Le Page Park, Rufus, Oregon

We just finished a wonderful, relaxing five day stay at the Le Page Corps of Engineers RV Park in North-central Oregon. This park is located on the banks of the John Day River, a few hundred yards from where it flows into the Columbia. The park is located on I-84 about 30 miles East of The Dalles, Oregon. It is a small park, only 22 spaces, but the first eight are parallel to the river, right on the river bank. You step out of your RV and are 15 feet from the river. Best of all, with a U.S. Park Service Golden Age Pass it was $7 a night for 50a electric and water. We arrived here on Sunday, August 19th and settled in for a restful stay. We are pretty "rallied" out.

On Tuesday afternoon we took a drive to The Dalles to walk around town and have dinner with our Friend "No Fish" Jim. Jim lives in White Salmon, Washington, a little town just across the Columbia River from Hood River, Oregon, about 30 miles West of The Dalles. We met Jim last Winter while staying at the Imperial Spa RV Resort near the Salton Sea. Jim hosted karaoke every week there and we became pretty good friends. We stayed in White Salmon for a couple days in July and visited with him. Had a very nice dinner.

Wednesday afternoon we took a drive up into Washington to try a little fishing. Again, no fish, but we did enjoy a quiet few hours on Rock Creek. The rest of our stay at Le Page was spent just hanging around the coach, enjoying the quiet. One evening we were sitting our enjoying a cocktail when a herd of squirrels came to visit - must of smelled the Cheez-its we were munching on. Smokey was sitting by the screen door enjoying the show - and probably day-dreaming about squirrel nuggets.

Friday morning we leave for Moses Lake Washington. We will be there for ten days, including three days for a rally of the 100%ers Chapter of FMCA. We are the hosts for that rally.

More in a few days. Enjoy your days!

Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA) Rally, Redmond, Oregon

As we said in the previous entry, we settled into the Deschutes County Fairgrounds in Redmond, Oregon on Saturday afternoon, August 12th. The parking areas here are all in gravel parking lots, so we don’t have to worry about getting stuck like we did at our two previous FMCA rallies. In both Minot, ND in 05 and Charlotte, NC in 06 we were parked in grass fields and it rained. In Minot we (along with most everyone else) got mired and had to be pulled out by a tractor. In Charlotte we were able to get out on our own, but it was dicey. We are also much closer to the rally activities here, within reasonable walking distance.
The rally itself started on Monday and we both went to a couple of seminars. None of the vendor areas were open for shopping until Tuesday, but in the afternoon we did go to the new coach display area and look a few new motor homes. Some very nice coaches, but still no floor plans that we like as well as the one we have. We found it remarkable that some of the larger, more expensive coaches, had very poor in-coach storage. They would not be very good for full-timing in our estimation. The Monday night entertainment was a "sock hop" with a local band. We didn’t feel like hopping in our socks, so we stayed at the coach for the evening and did a little BBQing with our friends.
One thing we noticed at this rally was the cost of food at the concession booths. The concessions are all controlled by the fairgrounds, and the prices were outrageous. Nearly $11 for a sub sandwich or BBQ and $16 for a plate of nachos! The cheapest thing available was a $4 cheeseburger. We ate a lot of cheeseburgers for lunch this week!
Tuesday we went over for a few more seminars and spent some time shopping around the vendor booths. Fortunately, we have been at this lifestyle long enough that we have bought most of the expensive toys, so we didn’t spend too much money. A little jewelry here, a shirt there, that sort of thing. We went to meetings of two of the FMCA Chapters to which we belong, Elks International and MIME. Elks International is one of the larger FMCA Chapters. It is not an Elks Lodge or otherwise affiliated with BPOE, but one member of the couple must be an Elk in good standing with a Lodge in order to belong to the Chapter. We went to the Chapter business meeting on Tuesday and a social gathering on Thursday. Many of our friends and acquaintances from other Chapters we belong to are members of Elks International as well. We also went to a meeting of the MIME Chapter which was also a pot luck dinner. (Yea! Cheap food!) MIME stands for "Mouse In Motorhome Experience" and originally meant you had to have had a real mouse at one time or another in your coach. They have since opened it up to anyone and it is strictly a social Chapter with a couple small rallies each year. Fun group of people.
Tuesday evening we went to the arena for the Nelson Brothers show. These are the twin sons of the late Rick Nelson who now tour doing a tribute show to their dad. They had been at the FMCA rally in Charlotte as well, but the entertainment there was in an outdoor venue and two songs into the show the skies opened up with a torrential downpour. This time we got to listen to the entire show. Good music that sort of took you back in time. After the show we walked back to the coach because it was a beautiful cool evening and only about a half mile walk.
Wednesday more of the same - a couple seminars, a little shopping at the vendors, and looking at a few more new motor homes. For those reading this blog that are not familiar with FMCA or other RV rallies, the organizers usually schedule a whole series of seminars and classes - everything from crafts to lifestyle hints to educational seminars on engines, transmissions, cooling systems, electrical systems, you name it. After a half dozen rallies we have been to a lot of them, but we always manage to find something new and interesting to attend. The vendors are people and companies who set up booths - at the larger rallies like this one there may be 200 or more vendors. They include people selling RV supplies, campgrounds, membership parks, jewelry, clothing, gizmos, gadgets and anything that might be of interest to the RV community. Finally, the new coach exhibit at this rally has well over 200 coaches of every make and model. We did find one new coach that peaked our interest. It was a limited edition Monaco Diplomat (one model above our current coach, but with the same basic chassis) called the Tommy Bahama Edition. Great interior with a lot of wood and rattan decor. Not yet in the market for a new coach, but if we were, this one would get a serious look. We also learned that our floor plan, with the rear sitting/office area, is no longer offered in the Monaco line, but is still available in Holiday Rambler and Safari coaches. We also drove down to Bend (about 15 miles) to pick up or mail and our documents for our cruise next month. YEA!
Wednesday evening’s entertainment was Debbie Boone. Interestingly, she didn’t sing any of her father’s music, but rather did a tribute to Rosemary Clooney, her mother-in-law. She has a decent voice and put on a pretty good show, but most of the music was a little older and slower than I like. Jackie was disappointed she didn’t do any Pat Boone stuff.
Thursday, more seminars and strolling around the vendor area. We had a meeting of 100%ers Chapter in the early afternoon. This is the chapter that is restricted to families living full-time in a motor home - in order to stay in the chapter you can’t own a house. This is the Chapter that Roy is the Vice President of. Late Thursday afternoon we went to the Elks International social - food and drink and meeting with friends and acquaintances. Thursday evening’s entertainment was Tony Orlando (sans Dawn) who put on a great show - best of the rally. He was very interactive with the audience and sang a wide variety of songs. He also had a very talented band and let the various members perform as well. This was the official end of the rally.
Two of our caravan left on Thursday. Bill and Lynette had to leave early to get to a service center in Bend because their front wheel bearings started leaking and messed up the brakes. They were lucky to get an appointment for Friday, provided they could get there early. They decided to simply leave Thursday afternoon and park in the repair facility’s lot overnight. We found out later that they were able to get the stuff fixed that same day and they were able to get back on the road. Steve and Gail also left Thursday because of a family commitment.
On Friday we awoke to the sounds of hundreds of diesel engines as people started to roll out of the rally. We were not in a hurry to pack up because we were only going to Prineville, a little town about 20 miles NE of Redmond. One of our friends in the 100%ers Chapter had told us of another Chapter called the "3 Ts" which always holds a two day "relaxation" rally immediately after the FMCA rallies. The three Ts stand for "To dump, To rest, and To wash." This little post-rally was held in the Crook County RV Park in Prineville. This is a very nice park with full hookups.
On Friday night they had a happy hour and pot luck dinner for the group - about 12 rigs. They also had a business meeting, and OF COURSE, we joined the Chapter. Good thing, because we weren’t members for five minutes until Jackie was elected "Designated Delegate" for the Chapter. This means she will represent the Chapter at the next FMCA Board of Director’s meeting in the summer of 2008 in Minnesota - IF neither the elected National Director or Alternate Director can attend. Every FMCA Chapter (there are nearly 500 now) has one representative on the Board, the National Director. National Directors are elected by the Chapter. An Alternate Director is also elected and represents the Chapter if the National Director cannot. If neither can make it, the Chapter can elect a temporary Designated Delegate - that’s Jackie! We are planning to attend the rally in St. Paul next summer anyway and if Jackie represents the 3 Ts Chapter at the Board meeting, we get our rally fees refunded. FMCA pays the rally fees for all the National Directors or other Chapter representatives.
On Saturday we actually got up early and went to breakfast with the group! I know those of you who have camped with us will find this amazing and astounding, but it is true. We then went into town to do laundry, wander around downtown for a while, and visit the Prineville Elks Lodge. Nice friendly little lodge located right downtown. That evening the Chapter went to dinner at the local country club’s restaurant. Pretty good dinner at a reasonable cost. The service was excellent, even though we had 26 people dining. After dinner we went back to the park and visited with Dick and Mary Moore for a while, then back to our coach for the evening. The Moore’s were staying at the same park, but not with our Chapter group.
We will be leaving Prineville on Sunday morning heading for the La Page Corps of Engineers RV park near the confluence of the Columbia and John Day rivers. Its about 30 miles East of The Dalles, Oregon on Interstate 84. We will be there for five days, so more on that adventure later. Bye for now.

Monaco International Rally - Salem, Oregon

We got settled into our spot at the Oregon State Fairgrounds in Salem early Sunday morning, August 5th, and finished setting up our site after returning from the davenport races in Silverton. We are here for the Monaco International pre-rally. Monaco International is a chapter of the Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA) which is restricted to owners of Monaco brand coaches. Although not the sponsors of the rally, Monaco Coach Corporation is a big supporter of Monaco International. They provide sponsorship for many of the rally activities, provide a couple dozen service techs to do work on owner's coaches, and bring down a couple dozen new coaches for display and sales. Monaco is real big on customer service.
We have a nice end parking spot and they left lots of room between the coaches - not always the case at rallies. Best of all, the power was already on - at most rallies you have to wait a day or so for the electric to be turned on. A couple days before we came to Salem the front air conditioner decided to quit working. Fortunately, it is not too hot here in Salem so we can get by until the service guy can come around.
Monday there wasn't too much going on at the rally so we went to downtown Salem to do some shopping. Among other things we went to the Verizon store to get new phones. We were eligible for upgrades and Jackie's old phone hasn't been quite right since it accidentally went swimming in a glass of wine while we at Spectacle Lake.
Tuesday was the first full day of events. We went to a couple of seminars and did some shopping in the vendor area. I also reported the malfunctioning A/C unit to the Dometic representative at the rally and he came out that same morning and fixed the unit. He had to change a part and it has been working well since. It was still under warranty so it didn't cost us anything. We are also waiting for the Monaco Coach technician to come by to take care of the service needs we reported when we arrived at the rally. At the Monaco rallies the company will have techs come out to fix two items. Labor is free but you have to pay for parts if you are not under warranty anymore. The last couple rallies we have had trouble finding things for them to look at - the problem with having a fairly trouble-free coach I guess!
The next four days were spent primarily going to classes, looking through the new coach display and hanging out. The nice thing about the Monaco International rallies is that the rally fee includes breakfast and dinner for four days, as well as nightly entertainment. We don't do mornings, so the breakfasts are no big deal, but the evening dinners are excellent. There is an open bar for an hour before dinner starts. Monaco brings in a catering service from Florida that they have used for years. Their food is excellent. Nice salad bar every evening and a buffet with two choices of entree. One does not go thirsty or hungry at a Monaco rally. On Friday night they introduced all of the new coach buyers - they sold 33 new coaches at this rally - and had drawings for them. The new coach buyers could win amounts ranging from $1,000 to $10,000 in the drawing. They had two $10k, two $5k, a few $2k and the rest were $1,000. The goal of Monaco corporation is selling new coaches to 10 percent of the attendees and they came very close on this one. There were about 350 coaches attending and they sold 33 new ones.
Friday afternoon they brought a water hose by so we could fill the fresh water tank and the "honey wagon" came around and dumped our tanks so we would be all ready to move right to Redmond to the FMCA rally without having to stop along the way to dump tanks. About half the coaches are going to caravan from Salem to Redmond. We went with the caravan last year in North Carolina and it was a pretty dramatic sight, almost 200 coaches going down the highway nose to tail. This year we are not going with the caravan because we are meeting five other couples from the Desert who are going to the FMCA rally.
We got up early on Saturday morning and were on the road to Redmond by 7:30 a.m. The drive was very easy, little traffic and only modest mountain grades even though we were crossing the Cascades. It took us exactly three hours to make the trip. We met our other traveling companions in the Wal Mart parking lot just outside the Redmond fairgrounds. We met up with Bill and Lynette, Bob and Gloria Baron, Steve and Gail Schmidt, Dick and Mary Moore, and Ken and Judy, friends of the Baron's. The six of us then had our own little mini caravan into the fairgrounds to ensure that we would all be parked together. After a little snafu with the rally parking people we got settle in by mid afternoon. It seems that when we pulled out of the Wal Mart parking lot we managed to stick our little group into the middle of the "formal" caravan of the American Coach Owners Club. The parkers got confused and had to pull us into a holding area for about 20 minutes until they figured out where to put us. No power until Sunday morning, but the generator is working fine so we have A/C - it's quite a bit hotter here in Redmond than it was in Salem.
Barry and Colleen Cohen, our best buds from the Desert are on their way to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho and planned the trip so they could spend a couple days in Bend, just South of Redmond, during the time we are in Redmond. They called us late Saturday afternoon to tell us they were in Bend, so we and Bill and Lynette drove down to see them. We all went to the Bend Elks Lodge for dinner and had a good time visiting.
Barry and Colleen came up to Redmond on Sunday afternoon for a pot luck picnic with the rest of the Desert Rats and we had a grand old time. We BBQ'ed burgers and had a lot of other side stuff. Chuck and June McCubbins also came over. They are vendors, selling plaques and frames for RV owners, but used to live in the Desert. They are old friends of Barry and Colleen, and Jackie and I have known them for a number of years. We see Chuck and June at most of the rallies we go to, but Barry and Colleen had not seen them for about six months. After the BBQ a number of us partied in our coach. Barry and Colleen ended up staying the night on our hide-a-bed rather than drive all the way back to Bend late in the evening. They got up early Monday morning, drove back to Bend, and left for Idaho.
Monday starts the FMCA rally and I will write about our fun here later in the week. Bye for now.

Silverton, Oregon

Silverton is a very nice little community in the Pudding River valley. Very “small town” feel with a Victorian downtown area. On Wednesday we wandered around town doing a little shopping and then stopped in at the Elks Lodge. Nice little lodge right in the middle of town. On Thursday we took a drive around the surrounding countryside and found out that this part of Oregon is a prime Christmas tree growing area. Everywhere you look you see fields of little evergreens. Another interesting sight are fields of vines tied in huge vertical “V”s reaching about 12 or 15 feet high. We initially thought they were some kind of grape, but then decided maybe beans or peas. Found out later that they were hops and that this part of Oregon was a prime hop growing area. Next beer I have I will think of Silverton!
We visited Silver Falls State Park, located about 15 miles South of Silverton. There are nine waterfalls in the park along almost nine miles of hiking trail. Three of the falls are either visible from the main road, or are only a short walk from the road. Very pretty park and very much worth a visit, even more so if you enjoy hiking. The trails looked very well maintained and not especially strenuous.
We also drove up to Mount Angel, a very small Bavarian community about four miles North of Silverton. The town recently built a new senior home in the middle of downtown that looks like it should be in the Alps. In the corner of the building they built a huge Glockenspiel that goes off every four hours. Supposedly the largest in the United States. Our timing was off, so we didn’t get to see it operate. There are a number of other Bavarian looking buildings in town and they are primarily known for their Oktoberfest Weekend (which is in September, go figure).
Friday started the official Homer Davenport Days weekend in Silverton. We learned that Homer was a famous political cartoonist in the early 1900's who was from Silverton. Among other things he is associated with President Theodore Roosevelt’s nickname of Teddy, based on a number of his cartoons of the President with teddy bears in the picture. He died of pneumonia contracted while he was covering the sinking of the Titanic.
Friday we went to the fair in the park which included various craft booths, food and local entertainment. Most of the craft booths had very nice goods at very reasonable prices - far less than we have seen at similar events in larger tourist towns.
Saturday morning we went to the parade. About an hour long with the usual small-town trappings - local dignitaries in old cars, high school band, floats from local businesses, and lots of fire trucks. The parade participants threw candy out to the people on the street. We kind of saw this coming when we noticed before the parade that all the kids had plastic sacks in their hand. Probably the cutest thing was the local hospital’s Bed Pan Brigade, a group of nurses doing close order drill with bed pans. Very Do Dah for those of you who have been to Pasadena for that event. After the parade we went to the car show the local car club put on in the park. I was amazed to see that there were more restored cars and street rods than I used to see at the events in Palm Springs! Very nice group of cars. Saturday night we went back to the Elks Lodge for Karaoke. Not a real big crowd, but some very good singers. The ER, Jim Christensen, has his own band and does a lot of the oldies. Spent the evening sitting with the ER and his group. Very friendly folks.
On Sunday we got up very early and drove the 15 miles into Salem to the fairgrounds. We got right into the rally site with no wait and got the coach set up. We then drove back to Silverton for the davenport races. They have been putting on this event for the last 24 years. They close off Main Street right downtown and race couches down the street. (Well, technically, most of them were love seats) Local businesses sponsor race teams who put sofas on wheels with some sort of steering mechanism. One person rides on the coach to steer and other team members push. They have a variety of races with four man push teams, two man teams, only male, only female, over 40, etc. They race about hundred yards and the sidelines were packed with spectators. Only in a small town!
If you are ever in the Salem area I would strongly recommend a visit to Silverton, it is a charming little place. If you happen to be around during the first weekend in August, check out the Homer Davenport festivities. Makes you feel good about small town America.
We are now set up at the Salem, Oregon State Fairgrounds for the Monaco International motorcoach rally. We will be here until next Saturday when we leave for Redmond and the Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA) International rally. We should have a busy week and I will report on our activities here later on.
Adios Amigos