Happy 14th Birthday, to Our Sweet Daughter Danielle Maria Bowen!!!

Happy 14th Birthday...Our Sweet Beautiful Daughter Danielle Maria Bowen!!! We Love You!!! Love & Hugs,  Your Dad and Step-Mom Heather

Happy 50th Birthday, Dan Harley Bowen

You don’t know what you mean to me.
You are my ray of sunshine on the darkest day;
A mentor and guide when I lose the way.

You don’t know what you mean to me.
The warmest blanket on the coldest night;
My knight in shining armor in every fight.

You don’t know what you mean to me.
My life partner, my biggest supporter;
Half of my soul, my lifeline, my forever.

I hope now you know what you mean to me,
I chose this joyous occasion to tell thee,
Happy birthday, my wonderful hubby!

- Heather Y. Bowen

 

Pumpkin Party 2018 at Country Lane RV Park and The Cook Shack Cafe in Wilbur, Washington

We are hosting a pumpkin decorating and carving party at the Cook Shack Cafe located at Country Lane Campground. Open to all ages.! Bring your own pumpkin or we can provide one for you. Leave the mess with us.!!Enter it in our judging contest for fun prizes. Pumpkin must be decorated or carved here to enter contest! Please let us know if you would like attend, space and pumpkins limited. Coffee. Cocoa, water and some snacks will be provided, pizza specials will be available for purchase along with sodas if you would like to have dinner.

 

 

Review: Billy Burgers & Shakes in Wilbur, Washington, USA

 Review:  Billy Burgers & Shakes in Wilbur, WA, USA

 

Address:  

804 NE Main Ave

Wilbur, WA 99185

 

Phone:

(509) 647-5651
Hours:

Mon - Sun:

11:00 AM - 7:00 PM

Website:   
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Billy-Burgers-Shakes/149463118445980

 Wow! I HAVE NEVER HAD A BURGER LIKE THIS BEFORE!  The fry's are high quality and well worth a short wait of fifteen minutes or less.  I like to call this place a hidden gem, even though it is very visible through traffic, in the small town of Wilbur, this place has been undiscovered and looked over by many tourists, our family was one of the very few who have noticed this place as tourists hungry for a lunch. Next time you see their sign, I recommend you pull in and pick up a burger.

Overall, we are awarding Billy Burgers & Shakes in Wilbur, WA 4 shamrocks with a big thumbs up on the Fry's!  Yummy!

 

 

  

 

 

It's a Life Lesson: Why Frozen's Famous Song "Let It Go" Is A Message That Goes Beyond A Disney Sing Along

Why Frozen's Famous Song "Let It Go" Is A Message That Goes Beyond A Disney Sing Along

It's a life lesson.

The song "Let It Go" from Disney’s Frozen made headlines in 2013 with its catchy melody and strengthening message.  But apart from Elsa’s chilling interior decorating skills and envy-worthy French braid, the message of letting go to the constraints of the past and moving forward to the freedom of the future hit the hearts of people globally. Everyone, from ages 2 to 80, could relate to the message of one of the most inspirational sing-alongs out there.

"Let it go" is a phrase that we’ve all heard, but very rarely enforce in our daily lives. Personally, I don’t think I really knew what it meant to let things go until my freshman year of college. Prior to my enlightenment, I often confused letting things go with ignoring the issue at hand. Ignoring issues doesn't necessarily make them go away.

It is often the case that, when we were little, we were told that if we ignored a bully, they would eventually go away. But when we ignore things that hurt our spirit, we are personally extending an invitation for those hurtful things to make themselves at home in our hearts. When this happens, it’s only a matter of time before those hurtful things that have been done to us or said to us infect other aspects of our lives.

Step one of letting things go is recognizing the difference between confronting a hurtful situation and ignoring it. Step two is knowing that in order to let things go, we need to go to those hurt places in our hearts and forgive. Learning to forgive people that have hurt me in my life was, without a doubt, the hardest thing I was ever asked to do, but in return, it gave me a level of freedom that I could never have imagined.

Now, don’t get it twisted. Forgiveness is not the same as saying that someone gets away with all the hurtful things that they have done. Forgiveness is merely allowing you to no longer be enslaved by all those things.

Once you forgive, you can move forward. You can let go of the old and grab on to the new promises of the future. It takes a tremendous amount of courage to let things go and it’s important to know that forgiveness is not for the other person, it’s for you. You owe it to yourself to let it go and move on. Life is entirely too short for holding on to old grudges, leave the past in the past.

Try getting some perspective and allow yourself to grow. Isn’t it funny how some distance makes everything seem small? I don’t know about you, but since I learned to let things go, the fears that once controlled me can’t get me down at all.

Now, its time to see what you can do. Go test the limits and make a breakthrough.

Be free, and let it go!

"Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you." -Ephesians 4:31-32

Source:  The Odyssey Online

Family RV Trip: Autumn Along the Pacific Coast of Washington State

 

After a fairly long drive, which including mountains, heavy "rude drivers" traffic we arrived at the beach in Ocean Park, Washington.

What a nice and active beach town.  It reminded Heather, Mama, and I of Cocoa Beach of the 1960's --> 1980"s.

What in the World Happened to The Bowen's?

To find out what happened to the Bowen Family we are going to need to go Back in Time...

A new adventure is awaiting us. 



But first, I needed to hook up "Bessie" our families RV to our pickup for the first time.  In the end, there were five people advising me on the proper hook up procedures.  Ugh...What takes me only fifteen minutes now took well over an hour and several attempts to get it hooked up right so EVERYONE with on opinion was happy.

Once that was finished I decided that in the 100+ degree Fahrenheit heat that I needed another shower.

Finally, the job was done and I was showered, it was time for me to drove the rig to a local empty parking lot to figure out my trailer brake setup.  While the ladies and FurBabies checked our mail at the UPS store and picked up some lunch.  I had confidence that the setup was dialed in, my coffee was hot and off we drove.  The ladies drove in front of me with the Toyota "Ruby" since they had the GPS.   We had two brand new walkie talkies that refused to hold a charge and two cell phones.

About an hour into the drive we were still in North Carolina...when I had a serious miracle happen. A pickup decided to use my lane with me still in it. The pickup hit my drivers side mirror with it's passenger side mirror. I was very lucky there was no cars in the right lane as I swerved into that lane. I managed to pull off to the shoulder and I got out to look at the damage. The other pickup had pulled off as well. I walked the truck and trailer and looked for a blown tire or signs of damage. Go figure, the other driver decided to take off without finding out if anyone was hurt or if he had damaged the RV or pickup.

Sigh. I did have his tag # thanks to Heather jotting it down but what could I do? Spend the night waiting for the state police to take a report? Nah. His lucky day. A few scuff marks on the mirror was all the damage. Drive on. We had a lot of miles to cover before we could say that we were on the west side of the United States (west side of the Mississippi River.)

We drove all day, all night, and into the next day.  At around 10 AM, we were in St. Joseph, Missouri. Dead dog tired and ready to sleep. Heather and Mama found an RV park and we fell into a deep sleep for the rest of that day and night. We had driven like mad to try to get past the Mississippi river, beyond the insane traffic around Kansas City and St. Louis. We vowed to almost kill ourselves to get beyond St. Louis for Heather and I it was a major hurdle in our minds.

A big part of keeping me alert and awake while I drove on my own was that I picked out a large amount of audio-books from the Franklin, NC library. After we were done driving, we mailed them all back via USPS Media Mail with plenty of time to spare. Very painless and inexpensive. And I got to enjoy over 9 books on this trip. Sweet!

While I drove alone, the ladies had both cats and dogs in the car. While they had more to keep them awake and entertained, they also had to manage a zoo. Not as much fun that's for sure.

Our next stop was Presho, South Dakota where we decided to spend a few days to rest and recharge ourselves. We ventured out to the local bowling alley and enjoyed a wonderful meal of pizza. I even enjoyed a double shot of Jameson Irish Whiskey. Heather even tasted it and said she was on fire down to her stomach. Tasty stuff for me!

 

On we drove, our next stop was Columbus, Montana. A desolate RV park that provided us lots of peace, quiet, and 100+ heat. We decided to stay a week and tour the Black hills, a bit.

We drove the Beartooth Highway and Yellowstone National Park. We vowed to take another trip back to that beautiful area and spend more time when the area is less crowded. Yellowstone, while very pretty was overcrowded and as such we didn't enjoy it as much as we think we might have.

As we came into the final leg of the move, we found the fires in Montana. The highway was still open but there were signs saying not to pull over and the smoke was very thick. We noticed the glow of bright orange that evening from the fires. Little did we know we would face smoke from those fires for the next two months. We ended the move in Kettle Falls, Washington State. After four days in a small RV Park just on the edge on town. We located a different RV park in Republic, WA. Where we could stay for a month.

We drove all over the area looking for a home we could call our own. While in Republic, WA we enjoyed Steve'Os Pizza and also discovered an issue with the pickup. A local repair shop took almost two weeks but they did a great job in fixing the pinion yolk, race, and bearings. They also replaced the seals and bearings on the axle (both sides.) This was a seriously costly repair, but well worth it.

Gold Mountain RV Park in Republic, WA was the best RV park that any of us have ever seen. And most likely the best we will ever see. The park was all 80-100 ft pull thru spaces, 30 and 50 amp, water, and sewer at each site. The clubhouse, bathrooms, and park were very modern and always clean. We stayed a total of two months and even now we miss that RV park.

On Wednesday October 4^th 2017, we hooked up Bessie “Our Travel Trailer” and left Republic, WA. Bound for...