Hello again friends
and loyal readers. Glad you're back. Our last episode ended on
Thursday, May 16th,
when we arrived in Harrisburg, Oregon, in central Oregon, after a
week long stay near Medford and Grants Pass in southern Oregon. We
settled into the River Bend RV Resort for an indeterminate period of
time, indeterminate because we are here in the old RV manufacturing
heart of Oregon to have some remodel work done on our coach. We have
an appointment to get started on the work next Monday, but right now
we don't know if the work will take one week, two weeks, or longer.
Harrisburg is a small town
about fifteen miles northwest of Eugene, Oregon, the second largest
city in Oregon with a population of 156,000. The city was founded in
1862 by Eugene Skinner, a trapper and trader who came to the area and
established a trading post in 1846. The city began it's climb to
prominence in 1876 when the University of Oregon was built in the
city. Today the University has some 25,000 students and 1,500
faculty. For those not familiar, the sports logo for the University
of Oregon is a gold “O” on a green field and the team mascot name
is The Ducks. Eugene has a lot of heavy industry, especially
industries related to forest products. Lumbering was a major
economic mainstay in the area up until the 1980's when environmental
issues nearly collapsed the industry in Oregon. Lumber and paper
mills are still important in the area, but since the collapse in the
80's Eugene has seen a big increase in more high tech operations. As
I stated in the previous chapter, the area north of Eugene was a
mecca for the RV manufacturing industry from the 70's into the early
2000's.
The company that we are
going to use for our remodel was started a few years ago by three
ex-employees of the Monaco Coach Corporation, which had major
manufacturing facilities, and it's corporate headquarters, in the
area. Monaco went bankrupt in 2009 and ultimately closed all of it's
facilities in the area except for a trailer plant in Harrisburg and a
parts and repair facility in Coburg. Elite Coach Remodel was
recommended to us by Ray Babcock, who also owns a Monaco coach and
has used Elite for a lot of repair and remodel jobs. The guys at
Elite are Erik, Mark and Marty. We went over to Elite to talk to
Erik for a few minutes to get a clearer idea as to what kind of
flooring to get, and where, and also make sure that the timing for
our work was still on track.
On Friday, May 17th,
we left the coach about 11:00 and drove down to the Eugene area to
pick out flooring for our coach. Elite will do the install, but we
needed to go down to the local supply company and pick out the
materials. We are having most of the carpeting removed from the
coach and will be putting in a wood laminate floor. There are some
areas that, because of the design of the coach have to be carpet, and
we will be putting in new carpet in those areas. The guys at Elite
gave us some suggestions as to brands of flooring that they have had
good success with and sent us to a place called Jerry's Home
Improvement to check them out.
Jerry's looks like the
local Oregon version of Home Depot. A very large, well stocked home
improvement center. The big difference was customer service. You
were never left to venture about the store on your own. They have
very helpful and knowledgeable staff and it was a pleasure to shop
there. We spent an hour looking at different colors and textures of
laminate flooring before finally settling on three “finalists” to
be checked out in the coach. We loaded up on samples of the three
choices. We also looked at carpeting at Jerry's, but their selection
was mostly low end stuff that we didn't care for.
After Jerry's we took a
lunch break and stopped at the IHOP near the freeway. Not a great
experience. Jackie really wanted IHOP because she wanted breakfast,
even though it was early afternoon by now. The service was pleasant
enough, but very, very slow and the waitress spent all her time
hanging out in the kitchen area, rarely coming around to check on the
tables. Jackie's food, an omelet, came out cold and she had to send
it back to get nuked before she could eat it. The restaurant also
looked a little tired and dingy, badly in need of a makeover. It was
not a good example of what I have come to expect from IHOP.
After lunch we hit a
couple of carpet stores that were recommended by Elite. We found
several different samples that we thought might work and took pieces
home with us to check inside the coach. We settled on a short shag
style carpet, the only choice now being colors. With the back seat
full of samples of flooring and carpet we made a stop at Walmart for
provisions before heading back to the coach. We finally got home at
6:00 after a busy day. We still have decisions to make, but we have
narrowed the field somewhat. After our late lunch we didn't have any
dinner, just watched TV until time for bed.
Saturday we woke up to more cloudy
skies with the threat of rain, light showers probably, but still
rain. During the morning we spent some time looking at the samples
we got yesterday for flooring and carpeting. We laid out the samples
on the floor, discussed the pros and cons and after about fifteen
minutes of deliberation settled on a flooring sample and a carpeting
sample. The flooring is called Glazed Hickory and is just a shade or
two darker than our light oak cabinets. The grain pattern is very
similar, so the match should be good. The carpeting is a good
quality short shag that is quite a bit darker than the beige carpet
we have now, but not too dark. It is also a mix of colors, better to
hide stains.
We decided that even though we have
settled on what we think we want, we were going to drive into
Springfield, another suburb of Eugene, to look at one more home
improvement store to see if they had anything that we might like
better. On the way down we had to drive through Coburg which was
where our friends Peggy and Vernon Bullock were heading. Just before
we left we got an email from them that they had arrived at the Monaco
Service Facility in Coburg, so we decided to drop in and surprise
them.
At one time Monaco, the old
pre-bankruptcy Monaco, had three company owned service centers. One
in Coburg, at the motorhome plant, one in Elkhart, Indiana, at one of
their manufacturing plants there, and one in Wildwood, Florida. All
three of these had fairly large RV parks right adjacent to the center
where you could park for free if there was space and you were having
work done. During our first year of ownership, when the coach was
still under warranty, we were at the Wildwood facility twice and the
Elkhart facility once. We never stayed at the Coburg plant, which is
now the only one still open.
Peggy and Vernon are having some major
electrical problems with their coach, which they bought used. They
have spent a fortune at private RV repair places but are still having
problems. They finally decided to make an appointment with Monaco
and let the people who built the coach try to fix it. They were
parked in the free parking and we stopped in and visited for a half
hour or so. They will probably be here for a week or two like us, so
I would imagine we will be spending time with them as our coaches are
being worked on. We are only about twelve miles up the road from
Coburg.
After the quick visit with Peggy and
Vernon we drove into Springfield and found the Jerry's Home
Improvement store. We weren't in there too long as we found that
they had exactly the same selection as the store in Eugene, so we
finalized our decisions on the flooring and carpeting. With that off
or our minds we set out to explore Springfield a little. It is a
large, 56,000 population, suburb of Eugene, just to the east.
Interstate 5 is the dividing line, Eugene to the west, Springfield to
the east.
Our first stop was the Springfield
Moose Lodge. I had read that they advertised RV parking and we
wanted to check it out in case we ever needed to stay in the Eugene
area in the future. It is too far from Harrisburg for our stay this
time. They do have a neon sign for RV parking in the back, but it is
really just a big parking lot. They had a few RVs back there in
storage, but I didn't see any that looked like people were staying in
them. The only hookups they have are a couple of 20 amp household
outlets. Enough to charge batteries, but that's about it. Not the
ideal place to stay.
We then went to the Springfield Elks
Lodge to see if they were open. Turns out they don't open until
after 4:00 and we didn't want to hang around that long today. We may
come by next week when we are in the area. We then went to the mall
and hit a couple of craft shops before driving back to Harrisburg.
We did find one geocache in Springfield, just so we would have one
for the day. After we got home we had cocktails and dinner and
watched TV until bedtime.
Sunday, May 19th, we stayed
around the coach for a leisure day. It was still cloudy and raining
off and on, so there was no hope for any caching. We did a few
chores and put a few things away in preparation for the coach going
into the shop tomorrow.
Monday we were up early and had the
coach folded up and ready for travel by 9:00 a.m. We drove the half
mile from the RV park to Elite Coach and parked. Within a couple
minutes one of the guys came out and parked the coach inside the big
steel barn that they are using as their shop. We spent about a half
hour walking around the coach with Erik, talking about the different
things we wanted done. Some of the items are remodel related, some
are repairs. Erik looked at the flooring we had picked out and let
us know that it was not quite the material that he preferred to use
on the floor. He got an idea of what color wood laminate we wanted
for the floor and said that he would go by the store tomorrow and
pick out a couple of color samples of the material he preferred. He
did like the carpet and got the information on it from us.
Erik told us that today they would be
doing some of the repair jobs, but would not start doing the
demolition on the floor in the coach. He said he always wanted to
make sure that he had the new flooring in the shop before he tore out
the old stuff. Since they were not going to be doing anything in the
bedroom we left the cats back there with the door closed. They have
food and water, and their litter box, and will be just fine. With
all the noise going on in the shop, they will probably stay hidden
most of the day anyway.
Peggy and Vernon had driven up from
Coburg after their coach had been pulled into Monaco's shop and were
waiting for us outside the Elite shop. Once we were done with Erik
we went out to do some exploring with the Bullocks. It was still
raining, so we wouldn't be doing any caching. We took separate cars
because both of us had our back seats full of stuff and they had
their dog, Belle with them. We drove into Eugene, actually a little
south of Eugene on Interstate 5, to a place called Northwest RV
Supply. It is a huge warehouse filled with new and used RV parts of
every conceivable nature. Everything from screws to air conditioners
and chassis parts. They have a lot of brand new stuff because they
bought a lot of stuff at the bankruptcy auctions when Monaco and
Country Coach went out of business. Both companies had factories in
the area and had all kinds of parts on hand when they folded up.
We spent about an hour wandering around
the warehouse and then drove back up into Springfield for lunch. The
four of us stopped at a Thai place called Noodles and Thai right on
the main street of downtown Springfield. Lunch was good, not
outstanding, but pretty good. When we were done with lunch we drove
into downtown Eugene and visited the other store that Northwest RV
Supply operated. It wasn't quite as big as the one off the freeway,
but it still had a lot of stuff. We spent another hour or so there
before we decided to head back up to Harrisburg. The Bullocks drove
back to Coburg to check on their coach and we went back to Harrisburg
to check on ours.
We arrived at Elite just before closing
time and found that they had moved the coach to the outside of the
shop and parked it alongside the building. They have a 50 amp
electric service out there and a water hose, so it works as a short
term parking space. Checking with Erik we learned that they had
fixed two of our maintenance issues. Our entry door was so out of
adjustment that Jackie could not open it from the outside, she didn't
have enough strength in her fingers to pull the latch out and release
the door They took the door and the mechanism completely apart and
fixed a couple of things and now the door can be opened with one
finger. They also put new weather stripping in the door and fixed a
place over the top of the door that allowed water to drip down on the
inside of the door in a heavy rain. The big thing was they fixed our
road side front slide. For the last several years we have had
problems getting that slide to come in. I have to go outside and
push the slide to get it to come in. Erik told us that he could fix
that problem and we found that they had done so. We were able to
just push the button and the slide came in and out just like it did
when the coach was new. Yea! It was not a cheap fix, about $1,500,
but well worth it in the long run and not much more than the cost of
a new motor, which we would have had to get in the not too distant
future if the problem was not fixed. The strain of trying to get the
slide in with the problems was very hard on the motor.
They also worked on the curb side slide
to try and fix a small leak we had there. When I told him where the
leak was Erik was pretty sure he knew what the problem was and said
they would look at it. He said they resealed everything on the slide
and that he was pretty confident that the leak was fixed. I told him
we would see because it was still raining and was supposed to rain
all night.
After we got done with Erik we went out
to the coach and put the jacks down and the slides out to spend the
night right there next to the shop. We had water and electric so we
were good to go for a few days. The only issue we had with the
location is that the shop is literally right next to the busy
railroad tracks, so the trains were pretty loud. However, that is
nothing new to us, so we didn't think it would bother us much. We
spent the rest of the night watching TV and resting. We did get a
phone call from the Bullocks, who told us that Monaco had fixed the
electrical problems with their coach today. The said it was a
relatively simple and inexpensive fix, so they were very happy. We
were going to spend tomorrow running around with them again, but they
said they were leaving in the morning to drove the coach up to the
Portland area so that they could get their washing machine fixed.
The company that makes the machine has a plant up there.
On Tuesday morning we woke up after a
night of on and off rain and found that we had no leaks. Yea, one
problem fixed. We didn't have to be in a big hurry this morning
because we were already parked at the shop. We only needed to be
ready to leave about 9:00 or so when the guys came in to start work.
We took a last photo of the old flooring. This picture is looking from the bathroom towards the front. They moved the coach into the shop again a little after 9:00 and
started doing some other odds and ends of work. Erik came in about
10:00 with the samples of wood laminate and we picked out one that we
liked pretty quickly. He told us that he would pick up the materials
tomorrow, both the laminate and the carpeting, and that they would
start doing the demolition work on the floor today. He told us that
they would not need to take the bedroom door off today and that we
could leave the cats back there again if we wanted too. That was
good for us because we weren't looking forward to having to carry the
cats around with us in the car all day.
Once we got everything settled with the
shop we drove back down to Eugene and went to mall to do some
shopping and go to a movie. We walked around the mall for a while
and then went to an early matinee showing of the movie “Identity
Thief” at the theaters in the mall. The movie starred Justin
Bateman and Melissa McCarthy, who is he comedian who stars on the TV
show Mike and Molly and was also in the Bridesmaids Both Jackie and
I think she is very funny and were looking forward to seeing the
movie. The movie was a fairly typical romantic comedy with a little
twist, but it was very funny. After the movie we walked around the
mall for another hour or so and then went to a couple of stores for
some supplies.
Once we were done with our shopping we
drove back to Harrisburg and the shop. Once again the coach was
parked outside already and when we went in we were shocked to find
most of the furniture gone as well as all of the flooring from the
bedroom door forward to the firewall. All we had left on the floor
was the chip board underflooring. They knew that we were going to
spent the night in the coach again, so they were nice enough to not
take out the toilet yet. However, the little bit of old tile under
the toilet was the only thing that was left of our old tile and
carpet flooring.
We got with Erik and confirmed that he
was picking up the carpet and laminate flooring in the morning and
that they were going to start laying the floor tomorrow. They were
also going to start on the repairs to the bed, so after tonight we
would have to spend at least one night out of the coach. We had
spent some time checking on hotels and finally decided that the best
bet for us was to just stay at the hotel that was a part of the same
RV park we had stayed in earlier in the week. We had checked on a
couple of hotels in Eugene that were less expensive, but their pet
policies were not so good. One place was only about $50 a night for
the hotel, but they wanted another $25 for each cat, per night. The
hotel at the RV park in Harrisburg was about $85 a night, but their
pet fee was a one time $15 charge. We decided we would just book the
room for two nights and give the guys plenty of time to get the coach
done.
We spent the night in the coach, parked
next to the building again. We spent some time in the bedroom
emptying the storage compartment under the bed so that they could fix
the bed. The materials that Monaco used to build the bed frame were
very flimsy and after almost eight years of constant use, the bed was
badly in need of a rebuild. We packed an overnight bag for our hotel
stay and spent the rest of the night watching TV.
On Wednesday, May 22nd we
were up and out of the coach just after 9:00 again. They pulled the
coach into the shop and we waited until Erik arrived and confirmed
that he had picked up the materials for the floor. We put the cats
in their little carriers, took our overnight bag and went over to the
hotel to check in. The cats were really funny to watch when we let
them out of the carriers to run around in the room. They were very
hesitant at first, mostly because of the strange surroundings, but
also because neither of them had been somewhere with that much space
in a very long time. The hotel room was nicely set up for the cats
in that the beds were on solid platforms, so they had nowhere that
they could go where we couldn't get them if we needed to.
We hung around the room for an hour or
so helping the cats get acclimated before we left for the day. They
had food and water, a liter box and we let the maid know not to come
in the room. About noon we left the cats in their new hotel room and
we went to lunch at a little restaurant in Harrisburg called Jake's.
The place had good reviews and they were well deserved as the food
was excellent. Jackie had breakfast, chicken fried steak, and I had
a French dip. They serve lots of food and it is quite tasty. It was
odd in that we noticed that the menus had Grubstake Cafe written on
them, even though the signs outside said Jake's. The waitress told
us that they just changed the name of the place and had not changed
the outside signs yet.
After we had lunch we drove over to
Coburg to pick up a couple of small parts from the Monaco Service
Center there. We needed a new set of trim pieces for around the
front entry steps because our old ones were broken and couldn't be
used any more. I also needed to pick up a switch that I wanted the
guys at Elite to fix for me. It was easier for us to drive over and
pick up the parts than it was for them to take the time to drive over
for them. After we picked up the parts we stopped and put fuel in
the car and then drove back to Harrisburg.
After we dropped the parts off at Elite
we went back to the hotel and spent the rest of the afternoon and
evening in the room relaxing with the cats. We had a restless night
as the bed was not very comfortable and the pillows were tiny.
Thursday, May 23rd, we left
the hotel about 9:30 and took a drive, a very long drive. You may
recall from the previous chapter of this blog that we had purchased a
new recliner at the Lazy Boy store in Medford, Oregon when we down
there last week. They were holding the chair in their warehouse for
us. The original plan was that when we were done with the coach
remodel, we were going to drive back down to Medford and pick up the
chair and put it in the coach. We have now revised our travel plans
and have realized that we would probably not be back down in that
area with the coach for another month or so. Given that we decided
that we would bite the bullet and drive the car down there to pick up
the chair.
We stopped at the shop so I could
unload the stuff in the back of the Jeep to make room for the chair.
Our car is more than big enough to hold the chair, but not with all
the crap we normally carry in the back. Once we had the cargo
compartment ready for action we hit the freeway and started the 190
mile drive south. Although it was a little rainy from time to time,
there wasn't too much traffic and we made the trip in just over three
hours. We went to the store, paid the balance on the chair, and they
helped load it into the car. The back of the chair is removable, so
getting it into the car was no problem at all.
Once we had the chair loaded up we
stopped at Arby's for a quick lunch, and hit the road for the return
trip. Again we were done in just over three hours and made it back
to Harrisburg before 5:00 cocktail hour. We did stop at the shop
before going to the hotel and were pleased to find that most of the
new flooring was in and the bed had been fixed. We were actually
pretty close to being done. Although everyone was gone from the shop
by the time we got there, Erik had let us know on the phone that we
would be ready to leave on Friday. It was a long day, nearly 400
miles on the road, but I now have my nice new chair to sit in soon.
When we got back to the hotel we found
that the Bullock's had returned from their trip to Portland to get
their new washer. They decided that since this was a holiday weekend
coming up they would stay until Tuesday and then start towards home
in California. We had cocktails with them in their coach before
going back to the hotel for the night.
Friday morning we went over to the shop
early, about 9:30 to talk to the guys and make the final
determination on which couch we were going to keep. As a little
background, our coach has two slides in the living room. The one on
the driver's side is what they call a flat floor slide. When the
slide is extended the floor of the slideout is level with the floor
of the coach. The one of the passenger side is not flat. The floor
of that slide is actually a platform that is about two or three
inches above the level of the coach floor In most motorhomes, as in
ours, the kitchen is on the side with the platform slide, along with
a coach that fills in the rest of the space on the slideout. That
way none of the platform is visible, it is all hidden under cabinets
or furniture.
The other side, the flat floor slide,
also had a small couch, but that is the side where we knew we could
put the new recliner. Because the floor is flat when the slide is
out, you can put a chair or other furniture on the floor of the
slide, or even partly on the slide, partly on the coach floor. The
coach on the passenger side was a fabric sleeper sofa, however, after
almost eight years on the road the fabric was in pretty bad
condition. The couch on the driver's side was a leather-look
material that still looked pretty good, but the couch was a little
smaller than the one on the other side. Our decision was which couch
to keep, the one that fit fully in the space, but was in poor
condition, or the smaller one, which is in good condition, but might
not look right in the space.
It didn't take too long to decide. The
guys moved the big couch off the platform and put the smaller couch
on it. There was about an eight inch gap between the side wall of
the slide and the couch, which Erik said they could build a very nice
little cabinet in. We really wanted to keep the leather couch and
the cabinet was a good idea, so we told them to mount the smaller
couch on the passenger side and get rid of the bigger fabric sofa.
No more overnight guests for us now, although we didn't have many
even when we had the sleeper sofa.
After we made that decision we went
back to the hotel and gathered our belongings and the kitties and
went back to the coach to drop off the cats in the coach bedroom
again. They were done in the back and the door to the bedroom was
back on, so we could leave the cats in there again while they
finished up in front. Once we had the cats settled we went out to
run some errands.
We and the Bullocks went to brunch at
the Grubstake Cafe again. I say brunch because they all had
breakfast, I had lunch. After that we drove down to Eugene, with the
Bullock's in trail in their car, to run a few errands. We still
needed a few odds and ends for the coach, new floor vents to replace
the old beat up one's, and a few little items. We first stopped at
Jerry's Home Improvement and got the vents, but they didn't have some
of the other stuff we wanted. So, we took another drive out to the
Northwest RV supply place where we got a couple of things.
We got back to the shop about 3:00 or
so and the coach was done and parked outside. We did a walk through
and then paid our bill. The total for all the work and materials was
$7,200, a bargain when you consider what a new coach would cost. We
have a great new look in the front and are really happy with our
choices. The only thing that remains to be done is for the guys to
build the small cabinet for next to the couch. It takes a few days
for them to build one and we are going to be in Oregon for at least
another three or four weeks. We told them we would be back towards
the end of June to have them install the cabinet. They also helped
me get the new recliner into the coach.
After we were finished I loaded all the
stuff I had taken out of the back of the car and from under the bed
back into the car and coach and we drove the coach back over to the
River Bend RV Resort and parked in the spot next to Peggy and Vernon.
We spent some time in the afternoon putting stuff away, making the
bed, and getting the coach back into living condition. We had
cocktails and dinner with Peggy and Vernon in their coach and
celebrated our new interior look. Yea!
Saturday, May 26th, we
finally awoke to a mostly clear sky and no rain in the forecast. It
has been raining on and off since we left southern Oregon to come up
to this area and it was nice to see the sun and some blue sky. We
left the coach about 1:00 with Peggy and Vernon in our car to go out
and do some geocaching. We have done very little lately because of
the weather. We were out for most of the afternoon and we managed to
get 18 new finds with only one new DNF. Once of the finds was number
5,300 for us. Yea! We had a couple of caches that were hidden in
old cemeteries and it was interesting to walk around and look at the
old headstones.
After caching we went back to the RV
park and did a little more work getting our coach put back together
inside. We had cocktails at the Bullock's and Peggy cooked dinner
again for us, some fettuccine today. We talked for a while after
dinner before going back into our coach for the night.
Sunday morning I watched most of the
Indy 500 race and after lunch we and the Bullock's took off for an
afternoon of shopping in Eugene. We all went in our car and ended up
going to Costco, Walmart, Fred Meyers, and several other stores. We
didn't need too much, but what we needed was all from different
places. Unfortunately, just before we left our coach our television
sound went kaput. The picture was still good, but there was no
sound. This was the very nice Jensen 26” HDTV that Jackie had won
in a drawing at the Monaco Rally in Salem, Oregon back in 2010,
Jensen is supposed to be a really good TV, so we were surprised that
it would go bad in just three years. We did find that Costco had a
really nice 32” Samsung TV that will fit in our space with very
little modification, so if I can't get the old TV working again
tonight, I may buy the new one on Tuesday.
We went back to the coach and I played
with the TV and tried everything to get it to work, but no dice, it's
broke. I did manage to get the satellite box connected directly to
the surround sound system we have in the coach, so we can watch TV
even though the TV's sound is not working. That will keep us until
next week when I can replace the TV. Tonight we hosted cocktails
with the Bullock's and Jackie cooked a nice chili rellano casserole
for dinner. We had a nice dinner and talked until about 8:30 when
Peggy and Vernon when back to their coach and we just relaxed with
the TV until bedtime. By the way, I am really loving sitting in my
new chair! Very comfortable, and nice looking too.
Monday, May 27th, Happy
Memorial Day and a huge thank you to all who have served our country
and remembrance of those who gave their all in that service. We had
a really rainy night and it was still pretty drippy when we woke up.
It was too wet to cache, so we just stayed around the RV park all
day. Jackie and Peggy took a quick trip into nearby Junction City to
go to the grocery store for some things they needed for tonight's
dinner, but other than that we just stayed home. About 5:00 or so
our friends Jerry and Bev King came over to the house. Bev and Jerry
are folks we met through Monaco International and FMCA and with whom
we have stayed in fairly close contact. They are not full timers,
but they go to almost all of the rallies, so we run across them
frequently. They have a home in San Dimas, California and an RV lot
with a nice villa in Indio.
They are on their way to the FMCA
rallies up in Wyoming and have stopped in this part of Oregon for a
few days to get some work done on their coach. They are parked in
Coburg right now and will be having new tires put on the coach on
Tuesday. Then they will be coming here to Harrisburg for a couple of
nights so that Elite can do some small repairs to
Jackie fixed some escargot for
appetizers and then a big pot of risotto for dinner. The risotto had
shrimp, mushrooms and asparagus and was a wonderful dish. It is a
lot of work, but Jackie likes doing it for company. We talked after
dinner until the King's left to go back to Coburg about 8:30. Peggy
and Vernon also went back to their coach and we just cleaned up and
then watched TV until bedtime.
Tuesday morning was cloudy, but at
least it wasn't raining. After lunch we drove down to the Costco in
Eugene and picked up the new 32 inch television for the coach. We
also stopped at the RV supply company for a couple of things and then
started back towards home. Once we got home I spent the rest of the
afternoon taking out the old flat screen and installing the new one.
This task was not nearly as hard as it was when my brother Dennis and
I replaced the original tube-type TV with the first flat screen. At
least this time the mount was in place and all I had to do was
disconnect the old TV, change the mounting bracket to the new one and
hook up the wires.
I did have to make a quick run to the
hardware store because the new TV had different size mounting bolts,
but I got the TV in and working in about two hours. It really makes
a difference. The new 32 inch is 23 percent larger than the old 26
inch, and you can really see it. All I have to do now is fill in
some trim pieces around the frame and we will have a nice new TV.
After I got that work done we just had leftovers for dinner and
watched our nice new TV until bedtime.
Wednesday, May 29th, we woke
up with rain – again. I am beginning to see how people in the
Northwest can get depressed with the weather. After lunch we packed
up our laundry in the car and went to the laundromat in Harrisburg.
While the clothes were washing I drove to Junction City, just down
the road, to the hardware store to get some things I needed to redo
the decorative frame around the new TV. After we got the laundry
washed we went back to the coach and I spent a couple of hours doing
woodworking, trying to make a decent looking frame. I got it pretty
much done except for a cloth covering over the lower portion. I need
to go to a fabric store tomorrow to get something that will work.
About 5:30 we picked up the King's, who
are staying in the RV park for another couple of days, and the four
of us drove to the Mexican Restaurant in Harrisburg. The place is
called Casa Torero and it had very good reviews on the review sites.
As it turns out the reviews were correct for the most part. It was a
very nice, clean place with an excellent menu. The service was good
and the food was excellent. I had the red chili, which is a measure
I use for Mexican restaurants, and it was very good. The portions
are large and everything was tasty. My only complaint is that the
tortillas they gave me with my dinner were the tiny, soft taco size
and useless for eating a nice, beefy red chili. After dinner we went
back to the park, dropped the King's off at their coach and went into
ours for the rest of the night.
Thursday, May 30th, our last
full day here in Harrisburg. Jackie and I left the coach after lunch
and took another drive down to Eugene to shop. I needed some fabric
to finish off the installation of the new television and Jackie
wanted some new rugs for the coach. We went to Jo
Friday, May 31st, we had the
coach packed up and ready to leave by about 10:00 or so. After we
left the RV park we made a quick stop at the Elite Coach shop. We
had a couple of minor things we wanted them to take care of before we
left the area. They needed to adjust the couch a little so Jackie
could be comfortable, and they needed to fix a couple of minor flaws
in the flooring. Just little areas in the corners where they
miss-cut the wood and left a tiny hole. They also had to screw down
the new floor vents in the bedroom.
We were finished with Elite and on the
road by 10:30. We only had a short 60 mile trip from Harrisburg
north to Keizer, Oregon, a suburb of Salem, the capital of the state.
We arrived at the Keizer Elks lodge just after noon and were pleased
to see that there were plenty of open spots. This lodge has nice 50
amp, full hookup spots. We are going to stay here for about six days
before moving on to the Oregon coast. After we got the coach hooked
up and everything setup we spent the rest of the day doing chores and
administrative tasks.
Our arrival here in Keizer marks a good
spot to close out this chapter. Look for the next episode in a week
or two. Until next time, a little thought for my friends who always
want to get “an early start.” The early bird gets the worm, but
the second mouse gets the cheese. Bye!
