Just Lazin'

None of us (me, Ken, or Jemimah) did much of anything today. We talked about a trip to Mt. Rainier National Park, but we decided a lazy day at home was in order. We did go to Maple Valley to pick up a couple things, but otherwise we just hung out at "home". We had some rain today, but Jemimah was happy to provide shelter so we could play cards.

We got goodies for Jemimah while we were out...

And we enjoyed a campfire after dinner...

And that was all the excitement. What a peaceful vacation day!

Grand Adventure, Here We Come!

The day has finally arrived! Jemimah is loaded, lights have been checked, she's hitched up... It's time!

On our way out we made a quick stop to visit our friends at Sport Land Trailer on Lolo. Jemimah's tongue jack needed to be replaced so we did that quickly and Ken took a few moments to show Brian how the work was progressing inside the trailer. 

The day was beautiful and the trip over to Sprague, Washington was good. Ken had been a bit concerned about pulling Jemimah over Lookout Pass, but he said it was much easier than he expected. This new Suburban can handle it, even if it is a 5.3 liter. 

We stopped for the night at Sprague Lake Resort. It's a nice, small campground right on Sprague Lake. The pull-throughs are on grass, and we had a little trouble getting the trailer level, but it was a pleasant place to stay. We will very likely stay there on the way home, too. 

The town of Sprague is quaint, old, and charming. Everything that might be open was closed because it was Saturday evening when we were touring around. It didn't look like we were missing much in the way of commerce though. We passed a grocery, a Post Office, and a bank that looked like they might be in use. Oh, and the Chevron. That was open. 

Oh, one more note about Sprague...trains. It's and lotsa trains. If you enjoy railroad photography you will have many opportunities to shoot trains in this area. If train noise bothers you. Come prepared with earplugs. The whistles aren't too too loud at the campground, but in town they're ears plotting if you're not used to that kind of noise. 

Still, a lovely night in the middle of nowhere. 

Mary Queen of Heaven Catholic Church, Sprague, Washington. 

Kanaskat Palmer State Park

Ohmygoodness!! Kanaskat Palmer State Park is a wonderful place! So lush! So green! So peaceful!

If you're looking for a camping destination with cell service and bathrooms every 10 feet, keep looking. If you're looking for a place tucked away from the city but still close enough, that has birds, trees, pull-throughs, and showers, give this one a try. 

While you're in the area, check out Farelli's Pizza in Maple Valley. 

Best. Pizza. Ever. 

And Ken's focaccia sandwich was excellent, too, as were the stuffed mushrooms.  

Jemimah is enjoying her stay - for the first time she gets to stay put long enough for some prettification. 

Thanks for following us on our journey. We'll be back to share Jemimah's further adventures in Washington. 

It’s almost time for our big trip!

Ken and Jemimah have been so busy! You know about Jemimah’s new fridge, and that Ken got it installed. Since that post he has gotten it hooked up to 120v, has put the framing and siding back over the gaping hole, and has fixed the damaged storage area door. I was also able to get in and clean the inside, so Jemimah is ready for the big 9-day trip to Washington!

I never got a chance to clear everything out after the church camp out before we started working inside, so the trailer was a MESS!!

But once the fridge was in and Ken didn’t need to be in there anymore I was able to get in and fix this disaster.

Here are the before and after shots of the opening we used to get the refrigerator in…   
Eventually the silver strips will be the same color as the siding.

You can’t really see it in any of the “before” pictures I have, but the storage door was in terrible, terrible sad shape. It just barely stayed closed – most of the time, and the sheet of aluminum that lined the inside of the door was hanging on by a thread and made it very hard to close the door.

Ken to the rescue again – he completely rebuilt the door! It now opens and closes perfectly, the door is solid, and it latches securely.

Awesomeness!

A New Fridge!

I'm sure you know that Jemimah's original refrigerator didn't work anymore. It wasn't possible to get that brand repaired or remanufactured, so we've been hunting for a reasonably priced replacement for months. A couple weeks ago I found a potentially workable replacement through Craigslist. The seller took a while to get back to me, but when he did it was with good news! The refrigerator was still available, the dimensions were pretty close, and the price was right!

There goes the old fridge! Yes, we had to remove the biggest window to get the old one out. 

The new refrigerator was near Billings so Ken and I had a 36 hour getaway. Fun times, including my first ever trip to Cabela's!

We were thrilled with the new appliance - so much better than what we had expected. Yay!

Then we got home...

The new fridge wasn't going to go in through the door, the window, or any other opening available to us. 'Know what that means? That means we put a new opening in Jemimah's side. 

After a fair amount of measuring, cutting, adjusting, and hmmmmming the refrigerator finally made it inside the trailer. 

Yeah... It's in but not installed. Minor detail. 

But then my fabulous husband got to work, and not only was it installed, but it also had a great frame around it to stabilize it and make it look pretty. Did I mention that my husband is amazing?

Now we (do you like how I pretend I'm helping?) just have to get the AC, DC, and propane hooked up and it will be ready to keep our food fresh! Jemimah and I are so excited!

Fun with BFF!

Our church, Bitterroot Family Fellowship, went on a camp out this weekend! Jemimah loved getting out and about…

We were at Chief Looking Glass Campground just north of Florence, Montana. I can’t believe that I never knew this place existed – it’s only about 15 minutes away from home, and it’s wonderful! We only saw one pump-style drinking water spigot, but since we haul our own water that wasn’t a big deal to us. If you camp here, it’s easier to bring water.

After Jemimah got settled it was time for a dip in the river. It was a hot, hot, hot afternoon!

(That’s Caleb, Gavin, and me. Oh, and the splash of water over on the left is Nathan. My husband took this shot.) That water was COLD, but it sure felt good!

Saturday we had a little bit of everything weather wise. For a while it was raining, so one of the young women in the church kept the kids occupied with beading. What a great idea!

We had a great barbecue Saturday evening – aren’t these two picknickers adorable?? They set up their own picnic blanket and enjoyed their meal in the shade. (And, of course, they had their trusty pistols at the ready – in case stinky boys came along to steal their watermelon.)

(The sweet little lady on the left is Hope, and the one on the right is my youngest daughter, Kristi.)

It was another hot day, so we did a lot of this…

Sunday morning, after a great breakfast, we did this…
I love worshiping together in the woods! (Thanks to Lenny Standish for the picture.)

And guess what we did later on Sunday…?

(Thanks again, Lenny.)

Unfortunately, the time came for us to head home. It was lot more comfortable hanging out in the water than packing up the camp site, but the work had to be done. It was quite a chore to get the kids out of the water!

Jemimah is back home and mostly cleaned out from the weekend. She’s hoping to have a few more improvements made in the next couple weeks - we’re still on the hunt for a replacement refrigerator. What we need is a Dometic RM2510 or a Norcold n510. If someone finds a good deal on one of those, please let me know! Jemimah would love to have a working fridge before she takes Ken and I off on our 25th anniversary trip in two weeks.

Thanks for stopping by. If you’ve been blogging or posting camping adventures, link them up in the comments – I’d love to see!

Do you use Google Reader?

Hi friends. If you’re following Jemimah’s journeys using Google Reader it’s time for a change! You probably already know that Google Reader is going away, so you know that you need to find a new way to follow your favorite blogs. The one I have decided on is Bloglovin’ – it is actually easier and has more features that Google Reader, so I’m very pleased with it.

Don’t lose track of Jemimah! Make sure you keep following when Google Reader goes away!

They’re just workin’ and workin’!

My guys are busily working to get Jemimah ready for this weekend’s church campout.

Getting a new ceiling.

Clean up crew.

Taking the edging strip off to reseal the edges.

Nice job, guys!!

Jemimah’s getting some work done!

We discovered a leak. Uhoh! I was a bit concerned about what we would find in a 40-year-old, somewhat beaten up trailer when we removed the paneling. I was pretty sure that if we ever opened that Pandora’s box, we were going to discover that we had to replace all the beams and insulation. But…it was necessary to remove paneling to find the source of the leak, so down it came…

 

After all the paneling came down, Ken found that there were only 2 2x2’s with rotting ends. He replaced those in a jiffy, and sealed up the leaking spots. Whoohoo! Now we just have to get some insulation replaced and put the new paneling up. Yay!

My fabulously handy husband has also replaced the worst of the paneling in the bathroom, and removed the defunct bathtub. The bathroom is so bright now, and so much more roomy for a woman of generous proportions. I love it! We still have some cosmetics to fix – the old wallpaper needs to be completely removed, and we’re going to prime it and paint it all white – but this is such an improvement already!

We have always used the tub for sleeping bag storage, but now when we’re off camping and the sleeping bags are in their tents, there is nothing taking up MY space in the bathroom! If you’d like to take a peek back at what the bathroom looked like before you can click here. You’ll see that the damaged paneling the worst of the wallpaper are gone, as are the horrid curtain and the moss in the window frame (that you couldn’t see in the before picture).

Jemimah is getting ready for another jaunt – this weekend is the church’s second annual campout. We’re looking forward to it! Oh! And we’re eagerly awaiting a response from a Craigslist seller who might have the very refrigerator we need! I can’t wait to hear from him/her! I would so love to have a working fridge in the trailer!

I’m off to fix brunch, take the crew to the nursing home for a church service, then head off to our own church service. I’ll be back soon with more pictures of Jemimah’s redo, and maybe an update on the refrigerator.

We got to go camping!

Yay! We had to wait two extra weeks, but we finally were able to get out to our favorite spot at Charles Waters Campground.

		Camping in June 2013 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

We had a great time with our crew, Jenny and Phil and their 3 kids, Felice and her 2 girls, and our friend Kriss. I can’t wait to get out and do it again!

Jemimah was getting all excited…

She’s got a new travel buddy to hook up with…

It’s almost Labor Day weekend…

She was getting ready! Moving the office to the house, prepping the water tank, stocking supplies…

And then this showed up…

Jemimah, Ken, and I don’t mind the temps or the rain, but most of the kids sleep in tents, and we’re not prepared for tenting nights in the 30’s. We’ve done some of those, and it’s just not as fun as it could be.

I guess she just gets a little more time to get ready.