May 2007

Well, we’ve been on the road 100 days!!! We've travelled over 12,000 miles and been to 16 states. We've spent A LOT of money on diesel (I know the amount, but it's too depressing to include it in the blog). I've broken 2 glass bowls, 1 digital camera and 1 coffeemaker.

So what have I learned so far?

• Husbands and wives should not be together 24/7 for 100 days straight!!!
• RVing is an expensive hobby.
• I love the mountains.
• California has an unbelievable amount of cars.
• LAX has two main runways for jets.
• Jets take off every 3 minutes at LAX.
• You cannot ignore the jets taking-off if you're camping at Dockweiler's, which is directly under the southern runway of LAX.
• It is cold in Yosemite in April.
• Yosemite Valley is beautiful, no matter how cold.
• There are people who leave their cars at the gas pumps while they go to eat lunch.
• My brother’s death has been harder to handle than I expected.
• Diesel cost less than regular gasoline west of the Mississippi.
• The people from the south are the friendliest people in the country.
• Australians call RV parks “caravan parks”.
• I love watching and identifying birds. Yes, I've become one of those nerdy people with binoculars looking at birds.
• My hair hasn't been colored in months -- my hair's actually not as gray as I thought it was :-)
• Jere's losing weight while RVing; I'm going the opposite way :-(
• I think Joe's grown another inch during the last 100 days.
• I should have brought more than 2 pairs of jeans along on this trip. You really don't want to know how many days I've worn a pair of jeans before washing them.
• So far we've not found anywhere we'd rather live instead of central Pennsylvania.
• After 100 days in our 5th wheel, our house in Mechanicsburg is now referred to as "our country estate" :-)

The day did not start out well…cloudy again and then I drop the glass container of my electric coffee maker and it shatters. Anyone who knows me also knows that I enjoy a good cup of coffee, so this is not good. By the end of the day, I bought a replacement.

After I clean up the glass, I try to use the coffee maker without the pot and have the coffee drip right into my mug – this was not a good idea. The coffee didn’t seem to be coming out, so I decided I must have forgot to put water in and fill it with water again. A few minutes later I realize that the reason the coffee is not filling up my cup is because the coffee is coming out of the back of the coffeemaker and is now all over the counter. So I pick up the coffee maker and the coffee spills out all over my freshly laundered, favorite pair of jeans. This day is just not going well.

So after cleaning up the glass and then all of the coffee and changing clothes and washing my jeans and shirt, I finally have a quick breakfast and then we pack up the RV (again). We’re heading about 50 miles north of Portland. We set up in the campground and head over to Mount St Helens. The sky is overcast and it feels like it may rain again but we decide to go anyway.

Well the day takes a turn for the better and by the time we are up at the visitors center for the volcano, the sky is showing patches of blue and we get a great view of the volcano. We also time our visit just as the ranger is giving a 30-minute talk about the volcano. He’s a wonderful speaker and we listen to his talk outside with the blue skies and snow-covered volcano in the background. So what started out as a bad day has turned into a great day!

We have a 3pm appointment at Camping World, so we decide to make a quick trip into Portland to visit the Oregon Historical Museum. We spend most of our time there at their "Oregon My Oregon" exhibit. It tells the history of Oregon with very interesting exhibits.

We then drive back to the campground, have lunch and then pack up our RV (again) to take it to Camping World. This is a follow-up visit from our Sacramento RV garage visits. Since they couldn’t fix our axle, the second garage in Sacramento told us to just change our tire more often. Of course they didn’t change tires there, so we’re now in Portland at Camping World for them to change our tire. Our rear axle is bent about 1/8" which has caused our one tire to wear out on the one side.

We drive back to the campground and set up everything (again). We spend the rest of the day doing chores...I'm not sure when we're supposed to relax on this trip, but I think I could use a day of it.

We pack up (again) and travel from Cannon Beach to Portland, Oregon. It's only about 90 miles and the scenery is wonderful, even in the rain (yes, it's raining again). We travel over mountains with trees that are just covered with moss - very pretty.….there is moss growing on all the trunks and lower branches. Unfortunately no pictures…it was either raining or nowhere to pull over with the trailer.

We ‘set up camp’, eat lunch and head off to Oregon City’s “End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center”. It was disappointing…not very informative.

We then take a drive over to the Oregon City Historical Museum and look at their exhibits for about 20 minutes. It’s not raining so we spend a little time looking at the waterfalls on the Williamette River and then walk over to their municipal elevator – Oregon City has a public elevator that takes you from the top of the hill to the river level. The elevator even has an operator. Strange.

The rain is coming again so we head back to the RV. We do some shopping on the way back -- I only brought 2 sweaters along and I’m wearing them constantly, so I thought I’d get another one; Target has absolutely no sweaters – it seems like it’s always cold and rainy here – how can they not have any sweaters??? We then have dinner, go for a quick swim in the indoor pool, and call it a day.

Rain last night and rained off and on today, sometimes hard, sometimes with hail. We decide to go see Fort Clapsop National Historic Park anyway. Fort Clapsop is the fort that Lewis & Clark built to survive their winter here in Oregon, at the end of their journey. We tour the fort, look at the museum and watch their 2 movies. The place is packed with 10-year-olds on a field trip!

Then head down to Astoria for lunch on the dock. We watch the freighters on the Columbia River while we eat, and then a seagull decides to sit on the ledge beside on window...

Jere wants to go up the Astoria Column, a stone tower erected on the top of the hill to celebrate the train coming to the mouth of the Columbia--kindof strange, but we go up there, climb the 164 stairs and enjoy the view.

It starts to rain again when we go back to the docks to their viewing platform (of the Columbia River) and so we head to the car to start the drive back to Cannon Beach. On our way back we stop at the outlets and do a little shopping. And then stop at Ecola State Park for a view of Cannon Beach -- the view is great, BUT it is incredibly WINDY!!! We start to head out to the edge of the cliff and stop -- it is so windy I'm concerned that we'll be blown off (or slip in the wet mud). Plus another storm in blowing into the coast. Jere reluctantly turns around and we head back to the car.

We drive through the town of Cannon Beach through the heavy rain and return to the campground for the night. A dip in their indoor pool and we call it a day.