April 3, 2024 (Wed)
We spend our slack day as usual—doing laundry, restocking on coffee and fruit, and getting trip logs sent.
At the end of the day, we head to Georgie’s Beachside Grill to have a lovely cloth-napkin dinner and enjoy the wonderful view of the sur. We feel very ritzy and stylish.
Gini very much enjoys her king crab dinner
Day 50 Travel
Our travel on Day 50 (Wed)
April 4, 2024 (Thu)
8:00 am Port of Newport RV Park
We’re getting closer to home—we can tell because Robert switches from shorts (which he has been wearing for the last six weeks) to long pants. Brrr!
Also: Change In Plans!
Gini has been wanting a particular piece of 4 x 8 wood lattice (strips of wood put together in specific pattern) to match the lattice that is already in our garden; however, the only places locally that sell it offer only small pieces. Gini has tracked down the manufacturer.
The manufacturer is in Oregon—just south of Portland. Maybe we could get it directly from the source?
Nope. They don’t sell to peasants humans. They only sell to corporations, but they give us the name of local outfits that are certainly carry it. There’s one of them here in Newport. Surely they have it?
Nope. They don’t carry weird stuff unusual items. But we can contact the distributor. They’ll sell to us, yes?
Nope. But, we can order it from the local source in Newport and then we can pick it up “Will Call” in Eugene at the distributor unless we want to stay in Newport until Friday when the lattice could be delivered to the local source. After half-an-hour of delicate negotiations, Gini has bought her piece of 4’ by 8’ lattice and we are off the distributor! Easy sailing from here, yes? Well…
It does mean that we have to get to Eugene, which is halfway across Oregon and down a bit. Eugene, here we come!
8:45 am Newport, OR
Per usual, we stop to put a bunch of gas in Harvey. It turns out that sometime in the last several years, Oregon has added “Self-Serve” lanes to some of its gas stations. This means that you pump your own gas (like everywhere else). Oregon used to be very fussy about letting the attendant do the pumping (presumably to preserve jobs). Now it’s, “Eh, try not to spill it all over yourself, huh?”
8:56 am Newport, OR
Some people think that it might be dangerous for Robert to take pictures and drive a four-ton RV, because we might crash.
“If we started to crash, I’d switch to video,” says Robert, assuring us that he’s given it some thought. (Meanwhile Gini has been clenching her teeth in the back seat and praying that our deaths will be sudden instead of lingering.)
Lots of trees (and ghost cockroaches) east of Newport
9:07 am Toledo
We wonder if the churches here describe themselves as “Holy Toledo!”
Roadside geology in action near Toledo
9:19 am Blodgett, OR
Nope, we never heard of Blodgett, either. It’s been here since 1888 and is home to 42 Blodgettians (Blodgetites?).
These trees are kind of yellow, but otherwise…
9:29 am Philomath, OR
Practically a metropolis compared to Blodgett: home to over 5,500 people.
From Wikipedia:
“In 2020, Philomath residents were among the first in the world to receive their food deliveries from a robot; Daxbot, which is built by a Philomath-based business. Daxbot is a 36-inch, semi-autonomous delivery robot who can keep food hot or cold, and makes free deliveries for businesses and individuals in Philomath.”
Now we’re in the agricultural part of Oregon
10:00 am Corvallis, OR
Towns are getting bigger: Corvallis is almost 60,000 people. It’s the westernmost largest city in the U.S., if you don’t count Hawaii and Alaska, but we do, so Corvallis is a medium town. Honolulu is seven times bigger!
Cool clouds near Corvallis
10:38 am Junction City
What can you say about Junction City? Well, in 2003 a group of local farmers posed naked for a calendar to raise money for local schools. They hoped to raise $25,000. They raised more than $650,000. These guys are outstanding in their fields!
Men outstanding in their fields!
Agriculture is strong in Junction City!
10:40 am Eugene, OR
It’s pretty easy to tell when we get into Eugene because the agriculture stops and the city begins, almost like a switch being flipped.
Out of the agriculture and into the city
We stop at the lattice place (Weatherly’s) to get our lattice. You would think that a vehicle 21 feet long and 8 feet wide would be pretty good at carrying stuff. Well, after you put in a sink, a full bathroom, a closet, a stove, a refrigerator and a table and queen-sized bed, there’s not a lot of room left over.
In fact, Harvey is terrible at carrying anything that can’t be stuffed into a cabinet except people. (But if there’s more than two people, somebody’s getting stuffed into a cabinet.)
The lattice fills the center walkway in Harvey. The bathroom is accessible, but not the couch or the table or the refrigerator. Gini is forced to ride up front to watch Robert drive while clenching her jaw.
Harvey is not designed to carry lattice
11:38 am Harrisburg, OR
The decision is made to hightail it towards home by the fastest means, since none of the crew is happy about not being able to lounge in the back. The fastest way home is I-5, although it’s neither scenic nor interesting.
I-5 Northbound is pretty dull
But Gini enjoys the view!
1:29 pm Gervais, OR
Driving down I-5, we see a truck full of Cybertrucks! This is the first time we’ve seen a Cybertruck in person and now we get to see a whole bunch of them! Honestly, they look weird—almost pixelated and our eyes feel like they can’t quite focus on them.
But it helps break up the monotony!
A truck full of Cybertrucks
1:54 pm Tualitin, OR
Almost to Portland. We’re hoping to get through Portland before the rush hour really starts (last time we were here, it took 20 minutes to go half a mile).
I-5 isn’t more interesting here in Tualitin
3:30 pm Mt. St. Helens RV Park
Whew! We made it through Portland, with only one bout of stop-and-go traffic. We’re now at an RV park a mile off I-5.
In case you’re thinking this would give us a good view of Mt. St. Helens, think again. As soon as we arrive, it starts hailing and then raining (welcome home!). We’re lucky we can see the clouds.
This also raises the issue of where to put the lattice. We had thought we’d just stash it outside Harvey for the night, but now it’s at risk of getting soaked and bringing that soak into Harvey in the morning and yuck! Eventually, we persuade the RV park manager to let us put it in his office overnight.
Harvey settles into his last campground of this trip
Day 51 Travel
Our travel on Day 51 (Thu)
April 5, 2024 (Fri)
9:40 am Mt. St. Helens RV Park
Getting ready to pull out of our last campground. We’re only three hours from home, and Harvey can go faster when he gets close to home—just like a horse, he can sense when his stable is nearby.
After 52 days on the road, this is the kind of thing we think is hilarious
11:20 am Centralia, WA
We’re now in the center of Washington (actually midway between Seattle and Portland), home to the Centralia Massacre! (For a change, this has nothing to do with Native Americans, but is the result of anger against unions.)
“Technically, I’m not on my phone,” says Robert as we hurtle down the road
2:00 pm Woodinville, WA
After 52 days on the road, we pull into our last stop. Home Sweet Home, where the beds are soft and roomy.
Harvey pulls into his favorite camping spot—next to our home!
End of the road for Harvey
During this trip, we have decided that it’s time to sell Harvey. Most of this is because every single time we go out in Harvey something breaks.
Currently, we have four issues (not counting the power cord door currently held on by duct tape):
The main sink faucet doesn’t work, making doing dishes a real pain.
The shower head doesn’t work.
When the water heater is turned on, there’s a smell of propane (we think this might be why the carbon monoxide alarm went off).
The weird Voodoo problem where at random times the back up camera comes on and the brake lights, turn signals, and cruise control don’t work if the headlights are on.
Previously, while Harvey’s been at the spa, they’ve replaced the A/C unit and worked on the table hinges, electrical issues and other assorted problems . Having Harvey would be fine if we were tinker/fixer types, but we’re not. We want to hop into Harvey and go and not worry that an essential part will break, leak, or fall off.
We’ll be cleaning up Harvey and getting him ready for sale.
We’ll send out one parting Trip Log when he’s finally sold, just to properly close the story. We’d offer to let you folks make offers on him, but we like you and we don’t want to saddle anybody we like with future headaches.
Day 52 Travel
Our travel on Day 52 (Fri)
Gini & Robert
Harvey Staff