Camping at Camping World?

Yes, we “camped” at Camping World’s RV Sales in Hillsboro (used to be Olinger).  Not exactly glamorous, but we were thankful to be able to sleep in our own bed at night while they again worked on various issues with our motorhome.  Seems this is a normal courtesy for full-time RVers.

We left Devil’s Lake State Park in Lincoln City on Wednesday afternoon, after we’d pretty much completed our work for the day.  Our kind fellow park host, Joe, finished up our last couple of camp sites that weren’t vacating by 1pm.  He’d offered earlier in the day to simply do our job for us that day!  We turned him down, as we told him we didn’t really want to spend any more hours at Camping World than necessary!

The appointment for our motorhome repair was for 8:00 Thursday morning.  We had to arrive before the business closed for the evening so we could get an extension cord to at least support our basic electrical system’s needs.  They locked the gates at 7pm, and we were parked just outside the gates.  We were able to open slides on both sides of the trailer once the gate was locked, as we blocked a portion of the driveway.  We decided to make sure we were up at about 6:00 the next morning so we’d be able to be clean and dressed for the day before the place opened (assuming 8:00 was the time, since that was their earliest appointment.  Imagine how surprised we were to hear cars going by us before we even got out of bed!  Seems several workers show up that early to prepare for the day, moving motorhomes around, doing paperwork or whatever.  Live and learn!

We quickly closed things up and Parsley and I headed to the Buick to wait for Steve to check in Moby.  More than an hour later he showed up!  It had taken that long to go over everything.  Again, I was so thankful to have such an easy-going cat with me!  She’s happy just being with me and looking out the windows.

Once Steve was ready, we went over to my parents’ place where Parsley and Steve spent the morning while I ran errands – Costco, Winco, Trader Jo’s, Penzey’s Spices … It was also nice to be able to see my parents again before leaving for a further distance for a couple months.  They have graciously allowed us to use not only their address as our own, but they let us hang out when we have no where to hang out.

There were a couple other errands I had wanted to run that day, but decided we could live without a couple things on my list.  There's just something very attractive about being able to shop for specific things you know are at certain stores on our old turf.  After the errands, I came back and stayed with Parsley while Steve ran a couple errands of his own.  By this time my parents had left for the coast, where they were to enjoy Labor Day weekend with my sister and her daughter and family up from Andersen, California.  Coincidentally, they would be staying perhaps 15 miles from where Steve and I had been for the month of August.  We missed their visit by perhaps 2 days ...

We returned to the motorhome about 5:30 and set up for night #2 behind their lot.  This time we got to enjoy a visit from our former neighbors, Don and Nancy, who treated us with fresh vegetables from their garden and a yummy pineapple pie!  The food was almost as appreciated as their visit.  We'd wanted to visit at their home, but then couldn't figure out how we could "do it all" in our limited hours being in the area.  We were thankful they were willing to come see us at Camping World!

Once again, we were up early – this time we were up soon after 5:00.  Steve decided to hang out at Camping World in case they had questions this time.  Parsley and I went to have the oil changed on the Buick.

It’s fun to notice people’s responses to seeing a cat riding in the passenger seat (usually in her carrier, with the front door removed).  Steve and I used the drive-thru at Burger King for dinner one night, and the young lady at the window noticed our cat.  It surprised me as it’s just become normal for us to have her there.  One of us rides in the back seat.  The guys at Jiffy Lube either didn’t notice, or didn’t mention it.  Parsley wasn’t sure she liked it there.  Too many strange noises, and she didn’t like the black desk that was looming above her eye level.  I just scratched her chin, which always distracts her from her fears.  She just didn’t come out of her carrier during that visit.

The motorhome was ready for us about noon, and we picked it up closer to 2pm that second day.  Time to head out to Memaloose State Park, in the gorge, between Hood River and the Dalles, where we were treated to a free night, courtesy of Oregon State Parks!

Steve was driving from Hillsboro.  We were both very tired after three very busy days with much less sleep than we actually need.  I checked in at the booth at Memaloose and was happy to find they did indeed expect us!  Yet another blessing was that our spot was not up at the top of the hill under I-5 as we expected.  Instead, we were in the middle of the center of the hill going down toward the Columbia River, probably 4-5 sites above our most desirable camping spots!  While we only got to stay for one quick evening, we were very pleased with our location.  We were up, fed, and on our way by 10:15 the next morning.  A relaxing day would be somewhere yet down the road...