August 30, 2015 Eugene, Oregon

Sunday we awoke to clouds and rain. 70’s.

A mural in Springfield, Oregon. I am going to recover the valances in the coach. Trying to decide which fabric to use.

We passed a number of covered bridges on our way to go hiking, in the rain. Scott standing at the trail head for All Creek Trail.

 

Rhody, Scott, Leslie and John hiking in the lush landscape. It is so green and beautiful. The area is in many years of of drought and the fire danger is extreme. Hard to believe in all this wet greenery.

Lunch by the creek.  A small fall across the creek through moss and foliage already turning fall colors.

 

Wet ferns, oxalis, a snail and a maiden hair fern. Sunday night more coaches arrived for service at Oregon Motor coach. The white and green coach belong to a couple who have lived in their coach full time for the last 17 years since they bought it new. The watched it build 17 years ago. The other coaches are much newer, long 45 feet coaches. The bottom photo shows how moderate our coach is at 36 feet long next to a fancy 45 foot coach.

August 28, 2015 Eugene, Oregon

We made it to Eugene and are now staying in the coach!! Woo Hoo!! Of course the coast has been clear and sunny for most of the summer. Today it started being rainy and cloudy.

 

Beautiful pines outside of Bend, Oregon. On the way we stopped at Belnap hot springs for a soak. Lovely place. There is also a lodge and camping. It would be fun to stay here with the bus for a few days sometime.

Home Sweet Home. They are not totally done with the bus yet, but very close. We can stay in it while they finish the work, we just have to be out by 730 am on the days they work on it.  Feels wonderful to be home. Before and after photos. The top is before. Below is as it is now. Love the flooring, it will be much easier to clean. In the before the couch is sun faded and yellowed in irregular patches. We had it recovered. The original tube TV was removed and a flat screen was kind of bungee corded into it’s place. It was still in the old cabinet that you smacked your head on when you come in the door and it wobbled when you drove. The new one is built securely into a much smaller cabinet and no longer a head banger.

Before there were mirrors on the far walls and around the stove and bathroom. They are now replaced with wood on the walls and there will be tiles around the stove and bathroom sink. They will put them in next week.  The front had a protective coating applied. It had aged and cracked, it is now gone. We had wanted to have some of this done to the previous bus, but hadn’t got around to it yet. This one we are doing now all at once so we don’t have  to make multiple trips back for it.

  

We visited our friends Scott and Leslie when we got here. Scott is building Leslie a massage studio behind their house. She is a massage therapist but she rents an office. He has been working all day getting the roof on.  The last step was getting the felt put on to water proof it. It is of course supposed to rain this weekend. John jumped in to help. They finished sometime after dark. Leslie and I sat in the garden and supervised.

August 26-27, 2015 Bend, Oregon

Today we drove from Twin Falls, Idaho about 500 miles to Bend, Ore. on our way to pick up our motor home.  Not many towns or motels in western Oregon. Very rural.

We stopped at Malad River Gorge outside of Hagerman, Idaho. Looking up the into the narrow gorge from the bridge and then down river at a little wider gorge. It is 250 feet deep.

Looking up canyon from farther down the canyon at the bridge near the top with a couple people on it and the 60 foot falls and Devil’s punchbowl at the bottom. And from the bridge looking down at the waterfall into the Devils washbowl. Very pretty. The Malad river runs into the Snake river.

Coming across western Oregon there are almost no towns much less motels. In Vale, Oregon we found the Bates Motel. Does not look like the one from the movie Psycho. We pressed on to Bend where we had a better selection. The smoke in the sky is making shadows and rays under the clouds.

 

Lots of farming along the way. We saw this fire start up from a small smoke plume to huge blow. It is creating it’s own weather, it has a cumulonimbus cloud over it.   

Sun behind smoke in the sky. Closer to Bend the visibility went way down.

   

The view of the Dechutes river from the front of the motel we are at in Bend, Oregon. On Thursday we got together with our friends Rob’t and Diana Heynen. We met them in the North Cascades in Washington two years ago. They were traveling in a travel trailer then. They have since sold their house in Austin, Tx and bought a motor home and are full timing in their RV. Here is John and Rob’t hiking on the trail along the Deschutes river. The trail and the river run all the way through town.

View of the Deschutes river from the trail. John, Rob’t and Diana along the trail.

Beside the love hiking we share we also share a love of visiting craft breweries around the country. After our hike they took us to the Crux brewery, then we had dinner at the Deschutes Brewery. Diana, Rob’t and John at Deschutes. It was great to catch up with them today.

 

We saw this Barbieausus Rex in a window downtown. Sunset from downtown river walk in Bend this evening.

Almost full moon rising tonight.

August 25, 2015 Twin Falls, Idaho

Today we went from Vernal, Utah to Twin Falls, Idaho on our way to pick up our coach. We got a call today from the people working on the bus, the tiles that are replacing the mirrors around the stove and sink in the kitchen did not get ordered, they ordered them and they will be in Fri, so the bus will not be ready till next week. They had said it would be ready Fri. Of course they have been saying that the last couple weeks. But we can stay in the coach over the weekend (no extra charge) plugged into their hook ups. We just have to be gone during the day when they work on Monday. We can come back and stay in the evenings. This seems to be pretty normal getting work, even routine maintenance done, it always takes longer than they say. Parts are back ordered etc. We have camped many times in the parking lots of repair places. Oregon Motor coach is the only place we have had work done that was done right the first time and we did not have redone somewhere else. Plus last time it was cheaper than we had anticipated. We are  pretty excited to just be back in our home.  Even in the parking lot. 

Utah to  Idaho. Before we left Utah we passed the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area.  Very pretty spot. You can see that it is still a little hazy from the fires in Oregon and Washington.

 

Right before the Wyoming border we ran into a cow jam. Cowboys herding cattle down the highway and traffic is stopped. You know you are in the west when there are cow jams.

 

The entire tiny town of Carter, Wyoming.  We stopped at Fossil Butte National Monument in Wyoming. There was no charge, so I did not get to use my new senior card.

 

The area was 3 lakes during prehistoric times. Very wet and lush, lots of wild life. It has the most perfectly formed fossils of a lake area in the world. Fabulous displays in the visitors center. It is also the park services 99th birthday today.

Fossils of the many plants and animals were on display. A road scene farther into Wyoming.  

 

A couple road scenes and cool clouds in Idaho. We passed lots and lots of beautiful fields of  hay or grain, I am not sure which.

 

We had planned on staying in Lava Hot Springs, Idaho. But when we got there it was 100 degrees and the main pool of the hot springs was drained. So we forged on  a couple more hours and stopped in Twin Falls, Idaho. Got in late and are tired. Shoshone Falls of the Snake river is in downtown Twin Falls. They are working on the dams, so there is only one fall on top now. There is a lower falls, but you had to pay to go to the view point. You can kind of see the top of the lower falls. John says they are spectacular in the spring with more water.

 

The Snake river runs through town in this cool deep canyon in lava rock.