Moses Lake Clean-up

Terry and I decided to join our 4-wheel drive club, the Timber Tamers, at Moses Lake for the annual dune clean-up again this year. On Friday, Terry took a half day from work so he could finish packing the camper for the weekend and getting the Jeep loaded on the trailer. We were able to leave our house at 3:15 and headed east. We hit a little traffic in Puyallup and from there, had an uneventful drive over the mountain. We stopped at Indian Jones rest stop outside of Cle Elum and met up with Ann Typer from the Tamers. The view from the rest stop was amazing. We arrived in Moses Lake around 7:00 and decided to fill up on gas and stop for food before heading into the dunes where our camping area was located. As we ate dinner in Burger King, we saw Tom and Karl drive by with their Jeeps.

We got to camp around 7:45 and started getting our camp area set up. It was nice not having to worry about making dinner. Most of the other Tamers had already arrived by the time we got there; they included: Mike, Claire, Tom, Penny, Karl, Ruth, Dan, Julie (and kids) and Ron. After unloading some gear, and grabbing a sweatshirt, we made a fire and chatted with the other club members until it was bed time. (Sometime during the night, Darren showed up and set-up his tent).

Terry and I were able to sleep in until about 7:00 on Saturday morning. The clean-up started at 9:00, so that gave us sometime to make breakfast and relax. Terry even hooked up the generator to the coffee pot and made freshly brewed coffee for him and others. For breakfast, I made breakfast burritos, which were very yummy.

At 9:00, we headed over to the dumpsters to sign-in for the clean-up. We grabbed some trash bags and headed out. I ended up walking most of the way with Zeus picking up garbage while Terry drove alongside. Towards the end of the day, we found a huge pile of buried garbage. Luckily, we had the rack on the back of the Cherokee and were able to stack up the trash to bring it back to the dumpsters. We also enjoyed watching Ann drag Darren in his Samurai across the dunes. He had broken his transfer case, so she was literally dragging him (his back wheels weren’t turning on the sand).

After a couple hours of picking up trash and 3 full bags of garbage, we headed back to camp. Zeus was exhausted and napped while I made lunch for myself and Terry. I had pre-made tuna for sandwiches, so it was quick and easy to put together. The sun was out for most of the day, however, it would occasionally get cloudy and drop a few rain drops. I was never sure if I wanted to be wearing my jacket, or a tank top.

The rest of the afternoon was spent at camp hanging out with the Tamers and watching people. Dan-O had brought a little quad for his girls to enjoy (still not sure how he fit it in the minivan) and all the guys took turns riding it around camp as well. Some of the club candidates showed up (Greg and Wyatt) with quads and a dirt bike. Karl took one of the quads out and came back a few minutes later after rolling it. Luckily, there wasn’t much damage. Some people took a drive into town for ice cream, but we opted to stay back at camp and shower instead.

For dinner, we barbequed ribs and had salad. Since we ate out on Friday night, we cooked hamburgers for Greg and Wyatt so they wouldn’t have to go into town for food (however, they did opt to stay in a hotel and not camp). After dinner, we sat around the campfire again telling stories and explaining motor-boating. Terry and I headed to bed a little before 10 o’clock and were both tired after a day in the sun.

On Sunday, we woke up and slowly started to pack. I was in charge of breakfast and made sausage, egg and cheese breakfast sandwiches. They were good. We finally headed out around 11:00. We decided to stop for lunch in Ellensburg and found a great place not far from the highway called The Roadhouse. I would definitely stop there again when passing thru. We made it home around 4:00 and unloaded the Jeep before deciding the rest could wait. We had a nice weekend away and are both excited about camping season being here again!

Weekend Yard work

This weekend was the perfect weekend to get caught up on some yard work. We had fabulous weather both days and I think I may have gotten a little color from spending the days outside pulling weeds, digging up ugly plants and planting new ones. On Saturday, I focused on the front yard and on Sunday, I did some weeding in the back. Below are some before and after pictures taken on Saturday afternoon.

Front from street:

After:

Tree Rings in the front, before:
After:

Front Entry way before:

During:

Front Entry After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

While I worked in the front, Terry did some work on the Jeep and Zeus supervised. It was a great way to spend the day with the family.

And last but not least, some pictures of the back yard blooms:

Elbe Camping Trip

Terry and I spent the night at Elbe with some other Timber Tamers on Saturday night. The plan was to meet up Saturday morning, do a little maintenance on our adopted trail and then spend the night in the camping area. We ended up getting a late start as one of the members from our club, Ann, hit black ice soon after she left her house and ended up with her truck, trailer and Jeep in a ditch. Luckily she wasn't hurt and there doesn't seem to be any major damage on the vehicles. Some of the Tamers were able to head up to Monroe and help with the recovery so she was able to limp home. So, instead of meeting at 9:00am, we were a couple hours late.


Terry and I left the house around 8:00 and met up with Mike Jennings for breakfast in Eatonville. By the time we were done, Rudi, Karl, Chad, Penny and Tom were only about 15-30 minutes behind us. We arrived at Elbe first and unloaded while we waited for them. As soon as they arrived, we realized no one had the gate code to get into the camping area. Karl had tried to contact Nancy with the DNR earlier in the week to no avail. Chad and Karl drove into Elbe to see if anyone knew the code. We also tried the "there is only 10,000 options, just start and 0-0-0-0 and work up to 9-9-9-9 and we will find it." After meddling with the lock for an hour or so and putting some calls into the DNR and friends, we decided to hit the trail.


Terry and I haven't really wheeled Elbe before and weren't too sure as to what to expect as there was still some snow on the ground. We started with our adopted trail first, but with the snow on the ground, we couldn't do any work so decided to wheel on. We didn't have too many issues, but did pull out the winch once to pull the Jeep away from a tree to prevent the roof hitting hard against it. Luckily, the winching worked and the Jeep just got a little kiss from the tree and no body damage from it. After a several hours on the trail, we stopped for a quick break around 4:30 or so. From there, Terry and I decided to depart the group and head back to camp and relax for a bit. We realized while on the trail the rear shackles hit the new back bumper and were getting annoyed hearing the clank.

A flexy section

Zeus watching the action

Where we decided to winch and prevent hitting the tree too hard.

A sticky spot on the trail.

The group (minus Chad & Karl)

To our luck, as soon as we got back to camp, a guy approached us asking if we could help recover his truck. Apparently, a Toyota truck got stuck on the top of one trails (coincidentally our adopted trail) so this guy backed his 2007 1-ton Ford down the trail 100 yards or so to try and recover the Toyota. However, in the process he slid off the trail. So, Terry and I hopped into the Jeep to see what we could do to help. We were able to get the Toyota our of the way first with some winching. Luckily, I was able to get a hold of fellow Tamers on the CB and by the time we got the Toyota out of the way Tom was there in his CJ-5 to help with the Ford. We snatched off a tree and hooked up to the front of the truck while Tom snatched off a winch point and held up the rear. After a few minutes, we were able to get the Ford back on the trail and onto the main road. From there, Rudi drove his Jeep down to the Toyota to help plug some tires and air him up as the rear driver tire on the Toyota was flat.
When we got back to camp, we decided that the locked gate wasn't going to ruin our fun. Rudi headed home, but the rest of us stayed the night. Terry and I had planned on sleeping on the bed of the truck under the camper shell. So, he found a level spot and I got our bed ready. In the meantime, we also carried our firewood into the camping area to the nearest fire pit and got a fire going. We also set up small kitchen area on a nearby picnic table so we could BBQ some T-bones and asparagus for dinner. After we ate, we all sat by the fire and chatted until bed time. Zeus was exhausted after the long day and fell asleep inside my jacket until we headed to bed.

On Sunday. we woke up to a beautiful day. We took our time making breakfast and packing up our gear. I made too much food for breakfast so was able to feed Mike, Tom and Chad (well, Tom and Chad had already eaten, they just had a little of our food as a snack). We had all our gear loaded and the Jeeps on the trailers around noon and headed home. Terry and I stopped for a quick bite to eat in Graham and got home around 2:00. He is now doing some maintenance on the Jeep and cutting where the shackles hit the bumper. We had a great time with our club and can't wait until the next outing in a few weeks!