Chores

Eugene, Oregon: Before leaving Portland, we had one last task – to sell DT’s Chevy Tahoe. I had tucked the original window sticker from the car with the title, which we found while emptying/closing the safe deposit box at our bank last week. Our auto broker obtained this totally-loaded SUV for us in 2001, and it was an extraordinarily expensive $40,000, but had every luxury option available at the time… which I now realize meant heated leather seats and a leather-wrapped steering wheel. Dave’s Tahoe was purchased before such (currently standard) items as GPS, USB ports, satellite radio, back-up camera, etc., etc., etc., were available. His car had a CD player. A one-CD-at-a-time player. (And On-Star. Remember On-Star?) The very same auto broker came to the RV park, paid Dave $3100 for the Tahoe… 18 years and 126,000 miles later… and drove the Tahoe away.

We are now a one-car family.

Since our RV would be at Premier RV in Junction City for a full spa day, we had a ton of time to kill. Hanging out in the waiting room at Premier RV of Oregon, we made fast friends with other RV owners as we waited while our motorcoaches were serviced, upgraded, spiffed, or repaired. Our favorite tech, Brian Van De Walker, works at Premier RV of Oregon, and we trust rare others with our bus.

Our fellow waiting room hostages told us about the Viking Inn restaurant in Junction City. We had driven by the place (on Highway 99 in downtown Junction City) countless times, but it didn’t look like anything special. Happily, we visited the Viking Inn this morning for breakfast. The Viking Inn has an interesting rustic wood-lined interior, and they serve breakfast all day. (The bar is as large as the dining room, so I bet they serve lots of things all day.) Service was wonderful, and my veggie omelet was loaded with fresh greens, tomatoes, mushrooms and cheese. You don’t feel like toast? No problem, we will bring you some fruit.

We ran a few errands and visited the construction site at Historic Hayward Field. The stadium is being completely rebuilt and – W O W – it is impressive! Of course, we took photos of each other.

It was 42 degrees!

Hilarious or sad – wouldn’t you know it – our entry step suddenly refused to retract. Refused. DT tried every trick in his often-used repertoire, but the steps stayed out! AGAIN! Dave had to drive our bus the few blocks between having the air topped-off on the (8!) tires, back to Premier. Junction City’s number one economy is based on the RV industry, so you can only imagine how many cars honked to alert DT his entry door steps were sticking-out. I think this is the third time our bus has needed a new door-wiring situation thing. Our bus is now over ten years old.

Imagine how many things can go wrong with your house, or need upkeep or repair. Think about how many things can go wrong with your car, or need upkeep or repair. Combine the two = the RV Life.

Premier finished our repairs by 5p. Some items were trivial: a drawer that kept sliding open when we went around corners, the track on our idiotic poorly-designed “curved glass” shower door was replaced, a knob on my gas cooktop was replaced again. Those entry steps! The Aqua-Hot had her annual service, awning fabric repaired, a new water hose, plus, plus, plus a buncha other little stuff. It all added up to a very long day, a lot of cash-money, and we dragged ourselves to our campsite with ten minutes to dress for our dinner reservations at Marché in Eugene. Perfect reward for a long day.

Tomorrow: the annual lube, oil, filter at Cummins.

Until my next update, I remain, your steak frites correspondent.

RV Park: Premier RV Resort (no relation to Premier RV of Oregon). Full-service pull-through sites. At exit 199 on I-5 just north of Eugene. Large full-service pull through and back-in sites, bath house, laundry, store. We paid zero, because we had  finally filled our “frequent flyer” punch card!