20030616

June 16, 2003
Monday

Start:   Burns RV Park, Burns OR
End:     Crown Villa RV Park, Bend OR
Miles:   138
Hi Temp: 87.1
Lo Temp: 48.9

We ate breakfast in the trailer in no big hurry, since it's not far from Burns to Bend.  Finally got on the road about 9:00 and into Bend around noon.  The route is straight across US-20, and there's not much to talk about on that stretch of road.  There are a couple of crossroads with gas stations.  Scenery on the route is mainly sage brush, with some irrigated fields, until we were about 35 miles east of Bend.  Then we could begin to see the mountains west of Bend - Mount Bachelor and the Three Sisters are most prominent. The snow-topped peaks are impressive.

We pulled into the park here and checked in. We were escorted to our site and assisted in backing into it.  The place is nearly incredible. The grass is lush, the interior roads are paved, the sites are paved with large decorator bricks and have small brick storage sheds. The sites are 55' x 100' and have full hookups, of course. The management reserves the right to refuse entry to rigs that don't live up to a certain "standard". They are in the process of phasing out their hard-wired modem connections; wireless internet access is available using their router.  They'll loan you a wireless rig if you don't have one.

The buildings are new, brick and beautifully appointed.  There's a workout room. Dolores says the ladies room is much better than she's seen in most restaurants, with flowers, and immaculate.  The laundry is also clean and well equipped.  The lounge has coffee in the morning, and has large-screen TV, a bar (bring your own booze), small kitchen if you want to host a hot meal event, and again is really clean and nice.

This gets pricey, but for a short stay and to see what a 5-star RV park is, it's ok.

We ate a quick lunch and went to see Art.  He's getting along well, considering what he's been through.  He still has his sense of humor.  We chatted for most of the afternoon while he tried to locate his daughter Luann or granddaughter Morgan.

Later, Luann called enroute back to Bend from her resort and a place for dinner was arranged.  Then Luann found Morgan; Morgan volunteered to come and get us (we have only two seats in the truck and there were three of us). So Morgan came over and took us to Roszak's; we were sipping on drinks when Luann appeared.

She's looking good, but busy - it's the start of the season at the resort, and there's always some emergency in progress. But she says business, while slower at the start, is warming up and that her core set of employees are still with her.

Morgan is a beautiful young lady.  She's off to University of Idaho at Moscow, ID, in the fall for studies toward a veterinarian degree. This summer, she elected to work someplace other than her mom's resort so she could have experience she can use part-time at Moscow. She's working the desk at a local motel, and learning that business at ground level.

The food was good, but the conversation was better.  We talked on many subjects and laughed a lot.

Then Luann headed home, and Morgan dropped the three of us at Art's. We left early, saying we had stuff to do (and we did).  We went to Safeway for a few things, then back to the park.

I fooled around with the wireless internet connection and wireless card in my laptop for a while. I had problems, so I found a modem jack and got the email. There was nothing vital in it, so I worked at the wireless thing a bit longer. Finally, I got it going insofar as the browser is concerned; the email link to its server is a little shaky so I may have to tweak it tomorrow.

Then I paid (on-line) the one bill we have to pay monthly (the main credit card).  The other bills come straight out of checking or are billed to the credit card.  I get the statements on-line and watch what's going where. It works.

The weather report out of Portland says tomorrow will be warm (low 90's).  I need to get a couple things done on the truck. We'll organize that in the morning, then see what Art's up to.

 

20030617                     Open new window with today’s pictures.

June 17, 2003

Start:   Crown Villa RV Resort, Bend OR
End:     Crown Villa RV Resort, Bend OR
Miles:   0
Hi Temp: 88.2
Lo Temp: 50.2

Dolores relaxed while I went out to find a suitable place to flush the transmission. Finally got an appointment for tomorrow at 10:00am.  That would screw up the trip to Crater Lake NP tomorrow, so we decided to do it today.

We headed south, then west, then south again into Crater Lake National Park. Up we went to about 8,000'.  The first lookout is a real dandy, especially on a beautiful, clear, warm, day like today.  It seemed odd to see all the snow around.

We went south along the west side of the crater, stopping at overlooks to shoot pictures and just look at things. At one lookout, Dolores spotted a Jack Russell terrier in biker costume (little vest, goggles, etc.).  The owners said he's accustomed to having his picture taken.

When we got down to the south end of the crater rim, we went in to Rim Village.  We looked through the small vistor's center substation, took a look at the outside of the lodge, and returned to the cafeteria/gift shop.  It was a little early, but we had sandwiches anyway, then looked through the gifts.  Dolores bought her usual pin.

We went down to the larger visitor's center. There, we sat through the movie on the creation of the lake and Dolores talked about flowers with one of the rangers.

Then we started around the east side of the rim, only to find it closed. Dolores remembered someone in the visitor's center saying it was closed due to rapid snow melt causing rocks to fall onto the road.

So we returned to the north end where we came in via the west rim drive again, then went past the entry point. There, we found a few more lookout points before we once again came to the sawhorses blocking the road.

We wandered back out the way we came in, and noted it was much warmer down low.  One town along US97 (Lapine) registered 99* today, and that's at 4,000 feet. We wandered back roads to Luann's resort (Twin Lakes Resort, Lapine OR).  Luann wasn't there, but we enjoyed sitting on the patio sipping a drink and watching people throw balls into the lake for their retriever.

We came back to Bend around 5:30pm and checked in with Art.  He'd eaten, so we had a simple dinner in the little house in the plush campground. Then we used three washers and three dryers to do the laundry fairly quickly, and put that away.

We settled in then, to do the computer chores and relax.

Tomorrow, I'll get the truck done, which will finish the chores. Then we'll can see what we can do with family.

 

20030618

June 18, 2003
Wednesday

Start:   Crown Villa RV Resort, Bend OR
End:     Crown Villa RV Resort, Bend OR
Miles:   0
Hi Temp: 75.6
Lo Temp: 56.1

After I made up the notes for yesterday (last evening), we had rain. At first, it was gentle, then a pretty good shower, with thunder and lightning. Then came the hail.  The hail fell for about five minutes.  We found that being in a 5th wheel trailer during a hailstorm is like being in a drum being beaten.  Gosh, it was loud!

Today we rose later, and I took the truck out for servicing. The manager at Red Carpet Express is a former Cummins employee who stayed in Bend when Cummins closed their service office here. Things were done efficiently and inexpensively.

Then I took the truck to a carwash to get the dirt removed.  After being serviced and cleaned, it ran much better. :-)

We went to Art's place and found Luann had left a car there for all of us to use.  He took us to the retirement home he will move into on August 1. Art showed us around, and then we had lunch in their dining room (on the house). Lunch was very good with many selections and an extensive salad bar. The portions are smaller than you'll get in a restaurant, which is entirely appropriate to the appetites of seniors.

Art showed us the model apartment - the one he'll move into is identical but is in use currently as the contractor's office (the building is still being finished). It's 720 square feet, one bedroom, large bath, and a large and long living room and kitchen with breakfast bar separating them. The closets are large, and there's a storage room.

I think Art will be quite happy living here.

Then we wandered around town for a bit and headed toward the resort. On the way, Art showed us through Sunriver, where they lived for several summers (wintering in Las Cruces, NM). It's a large, spread-out, town that's mainly a second home/summer home golf community.  We weren't impressed - not our style. We continued on to the resort.

We sat on the patio outside the resort with a beer, and watched people & dogs. A chipmunk came along, hopped into a flower windowbox and began eating the plants. We chased it off, but when Luann sat down with us, she said it's a normal problem they've never been able to solve.

We moved inside when a set of high clouds moved in.  The day had been cool before and now dropped to around 60 with a breeze.  The special in the restaurant was BBQ ribs, chicken, and bratwurst with all sorts of side dishes.  We ate well and had a nice peach cobbler to top it off. Luann put dinner on the house, too.

We chatted at dinner about all sorts of things.  Luann was a little upset at the start because she had to "put down" her dog of 17 years, Riley, today. She got Riley just after moving here; this is her 17th year running the resort.

Then Luann had to dash to pick up the twins from driver's ed - they elected to do it in 10 straight days during the summer rather that spread it out through the upcoming semester. 

We drove back to Art's, said good-night, and drove the truck back to the campground. We got the email and sent some, and now we'll settle in.

Tomorrow, and early breakfast and we'll see what happens after that.

20030619                  Open new window with today’s pictures.

June 19, 2003
Thursday

Start:   Crown Villa RV Resort, Bend OR
End:     Crown Villa RV Resort, Bend OR
Miles:   0
Hi Temp: 67.1
Lo Temp: 47.3


It was lots cooler today.  The forecast was to reach 74, but clouds came in and formed nearly an overcast.  Now, in the late evening, they're breaking up and the sun is visible.

We used Luann's (was Art's) minivan to take him out to breakfast at the Originial Pancake House. Luann joined us there. I had my Swedish pancakes (excellent, with some butter and lots of lingonberries).  The others were happy with their selections.  We chatted for a while, then went to our plush campground so Luann could see it.

Luann says she had modelled some of the features at her resort after this one sixteen years ago, but that this one has undergone a really expensive upgrade since. Art looked around, too.

Luann went off to work, we dropped Art and the minivan off at his place and went out to explore. We wound up in the little town of Sisters, northwest of Bend.  It's near the Three Sisters mountain.

Sisters has more ways to separate you from your money than most. For a population of about 1,100, they do really well in that department. There are all sorts of gift stores, restaurants, Western wear stores, paper goods stores, antiques stores, and one feed store for the real ranchers. En route to it we saw a herd of sheep with a llama in the field. The llama keeps out the coyotes.

We had a small lunch, bought three used paperbacks, and returned to Bend.  Then I got busy trying to make reservations for the next few days at other campgrounds (four).  The first one was done on-line and worked after I told it my life story, the second one promised a response in seven to ten days (so I'd better call them tomorrow), the third one doesn't take reservations, and the fourth one was in Canada and all they wanted was my name so they could hold it. The Canadians are a pleasure to deal with.

This took a good part of the afternoon (since we also spent some time discussing two small changes to the itinerary). Then we went over to Art's again - he was watching PGA Golf from Westchester Country Club.  We were kidding about looking for his other daughter, Lynn, who does volunteer work there with the golf tournaments. Naturally, we didn't see her.

After a bit, we went to El Caporal, a good neighborhood Mexican restaurant.  Luann and her twin daughters Galyn and Erin joined us there. They're really growing up (16 in September).  Next time we come out here, we'll have to make sure to spend a weekend so we can see more of all the family.  We had fun telling stories and talking. Then they had to get home, so we split again.  We dropped off the minivan and Art and returned to the little house in the plush RV resort.

Now we're settling in.



 

20030620                Open new window with today’s pictures.

June 20, 2003
Friday

Start:   Crown Villa RV Resort, Bend OR
End:     Crown Villa RV Resort, Bend OR
Miles:   0
Hi Temp: 62.1
Lo Temp: 44.2


We ate breakfast in the little house, then went to the High Desert Museum just south of town.  We've been there before.

As we were wandering a new path that was explaining the effects of thinning the forest and how fire works good in doing that, a docent came along and invited us to see a new exhibit. We walked with him to a brand new wood mini-barn and barnyard. He explained that the museum had received two "gentled" wild horses from Eastern Oregon and showed them to us. He said they will be auctioned off in the fall and next spring they'll receive two more.  They're working up more information signs to discuss wild horses.

In the woods past the mini-barn we could see a short length of new railroad track and some old wooden structures.  Then we saw train wheel sets on the track, using the old arch-bar type of mounting two axles into one "truck" used under one end of a railroad car. Then we saw some signs saying that this will be an exhibit to show logging camps on rails as used in Oregon. That should be interesting.

We reverted to the older exhibits for a while, too.  We attended the river otter talk and display. The male otter was very active, according to the docent because the female otter was rejecting his amorous advances and he was frustrated.

The talk at the raptor center featured a peregrine falcon. This one had had a broken wing, but was nursed back to health at the museum. The lecturer said that this breed of falcom can dive at speeds greater than 200mph and showed how some parts of its skeleton are different from other birds to accomodate that speed.

It was cold at the museum. It was barely 50 when we awakened and didn't warm up very fast.  It was cloudy and the breeze was blowing, so it felt cold even with a windbreaker on.

We went inside and looked through a couple of exhibits (plateau indians, buckaroos (as a corruption of the word "vaquero"). Then we left to seek lunch.

We realized we hadn't picked up the mail son Bill had forwarded to us via Luann. We went to her house and picked that up.  All three daughters were there, and we chatted for a bit. Dog Qwani (sp?) was playing with a small kitten that Morgan had come home with, which looked really strange. We said our good-byes again, promising to return.

We drove through the Mill District, where shops and restaurants have taken up space in the old wood mill. We didn't see anything exciting there, so we went downtown.  While strolling around, we found the Deschutes Brewery and entered.  D had a half-rack of baby back ribs with chardonnay and I had fish and chips with a Bitter Ale.  Everything was very nice.

After that, we went back to the little house in the plush RV resort. Dolores read and I did computer chores. Later, we went to Art's place. We talked with him for a while.  One of his aquaintances, a oriental-looking character who was wearing a cap with ear flaps and the flaps were down, came in and talked long and loud. After a while, he wandered away.  Turns out he was an exterminator who both Art and Luann had used at different times. He comes in and chats with Art whenever Art leaves the inside door open.

We thanked Art and said we'll see him again, and returned to the little house. We snacked later and entered this log.

We'll be on the road again in the morning.

It was a wonderful stop.