December 30, 2005:
Spent the day shopping, picking up my mail and other mundane errands.

December 29, 2005:
Headed back to I5 today via 199. The California end of this highway is very curvy and narrow in some places. Would not be fun in a large RV. I could probably manage in my Born Free though it would not be fun. Made it back home with no problems. Sure is good to be back with my RV. I missed it. I would much prefer taking it on anything more than a day trip.

December 28, 2005:
Well the wind howled all night. In the morning, it was still windy but not raining much. I headed out at 7:30 and ran into lots of heavy rain. In one place half of the road was washed out and I had to wait for a pilot car to take us though the construction. I really wanted to go hiking in Patricks Point State Park so was glad the rain let up a bit when I got there. The Rain God was good to me. After being in rain since I left Wilsonville yesterday morning I was able to hike for about 2 hours in mild temps and no rain. I saw some absolutely awesome scenery today. In one place I walked down to the ocean and watched heavy waves crashing against lots of rocks. Bob would have been in heaven. I took lots of pictures and some movies.

I hiked the entire rim trail in the park which was 2 miles and went on all the offshoot trails to scenic places. Then I went back to the place with the crashing waves with my camera and took the pictures. After I finished there I looked out over the ocean and it was looking rather dark in the sky so I hurried back to my car. Just as I was driving out of the park, another storm hit dropping buckets of water. Talk about luck!

I arrived at my motel earlier than I expected since most of the time I couldn't stop and walk around because of the rain. There is a shopping center across the road and I think I will go over there and check it out. There is also a Chinese Buffet where I may eat dinner if it looks good. After that, I will hang out in my room which actually has a comfortable swivel rocker in it. Between that for reading and internet access for checking my forums and email, I will be comfortable for the night.

There was a sign on the highway that 101 is closed 95 miles down the road with no detour. Guess that makes my decision for me, I was considering taking a day trip south of Acadia to see the redwoods and then coming back here for the night then heading north again maybe taking 199 back to I5. I have always wondered what that road was like and now with my car instead of my RV I can safely find out.

December 27, 2005:
Left Wilsonville at 6:30 AM and drove to Kaiser to pick up Chris. Took him up to the airport and arrived back in Wilsonville at about 8:30. I left again at 9 to head to the beach. It was mostly rainy until I got to the beach at Florence where it was heavy rain and it stayed that way the entire drive to Gold Beach. When I arrived there at 3 PM, it was very windy and raining. The rain was pretty much blowing straight across and I can occasionally hear the wind howling from my room. My room in on the ground floor and not too far from the beach. There is a slight rise between my room and the beach so I can't see the waves come up on the beach, but I can see them further out. I was planning a walk on the beach tonight but it is brutal out there so I think I will pass. Maybe tomorrow down in California the weather will be better and I can get some hiking in.

December 25, 2005:
My son Chris was here this morning and we had a good time together. Weather was warm with occasional showers. Actually took a nap in the afternoon since I didn't sleep well last night. Spent the rest of the day relaxing and preparing for a trip I am planning.

December 24, 2005:
Not much going on here. It was very warm today with high clouds and some sunshine. I think it may have made it up to 60. I took my walk today in a t-shirt. I drove a short distance to a gas station to air up my tires on the Honda and decided to go a little further to one of my favorite stores, Camping World. I was suprised to find the place almost empty so I took my time looking through everything. I normally do not drive anywhere on the day before Christmas because everywhere is so crowded but I was able to go to CW on back roads so I missed the trafic. The shopping area across the road from the RV park was packed so I avoided that.

Since the weather was so nice, I spent quite a bit of time outside checking things out on my Honda and RV. Only problem I found was low tires on the Honda which I took care of. I also cleaned the interior of the Honda and reorganized a few things in there. I then cleaned the interior of the RV and kept the outside door open most of the day. Felt like summer again.

I have now lived in my RV for 3 months through some of the worst weather I can expect in this area. I have had weeks of solid rain, sub-freezing temps at night, high wind and one day of snow. Through it all, I have been warm and comfortable in my RV. I do not regret for a minute my decision to live in an RV. I am still amazed at how much time I have to do more enjoyable things with my spare time. When I had my house, I was never able to catch up on all the things that needed to get done. I felt guilty when I took time out for myself.

December 21, 2005:
Rainy and warm here now. Just the way I like it in the winter. It's 52 degrees at 8 PM. Not raining now but I love it when it rains and I am in my RV listening to it on the roof. Missed it during that long cold dry spell we had. I am sure I will start to get tired of the rain after a month or so of it but for now it is nice.

December 20, 2005:
Well it has sure been an interesting couple of days. On Sunday the 18th I mentioned it had started snowing. It was a mixture of snow and sleet so driving was interesting to say the least. My son Chris was driving up from Salem to Beaverton and got the van he was driving in an icy area and couldn't get it any further so he parked it and called me. I went and got him in my Honda CR-V and brought him back to my RV for the night. It was rather crowded but we managed okay. Unfortunately, around 4 AM he got really sick with food poisoning or stomach flu. He was very sick until later Monday when he could start eating again. So I stayed and worked from home so I could take care of him. In the meantime, his Dad came up and I took him to where his van was so he could drive it to my place for Chris to use later. Chris felt better that evening so he continued on to his friends house to stay for the night. After he left, I got my RV back to normal again. Things went fairly well with two people in here except that I left my water heater on after I took my morning shower because I didn't know when he would want to take one. Sometime after that the water heater must have gone out because in the evening when he wanted a shower, the water was cold. He was not a happy camper! Not sure why the heater stopped. I usually just turn it on a little while before I need it and then turn it off when I am done. I guess I need to leave it on some day and watch it. I don't believe there was much wind that day but I was not paying much attention to what was happening outside.

I went to work today (Tuesday) and Chris came by after I got home from work so I could take him out for dinner. He is feeling much better. After he dinner he left to go back to his Dad's to stay until Christmas morning when he will be back here. He is heading back to college early next week. I imagine he will be glad to get back to his apartment. He has not had an enjoyable stay here with all the things going wrong.

December 18, 2005:
Been busy with work lately. Still cold. Today the clouds are coming in so it should warm up a bit. Hopefully we won't get freezing rain in the transition. My son Chris arrived last night or I guess it was actually this morning. He stopped by here on his way to his Dad's place where he will be staying.

Yesterday I went to the new Backyard Bird Shop that was put in just a few miles up the freeway from me. Their other shops that I usually go to are quite a ways away so I was glad to hear about this one. I bought another bird feeder since I have so many birds coming to my two little feeders. Only took a couple of minutes after I hung it for the birds to discover it and fill up the perches.

I also went to REI to get some stuff. It was almost impossible to find a parking place and the store was packed. I got what I needed and left. That was enough Christmas shopping for me for one day so I went home and wrapped up what I already have and listened to Christmas music. Today I am just going to be lazy and sit around in my cozy RV and relax. I may go for a walk later.

Update:
So much for the walk later. I took a quick trip to the shopping center across the road and when I came out from the first store it was snowing. That wasn't so bad except that the wind was blowing so hard I could hardly stand up. I hit one more store and then came back home. The temperature dropped 4 degrees in the little while I was gone and the wind whipped around for quite a while. The wind has calmed a bit and the temperature is holding at 34. Still a steady snow though. Good thing Chris got in before the snows started. It sounds like he had a rough landing though. He said everyone was screaming during the landing. I guess there were 65 mph wind gusts at the airport and the plane was bouncing all over the place.

December 14, 2005:
Another cold day. Freezing fog this morning which means a frosty layer on cars and in some places on roads. No problem driving in since the freeways are heavily traveled and even the overpasses were clear. Hard to believe it is almost the middle of December already. Seems like it just started. Of course I have been very busy at work so that makes it go faster.

Signed up with my personal trainer for another 8 sessions. It sure has made a difference in how a feel. Monday he repeated the measurements he made when I started October 4th. I have lost a lot of inches which makes me feel better because the weight has not been dropping as fast as I wanted it to. Just need to keep plugging away I guess.

December 13, 2005:
28 degrees this morning! There is a layer of ice on the pond here in the RV park. If this keeps up I am going to get some ice skates! There were icy patches on some of the roads but none where I drove.

My large bottle of propane was filled today which was nice but I came home to 48 degrees inside because my furnace shuts off if there is no gas. That's a good thing I guess but I wish it could detect when the gas comes on and restart. Sure will be glad when it starts warming up again. Should be only a month or two.

Found a place to get my hair cut right near where I go to work out so I did that tonight before hitting the treadmill.

December 11, 2005:
Did some more shopping today and put up my Christmas decorations. I hung my ornaments from my curtain around the cab. They are mostly old fashioned kind of ornaments and it looks pretty nice. After that I went to the gym and worked out for a while. Still sunny and cold here.

December 10, 2005:
Went to the gym yesterday and spent 1 and a half hours working out. Today I spent doing some shopping in the morning. The day was so sunny and nice that I couldn't waste it shopping all day so I came home and washed my RV. Finally got all that dirt off from my trip to Eugene and Florence. Sure looks nice again. Set out some Christmas decorations tonight. Trying to get into the Christmas mood. I don't have room for a tree this year so it's hard to get in the spirit. Nice not to have that expense and mess though.

December 7, 2005:
Missed updating for a few days. I worked 14 hours Sunday moving the backup application from one server to another. Since then I have been moving systems from the old server to the new server and monitoring everything. Except for two workout sessions with my trainer, I have been sitting in front of a computer all the time. I told my trainer on Monday I needed a stress reduction workout. He tried to kill me! That was a little more relaxed than I meant. Actually he has been increasing the intensity of some of my routines because he thinks they were getting too easy for me. I thought they were just fine. Every time he throws a new exercise at me, I am sore for a couple days after. I think I made a big mistake last week when I told him I spent 30 minutes on the treadmill after the workout with him. The last two times, I could barely get out to my car and drive home. No thought of doing more working out crossed my mind!

It is 34 degrees and windy this evening. Feels more like 25! My little house is keeping me nice and warm though. Not too expensively either. Last month I was gone for a week so the bill was only for 3 weeks but they were cold ones! Electric was $26 and propane was $25. Those are the only utilities I pay and with the space rent at $402 it comes out much cheaper than the house was.

December 3, 2005:
Since it is Saturday, I did lots of little chores I had piling up. It was not raining so I did some outside work too. I wrapped newspaper for insulation around the water faucet and put a plastic bag over it. I also put in my new quick release water fasteners on the hose connection to my RV. The old one was not working very well anymore. I connect one end of the quick release to my water inlet leaving it there permanently and put the other end on my water hose. Then when I hook up I just push it on. No more fighting to get all connections screwed on tight. I also filled my fresh water tank in case things freeze up in spite of my insulation.

Went to my storage area today and picked up my Christmas decorations. Not sure how much I will be able to use in my RV but a few things will make it look more like Christmas.

December 1, 2005:
Not much to report today. Weather prediction was for snow this morning but there was just rain with temps in the high 30's. Walked outside instead of going to the gym tonight. Rained a little bit but not too bad. Walked a different route and only did 8508 steps so I need to add a bit to it to get it up over the desired 10,000 steps. I am not doing too bad though as I have lost 8 lbs in the last month.

Prior journal entries.