darrel

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to ALL. An update on Christmas in Victoria. Had High Tea at the Empress, man was if relaxing, about 1 1/2 hours of sipping tea and eating. Stayed the first night at Royal Suite Hotel, and a Butchart Garden tour, the next 3 nights at West Bay RV park. A 2 week road trip, 1342 miles and a 17.2 MPG. That works out to 95 miles a day. And no mishaps. Fireworks and Champagne tonight. Darrel Next going to Quartzite, Az will rondevu with my brothers down there.

You can take a shotgun, with the proper paperwork, but definitely not a pistol.

Thats more than likely, we do have points available to spend.

A Christmas get away for us. Going to beautiful Victoria, BC for a few days. Leaving on the 15th to my wifes sister home in Eugene,Or for one nite. Spend one nite in the Cabelas parking lot Lacy,Wa then to Paulsbo, Wa. A nite cruise on the ""Christmas Ship" around the harbor. The 18th, Black Ball ferry wil take us across the straight of juan de fuca from Port angeles to Victoria. One nite at the Royal court Suite hotel a nite tour of Butchart Gardens then 3 nites at Westbay rv park. Many interesting things to do in Victoria. Then back to Port Angeles and then to my brothers home for Christmas, Back home around the 29th. No, this will not be like the hill road trip. Darrel and Gwen

Lee, Thanks for expounding on our adventure. You are a better story teller than I. When Gwen and I talk things over, we figure the grade must have been much steeper than 22 degrees because I know we pulled a 28 degree hill in SE oregon with no problem.

No Search and Rescue did not charge for their help, but I gave them 200 dollars for their fund. Dont have GoodSam or AAA coverage. The tow truck was 150 dollars per hour but they settled for 350. Thats a totol of 550. Could have had a very nice B&B. We have the 22r carburated 4cyl engine 4 speed. Darrel

A few days ago my wife and I decided to explore a new road to us. The "Lone mountain" road out of O'Brian, Oregon to Patricks creek, ca area. It was a cloudy day with rain clouds. We had not plotted the road and were not sure where it would lead us to except to hwy 199 in California. We spent the first nite along a beautiful stream and ventured off the next morning. Yes we got lost or turned around, didn't read the road signs correctly or whatever. Anyway we got on the wrong road and were making our way up and I do mean UP this road which turned out to be THE WRONG WAY. We got stuck. We ran out of power and the old Dolphin would not move forward. Tried to back down, 2.9 miles, but the front end would not respond to any commands. The front wheels would only lock-up under braking and skid, it would not steer. We were headed toward a drop off off off off damn that was scary. Called 911. Only way to get cell phone response and put on extended service. Anyway a tow truck was dispatched from Grants Pass,or. This was at 2:30PM. They searched until 10:00PM and could not locate us. Yes it is dark now very dark. Yes we did spend the nite up on the mountain. It's very difficult to sleep when your bed is at a 22 or so degree angle. My wife slid out of bed and toppled onto her head, boy I heard of that. Not much sleep that nite. It was bad. Anyway A guy on a motorcycle road up the mountain and drew a map of our location which we passed on to Search and Rescue. This guy is a life saver. He is a member of this forum. What a coincidence, two weeks or so ago we were in Brookings,oregon and met a woman in the Bi-mart parking lot. She said she had a toyota sunrader motor home. Yes these two people are a couple, Lee and Joan. "THANK YOU". Search and Rescue got us out of our fix by winching us up to an area that we could turn around and drive down the mountain. Hit US199 at 5:30PM 28 hours later. Darrel and his understanding wife

We also drive I-5 all the time, my speed is 50-53 no matter what the posted speed limit is. I couldn"t agree with Jeffery more, that is a good speed for MPG. I would say that 45 would be the best for MPG in our 84 Dolphid. We consistantly get 18MPG, that is an average for the past 53 thousand miles. Darrel

My wife and I spent a week at our daughters home in Peoa,ut. The temp dropped to 13-20 degrees and up to 28 or so. The gray and black tanks were about 1/2-3/4 full. I didnt think to much about it until we were on our way home, then I did. They were frozen solid, took 4 days and lower elevation and warmer weather to thaw them out. Will not do that again. Darrel

While sitting in the hot tub last nite, I got to wondering if anyone would like a get together for the 2012 Kinetic grand championship race held in northern Ca. A web site to look at is:: www.kineticgrandchampionship.com . The race is three days, 42 miles long bicycle race over land, sand, mud and water. We attender "as spectators" last year and had a BLAST. Race begins on 5-26 in Arcata an ends in Ferndale on the 28th. My wife and I will be there for all three days. I plan on staying the nite of the 25 and 26 at the end of the Samoa bridge in Eureka, that's only a few miles from Arcata and where the racers end the first day and the jump off point for the second day. The camping here is dry and free. The 27th we will be in the Ferndale fair grounds where water, electricity, and dump is available, dry camping is $10 p/nite. Also includer is free showers. This is short notice and is also Memorial weekend but if you are interested you will have fun. Checkout the web site.. Darrel This is an add on. After this weekend we'll go north to Puyallup, wa for the Mother Earth News fair june 2-3 then to Vancouver island for the get-to-gether. Darrel

Hi all, We also will be at this get together . Tried to make it last year but were not able to. Just put the money down on a $18 site for the 22,23,24th, wow it has electricity and water. We rarely have such luxeries.We were planning to be on the island in June so this will work out just great. Looking forward to meeting everyone. It's my wife's 70th birth year and she wants to have high tea at the Empress hotel . We live in Grants pass, oregon and plan on being on the island for a month or so. Darrel and Gun

Tika, This is Darrel. We planed on rolling into Qrartzsite today but will not make it. We are still in Eugene with a very sick brother-in law, in and out of the hospital. Darrel

We plan attending but not until the 22nd I hope. Have to run up to Eugene for a couple of days, an appointment on the 16-17 then run south to a warmer climate. Darrel

Has anyone any interest in a get-to-gether in Quartzite this comming year 2012? Darrel

I have run 45 to 60# front and rear over the past 4 years and 41K miles. Tires are Nexen 185-R-14 made in Korea. I would recomend them to anyone. Anyway the last time I got the oil changed the tires had about 5-32's of tread left and running fairly true across the surface. At 45# the rig runs smother over bumps than at 60#, but gas mileage is a little better at 60#. My rig weights out at 6700# on the state of oregon weigh stations, that is when loaded up for a trip. Darrel

We have a 1984 dolphin rear loung. We live in Grants Pass, Oregon. This picture was taken last summer at the Artic Circle, Youkon Territory, Canada. Darrel & Gun

GAS MILEAGE, What a debate. We took a 2,767 mile road trip this past may. Left southern Oregon to Las vegas, to Peoa,Utah, to Reno , then home. Put the 84 Dolphin on cruise control at 52 MPH.Would increase speed down hill and slow down up hill. Got 19.28 MPG on that trip. Took us 29 days thats 95 miles per day. We use regular gas most of the time, sometimes we get a ping at sea level and premium gas in better. We have put on 46,000 + miles since september of 2007. Darrel

I also have had this problem on occasion. The fix for me was pore water into the shower drain until I here it draining into the black water tank. We do not use the shower except for storage therefor after some period of time the p-trap dries out and poop tank fumes travel upward. Actually the smell is worse than that. Hope this helps someone. Darrel

My wife and I did that road trip last year. We left from oregon and it took us 22 days to get to dawson city. my question is "are you seeing anything other than the road, museums, fishing, did you see the dancing girls at dawson cities "Diamond Tooth Girties" saloon. I take it the road across the top of the world has been repaired, it washed out last year. 84dolphin

Happy new year to everyone. My wife and I will be at the quartsite toyin. Looking forward to another road trip. It snowed, maybe a 1/2 ", here for the new year fireworks and champane sipping, southern Oregon. Darrel & Gun

Sorry I haven't posted anything since we got home. Guess I was just lazy. Had a million things to do when we got home and then all of a sudden here it is Christmas. Arrived at the homestead on 8-30 and have not stopped. We were gone for about 105 days 10,070 miles total, plus lots of Alaska marine highway miles, 17.5 MPG, only one incident the alternator quit while in Anchorage, Easy fix though. Would do the road trip again IT WAS FABULIOUS. :ThumbUp: That many thumbs up and more. Haven't got next years trip planned out, would like to go the Mardi Gras in march, but my wife isn't to keen on that. She wants to go to Newfoundland , that's a long haul." Ron & Sue your thought of BC to Ontario,, if you have the time and want to do it -do it-for you will in the end will wish you would have don it." What a tong twister. Any way rour rig is up to it. Darrel

Christine, Val, Sandy & Earl, Dave: W e are having the time of our lives. Are now sitting in a camp ground in Nenana, Ak, headed toward Anchorage. Have traveled about 4200 miles with no problems except a broken headlite from a flying bolder. Loved Dawson City, would move if it didnt get so cold [up to 60 below]. Beautiful weather so far, very little rain. Mushroom pickers in the camp grounds, hundreds of pounds of morels. Will update when we have internet service. Darrel & Gun

Quick update, battery almost dead. we are in Stewert,bc 1800 miles so far. beautiful country. Darrel & Gun