Summer at Stub Stewart - and More Challenges

We’ve passed the one year point of our new life, and we can see that we are still in the learning curve! Perhaps it’s just an on-going part of life that we are continually learning?

I consider myself to be a “glass half full” person. Certainly, I have moments of feeling hopelessness and despair (to exaggerate a bit), but most often I am what I consider to be a “realistic optimist”. I made that term up myself, so don’t be looking in any documentation for it. What “realistic optimist” means to me is that I realize that life inevitably comes with problems, however I hope for the solutions to those problems to be better than I am prepared for. I love looking back and seeing how things could’ve been so much worse, if not for God’s grace and goodness,  and the goodness of some of the people we encounter along the way.  It encourages me to keep on!

A new challenge developed on June 30th, during our trip to LL “Stub” Stewart State Park from our May and June home south of Monmouth. The day went really well overall. Our replacement hosts at Sarah Helmick had showed up about an hour early, but we’d been able to vacate the host spot early for them and hooked up the tow vehicle while they were getting settled into their new digs for the month of July. They had come from their home in Gresham, volunteering for Oregon State Parks (OPRD) for the milder weather months. We handed over all the tools, paperwork and keys, having said our goodbyes to our new friend, Ranger Steve, the previous day.

It was my turn to drive the coach. While we were prepared that Steve might need to go sit next to Parsley for a few minutes at least, we never heard a single meow escape her lips. She has truly been the most perfectly suited cat we could imagine for this life we now live. With our cat content inside her cute little cat carrier on her favorite blanket, belted onto the couch behind the driver’s seat, I was able to enjoy Steve’s company up in the cab. We really don’t travel that often (every couple of months usually), so we haven’t got to enjoy that kind of traveling much yet. It was a treat that it worked out this trip.
We have long envied (in a good way) those people in motorhomes, traveling down the road side by side. We thought it was so cool that they could just pull over into a road side view point and enjoy their lunch. The first time we got to enjoy that very thing, on a stormy day heading down the coast, it was like a dream come true!

Our June 30th trip would be short – a couple hours at most. We decided to just travel up hwy 99 to McMinnville. We then preceded on hwy 47 the rest of the way to Stub Stewart. We were incredibly very close to right on schedule – not something that happens often with us. Our objective was to not arrive at the park any earlier than 1pm, when our site was to be available to us. We knew we’d be in Dairy Creek West loop, site 37. We were looking forward to 50 amp service, and full hookups, after having only 30 amps and 300 gallons of black/grey storage each week. Oh, to be able to use water without worrying about how much more until we filled our limited storage tank! With the early arrival of summer weather in Oregon, with sun hitting our coach for a good part of the day, we’d already been forced to use one of our a/c units in order to avoid baking in our deluxe oven. Unfortunately, using that one a/c unit meant we could do little else, as it used a good portion of the 30 amps available to us. So, knowing of our new, more deluxe accommodations compared to Sarah Helmick, was something we were really looking forward to.


We had such a lovely drive through the country side. Even pulling the Cadillac behind us, we can barely tell a difference driving our 400 hp diesel engine. Except for making sure it clears curbs and vehicles on corners, it’s a dream to drive. I love driving in general, and I love driving our big Moby Homa. It’s fun, no matter what, but I also take great satisfaction in being able to do it. Life is good.

As we drove through the small town of Gaston, we noted some nice wide parallel parking available along the main drag. It was perfectly suited to accommodate our long coach & tow vehicle, so we decided to stop and enjoy lunch, to ensure we didn’t arrive at the park before our site was available.

One of the really cool things we enjoy in our motorhome is the great battery power available to us. We are able to even use the microwave at rest stops. We have extra batteries and an extra hefty inverter as we have a residential refrigerator, not so different than the one we had in our Hillsboro home. The power system gives priority to keeping that refrigerator working, and the microwave is on that same system, making for some great lunches of leftover soups or stews. We never had that option in our fifth wheel trailer, where we just kept the fridge closed to keep in cold until we could get to the next place with a power post for us to plug in to.

After concluding our lunch, we hit the road again, turning onto hwy 26 for a period of time before continuing on hwy 47 toward Vernonia. Stub Stewart is about 10 miles south of Vernonia, perhaps 4-5 miles off hwy 26 on the way to the coast.

I noticed immediately that there were quite a few campers obviously leaving the park coming toward us. I mentioned to Steve how narrow this portion of highway 47 was, and how little shoulder there was. We are pretty “chunky”, and while I do fine keeping our rig in the center of the road, it always feels better if there is a little “wiggle room”. That was obviously not the case on this road.

hwy 47 curve

We took a curve off to the left – no problem. Ahead I could see a posted 35mph curve to the right. I watched a couple travel trailers come out of that curve on our side of the road to some degree. That made me nervous. Just as I entered the curve, another truck, pulling a small travel trailer, came around that very curve toward me. The front wheels of his truck were on the center line, and his travel trailer was at least a couple feet into my lane. Having nowhere to go, I “snugged” the coach over just a few inches, hoping to avoid making front end contact with his travel trailer. We missed his trailer. Unfortunately, we heard a long “screeeeeeech” down the side of our motorhome. I’d obviously scraped something on the shoulder! Major bummer.

Steve said there had been a bridge. I never saw anything. I was just intent on not hitting that trailer. Immediately beyond the curve there was a wide enough spot that I could pull over. Neither of us wanted to go look, but I told Steve he had to make sure our basement bins were still closed, etc. He came back in to report that they were all closed, but that we’d definitely scraped down the side of the coach. Why is it that I always seem to be driving when these bad things happen, I wondered. Very major bummer.

I should say here that both Steve and I have “issues” we struggle with from time to time, or a lot of times. I struggle with a term I’ve learned – “perfiction”. Yes, you read that right -- not perfection, but "perfiction"! That applies to me because there will never be in me on this earth anything even close to perfection. I’m as imperfect as the next one perhaps more. However, I often seem to feel that I am required to be “perfect”. I feel I let everyone, including myself, down when I am less than perfect. Do you suppose it is a coincidence that God allows so many cruddy things to happen on my watch? I think not! I am learning not to think poorly of myself for not being perfect, but I still struggle.

We managed to get to the park, and into our site without any further issues. I did have to laugh when Steve was assisting me with backing in the coach into our site though. For most of our 20 years of marriage, Steve was the “backer-inner”. I would dance back and forth behind the travel trailer, and later behind our larger fifth wheel trailer, making sure he could see me, and that he wasn’t going to hit anything. In the early years I would at times dissolve into tears as I attempted to communicate correctly where the RV needed to be. We had some really tough backing in spots to deal with. Steve had to back up a side drive-way and then make a near 45 degree turn, then threading our former trailers into the “trailer port” he’d built especially for our first trailer. It was stressful feeling it was my responsibility not to let anything happen, while learning to communicate effectively with my husband. Steve learned to be very patient with me, and we found our communication style.

Our former RV/truck at Champoeg - a lovely Autumn Day

I drove our former RV’s also, but I never learned to back in. I always let Steve, since my issues with “perfiction” made it impossible for me to back into a site with other campers waiting for us to clear the road. All that to say we never had to learn to communicate with us being in the opposite positions!

I had to laugh as I watched Steve use his fingers to try to tell me where he wanted the coach to be. At times he had both fingers pointing in opposite directions! I remember well those moments when I wasn’t sure which way to tell him to go. Now, it’s his turn! We will, of course, eventually get a set of hand motions that I can understand and that feel comfortable to him. I’m thinking perhaps we’ll adopt the motions the rangers we work with use. They appear very straight-forward and simple.

I know you may be thinking, “Doesn’t she have a camera on the back of the coach? Why couldn’t she just use that to see where she needs to be?” Yes. I have a camera on the back of the coach. We also have cameras on either side of the coach. However, even with the backup camera on our little Cadillac SRX, it’s a very different perspective having that camera mounted right on the back. I remember my first time backing in Moby at our McMinnville RV Park. There was a deep drainage ditch behind our coach. I could see Steve wanted me to continue to back up, but that camera was looking straight down into the ravine!! I was certain my back wheels were going to drop down into that ditch! What a lesson in trust when backing in our huge whale of an RV!



Okay. So now you must be wondering where my “realistic optimism” is coming into play in our current challenge of having a somewhat damaged motorhome. We began counting our blessings pretty quick actually: 1) I didn’t have a head-on collision with that travel trailer; 2) We were not injured (except mentally); 3) We didn’t hurt anyone, nor cause anyone else any stress by our actions; 4) Not a single one of our basement bins opened, meaning none of our “stuff” was damaged; 5) Though the handles are bent, each and every compartment still opens and locks securely; 6) Our front door was not even scratched. This is a HUGE blessing, as our RV repair place was unable to get the door off when they were replacing screws with sheered off heads. How would they be able to replace it?; 7) The damage was limited to those lower basement doors, and did not touch the gigantic slide on the passenger side of the coach, which would’ve been a massive repair; 8) Not a bit of our siding was ripped off – just scratched/dented a bit; 9) Our new insurance company appears to be dealing with this very nicely – we even have insurance to stay in a hotel if we were to have to; 10) Our favorite RV repair place is able to handle the repairs for us; 11) We already had an appointment at the service place for 1 ½ weeks later, at which time their body guy was able to look at and assess the damages for the estimate; 12) I was complimented on not over-reacting with my driving, as it could’ve been much worse, and they thought it was absolutely wonderful that I was capable and willing to drive this coach when their own wives did not or would not drive theirs.

We believe that God does not promise to save us from all the struggles and problems of life. What He does promise is to see us through those problems and turn them into something good. I just listed 12 good things, and we have barely gotten started dealing with this current challenge.



A little bit hazy afternoon view - still beautiful!

I guess it is very clear that challenges come in life, no matter where or how you live. It is our job to learn to accept and work through each one as it comes and enjoy the moments of peace in-between. I’m sure looking forward to more of those moments!

A Year Ago Today ….

 

One year ago today we took delivery of our 2012 Winnebago Journey 42E.  We dropped off Parsley at my folks place, and drove our 1999 Dodge 2500, pulling our 28’ Cardinal 28RKB fifth-wheel trailer, over to Camping World in Hillsboro and finalized the paperwork.  That’s when the real fun began...

Our fifth wheel was parked door-to-door with the motorhome.  The sun was shining.  The temperature reached 88 degrees that day in Hillsboro.  Steve was stationed inside the fifth wheel, unloading drawers and cupboards.  I was stationed in the motorhome, as the “receiver”, thinking I'd find places for everything in our new home.

The true hero-of-the-day in my eyes was my brother-in-law, Jim MacDonald, who stood sandwiched between those two RV doors – out in the sun – taking whatever Steve handed him and handing it to me in our new home.  Jim went up and down the stairs of both the fifth wheel and the motorhome, as needed, to receive and deliver. 

 

I've always known Jim to be a hard working guy.  I probably never thought too much about it though.  Also, Jim has always been willing and available to help others.  If my memory serves me right, I believe Jim just showed up that day, in case he could help us out.  That's what my family is like.  My brother, Paul, had wanted to help, but his work schedule just didn't allow it.  Jim gave up his Saturday, his day off, to be of assistance to us.

I remember many feelings of that day.  I felt overwhelmed, scared to death, and also so incredibly thankful to Jim for being there for us – in the hot summer sun.  As often happens, we’d underestimated our own stamina and ability to do all that had to be done.  My back was in bad shape from weeks of packing up our old life, cleaning refrigerators and freezers, bathrooms, and hauling no longer needed belongings to the Goodwill.  Steve had been doing all the heavy work of cleaning out the garage and shed of tools and other equipment.  We were both incredibly tired and under the impression that we would finally be getting some rest once we got moved into our new motorhome … Talk about naïve!  We are thankful in hindsight that God doesn't let us see the future in advance.

By the time the move was over that hot day, my brother-in-law was completely drenched in sweat.  I do not exaggerated when I say I cried every time I thought about what Jim had done for us!  I don’t know how we would’ve managed without him that day!

Even after that arduous task in the parking lot, Jim went to my folk’s place and helped us haul boxes from their garage (our temporary storage unit) into our new coach.  I don’t know where he got the energy to continue!  I don’t have any pictures from the actual “move” that day, but I have distinct memories of Jim’s huge gift to us.

 

Today we will celebrate the anniversary of that day by meeting Jim and my sister, KariJane, for dinner down in McMinnville.  They are themselves currently staying in their travel trailer at a Dayton RV park while they wait to move into their new home – not of the mobile variety.  It seems like the perfect time to feel thankful and appreciative for both what Jim did for us, and for what God has brought us through!

Exploring Our World

 

We are beginning to realize our time here at Sarah Helmick State Park is coming to an end in the very near future – less than 2 weeks now.  We leave here on Sunday, June 30th for LL Stub Stewart, near Vernonia, where the next adventure awaits us.  Now is the time we begin to evaluate how this job worked out for us, whether we might want to come here again in the future, what time of year would be best if we did, etc.  We also have a chance to look at ourselves and our “evolution” as we continue to live out our lives as full-time “RVers”.  I guess you could say we are our own lab rats! 

 

As far as working at Sarah Helmick, there have been a number of things we have truly enjoyed, and only a couple things that were a bit less than perfect from our perspective (everyone is different in that respect!).  Having this park as our “front yard” was incredible!  We love walking around the park.  We enjoy seeing the beauty of this area and visible fruits of our labor.  The local people here, from Monmouth and the surrounding area, seem to us to be just plain old good people – very friendly and warm – both at the park, and in town.  There’s a small town feel we have grown to love.  We notice a difference in how strangers relate to us in the various parts of Oregon we’ve lived in: some don’t meet our eyes – perhaps a cultural thing; others welcome us easily.  It was really great here.  Case in point – as I was writing this very sentence, Steve returned from work with a pint of fresh Oregon strawberries in his hand.  A local man visiting the park gave him a box to thank us for the work we’ve done here.  How can we not love these people when we are often the recipients of their kindness?  We enjoy these people.  As park hosts, we think the amount of litter we pick up says something about the people also.  We rarely pick up anything of any consequence here.  I’m just saying... 


We have learned we can survive on 30 amp electrical service, but that we’d really rather have 50 amps to live fully in this coach of ours.  Remembering to turn one thing off before turning on another was a bit annoying at first, but got better as we grew accustomed to it.  Still, in warmer weather we would require 50 amps to run the a/c when the sun hits the coach.  We heat up quickly in here when the sun is on us.  We’ve been able to run one unit on the warmer days, but wouldn’t be happy here in the summer months.  We refer to our power here as a “flakey 30 amps”. 

The work here was a lot more physical than we generally have experienced when park hosting.  It’s been fun to take on some new challenges.  We’ve enjoyed seeing the results of some pretty hard labor, and have appreciated our increase in muscle mass as well!  However, we realize that doing this much work for the long term would be tough on our aging bodies.  Bless you, park maintenance people!  We will never take you for granted again! 


We’ve enjoyed our independence, being the sole residents at this park, and have enjoyed being trusted with more responsibility here, including being allowed to use large tractor-mowers, gas powered tools, and even park vehicles when necessary to ease the responsibilities of our ranger.  We haven’t always appreciated needing to be up and dressed to unlock the gate at 7:00 each morning, though.  We aren’t so much morning people these days.  However, after needing to be up at Honeyman State Park, it wasn’t as tough as it might have been otherwise.





Ranger Steve DeGoey & Merilou
at Luckiamute Landing

We’ve enjoyed ranger, Steve DeGoey, and we truly have enjoyed working at this park .  We would definitely consider returning to this or one of the other host positions in this management unit at some point if it makes sense for us in the future.
 

We, as people, are changing as we continue in this new lifestyle.  One of the many changes we have seen slowly, over time, is a desire to see more of the area around where we are living.  We've never considered ourselves as "tourists".  Other friends and family seem to always be going somewhere, exploring new places, always looking for where to go next.  We, on the other hand, are self-proclaimed "home bodies".  We've sometimes felt bad about ourselves for being this way.  We definitely see the contrast between us and others around us.  We've occasionally gone so far as to try to forcibly plan some outings, thinking we'd look better to those other people.  Most of those attempts failed miserably.  We never got away from the coach.  Either we'd decide it was too much trouble, the risk was too great, or perhaps we were just too tired that day...  We are B-O-R-I-N-G!  Any increase in exploring activity would be an improvement, right?
 

During our hosting time at Wallowa Lake last Fall, as we saw our dear new friends, the Schaffer's, head out of camp on BOTH their days off, exploring roads to nowhere, eating burgers at restaurants in cities we'd never heard of, we had an epiphany of sorts.  I'd expressed our dismay to Sharon about how boring we were, and how we truly felt we should strive to be more like the Schaffer’se Schaffer's, are changing as we continue in this new lifestyle.  turning to this, or one of the other positions in this.  Sharon, a true friend, told me it was absolutely okay if we didn't become just like them.  We are not the Schaffer’s – we are the “Kronschmeiers” (Sharon’s first attempt at remembering our last name has continued to be a teasing point as we continually try to make up new names for ourselves, experimenting with the spelling, etc.  Sharon has spoiled things now by remembering our name correctly, and even being able to spell it, but we continue to enjoy using different names for our own, and her enjoyment.)  Our good friends like us just the way we are.  It is true we are not all the same.  Whew!  We are relaxing our expectations a bit.
 

Advance ahead in time 6 months or so.  It seems we are naturally evolving into being just a bit more curious about the world around us!  We’ve begun leaving the coach more often, sometimes even taking the cat with us.  Perhaps we're changing because we’re focusing more outside the coach, with the frequent change of scenery.  Perhaps it's because we can make each other crazy if we just sit in the coach all the time.  Perhaps it's because we're discovering this whole other world, right here at home in Oregon, which we never even knew existed?  I mean, who ever heard of Sarah Helmick State Park, let alone the Luckiamute River, or Luckiamute State Park?  We are certainly glad our friend Brian Ingoldsby shared his knowledge of this park with us. 

We have since learned that Sarah Helmick is in fact Oregon’s first State Park!  We had previously never stayed or visited anywhere in this area to our knowledge, though Steve had a daughter attend college in Corvallis.  Trips down this direction were just to see the daughter and perhaps grab a quick lunch.  Visits to state parks were not a part of those trips.  Yet, we are only about an hour and a half drive from where we used to live in our “stick homes” in both Hillsboro and Beaverton for the first 19 years of our marriage, and many years previous.  You might say we are looking at things now through different eyes.

Partly due to realizing that hosting at day-use parks is now attractive to us, we’ve made a point of seeing some of the other parks in within a reasonable distance for a nice drive.  Because our ranger, Steve DeGoey, is also responsible for Luckiamute State Park with its multiple sites, and we have helped him by working at Luckiamute, we learned of two more hosting possibilities within 10 miles of Sarah Helmick.  We decided we also wanted to check out Fort Yamhill State Park, near Willamina.  It’s a gorgeous day-use park focusing on the history of an actual military fort that was on that land from 1856 – 1866 as a buffer between the settlers and the Indians, who had been pushed out of the land as it was settled.  There’s a lovely half mile walk with informational signs along the way, giving insight into the lives of the military, the settlers, and the Indians.

 

We visited Willamette Mission State Park during May.  That park is head of the management unit which includes both Luckiamute and Sarah Helmick State Parks.  It’s a huge park – something like 1500 acres – with equestrian accommodations and lots of room for picnicking, bicycling and hiking.  It is part of the restoration work being done to return some of the land in Oregon to its native vegetation.  On our visit there, I have to admit I wasn’t sure what it was about…  It’s such a vast area of land and is still being developed.

 

On our way back from Willamette Mission, we got to see Maude Williams State Park as well – another day use park we’d never heard of previously.  Another set of hosts who were leaving Luckiamute moved to Maude Williams.  We’ve heard they ended up being rather bored with the contrast in work opportunities.

 

Thompson Mills State Park

We drove to Thompson Mills State Park, near Junction City and Shedd (who’s heard of Shedd?!).  We are so glad we made the effort to visit this park.  It’s an actual flour mill that was operated for something like 125 years on that site, during the world wars and beyond, though for a time it processed animal feed.  The actual silos and mill, with its wooden gears and leather pulley system, along with the owners’ home, still stands.  Guided tours are available.  We had a private tour by host volunteer Pamela Dean, who we learned we will see again when we work at Champoeg State Park this winter.  Pamela took us all over the mill, turned on some of the equipment which had been converted to electric, and even opened the waterway so we could see the turbines operate.  It’s a true historical picture of what life was like back in the 1800’s and early 1900’s.  The mill wasn’t actually closed until 2002, we learned.  The park system purchased the land, and sold back the water rights.  I just had to buy a souvenir apron with one of the flour mill bag’s picture/logo on it.  Flour bags were often turned into clothing back then, and are works of art in their own right.
 

While down near Junction City, we looked up a couple Oregon State Park waysides as well – Alderwood and Washburne.  While nice, they are simple waysides for a picnic or a quick rest stop.  Still, we made the effort!  We are changing!
 



Wheatland Ferry

Buena Vista Ferry

Another one of the fun things we did while residing at Sarah Helmick was check out a couple of local ferries which barge vehicles across the Willamette River.  As we returned from visiting Willamette Mission State Park, we crossed the Willamette on the Wheatland Ferry – a $2 toll.  We were surprised to see the amount of cars waiting to cross the river by ferry!  I can’t remember the last time we took a ferry.  We also learned of, and went to see, the Buena Vista Ferry, not far from Luckiamute State Park.  I knew of the Canby Ferry, as my sister and her family lived in Canby for many years.  Prior even to that, my Grandfather took me for a ride in his VW Karmann Ghia across the Canby Ferry.  I had no idea there were still other ferries on the Willamette!
 

We have become very proficient at spotting the dreaded, yet beautiful, Cow Parsnip, which we cleared from pathways here at Sarah Helmick as one of our first tasks.  It can cause blistering on human skin, after it is exposed to ultra violet light from the sun, and other problems, so we remove it where people might come into contact with it.  We see it along the roads all the time now in more natural areas and ditches.  We’ll never look at that foliage the same.
 

We’ve gained a curiosity about what farmers are growing out here in the vast farmland in the Willamette Valley.  What is field mustard grown for?  We had a beautiful crop of yellow flowers on leased-out park land next to us.  I looked it up and have learned it’s a cover crop used in-between other plantings to nourish and keep the soil in place.  There are several bee hives located in the corner of the field mustard field, so obviously the bees like it also!  We’ve seen fields of clover, always with bee hives.  We see fields of field mustard, corn, mint, winter wheat, Christmas trees, and vast fields of unknown white flowering plants, probably another cover crop.  We’ve decided they should all have signs so we can learn as we drive.
 

We are definitely still broadening our horizons with each adventure, which makes each assignment a new opportunity.  We truly wish we could bring all our friends and family along on this adventure.  We’d enjoy “having it all” that way!  What a great opportunity this is, for those who are led to it!

 

 

 

Living the Life We Love

It feels like life has fallen once again into step with what we’d hoped for as full time RVers. Working at Jessie M Honeyman for March and April was just the right thing for us, at just the right time. How time flies when you’re having fun!  Even more importantly, we feel we've found a great area of life where we can make a good contribution.



Cleawox Lake at Jessie Honeyman State Park

Each new job has a learning curve we have needed to work our way through. Though we always work for the Oregon State Park & Recreation Department (OPRD), each state park has its own management and its own unique ways of dealing with things, based on the management, location, composition and culture of the park. We’ve worked at five different parks now in our “hosting career”, and each one has defined our job differently, while all having certain common aspects. At Fort Stevens we had three main responsibilities – relief visitors center, relief sales and delivery of firewood (wood on wheels), and once a week litter patrol, with campsite grooming on the side. At Devil’s Lake, Steve mowed grass as a Maintenance Host, and we groomed campsites and did litter patrol. At Wallowa Lake our main job was selling firewood, and grooming campsites was shared by all the hosts.  At Jessie Honeyman, our primary job was helping campers, including helping with registration, selling passes, renting out yurts, wood sales and light cleaning of restrooms, litter, recycling & garbage. Though we’d never experienced it before, we felt our job there even more so fulfilled what we believed park hosting would be like.



Picnic Area A at Sarah Helmick State Park

We are now in yet another new experience!  We are Day-Use Hosts at Sarah Helmick State Park, just south of Monmouth for the months of May and June.  Again we are experiencing a whole new aspect of park-hosting - the day use host.

During our working days at Jessie Honeyman, near Florence, we were true campground hosts, available to campers, 24 hours a day for 5 days a week. As soon as we woke each morning, we pulled on clothes and went out to raise the American flag. We took it down again each evening at dusk.  Once we were out of bed each morning, our window shades went up, indicating that we were available to campers. If a camper came in the middle of the night and couldn't get into their yurt, or had some other need, we were available for them to find help, (although we'd talk to them through the window, for our safety!). We were the first visible hosts as campers entered the park, which is why we were considered the "meet-greet hosts". Fortunately, we were not waked in the night often! Our “On Duty” sign would not go down for the 5 days we were on duty.

While every day was different, and though our actual working hours probably never exceed four hours a day, we were to be available to help campers at any time. We tried to always have one of us at the coach, with only a couple exceptions. I would stay behind while Steve did light cleaning of the men’s restroom, and he covered while I cleaned the women’s restroom.

Other than refilling paper towel and toilet paper dispensers, we’ve never been asked to do any cleaning of restrooms previous to Honeyman. Even at Honeyman, we didn't do what is considered “deep cleaning”. We would disinfect and wipe down the sinks and mirrors, sweep the floors and pick up debris. The Rangers clean and disinfect the toilets and showers and mop floors. Doing the amount of work we were asked to do in the restrooms did not seemed unreasonable to us at all. It’s actually nice to know we were helping the rangers with their workload, while not doing anything we were uncomfortable with.

Sunrise at the Sarah Helmick gate

We arrived at Sarah Helmick State Park on Monday, April 29th. This is our first experience hosting at a day-use park. We weren't sure we'd like it, but wanted to give it a try.  Our concerns about taking a day-use job were related to feeling secure, and to being lonely.  We are the only residents at the park.  We have been delighted to find that we have enjoyed our time here.  We feel safe, and are not lonesome.  Since we lock the front gate each night, the park becomes our own private front yard after 9pm, until we unlock it again at 7am the next morning.  Locking the gate means we are less likely to be awakened by unwanted intruders in the night.  We are located about 4 miles from the nearest small city, so it's not like we see anybody arrive here on foot!  In addition to unlocking and locking the front gate each day, we also clean and stock the two restrooms, pick up litter, mow our 15 acre park lawn, prune, and generally are a presence at the park. When we first arrived, locals told us of some less-than-desirable activity in the park, which made us a bit nervous.  However, the reality is that when we began to reside here, those people must have gone elsewhere!

The park has two large group picnic areas which can be reserved for various events. We’ve been told there have been weddings held here, though we haven't been able to enjoy that experience.  We've had one area used for a memorial service, but that's been our only reservation to date.

One of our favorite aspects of being at Sarah Helmick has turned out to be getting to know the local regulars who come to the park.  Fred, who has a permit to saw up a couple downed trees in the park, comes almost daily to "have a beer and visit with friends".  We've seen very little progress on the tree during the 5-6 weeks we've been here ...



Steve with new local friend,
Shirley with Lucky

Ody and Shirley come regularly to walk their wolf-mix dog, Lucky.  Shirley has brought us produce from her garden - Swiss Chard and a cherry tomato plant have been real treats!

Chuck and his wife are our "walkers".  They do 8 laps around the park on week days, equaling 4 miles.  We have another regular we refer to as "shirtless man" who comes on sunny days, removes his shirt, and just enjoys standing around in the sunshine.  We have people who eat their dinner here on all the sunny evenings.  They each appear to have their favorite picnic areas.  Some occasionally use the BBQ stands around the park to cook on.  Families, and some young people, come regularly on the nicer days to play down at the river's edge.  It wouldn't be our idea of a good time, as the river looks pretty murky to us, but they love it.  Apparently it isn't too deep.  We have fishermen visit.  One grandfather brought his young grandson to fish.  We've been told catch-and-release is best.  The Luckiamute River, which runs on 2 sides of our park, meanders through a lot of farm land, and we've been told that means it gets run-off from chemicals used in farming, and animal waste ...  Need I say more?



Being trusted with the park truck
is no small thing!

Another couple who regularly visit the park are from further south, past Corvallis.  They drive up highway 99 to the city of Dallas to pick up their inventory of pellet BBQ's, which they sell.  They always stop here at the park on their return trip.  The first time we met them, they stopped us to express fear that they may have seen a young man with a revolver in the park, over by the bridge.  They identified his vehicle for us, and circled the park 2 more times just to keep an eye on him.  We decided to take a drive around the park in our golf cart just to see what we could see.  A young man approached me along the way, asking about a woodpecker he was hearing in a grove of trees.  It didn't take long while visiting with this young man to realize I was speaking to the young man the

Meadow area near the Willamette
at Luckiamute Landing

couple had been concerned about!  The good news is that he was clearly no threat.  He was just a nice young man, from the other side of Salem, with a geology degree who had a nature blog.  He enjoyed visiting various parks and natural areas and writing about whatever he might see.  I probably visited with him for a good 45 minutes that day.  I believe the "revolver" was actually just a small black camera he used to capture photos for his blog.

Ranger Steve DeGoey and myself by the confluence
of the Willamette, Santiam and Luckiamute Rivers

Yet another person we've had the pleasure of getting to know here is the ranger who oversees this park.  He is actually working at Luckiamute State Park, a much larger park about 5-10 miles from us, with various sites along another part the Luckiamute River.  He oversees Sarah Helmick park as well.  Ranger Steve DeGoey had to be convinced to let us take on more responsibilities during our first weeks working with him.  Another host we'd met when we arrived, who knew him well, suggested we do some gentle pushing to get him to let us help him out a bit more.  It worked, and we have had the chance to try yet more new tasks.  During May, Ranger Steve was without hosts at Luckiamute.  We offered to work there too, once we'd caught up on the work at Sarah Helmick.  Our 2nd Sunday on the job, he asked us to come over and help.  I mowed the main site, and Steve accompanied him to do some tree trimming off the main road at North Luckiamute.  I had a blast on that mower, trying to finish the task before they returned from the northern site.



Following the tractor out of the "jungle" 

The following Sunday he asked us to accompany him a few miles in on a service road where a tree had fallen.  He needed to remove the tree, and was required to have a spotter while using the chain saw.  He thought we could help widen the service road by clearing brush back while we waited for him to work.  I drove in the park truck, following Ranger Steve on a tractor.  We have never been in such a dense forested area.  At the point of the fallen tree, we felt we were deep in a jungle!  Naturally, I only remembered to begin taking photos as we were following the tractor back out of the area ...  Ranger Steve told us this area is the largest, mostly unaffected natural forested area in Oregon, if I understood correctly.  It was truly incredible.  Just outside the forest area are natural meadows, looking much the way it did when the first pioneers began settling in this area. 



Willamette Water Trail signs at
Luckiamute Landing

It is such a treat to learn of these areas that I have never even heard of!  We stopped at one point and walked over to the Willamette River, where the Santiam River flows in, and very near where the Luckiamute also connects.  He showed us a river milepost that boaters have available all along the river way.  There are areas where boaters can camp that are only accessible from the river.  There's a whole world out there we never knew existed!  I'm constantly amazed how much I don't know about the Willamette Valley where I've spent my entire life.  There's a great river guide for the Willamette to check out online - just click here.

We've been invited to return to Sarah Helmick or either of the two host sites at Luckiamute again, which lets us know just how much our help has been appreciated.  I don't think we ever see Ranger Steve when he doesn't thank us for our work.  It feels really good - like we're truly making a difference!

The next chapter of our adventure begins in about 2 1/2 weeks, when we will once again be again trying something new.  We'll be working for the state, helping to collect surveys on day-use parks.  We've been placed at LL Stub Stewart State Park, near Vernonia for July and August.  We're supposed to have completed that job in about 6 weeks, and we have host friends we met last August, the Brock's,  hoping to get together with us during that last portion of August.  We also hope we'll be getting lots of visits in with local friends and family.  In addition, we have some routine maintenance due on the coach to take care of.

We are to be back at Wallowa Lake State Park for September and October, and hope to have some fun traveling with our good friends, the Schaffer's, who'll be heading back there from a brief vacation month in Newberg.  I am waiting to hear back on possibilities for November/December of this year, and we are in the early stages of looking into possibilities for 2014.  We have to work to keep from falling back into our comfort zone.  We feel the need to be uncomfortable, at least as far as trying more new things.  The possibilities available to us seem almost unending.  Fish hatcheries need hosts.  We could leave Oregon to try working elsewhere.  We might want to work in a National park or two.  The future is yet to be determined and we are excited to see what plans God has for our future!

Diabetes Update:  As a side note, I am happy to report I'm doing very well currently with my type 2 diabetes.  I just saw the doctor on June 7th and got an excellent report of the progress I've made controlling the disease through diet and exercise.  It won't last, as diabetes is incurable, but she said I should enjoy the next 6 months to 5 years, or as long as I am able to control things without medication.  I'm feeling good again, and we have only found the modifications to our lifestyle to be positive.  Thanks for the treasured prayers of my friends and family!

Getting Back to the Dream!

We are campground hosts again!! This is the most exciting news to us after a few months of being "grounded"!  We are at Jessie Honeyman State Park, near Florence, for the months of March and April. We are the “meeter-greeter” hosts, right at the entrance of the park (site A-26).  The front of our Moby looks right at the registration booth.  A firewood barn is next to us, and the recyling area is just beyond that.  Our responsibilities include helping campers with registration, renting yurts, providing information on activities for the area, selling firewood, recycling, cleaning A loop of litter, checking and light cleaning of A loop restrooms, and anything else needing to be done. We are so excited to have this 2-month job on the south end of the central Oregon coast! We had received calls from a couple of other parks in February, looking for help for March, but neither had openings in April also. Working for two months in one park gives us a better chance to get to know the park and the surrounding area. By the second month, we pretty much know the unique aspects of a park, and can better assist campers, as well as the rangers.



Honeyman State Park

Available hosting opportunities are more numerous in Oregon State Parks during the winter.  It’s a matter of the kind of hosting job you are looking for, the amenities you need or desire, the location you are willing to go to, and the weather you are willing to deal with!  It appears to us that not all parks post their openings on-line.  Some park rangers may have a regular pool of hosts they are familiar with and are able to find workers from their own lists.  It seems that some of the more difficult positions to fill appear on the on-line postings list.  This is an assumption on our part, however, often we see openings for cabin or yurt hosts, or interpretive hosts, or even security and maintenance positions.  For us, the campground host is the desirable position.  Being around people is what makes the job fun for us.  We’ve noticed that when cleaning yurts or cabins, the job requires the work be done before the campers arrive, and after the campers leave.  We want to be there in the midst of the campers, not only working behind the scenes.  Even cleaning campsites and doing litter patrol means we are wandering among campers.  Children will sometimes join us and help us look for tiny pieces of litter.  It's a treasure hunt to them!  Our uniforms (vest and hats usually) identify us as someone who might know something if a camper needs some information or assistance.  I also think our uniforms say, “We are approachable – come talk to us!”  There are a lot of people who are curious about what it’s like to be an Oregon State park host.  Many are thinking about the future when they will be retired and perhaps have the chance to try new things.  That’s exactly where we were only a year or so ago, and we love to share our story!
 

We had a restful, yet challenging few months since returning from Wallowa Lake State Park near the end of October.  I truly believe that God charts our path, and we can now see how He has purposed these past few months.  It was a necessary time of being stationary.  Now that I know I have Type 2 Diabetes, I can say with 20/20 hindsight that I am so thankful we had this down time!  It took me a month to begin telling others about my diagnosis, but I’m good with it now.  The lifestyle changes have been relatively simple for us, and I am feeling so much better, both mentally and physically.  Getting back to park hosting only makes things better as our activity levels have gone back up considerably.  Those walks we need to take each day happen without a second thought as we busy ourselves working around the park!
 

When we saw this opening for work at Jessie Honeyman State Park, we knew it would provide us with the perfect opportunity for the next couple of months.  We have fond memories of camping here perhaps 15 years ago.  At the time, we camped in a 24' travel trailer, pulled by our Chevy truck.  We've moved up in our RVs twice since those days.  We were so much younger .... we rented Odysses to play with on the dunes.  I fondly remember how Steve drove in circle after circle until he made himself sick!  Ah, the good ol' days!


Our up-front host site at Honeyman is a great site.  We have 50 amps at our host spot, with good access to people as they enter the park.  The park is plenty large (the 2^nd largest in Oregon, behind Fort Stevens State Park), giving us lots of opportunities for exercise.  We haven't worked within this management group (a grouping of parks overseen by the same management), which means an opportunity to meet new rangers, which can also open up other opportunities down the road.


As we see over and over at each new park we work in, the host coordinator ranger here is very nice, and works well with volunteers.  We spent 3 hours in orientation on our first full day here.  There were 4 sets of hosts starting this month, with a couple others who started a couple weeks earlier.  One couple was in the hospital on orientation day, having a baby!  They will join us soon.

Steve and I have more responsibilities with registration, so our orientation took longer.  By the time we returned to our coach at 4:30pm, we really had to hit the ground running.  Campers were needing firewood, help getting into yurts, etc.  While it was overwhelming to remember so much new information (each park is unique in many aspects of what they ask hosts to do), we seem to be getting through each situation as it arrives.  We  had many people hoping to find yurts available for the weekend, but we're full until Sunday.


This is a popular park for ATVers!  It is H-loop, which has been set up especially for the ATV (all terrain vehicle) crowd, with access to the sand dunes, where these folk like to be.  This loop in the rear of the park has extra wide paved areas on each site for parking trailers and accompanying vehicles.  There are also extra parking areas for storing their ATV trailers.  ATV's are not allowed to be driven around the park itself, but are allowed dune access directly from the back H-loop.  Anybody camping elsewhere in the park with ATV's must "trailer out" their ATV's and access the dunes from the jetty area.  Getting a space in H-loop is a special deal for these dare devil's (our perspective!).  We are happy up in the more "gentle" front area of the park.

Well, the sun is up and it's time to put the flag up the flag pole.  I'll try to share some good dune pictures and stories with the next post!  For now, I am one happy camper!

Some Encouraging Progress!

It's been a long time since I've managed to post to my blog.  Many reasons.  Not feeling well.  Too busy.  Not much of my brain to spare?  Today, I might just succeed!

 

We are now living for a time in NE Salem.  In our usual fashion, there was a series of things that led us to this place.  I like to talk about wanting God to be the one to lead us here or there.  Often I can't see His leading until I look back in hindsight.  This last few months has been like that.

We were supposed to leave at the end of November for Brookings, Oregon, where we were booked as hosts for December and January at Alfred A Loeb State Park.  And then Steve helped me by making a management decision that we should cancel those plans at the last moment and stay in McMinnville in order to find a doctor and get me some help with some on-going "discomfort" I had been experiencing for some time.  Calling the ranger to cancel on him at the last moment felt awful, and yet he was so gracious and kind about it.  I suppose this kind of thing happens from time to time when you are dealing with a lot of retired people of various ages.  However, I did consider it a great blessing that he not only answered the phone that day, but that he was gracious and understanding as well.  I saw God's hand in that moment.

That very day I went about searching for a doctor.  I actually just went online and searched.  Talk about scary!  I knew I wanted a female.  I probably don't need to explain that one.  I also wanted someone who would teach me, or give me resources, and wouldn't just tell me what to do, like I didn't need to know.  Based on these short little "blurbs" with a picture of the doctor, I made a decision, mostly blindly.  I called my 1st choice, in Newberg, and learned I couldn't get an appointment until December 31st.  Ugh.  I really didn't want to wait that long!  They had another doctor in the same group, which would get me in a couple weeks earlier.  I decided if I was going to have to wait anyway, I would go ahead and go for my first choice.  We learned there was a Providence Urgent Care in Sherwood if I felt I couldn't wait any longer.  So I waited.

I never did go to Urgent Care, though I was tempted a couple times.  Each time my discomfort would get better, and I'd decide I would continue to wait.  Looking back I don't know how much of my discomfort was caused by the added stress and fear of not knowing why I was feeling bad.  I'll perhaps never know.  I do have anxiety issues that creep up on me from time to time.

Since this blog isn't about my health, let me just say that I made it to December 31st, and found I made a very good choice in picking my new doctor.  I love the whole Providence Newberg Medical Group experience in general - it has a small community feel to it.  I could go on and on.  Suffice it to say that I am now getting help and feeling very encouraged.  After a January 9th appointment, we realized we could actually get back to living the life we'd hoped for!  What a huge relief for both of us!  We were SO ready to move on.  We love our park in McMinnville, but we were really feeling the need for change.  We were getting on each other's nerves a wee bit (at times a large bit!) ...

Phoenix RV Park - that's us at the very back (right edge).

The first thing we did was call down to Roberson RV in Salem to make an appointment for our coach.  Once we decided to change to a different RV service company, Winnebago told us about this award winning one.  Steve and I drove down for a visit in December and were so impressed to meet the head of the service department.  He spent time talking with us - and listened!  It was so encouraging that we felt very hopeful they could help us get through more of our warranty items on the coach.  We also scouted out a couple RV parks while we were in the area, and knew one of the two would be our home while in Salem.  As it turned out, we picked my second choice, as it was simply easier to get to Roberson.  I just wasn't sure about the area of town, even though it was a nice, clean RV park - very well kept.  Steve made the final decision, and I figured I could live with it.  It's turned out to be a great place for us.  From my perspective, within 4 miles I have a Winco, a Fred Meyer, and 2 Walgreen's.  If I go another couple miles I even have a Trader Jo's.  We even have workout equipment to use when it's too cold to go walking.  Life is good.  We've helped put together puzzles in the gathering area.  I love puzzles, but it's difficult to use our limited space for one here in the coach.  There is free coffee at the office each morning, and even doughnuts on Fridays.  Steve's tickled about that.  I'm trying not to look.

Moby - slides in - waiting for his 2nd appointment at Roberson.

We have also not been disappointed with the service we have received at Roberson.  We spent two nights camped out in front of their business, complete with 50amp hookups and water available if we needed it.  Each day we would leave Moby with them and Steve, Parsley and I would drive up to Beaverton to spend the rest of the day with my parents.  We can't say enough how thankful we are to be able to hang out at their place when we truly have nowhere else to be!  Sitting in the car with the cat isn't bad for perhaps up to 3 hours or so.  A whole day .... I'm not sure which of us would go crazy first!

Parsley in the coach window, getting some rays.

I'm not certain that our frustration with our former RV service place wasn't much caused by a lack of communication we got from them.  However, we now are getting some things fixed that we were told were "normal", and we had to live with them.

A perfect example is the problem we've had with our sliding bed:  Our king-size bed has to slide up - that is the head of the bed folds up as an adjustable bed, and moves the whole bed up perhaps 1-2 feet.  Unless the bed is able to raise all the way up, moving the end of the bed in, the bedroom slide will not come in.  If the bed slide can't come in, we can't move, for obvious reasons.  At times the switches were dead.  Then, 30 seconds later, they would work.  There was a clicking sound, metal on metal as the bed eventually moved up.  I can't tell you how much stress this problem caused us.  Our worse fear with commitments to be at such and such a place on such and such a day was that the bed wouldn't come up and we'd be unable to leave - even to go get it fixed!  After several visits, usually 1 or 2 months apart, between hosting jobs, there was no change in how it operated.  We'd baby that thing and somehow we'd get it to come up enough that the slide would go in.  Our former service place said they couldn't fix the clicking until something broke.  Obviously, we wouldn't be able to get in to have it fixed if that happened!  What were they thinking?!?!

During our first visit at Roberson RV, their technician called Winnebago and learned that a red and green light on the bed controller (that had been on ever since we bought the coach) weren't supposed to be on.  They indicated that the mechanism was out of adjustment.  The technician followed their instructions, made the adjustment, and suddenly our bed lifted without problem.  They also noticed some metal pieces that were hitting each other.  They bent them back into shape, and the clicking stopped as well.  No matter what else happened after that, Roberson RV are rock stars to us!  They are our new regular service place.  I can't tell you what a joy it was to fold up the motorhome just yesterday and have it operate perfectly!  A true miracle in my book!

Yesterday, Thursday, we prepared Moby for travel, and took him over to visit Freightliner.  They just happen to be on the north end of Salem, just off I-5, about 6 miles from our RV Park.  We'd received a recall notice which they would check out for us.  We sat in our car, along with Parsley the cat, for perhaps 1 1/2 hours, until they were able to get a chance to check it out, make whatever adjustments they needed, and we able to return to our new RV Park in Salem.  Slowly, things are falling into place.

I did fail to mention one other big deal repair Roberson helped us with.  Some of the heads were falling off screws which hold our door to the frame on the coach.  It was a major concern, but there were several hinges with seven screws on each side of the hinge.  We treated it gingerly and hoped to get it fixed before the door fell off.  It appears the torque on a drill may have been too strong, damaging the screws.  Roberson, with Winnebago's help, tried to figure out a solution.  They were unable to drill out the old screws as they were stainless steel - too hard.  They couldn't access the back side of the screws without taking the door apart, something they really didn't want to have to do.  In the end, the problem was solved by simply adding screws to the existing plates.  That door isn't going anywhere!

We still have just a few more things to take care of while we are in Salem. We'll make one more visit to Roberson to care for a few things they wanted time to research and order parts for, including a leaky gasket at the bottom of our front door.  Also, we need a new windshield in our Moby Homa!

On our trip from McMinnville to Salem, via Hwy 219 from Newberg, a big semi passed us in the opposite direction, tossing a rock at us, which landed near the center of our huge windshield!  I had a glass guy give the right description of what I heard:  It sounded like a bullet hit the front window while I drove.  Yes, I was driving.  It doesn't make it my fault!  There was nowhere to pull off the road, and nothing really we could do if I'd been able to, so we just finished our trip to Salem.  I knew it would spread as we drove on those bumpy back roads ... which it did.  As soon as we arrived at our first Salem destination (Roberson RV), I called in on the damaged windshield, learning we were completely covered because we called in during the first 24 hours.  We'd made what turns out to be a very good decision to go the extra mile and have the windshield treated with a product that was suppose to keep this damage from happening.  Though we wish it would've worked, we're incredibly blessed that it will now save us from this major expense.  We will be having the new window treated as well.

God doesn't promise us a trouble-free life.  Bad stuff happens to believers and non-believers alike.  He simply makes Himself a part of things when we invite Him.  We want Him with us, and see that He is.  Sometimes it's just takes a certain something, or lots of certain somethings, to open our eyes.