The Road House remodel continues. First, we took out the oh so stylish couch, recliner and dog.

Poor Bentley, doesn’t he look worried!! One might argue, the furniture looks like brand new. Well yes, it sure does and it would look amazing in your grandmothers house, so let her know it is for sale!

We took the coach to Western Interiors in Turner Oregon to have all the interior flooring replaced.

We choose Western Interiors as they have loads of experience with RV floors as well as sticks and brick houses. Goodbye bland carpet and linoleum!

Four days later, they were done so let’s go inside and have a look see what they did….

TA-DA….doesn’t it look amazing. Carlos at Western Interiors did an great job. Wally and I were totally awestruck when we walk in and saw the new flooring.

I know it looks like real hardwood but it is actually IVCUS Moduleo eastern hickory luxury vinyl planks. This was a great choice for our coach as it is water proof and practically dog proof (that’s as important as asthesthics for us), will flex with the movement of the RV, has lifetime warranty and requires no waxing – just a simple damp mopping. WOO-HOO, what more could a gal want.

With the amazing looking new floors, we now need a new couch and are heading down to Perch Furniture to order a custom built, super stylish, black leather couch. It will take 8-12 weeks to build so we might have to hit the road with out the couch but the factory is in LA and they will ship it to wherever we are. The folks at Perch were super helpful and so jazzed that one of their sofas is going in a RV. Who knows maybe we will start a trend in stylish RV furniture 🙂

Stay tuned, there are more mods happening!

What a glorious sunset we had to complete our final dinner on the dock. Our feast included fresh steamed crab, arugula and tomato salad, garlic foccicca bread and  Lange Pinot Rose.

We are back at Anchor Cove Marina…the boat is washed and today we will head back to reality!

Not sure why we have never visited Patos Island as we discovered what a gem it is yesterday. The water was like a pond so it was the perfect day to take the whaler ride over there from Sucia.

Patos Island Marine State Park is a 207-acre marine park with 20,000-feet of saltwater shoreline. The island is owned by the federal government and is administered by the Bureau of Land Management’s Wenatchee Office. The Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission operates a small campground facility at Active Cove near the west side of the island, maintains a 1.5 mile loop trail, and has two offshore mooring buoys but we only saw one.

The lighthouse is beautifully maintained and looks to be open for tours but was closed on our visit. We had the entire island to ourselves and enjoyed the loop trail  that follows the shoreline and cuts through the woods.

Mr. Bentley enjoyed the trip and the leash free play time too! Hanging on the buoy at Patos is now on my bucket list.

Couldn’t resist the call of the water so we are back on the boat for a short trip out to Sucia Island. Yes, we should be working in the garage, culling through boxes and getting ourselves ready to go nomad in the fall!

We left Anacortes yesterday morning and had a very nice cruise over to Sucia, got our favorite dock spot, took a nice walk on the beach with Mr. Bentley and settled in for a few days of crabbing, hiking and general R&R.

Rain was in the forecast and it did arrive in the late afternoon while I was fixing a Black Bean Chicken Tortilla Soup. It was warm and cozy in the boat so soon everyone but me was napping.

Just as we sat down to dinner, the most beautiful rainbow appeared over the island, touching down in the water out in the bay.

Today, we woke to the sun and clear blue skies…a perfect San Juan day. Crabbing is open today so of course we will be getting a pot in the water.

Road House is a 2003 Safari Cheetah made by Monaco with all the bells and whistles. While she is a lightly used coach, we want to make a few upgrades to make her really feel like our home.

We are looking at new LVT wood plank flooring, new carpet, LED lights, a few cabinet changes and a oven to name a few. Oh, and maybe a new couch and chair – mid century modern, if we can get it through the small RV door.

Wally found a get deal on a new Atwood propane stove/oven combo that will slide into the existing space, once a drawer or two are removed. Being a handy guy, he feels confident this will be a fairly simple project.

Mr. Handy has got it in and now is working on the trim and drawers. So excited, to be able to bake! YAY, fresh bread!!! Stay tuned for more updates…

Sorry I am not posting this real time, but I promise to get my act together. From our trip up north 8/6 – 8/14.

Another glorious week on Beach House in the San Juans. Glorious in terms of the weather and the fact CRAB season is open. I LOVE CRAB …it is the perfect food and so exciting to pull up the pots and have those mean crabbies come rushing at you.

The females are spared the trip to the dinner table as you can only keep 6 1/4 inch males. I am not really sure if I should share this but the dungness crabs in the San Juan Islands are far bigger and better than the dinky Oregon crabs. Okay, I said it but not to worried cause you really need a boat to get out there and get’em.

I told you they were monsters!!!

We had a nice cruise from our marina in Anacortes over to Westcott Bay which is on the west side of San Juan Island. Found a nice anchorage near the seafood farm (more on that later).

San Juan Island has some great history and was actually occupied by the the British and the Americans at one point as there was a major dispute over boundary and which country had possession of the islands. http://www.sanjuanweb.com/history/

We love the plethora of substance fishing to be done, the orcas and the acess to so some great hiking trails.

Charming Mitchell Bay is just a quick whaler ride around the corner from our anchorage so we took a cruise over there one afternoon to look at the event renovations and maybe say hello to our favorite whale watch charter captain – Jim Maya.

Crab dinner with a bottle of sparking Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand. Oh, and the view doesn’t suck either!

Lots of walking and hiking to be done in sound this area. We spent one afternoon doing a 4 mile RT walk to Roche Harbor. We could have easily taken the whaler around ro Roche but we needed to put in some miles to feel really good about our bottle of wine a night habit.

Scored the beautiful shrimp at the fresh seafood boat in Roche and the clams, mussels and oysters at the seafood farm in Wescott. Our last night in Wescott Bay we feasted on the grilled oysters and the other treasures went in a seafood paella the next night.

 

After 4 quiet nights at Wescott Bay, we pulled anchor and cruised over to Hunter Bay off the east end of Lopez Isand to meet friends on the “Pinch Me”.

More crabbing, kayaking, feasting and general dubauchery ensued f0r the next 4 days. I forgot to mention that Bentley and Sucia had a great trip too.

I will spare you the drudgery of us refueling the boat, pumping the head and vacuuming up all the crab shells and pet hair. Rest assured, it’s not all fun and games on the Beach House! I thought you would enjoy this final photo which I took of the young gal who captained the very popular mobile pump a pooper at Roche Harbor.

 

June 25…Wally’s last day of wearing the Intel suit (khakis and a polo shirt) rolled by in a blur as we rushed around frantically getting the Roadhouse ready for its first trip which also coincided with Wally’s birthday. Our destination was the Columbia Sun RV Resort in Kennewick Washington.

I am guessing many of you are wondering…why the heck Kennewick? Well, 37 wineries in 37 miles, golfing, bicycle trails, farmers markets, Walla Walla winery’s only 60 minutes away….are you getting the picture??? Okay, we have some great friends who offered to host a party at their place on Canyon Lakes Golf Course for the old retired dude. PLUS if that wasn’t enough reasons, it was a really easy drive from Portland in the Roadhouse…except the wind. But that’s another story!

The resort was beautiful and a some friends had the site all decorated when we got there.

We had a wonderful weekend with friends, visited some great winery’s and feasted on amazing food provided by Chef Steve and his dessert chef Leslie.

We did manage to squeeze a trip over to Walla Walla to visit some winery’s and of course we had to go to Wally’s favorite haunt from college, The Ice-Berg. Best burger , fries and shakes ever…ate so much we practically couldn’t even taste wine. Don’t worry we did make it to Isenhower, Beresan, Balboa and Basel Cellars.

On the road again…just can’t wait to get on the road again, love that good ole Willy Nelson song. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NvwojnLeMH4

Well, we weren’t quite on the road but Wally made a first pre-trip trip to Superior Tire for new rubber for the Road House. Despite the tires only having 17,000 miles on them, research suggested we should replace them as when tires sit still, as when a motorhome is in storage, they start to dry out and age faster. What whoa, this coach has been stilling still a lot and the tires were the original. A blow out in a 30,000 pound vehicle was not my idea of a good time so $2,927.28 later we were on the road again!

Better safe than sorry, and we are planning to age those tires out from miles not UV!!!