ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS TO THE DRYER, HIGHER EASTERN SIDE.

We are settled in a cozy spot at Collier Memorial State Park, prepared for our first sub-freezing temperatures since last winter.  When we arrived this afternoon, it was sunshine and t-shirt weather - we set off on a riverside loop hike right away.  The color of the water in Spring Creek is just a warm up for what we will see at Crater Lake tomorrow.

This morning, I received a comment on a post on my other blog, We Called It Home, where I review campground/campsite.  This is part of what it said:

“By chance, can you recommend a web site or where I can obtain info on which roads are RV (37footer) friendly in Oregon? After driving around No. California's mountains and coastal area, I'm chicken to blindly head out off the interstate. Thank you again for your time.”

Our most-consulted route planning resource is the Mountain Directory West (there is also a Mountain Directory East, but most of our travel is in the west).  The online RV Bookstore (one source for these books; I’ve also seen them at Camping World) has a great description of these valuable books. 

Unless we are traveling a route known to us, we ALWAYS check the book for information on any passes we will encounter, and have occasionally changed our plans based on the description of the road and/or grade.  We learned this lesson the hard way, heading west out of Death Valley to Lone Pine during our first year of travel on a 95 degrees day, climbing and descending two steep, narrow, winding passes for which we were completely unprepared.

I consider these books a crucial part of an RV’ers library.  To get started, look up some of the roads and passes you have traveled and read the descriptions.  Find a couple you considered easy, and one or two you considered difficult or scary – that will give you a reference point for your planning.  Eight percent downhill grade for 4 miles with two lanes and 25 mile per hour turns?  We’ll try to avoid it.  Six percent uphill grade for 8 miles, with passing lanes?  No problem, unless it is going to be a hot day – so be ready for an early start. 

Mountain Directory West (or East): get it, and use it.

AUTUMN IN EUGENE

With shorter daylight hours and cold night temperatures, Eugene is wearing the fall color palette.

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We spent most of the day at Carrier & Sons RV Service Center on the north side of Eugene.  As I write, we are at Valley River Center (click here to read our review), dry camping in the back corner of the lot (with three other motor homes), testing our new AGM battery bank.  Yippee! 

With winter’s cold temperatures on the way, we had Carrier do the “annual” (ha – we’ve never had it done in seven years!) servicing of the furnace, and had the generator serviced.  Besides our four AGM “house” batteries, we replaced both of our 8 year old “chassis” batteries (the ones that start the engine). 

My very favorite repair: they adjusted the big living room slide so it doesn’t slide out QUITE as far.  Over the years, the slide has slid a fraction of an inch farther every year – I was beginning to think it would knock out the side wall one day.  It turned out to be a very minor adjustment that made me VERY happy!  We were impressed with the quality of the service we received at Carrier, and the attitude of everyone we dealt with there.  Based on our experience, we recommend them.

We’ll be here for two nights, making sure the batteries and generator are back to tip-top condition and making a run to Trader Joes to restock for our next stop: Crater Lake.  It looks like we will have a four day window of clear (though cool) weather. 

Our last visit there was 5 years ago, when we took a day trip in our Jeep from the SKP park at Sutherlin, Oregon, on I-5.  This time, we’re taking the motorhome to a state park not far from the lake – where overnight lows have been dropping below freezing and they’ve seen a dusting of snow.  Good reasons to have the pre-winter servicing done, I think.  :)

SPENDING LIKE DRUNKEN SAILORS IN EUGENE, OREGON

We arrived in Eugene yesterday for our 11 am appointment at Carrier & Sons to find and solve the problems we were experiencing with our 12 v. system.  While awaiting the news and still blissfully ignorant, we drove Jules over to take a look at a new campground on the north side of Eugene, Armitage County Park, run by Lane County (click here to read our review).  Green, spacious, quiet and conveniently located - we loved it! 

By noon, we got the word: our four 5-year old AGM “house” batteries were kaput.  Bad news!  We went into shock when we found out what AGM batteries cost these days - $100 more than when we purchased batteries 5 years ago, and we thought it was a lot back then!

Setting aside a decision on the purchase of new batteries, we drove Scoopy from the repair shop to the campground and checked in to a beautiful site for the next several days.  We set up our camp, boo-hoo’ed over the diagnosis of the battery problems, and went for a therapeutic walk.

Recovered from the big shock, we decided to go ahead with the purchase, along with two new “chassis” batteries (they start the engine and generator) to replace the 7 year old original equipment.  The onset of much cooler weather reminded us that we’ve never had our furnace serviced (since 2003), so decided to get that done, too!  Might as well take advantage of Oregon’s lack of sales taxes.

What we HAD intended to purchase in Eugene was a new laptop computer to replace our four year old machine that is experiencing screen problems.  Guess what?  None available.  The computer retailers have let their stocks run down to zilch while they await shipments of computers with the new Windows 7 operating system in 3 weeks.  We found exactly what we wanted at Best Buy, only to be told that there were ZERO in stock and no more on the way.  So why don’t they take them off the display?? Sheesh.

With the credit card warming up for the batteries, we got inspired to replace some of our tired old house wares: 7 year old bathmats, faded wash clothes and dish towels… we even bought Luna a vinyl placement to go under her food plate instead of the ugly old towel we’ve used until now (she doesn’t appear to appreciate the difference). 

We’ve decided to kick back here in Eugene for a least a week, hoping the weather at Crater Lake will improve (dry out and warm up) so we can head that direction.  We’ll get the new batteries installed on Wednesday, then move to our favorite Eugene dry camping site for a couple of days to give them a workout.  Tomorrow is one of my favorite Eugene events, the wonderful weekly Farmer’s Market.  Think sunshine!