Week 737-738 - Oregon RV Service - 10-04-2020

Oregon RV Service

Heading to Eugene, Oregon for RV Service.

The yellow boundary surrounds the RV Capital of the West.

Sometimes we are just lucky. In early August we got RV appointments in Eugene, Oregon. The earliest RV appointments we could get were on September 22nd and 24th. We spent 6 weeks outrunning the California heat, the Oregon RV traffic and the Washington fires and smoke. By the time we reached Washington, there were (and are) massive fires in all three states. Lucky? By the time of our appointments the smoke was gone and the air was clear.

Our first appointment was at Cummins Care in Coburg, just three miles north of Eugene. After 14 1/2 years of travel, we opted for the Cummins 21-point chassis inspection. We just wanted to know that the wheels were not going to fall off. Our future plans, per our son John, is to "drive till we drop" and that in the MotherShip. Our chassis analysis indicated a couple of oil drips, not leaks, that we should watch. Everything else checked out okay; way to go Monaco!

Our second appointment was at Monaco (Rev Group) 1/2 mile north of Cummins. We asked for just one repair, our front door. The door is hard to close. Sometimes it shuts well, sometime you must slam it and other times you must push it in gently. And on the freeway it has a loud air leak.

We came in for an overnight stay (below) and a one day fix. As it turns out it took two techs, 2 and 1/2 days (20 hours) to fix the door. They almost gave up on the air leak, but persevered and now the MotherShip is quiet again, nice!

We ended up staying free at Monaco for 5 days, so we had time for side trips. As we said, this area is the RV Capital of the West. At one time there were 4 motorhome manufacturers in this area: Monaco, Alpine, Country Coach and Marathon. Only Marathon survived the 2008 economic downturn. So if you have a couple million dollars you can still get a motorhome built in Coburg.

After the factory closings, dozens of builders and techs started their own companies. Anything you need is here. On our side trips we visited Source Engineering in Veneta, 22 miles west of Eugene. They offer a Ride Enhancement Kit for the MotherShip. More on this later.

In nearby Harrisburg, Elite RV is owned by several ex-Monaco techs. They know everything Monaco. We will return in March 2021 for them to inspect, adjust and repair our slides. Having stayed at over 600 places, our slides have gone in and out 2,400 times! Harrisburg sits on the Williamette River.

Another side trip was to Lowell, Oregon which is on the Dexter Reservoir. We thought we were going to get to cross over on the covered bridge, but it is now a historical site.

Lowell State Park is on the north side of the water. We have at times talked about being the host at a camp. This lucky guy is the host, parked right on the water, and the park is for day use only, wow!

This dock is part of the park.

Finished in Eugene, we have an appointment at Source Engineering to install the Ride Enhancement Kit. It is a week from now, so we sped (lol) over to Florence to spend a week on the ocean.

Lots of fishing on the Siuslaw River.

The Florence Elks has two locations for RV parking. We stayed at their campground a few weeks back. The lodge in town also has 15 RV sites with water and electricity. The lodge here runs a thrift store to raise money to give away.

We're in site #1, the sites are big and there is nobody near us, whee!

In Florence you can get to dozens of beach locations in a few minutes. This trip was to the northern tip of the South Jetty Recreation Area.

This area is part of the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area which they claim to be the largest coastal dunes in the US.

We passed by the dunes area to get here. There were dozens of ATVs at the dunes. We enjoyed a walk along the ocean.

Speaking of walking, Ellen is experiencing a little less pain with a little more walking, praise God. We walked 1.2 miles on the beach and sand.

Mandy came along but did not walk the 1.2 miles. She, unleashed, ran and ran and ran. We would guess she ran 2 or 3 miles running big circles around us. She slept well!

Next week we head back to Veneta for the Ride Enhancement Kit.

We're excited! With love, Pete, Ellen and Mandy

Photos from Sep-Oct 2020