Are We CRAZY??

Lee has been asking to stop at RV dealerships since Montana, and in Oregon I finally relented. I couldn't come up with any more believable excuses. So what happened next?? We traded in the 2007 Winnebago for a 2011 Newmar!  I'm not kidding. Are we wild and crazy, or what??

I shall attempt to explain this. We have had the Winnebago for a year now, and we have discovered all the things we like and don't like about it. Our primary concern is the safety and comfort of the birds. The newer models are quieter, more energy-efficient, and have more effective temperature controls (air conditioning and heating). We also now have a residential refrigerator, the kind people have in their homes. The 2007 Winnebago has a Norcold fridge, made specifically for RVs. Unfortunately, the Norcold refrigerators have a tendency to catch on fire and are sometimes known to destroy motor homes.

We could have purchased a new refrigerator, which would have been cheaper.  But the improvements in the newer models seemed worthwhile. So, here we are.

I have a photo of the outside of the RV, but photos of the inside will come later.  It's too messy at the moment - we are still organizing and finding the right cubby holes for everything.

We have spent the last week in a small town called Junction City, which is located half way between Corvallis and Eugene.  Junction City is all about motor homes. Two RV manufacturers were located here - Monaco and Country Coaches. The RV dealer was the largest in the nation, with 7 locations.  Both Monaco and Country Coaches have gone out of business in the last few years due to the recession, and the town has visibly suffered because of it. The RV dealership seems to be the largest employer remaining. It seems to be doing a good business, but the sales rep we worked with indicated they sold many more coaches a few years ago, "in their heyday", as he said.  The dealer has gone from 7 locations to 2.  At its peak,  the RV industry employed 4500 people in this region, and now employs 800.  Times have changed.  It makes me realize how fortunate Lee and I are to be able to make this trip.

Lee and I discovered another industry here.  It took us awhile to figure it out.  The valley is full of fields of rich, green grass.  It turns out this part of Oregon provides 80% of the rye grass seed used in American lawns.  Who'd a thought?   It never occurred to me the grass seed had to come from somewhere!
 

 

This whole unanticipated episode has delayed our trip, and we are behind schedule once again.  I had hope to spend 5 days in Coos Bay and another 5 days in Ashland, but it's not going to happen.   We plan to be in Petaluma, where my sister lives, for Thanksgiving.