June 8th - We headed out for the Copper Canyon adventure. The Copper Canyon system is four times the size of the Grand Canyon in Arizona. The first stop is at Perlas Del Mar Cortez. We took the tour and found out that it takes 2 or 10 years for a pearl to form. A natural pearl takes 10 years. It takes a worm or parasite to enter the shell and the oyster isolates and kills it by placing layers of mother of pearl over it. The worm or parasite is what accounts for the irregular shape. This is the only pearl cultivation in the northern hemisphere. What they do here is implant a half circle into the shell at 6 months and then place it into a holding net and put it back into the water here it grows and the pearl is harvested at 2 years old or older. The color of the inside of the shell is what determines what the color of the pearl is. I did end up with one. Now we are on our way to Los Mochis.
We arrive at Los Mochis and stayed at Las Fuentes hotel. The clerk at the front desk does not speak English and I speak little Spanish. I did manage to get a room, schedule a wake up call and order a taxi for the ride to the train.

June 9th - The wake up call came at about 5:30 am and the taxi was at 6:30 am. The cab ride is 70 pesos which is $5.38. We boarded the train at 7:00 am. Jill and Biogio from Gem was also on the train. We stopped at a stop and was not allowed to leave the train however, the Tarahumara Indians came to the side of the train trying to sale their baskets and wares. I purchased two baskets for 40 pesos, which is a little more than three dollars. After taking a lot of photos and an eleven hour train ride we finally arrive at Creel around 6:00. We stayed at Margarita's Hotel for 350 pesos which is about $27.00 a night and included breakfast and dinner. Our room was right next to Jill & Biogio. The dinner was spicy hot spaghetti. Mouth burning hot. We arranged for a tour with the hotel for tomorrow.

June 10th - Mom and Phill beat us to the breakfast table. Breakfast was real good. Milky oatmeal (not sure how you make oatmeal without oatmeal) but it was ok. The next course was eggs and potatoes. Now the four of us jumped into the SUV with Omar the guide and we were off. We went to Cusarare Waterfalls where the Tarahumara Indian are. I took a couple of photos of a teenage girl named Mediolina and her little friend Gondo. We purchase a few more baskets. We also went to the Valley of the Frogs and the Valley of Mushrooms, Arareco Lake, a couple of missions that are around 300 years old and the Sebastian Cave. Sebastian Cave is an actual cave where an Indian family actually lives. This was really interesting. This tour started at 9:30 and ended at 1:30. We now were very hungry so we went and had pizza. The boys went back to the hotel to take a nap we girls walked the town. We had dinner at Veronicas. This restaurant is supposed to be one of the best in town. Our meal was not very good. The banana shake was all natural and not cold. We then went for Ice Cream. The town is small and we keep running into Jill and Biogio.

June 11th - We started out tour at 8:30 am with Peppe. Today we are taking the Canyon tour. We had another couple on this tour, Raymondo and Thelma. We saw the Tarahumara Indian Fertility Rock, the glass floor which hangs over the edge of a cliff and the balancing rock that balances on the cliff that hangs over the edge (don't know how else to explain it, go see the pictures). We also saw about three canyons and sometimes all at one stop. This tour ended in "Dividerso". We ate a gordita (it was really tasty) and looked at the Mexican and Indian wares while waiting for the train. We purchased some items. The economy train came and we took another eleven hour train ride back to Los Mochis. We arrived at 11:30 pm and got a cab to the hotel. This cab cost 200 pesos which is $15.38. Now this is more than double the cost of the cab to the train going to Creel. Moral of the story, always make sure of the price before getting into the cab. We finally went to bed about 1:00 am. We did not sleep well due to the party in the next room.

June 12th - We got up and took showers and went to breakfast. Check out time is at 11:00 am we check out at about 11:20 am. Mom and Phil purchased a leather Jesus. We got on the road back to San Carlos at about 11:45. Russ caught a cold. We unloaded the car and watch all the photos that we took on the television and ate Ice Cream.

June 13th - Phil, Mom and I left the house and went to the hardware store to get light bulbs and door sweeps and then to the marina to drop mom and I off to do laundry and Phil went back to see if Russ was up to go to the boat. While we were doing laundry Russ and Phill made the final trip to the boat and installed the door sweeps and light bulbs. Phill and I packed the car for the trip back to the states and mop and cleaned the floors in the house. Mom's request for dinner was to have Camaron (shrimp) Philadelphia. This dish is shrimp in a cream cheese spinach sauce. It is simply decadent.

June 14th - We got up at 6:00 am took showers and did a final clean up on the house and loaded the final items into the car. The car is loaded to the hilt. We are like sardines in a can with just enough room to sit. We went to Maria's to have breakfast tacos before hitting the road. 8:40 am and we are on the road. We arrived in Phoenix at 6:15 pm and had dinner with Dale Stansel. It was good to skype the kids.

June 15th - We left the hotel and found a starbucks. I now realized how much I missed the Green Tea Latte with extra mache. Payson, Az is our next stop. We made photo opportunity stops before arriving in Payson. We went to Payson to see the Swiss Village. It was very disappointing. It is not as big as it use to be from what I hear. We continued on to the Wupatki Indian Pubelo. This was a very interesting place. We also drove through the painted desert on our way to Page, Az. Page is our destination for today.

June 16th - 8:29 am we checked out of the hotel in Page, AZ. On our way north to Utah we decided to drive through Zions National Park. This is one place Russ has never been. It is truly amazing and beautiful. We got a flat tire in Cedar City Utah and had Wal-Mart change it. This was a two hour wait so we had dinner at Applebee's. We are now on our way to Duchesne. We arrived at midnight.

June 17th -21st - Russ and I both have colds and are miserable. Russ is working on the motor home systems. Mom and I have been working on modifying some clothes and hemming Russ's pants. We took a trip to Vernal to see my brother Rod. Russ decided that we should have a small dog as a warning alarm for intruders since we have been sleeping with the boat wide open so I have bee looking for the perfect puppy.

June 22nd - Russ is still working on the Motor Home. Mom and I continue on the sewing path.

June 23rd - We got things ready to take the Motor Home into Salt Lake City. Arrived in Salt Lake City in the afternoon.

June 24th - 26th - Russ continues to work on the motor home. The motor home has been in the shop for rearching of the springs, alignment, all belts replaced and of course all this was done on different days and at different shops. I am still looking for a puppy. Quite the task since it is kitten season and not puppy season. Who knew that there is a puppy season.

June 27th - Tie Dye Day. The family tree goes like this.
Mom and Phil
/ ! \
Steve - Rodney - Jodee
/ ! \
Mark, Brock, Elisha
/ / \ \
Trinity Tamera, Kaden Kelli

Barbara (Phil's sister), Jane (Rod's girlfriend), Russ (Jodee's Husband)

The above were the attendees except Brock Rod's son.

It was a surprise to see my nephew Mark and his daughter Trinity, no one knew that he was down from Washington. This is the first time I have seen his daughter. We all had fun tie dyeing shirts and afterward we went to lunch. Then we hung out.

June 28th -July 4th - We took the motor home back to Duchesne to paint the roof. Russ washed and pressure washed the motor home and prepared it to paint the roof. Mom and I have been working on sewing projects.

July 5th - Russ painted the roof of the motor home and I held the ladder. We will be heading north soon.

July 6th - July 10th is spent working on the motor home and getting Russ registered in the VA. We had to drive back to Duchesne so he could have a physical with a doctor in Roosevelt.

July 11th - All went well and we head back to Salt Lake. Saturday we went to a birthday party for one of my childhood friends and then headed to Logan. We parked on Liz and Bert's front lawn. I have known Liz since the third grade and and she is one of my best friends since the seventh grade. We spent two nights here and wished I could have spent more time with them. Not being around them for so many years, I now know what I have missed. We know why they picked Providence for their home. It made me want to live there. It was hard to leave.

July 13 - We drove from Providence to McTucker Ponds about 13 miles out of Blackfoot. We backed the motor home up against the gravel ponds and stayed the night. Cost is 0.00 dollars.

July 14th - On our way out of Tucker Ponds we found a wallet. We stopped at Penigree Post Office to see if they knew this person. They did not so we put the address in the GPS and drove. We found her neighbor who said that he would give her the wallet when she gets home tonight. Russ and I felt so good about returning it.

First stop after returning the wallet was the 1st nuclear power plant in the world. This plant was very interesting. It is the site of EBR1. Experimental Breeding Reactor 1. This reactor made more energy than it used. Dec. 20, 1951 it was the first plant to produce energy. Here is a self guided tour. Most of the information below is retyped from a pamphlet.

Station 1. Atoms of uranium-235 were used to generate electricity. Uranium-235 splits or fissions when struck by a neutron. Splitting of an atom produces heat and waste products and releases two or three neutrons if they strike other uranium-235 atoms they in turn split causing a chain reaction. Such chain reaction was harnessed at EBR-1 to generate electricity. Less than 1 percent of natural uranium is the fissionable uranium-235. The rest is uranium-238 which really does not split. Instead, a neutron is absorbed by uranium-238 atom which then changes into plutonium-239, a fissionable atom and a good reactor fuel. Thus EBR-1 was a breeder because it "bread" more plutonium-239 atoms than the uranium atoms it consumed.

Station 2. EBR-1 is different than other power plants. EBR-1 uses the nuclear fuel create heat by means of fission chain reaction. Heat carried from the reactor core by liquid metal, which in turn heated a second system of liquid metal. This liquid metal was a combination of sodium(Na) and potassium(K) (called NaK) The second system containing NaK then heated water to make steam to drive the turbine/generator. The other plants use Coal or oil fired power plants to burn their fuel to heat water to make steam, this steam drives a turbine that generates electricity.

Station 3. The Control Room. Scientists started and stopped the chain reaction and controlled the equipment for making electricity from this room

Station 4. You are now standing above the reactor. The R235 fuel was placed in steel rods and lowered into the reactor core. Fission took place producing heat and breeding more fuel.

Station 5. Steam created by the reactors heat rotated the turbine to make electricity, which illuminated four light bulbs on that historic day. That was the first electricity that was generated by fission.

Station 6. In this room high temperature liquid metal converted water into high temperature steam.

Station 7. President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966 ceremony dedicated this site as a registered national historic landmark.

Station 8. Extra fuel rods were stored in this vault.

Station 9. This is the rod farm. Liquid metal was washed off in the hole covered by the bright metal plate in the floor. The chalk board was used to keep track of the spent rods.

Station 10. These manipulators are the first ever devised for remote handling of radioactive materials. This hot cell has windows 39" thick.

Station 11. These manipulators are newer try your hand at positioning the blocks.

Station 12. Raising or lowering the cup shaped reflector controlled the rate of the reaction. This was the on off control.

Station 13. This is the reflector repair room. Using the machinery around you an operator looking through the window could repair the bricks one by one.

Station 14. The bank of lights above the window inside the room compensated for the light loss of 39" led windows.

Station 15. Heat from the liquid metal from the reactor was transferred to the second system of liquid metal which can be seen through this window.


Now you have the guided tour through EBR-1 the first nuclear power plant in the world.

We made camp at Bayhorse Campground just outside of Chalis, Idaho. We took a walk to look at the Salmon River and on the way back we met Tiffany. Tiffany is from Washington, DC living in Boise. She came over to play Mexican Train Dominos with us. She is a geologist and will be headed to Denmark to get her PHD.

July 15th - We drove to Bayshore Ghost Town. This is a very interesting place. We took pictures so go see them on Facebook. Now we took the tour through the Yankee Fork Gold Dredge. This dredge scoops up the gravel rock, sorts it and dumps the rocks out the back. They dredge a pond work it and dig their way into another pond. We now made our way to Custer Ghost town. I learned how to pan for gold. I actually got three specks. They call it squinters gold. Now I know why you have to squint or use a magnifying glass to see it. It was fun to learn. We headed out and found the most beautiful anchorage. Ops...I guess I have been on the boat to long. Our view out the windshield was of the Salmon River and out of the door was the Salmon River.

July 16th - We left our beautiful campground and drove through Stanley, Id. Stanley must me the most scenic town yet. Yes log cabins are still alive. What a fitting place for them. We continue on to Hells Gate State Park. I put "Hells Gate State Park" into the GPS and selected "detour stop" instead of final destination. Well the GPS has a real sense of humor. It took us up and over Putnam grade, which is right through the wheat fields. We got down to 1st gear and 9 mph. We were concerned that we were not going to make it up to the top. We did and we arrived at "Hells Gate State Park" at about 5:00 pm. Russ cleaned the windows and I worked on the log.

July 17th - July 23rd. Please bear with me I am writing from memory and today is Aug 27th. We traveled from Idaho to Vancouver Washington. We arrived and set the motor home up in Rodney and Bea's driveway. While in Vancouver we adopted Lucy a pomapoodle and Taco a Chihuahua/Terrier.

July 24 - July 31st. We went over to Rick's house (Russ's brothers) to take care of Russ's parents for nine days so Rick and Marty can go on a family vacation.

August 1st -August 14th. We spent most of the time with Rodney and Bea going to the zoo and riding the light rail and hanging out. Went to the Saturday Farmers Market. We also went to "The Groto" which is a very peaceful place and also religious. Russ went to a couple of health seminars with Marty (sister in law) and ended up scheduling 6 appointments with the Chiropractor (he made it to 4 and took product in exchange for the other two).

August 15th. We are Port Orchard bound to see Charlie and Rich. Taco and Lucy got to meet Sugar (another Chichuchua). We hung out and laughed watching the three dogs play.

August 16th We put the dogs in little pouches and headed for the foot ferry that took us to Brewerton where we caught the large ferry for an hour ride to Seattle to walk Pikes Place Market. We spent the day walking and looking. We ate some good eats. Back to Port Orchard and went out for Mexican Dinner.

August 17th we left at about 2:00pm headed back to Vancouver for the night to get ready to leave for Crater Lake tomorrow.

August 18th. We left Vancouver and our first stop is at a LabCorp to have blood work done for Jodee's Thyroid. Now it is on to Crater Lake. We found a nice campground about three quarters of the way.

August 19th. We spent the day driving and stopping around crater lake. We headed over to Gold Beach. We found this nice little camp ground in the redwoods in Cresent City, CA.

August 20th - 24th. We have about a two hour drive to Gold Beach where we will spend a few days with Jim and Katie. It has been over fifteen years since we saw them last. We set up the motor home in the drive way. We went to dinner at a real nice restaurant where the clam chowder, fish & chips and pizza is definitely to write home about. One wonders why the food channel has not been there. We ate Tuna, Pork Chops, great berries and great wine, not to mention the bottled Ocra (they bottled it). We had great conversation and excellent food. We were due to leave on the 24th and the night of the 23rd the bed that drops out of the ceiling decided to jump down the rails making it very lop sided, forcing us to sleep on the pull out sofa that is actually shorter than a full size. It takes a little getting use to sleeping with your feet hanging over the end. On the 24th we got up and had brunch at "Rolling in Dough". The best omelets you will ever wrap your lips around. Then we in listed Jims help to resurrect the dying bed. Did I mention that the bed must weigh about 200 pounds? With Jims help and the help of a floor jack with a 4x4 the three of us were able to fix the bed.

August 25th. The drive from Gold Beach to Fort Brag on 101 was spectacular.

August 26th. The drive from Fort Brag to Bodega Bay was another beautiful day in paradise. The road was curved and hilly the entire way. Sometimes it was outright dangerous. Now try this in a 28 foot motor home. Yes we are talking about highway 1 in California.

August 27th drive from Bodega Bay to Vallejo. Highway 1 is known for its view and winding roads. Danger is its first name not middle name. We actually had to stop to let a truck coming in the opposite direction that was longer than we were to pass. If we had not stopped we would have had the front driver side crunched and the back of the driver side truck. Yes this was on a hairpin turn. We now are in Vallejo for the night. Devon is coming over to have margaritas and visit.

August 28th we helped Richard and Suzanne at the Vallejo Yacht Club Flee Market. At noon we headed for the motor home and drove to Sacramento to see the kids. Robert, Michelle and Libby are doing great.

Sept. 6th. We headed over to Fair Oaks in Sacramento to see our friend Ken Corderro. They are the last house on the street. We parked the motor home at the end of the street and Ken had dinner with us. The conversation was superb.

Sept 7th Russ helped Ken dismantle the large weight gym and I picked lots of figs. We took on water and headed south.

Sept 8th. We pulled into the Vallejo Marina for a few nights. Richard and Suzanne came and picked us up and went over to Aloha (their boat). Russ and Richard did prep work for going up the mast. There was great food and great conversation. No Mark, missing in action.

Sept 9th to Sept 30th. We stayed in Vallejo for about a week. We had a fantastic dinner and visit with Bill & Wyletta Nickson (my ex-boss or should I say coworker), Devon and her boyfriend at a restaurant called "Tomatinas" in Walnut Creek. We also enjoyed seeing my old work crew at "Transmarine". Heather make sure you tell Jose I said hello and hope all is well with him.

We finally caught up with Mark (our good friend) and saw his boat. We saw the before pictures. There was a fire on the inside of the boat that took out the entire inside. What a major task. Clean up after a fire must have been a massive task not to mention the rebuild. Mark I believe that your rebuild task was harder than Russ's. Koodos to you. The inside is new and beautiful.

Before we left Vallejo we drug Mark out to breakfast and said our goodbye's.
The dinners we had on Aloha (Richard & Suzanne's boat) were a lot of fun. Sig & Carol are a couple we will always call friends. Sig your way of viewing life is great, it must be Carol's great cooking. Thanks for the wonderful dinner on board Mary T with Henry and Richard & Suzanne. What a night to remember.
You see all of you have become family to us. Now get your but out here so we can do some traveling together before I give in the ghost.

We left Vallejo and drove highway 80 through the Sierra Mountains to Sparks which is a suburb of Reno. Here we parked out side of Russ's sister Diane's house. We stayed here visiting her for about three days. Russ's nephew Chris works for the Grand Sierra Resort and got us in to the buffet at a discount, which was great because it was Crab night at the buffet. Yes that is pretty much all I ate that night. Thanks Chris.

We headed in Salt Lake City, Utah and parked the Motor Home at my brothers house. We got to visit with my brother Steve and my niece Elisha and great niece Kelli. We were here for about two days and then drove to Duchesne, Ut to put the motor home to bed and get Lucy (new puppy) spayed. It took about four day to get the motor home put to bed. We took a couple of days to relax before starting our road trip to San Carlos. Mom, dad, Russ and I along with the two puppies and a loaded car we started our road trip back to San Carlos.

The first day we left Duchesne to head to Salt Lake for a couple of days. Then on Sept 30th we got a late start and headed for Page AZ. We arrive in Page about 6:00 pm.