SCHREINER'S IRIS GARDEN

One of the things that I discovered while spending three months in Salem, Oregon this summer, was this beautiful place known as the "Iris Garden". It is located only five miles from the RV park where I am staying. The 10-acre garden is only open from the middle of May to the middle of June. They have about 60 varieties of Irises on display. Shonda and Jim went with me to take in the colorful plants. Shonda bought several plants to be shipped to her house in Apple Valley in September. She will try and get them to grow there. Here are a few pictures of the garden:

                                  

Below are several hundred acres of Iris plants to sell

What Happens In Eugene . . .

On my way to Salem, Oregon, I stayed in the Eugene area for the better part of two weeks. My list of coach repairs had six or seven items on it so I stopped there at my favorite RV repair shop, Quality Coach Services, to have my repair list attended to. One of the items was the crack in the windshield that occurred when a rock hit it while traveling north on I-5 in the Red Bluff area of California a week or so earlier. A Glass Co. sent out a repairman to stop the crack from spreading while I was parked at Quality Coach. Also they took care of another item on my list and that was the poor condition of the headlight lenses. I spent a few days there having repair work done to the coach.

After which, I jumped into the car and spent one day exploring the beautiful countryside just south of Eugene. I love to travel country roads that meander through the hills and small valleys in that area. I was not the only one  doing so, because the day was just perfect for such activity and it seemed like every motorcycle in Eugene was also out there enjoying the scenery.

After leaving Eugene, I traveled a short distance to the town of Junction City, where I parked the coach in back of Davis Cabinets so they could modify the TV cabinet in the bedroom to accept a new 26" HD TV.

 Two years ago I had the front TV changed to HD and the new tuner did not get along with the old SD TV in the bedroom. So it was Out With The Old bedroon TVset. . . .

. . . and In With The New. They ran a 5-conductor cable from the front tuner trough the over-head air conditioning duct the rear of the coach to the bedroom TV.

This made a new storage cabinet so I could move some of the "stuff" out of the crowded closet.

Now everything is finally working like it should!

Railroad Museum

On my way to Salem, OR last Sunday, I stopped in Sacramento at the California State Railroad Museum. They have an impressive collection of early steam engines that look like they just came off the assembly line.

(below)

The engineer of the above engine is looking good.

The following picture is of the only remaining Southern Pacific Cab Forward. As I stood next to it, I could almost feel the heat being radiated from the fire box. I could hear the rhythmic pules of the water pump and heard the bell ringing. I glanced up at the smoke box where the air pumps were mounted and saw steam leaking from the pump seals as the pressure rose. 

 Suddenly, I found myself sitting in the engineer's seat of 4294. The steam pressure gauge read 250 lbs. and I knew she was ready to roll. I slipped my sweaty hand onto the throttle. Through the front window I could see that the track was clear and the conductor was giving me the high-ball. I just had to do it... I pulled that throttle open just a little and I felt the mighty engine surge forward.

Thick black smoke filled the room as the engine made its way down the track to exit the building onto the awaiting turn table.

Sea Planes On Lake Havasu

Every Tuesday morning (weather permitting) a group of radio control plane enthusiasts gather on the shore of Lake Havasu to fly. I attended two such gatherings and was amazed at the variety of aircraft that they put in the air.





All the way from these two planes made from Styrofoam (with an electric motor attached) to a scaled model of a real airplane (below).









The plane below is what they called a Flying W.



When a plane has a malfunction, the pilot gets in a boat that is standing by and retrieves the plane.



Even a PBY flew in to pay us a visit.





They hauled it off the lake (below) to do some much needed repairs.

The BIG BANG

One of the events that I attended while in Lake Havasu City, AZ was the annual convention of the Western Pyrotechnic Association. There were three evenings where great fire works were presented by some of the largest Pyrotechnic companies in America. It was one of those situation where you had to be there to appreciate fully the event. Here are just a few of over 200 photos that I took.

Normally aerial fire works shells are 4 to 8 inches in diameter. They made on shell that had a 24- inch diameter. It weighed 104 lbs and was shot almost one half mile into the sky. The following photo is that shell. Like I said, "You had to of been there!"

It took a while for the fall out to reach the ground (below). It looked like a curtain about 3/4 of a mile wide.

Be in Lake Havasu City on Presidents Day weekend next February to enjoy this experience. The show is free.

The Cream Team

As a member of the Golden Spike Chapter of Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA), I was involved with distributing ice cream for the Ice Cream Social during the FMCA's Western Area Rally in Indio, CA in January. We handed out over 4,000 ice cream bars during the event. Tough duty, but someone has to do it.