Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Port Orford

Odometer 35040 miles
Trip 148 miles



We like Prineville and the central part of Oregon a lot, so we had to convince ourselves that we would come back soon, in order to get motivated enough to get on the road this morning. 

We were thrilled to see the Cascade Range again and Joan snapped this windshield photo of the Three Sisters.
It was our normal late morning start, which meant by the time we got to Sisters on highway 20 we were getting hungry for lunch.  We pulled over at a McDonalds and had our favorite road food, their Southwest Salad with crispy chicken strips.

Hwy 22 splits off from 20 at the Santiam Junction west of Sisters and heads down to Salem.

As we approached Detroit Lake the vegetation became very dense on both sides of the road- we were on high alert for deer, but luckily saw none.

Detroit Lake is actually a man-made reservoir that generates hydroelectric power, and provides a fantastic playground for Salemites.  These vistas brought back a lot of good memories that date back to the late 70's when we lived and worked in Salem, and we hung out here whenever we could get away from work and other obligations.


Ah!  There's nothing like a great place to mooch-dock!  My brother Thane and his wife Kathy always have the driveway cleared for us to stay a few nights when we hit Salem.  Joan and I got a chance to see most of the family again after 7 months on the road.  First on the list was my 92 year old mother who lives in a retirement community near Thane and Kathy.  Mom is not what you'd call aging gracefully, but she is in relatively good health, and humor.

We really wnated to see our new grand nephew, born to our niece and her husband.  Karon and Todd now have a very precocious 2 year old daughter, Kylie and a 4 month old son Tayvin born while we were in Mississippi last winter.  Everyone thinks their daughter is gifted, but Todd and Karon may have more reason than most to think that.  Kylie is a very bright and intelligent 2 year old who can hold a running conversation with the adults.  She is sunny and impish with a quick and hearty laugh.

Sunday June 3rd
On our way down the Interstate 5 to Southern Oregon, we were detoured to niece Adrienne and husband Reuben's house in Albany to be part of the build team for their online order patio cover.

Joan and I had a great time with the project.  I especially like that it came with no instructions!  Real men can relate to this- a perfect project- as we would not have referred to them anyway!

By mid afternoon we had the cover erected and Reuben was busy cooking ribs on the BBQ grill.  We had such a good time that we stayed one more night at Thane and Kathy's before heading out on Monday for Southern Oregon.

Monday June 3rd

We got on the road by 9:30 and headed south on I-5 (again) from Salem.  By the time we got to Sutherlin we were hungry so we pulled off and parked in the street across from Burger King.  We cheated and ran across the street for two Whopper Juniors ($1.29 each) and took them to the MH and fixed lunch around our entree.

As we were talking over lunch we both admitted to the other that we really wanted to go directly to Port Orford before getting to Medford.  We want to have a homeport there on Garrison Lake if at all possible, and want to get the hunt started earlier this time than we did last summer.



We arrived in Port Orford at a little after 3PM and checked into the Port Orford Village RV park (a Passport America park!) and the owners Cindy and Tim made us feel at home right away.  4PM is Social Hour here and I was set-up and ready for some intoxicating beverage, so I strolled down to the clubhouse with my cool beverage, while Joan took a nap.  The thing about RV parks is that you are never a stranger, and this was no exception.  Within a few minutes I had met Lynn and Bill- homeport Pahrump, Gene and Claudia- Oregonians, and George and Juanita- our neighbors and long time fulltimers.  As I was relating my new found friends to Joan, she remarked "do George and Juanita have a beagle named Abby?"  I was astonished and told her - yes!  Joan said she'd been reading their blog Seeing the USA in our Chevrolet, for some time now.

Tuesday June 4th

Our favorite realtor, Marilyn Overbeck of Sixes River Land Company, was ready to show us property, so we met at her office at 9AM and she toured us through 5 properties all on Garrison Lake.


After the touring the 2nd property it was nearing noon, so Marilyn took us to Griff's On The Dock, a local seafood restaurant, where we all enjoyed a delicious lunch.  Our first choice was Crazy Norwegians, also a great seafood eatery of local renoun, but they are not on their summer schedule yet and they were closed today.

Of the properties we saw, two are real contenders for our future homeport.




We will go home tonight and do some serious talking to see if one will draw an offer from us to buy.



Your Traveling Friends

Joan and Jeff

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