Aug 2, 2012 - Oregon- Maine or Bust

Dear Family & Friends: How are you all? We are in Oregon a small town called Troutdale- the gateway to the Columbia Gorge. We spent the last 3 days in Washington visiting Mt ST Helen and Rainier Mt (elev 14410'). Washington is alot like Maine- farmland, streams, and lakes. This weekend is Seattle' seaFair- blue angels, a wild woolly place!!!! It is very hot here- 100 degrees yesterday- breaking all kinds of records. The corn is only about 1' high here. Our last week of our journey wasn't bad- alot of travelling on "roads" that by any other...

Oct 5, 2011 - Day #28, 10-5-11

10-5-11 Portland is a very nice town. A hub from which to make daily ventures into the surrounding country side. But all good things come to an end, we have not had a day’s break in the rain and my motor home is starting to get pretty crappy looking from the road grime. I opened the door to check the propane level and.....my GOD, the compartment (directly behind the front tire) was filthy with mud and debris. Enough is enough! I need some sunshine so I can wash my baby! Tomorrow morning we head north. We are going to change the route...

Sep 27, 2011 - Day #19, 9-27-11

Day #19, 9-27-11 There was a very angry little cloud over Corbett Oregon last night and it rained relentlessly all night. Actually pretty cool to listen to in bed! We got a very early start (for us) today. We hit the road at 9:30am. We had a lot of driving and site seeing to fit in today. Rather than taking HYW I-84 east all the way to The Dalles, we took the scenic routes. We took Scenic Highway 30 for a good part of the drive. The first place we came to on the back road was Wahkeena Falls followed by the Famous Multnomah Falls. It is a...

Sep 8, 2011 - Troutdale, OR

Had a nice visit with Betty's niece Stephanie and her family: husband Chris, children McKenzie, Madison, Travis and Tanner. Also shown in the family photo is the family nanny, Mandy, and her son Spencer. Stephanie and Chris own an automatic transmission repair shop in Sandy, OR. We spent a day at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry and it was exciting. We think Stephanie's family should produce a reality show!

Sep 12, 2010 - Troutdale, OR

Saturday and Sunday, September 11-12 Sandy Riverfront RV Resort, Troutdale, OR Saturday morning Scott had the spring assembly for his truck bed cover replaced and I visited Troutdale’s stores. In the afternoon we drove to Portland so Little Bear could interact freely with those of her species at Normandale’s fenced dog park. What a glorious park! The dogs used the scattered logs to play hide and seek, race around, jump over or walk across. Little Bear found a spotted 8 month old playmate and they raced around so fast the bark under their...

Sep 9, 2010 - Troutdale - Columbia River Gorge

Thursday and Friday, September 9-10 Sandy Riverfront RV Resort, Troutdale, OR It was cool and overcast Thursday morning when we left Roseburg heading north to Troutdale. Halfway through our transit we stopped at a rest area and I was walking Little Bear when I saw another Schipperke bounding toward us! Bear and the little brown/black male looked so cute playing together; I went to get Scott so he could see the little Schip (only the 2nd of Bear’s breed we’ve met since Nov 09!) We finished setting up in Troutdale about 2 PM; it seemed late...

Sep 10, 2009 - Shopping, Cleaning and helping neighbors

Tina shopped at a nearby outlet mall while Rick washed the RV this morning. Rv’ers tend to stick together and Rick noticed the bumper sticker on the truck across from us needed to be updated so he used a blue post-it note to help his neighbor. (see pic) In the afternoon, Tina cleaned the inside of the RV and Rick was supposed to relax but ended up helping our neighbor troubleshoot a major electrical problem they are having. Today Rick walked 7 miles roundtrip to Walmart (while Tina was shopping) to get her birthday present. He gave it to...

Sep 5, 2009 - Drive to Troutdale, OR (outside Portland)

Drove the RV to Troutdale, OR - one of the eastern suburbs of Portland. We explored town a bit today - it is one of those cute towns with a few art stores, a few very cute restaurants, etc. Tonight, in honor of seeing Mt St Helens the last couple of days we watched Dante’s Peak - 1997 movie about a volcano blowing near a mountain town. It was more interesting than it would normally be because we understood more of what the technicians were saying thanks to all we recently learned about volcanos.

Aug 23, 2009 - Troutdale Oregon

August 21, 2009 The trip from Silver Lake, Washington to Troutdale, Oregon August 21st was only 75 miles and we arrived early. Troutdale is located east of Portland on I-84 at the mouth of the Columbia River Gorge. There was a Flying J truck stop with good diesel price and easy access at the exit to our RV Park so we fueled up. Fortunately when we arrived at the Sandy River RV Resort our site was just being vacated so we were able to pull in and setup without waiting. That afternoon we set out to get the emissions test needed to renew the...

Jul 17, 2009 - Changes and Corrections

Once the sun went down, it cooled down, and we were able to get a very decent night's rest. The electric company came this morning and still cannot determine the cause of the problem. They will be back on Monday and start digging. We are leaving here on Monday morning so thank goodness we won't have to deal with that. Since Tom had to disconnect our rig today to take it to the Splendide Co. in Clackamas to get something repaired on the washer/dryer, we thought it a good time to ask to come back to a site in the park that had electric power...

Jul 14, 2009 - Hello Oregon

July 14, 2009, Tuesday - Day 30 - Well it was time to say goodbye to Washington and hello to Oregon. Our destination for today was the Columbia River Gorge area in Troutdale, just outside Portland. Our niece, Tracy, and husband, Walter had recently told us about the Historic Columbia River Highway (Hwy 30) and Multnomah Falls in this area and it sounded too good to miss. The drive from Castle Rock, WA down I-5 South to Troutdale, OR was only about 85 miles, so we were settled in at the Sandy Riverfront RV Resort, Space 141 and ready for...

Jul 13, 2009 - Five Beautiful Waterfalls

The entrance to the Columbia River Gorge Scenic Area is three quarters of mile from our campground. The weather was iffy this morning but, with the promise by the weatherman of clearing skies, we headed out to see as much as we could see . Our first stop was Chanticleer Point . What a view! We were trying to picture Lewis and Clark with their entourage coming down the river. The drive is so incredibly beautiful. Lush green vegetation everywhere and after last night's rain it was all just glistening. We managed to get to five of the eight...