Ford Work - Portland, OR

The camels (Ford F350 truck) had to go to the shop today. While there were a couple of things (oil change, recall fix, etc.) and since we have had ongoing problems with our radiator we wanted them to check it. Bad news is that the truck needs one of the multiple radiators replaced. Good news is that it will take all day and we need to rent a car. Good news because then we can easily go to downtown Portland, OR. With a rental we can more easily find parking! So, off we went to Powell’s book store – really if you haven’t ever been there check it out – 5 floors of books, books, books, and used books too! Then check out the snack truck at Alder and 10th (that’s just one corner of the block of trucks).

Sigma Lambda Sigma - Downers Grove, IL

Ruthi was in Chicago for her college sorority (Sigma Lambda Sigma) reunion this past week-end. She had a great time and came back with a hoarse voice from talking almost the entire time. The schedule included dinner Friday night, get-together picnic all day Saturday and finally the “farewell” breakfast on Sunday morning – WHEW!

The invitees were from the pledge classes during the 1960’s; which means that all of them are at least in their 60’s. Conversations covered children, grand-babies, great-grand-babies, Pensions, Social Security, Medicare, golf, health, pastimes, activities, etc. etc. etc. And, then on Saturday they talked about . . . There were about 40+ out of 145 possible women. This is the 3rd reunion of the 60’s SigLambs and for some of the attendees this was their first time attending. Everyone looked great; though some like Ruthi had put on weight and/or still didn’t have any grey hair.

While Ruthi and two other sisters were having a snack at a local Panera’, they noted their server’s name was “Journey”. They asked how she got such a unique name. Her parents were “Dead Heads” (i.e. followers of the Grateful Dead Band’s concerts across America). Since they each had a favorite Grateful Dead song/title that they wanted to name the child, they made a bet – if she went into labor at a concert she would win and name the baby. The mother was into her 8th month at a concert when she went into labor – hence “Journey”.

Tires - Portland, OR

We have about 50,000+ miles on the truck and 20,000 on the RV. When we are driving around town/interstates visiting places we can get out MPG up to 13.0. But just towing 20 miles from Vancouver to Portland (on interstate) took it down to 12.9 mpg. Thank goodness the price per gallon has come down. Also, Safeway has diesel pumps that offer discounts depending upon your Safeway purchases over the past few months.

Leaving Anchorage in June 2008, we had 4 new tires on the RV and 4 relatively new (3,000 miles) tires on the 2008 Ford. When Boots was driving Ruthi to the airport last week, the trucks “Low Tire Pressure” came on. So, after dropping Ruthi, Boots went to the local Ford dealer. They could find no problem and put more air in the tire. Over the past 3 years of full-time RVing, tires have been our most challenging item. We had a slow leak on one of the RV tires that took 4 different stops to finally find the problem (weld in wheel was leaking).

So, now we thought we were in for the same challenge on the truck tires that had been replaces at 35,000 miles for front and 50,000 miles for back). After the visit to Ford, Boots continued to enjoy her alone time with Karma. Saturday, Boots went out to take Karma for a run in an off-leash park. Lo and behold another “low Tire Pressure” message. Since it was late Saturday afternoon, she quickly called the Ford dealer that had not found the leak yesterday to check when they close. So, off she went flying to their office to get there before they closed. With further review a screw was discovered in the tire.

Why do we have to revisit issues to get resolution. As has been said inour blog many times, customer service is sorely lacking across America. Our experiences with Ford had been particularly good until recently (Bishop, CA and Portland, OR). Now we need to get an oil change and a “recall” issue resolved. So, we are going to another Ford dealer in the area this week.

Visiting - Trout Lake, WA

Ruthi drove up to Trout Lake to visit the college sorority sister (Mary Barsotti Calahan) who had convinced her to move to Alaska back in 1971. Ruthi travelled up there via Interstate 84 to WA141 and returned via WA141 and 14. While the interstate was a bit faster WA14 felt like the “old” new Seward Highway (in AK) before they put the 4 lanes in – water on the left and granite on the right (heading North in AK and West in WA) – brought back a lot of memories!

Trout Lake is located in a valley below Mt Adams which again reminded Ruthi of how Denali towers at the end of the highway as you approach from the South. Mt Adams was still covered in snow and shining bright. Ruthi and her sorority sister reminisced about old times and enjoyed the bright sun and surrounding valley scenery. The valley is currently completely organic in the approach to the vegetation and livestock. They produce organic milk, as all of the dairies abide by the restrictions of “organic”. There is also an herb farm (Trout Lake Farms) which is also organic.

Then Mary took Ruthi by the ECETI Ranch (http://www.eceti.org/). Check out their website. They claim to have seen (and still are seeing) numerous UFOs above the ranch near Mt Adams. So besides the rafter/kayakers tourist come up to the ranch during the summer months – makes for a quaint town attraction.

Mountains - Roseburg, OR

Mountains on both sides of the high plains farm/ranch district of Northern California. Because we share the driving, Ruthi did indeed get to/have to drive the ups/downs. We could see that it was much different on south-bound Interstate 5. We remembered our rush through these same mountains when we left Anchorage and hurried to LA in June of 2008.

The temperatures are much more comfortable now that we have left the high Sierras snowy season. It’s still rainy a bit but definitely shorts and maybe tank tops in a couple of days. Everything is greening up and Ruthi is looking forward to road side cherry stands – as Bings are her favorite fruit.

Feather River Canyon - Quincy, CA to Chico, CA

Well, we finally did it - hauled the 5th wheel down CA route 70 from Quincy to Chico and beyond. Boots' son/daughter-in-law drive it all the time and poo-pooed our hesitancy. The right side of the road for most of the way down is granite walls that had been blown to put the road way it. Ruthi swears that on some of the many many curves she could reach out and touch the stone. And, part of the way down there is a guard rail and steep decline to the beautiful river below!

Lucky for us the rain stopped as we drove out of Quincy and didn’t start again until almost at the bottom. The sun wasn’t out but it was very clear with high clouds.
Also, the traffic in both directions was very sparse this Sunday morning. Just before we got onto Interstate 5 North, we ate lunch and traded drivers (Boots does mountains, Ruthi cities).

We are currently camped in the mountains surrounding Lake Shasta. It’s a bit rustic, think “Deliverance” but it has a camp store with ice cream. How much else do we need? Our drive-thru site is level, electric power is clean, and our Verizon reception for the phones and “air” card is great. Best of all, we get Direct TV via our rear roof mounted dish which isn’t always possible in some of the more expensive sites we have been.

Since we are in the mountains, Boots will be driving out and into the heights on Interstate 5 into Oregon tomorrow.

We forgot to mention, that coming down the canyon we saw a sheriff's emergency vehicle on the sid eof the road and one of their helicoptors hovering over the river. The power company (PE&G, we think) manages the flow of water in the river so that kayakers can have a class 4 or 5 run down the river. At first, we thought there was an accident but then noticed people with cameras/lawn chairs and figured it was either an established race or training for the Sheriff's staff.