June 5, 2006 (Day 12)


We awoke this morning without an alarm clock blasting our senses. It was a very quiet morning and nice taking our time to wake up. After breakfast, we saw our friends, the Waters, had been moved into “Stable Estates”. We talked with them awhile, then got a call from Dan’s cousin, Jim Grubb, who lives in Salem. He wondered if we would like to take a trip up the mountain to a state park to see some waterfalls. We took him up on the offer. It so happens that his mother, Jean Grubb, from North Manchester, IN, and his sister, Marsha Groninger, from Kansas City, are in Salem for a visit. So we got to visit with them, as they went with us.

Before our afternoon trip, we went to a Laundromat. Guess the name of it… It was the Lancaster Laundry. In fact, in this area of the city, there seems to be a lot of things named Lancaster, including a major street. It cost us $11.00 in quarters to wash and dry three loads of laundry.

The park, Silver Falls State Park, was beautiful. It is actually a rain forest, is very green and lush with vegetation and flowers. We saw three falls at the park, each one beautiful in its own way.

We went back to Jim’s home, saw his wife, Kathy, who was just home from work, then we went back to the trailer. We went for dinner, then came back and talked with some friends from our St. Louis Unit.

Since back at the trailer for the evening, we both learned we don’t have to work until Wednesday. So, tomorrow we plan to go with our friends, JoAnn and Ray Kolley, over to the Oregon coast to sightsee. We also discovered that our refrigerator is not working properly and food is warm and freezer is thawing. Hope we can get that fixed soon. Hope it is fixable. This refrigerator is the original and is 28 years old. Doesn’t sound promising, does it?

It was partly sunny today, temps in the high 70’s, and cooler in the mountains. I’m liking this weather!

We will report on our day tomorrow, so until then………….


June 4, 2006 (Day 11)

We went to sleep last night and awoke this morning to rain on the roof of the trailer. It was a pleasant lullaby. We were in Stanfield, OR, with one final day of travel ahead of us for this part of our trip. Dan hooked up in the rain and our departure time was 8:25 a.m. The temp was 59 degrees. Our route up I-84 eventually led us along the Columbia River which separates the states of Oregon and Washington. It was a beautiful and very scenic drive. The rain finally gave way to blue skies and bright sunshine. We saw waterfalls coming down the mountain on our left side and the river on the right side. Our caravan was now down to five units. One unit decided to go to Mt. Hood, and two other units headed north into Washington. They will arrive at the rally site in a week or so.

We stopped for gas just south of Portland ($2.96/gal.), then turned on to
I-5 south to Salem. We arrived at the Oregon State Fairgrounds around 2 p.m. Permanent parking will not be available until the end of the week, so we are parked in the horse stable area. The Airstreamers have named it “Stable Estates”. We were told we could expect temporary parking for a few days. There were probably 30 trailers/motor homes there ahead of us.

A group of Airstreamers gathered together to go out for our evening meal. We found a “Marie Callendar’s”. I have never eaten at one before, but I can testify that the food is very good. I splurged for dessert and had a chocolate-covered strawberry pie. Yummy!

When we returned to the parking area, we joined another couple (Charlie and Nadine Kennedy) for a couple games of joker. They are from Kansas City. They had traveled with us on the caravan west. Then we went back to our “slot” at the stables and turned in for the night. We saw Darrell and Sharon Waters’ trailer parked and waiting to be put in the temporary parking. The attendants were gone by then, so they will probably be parked tomorrow. It sounds as if there is nothing on our agenda for tomorrow, so it will be good to have a leisurely day. Till later…………




June 3, 2006 (Day 10)

We awoke this morning in Mountain Home, ID, to a pleasant 59 degrees. Some times we have to think what day of the week and what day of the month it is! We left at 8:20 a.m. to partly sunny skies. We had cloudy skies almost all day, but some sunshine later in the day. We got back on I-84, heading northwest.

As we drove, it seemed the white clouds had “fallen” into the valleys with the mountain peaks eerily rising above them. We drove up and down big grades through the Blue Mountain range in northeast Oregon. The mountains now have bountiful pine trees covering them. The trees were mostly tall and skinny evergreens.

We didn’t see much wildlife all day. We drove through the Umatilla Indian Reservation, but saw no teepees! The summit of the Blue Mountains was reached at 4,193 ft. of elevation. We watched the changing altitude on the E-Trex (thanks M/R and E/M). There were some breath-taking views. It almost appeared as though we were in an airplane looking down at the cities and plains below. Grades were steep going up and coming down. There were a lot of warning signs about the grades, some at 5-6%. We now know that a 6% downgrade in 6 miles means some very steep roads ahead. We had downshifted into second and were still going 55 mph near the bottom. Truckers called one area “Deadman’s Pass”. They say winters on these roads are especially treacherous.

The whole caravan but two units stopped in Pendleton, OR, to visit the Pendleton Woolen Mills. They had some beautiful clothes and blankets, but prices were so expensive, even for “seconds”.

We arrived at the campground around 3:30 p.m. This was the Stage Gulch Campground in Stanfield, OR. The highest we paid for gas today was $2.99. In the State of Oregon, it is against the law for an individual to pump their own gas, so an attendant must do it. For that price, they don’t even clean your windshield or check your oil! Gas mileage is averaging 11.2 mpg., and we get gas almost daily. Ouch!

The group had a social hour around one of the motorhomes after everyone got set up, then we went together to dinner down the street at an authentic Mexican restaurant. The food was very good. We presented our caravan leader with a “thank you” and a combined monetary gift for leading such a good caravan.

Tomorrow we will cover around 240 miles before reaching Salem. We know we will be in what is called the “bullpen” (no hook-ups) until Monday when we hope the parking committee will be ready to park us early workers. From there on, it will be new experiences! So, we will report in the next time…..