Wednesday, August 3rd

What an amazing weekend that we have spent! We left the Lake of the Springs Thousand Trails park on Friday morning, the 29th, a day earlier than we had planned. The weather had turned to summer and the temperatures were into three digits. With only a 30-amp electrical supply, it was beginning to tax the air conditioners on the coach. I really hated to leave LOTS because the park is such a beautiful preserve. We could sit outside the coach in the afternoon as the sun started to set and watch the deer roam among the parking sites. One young deer had a noticeable limp on the left rear leg. It won’t be long before that animal will be food for a coyote or hit by a car in the area. We will definitely return to the park at a later time as it is one of the prettiest ones we’ve visited!

We were on the road by 8AM on Friday and headed for Redding. We were driving on some very narrow back roads with some amazing scenery. Everything in the area is severely brown and appears subject to a wild fire. We took the road slowly and carefully and finally got through Chico and over to Red Bluff where we joined I-5 and drove to Redding. We arrived about 11:30AM and heard the weather forecast on the radio. It was going to be 102 degrees! With that in mid, I decided to press on to Grants Pass. We phoned the Elks Lodge in Grants Pass and confirmed that one of the two sites was unoccupied. So it was on over the Siskiyous and to the Grants Pass Elks Lodge. When we got there, we called our friends, Bob & Sally Nason. Mary’s cell phone wasn’t working correctly and would switch us over to voice mail. Nasons phoned the motel where Mary Anderson was staying and left a message that we were in town and were going to the Wild River Pizza and Brewing Co. for dinner. When we got to Wild River, Mary was waiting for us and we spent the evening together.

The next day we met Mary, the Nasons, and some other friends at the Powderhorn Café for breakfast. We were walking in to the café and I happened to look over at one of the booths recognizing some old friends from San Diego. It was quite a shock to see (retired SDPD motor Sgt.) Perry Grossman and his wife, (retired Lieutenant) Shawna Selby Grossman. I haven’t seen them for almost ten years and it was a blast talking with them. I spent about ten minutes with them before returning to the table with our friends and family. It was a great time talking about the good ol’ days of San Diego Police. They now live in Grants Pass and offered us a place to stay if we wanted.

Seeing Bob & Sally Nason was a real treat! Bob has been through some difficult surgeries, but looks great and they are now thinking of moving into town from their acreage in Williams. We spent one night with them a couple of years ago and enjoyed the deer and the foxes that Bob has residing on his property.

We joined Mary later that afternoon at her motel room and went to Applebee’s for dinner. It was wonderful to see Mary again and we will miss a family reunion that will happen the following weekend in Grants Pass.

We packed the coach and left on Sunday morning, the 31st. We drove north to Coburg, north of Eugene, and met up with our great friends, the Clarksons. We hadn’t seen them since April so it was a terrific reunion. We stayed at the Coburg Cummins Coach Care facility for one night. Clarksons planned to leave on Monday for Pacific City Thousand Trails park and we left before they departed. We needed to go over to Oregon Motorcoach Service to get things lined up for our refrigerator replacement. I had ordered one refer that would not work. It had been delivered, but Lowe’s said they’d take it back and replace it with one that would fit. So, after measurements by the Service Manager, Bob Vinson, we headed for Lowe’s to order another refer. When we got there, we discovered that the Maytag that we liked wasn’t available for over 28 days! So we settled on a 21.8 cu. ft. Whirlpool side-by-side that was in stock and would be delivered the next day. What a relief to finally get that done!

That afternoon we drove to Albany to look at the parking lot for the Western Come Home Rally the end of the month. I took some measurements to determine the best method of parking about 200 motor homes. After spending almost an hour measuring and talking with the staff, we left and drove back to Eugene.

The next morning we packed the coach and left Oregon Motorcoach Services with a pleasant drive to the Coast. We went north to Salem, then through the foothills to the Oregon Coast town of Pacific City. The Thousand Trails park is just north of town and is a beautiful park full of trees and rolling terrain. We were met at the gate by the Clarksons who drove us around the park until we found a suitable site. We are parked across the street from them in a site that has privacy, tall trees, 50-amp electric, and satellite exposure. We are really pleased with this park and the surrounding area!

This morning we all drove in to Tillamook to do some shopping at the Fred Meyer store - much like a Super Wal-Mart. I picked up a few groceries that we needed, but am attempting to be very careful as we will need to have our refer fairly empty when we get back to Eugene. Our next couple of weeks will be careful planning of meals and some wonderful time with friends!