Tuesday, March 16, 2010

A walk on the wild side

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The weather was beautiful this morning, while we had our breakfast, but we could see that it was deteriorating. When the dishes were done, we donned our fleece and hit the trail. By contrast with the developed part of the park, which we explored yesterday, the area we saw today is almost totally wild. I say almost, simply because there are some obviously maintained trails.

In fact, there is a labyrinth of trails in this part of the park. We followed some of them and eventually wound up in someone's backyard! Well, not really, but we came upon a housing development and a beautiful new school. We headed back toward the park, investigating many of the trails we found. We saw more homes, an abandoned mill of some kind, an abandoned "ghost train" comprising a diesel locomotive stripped of almost everything, including the metal skin that once covered its framework.

As we arrived back at the park we began to notice some moisture in the air. We relaxed for a while in the coach. After lunch, we took Daisy Mae for a drive. We found some beautiful homes, which we could have coveted, had we let ourselves go. Several had RV garages and shop buildings...just what I would want in another home, if I ever get the chance to have another one.

After the tour of the "street of dreams," we headed north on the highway that runs by our RV park. It led us eventually to Scio, a town I have always wanted to visit, simply because I have passed the sign on I-5 for the Scio exit a million times. Scio is a LITTLE town, about six blocks long. There are some beautiful homes there, and there are some shacks there. We saw a number of churches, including a huge Baptist church. Judging by the size, the Baptists must have Scio wrapped up!

On the way back to Lebanon we took a little detour...of about 17 miles! We had seen an ad on the internet for the Mallard Creek RV Park and golf resort, so when we saw the sign, we had to see what it was all about. The RV park is quite lovely, with lots of level concrete pads. The golf course is very nice for a rural course, but is not by any means a world class course. That judgment, however, is the result of driving by a couple of the fairways and greens. It may be better than it appeared to me.

The thought that kept going through my mind was that someone had gone way out on a limb to build this wonderful facility in such a remote area. There were four or five RVs in the park, and we did see some golfers, but there is absolutely nothing else to do here but play golf. I wonder if there are enough golfing RVers to make this place pay. This is March. Perhaps, the place fills up in the summer. I hope so.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Pastoral beauty and stark reality

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We are in Lebanon, OR at Gill's Landing RV Park. The park itself is quite lovely, nestled on the shore of the South Santiam River. There are 21 RV sites, with full hookups, level concrete pads, 50 Amp electric service and restrooms that are cleaned three times a day. Currently there is one other RV in the park, not counting the park hosts, who have been serving here for over a year!

A railroad bridge and an auto bridge span the river at the north end of the park. It is very quiet here, although this morning I heard a distant train whistle. Nevertheless, we have seen only one train, consisting of locomotive and one flat car cross the railroad bridge. Later a truck on railroad running gear came across the river and slowly worked its way along the track. Otherwise, there has been no rail traffic.

We drove into Lebanon proper in Daisy Mae this morning. After a stop at Wally World (WalMart to those of you who are not RVers), we toured the city's residential areas, found the airport, and strolled downtown proper. This is a lovely little town, which has obviously fallen on very hard times. I would say that at least 1/3 of the store fronts on Main Street are vacant. There are several thrift shops still in business. The movie theater still operates, too, but given that the median income of Lebanon is considerably below the median for the state of Oregon, one wonders how long it will remain open.

I don't know what the primary industries are here, but it is obvious that the residents could use more industry to support the population. Gill's Landing is quite a beautiful park and is operated by the city, so some things are flourishing, but it made me a little heartsick to see the downtown businesses struggling so much.

The weather has been quite nice. It got up to 63 degrees today, and the sun has been shining through a high, very thin overcast. Tomorrow we intend to investigate the other side of the river and the rest of the city park, which is on the other side of the railroad and the highway. There is a path that runs under them from the RV park to the day use park. We are told there are a number of nice trails for hiking. Pogo will like that.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Lebanon or Bust!

It was just after 9:00 AM when we parked in front of the Portland RV Storage warehouse, where Sadie lives, when we are not aboard. Lucien had her all ready to go. I hopped in and brought the old girl home so we can prepare for a jaunt down the Willamette (say "Will Am Ette") Valley to Lebanon.

Jill went shopping for a few last minute items. Apparently, the shopping was good today. She was gone for a good, long time. She did well, though, and we have added some new accessories, including a wall mounted paper towel dispenser, an over-the-door hook on which to hang a dish towel, a combination salt/pepper shaker, a double 12V outlet (so we can run the GPS and the Tire Pressure Monitor System simultaneously), and a clear plastic angle extension for the sewer hose, so we can monitor the progress of flushing the holding tanks.

But the most exciting new addition is our brand new, berry-colored Travasak. This amounts to a fancy sleeping bag. It is the size of a queen bed and has high thread-count sheets that are attached inside with Velcro. One side (top) has double the insulation of the other, so by turning the "bag" over, you can change from winter to summer configuration. I assembled ours with a standard double electric blanket between the upper (winter) side and the upper sheet. We usually don't leave the furnace on at night, so having an electric blanket in winter keeps us oh-so-toasty.

The reason for getting the Travasak is that Sadie, while she has a queen bed that is supposedly a "walk around," leaves us very little room for getting around the bed for purposes of making it up. With the Travasak, we will be able simply to zip up the sides and smooth out the bed. We can't wait to sleep in it tomorrow night in Lebanon.