Our First Days

Hitting the Road-Saturday -May  04, 2013

Up at 6:45 to gather the last of our belongings and cart them out to the MH. We have a nine am appointment at the Fife Camping World to have our new tires mounted.  8:15 am everything is loaded including a very unhappy Zoe Cat.  She has really gotten used to Grandpa’s house and is not going to be happy for at least a few days. Having said our goodbyes I climb into the driver’s seat, settle myself in, hook my seatbelt, and turn the key and….nothing.  Oh no, this is definitely not what we have planned for our first morning.  Our batteries are dead.  Ninety minutes later we are finally able to hit the road.  We arrive at Camping World by eleven and spend the day hanging out while the folks at Camping World drive the MH over to Les Schwab to get our tires mounted.  Seems like we are not the only folks having a bad start to their day, the tire machine at Camping World is broken. In anticipation of our arrival the tire person has called over and made arrangements to have Les Schwab do the tire mounting for them. Thank goodness both businesses have such outstanding customer service. 

By five o’clock the new tires are mounted, the oil is changed and we are at last ready to truly hit the road.  As Jim and I turn to walk away from the counter the man that has been working on our rig out in the bay steps into the inside counter and tells us to check things out inside the MH, as it was a little bumpy pulling in and out of the bay.  Hmm, I can think of a lot of things that can tip over but I was totally not expecting the 20 lb container of kitty litter to be lying on its side.  Of course the lid is off and the container is lined up perfectly with the heat vent.  Does anyone have any idea how many spoonfuls (a spoon was the only thing I could think to use that would fit into the vent) of kitty litter there are in a 20 lb container. 

Spent the night alongside the road in Cascade Locks.

Visiting Jamie-Sunday May 05,2013

We moved the MH to the marine park.  Neither of us had thought the MH would fit thru the entrance into the park, but we saw several Class A’s coming out of the park so we ran down there in the jeep and sure enough the entryway that goes under the railway tracks is 12 ft tall.  You would have thought we would have known that after living in the town for 20 plus years.

Went out to Jamie’s house and got a couple of things Jim was wanting out of the storage shed.  When Jamie got off work she came to the port and we had hotdogs for dinner.

Getting things in order-Monday May 06,2013

Jim, Jamie and I went into Hood River today.  First stop was Starbucks and then on to the DMV so they could relieve us of just over $200.00.  We had to license the Chevy truck and transfer the MH title into our name.  The DMV clerk told us this year was cheap for the MH, next year we will need to get new tags and that will run us over $300.

Made a quick stop at Safeway where we picked up some burger and potato salad for dinner in the park again.  Jamie is bringing Cody and Donna with her.

Well dinner guests turned out to be more than just the three we had planned for, Jamie also brought Brandon and another couple we hadn’t met before and whose names I promptly forgot.  Teenagers!!  Opps, I guess they are a little beyond the teenage years, but still of the opinion that there is an endless supply of groceries to be provided by parents.

 

Off to visit Sheila-Tuesday May 07, 2013

Broke camp this morning, made a quick stop to say goodbye to Jamie and then headed up the road to The Dalles for a visit with Sheila and family.  When we arrived in The Dalles Jim discovered he was missing the keys to the jeep, thinks he may have laid them down when we were hooking the jeep to the MH.  So we hopped into the jeep and headed back to Cascade Locks.  I had been wondering what we would do to occupy our time until the kids got home from school, now I know.  We are going to take a drive to Cascade Locks.  Not that we haven’t done that a million times before.  Well at least I got a Starbucks out of the deal.  We arrived back at The Dalles about the time I figured Austin would be home from school so we made a quick stop at Fred Meyer’s for groceries and to have a key made (did I mention we didn’t find the key?) and then headed on over to Sheila’s.  We had a great visit with all and got to meet Chelsea’s boyfriend.  It certainly doesn’t seem like I am old enough to have a granddaughter old enough to have boyfriends.

Jeff and Sheila followed us to Kmart so Jeff could check out the MH and it turns out their following us was a real blessing.  Jim and Jeff where busy gabbing while we hooked the jeep up to the MH and continued talking until I pointed out it was starting to get dark and we needed to head on down the road. (I am not overly fond of nighttime driving) We pulled out of Kmart drove the block to the freeway on ramp and proceeded to merge onto the freeway when I happened to notice that Jeff was following us up the on ramp and said to Jim that I thought maybe Jeff was blinking his headlights, before I got the words out my phone was ringing, Jim picked up the call and immediately started hollering for me to pull over.  Seems like someone was so busy talking they forgot to release the parking brake in the jeep.  Thank you Jeff and Sheila!!

We made it to Boardman just at bed time and the night driving wasn’t bad with little traffic and the divided road.

Dinner with Kurt and family-Wednesday, May 08, 2013

We arrived in Irrigon about 10:00 am, where we will be hanging out and having dinner with Kurt and family.  We had intended to find a free spot for the night but made the mistake of running down to the Marine Park where we stayed last year and of course ended up getting a spot there for the night.  It is just too pretty and peaceful to pass up.  Jim had both the electric and water bay doors open while setting up this morning, stood up from working in one area, turned, and ran smack into the other open door.  I heard the collision from several feet away rather than saw it. The corner of the door put about a half inch gash in his forehead, knocked his glasses off his face and caused him to see stars for a bit.  After we got the MH situated and Jim was feeling a little less dizzy we headed over the Jaimee’s mom’s house to meet up with Kurt.  He showed us all his current auto projects and then invited us to run down the street, so he could show us “something”.  “Something” turned out to be a modular home sitting on just over a half acre they are in the process of buying.  We were only able to see the kitchen by peeking in the window, but the outside is just perfect for them.  There is plenty of space for all their toys and a double car garage for Kurt’s auto projects, as well as a couple for storage buildings and my favorite thing, the RV spot with hook ups.  No view of the river, but time with my son and family will always win out over a view.