Oh, by the way...

I mentioned in an earlier post that Red Ryder is too tall for Topper to sit in the bed without also lying on top of the cab.  This is not a good thing, because it rubs the paint off of Red Ryder's cab top and Topper's cabover bottom. 

I got on the RV forum online. The guys there always have a lot of opinions, and often a solution for the problems that we share when RVing. It turns out that I'm not the only one who has this problem with my Ford F350. 

The best solution was as follows: I got a piece of 4' X 8' X 2" dense foam insulation and put it under the camper. Voilà, problem solved. The advantages of this solution are as follows: 

1. Light 
2. Cheap
3. Easy
4. Quick

Thank you RV forum guys. You're the best!

The next installment...

The fishing trip happened. The fishing happened. The catching was the only thing missing. Well, in truth the biting was missing, too.  All of this might have been acceptable, were it not for the fact that I stood by the Alsea river (where we are camped) this afternoon and watched a couple of guys net about a 30# salmon.  So, wrong river, wrong day. What are you gonna do? At least the weather was gorgeous.

 

Today was not a total loss, though. I got to have a date with my honey.  We "did" Waldport, a cute little town on the shores of Alsea Bay.  There are a handful of fun little shops. Our favorite is the flea market which, true to its name, is a collection of interesting and possibly useful second hand items. 

My sweet bride found a copy of her favorite piano sheet music book. It is one that she already owns, except that her copy belonged to her mother and is suffering from being overloved through the decades. Translation? It's in tatters. She was thrilled to have a "new" copy.

I found one thing to buy and another that I am still thinking about. The item to buy is a new hat for my sweetheart. It is not like anything she has, nor would I expect her to pick it out for herself. But I fell in love with it the moment I laid eyes on it. See what you think.

 
The other thing I found was an Aladdin's Lamp. No, no, not the kind you rub, the kind that burns kerosene via a mantel. It is in good condition and priced about $100 below the cost of a comparable new one. Still, the price was enough to give me pause, since my plan for the lamp is to use it in the event of a power failure at home. That is not a regular occurrence, so...

After our exploration of downtown, we went to the Grand Central restaurant. It is a funky little place with a varied menu.  We wanted chowder, and Grand Central delivered a serviceable example. On the other hand, we have been trying to eat lighter of late, so we ordered a bento.  The two made a wonderful combination, which we shared and thoroughly enjoyed.

After lunch we crossed the Alsea Bay bridge and explored a housing development on the peninsula that forms the north side of the bay. The homes are modest, but the location is the kind for which people pay big bucks. Apparently the CCRs don't allow for any landscaping except with the use of native plants.  Mostly, the houses are surrounded with dune grass. We found it a little depressing, especially knowing what kind of money people must have paid for these lots. 

When we got back to our Topper, we took the girls for a walk/run on the wetland that is part of Chinook RV park. Lulu, especially, loved being off leash and scampering about at full tilt. On the way to the wetland, we spotted, perhaps, the largest toadstools that I have ever seen. Alice (in Wonderland) would be proud!


Tomorrow, alas, we must head for home. It has been a lovely visit, and we will return to Waldport some time in the future. You ought to put it on your list of places to visit.

We're at it again!

We had a wonderful worship service this morning at Grace Community Church.  Our new pastors are doing an amazing job of glorifying God in our Sunday services.

After church we went home, had a snack, and then we hit the road for Chinook RV Park in Waldport, OR. 

RV Park Reviews gives this place very high ratings, and so far, we are agreeing with the reviews.  Neal and Gillian, owner/operators are very personable and helpful.  The park is located on the Alsea river, and although the RV sites are not situated with a river view, a very short walk takes you to the river's edge and an open area where the dogs can run off leash.

The only downer today is that we had a mishap along the way.  It was a rookie mistake, really. Early in our drive down highways 223, 20, and 34, which by the way was gorgeous, we heard a clunk in the camper, as if something had fallen. I wasn't concerned, but I should have been. 

We quickly forgot about the clunk, but when we got parked and opened the door to Topper, we found a half gallon of milk, a jar of peanut butter, a jar of jam, and a jar of habanero pineapple salsa on the floor. The peanut butter and salsa were intact. The jam had leaked a little here and there (it obviously had rolled about on the floor). 

And then there was the milk. The unopened paper carton (1/2 gallon size) had split. Thank goodness, it landed with the split side up, so only about 2/3 of a 1/2 gallon (I make that 1/3 of a gallon) of milk had spilled out and run around the floor as the camper rocked and rolled along the road. The ENTIRE floor of the camper was covered with a thin layer of milk. Welcome to your mini vacation, Tom!

It turns out that I had failed to fully close the door of the fridge to the locked position, after putting the last few items in before we left home.  It didn't take too long to clean up. There is a lovely laundry at the park, where we washed the throw rugs. We thanked God that we have vinyl floors, instead of carpet, as we had in our motor home! So, now everything is back to normal.

Tomorrow, the old blogger is going to go salmon fishing with a couple of buddies, who happen to be in the area. It has been years, nay decades, since I fished for the wily Oncorhynchus. Wish me luck. Jill will be joining one of the wives for a day of shopping and lunching in Newport, one of our favorite towns.

Test Drive

We finally had time enough to put Topper on the new pickup, which we have dubbed Red Ryder.  Here are some photos:

 This was taken by Syd Dorn on the day we purchased Red Ryder

 Here is Topper aboard Red Ryder this morning.

When we took a test drive yesterday, I kept hearing a kind of creaking noise. I couldn't figure out what it was until this morning, when I removed Topper from the bed of the pickup.  It turns out, the roof of the pickup is higher than our previous pickup, so the camper was sitting directly on the roof.  Unfortunately, there are a few little spots where the paint got rubbed off the top of the truck.  I will get some touch up paint and take care of that. In the meantime, I am considering options for raising the camper up about an inch to provide clearance. 

Other than that little problem, I was very pleased with the way the package performs.  It hardly feels like there is a camper on the truck, when driving. I had none of the sense of being overloaded that I had with the Silverado. I think this will work just fine, once I solve the clearance problem. The obvious solution is to put something under the camper. What to use and how to secure it are the questions. My first thought was a sheet of plywood, but that would be rather heavy.  My second thought was to lay some 2X2s in the bed of the truck, but I am afraid the camper would slide on them. I may have to fasten 2X2s to the bottom of the camper.  I guess I will query the guys on the RV forum.  Come back. I will post the solution, when I figure it out!