Eugene, Oregon: No matter how many glasses of champagne I enjoyed with my steak frites last night, I still conquered that hill behind the RV park. Nailed it, as a matter of fact. This is the fifth time I have run up that hill and today was the first time I did not have to stop and walk a bit. Yeah! Old fat ladies rule!
DT had carefully orchestrated a bus wash, a visit from the RV tech, and two meetings with the University. The wash-dudes arrived late and the tech arrived late. DT had his meetings scheduled, so his co-pilot was stuck all afternoon without a car delegated to supervise.
Satellite dishes were stowed and the team started washing the Magna Peregrinus. This crew has given her a bath many times and always treat her well. The Yellowstone dust is no more. She must be glorious for the home opener tomorrow at Autzen Stadium!
Pretty, once again.
Our tech, Brian Van De Walker of Coach Solutions (541-514-9000), stopped by to go over DT's checklist of repairs.
1. The satellite box in the bedroom could not receive a signal from the satellite. We have no idea how long this has been broken, because we only tried to use the TV for the second time last month. Oops. (Why do we even have a TV in the bedroom?) Of course, when Brian turned-on the system this afternoon, it worked perfectly.
2. We wanted our water filter changed. This is something we can do ourselves, but Brian had a replacement filter with him and we did not.
3. Our fresh water hose is on an electric wheel. The hose pulls out, but is automatically retracted back onto the reel by pushing a button. Somehow the hose fell off the track and was all higgledy-piggledy inside the housing.
This was a tough job and required an "arm extension" - aka a pry bar - to finally release. 4. The last chore was to switch-out the fancy pretty expensive shiny chrome exhaust pipe on our generator for an ugly aluminum exhaust pipe. Why?
We have decided to stop pestering fellow campers with the exhaust from our generator.
Granted, we do not use our generator very often, but for the first time - on this last trip - the generator exhaust went right into the next campsite. We are considerate campers so would only use the generator when our neighbors were away. It was time to get an exhaust pipe extension that sends the exhaust up into the sky.
The extension pipe connection that comes with the kit was too small for our generator exhaust pipe, so Brian replaced our pipe with a smaller aluminum pipe. (We can switch it back at any time.) The kit also comes with all sorts of bolts and screws so the exhaust pipe tubing can be stabilized as it towers to the roof of your rig. If you think for one minute I was going to put holes in the side of the Magna Peregrinus to hold a plastic exhaust pipe... well, that just wasn't going to happen. Suction cup hooks work just as well! Clever! The Gen-turi Generator Exhaust System, made by Camco, is on sale at Camping World for $129.99 or from Amazon.com for $107.67
The Great State of Oregon is in serious "football fever" mode. All the newspapers are featuring the Ducks (and some other school in Corvallis) on the front page. Football is the topic of nearly every conversation. People are crazy for the Ducks.
Seriously.Our RVing friends are showing up for the big game. Remember Mary & Jim? They are camped right in front of us and will tailgate in Autzen Stadium tomorrow too. We enjoyed cocktails at their campsite tonight. Everyone is so excited for the first game! Forget about what I said about football weather... it was nearly 90 degrees in Eugene today.
Jim wanted to make sure you all saw this header in today's Eugene Register-Guard:
This kid, the wonderful Darron Thomas, may have won the #1 quarterback position at the University of Oregon, but there is no way he will never take the wheel of my motorhome.Unless he leads the Ducks to the Rose Bowl. Then, I am willing to reconsider.
GO DUCKS!
Obligatory food photos of the day:
We enjoyed another lovely meal at the ever-so-casual Ciao Pizza in Gateway. The salad greens, the green beans and the cucumbers in our salad came from the owner's farm. Brings Farm-to-Table up a notch.
The basil on our Pizza Margherita came from the farm too. I just love Oregon in the summer.Until my next update, I remain, your "there is only one DT" correspondent.