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Old 06-05-2008, 02:32 AM   #16
Joe-n-Doe
Montana Fan
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Fernandina Beach
Posts: 311
M.O.C. #7870
The drive from Calistoga to Napa was incident free and smooth. That all changed when we entered North Napa. A brush fire forced closure of HWY 29 in both directions and produced a huge traffic jam. It took over an hour to travel less than a mile. Once we cleared that mess the trip to Chico was smooth.

Our friends own a house out in the country, right on Butte Creek. They have a long, tree-lined driveway. It is wide enough to accommodate our rig, but does have 2 stone pillars where the driveway meets the street. They restrict turning radius and made backing into the driveway a bit dicey. It took us about an hour to maneuver the rig onto the drive. They have installed a 30amp box and sewer dump, so we were all set in that respect. They were out of town for the Memorial Weekend, so we had the run of the property. We uncorked a couple bottles of wine, sat down by the creek and let the dogs run loose. What a great brain dump.

The next morning I got up early and drove to a nearby casino where I met and had breakfast with Nailbender and other Northern California MOC’ers. It was real nice meeting them all.

That evening we meet up with our granddaughter, former DIL and her husband, and other members of her family. Had dinner and planned the weekend graduation events. We thought graduation was scheduled for Saturday, but learned the University split the graduating class in two and our granddaughter’s graduation was to be on Sunday. It rained most of the day Saturday and was COLD. Sunday morning was sunny and the weather warm. What luck! To add to our luck, our former DIL staked out seats for us all on the front row right next to the spot where they photographed the graduates before they crossed the stage. After lunch our granddaughter and her family headed out of town and we returned to our friends house to greet them and BBQ a tri-tip.

When we left the Napa Valley fuel cost $4.89 a gallon. In Chico that afternoon, I found it at $4.79. The next day when returning from breakfast, I topped off at $4.75. That afternoon, most local stations elevated the price to a minimum of $4.99 and as high as $5.25. When we left Chico on Memorial Day, we got as far as Redding before needing to refuel at $4.99. That got us to Crescent City where prices were $5.12 and higher. The manager of the RV park recommended I wait until we got into Oregon before refueling. We followed his advise and topped off at $4.79 a gallon. I saw it at a Fred Myers in Oregon City for $4.65.

The drive up the Oregon coast is really special. For those planning such a trip, I recommend you plan driving down (south) down the coast. The views are much better and the West side of the road is where all the view areas are located.

Tuesday evening we arrived at my brother’s “cottage”, a very comfortable 5-acre estate on the Clackamas River. We got there a day before my two sisters from Utah and their spouses arrived in their RVs. My brother’s house is at the end of a 5-acre rectangle plot. He has a long, narrow, tree lined driveway with 2 very sharp curves near the main street. It took us 30 minutes to negotiate those 2 curves. While we were threading that needle, a neighbor who shares the drive, pulls in behind us and after waiting patiently for 15 minutes decides to take a shortcut thru my brother’s pasture. The learning point is we too should have driven thru the pasture. We were literally only two or three inches from scrapping two massive trees.

After surveying his pasture and front yard parking, we decided all three rigs would fit onto the driveway in front of the main house and guest house/separate workshop-garage.. The next challenge was deciding to drive head on into the driveway and then back out the 200-300 feet to the pasture, or negotiate a small round-about between my brother’s house and his neighbor. By doing that, we could then back into my bro’s driveway and then when we left drive straight out, avoiding the long back-out. Doris was of the opinion we were too long to make negotiate the round-about. My brother and I thought it would be close, but that we could handle the round-about. It wasn’t until we wedged the 45 feet of our truck and Monty into a 46-foot space that we learned we couldn’t make the round-about. This was a real Oh S*#! revelation. When I say wedged, I mean wedged! Very large tree trunks to our rear, big boulders lining the round-about (they are what really stopped us) and a steep river bank to our front. Two hours later after dozens of short backward and forward jackknife maneuvers we dislodged the rig without causing any damage to it. However, the gravel around the round-about that less than an hour before our arrive had been graded and steam rolled in preparation to be asphalted was gouged up pretty bad.

During this time, the neighbor’s wife came home from work and dumped all over my brother for the damage we had done to the prepared gravel. It was then I learned my bro couldn’t handle the stress of the minute. I had asked him to stand on the rear driver’s side of Monty and to yell STOP if we got close to hitting the boulder. After his encounter with the neighbor, he retreated to the safety of his kitchen and waited for Doris and I to either give up or succeed in dislodging the rig.

After freeing the rig, we backed it up about 100 feet and drove straight into my bro’s property. We washed our hands and faces and immediately left for drinks and dinner. The next day when my two sisters arrived, we had them drive thru the pasture. My BIL with a 5’er backed his rig from the pasture down to the house, only to find trees and other obstacles blocked his turning radius preventing him from backing into the gated portion of my brother’s property. Dumb luck being what it is, he was able to pull forward and park on gravel off the long drive adjacent to the gate. My other BIL had no problem pulling his rig, a 26 TT, onto the driveway and backing it front of one of the garages. After everyone was settled in we fired up the Barbie and toasted some Tri-Tips.

We remained in the Portland are for 2-days, one of which was rainy, wet, and cold. From there we headed West to Warrenton to meet another brother at Ft. Stevens State Park. Those of you planning a trip to Oregon should be sure to plan a stop of at least a couple of days at Ft. Stevens. It is the largest camping state park in Oregon, located very close to Astoria, and abounds with history and things to do. It was so great, we extended our stay there by one more day.

Saturday evening we had a seafood smorgasbord and gorged ourselves on sea bass, crabs, steamers, and the biggest oysters I have ever shucked and eaten. All local and fresh catches. Though chilly and occasionally misty, the weather was pretty good each day of our stay. It started raining the last night we were there and continued on through the next day. The rain made breaking camp a bit of challenge.

From Warrenton, one of my sisters headed South and one head North with us. We overnighted at an R/M RV “Resort” in Elma, WA. I really find it annoying how loosely RV parks make false claims of being a “Resort” and then charge you a bundle for mediocre facilities and services. Travel Inn RV Resort in Elma is one such example. My brother thought we might like staying there. Anyway, during our visit to the scenic Hood Canal we stopped in a couple of Washington State Parks and drove thru their campgrounds. Very nice, water, electric, and sewer for $24 per night, first come first serve, and with sites big enough for us. Next time.

Next stop Canada.
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