I need your support!

Dear Friends and Family, I have accepted the challenge and am participating in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. Did you know that every three minutes, another woman in the United States is diagnosed with breast cancer? I didn't, and I was shocked to learn how prevalent this horrible disease has become in this country. I am eager to get started with my fundraising and I need your support! I have pledged to raise money for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer as part of my participation in the walk. Your contribution will help to support medical research into the possible causes of and cure for breast cancer, education and early detection programs, and clinical care and support services for women with breast cancer in communities across the country. There is a special focus on helping medically underserved women, the poor, minorities, the elderly, or those with inadequate health insurance. And much of the money granted by the Foundation goes back to the communities where it was raised, supporting everything from local grassroots programs to national organizations. It is faster and easier than ever to support this great cause - you can make a donation online by simply clicking on the link at the bottom of this message. Whatever you can give will help! I truly appreciate your support and will keep you posted on my progress. Thank you for your support; you really do make a difference. Click here to visit my personal page. If the text above does not appear as a clickable link, you can visit the web address: http://info.avonfoundation.org/site/TR/Walk2009/Denver?px=4446869&pg=personal&fr_id=1810&et=ItLfH39_8N9NQ0SXcA8mEg..&s_tafId=341836 Some email systems may send your response to the Avon Foundation, not to your walker/donor when you push "reply". Before "sending", please confirm that your message is addressed to your intended recipient (above). If info@avonfoundation.org appears as a recipient, please delete and add the correct recipient email.

Ongoing Project

Before, during, and after. We had to replace the insulation behind the shower as it had leaked at some time and turned the normally pink insulation black. Ick!! We put in a new window and will be putting in a new shower surround and tiling the floor.

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The House Project

Saturday, we went for a 225 mile ride towards Chinook Pass and back down White Pass. It was a gorgeous day for a ride. After the ride, we went to Grandview, WA where they were having a grape stomp competition that my sister and niece were participating in. It was a ton of fun! The grapes were squashed by teams of three. The winning team came all the way from Wyoming to take the prize. Their son-in-law's family has something to do with one of the local wineries, so they came all the way to help out.

Sunday, we gutted the bathroom in our new house and went to Tri-Cities and bought a bunch of new stuff to put in. Jim finished gutting it tonight so he could add more insulation to the walls.







Tomorrow the project will continue.

Update

Howdy all, just an update on our adventure. Penn is working for an irrigation company. They supply the water to the farmers. I am helping the local motorcycle shop out in the service dept. As if that is not enough with the care taking of Penn's parents and property, we have a job one weekend a month changing the ads in the shopping carts at several stores. we felt we were getting too much sleep so we bought a fixer upper from Penn's parents. Their renter moved out and they did not want the hassle of another renter, so they made us a deal on the place. It has 3 bdrms, 1 bath. It is just over 1000 sqft, has a nice garage/shop, out building, trees and is on five acres. Plan is to have the inside fixed up by Thanksgiving and move into it. next spring get the outside done. So when the situation with Penn's parents change we we sell it and hit the road again. Penn's cat Buddy keeps us entertained. Tonight just as the sun was going down, Buddy was sitting on top of my car when a large owl swooped down and at the last minute it decided Buddy was too big for dinner and aborted the mission. Buddy bristled up, the owl was on the fence post and Buddy still on top of the car in a stare off. Still enjoying life, its all good, J&P

A job!

I finally got a good job - and it's local. I only have to drive about 10 miles to work. It's a great job and the people have been really good to work with. Jim's working full time at the Yamaha dealer now.

We are also in the process of buying a house and five acres. It was a rental house of my parents and just down the road from them. Their renter moved out and they don't want to rent any longer, so we're going to take it off their hands and fix it up.

It has a small garage, so that makes Jim happy, and the interior needs lots of decorating, so that makes me happy.

Haircut

I did forget to share this. Jim decided to get a hair cut. He donated almost 12" of hair to Locks of Love.

August Update

I thought it was time to post a short update.

There hasn't been much going on around here. We've been taking short rides. I have close to 5,000 miles on my bike. Most of them from riding with Jim between his trips to and from California where he works occasionally for his Dad. When he's not working for his Dad he works at Desert Valley Powersports in Prosser as a mechanic.

I've been looking for a job. I've sent out numerous resumes and gone to a couple of interviews. One of the main obstacles in this area is that I am not bilingual. Yesterday I signed up at a temp agency who thought they wouldn't have any problems finding me something. I passed all the clerical/data entry/math tests with flying colors. I may end up having to commute about 40 miles though.

We have been asked several times what our future plans are. The main reason we are here is because my Dad has Parkinson's. My parents own about 15 acres, counting a rental property and a piece they are holding a contract on. My Mom is having to take care of all of it because my Dad isn't able to do it anymore. She is in her mid seventies and needs hip surgery and my Dad is 80. We thought this would be a good time for us to help them out since we're not tied down to a fixed location.

It's been hard living here. It's not a pleasant place to live. The crime is high and it's not an area we would normally live near. One of our goals when we first took off was to find a place to live and we haven't found that place yet. We've found several we don't want to live in, and we have some ideas of places that we liked, but we aren't finished exploring yet. It's been difficult to settle back into a routine and having a fixed schedule.

We are looking forward to continuing our adventures when we are able to. In the meantime, we'll take short trips and keep plugging along so when we are able to hit the road we can go for several months again.

First Impression of a New Ride

Jim and I made the mistake of going to the local Yamaha dealer's open house a couple of weekends ago. Desert Valley Powersports - Prosser, Wa - GREAT PLACE. As soon as we walked in the door there was a yellow R6 right in the way. It was like a magnet. Like that Radio Shack commercial where the woman and her husband are walking down the hallway of a mall and she's talking away but he's been sucked into the Radio Shack store - I was drawn to that pretty yellow bike. I sat on it - way to tall. We looked at it and tried to figure out where luggage would even fit. I told myself I was perfectly happy with my old (2005) R6. I didn't need a new bike. I wasn't even looking for a bike. My old bike had 37,000 very happy, very satisfied miles on it. Never had a bit of a problem with it. Still looks brand new.

After dragging me away from the bike we made our way to the parts counter and while Jim was waiting for the parts guy to look something up for him he made the mistake of "suggesting" I go ask the dealership owner how much he'd sell that pretty yellow bike for, using my bike as a trade in. Before the words even finished leaving Jim's mouth, I was gone! I think I may have even ran someone over trying to get over there. (Not really, but it sounds good!)

I took my brand spanking new, bright yellow R6 out for a short 150 mile ride today. I've been back almost two hours and am still grinning! What a blast.

It's way tall for me. I had to find the tallest pair of boots I have and wear those instead of my regular riding boots, and still could only get one foot down. However, once I got used to it, the bike is so light it's not really that bad. I started practicing only putting one foot down last year anyway, so that helped a lot. On my previous bike we cut the seat down so I fit better. This bike's bodywork is wider so we won't be able to do that. I ordered some lowering links that should be here any day. We're going to take more time setting up the bike than we have in the past when we've lowered bikes. May also play with the suspension first too, to see if that helps.

It's a little wider than my previous bike and leaned over a bit more. At first I thought "oh oh" but once I got used to it decided I like it better. On my other bike my right wrist almost always went numb shortly after taking off. On this one it didn't do that. Must have been a strange angle on the other bike.

On this bike I feel like I'm taller (up in the air more) when I'm on the bike. We used to have a Bandit and when I rode it, it felt like I was way up in the air. This one feels like that too. I don't think it's that much taller than my previous R6. Not sure what causes that feeling.

It sounds so cool! Not sure if it's the short pipe on it or what, but I can hear the bike's engine more than the last few bikes I've had....and it sounds good!

The only complaint I have is the seat - harder than a rock! Doesn't Yamaha know there's softer foam out there?

Did I mention that it's pretty and yellow? And takes off from stop signs really, really fast?

HEEEEHEEEEE!!!!!!

For links to more riders blogs.


http://www.mbiweb.org/

Our newest toy - a 1999 Mazda Miata. Jim bought this for me on Valentine's Day, so I'm telling everyone it was my Valentine's Day gift. It's my winter-time motorcycle.

We're still in Sunnyside. Jim's going to be working in California mid-March. I have been working at a local farm in the office.

Jim's been working on his brother's Ascot, trying to keep himself busy and trying not to go crazy because he left his bike at his brother's place in Palm Desert.

Short update

Just a short update - Jim turned the big 4-0 on January 14th. He got a brand new 2007 Yamaha FZ6 to celebrate the big day. He traded in his FJR at Desert Valley Motorsports, who have been great to work with.

http://www.sunnysidemotorcycle.com/


For Christmas, my sister gave us a cat. We named him Buddy. Buddy rules the roost and thinks he is a dog. He tries to (pretend) bury his food and occasionally begs when we eat. He is turning into the king and we are his loyal subjects.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

The adventure of a life time

Some of you asked how the trip was and is. Here is a cliff note version. We put
29000 miles on in 5.5 months and we still did not do or see as much as we
thought we would. Do not get me wrong we had a great time and do not regret
what we did or did not do. We made a lot more friends, put faces to names
and saw things you would not traveling down the freeway at 80. We rode into
Dryersburg Tn for lunch, the owner of the cafe asked if we were there for
the rally? What rally I asked? He said the boss hoss rally. He gave us
directions to the town square, it was a town square. Boss hoss's everywhere.
We were able to sit on some. It is things like this that has happened, that
one could not plan in a two week vacation. Most part everyone was friendly
and helpful. We sure did meet some interesting people. We did learn that ALL
of Quebec Canada speaks french. I do not, and we were lost in the country
some where trying to get directions. I love you BC guys:) We have a lot more
stories, those are for later around the campfire. Our plan is to travel this
summer also, staying closer to the west side at least until labor day
weekend, lobster is so good and than we are off to Newfoundland. We sure
missed all our friends here in the west. We are now living in Sunnyside Wa,
in a 39 foot fifth wheel trailer on Penn's parents small ranch. We are
helping out where ever we can. Hope to see you all
real soon. Oh yea we liked Ore-gun, SC,Tenn, Ark are the four states we
would live in, that is as of right now, have not made it to the southern
states yet. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night. Enjoy
the ride, life is too short not to eat dessert first, J&P or P&J your pick:)

The move to Sunnyside

Howdy everyone,

An update of where we are and how we are doing. We decided to move to
Sunnyside Washington to be closer to Penn's parents to help them out.
Here is our story on the move. Came up to Sunnyside to get the trailer
spot ready. Don and Lorraine are Penn's parents, they have a piece of
property that is between them and Penn's nephew's (Lance) place. There
is a new septic system on it. We had to locate the septic tank; Don
and Randy (Penn's bro) located it.

Monday we drove to Sunnyside, 750 miles 8 hours:(

Tuesday we dug and found the inlet pipe and brought it to the surface
and prepared it for the trailer dump hose. Then we located the
irrigation pipes, this way I would not cut through them with the
trencher. The trench is for the electric and water.

Wednesday we rented a trencher and dug the ditch, 340 feet from the
house, and 260 from the well. While I was trenching Penn and Lorraine
dug out around the irrigation pipes I did not cut through. Lorraine is
74 years old and out worked Penn and I. Trenching was easy work, but
the machine was worn out. The chain jammed once, no problem I had the
proper tool to repair it, 8 pound sledge hammer. Then Penn and I ran
the water line and electrical conduit.

Woke up Thursday morning to 4 inches of snow. Penn and I finished
gluing the conduit together, and then we finished connecting the water
line to the well. Turned the breaker marked well off, Penn stood in
the yard with a hose running the pressure out of the tank, well the
breaker was for the old well, Penn stood there for 10 minutes and the
pressure never changed. Now I had to call Randy and ask him which
breaker he used for the new well. Once the correct breaker was flipped
it did not take long to run the pressure out of the system. Than I
built the landing pad for the trailer, by the end of the day we had
water, septic hook up and a landing pad. Again Lorraine out worked us.

Friday morn Randy and his crew came over and ran the power to the
landing spot. It only took them about and hour and a half to run the
wires, connect to the breaker box and connect and mount the plug to
the pole. Fast and easy when you have professionals at hand, Randy is
an electrical contractor and has his own business. I drove back to
Selma to get the trailer ready to be moved. Penn and Lorraine filled
in the ditch, Penn said her mom out worked her again.

Saturday I prepped the trailer, Dad and uncle Pat came up to move the trailer.

Sunday we got up at 5:00am connected the trailer to the pickup and
drove to Sunnyside. It was raining, at times it was a frog strangling
rain. Called Penn from Cascade Locks Oregon to find out if Satus Pass
was clear, no it had packed snow and ice, traction tires required.
After some discussion and ice cream we opted to go around the pass. It
only added about 40 minutes to the trip. We tried to get here before
dark, missed it by about an hour. There was still snow on the field in
which we placed the trailer. Dad pulled into the field and started to
spin, uncle Pat and I chained up dad's rear tires. Dad was able to
move until he throw a chain and got stuck, had to get the ford tractor
to pull him out, got the chain back on. The front of the tractor was
raising up, uncle Pat volunteered to lay across the nose and hold it
down, let the rodeo begin. After much maneuvering the trailer was in
place. Penn and her mom went and got dinner KFC, after dinner and a
beer we all felt better. I love living in a trailer, the moving is
simple, couple hours to prepare the trailer, couple more to organize
it when you arrive.

Monday Dad and Uncle Pat left at 6:45 am, the snow was gone.

Penn and I appreciate and thank you for all your help. Everyone went
above and beyond the call of duty and no one died.

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a happy new year. See you soon.

Here are our new addresses, mailing is POBox 697 Sunnyside Wa, 98944.
Physical address is 530 Camp Lane, Sunnyside Wa, 98944

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, hope to see you real soon J&P

Update

We're now living in Sunnyside, WA next to my parents.  We decided since we didn't have much to do in the Grants Pass area we might as well move to Sunnyside to help my parents out around their farm.

Hoping to get Internet service soon and will have more updates then.

Just after leaving Portland, we hit a big hail storm.





Having the trailer delivered and set up.





Our new home.





The surrounding area.