Week 782-785 - Diss Appointments - 08-29-2021

Diss Appointments

Our travel in six weeks has taken us through California, Nevada, Idaho, Oregon and back to California. Our last travelogue ended in Boise, Idaho and this was our path for the last four weeks.

Many of the roads we took are new to us which we like.

This path is not new, but was necessary as you will see.

Leaving our friend Mike in Boise, we stopped in Sweet, Idaho at Roystone Hot Springs & RV Park. The park has 10 long pull-thrus and is only $35 (8-2021). The pool and spa must be separately reserved. We paid $20 for a private 1-hour soak. Overall $55 was a good price for this quaint little park.
Roystone Hot Springs

Heading North we arrived at McCall RV Resort in McCall, Idaho. Our longtime friends Steve and Susan recommended the resort. It is lovely. Every site has grass of varying size; ours was tiny but some are larger than the MotherShip.

On our first morning we played pickleball at the local fitness center and rode bikes into town on a dedicated bike path. Mandy always enjoys the wind in her face. McCall RV Resort

Next stop was to visit Ellen's brother Larry who moved from California to Indian Valley, Idaho. His 200 acre ranch has plenty of room to provide us a pull-thru hookup.

1) Larry and Judy gave us the grand tour of the area including several fine meals from the local restaurants. Thanks to you both for a great visit. 2) One of Larry's many Longhorn cattle.

A special treat was a thunder and lightning storm. The night was pitch black. The wind rocked the MotherShip and lightning bolts were a plenty. Sadly, we could never time our shots to see a bolt, but we got plenty of light to see out.

Pete was up in the middle of the night to film the lightning. Ellen got this beauty at sunset.

We headed toward Bend, Oregon Elks Lodge for a few overnights and to play pickleball. From Indian Valley it is 321 miles, too much to travel in one day. We found this pull-out on Hwy 20; never learned the name of the river. We like to boondock as much as the next guy, so pulled in for the night. It was private and large enough to be away from the road that had almost no traffic. We were set. However, there was no where to hike, no where to bike, a muddy river, no radio, no phone, no cellular Internet, no TV, no nothing (actually no anything).

After a long rest, we moved on. Our plan was to visit our first Harvest Hosts stay in Hines, Oregon. There were two hosts. One was not open on Sundays. And the other, a restaurant, got shut down by the town. While only 1,563 residents, still big enough to say No! We settled in at Bosch Big Bear RV in Hines. A new RV park that was only a restaurant, now with 10 pull-thru RV sites. We chatted with the owners who asked "what shall we add next?". We, of course, said pickleball as you must travel East or West 200 miles to play. Bosch Bear RV

Our next destination was Eugene, Oregon. However, Pete's sister Donnalee was coming North from Weed, California. We diverted to Salmon Harbor Marina in Winchester, Oregon. We stayed three nights, dry camping at $25/night. The sites looked small but they are very wide, so parked at an angle. Once parked, we realized they were long enough to park normally. Salmon Harbor Marine RV

With Donnalee and good friend Don we took a few road trips. This one to Shore Acres State Park, previously owned by the Simpson family.

The Simpsons created a lovely botanical garden.

The Monkey Puzzle Tree is quite unique.

The Simpsons were known for their award winning roses dating back at least to 1957.

The coastline just a few hundred feet away is an artistic creation from God.

Saying goodbyes for now, we spent a night at the Florence Oregon Elks Lodge. It was full, but the bartender said "just see if you can find some open space to camp". We found the large empty lot next to the Elks Lodge. The following day we experienced our first Harvest Host stay. Bennett Vineyards in Cheshire, Oregon. It was great. The owner met us upon arrival and pointed to are extremely large grassy site. Harvest Hosts is currently $99 per year. Parking is free at host locations. HH suggests buying product or making a donation to dry camp. We enjoyed wine tasting and the very private site. Bennett Vineyards Harvest Host You must be a Harvest Host member and reserve through the HH web site.

On the way to our first of three RV service appointments we stayed at Bish's RV Park in Junction City, Oregon. (Bishs recently purchased Guaranty RV.) Bishs RV Park

The following day we had Armstrong RV Service in Springfield, Oregon fix a leaking gray tank valve. That night we slipped over to RV Glass in Coburg, Oregon for three free overnights. RV Glass installed our 7th windshield. Oh my, do we love to break them front glasses.

Next, we moved to Elite RV Restoration in Harrisburg, Oregon to fix our 4th and final slide. They ran out of time in March (when this photo was taken.) The empty lot in March was filled with 8 motorhomes this trip. We were anxious that they could not repair our slide as scheduled. But they did. On time and on budget. We have received excellent service from Elite RV.

While the slide floor was being replaced, we drove home in the JeepShip. We scheduled doctor's appointments at the same time as our RV appointments. This allowed us to visit our son John, Melissa and Mario (the newly weds). We stayed with Ellen's sister Janice and Frank, had dinners with best friends, Janet & Brad, Susan & Steve and John & Janice.

So what were the disappointments? No disappointments, everything was great. But, we Diss Appointments; we don't like them. Every time you have to schedule appointments, you can't go when and where you want. Our entire planned route was disrupted to make these appointments. But, with lots of planning (which we don't like), it worked out great. We got to visits many of our family and lots of friends

We thank God for our life everyday and even though we couldn't go where we wanted, we were blessed the way it turned out.

A future travelogue will show the amazing way Elite RV replaced our slide floor.

With love, Pete, Ellen and Mandy

“We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.” Romans 5:3-5

Photos from August 2021