BEGINNINGS OF A FRIENDSHIP

On July 4th, we read this message on the "Boomer Bulletin Board" (an internet forum that is one of the ways we keep in touch with our traveling friends):

"FREE RV SITE PORTLAND, OREGON AREA, AUGUST 1 THRU 17

"We have a paved site, 30 amp, water, and sewer. We're looking for a Boomer to use the site in exchange for tending our garden and watching our house... The garden just needs watering and occasional picking of vegetables and berries. You can eat all you harvest."

We had been trying to figure out how/where to stay to explore Portland, and our plans for the rest of the summer were fuzzy - so we responded immediately. After an exchange of emails and phone calls, we thought this might be a good fit, so today we met these mystery Boomers, Richard and Marlene Dopp. Boomers who were at the Quartzsite 'rang this past winter probably will recognize them, and many of your names came up! We were surprised to find how many Boomer friends we have in common.

We were sold as soon as we saw the garden and our "site", but Marlene sealed the deal when she served us a fabulous homemade/homegrown lunch right out of the garden (plus a parcel of fresh vegetables to take home) - and Richard sent us home with a bottle of homemade wine! Food, wine, travel, campsites, airplanes (they have one in their hanger/garage, and fly it), RV's, gardening, golf... we talked for 4 hours (except while chewing) and are now on the schedule to return at the end of July for our caretaking job.

We are looking forward to it, but the best thing is that we have started a new friendship with two wonderful people.

When we talked with Richard to get directions to their property, he suggested we take a backroads loop that would take us across the Willamette River on a car ferry. He said that visitors go out of their way to take this ferry, so we decided to take his advice.

The drive took us through beautiful, hilly, farm country, past large "estate" homes with paddocks and stables, huge barns, and fields green with crops bordered by dark green fir trees.



Swoop left, swoop right, down a hairpin turn and there it was: a signal light, the deep blue river beyond, and the ferry on the other side. I took the photo of the ferry on the river by poking my head and camera out of our sunroof; this photo was taken looking through the windshield when we loaded.

The trip was a couple of minutes, very pleasant and unusual. We will have a good time exploring the area when we return in August. What fun.