoyed drinks and hors d'oevres there one evening with them.



Stoneridge has some very nice amenities other than the golf course. There are a couple club houses with swimming pools and hot tubs, a golf pro shop and indoor/outdoor cafe, and a very nice doggie park. Our space for the week was right near the doggie park and Corey enjoyed going over there and romping around with other dogs. When I took this photo it was kind of warm and he insisted on just sitting in the shade.



RV living is very relaxed. Here's how I like to wake up in the morning with a hot cup of fresh coffee in my Kokopelli mug, comfortable in my recliner complete with Kokopelli headrest cover and Corey in my lap. I can watch the news on our deluxe home theater setup, check email on my laptop, etc.



One day we drove up to Priest Lake to check it out. As many times as we have been to Lake Coeur d'Alene, we never made it up to Priest Lake. We always heard it was a pretty place. We went to the south end at Coolin Bay. There's a very nice marina there called Bishop's Marina and the view out on to the lake is impressive. There was a nice breeze blowing and I think we could do some excellent sailing here. Very near the marina is a really nice small RV Park attached to nice little Inn there called Inn at Priest Lake.



Here we are standing at Bishop's Marina at Coolin Bay on the south end of Priest Lake. Definitely a place we would like to spend some time. Nice new docks and well cared for slips, including about 8 angled open slips suitable for sailboats. Bryan, the marina's operations manager is a really nice guy and grew up in the area. We have definitely filed this away for future reference. Depending on how our summer at Flathead goes, we might decide to come back thru here before we head home this fall.



On our last day at Blanchard we took our Hobie Mirage Outfitter Pedal Kayak over to Twin Lakes about 12 miles away. We pedaled around the little local San Souci Lake at Blanchard one other day, but Twin Lakes is a really delightful spot with refreshing clear water for swimming and cooling off in the hot summer sun.



Lots of nice summer cabins on Twin Lakes. Waterfront cabins are very reasonable in price too! Looks like it would be a very pleasant place to spend the summers. Something to file away for future consideration if and when our motorhome travels come to an end.



Pedaling around Twin Lakes we actually spotted a mature bald eagle perched high in a lakeside fir tree. Snapped a pretty good photo of him as he majestically surveys the little lake.



Flathead Lake, Polson, Montana


The drive over to Polson, Montana from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho is about 180 miles through some really gorgeous country. We took Montana Hwy 135 which meanders along the Clark Fork River offering some breathtaking vistas before you drop down into the dry country south of Flathead Lake.



Here's the bus pulling into Big Sky Country, into the town of Polson, Montana arriving from the south in the late afternoon on July 12. That is the magnificent Flathead Lake in the distance. It was a little hazy as we're in the midst of a heatwave in the northwest - I had the generator running and the coach A/C running all afternoon. It got as high as 94 degrees. It will be the same tomorrow, so we'll probably chill out, tend to chores, shopping, etc... and then probably launch the sailboat on Monday.



Here we are, comfortably installed in Space #27, one of our favoritea at this park, one row over from the space we stayed in two summers ago. The park is called Flathead River RV Resort where we're scheduled to spend the rest of summer. It's an end spot on Whitewater Lane. And just ten minutes down the road from Sunny Shores Marina where we'll keep our boat as we enjoy sailing Big Arm Bay on this monster Lake. I'll be posting plenty of photos soon. so check back periodically this summer.



After getting settled in Sunday and launching the boat Monday, we headed out of Sunny Shores Marina in Big Arm Bay toward Wild Horse Island for an afternoon of pleasant sailing under beautiful clear skies. Big Arm Bay is by most accounts the best sailing spot on the big Lake. It is more than 5 miles across, and the wind funnels in off the lake between Lentz Point and Melita Island providing very steady and predicatble afternoon sailing winds largely protected from any rough water out on the main lake.



Temps only reached around 80 so it was indeed very pleasant out on the lake. Corey enjoyed it a lot as you can see.



Here's the Anne Marie (foreground) comfortably nestled back in her slip at Sunny Shores Marina after a brisk afternoon sail on Big Arm Bay. We like the quiet little marina ideally located at the inside nook of Big Arm Bay which offers some of the best sailing on Flathead Lake. It is just 10 miles up the highway from the RV Park where we stay... a very reasonable set of accommodations for a total of about $900/mo total cost for RV and sailboat slip.



We took Corey to Murdoch's Ranch & Home Supply store... a great store with a little of everything including an extensive tool section and an outstanding Pet Supply section with some pretty marvelous dog treats. Corey quickly tried to steal one when nobody was looking!



Another excellent afternoon sailing session out on Flathead Lake with our Canadian friends Ken and Susan Henke. We all went to the local Mexican hotspot in Polson for dinner afterwards.



We went with our friends the Henkes to the Ninepipes Museum in Ronan south of Polson where we're staying. The museum features a wealth of Indian Artifacts, photos, displays of early Montana settlers and Indians from the Flathead Lake area of Montana. Well worth the visit. We also stopped into the St. Ignatius Mission, a unique Catholic Mission located on the Flathead Indian Reservation with its 58 original paintings by Brother Joseph Carignano on the walls and ceilings,



Although we haven't seen any live ones, this part of Montana has plenty of moose... which are known to walk right thru the campgrounds sometimes. This one was in the Ninepipes Museum.



Doesn't get any better than this... July 30 - an absolutely perfect sailing day. Flathead Lake Montana continually sets benchmarks by which all other lake sailing must be judged. Probably about 12-14 mph steady winds with the Anne Marie on a 20 degree heel over flat waters... that's the tip of Wild Horse Island dead ahead and the gorgeous Mission Mountains out across the main lake. We're here all month... be still my heart!



Thunderstorms can come up very quickly on Flathead Lake. These are not to be trifled with as we found out on our first trip here in 2012. Today, August 5, we had excellent winds with some T-storms moving across the lake to the north. For the first couple hours they seemed to be staying well north of Big Arm Bay where we sail out of our little Sunny Shores Marina, but as they started to move closer we moved in nearer to the marina, where we still had good winds but could get back to our slip very quiickly if the storms started to move our way. About 5:00 it was raining just to north of the bay and although it still seemed to be moving westward rather than south over us, a lightning strike over the bluffs persuaded us to head for shore.



As the storm clouds started to move in closer, Corey was looking at me, like "Hey Dad, maybe we should think about heading in!" Good idea, Corey. In we go. We made it in, secured the boat and got to the car to head home before any rain drops hit.



View from the table side window in the China Gate Chinese restaurant across the Polson Golf Course with a sliver of Flathead Lake in the distance and the majestic Mission Mountains in the background. And the Moo shu pork was terrific!



After a marvelous day of sailing once again, the clouds started to move in around 6:00 pm and we watched as a storm began to roll in. Some friends a few hours away in Idaho said it got really nasty there with high winds and a lot of thunder and lightning, so we hunkered down back at the coach. We even pulled in the slides for the night as really high winds have been known to tear slide topper awnings. At the left is the radar image as the storm rolls into Polson where we are. We were getting more than 30 lightning flashes a minute - it was a real light show. By morning it had all passed... so we went out for brunch to the Driftwood restaurant and had a bison omlette (a first).



We decided to take a break from sailing and take advantage of nice weather forecasts up north. We drove up to the town of Whitefish just north of Kalispell, about an hour and 15 minutes north of Polson. We launched our Hobie Outfitter tandem pedal kayak from 'City Beach' in Whitefish out on the beautiful Whitefish Lake. This is the beauty of having our Kayak along - it allows us to get out on other bodies of water that we wouldn't otherwise get a chance to experience... and get some good exervise too. We pedalled for a few hours along the lake shore and went swimming in the nice warm water in a quiet cove as well.



A shot from City Beach of the beautiful Whitefish Lake nestled in the valley just below Whitefish Mountain's 'Big Mountain' in northwestern Montana, also a popular winter ski resort, just west of Glacier National Park in the Flathead National Forest. Weather was perfect as we enjoyed several hours of pedalling our Hobie kayak around the scenic lakeshore and swimming in the warm clear water.



Coeur d'Alene, Idaho


With perfect bicycling weather we went riding on the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes which conveniently borders the RV Park where we are staying. Corey came along in his Doggyride cart as we cruised along the beautful quiet flat trail runs thru wilderness all along the Coeur d'Alene River. Here we are stopped a picturesque turn in the river. We even saw a moose grazing. Notice the moose photo below. There are not many places that you can take a very civilized bicycle ride on a smooth asphalt paved trail thru wilderness area where you can see wild moose grazing. It is one of the reasons we love the Coeur d'Alene area.



Here's a photo of a wild bull moose along with two calves grazing in the marshes alongside the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes where we went bicycling every day while staying at the RV Park in Cataldo ID near Coeur d'Alene. No much zoom on my camera but I cropped the photo for a decent photo of the big critter. I had seen a few moose in the past but this was the first one Libby ever saw in the wild. UPDATE: The next day we were riding our bicycles on the same part of the trail and the same three moose crossed the trail about 10 yards in front of us. How cool... but they disappeared into the brush in seconds so no more photos.



Here we are at nearby Rose Lake, a small quiet little lake just outside Coeur d'Alene. After bicycling this morning, we packed a picnic lunch and drove the 6 miles over to Rose Lake where we launched our Hobie Outfitter Pedal Kayak at the boat dock there. The little lake is only about a mile long and half a mile wide and so we easily pedaled the circumference of the lake in about an hour and a half. We were the only ones on the lake.



Since I always sit in the stern of the kayak and work the rudder with my thumb as well as pedal, I am in the right position to catch a photo now and then of my fair first mate who sits forward.



Rose Lake is in a pretty remote location and driving back along the country road we saw a small herd of elk grazing along the side of the road and snapped this photo out of the car window.



We got the sailboat launched on Lake Coeur d'Alene. Some stormy clouds had moved in for the Labor Day weekend which produced cool winds that were a little gusty but no rain. It was the kind of sailing which keeps a skipper on his toes. But we had a very enjoyable afternoon our first full afternoon on the water. For Labor Day weekend it was anything but crowded... we saw perhaps 8 other sailboats and any number of powerboats but the bay at the north end of Lake Coeur d'Alene is a large body of water some 6 or 7 miles across, so it never feels even remotely crowded.



Cap'n Joe at the helm in a more relaxed moment... but keeping an ever watchful eye out for those frontal gusts which could be upwards of 20 mph.



Coeur d'Alene has done some upgrades since we were here last summer. The downtown McEuen Park sits next to the Coeur d'Alene Resort and city docks on the one side and Tubbs Hill on the other. McEuen Park has had a total makeover to the tune of some $20 million and really spruces up the downtown.



Cap'n Joe at the helm with the beautiful downtown Lake Coeur d'Alene Resort in the background. Lake Coeur d'Alene offers not only pristine waters, good winds and gorgeous scenery but really interesting shorelines.



The weather has been great here in CdA with wind every single day. Today was a mandatory day off with rain most of the morning and heavy clouds and no wind this afternoon. The forecast promises full sun again tomorrow, warmer and hopefully the wind will be back. So we spent a quiet day "at home" in our Coach comfortably nestled at Blackwell Island RV Resort. The holiday crowd has left and today Weds, Sept 3, with the kids all back in school, the park is half empty. Good opportunity to capture a clean photo of our coach in space 121. We're in the front row, the premium spaces which face the river.



The last 4 days have been picture perfect weather... sunny clear, highs in the 80's... but no wind :-(. Today we went to the downtown CdA park and went for a walk in the late afternoon... snapped this photo of the resort at near sunset... with the moon rising just above it. That's the marina in front with a boardwalk all around it... and down at the end you can make out one of the seaplanes which give aerial tours.





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