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.

November - a very short month!

I admit I knew when we were sitting in Wallowa Lake State Park that we were going to have to hit the ground running when we got to McMinnville.  We had so many things that needed to fall together during the month of November.  It was a true gift to arrive a week early.  We needed that extra week!

Among many other things, our list of "action items" included:

• Participate in and celebrate my Dad's 80th Birthday!
• Visit Camping World for more warranty work (don't get me started...)
• Find/Purchase a new tow-able car
• Get the new car and motorhome equipped for towing
• Find/Purchase a new mattress
• Dental Appointments
• Eye Exam Appointments
• Find Church to attend in McMinnville
• Participate in and celebrate Thanksgiving with Skeels family
• Visit as many friends as possible

It's November 23rd as I write, and I can report that we've made some good progress, but have a little ways to go.

We had a great time celebrating my Dad's 80th Birthday.  We went out to dinner as a smaller family unit on his actual birthday, and then had a much larger party for extended family and friends for following Sunday.  What a great time that turned out to be!  I got to spend some quality time with my sister as we baked pies and a cobbler for the party, and it was great see friends and family we haven't seen in a long while!

We've been able to see a few close friends so far, but haven't nearly got to do the visiting we'd hoped.  We're hoping to do more before the month is over, but it's getting frustrating ... It feels that McMinnville is a lot further away than it was last July ...  Must be because daylight hours are shorter, and the rain and wind storms much harder!  By the way, we thought our coach was going to fly through the area during the wind/rain storm just before Thanksgiving.  I haven't been that scared in a long time.  In the dark, it sounded much worse than it was!

We spent another day at Camping World having more warranty work dealt with on the 31st of October.  The repair list had got shorter, but sometimes seems it will never end.  The first year warranty period is almost half way gone.  We can only dream of the day we won't need to go back there again...  After this October appointment, we had to continue waiting for new fireplace pieces.  The fan rattles and the remote died.  If you are going to have an extra source of heat, you really don't want it to rattle the whole time you use it!

We received a call mid-month saying the parts were already in.  Consequently, we went back for a second visit Tuesday before Thanksgiving...

All this continual packing and moving has felt bothersome for me.  I guess I hadn't realized how much packing and moving for short term periods there would be in this lifestyle.  I expect I'll just get used to it over time.  I need to just "buck up" and look at packing and moving as a necessary inconvenience which, prayerfully, won't be as frequent once we get past all this warranty work and have established a new "normal" in our life.

Let me insert something here about dealing with all this warranty work:  Let's just say, if you can find service people with good communication, good skills, good communication, who don't tell you want to hear and then send you away to get you out of their hair, and with good communication skills, hire them!!  We're still looking for more of those people in the RV service business ... 

In case you feel that's too vague, here's one of our many, many experiences:  We had a closet door latch which wouldn't latch on the 4-door wardrobe in our bedroom.  It came unlatched during travel and wouldn't latch again.  It's important to latch doors, as doors can slide back and forth in travel, potentially causing damage.  Doors always need to be latched.  Feeling I could perhaps figure out the problem, I took the latch off while we were at Wallowa Lake (just two little screws).  I failed trying to fix the latch, so I went to the hardware store and looked for a replacement latch, with no success.  Steve helped me, and we got the latch to work again.  I put it back on the door, and after 3-4 latches, it quit again.  Though it could be fixed with a screwdriver each time, it didn't seem realistic to expect we should be satisfied with this situation.  I mean, it's only a latch needing to be replaced! The results - more warranty work.  They won't just mail you a new latch.  You have to go to them and let them fix it when it's on warranty.

Our service people said they could not reproduce the error.  Therefore, to them, it was not defective.  (This alone is SO frustrating to me!)  However, because I had said it was defective, and I believe they are tired of seeing and listening to us, they replaced it.  The cost was $10.99 for the latch, but we'd have to pay for it.  I said OK.  When we picked up our coach, the bill was $70.  Seems there was a bit of labor costs involved as well.  They later waived this charge when we complained, though they claimed they'd told me of the labor cost on the phone.  Like I would've missed that?  I'm just saying that. once again, good communication could've saved a lot of frustration.  We've experienced this over and over with mostly much larger tasks.  I'll move on now ....

Steve and I joined the "Family Motor Coach Association", which gives us access to the lists of vehicles which can be towed "4 down", meaning 4 wheels on the ground - the most common way of towing an extra vehicle.  We'd both been studying the lists, and talking about what kind of vehicle would meet our needs and "float our boat" for the next 10+ years.  It took a lot of evaluation of needs/wants, but we finally came to a decision that we really wanted to find a vehicle about the same size as our 2002 Buick Rendezvous - a cross-over utility vehicle (CUV) is what they are calling them now.  We wanted to be able to drive distances in it comfortably, have room for Parsley's cat carrier and litter box, and feel good about it's "driveability".  Also, we wanted to feel like it was a car we could be happy with for a long time.  We've always kept our vehicles for 10-13 years.  Also, we really like buying new - because of the warranties, because of the comfort of knowing the true history of the car.  Just a personal thing - if we can swing the $$.

From the list of tow-ables, we narrowed down our search to perhaps 6-8 vehicles.  We needed to go look at them to narrow down our list.  We pretty much assumed that we could eliminate some just by sitting in them.  They might be too big, too small, not comfortable enough, or whatever.  Then we'd get serious on whatever vehicles were still on the list.  We didn't waste any time getting busy with our vehicle shopping.

We started in Beaverton - Buick/GMC, Chevy.  We have always thought ourselves to be "Buick people", and it was difficult to come to the decision that the Enclave was just too big for how we now believe we will use a vehicle.  The GMC Terrain felt just a little too small.  The Chevy Equinox seemed very possible, but didn't have the same feeling we'd felt when we bought our Buick Rendezvous.  It's that thing you just can't put your finger on.  We decided against the Subaru, and the Honda CRV because of their smaller engines.  We really like our V-6's and were hoping for a bit more" pep" than we'd had in the 2002 Buick Rendezvous.  Our list was getting shorter.  We had a Cadillac SRX on the list, but didn't really think we were "Cadillac people".  Funny how we get certain impressions, while never even looking ... Still, there was a GM dealer right in McMinnville, so we'd go check it out.

We left the dealer that evening with a 2012 Cadillac SRX.  God's timing was perfect and there were 3 end-of-the-year SRX's on the lot - two black, one white.  White was the only thing that made sense.  It's hard to find a car wash on the park host circuit ... and State Parks don't allow car washing.

We had a great salesman at Larsen Motors in McMinnville, and even making the deal was a great experience for us.  They gave us what we wanted on our trade-in, and we were satisfied with the price we agreed to pay overall.  We would trade being able to pick color and conveniences for a great deal any day!  We have continued to feel good about our new car since driving it off the showroom floor that night.  It's just the right car for us.  It just feels right for us.

We had Wilsonville Camping World install the towing equipment on the car and motorhome.  We reasoned they'd done lots of these installations.  Experience made us feel better about making these modifications to our new vehicle.  They finished it in one day, however the walk-thru was by flashlight in the dark.  We decided to spend the night and try it again in daylight.  Steve was the first to drive the motorhome with the tow vehicle behind for the 30 mile trip back to our McMinnville RV Park.  No problems!  The hooking up is going to take us a while until we get comfortable with it.  It's scary, wondering if you've done it all correctly!  We are amazed when we watch others quickly hook up or unhook here at the RV park.  They make it look simple.

We had a funny moment on our first towing trip.  We made a planned stop in Aurora at the truck stop to fuel up the coach.  As Steve prepared to take the exit, he turned on the right turn signal.  As he drove onto the off-ramp, he glanced down at the monitor, expecting to see, via the rear camera, the car still safely behind us.  Instead, he saw open road!!  It only took a moment of sheer terror before he remembered we have cameras on the side of the motorhome that automatically switch our view to the side when we turn on the turn signal!  The car didn't show up in that view!  So many things will become less scary with experience.

Our dental appointments are complete.  The only pain was the bill ... we don't have dental insurance since we retired about 4 1/2 years ago.  We are blessed that it hasn't posed any major difficulty for us financially at this point.  We plan for those visits in our budget.  We also carry our own individual health insurance policies, with higher deductibles in order to keep our costs down.  We are committed to keeping the deductible amounts in our savings account, just in case we need it.  The rest is up to God.

Finding a new mattress has been a high priority on our list this month, however even that task had to be put off as we dealt with the new vehicle, family matters, etc.  Our new friends from Wallowa Lake, the Schaffers, told us about a Newberg mattress manufacturer who they'd been very happy with.  We decided to check them out.  Mattress purchases are costly these days!  It's also a very important choice for me particularly.  I have a bad lower back that has given me lots of grief during and after moving from our Hillsboro house.  The mattress in our new motorhome is a knock-off "sleep number" type bed, and we really hoped it would work.  I was in tears within a couple weeks of trying to make it work - from pain and a lack of decent sleep.  After a particularly bad night, while in Washington, Steve's cousin Steve had helped us find a 3" memory foam topper in Olympia.  It made enough of a difference that I could at least get some sleep again.  While I am still unable to lay on my side, it was a great improvement.  Over time, it seems less and less effective.  For the past couple weeks, I've been sleeping on the couch in the living room, which thankfully lays down into a bed.  While not perfect, it is working better for me.  I miss having Steve next to me though ... the couch didn't work as well for him.

We picked out a mattress at the manufacturer's show room earlier in the month, but had asked that they come see our unique situation before we made a purchase.  Our RV-king bed has to mechanically slide up the wall (like an adjustable bed) quite a ways in order for the bedroom slide to come in.  When both sides of the room slide in, the wardrobe meets the foot end of the mattress.  There's a micro-switch which will not allow the bed slide to move, if the bed isn't raised all the way up.  Our new mattress has to be able to bend well and must be able to be raised as our current mattress does.  Also ... our RV King mattress in the motorhome isn't a 76x80 king.  We are 4" narrower than a standard king, and perhaps an inch shorter.  RV manufacturer's often make these adjustments to improve their layouts.  RV supply companies, like Camping World, sell RV mattresses, but we found them to be quite inadequate for my back comfort.  (When a mattress is delivered flat and rolled up, you have to be suspect about the amount of support it would provide!)  Our mattress manufacturer makes each mattress to order, and for an extra amount makes "custom cuts", so our 72x79" size would require custom cut(s).  The catch is that we can't return it, since it is a custom mattress.  That's why we asked them to come view our unique situation before we committed to the order!

Unfortunately, the guy who was to come see us got sick.  We began to panic as we saw the days of November ticking away.  We have to leave here November 30, and Thanksgiving would mean the mattress factory would be closed for 4 days over the holiday weekend. We were told they'd need 7 working days to make our mattress.  I called and pleaded with the fill-in salesman for help.

I remember pointing out to Steve how God repeatedly seems to have us in these "we-can't-control-this-ourselves" situations.  How would we get this mattress, and could I manage another week sleeping on the couch?  This past Monday the original salesman came to visit us.  He measured the bed, the doorway, the bed lift, etc.  He called later to say the mattress wouldn't fit through the doorway .... but they had options:  1) buy a "split king".  He didn't think we'd be happy if we couldn't sleep right next to each other though; 2) buy a queen mattress to fit in the king space.  He said he'd knew we would want the additional space of a king; 3) the factory guys had the idea of splitting our bed in a different way - about 18" up from the foot of the bed, where the seam wouldn't matter.  We'd never heard of such a thing, yet it makes sense.  The short section of bed can be at either the foot, or the head.  It actually gives us more opportunity to vary where we sleep in the main section of bed - making the mattress wear better.  Thank God!  The mattress is to be delivered 2 days before we leave town.

We found a church we feel very comfortable attending here in McMinnville - Calvary Chapel.  We have attended there except for last Sunday when we had a great time back at our home church - Cedar Mill Bible.  Steve decided he wanted to usher along side his friend, Tom, who'd recently lost his wife to cancer.  He had a great time.  I got to sit with my long time friend, Debbie, and be surrounded by a few of the friends we'd hoped to be able to have personal visits with this month ... which is becoming less likely.  It felt like we were home!  Even our lead pastor-teacher preached the message that morning.  It was a good day.

To make for an even better day, my birthday present - a new Kindle Fire HD 8.9" was delivered to our "home address".  I'm so thankful we pre-ordered it back in October, as I probably wouldn't have spent the money this month as we watched so much of it fly out of our savings account.  However, I am so pleased with how it's going to make life easier here in our motorhome.  I have worked hard to get recipes out of cookbooks and into my computer.  However, my laptop (a larger one) takes up too much kitchen counter space to be able to view the recipe while I'm cooking.  My new Kindle is just the right size to read from, and in it's space useage!  Also, Steve and I have an Amazon Prime membership, which has saved us lots of $$ in shipping charges, as we get free 2-day shipping via Amazon.com.  (I find internet shopping a real life-saver in our RV lifestyle.)  In addition, I can enjoy reading books for free as a part of the amazon lending library.  We could stream videos for free also, except we don't exactly have a high speed Internet feed.  We are very thankful for our Verizon Mifi, which gives us our hotspot via our cell phones, but the speed isn't what most enjoy in their "stick houses".  Still, we can do most all the things we enjoy.  With my new Kindle, I can even do a few computer things with the cat laying in my lap.  It was difficult balancing my laptop on the arm of the chair previously.  Isn't it the little things that make life fun?

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at my parents place.  It was a smaller group, with mostly just our immediate family gathered, missing only my sister-in-law, who'd had to work.  We have so much to give thanks to God for!  The list keeps getting longer.  God is good ... all the time.

With only a week left in the area, I am happy to report that our list of things to accomplish, one by one, have fallen into place.  As much as we've enjoyed being in the area, visiting family and friends, getting some necessary things done in an area where we know where to shop, etc., we are also looking forward to our next assignment just outside of Brookings, Oregon (SW corner of the state).  We will be at Alfred A Loeb State Park, on the Chetco River, for December and January.  We're looking forward to exploring the town and the local area.  We stopped in Brookings years ago, and recall thinking it would be a great town to retire in.  I remember the beach being very different from the Northern coast, but just as beautiful in a whole different way.  We're expecting it will be a mild winter down there.  We expect to be meeting fishermen in the park, as it's said there is wonderful salmon/steelhead fishing on the Chetco River.  We've also heard the park hosts like to do breakfast together once a week - a nice opportunity to get to know hosts in the 3 state parks near Brookings (Harris Beach, Crissy Fields & Alfred A Loeb).  We're praying for safe traveling weather at the end of the month.  Our next adventure awaits!

Getting through the Columbia Gorge ... to McMinnville

As I mentioned in the last post, we decided I would drive the motorhome from Pendleton to McMinnville, as Steve was feeling extra groggy that morning.  I was short on sleep, but feeling I could handle another day of driving.  Our new friends, the Schaffers, decided to stay an additional night at the casino RV park in order to take advantage of the laundry facilities, so Steve and I were on our own again.  We stopped in to say goodbye before heading out.  I believe we were on the road about 10:00 that morning.

I really have got quite a bit more comfortable driving our motorhome.  It's crazy, but I love turning corners.  I also love those exhaust brakes.  It just all makes sense now.  My main area of concern now is having to turn tight corners in traffic in downtown situations.  As I've mentioned, I'm a planner.  My comfort zone is knowing (being able to picture the roads/intersections in my head) where I'm going and what I'll deal with before I get there.  Obviously, this isn't realistic.  I guess that's why we've always had the Buick be our "lead vehicle".  If there's something difficult ahead that might be avoided, the lead car can notify the motorhome driver.

On this travel day, I was nervous about unknown wind conditions in the gorge first.  We began driving, mile after mile, and the weather was just great!  We saw a large flag hanging straight down somewhere near Umatilla.  No wind!  What were the chances?  Even as we approached The Dalles, the wind continued to be pretty much non-existent.  This was such a huge relief, and made for an easy day of travel.  It was clear we would go all the way to McMinnville.

As we drove through the last section of the gorge, approaching Troutdale, we were speaking via cell phone, deciding how we'd travel through Portland to McMinneville.  We agreed on the Marquam bridge across the Willamette, to I-5 South.  While going over the bridge in the motorhome was scary, it seemed do-able.  The next decision was which exit to take off I-5.  Would we take Hwy 99 through Tigard, or drop down to Aurora, get fuel at the truck stop and then take Hwy 219 to Newberg to connect with Hwy 99.  I wasn't sure I wanted to go further south, and we didn't have to get fuel yet.  We'd filled up at Pendleton as we headed toward Wallowa Lake, and 100 gallons was lasting us just fine.  I figured we would just fuel up at the end of November before heading to Brookings.

The other option, taking the Hwy 99 exit off I-5 was scary, since I just couldn't picture it.  How many times had I ever driven south on I-5 that far, coming from Portland?  I was afraid there would be an intersection, where I'd have to make a tight left turn to head east on Hwy 99.

...That's when Steve's cell phone died.  His battery likes to surprise us.

No more opportunity to talk through the decision.  I resolved myself to just follow Steve in the Buick, wherever he might go.  What other choice did I have?  I kept my eyes on Steve in the Rendezvous and just kept going.

About the time we prepared to take the approach to the Marquam, traffic really slowed down.  Going slow always makes things more simple!  I managed to stay in my lane over the bridge and maneuvered the on ramp to I-5 without any difficulties.  Hurrah!  Next, I wondered which exit Steve would decide to take to get us to McMinnville.  It appeared we'd be doing the Barbur Blvd/Tigard exit.  I just kept following Steve.  Seems there was no intersection to deal with!  No left turn!  Also traffic was nice and slow through Tigard, giving me lots of time to make sure I stayed in my lane and made no quick stops at traffic signals.  God was so good to us yet again!

I know you "man-type creatures" out there are probably thinking I'm some kind of wimp.  How hard can driving a motorhome - or a semi be?  Well ... I kind of am a wimp.  I'm just a determined wimp.  I love accomplishing things I thought were perhaps impossible for me.  And, along with that, I am learning more each day how to trust the God I have chosen to put my trust in.  It's not magic.  You don't just decide to follow God and suddenly have no questions about where you are willing to go.  Each day, each hour, each minute is often a new decision.  Yet each time we get through the next rough patch, I find He is trustworthy.  Not a bad lesson to learn over and over again!

Planning - perhaps. Flexibility - a necessity!

If you know me at all, you know I like to plan.  I like to be prepared.  It makes me feel more relaxed when I know what today and tomorrow hold.  I have some anxiety issues ...  I love lists.  I love my calendar.  I plan out our dinners a month in advance (if I'm on top of things).  Can you relate to that at all?

Part of this new life style for me is learning to be more flexible.  I am having to learn to be more open to whatever happens to come up.  This is not always easy for me, but I'm trying!

Being a park host is excellent training in being flexible with my own plans.  I'm learning to accept each position with the attitude of "whatever you need us to do, we will try our best".  I've done that in other volunteer opportunities quite successfully.  However, this park hosting business has raised the bar!   If I could, I lean toward avoiding any real or imagined difficulties.  I'd like to appear confident in my job, which means I might only want to do what I've already tried.  Fewer risks.  Rarely now are any two jobs the same!  Yes, I'm being stretched - in a really good way.

We accepted the park hosting position at Wallowa Lake State Park for September and October.  We were assigned our camp site (we loved it).  I did not pick it as I've always done when we were just "regular campers".  We were assigned responsibility for selling wood and for cleaning vacated camp sites - both tasks we enjoy - because that's what they needed us to do.  How the job is done varies from park to park.  We began work the morning after we arrived, and worked with 5 other hosts.  Our schedules overlapped and and we covered for each other as work loads changed with the changing of the seasons.  All of that required being available and flexible, getting to know new people and learning to deal and accept individual differences.  At Wallowa, we worked with such a good group of hosts - we all became quick friends, even with different strengths and personalities.  Park hosting is a great way to make new friends!

October brought some changes to our happy little Wallowa Lake family.  Some hosts left at the end of September.  The seasonal rangers were beginning to leave as well.  We had an additional host come join us for a week on a special project (photographing campsites which will eventually be viewable when making online camping reservations).  Steve and Al hit it off pretty quick (the "engineer thing") and we hope to see he and his wife again at another park one day.  We lost a couple other hosts who were ready to move to their next job, or planning to "Winter" elsewhere, leaving only two remaining hosts - the Schaffers and ourselves.

The weather changed rapidly in October.  We began getting freezing temperatures, in the mid 20's, at night.  We were unable to get propane delivered directly to our coach at the park, but had figured out a location we could take the coach to in town, if necessary.  We nursed our 28-gallon propane, using one of our heat pumps (air conditioner) for heat once the temperature got above 35 degrees, when the heat pump began to be effective.  Running a furnace can use a lot of propane up quickly, though at the time we had just one of our two furnaces working.  We went into town and purchased a small ceramic heater for extra help holding the temperature above freezing in the night.  It began to look like we were going to make through two months without buying more propane!



A prior winter photo by Heather Honeywell

Around that same time, our supervising Ranger, Shawn, told us that there would be a point coming soon when Maintenance-Ranger Wes would begin shutting off the water in various loops to avoid freezing pipes at the park.  Our host site happened to be C-1, a part of the first loop they were planning to close down.  To us less rough-and-tough people, it's no fun trying to "dry camp" for any extended length of time.  Keep in mind, this is our house!  We do laundry in it, take showers in it, wash dishes, etc.  We certainly need more than 100 gallons of water for a couple weeks of living!
Steve and I began trying to figure out what we could/should do.  Could we move into another site in B loop, which they'd planned to keep open longer?  While Ranger Shawn assured us that we could leave whenever we felt we needed to, it felt strange to consider leaving the park early.  We'd taken the position for September and October.  We've always met our commitments.  We spoke with our fellow hosts.  They planned to stay to the end.  We were really struggling.  Suddenly, the weather warmed and began to look hopeful!   They wouldn't need to turn off the water unless things got worse again.  We stayed on at the park, though we decided to leave on the 29th, to give us a better shot at being home for my Dad's birthday.  Our best plan was in order.

Then we had our first real rain of the reason.  It poured and poured for a couple days.  A small lake formed behind our MobyHoma.  We breathed in the moisture!  My cuticles began to mend at last!  But, then we saw our first snow.  It was so great to be able to see it come down in the park.  I love snow!  I don't want to have to drive in snow, mind you, but I love it!  We were keeping a close eye on the weather forecasts...  On Sunday, October 21, the temperatures dropped down in the mid 20's again.  We'd seen frost for the first time the morning before, thanks for the moisture left from the rain.  Keep in mind moisture was rare during our time at the park.  We decided not to risk driving into town on icy roads for church in Enterprise that morning.  One Ranger had experienced black ice on her way in to work.

Instead of church, Steve and I did a lot of talking.  We checked the latest weather forecasts and discovered a steady downward trend in the temperatures, both during the day and at night.  Snow was predicted for Tuesday morning, the 23rd.  We talked about our desire to be home for my Dad's 80th birthday, about the amount of tasks we were going to have to accomplish during the month of November, including finding/buying/ rigging a tow vehicle.  We were already aware that it was going to be an extremely busy month.  We were going to have to hit the ground running in McMinnville in order to accomplish everything we needed to .  Then we considered the weather creeping in on us.  When would it be too late to drive out safely?  We decided it was time -- now.  We decided to leave on Monday, October 22nd, prior to the predicted snow event, just in case it didn't end after the predicted day.  This would be one week before our planned date of departure.

We went over to visit our co-hosts to tell them of our decision.  I said, "We have some news to share."  Sharon said, "I think I know what it is."  I asked, "What?"  She said, "You are leaving the park tomorrow."  I couldn't believe it!  How could she have known?  We didn't talk to anyone else about it!  Seems they'd run into Ranger Wes, who'd shared that he was going to have to turn off the water on their loop, and had already closed the restroom/showers and laundry facility in that loop early that week.  They didn't have a washer/dryer in their Class C motorhome.  Independent from us, the Schaffer's had come to the same conclusion on when they should leave! It was clear God had confirmed that our plans were His also.  How cool was that?!?!

I went on to explain to Bill & Sharon that we thought we'd only go as far as Pendleton, staying at the RV Park at the Wild Horse Casino.  Bill said they'd had the same idea!  Sharon had told me on a previous day that she like the idea of traveling together with us for safety reasons.  After all, we were both headed the same direction.  Bill & Sharon were heading back to Newberg, and we were heading for McMinnville.  However, our leaving dates weren't making that possible.  Until now!  I should mention that Bill and Sharon are very early risers compared to us.  Steve and I are much slower and prefer to stay up in the evening a while longer.  Knowing that, Bill and Sharon were still willing to wait and leave with us between 11:00 and noon once temperatures were above freezing.  The plan was made.

We left Wallowa Lake State Park just after 11:00 on Monday morning.  It was snowing (not sticking) as we drove around the lake on the way out.  Steve (with Parsley) led in the Buick, I followed in Moby, and the Schaffers followed in their motorhome, towing their Volkswagen bug.  We had us a "convoy" of sorts!

I prayed a lot during that 2 1/2  hour drive to Pendleton.  First, I was concerned there might be slick roads along the way.  (Our motorhome doesn't appear to have a temperature monitor for the road.  If it does, we haven't found it yet.) However, things went very well and were pretty easy, at least until we started climbing to get through the pass prior to Pendleton.  We ran into a pretty good amount of rain, which was increasingly mixed with snow.  This was my first experience using the windshield wipers, and I was so happy to see how well they worked.  I knew I could just pull over if it got just too dicey.  However, then I imagined the snow might begin sticking and we could get stuck.  I knew we had to keep going.  I began to pray aloud to God asking that He would get us through these last 30 miles safely.  Hadn't He led us to this day of travel?  He did.  Surely, He would see us through.

There was sunshine on the other side of that pass!  We pulled into the Wild Horse Casino RV Park around 2:00 that afternoon.  We set up and then joined the Schaffers on a shuttle bus to go enjoy the Casino's lunch buffet.  It was so nice to enjoy our new friends, a good meal, and relax.

Steve and I didn't get much sleep that night, but decided the next morning to go ahead and head for McMinnville that day.  If there was excessive wind or other nasty weather in the gorge, we could always decide to stop for another night.  Since Steve was feeling particularly groggy this morning, we decided I would go ahead and drive Moby the rest of the way to McMinnville....

To be continued .....

Relaxing at Last - Wallowa Lake State Park

We are loving our new “neighborhood” here at Wallowa Lake!  Where is that?  We are in the Northeast corner of Oregon, about 60 miles from the Oregon-Idaho border.  We are about 6 miles from Joseph, Oregon, a somewhat well-known art community, and about 11 miles from Enterprise.  It’s something like 75 miles from LaGrande.  The campground brochure for Wallowa Lake State Park says, “Nestled between the south end of a scenic glacial lake and the towering peaks of the Wallowa Mountains, Wallowa Lake State Recreation Area is ideally positioned as a base camp for both wilderness treks and water sports fun.”  That sounds pretty good!  There are fishermen, hikers, bikers, and plain old families who are coming here.

The campground is pretty good sized – 200+ campsites, 121 full hookup, and 89 tent sites.  They have 2 yurts - with wood sides.  We have been hired as Campground Wood Hosts, which is to say we are selling wood to campers (2 days/week), and cleaning vacated campsites (3 days/week).

Even though the State of Oregon Park and Recreation Department officially approves our application to be hosts each year, even doing background checks, each park is run somewhat uniquely under the big umbrella.  However, the parks hire their volunteer hosts from the State “bucket” of volunteers.  Each park varies according to their setting, and their management to some degree.   Even how wood is sold, how much it costs and where the proceeds go, vary from park to park.  At this park, we load individual cut pieces of wood into wood bins that have wheels and a handle for pushing like a lawnmower.  We collect vouchers (paid for at the registration booth) instead of cash, to pay for the wood.  The customer takes a preloaded wood cart and delivers to their own camp site, then returns the cart for the next customer.  We have 7 carts to keep full for the next camper.  The carts are probably 2-3 times more wood for $5 than other parks we're familiar with to date.  Perhaps they can just get it cheaper here?

I have to say selling wood is probably the most fun job for us, as we get the most opportunity to visit with campers.  It's amazing how many people just stop by to chat, whether they need wood or not.  We think there is just something special about people who camp.  It seems most are just a bit more outgoing and friendly.  Perhaps part of that reason is that we all instantly have something in common - camping and enjoying the out-of-doors to varying degrees.  We live in somewhat close proximity to our neighbors by choice.  In the real world, we're always trying to put distance beween us and others.  Not so much when we are camping.  Whatever the thing is, we find it easy to talk with total strangers, something we're less likely to do if we're back in our usual lives.  When Steve and I put on our uniforms for work, we are in essence putting out a sign that says, "Talk to me - we like people."  That's a fun thing! 

When we left Camping World after two nights there at the end of August, we headed first to Memaloose State Park, about halfway between Hood River and The Dalles in the Columbia River Gorge.  It was our first opportunity to take advantage of one perk for Oregon State Park Hosts: - a free night of lodging!  Our Devil's Lake Ranger arranged that we could spend the night there for free as we were in route from one job to another!  We can have up to two free nights along the way if necessary.  This is a more recent added benefit for hosts, one we really appreciated having access to, in order to have a shorter day of traveling.  Where would we find to spend a Friday night at the last moment during Labor Day weekend?! 

Steve and I have always enjoyed Memaloose State Park.  Some people might be bothered by trains going through on both sides of the Columbia, or by noise from I-5 up at the top of the hill, but those things have never really bothered us.  The trains are part of the charm of the gorgeous park with all it's trees and beautiful view of the Columbia River.  We assumed our free night would most likely have us camping at the top of the park, up under I-5 - beggars can't be choosers.  However, when we received our site assignment, we were put in a site within a couple sites of where we have reserved space during vacations!  Too bad we didn't have time to enjoy it.  We spent the night and then hit the road about 10:00 the next morning. 

Something really great happened during our trip from Memaloose to Wallowa Lake .  I realized I felt comfortable driving Moby!  It was a good day!

Steve helped direct me coming out of our campsite because we had a good sized tree with big limbs close to us on the downhill side I'd be turning toward.  I didn't want to risk hitting that tree if I cut too sharp!  Naturally, there was a group of onlookers from the campsite across from us.  I was so focused on watching for Steve's direction, it didn't bother me this time.  Once sucessfully out of our site, Steve jumped back in the car with Parsley and led the way.  I remember watching where the back wheels of the coach were as I drove around the park on the way out.  Those paved roads aren't very wide, yet I didn't have any trouble staying on the paved surface.  We had to drive West on I-5 to Mosier, where we took the exit and then headed back East, as Memaloose State Park is only accessible heading West, with no overpass to get us from the park to the eastbound lanes.  I noticed as I turned around on the Mosier overpass that cornering seemed less of a challenge.  Even braking felt more natural. 

Back onto I-5 heading East, on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend, I felt relaxed behind the wheel.  Yes, the circumstances were great: low traffic, no nasty winds, gorgeous blue skies, etc.  Something clicked though.  I think I just got comfortable.  It made for a great trip!  With a rest stop near Boardman for lunch, during which I was able to whip up a quick taco salad from leftover taco meat, I drove as far as Pendleton, where we stopped at a truck stop at the Indian Reservation.  I quickly handed over the driver's seat when I saw it was self-serve!  I assumed my position as driver of the Buick, with Parsley as my co-pilot. 

We pulled into Wallowa Lake State Park around 5:30pm.  It was a good day, but we were tired.  Naturally, at our new camp site, we had a bit of a challenge with the motorhome.  The auto-leveling didn't seem to want to work for us.  We were warned to be careful about manual leveling, as the frame can get twisted if we did something wrong.  That warning was enough to scare both of us.  We don't want to be responsible for twisting our frame, let alone having to deal with the consequences of having done that ... 

Our assigned site sloped downhill slightly to the back of the coach.  I should mention here that that is the difference between camping and living in a RV park.  Sites in an RV park are generally cement, and leveled quite nicely.  There are generally never any trees to get in the way either at RV parks.  Our camp site here is a camp site!  This park was laid out long before people began driving large motorhomes and 5th wheel trailers, let alone RV's with slide-outs on one or both sides! 

We are beginning to deal with challenges better, and immediately assessed that life would not be totally miserable if we just lived with the downhill business for awhile.  I joked that at least the tilt made us move more quickly toward the bathroom and bedroom! 

The wood barn, directly in front of us, was swarming with campers buying wood.  With our big front window facing it, it felt like they were right in our livingroom.  We opted to close the front shades, and turn in early for the night.  Imagine our surprise when a knock at the door had one of our new fellow hosts asking if we were going to clean camp sites at 8 a.m the next morning?  We explained we had been instructed to be at the office for orientation at 10:00, with no mention of working prior to that.  Our fellow host left mumbling.  Not the start we had hoped for! 

The next morning, we managed to get up and made it to orientation on time.  Our host coordinator, Ranger Shawn Dutcher is really great.  Long before we met her in person, we were impressed by her organizational skills.  We'd signed our paperwork while we were still in McMinnville!  We completed our online safety modules while we were working at Devil's Lake.  It made for a more laid back beginning at this new park.

During the beginning of orientation, a funny thing happened.  The host who'd been less than thrilled at our not wanting to join him cleaning camp sites early that morning came in to hand in his August time sheet to Ranger Shawn.  She greeted him with "Good morning, Ed, my little trouble-maker.  What trouble do you have for me today?"  Ah!  It wasn't just us!  We've since had the chance to get to know Ed a bit and find he is a very nice and personable man.  I'm pretty sure he just has a bit of ADHD.  Also, it's possible he didn't realize that it was Labor Day weekend when we arrived and campers wouldn't be leaving on Sunday morning.  The mass exodus would likely be Monday.  Ed is also a very thorough camp site cleaner and perhaps was concerned he might have to clean many, many sites with only one fellow host to help him.  It was just an unfortunate beginning that has long been replaced with good impressions.

Our first day here, while meeting the other park hosts, we discovered God had given us another special gift.  Larry and Karleen are fellow believers, which is nice enough news, however Larry also had been a RV technician for 7 years, having worked at Olinger Motorhomes, who has since become Camping World's RV Sales - Hillsboro, where we bought our coach.  Larry was able to give Steve a new understanding of how leveling systems work.  We learned that just perhaps the post that wasn't coming down on the back passenger side, wasn't actually supposed to!  Apparently they come down one at a time, and the auto leveling system was stopping before it was supposed to come down.  Just possibly, the post wasn't jammed?  Steve got through to our service guy at Camping World first thing Tuesday morning.  Having read all the material we have, and received the great information from Larry, Steve felt confident to go ahead and manually level the trailer, as our service guy said.  A few seconds later and we were level!

There's an on-going lesson we're learning.  Every time we struggle with something, and eventually learn the solution, we learn it so completely that we're pretty sure we won't experience the same stress should it happen again.  We're simply in a steep learning curve these days.  So many things are still new to us.

We are still counting our blessings.  With the exception of driving out to refill our 28-gallon propane tank (we can't find anyone who will deliver), we get to live in one spot for two whole months in this beautiful park.  We are so pleased with our fellow hosts here that a few of us have already reserved this same time next year to work together again!  One of our most treasured blessings are the new friends we are able to add as we spend time working together.

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...