“USA 🇺🇸 Oregon ~Visiting Family and Friends!”

We have had quite the time with a lot of visiting with family and friends, whilst in Oregon.
It’s been so special!

… and a bit of a whirlwind, and never enough time to see everybody we would like, yet managing enough quality time where we are able to.
Our lifestyle certainly doesn’t lend to quantity time, anywhere, really…..


SHERWOOD ⬇️

 

Before we got to begin enjoying the visiting part, there was much work to do. We were unable to have shore power for The Whale at this stop, so the decision was made to empty our fridge and freezer, in to Debby’s extra one, and plug our secondary freezer, (stowed under the floor in The Whale) in to a plug-in, in their shop. Daryl and I would spend the next five hours, cleaning The Whale, for the third time, since Alaska, but an even deeper clean this time, to finally get all the glacier dust, gone!!
Daryl would rinse out the filters for the in-take vents (ceiling) three times, before the water wasn’t black! He also wiped down every cupboard/nook/cranny. I did the bathroom, flooring, inside windows and inside of refrigerator. She really sparkles now! After this big job, we turned off the two main switches, to save our batteries, and we moved into the basement in Debby’s place, which was very nice.

The morning of our departure, we turned back on the house power, to get the refrigerator going, to ready it for the return of our items from Debby’s fridge/freezer.


 


We have not been able to find an RV wash, so the outside of The Whale needs attention in a big way! There is one in Prineville, but too tight to use it with a tow, so when we leave Prineville, we will get her washed there, then hook-up Jonah and head out!


NEWBERG
⬇️


During the weekend, of our time in Sherwood, we drove Jonah to where my mom lives, in Newberg; Friendsview Manor, where we had a family dinner with my brother, Dean, his wife, Rebecca, and Debby and Vern. All was hosted by my mom, DeEtte, which we very much appreciated.

 


After a few days, since arriving in Oregon, we got the most amazing weather! We tootled around in Jonah with her top down. We had such lousy weather this summer, up North, I think we only had two days in Valdez, Alaska, where we got to put the top down. 

Anywho……
My brother has cancer and just had surgery on August 21st. He felt good enough to make it to the party, for which I was so grateful. Of course we would have visited him at his house, if needed! He’s thin, but hopefully and pray-fully will rally.

⬆️ Dean n me 

⬆️ Dean, my mom, DeEtte, Rebecca, Daryl, me, Debby and Vern

We stayed with Debby and Vern five nights, in Sherwood, and very much appreciated their hospitality. On one evening, Debby’s sister, Becky (who I was also in High School with), and her husband, Clyde, would stop by for a visit. (darn. I forgot to get a picture)! There was a crazy electric storm that night, rain and finally sunshine, a few days later.

My mom drove up to Debby’s on a few days, from Newberg to spend time with us as well.

Another couple we know, and love, came up to the house, bringing yummy banana bread and we had a great visit. Keith and Darlene are friends that go back, 45 plus years. Their daughter was also in the same high school with Debby and I. You might recognize them, from a previous blog, as we spent Thanksgiving at their home in Vegas this last year… then we saw them again, during another stop in Las Vegas, back in April. They have the best of both worlds, splitting their time between Newberg and Las Vegas. They also are rock stars in my book, because they have RV’d to Alaska, EIGHT times! (7 times leading caravans). Granted, the roads were better back in those days, but still, that’s amazing!

 


⬆️ Debby, me, Darlene and Keith 

We had one day, where we left Sherwood to visit my step mom, Liz, around the Tigard area. My dad and her were married for 37 years, and I haven’t seen her since my dad passed away, in 2018, whilst Daryl and I were overseas. We had a fabulous visit, and Daryl got caught up on his napping.

⬆️ Me, Liz, Daryl


After that, we headed for Lake Oswego to meet up with one of my bestest friends, Lisa and her mom, Margie. It was so fun to get together. We go WAY back, almost 45 years, when we were on Varsity Rally together, at Newberg High School!!!
Back in the day, mothers of our rally group would help drive us to various out-of-town sporting events, where we cheered.

You may also recognize Lisa, because I blogged about our visit to her place in Hawaii, after returning overseas from our four plus year sojourn.



After great food and even better conversation, we had to get back to Sherwood before sunset, because Jonahs’ right headlight is broken. She got hit with a few rocks on our Alaska trip and one broke her headlight. Two others, cracked her windshield and gave her a chip. Anyway, windshield damage on an RV trip to Alaska is not unusual, but as full-time RVers, coordinating fixes is the challenge, since we are always on the move. The Whale’s windshield got hit three times and one is causing a vertical crack, but not in the driver view at all.
We will eventually figure out a time for fixes.

Oh, Jonah also got a dent on her front left feeder. (paint is chipped and there is a small dent)  We don’t know what happened, but suspect somebody bumped her in a parking lot somewhere, and didn’t care to be honest.
We purposely had no plans to give her a new paint job, till she is no longer a tow vehicle. She has plenty of rock chips already, on her hood, as we expected her to get.

Another surprise visiting opportunity happened, when my friend, Tonya, flew into Oregon, from Texas, on our last night in Sherwood.  We met many years ago, walking our dogs in the Texas neighborhood I had recently moved to; back around 2009. We instantly hit it off and we worked-out together, and would travel together, many times, before I eventually moved from Texas. Like me, Tonya was also born and raised in Oregon.

So, late arrival to the Portland Airport, Tonya picked up her rental and found her way to Debbys, long after everybody went to bed. I waited up for her, and then we visited and giggled for well over two hours, till we finally had to get some sleep.

Next morning, we were all up, early, since Tonya had to get going to visit her family, further South, and Daryl and I were also departing, to head further South.

⬆️ Tonya n me ⬇️



⬆️ Daryl and I, inside The sparkling clean Whale

***********


Departure Day ⬇️

Daryl and I got to enjoy a beautiful, sunny drive from Sherwood, and Newberg, through Sisters, and on to Prineville.

⬆️
The Willamette River. I used to spend a lot of time water skiing there! 

⬆️ The town of Sisters 


*************


PRINEVILLE
⬇️




 


We are once again, set-up in our friend, Linda’s driveway. We are so happy to be here!
We all went out for dinner, on our first night, then drove through the local cemetery, which I love to do, to see the many deer who live there. 

I didn’t even make 9PM, before I was sleeping, since only getting less than 3.5 hours sleep the night before, with Tonya.
So worth the lack of sleep!!!

⬆️ This is “Jaguar.” Isn’t he pretty? He’s a stud and makes beautiful babies. He also helps keep Linda’s pasture mowed


Live Residents of the Cemetery ⬇️

I’ve never gotten to see a Buck  yet, but here is a picture Linda took and shared with me ⬇️

On the next day, the three of us drove to a nearby ranch in the area of Powell Butte, to stock back up on meat. It was awesome! We didn’t buy meat while in Alaska/Canada. WAY too expensive up there. 

⬆️ This butcher was almost seven feet tall. Daryl looked small next to him. I rarely see Daryl look small

 


This guy? Well, “He’s unique in his field.” 🤣🤣🤣

***********


“Jonah”

Jonah has developed a little chugga-chugga cough, which needs to be looked at, so since we are in Prineville, where a mechanic, named Vic, replaced her oil cooler, on the way up to Alaska, he is going to have a look in a few days. Hopefully it’s easy like a valve check, and/or it’s that and the fact we had to use regular gas up North (premium not available).

Jonah definitely has a backfire loud enough, on occasion, people around are ducking, wondering where the gunfire is coming from.


Well This is a Find Howdy-Do!!! 

Talking about Jonah, we made an appointment back about July to get her returned to Kingman, Arizona, to the guy who did all the crap work on Jonah, in over a years time. Our appointment was to be September 14-28, and trust me, it was NOT to touch anything, but the A/C.

I made a reservation at the nearby KOA Campground in Kingman. The A/C that was installed has never worked and was done wrong and he needs to make it right. (we paid $3000). This appointment was made earlier, before the multiple break downs, going up and being in Alaska. I told Daryl we needed to re-confirm this appointment. Well, this guy won’t answer our calls anymore. We used Debby’s phone and he picked up right away. Here is what he said:

“No, I’m not going to help you out. One of my mechanics just died suddenly, and after that, talking with my wife, we decided to close up the business.”

CLEARLY, he doesn’t care a bit that we paid him a lot of money for crap work that had to be redone. Given what we’ve been through, we have a feeling others have also been ripped-off, so he’s buried at this point and running away, instead of taking responsibility.

That’s a huge drag for sure, but he hasn’t heard the last from me. He can run, but he can’t hide!

Not wanting to end on that bad note with this blog, there is some good news. Since we won’t be spending two weeks in Arizona with Jonah getting fixed there, though still needing to figure out our next move with this guy in Arizona, we are now going to go back to Las Vegas, where we will get to spend more time with Lisa (afore mentioned) and her husband, since they also have a place in Las Vegas. We’ve tried to meet up there on previous visits, but they spend time between three places and it never quite worked, till now!
So, we look forward to our visit there, after we leave Prineville, to travel to our house in SoCal to shuffle supplies and items back a round in The Whale, since returning from Alaska. Daryl is so anxious to get his e-bike back, for one example!
We also have new tenants, since the summer, and look forward to meeting them.

***********


Washington to Oregon 



⬆️ It would take us almost four hours, between the two homes we stayed at in Washington and Oregon, with Friday afternoon traffic, on Labor Day weekend. We could have planned that travel day s little better for sure!

 



⬆️ We did not take the blue route. We prefer going through St Paul, then through Salem on 1-5, then to Hwy 22. Less traffic, overall. It took us 4.5 hours with one fuel stop.

OREGON

USA

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  1. Fun to read and see pictures of all the areas I’m familiar with, since I live in Newberg and my parents live in Prineville.

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About Us

Hello and Welcome to our Travel Blog Website, We enjoy writing about our experiences and taking photos of our adventuring along the way. Our names are: Daryl and Pen, but Daryl calls me “Bunny.” We met, quite randomly, whilst both… Read More