Great-Grandpa Time

Day 22: Happy 4th of July!!!! We woke up, said goodbye to our cousins and set off across the Cascade Mountain Range to Great-Grandpa's house. I was really looking forward to this drive because my Dad many stories about locations along the way, so we had a few stops that were on the "to-do" list. Stop #1, HooDoo Ski Area:  This is where my Dad grew up skiing! I miss skiing so much, we haven't skiied in almost two years, and the boys are itching to go. It will be sad to ski without Dad next to me coaching my turns and knees. I learned so much from him. 

Stop #2, Camp Pioneer BSA Scout Camp.  

Ok, this one was a little out of the way....30 miles up a one lane windy road...in the mountains of Oregon...Curtis wasn't happy to drive the Casita 2.0 Up that road, but he did it anyways. What a guy! This beautiful BSA Camp puts our Texas BSA Camps to shame. Now THIS is what a Scout Camp should look like!

I can imagine Dad and the other Scouts having Chapel here, overlooking the lake, up to the beautiful Mount Jefferson.  

The boys were so excited to look around Grandpa's Scout Camp. He spent many summers here both as a Scout and on staff. We even found a picture in the newly remodeled dining hall of Grandpa Les when he was on staff the summer after he graduated in 1969 (top right)....that year, he'd meet my Mom, and they would get married 8 months later, August 21, 1971, at the tender age of 19.  

On another note, I keep seeing shirts and 3D glasses all over Oregon with the date August 21, 2017. This is the date when the solar eclipse will soar over the Oregon sky, and would also have been my parents 46th anniversary. Maybe that solar eclipse is Dads anniversary present to Mom. 💗 

After looking around the camp a bit more, we ate lunch and set back down the windy road. Hopefully we'll be back one day for the boys, but this time as campers.  Two hours later, and 3,500 miles, we pulled up to our sweet Grandpas house. He was waiting at the front door for us! We love him so!  We got the trailer up and parked on his lawn and immediately started the Crater Lake puzzle that Carson had picked out. We are so happy to be here.

Day 23: Project Window Day....we woke up and looked for a place to fix the front windshield of the camper. We found a place that recommended we insert a carbon fiber plating, and could fit us in the next day....IF we had the entire broken glass removed. So Curtis and I got to work on removing the broke glass bit by bit....with a little coaching from Grandpa.

The inside of the glass came out with little work.

We took a little pause for Curtis to get the oil changed on the truck and we played Monopoly with Great-Grandpa.

Grandpa was not loving the fast paced Monopoly game...HA!  You know you're in for the long haul when you need an oil change mid trip. The next part was going to be tricky. We scraped, pulled, tugged, razored, and two hours later, we were 6 inches in with a mess of scratches and stickum from the seal. We were worried we'd break or damage the 2nd window, and realized there was no reason to spend $200 on a clear sheet that looks like crap....so....we gave up. 

 We cleaned and vacuumed up all the glass we could in the grass, purchased a giant roll of Gorilla Tape, and taped the entire window. At least we would not lose the 2nd window this way and we could make it back to Texas where the entire thing will need to be replaced. Boo!!!  We finished our Monopoly game, worked the puzzle, and went to bed. Thumbs down, window!

Day 24: Today is Great-Grandpa day! Project #1, finish Crater Lake puzzle.

Note to self:  mail Grandpa another puzzle!  He loved working on it!!!  Project #2, clean Truck and Camper. We pulled out the handy scrubber that we borrowed from Stan and Mary and got to work. This scrubber attached to the water hose which made it work very well, but also made it very heavy. At some point of truck washing someone accidentally hit the front windshield of the truck and put a huge crack on the front windshield of the TRUCK!

Ugh!!!!!! We sure have had a few hiccups this trip. Now we have a broken front camper window AND a broken windshield on the truck. Needless to say, the handy scrubber is now in the trash. We made an appointment for glass replacement when we get to Spokane and started Happy Hour a bit early.  

Day 25: We started the day with a nice run and haircuts for all the boys.  We played Up and Down The River,

Took the scooters for a stroll to the bank,

played a round of dominos, and experimented with some of Grandpa's tool collection.

We sure have treasured our time with our Great-Grandpa, but tomorrow we set off for another adventure. We will miss him so. Good-bye, Great-Grandpa. 💗