We left Potlatch State Park this morning and arrived at Illahee State Park around 11:30am. It is only an hour and a half trip so we didn't have to go far. We saw Cindy, the Senior Park Aid and she welcomed us and then we went to our camp site. It is a better site then Potlatch with more sunshine and light filtering through the trees. Our first attempt to get into our site was unsuccessful. Dave thought it would be better to go the wrong way up the hill a little then back into the slip. Well that didn't work. We had cars waiting to come down the hill and leave and we were blocking the way. Well now they know we are here!!! Ha! Dave tried several times but we had rocks and trees to tend with. A gentleman was walking through the park and stopped to help. He was able to talk to Dave right outside the truck window so I didn't have to holler. Made it much better. We finally got backed up to where Dave could drive around the loop and then back in the correct way. It was much easier, however, Dave said he almost didn't get around one of the corners on the loop due to the big trees next to the road. Large trailers aren't meant to come in here. But we have landed. We met Cindy down by the office and took a tour of it and the shop. She gave us a white binder filled with information we had to read. Then later on we met with the head mechanic, Alisha. Young and such a great personality. She took us through the shop and handed out ear and eye protection and gloves. She showed us how to operate the gator, which we knew but that is her job to make sure everyone knows how to run things safely. She gave us a black binder filled with stuff to read and forms to sign from her and Cindy. We didn't have to do any of that at Potlatch. My head was swimming and I was overwhelmed. We start work tomorrow and we had all this reading to do. We were told we could take our time. So I relaxed and I got everything set up. Really like the camp site. Nice and quiet too as at Potlatch it is right off the busy 101 hwy. We met one of the park aids, Rick but he didn't seem to thrilled. There was another park aid that didn't like talking so we only see him passing by at night to check bathrooms and collect garbage.
The main ranger, John was off on vacation so Cindy had Ranger and her duties to do which was a lot.
There weren't too many people camping so we didn't have a lot to do at first. But on the weekends the park was full and come Sunday we have the majority of the camp sites to clean. There are only 24 camp sites here as opposed to 93 at Potlatch. It seems like a vacation.
I walk the park and pick up trash, but since there hasn't been a lot of people here there hasn't been a lot of it. The park only opened at the 1st of August so not a lot of people know it is open yet. The park was shut down for 3 years due to a drainage problem and then Covid-19. When the park was open before that there were a lot of homeless people that took over the park in the winter and caused a lot of damage. So now the park is limited to how long the homeless can stay and they took a lot of those campsites in the hill away and it now is the new drain field. The rangers and aids worked hard to get the park cleaned up and ready to open. Unfortunately the state didn't give them a lot of time to do it. But the park looks great and it is clean.
Dave and I go around and clean the empty campsites. We take the leftover burned wood out of the fire pits and the ash and make it look nice. I pick up the garbage if any, and then rake the site so it looks like it wasn't used. I also have walked around blowing leaves off the driveway of the campsites and road into the them. Dave and I sell firewood here too.
There are some days there isn't much to do but then other days there is enough to keep us busy. Dave has mowed the lawn at our campsite and I have pulled weeds. Just all the things to make it look clean and presentable. There are only 2 full hook up sites out of the 25. Ours is one and the one next to us. The rest is for tenting and dry camping. The campsites are pretty large and some have room for 2 good size tents.
We get visited by deer once in a while.
There is a water front which has a dock and picnic areas so Dave and I go down there in the mornings to pick up any garbage and check out how the people were doing crabbing off the dock.
There were a couple days I didn't have any energy at all. I overworked my back, but I just think I got burned out at Potlatch, and now I just want to slow down and relax. But I am making sure I do some things I want to on our days off instead of just laundry and grocery shopping. It is relaxed here and I think I miss the Potlatch group as we interacted with them everyday and had fun. Well things are always different every where you go.
We heard from Fort Flagler State Park and we will not be hosting there this year. We don't know right now what we will be doing but I am sure something will show up.
Doctor visits are scheduled for me this month. I had my hearing tested and yep----I'm losing my hearing. It is getting worse so one of these years soon I will need hearing aids. Oh well. It will be better than not being able to hear conversations in a crowed room or low voices on the TV.
Got my eyes checked and I need to get a new prescription. I just need to get new lenses as I am using the existing frames. I don't need to wear the glasses all the time but if the light is dim and the print small, I need them. I am supposed to wear them when I drive which I don't, but I do wear them when Dave and I are on the road traveling as it helps him read signs and read the map. So it is what it is.
Went in and had my blood work done for cholesterol. It is high. I ran out of fish oil in Bahia so I thought I would see if it made a difference. Fish oil is expensive so I thought I might be able to save us some money. Test results came back high. Last year it was 246, this year it is 258. Not good and the LDL is getting higher as well. I am on a statin so it is helping. The doctor wanted to talk to me about it so I was concerned I would have my dose increased or put on a new statin. I changed doctors online last year so haven't met the new one yet, but talking to him over the phone, he seems to be up on research and all. He said to continue to do what I am doing and I should be alright. He did research on the percentage of total cholesterol I have now, which was 6.5% which is high. But if I keep taking the statin and watching what I eat it would go down to 10% in 10 years. So it will prevent me from having a stroke or heart attack. So I was thrilled. He wasn't sure about the fish oil but he said the purist fish oil has a better chance in helping lower cholesterol. So I will be going back on the fish oil.
Dave went to help a friend with her anchor on her boat. It doesn't move up or down. It is frozen. Well she is going to have to order another windless as that one is shot. Ouch!!! That's about $3,000.
We had a visit from Jonathan, my youngest and his two boys today. It was a great day to be outside. We had a nice visit. It was good to see them.
The weather has been wonderful and only one day it was it 98 degrees. That is hot for the great NW. We finally turned on our air conditioner in the trailer late afternoon to cool it down inside. One thing about the weather here is it doesn't stay hot long. It cooled down to more comfortable temperatures like lower 80's upper 70's.
We were able to get to know the Senior Park Aid, Cindy, and the two park aids, Rich and John. Nice people they have on staff and hard workers. It was a pleasure working with them.
We only have 2 more weeks here and then we have to leave. We haven't heard from any rangers needing hosts so I think we will be done for the year. I think we will be heading back to our friends backyard for September. In a way I have mixed feelings about not hosting but I think it is a good thing to not be. We have to get the trailer all cleaned up and toward the end of September get it winterized. We decided it was cheaper to get it winterized by the dealer than to do it ourselves. All we need to do is get a new cover for the trailer as the one we had was too small. We measured it and all and it said on the box it would fit, but guess what-----it didn't. We ended up giving that one to Ernie as it will fit his trailer.
We had some thunder and lightning the other night. We thought it was going to pour but it didn't. The next morning it was sunny and beautiful.
Last night we had a few sprinkles of rain it is supposed to rain tonight. It really needs it here as everything is dry but it is only lasting for about 2 days and then the weather clears up.
Had a visit with my dermatologist and she looked at my face and ears. Last year I put the cancer therapy cream on my face for 2 weeks, but at the end of that time we were heading back to Mexico. I told her that before she gave me the treatment. So now she is looking at my skin. She says it is so much better but I still have a spot she is wanting to take a sample of and have it looked at. Also on my ear she took a sample. In a couple days I got a call with the results. The forehead was non cancerous, but the ear had Basil Carcenoma which is a skin cancer that shows up a lot on people who have been in the sun a lot. It is slow growing which is good and it shouldn't spread. However, I need to see a Mohl doctor who does special surgery removing tissue. They remove tissue and test it and if they got all of the cancer then I am good to go. If not they have to take another sample and do it again until there is no more traces of the cancer. Who knows---I might end up with a funny looking ear. Ha!! As long as they get it all I really don't care. Gives me things to make up if anyone asks about it. Heheheh!
