Question: How do you drive a house down the road?
Answer: Very carefully!
Judy and I now have our new home. Now think about the dynamic range of living we have gone through this year.
Starting with a 2,200 sq ft home, double car garage, carport for the boat, 2/3 of an acre to care for. Squish all of that into a storage space 10 ft by 20 ft by 8 ft high then fill a Honda Civic with all the camping gear and drive half way across the country and back in two months. Then you get to expand into a 23 foot sailboat with real storage spaces and berths to sleep in. Granted we had to roll our bed up each day, but we could even host friends and when in the marina plug in our heater and stay warm and dry. Woo-Hoo! On Friday, September 17th we picked up our new home, a 34 foot Alpine Motorhome in Bend Oregon and drove it back to Scappoose in two legs. We spent the morning with new friends, Dave and Jeanie McKay, the previous owners of the Alpine. Dave showed us through all of the systems and we went for a shake-down cruise. We took care of some formalities with checks and signatures and Judy and I started our new adventure.
First it was off to a mattress store in Bend to get a Pillow Top for the mattress on the recommendation of Dave and Jeanie. Then there was the adventure of finding the Post Office to mail the paperwork. Gary must have drove right by the easy to find P.O. on highway 97, so after the mattress adventure we started looking for the one on 4th street. We shifted places and Judy lead with the Honda and Gary followed with the Alpine. We had agreed to follow Highway 20 from 27th street down to 4th street and hang a right. Judy missed it but Gary dutifully made the right turn. While Judy was touring downtown Bend following the wrong motor home, Gary was singing “Give Me 40 Acres and I’ll Turn this Rig Around.” There was no place to park a 34 foot motor home in front of the post office when I got there, so I pretended to be a Pepsi truck and turned around in their freight yard near the Post Office. Then I just put my feet up on the couch and waited for Judy to find the Post Office. Yes, I am proud to say, she figured out that she was chasing the wrong motor home and she found the Post Office and me in just a few minutes.
Now where to go? We decided to go just a few miles and camp, just in case we needed to get Dave to help us figure something out. We drove to Sisters and “Dry Camped” in the Sisters City Park. That means no water, no sewer and no electricity. It only took an hour to figure out how to get the living room to expand. I must have been looking the other way when Dave showed my how. There must be a dozen systems in this home and each must be explored. Fortunately we figured out the furnace real early, because it dipped into the low 40’s in Sisters that night. It was windy, cold and spitting rain intermittently Friday evening when we walked up-town to check out the Sisters Jazz Festival and get some supper. We listened to the Sisters High school Jazz band, very nice, and it really wonderful seeing youth involved with this distinctly American music form. We abandoned our spot at the wall when they stopped to change bands and rushed home to get out of our shorts and put on long pants, sweatshirts and coats. When we got back Bob Drega and his Titan Hot 7 were giving some traditional Christmas carols the Dixieland treatment. Mind you this was an out-door venue. I remember my high school days and playing for the football games when your lips froze to the mouthpiece, and I had lots of empathy for these fellows. We were treated to the likes of “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer,” and “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.” We probably will run into The Titan Hot Seven in Sun Valley in mid October, but in much warmer, indoor venues. (We hope.)
Saturday morning we were able to make the new home, road ready in much shorter time than it took for us to set up camp. With Judy and the Honda leading the way, we made an uneventful trip back to the warm but rainy side of the state. We have now checked into the Columbia County RV Park at the Scappoose Airport. Tomorrow we must sort through those stored treasures and turn this house into our home on wheels.
Our list of people we share this letter with has grown somewhat since last week. Welcome aboard to Claudia and Bill Eagle, Lorna Douglas, Shirley and Rich Wells and Marilyn and Ken Brinster all from our church in St. Helens. Also welcome aboard to our new friends in Bend Oregon, Dave and Jeanie McKay. They will be moving up to a 36 foot version of the Alpine Motor Home.