Mike & Kris - Enjoying The Ride

Well, we were warned that there was a heat wave on its way, but we were not prepared for what lay ahead. We arrived in Boardman, Oregon and settled in with temperatures reaching the high 90’s. This isn’t so bad we thought. Just stay in the shade and don’t do much. It was a great RV park to do just that. The sites are huge with a lot of grass and a few trees for shade. We also were right along the Columbia River which was amazing. Jill, Steve, and Nicholas joined us and it was fun just relaxing and trying to stay cool. The next day we set out for Hermiston, OR, to see Daniela and meet her new colt, Slim. What a beauty! Daniela’s been working hard on a hay ranch but she was able to take a bit of time to meet us for dinner on both nights. We ended out stay in Boardman with a perfect sunset over the river.

Next we were on our way to Walla Walla. We were looking forward to wine tasting, amazing restaurants and more. But what we got was unbelievable temperatures! It was well over 105 degrees both days and by the end of the second day at 5:00 PM inside our trailer reached 97-yikes. There was no shade in the RV park and our little air conditioner could not keep up. Luckily for us all the wineries and restaurants had air conditioning and inside seating. It’s such a great town. We were not disappointed even with the heat. We had a special dinner with our friends, Deb and Jim Dummont. They hosted Matthew when he played baseball in Walla Walla and it is always a pleasure to catch up with them. The only problem with our stay in Walla Walla was the fact that we did not take any pictures-we are blaming it on the heat–not the wine!!

We drove back to Jill and Steve’s house in Enumclaw on Sunday and the temperatures soared. It was 108 on Sunday and 111 on Monday. Unbelievable for Western Washington! We hunkered down in the house and waited for it to cool down. By the weekend, it was perfect. Lots of family came over to celebrate the 4th of July and my birthday. So special for me to be able to celebrate my “big” birthday with the family. We ended the night with a bang! We will be off to the rainforest next week….stay tuned!