Newport, Oregon: You may have asked yourself why it has been so quiet over here at RVGoddess.com? Probably keeping yourself up at night pondering.
This column was supposed to come to you from the beautiful Oregon Coast - YESTERDAY - where we would be enjoying a few days in our motorhome - relaxing, golfing and fish & chipping.
Sunday - YESTERDAY - morning we loaded a few belongings into the Honda and drove to our RV storage unit, placed our things in the RV and were ready to drive to the beach... when our bus would not start. Would not turn over.
Nuttin'.
Strange thing too, because she had been plugged into 30-amp power since we returned from our winter trip a month ago. All systems were "go" inside the coach - the fridge, lights, etc. It seemed our chassis batteries were somehow dead... yet, since the coach had been plugged-in for weeks, we could not figure-out this dilemma. You all know, neither of us are mechanically-inclined, but we trouble-shooted, tried the battery booster, etc.
Nuttin'.
We phoned our tech, Brian Van De Walker of Coach Solutions. Brian went over a few things with us. Had us check a few things and, at one point, we even facetimed (video chatted via our iPhones) so he could physically see a few things for hisownself. Brian suspected something that we could not repair on our own. He agreed to drive up from Eugene in the morning.
So back home we go - just bringing what I had planned for dinner back to the house - to spend the night. We did witness this unique sewer hose storage solution on the drive back home:
Keepin' it classy!We went back to the RV this morning to meet Brian at 11a, only to learn he was going to be delayed for 90 minutes. Ugh... so we made the best of our time by driving into Historic Aurora Oregon (a very cute little town) for lunch at the Aurora Colony Pub. We didn't know what to expect, but since the Aurora Colony Pub was the only restaurant we could find in town, we were pretty happy with the pub grub. DT had a burger and I had a Southwest Chicken Salad.
A ton of grilled chicken was hidden under the chipsBy the way: I had a lot of idle time today (very rare for me) so spent quality time with my mobile phone, messing around with photo editing apps, so the photos on my blog tonight are square and seriously "doctored".
Brian arrived and went straight to work. His suspicions were correct - and he had only seen this in two other Country Coaches - but the wiring from the house batteries to the chassis batteries were wired incorrectly. We never knew this on our 5-year-old coach, as our chassis batteries had never been drained before. The reason they were drained this time was because a circuit breaker/switch thingy (goodness, I have no idea) was tripped. This is an extremely rare happening as well, and Brian is going to give us a more powerful switch next time he is crawling around under our bus.
(Please disregard most of the information in the above paragraph. I have no idea about the electrical workings of this massive machine. It wasn't starting and now it is starting - accept this explanation, please.)
It was hot. It was 2 o'clock. We had a three hour drive to the beach. I half-expected My Driver to suggest we leave in the morning, but he said "let's go". That is when the tire monitor told him he had a low tire (we have 8 tires on this rig) and the fuel gauge told him he needed diesel.
Oh. My. Goodness.
Next door to our RV storage garage is a tire shop for truckers! These guys all came rushing out to help us! They changed a faulty stem-cap-thingy for $1.50, and filled the tire. We were there four minutes. They refused a tip. Things were looking up.
Next door to the tire shop is a diesel fuel truck stop situation! This is unfortunately one of those joints that pumps fuel at slow speeds and stops pumping once your charge reaches $99... meaning we had to start the pump THREE TIMES! So annoying. It took forever to fill-up. While we were feeding the thirsty fuel tank, DT hitched the Honda to the back of the bus, we did our usual safety check and finally pointed the Magna Peregrinus south on I-5.It was 3 o'clock.
We had an uneventful drive, which is always a good thing. We usually take thesestoopid annoying delays and repairs in stride and try to keep a positive attitude, but sometimes we just wonder if maybe we just need more balloons in our life?
Leo in Cincinnati 4th of July weekendDid I say "balloon"? Sorry, I meant ah-boo. Nothing makes this boy happier than an ah-boo.
The weather in Newport, Oregon was fantastic. Warm sunshine and no clouds. We have a great campsite at the marina in Yaquina Bay with beautiful views to the bridge.
This campground is next door to the Rogue Nation Brew Pub and World Headquarters! Obviously, for us today, location is everything. (Disclaimer: we are friends with the founders/owners of this brewery, so all my opinions are highly prejudiced.)
Delicious beers, ales, stouts - and spirits - brewed in-house. The pub is IN the brewery:
Patrons must walk amongst massive vats of beer to reach the restaurant.
The operation, once just a few guys brewing-up some hoppy beverages, has grown to the 37th largest brewery in America. Rogue now brews around fifty different varieties.
The fish & chips served at the World Headquarters are made with meaty halibut - from boats that dock below the brewery. Fresh!The "rhymes with chitty" day behind us, we settled-in to watch the Mariners... and maybe a little Giants.
Thanks for listening.
Until my next update, I remain, your coastal correspondent.
RV Park: Port of Newport Marina and RV Park. Full hookup, pull-through with 50 amps, cable, free wifi. We paid $39 per night with Good Sam discount.