Wednesday, September 24th

As I wrote in the last Travelogue, things are always subject to change. And we did!

We left Moses Lake and headed for the Columbia River Gorge hoping to find a peaceful site at a COE park on the river. When we got to the Biggs Bridge crossing, signs were posted that the bridge was closed for construction work. So we were rerouted along WA-14 on the north side of the river to The Dalles and the only other close bridge. We drove by Wishram, WA and couldn’t see the supposedly quiet site so we crossed the Columbia River and continued west. About twenty miles later, all the traffic on I-84 came to a full stop. Hood River had a grass fire and the police shut down the freeway! It took us three hours to move five miles! By the time we were finally through the town of Hood River, I decided to continue on to Portland and the Milwaukie Elks Lodge. We arrived about 4PM and, scoped out our parking spot, and headed to a local pizza/beer joint that we discovered last year. Friend Don Presten joined us for a beer and we made plans for the next day.

Saturday morning gave us the chance to get to the K-Mart and Wal-Mart and do some needed shopping. We drove over to Don & Bobbie’s about 1PM and relaxed the remainder of the day in their beautiful home. We enjoyed the warm, sunny weather, the outstanding company, Don’s excellent cooking and beer, and a chance to see some treasured friends.

On Sunday morning, Don picked me up and we went to the Clackamas Co. Sheriff’s Range where we put a few rounds through our handguns. It was a lot of fun and I was able to fire and then clean my firearms that I carry in the coach. We rested and drove in to Portland to spend an enjoyable afternoon with my Aunt Mary Jo Anderson, the last of my father’s generation.

Monday morning saw us packing and securing the coach and heading to Salem for the Keizer Elks Lodge. We arrived there before noon and discovered the park was completely full. I dumped the holding tanks and the Salem Elks Lodge to check on site availability. We were told the RV parking area was closed due to renovation of the water lines. So, I decided to drive by the Fairgrounds in hopes of finding a place to park. We went by the parking areas and found no motorhomes parked there. As I was about to leave, we saw that the Fairgrounds has an RV parking area with full hook-ups and three of the Monaco parking crew were there. I found an open gate and drove in to check on the possibility of us staying there. The result was two nights in that park and the chance to start working early to get spots marked out on the Fairgrounds. On Tuesday afternoon we moved the coaches over to the parking area where we’d be for the next week.

On Wednesday the remainder of the Parking Crew began to arrive and we started marking the grassy fields on Thursday. This Rally is a combined rally, which includes all of the Monaco-owned brands - Monaco, Holiday Rambler, Beaver, & Safari. The other parking crew members are a bit different than the Monaco crew in their way of doing things, but Bob Larson (the Chief of the Parking Crew) is the organizer and does things the way that are most efficient. Moreover, he’s a great guy to work for!

We worked through the week and had everything ready for the early arrivals on Sunday. There’s a saying that goes “If you arrive after the Early Arrival day, you’re late!” It held true on this Rally. We parked close to 400 of the expected 500 attendees on Sunday, and the remainder of the coaches on Monday. Tuesday we only parked one coach!

It has been a fun rally albeit expensive. I’ve managed to get several things done to the coach under warranty work, but also purchased some items that I’ve been wanting for years. We now have a supplemental braking system for the Kia that will slow the Kia every time I apply the coach’s brakes. I also got an upgraded Pac Brake, the engine brake on a diesel engine. We will be getting our refrigerator recall handled on Friday morning by a local RV repair shop and install an upgraded circuit board for the refrigerator. It ought to be more efficient and cool food better.

We have talked to the Monaco Paint Shop manager and have been assured that we will have a parking spot when we arrive on Friday afternoon to get our bodywork done. The end cap is trying to separate from the main body and has some small cracks at the roofline. Monaco is going to partially warranty the work and grind down the fiberglass, smooth it out, and repaint the damaged area. We don’t know how long we’ll be in the Paint Shop, but we have that “flexible factor” in our schedule and this will give us some time to see cousin John & Ruth Anderson in Eugene before we head on south to Sutherlin, Medford, and Williams, OR.

We left the fairgrounds on Friday morning and drove over to the Oak Park RV Service in Salem. On the way out we found a dump station and emptied our holding tanks. We got to Oak Park by 8:30 and parked the coach. Nobody had arrived yet, so we had a bite of breakfast and awaited the owner, TR, and the Norcold Area Representative, who was going to help install the recall modification. The Norcold guy arrived and we chatted until TR showed up. This was TR’s first installation so the Norcold rep had decided to give him a hand. The refrigerator had to be pulled out of the coach to the inside. It’s a two-person job!

They got started and worked for almost two hours getting the frig moved forward into the coach and installing a new temperature sensor, new sheet of insulation around the burner flue, and a new thermistor that attached to the fins on the inside of the frig. We also got a new circuit board and control eyebrow installed. After all that work, the frig seems to operate more efficiently now and seems to cool down faster and better.

Once we got the recall work finished, we hooked up and headed for Harrisburg. It was an easy hour drive to the Service Center, the old Safari Motor Coach factory. We checked in, were assigned a parking site, and settled in to our home for the next week. This Service Center is all but shut down. It is now used by Monaco for all their major paintwork. There are several paint stalls with huge exhaust fans and they keep busy doing repair work. There are only 12 people working at the Peoria Rd. Center and their future is bleak. With the economy and the work situation, they all know their jobs could be in jeopardy of the necessary cutbacks.

We spent a wonderful weekend enjoying the company of my cousin, John and Ruth Anderson. On Monday morning our Service Tech arrived at the coach by 7:30 and drove it in to the shop. He worked most of the day grinding and re-fiber glassing the roof area. On Tuesday he applied paint and clear coat. He had completed the job by Tuesday afternoon! Since we didn’t have any need to get away, they allowed us to stay at the plant until Friday morning. During those days I was able to visit some of the businesses in Eugene and shop for other goodies. We visited Northwest RV Parts, which is a collection of discontinued parts from Monaco and Country Coach. They have old, discontinued part at discounted prices. We found some things that we needed and some we didn’t need but purchased anyway.

On Wednesday morning I took John and Ruth for a tour of the Monaco factory. When we walked through the front door, we were surprised to see Dick and Karen Seal Stewart, formerly from San Diego and the La Mesa Sunrise Rotary Club, now living in Prescott, AZ. They were also going on the tour. It was a real kick seeing them again and so far from San Diego! They were traveling in their Allegro Phaeton motor home and were looking at the Monaco products. There were only seven of us on the tour and our guide, Sara Vaughn (yeah, that was really her name - a gorgeous blonde young woman who was extremely knowledgeable about the Monaco products) gave us a great tour. After the tour, Dick and Karen had to head south. The rest of us went over to Harrisburg to a restaurant that is in the old bank building and had a tasty lunch.

The rain started on Thursday night and has continued through the weekend. We left the Peoria Rd. Service Center on Friday morning and drove south to Sutherlin and the Timber Valley Escapee Park to see friends Gary & Shirley Smoot. We were parked on the lot right next to theirs and had a fantastic time catching up. We worked together at Hart Ranch in the summer of ‘07, but they didn’t return this last summer. Instead, Gary has been working on his lease lot in Sutherlin. The deer walk right through the park and sleep under the trees on the lots. We also see wild turkeys walking down the street and perching in the high trees at the back of the lot. We will spend two nights and then go down to Medford for a night to spend some time with Sandy Baleria.