On The Waytrance into the space I wanted to put it. On thing about RV's

It is now Wednesday and we're in Portland, OR, enroute to Pacific City. In my last entry I mentioned that I was trying to install my desktop computer into the rig. My plan went south when I discoved that it was too big to fit through the entry way of the space I was going to use. RV's just don't have much extra space. I decided to leave it at home and just use the laptop.

We got underway at 2:40 on Monday afternoon. Everything went into the rig thanks to Nancy. She's a real whiz about using space efficiently. It was a 200 mile drive into 15 -25 knot winds and up over the Blue Mountains. In other words, into the wind and uphill all the way. Our first night was spent at Wildhorse campground in Pendleton, OR. It was a nice site and we were both tired enough that we only had dinner, took a walk with our dog Bo and went to bed early.

Yesterday, we left around 8:30 am for Camping World in Portland, Once again, we were fighting headwinds, actually quartering headwinds at about 25-35 knots all the way. As we got about 50 miles East of Portland (PDX) it started to spritz. I discovered that I didn't know how to operate the wipers. As a matter of fact, I thought they were inoperative. All I could do was push the washer button and get two swipes. I tried everything that made any sense to me and nothing worked. I spent the last hour of the trip with one hand on the wash button and the other fighting the crosswinds and gusts in the canyons. Not the best drive so far. To add insult to injury, once we got to Camping World, one of the mechanics pointed out that I was trying to turn the wrong knob. Turns out you turn the small knob in the center that I had been pushing as a washer button. You can probably see the glow of my "red face" from where you are reading this. In my defense, I've never seen this arangement before. Oh well. live and learn. At about the same time it started to rain, a warning message came up saying that there was "Water in the Fuel" I decided to see if I could get it fixed at Camping World. We tried to get the "Water in Fuel" message to go out, but $178 later and a phone call to Freightliner, we found out that it's a warranty issue and can only be handled at a dealer. The factory tech said not to worry. I can keep driving and nothing bad will happen. I sure hope so. I'd hate to see it go into a "failure, shutdown mode".

Last night, we stayed at the Fairview RV park, just about a mile west of Camping World. Nice park. We made the reservation when we left Pendleton so we had a reservation. It was raining during hookup and for a couple of hours after. It quit around 7:oo pm. Today, it's overcast and supposed to get 70 degrees. Should be a nice day to finish up our trip. I need to go now so I can get ready to get us on the road. Later

Final Steps

Here it is Sunday already and it seems like we still have lots to do. My first project today is to attempt to put this computer into the RV. I have a spot for it, and I've also gotten a "wireless" router so I can use the connection from my USB modem and share it with the laptop. I've also just discovered that the 1000 Trails Preserve in Pacific City has marginal cell phone reception and that an external atenna and an amplifier are required. I already have the external antenna and will purchase the amplifier after we get there.

Our Daught, Son In Law and Grandson are coming over this afternoon to see Nancy (it's Mothersday) and check out the new rig. It's too bad I don't have anything really heavy. With all the muscle power we'll have I could pick up a big load.

I'm going to end this for now. Lots to do, so little time!

Getting Ready

It is now Thursday afternoon and we're leaving on Monday afternoon. We've been busy shopping for groceries and other items for the RV. Sometimes it looks as though we'e going to some remote desert location instead of a small town on the Oregon coast. We also brought the RV home from the dealership and spent some time operating every system on it. We also did a load of laundry.

We found several items that we wanted repaired, nothing serious. The RV is currentlyat the dealer and we were notified today that it's ready to be picked up. I've asked them to keep it there until Saturday morning. I need to explain why.

I talked the storage facility people into letting us park the rig in one of their vacant, individual, indoor, parking structures. They have 19 of them that measure 50'X14'. I figured that I'd see about getting a lower rate for the 10 days or so that I thought we'd need the space. It's like an airplane leaving with empty seats "an opportunity gone forever". They agreed and assigned me unit 16. The only problem is, space 16 is opposite another row of storage saces that are about 50 feet away. There is literally no room to manuver a 39' coach to get it lined up straight into the unit. I managed to do it once, but I'm not going to do it again. I must have ground 5 pounds of rubber off of each front tire trying to back and fill. So much for my great plan.

We will pick up the coach on Saturday morning and bring it to the house for the weekend. That way we can leave on Monday around 2:oo pm. At least that's the plan. I have a commitment at lunch time on Monday, then we're free to go.

I'll spend some more time on this later.