A Little Bit Of This, A Little Bit Of That – Eugene, OR
Since we swept ourselves inland and off the coast several days ago we’ve had a busy time doing a little bit of everything. Whether it’s the shock of suddenly having over 40 different shopping options or simply being back in the buzz of “the city”, everytime we come here we seem to go crazy with activities and plans. Being a bustling RV center Eugene also inspires RV projects, which lead to more RV projects, that trigger yet another slew of potential RV projects…and finally end in the thought that if we only had unlimited time, unlimited muscle and a large barrel of cash we’d be SET. Alas (or perhaps rather thankfully) we’re only here for about a week which limits the amount of damage we can do, but does keep us rather busy….
We started our week at Cummins Northwest for our annual engine & chassis service. After our excellent experience in Idaho last year, we’ve decided to make this dealer part of our yearly stop. In Coberg (just north of Eugene) they have several overnight parking spots (electric/water) where service RVs can stay for free. It would actually be an ideal (and rather sneaky) boondocking spot if it didn’t also serve as the nightly Sysco truck depot providing the company of large and noisy diesel truckers…ALL night long. We may not have slept much, but the beast enjoyed herself and got an oil change, chassis lube, air filter change, hydraulic filter change, air dryer service and (even) an engine warranty service, all for a mere $800. It’s alot of moolah, but a happy and humming RV is…as they say…priceless.
After our internal cleansing we felt the beast needed outside beautification too, especially after 2 months on the salty coast, so we parked at our favorite Eugene park (Armitage County Park) and embarked on a major RV washing. By cunning plan our RV pals Alex & Ellen were also in town, so we enlisted their help in a communal RV bath and got not just one but BOTH rigs sparkling clean. A very crafty and productive effort, if I may say so myself.
At this point my inner RV monster was fired up to keep going so we took on several other long-pending RV projects including a complete macerator overhaul (if you don’t know what a macerator is, you don’t want to know…), removing and cleaning our roof Maxx Air Vents (which had transformed from clear plastic to a decorative black), changing out some internal drawer clasps, flushing out our grey tank (including a vinegar flush to sweep out some annoying calcium deposits) and doing a mini-wax with ProtectAll (part of our regular 1/2 yearly “easy” wax). We also got our ever-helpful pals from Elite Repair and Remodel out for a few items we couldn’t manage ourselves and even completed a rather exciting internet connectivity upgrade (but that story will have to wait until I can dedicate a full blog post to it).
Phew…..! And you probably thought we were just hanging out, eh?
Despite all this activity we’ve crammed in a bit of fun time too. Since we’ve been at the park we’ve met no less than 3 couples of blog readers. Brett and his partner Paul, both avid week-end RVers (and potentially future full-timers) hung out for an evening of chatting and wine. We stopped by to visit Susan and Dave, a couple with 2 lovely dogs on a year-long RV adventure who happened to be staying here to visit their son. And we bumped into our next-door (literally) neighbours also happen to be blog readers. Who knew that Eugene would be such a hot-spot of RV socialites all with such excellent blog-reading taste?
And then of course there’s everything we love about this town. Great bike riding, good hiking, good food, and fabulous farmers market. We’ve gorged ourselves on extra-tasty gluten-free Pizza, played by the river and even managed some golfing (well, Paul has anyway). September is blackberry month too so we’ve been walking and munching our way around the trails while we enjoy the warm weather and sunshine. We’ve got another 4 days or so here before we caravan off with our buddies to Crater Lake so we’ll be cramming in a few more RV projects, some outings and (who knows) maybe even a couple of extra social visits before we head on out. It’ll have been a busy week but we’ll have full bellies, happy souls, a spanking clean RV and be ripe and ready to get lost and dirty in the boonies. Perfect!
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It was wonderful to meet you Nina. Thanks for stopping buy. We stayed one night at Belknap Hot Springs, but it was way to busy and crowded for us. We moved to Holiday Farm RV Resort in Rainbow. Its great, more like a state park than a private park, nice space between sites, beautiful trees and greenery and full hook ups. We’ll be back in Eugene next week, its a great place to get things done! That being said, we need to get things “redone” at Freightliner, they did a bad job for us last week, so we need to resolve the problem when we get back. Save and fun travels to you all.
Great to meet you too! Sorry to hear about your poor experience at Freightliner. Sure hope they fix it properly for you! We’ll be here until Thurs morning so if you’re back in the park, come by and say “hi”.
Nina
Eugene is a lovely town. We were there for only a day and enjoyed it immensely.
I love when we clean the inside and outside. Makes me feel so clean.
Glad the beast got a good wash…inside and out!
For some reason the RV seems to run better everytime we clean it. I know it’s probably completely psychological, but it always feels like she’s “happier” 🙂
Nina
Marionberries! We discovered the cross between maybe a blackberry and a raspberry in Canby when visiting family a couple years ago. If you get a chance to pick up fresh from the local farm, I know you will be pleased. Enjoy Oregon …it’s a beautiful state and has everything from beaches to mountains to desert to forests.
Oh yes, yum! Marionberries. Discovered them on the coast this summer and totally loved them!
Nina
I believe the funny and hospitable Donna and Russ are in Eugene, and they are members of the Boondockers Welcome club.
Yup, we met them last time we were in town (2 months ago) and sent them a note to see how their schedule is this week. Poor folks just had a bit of a scare on the road last week.
Nina
Nina and Paul….really enjoyed meeting you and getting some full-timer inspiration! Thanks for hosting!
Great to meet you guys too! Hope to see you down the road again!
Nina
I’m looking forward all ready to the internet connectivity blog post!! Once when traveling the Washington coast in Sept. I made one blackberry cobbler after another.
Yum, blackberry cobbler! It’s amazing how many blackberries there are around here. And I can never seem to get enough. Love those things!
Nina
Amazing how once those RV projects get started, they keep multiplying isn’t it? Great post. . .
Hubby wants to know how many miles a year you put on the rig between oild changes and such. . .we are looking to upgrade to a MH at some point. . .trying to work out what additional maintenance costs might be.
Enjoy your free time. . .I’m sure you guys have another gig lined up down the road. . .and I too am looking forward to the internet connectivity upgrade info. . .
Janice
ReadyToGoFullTimeRVing.blogspot.com
Hi Janice,
Last couple of years we’ve put about 8,000 miles/year on the rig. This year is going to be alot less (maybe half). We’ve been changing the oil every year so far, but may not need to next year on the same schedule. We’ll see. There are oil analysis kits you can buy to help make the decision. For example from these guys:
http://www.jglubricantservices.com/
Just bought a kit from them myself for our transmission oil and will be writing up our experience soon.
Nina
Hi Nina,
I was just reading your post about heading to Crater Lake. We are heading up to Diamond Lake on the 15th and staying a week. Where are you staying while you up there?
We are meeting our friends there, the same ones we were with when we met you guys in Ashland.
Maybe we will see you guys up there.
I enjoy reading all your posts.
Take care,
Linda
Hi Linda,
Oh how fun!!! W’re planning to stay at Diamond Lake NFS (forest service) campground, assumuing we can get in. We’ll be arriving on Thurs and likely staying 2 weeks or so. DEFINITELY come by and see us!!!
Nina
We will be sure to try and get together while we are there!!! We are staying at Diamond Lake RV park.
Hope to see you soon,
Linda
Oh darn! We’re going to miss you, just barely! We will be in Eugene at the Armitage campground on Friday. Sounds like you’ll be gone by then. Hope to meet you both eventually! We love your blog. –Mike and Linda (and Lucy)
Oh total bummer. We will miss you by a day! Enjoy your time here. Lots of blackberries and temps are perfect right now.
Nina
We will be heading to Eugene to meet up with the Elite Repair guys to consult with our hydraulic issues. We will mention you as our referrals.
Also if you are in Diamond Lake, the bike path around the lake is quite awesome. And if you guys feel adventurous, the bike around Crater Like is challenging but doable in 4 hours. I was Steve’s support gal when he did it. Have fun, Crater Lake and Diamond Lake are both a beauty.
Oh awesome! Thanks for the tips on the rides too!
Nina