2017 Trip – Blog #11 – Rainy days then Sunny and Nice!

     

Thursday, June 15th, 2017…..     Little bit of rain last night but just drizzles today. Watching the weather we can see it’s a whole lot cooler here than SoCal! Today was the water test day at the house. But when I called them yesterday to check on the time window they told me the homeowner had originally scheduled it for Friday.  No problem since we don’t need to be there for the 4 hour flow test but we did learn that they came out on Monday and have already taken water samples for that part of the test.  We’ll get both of the results in a few days. So that said, we had no place to go today so we hung around the coach. I paid for the next week’s camping and we just vegged out for the day. Around 5:00pm we drove the ½ mile into town. We wanted to try the other eating establishment in Coburg - Bronco Saloon - for dinner.  Nice place. Lydia had a wedge salad w/chicken and I tried their bbg wings. We both thought it was just ok. But the beer was nice and cold! Then it was back to the rig and tv.

Friday, June 16th, 2017…..   We slept in this morning and around 11:00am or so took off to Corvallis to go shopping.  Lydia wanted to check out the Dress Barn there plus we had to go to Albany anyway to pick up some prelim. title docs.  She found some things just for the wedding and then bought some more just for the trip!  I still need a dress shirt and pants but we have plenty of time. We went to Taco Bell for lunch, picked up the docs, and then stopped at Coastal Farm & Ranch on the way out of town to check out what they have for in the future. Nice store. We drove back home and rested for awhile.  Neither of us were hungry for dinner so we snacked a bit and then walked the park again.  It’s Friday so there are rigs coming in for the weekend. It’s always fun to see where they’re from and talk with folks a bit while we’re out. 

Saturday, June 17th, 2017…..  The rain left us yesterday.  We’re supposed to see sunny skies for the next week or so.  Should get up in the mid 80’s which we hear is a hot summer up here! (sorry SoCal!).  We ate breakfast in and hung around for a while and then walked to town.  It’s probably a mile total there and back so it was a nice walk.  Coburg is an historical town with no major amenities.  It’s mainly a one street town. There are three places to eat, a nursery, a flower shop, and a Dari Mart (like a larger 7/11). Mostly they are known for their antique shops (probably 6-7).  We walked through a couple of shops and then went to Dari Mart for water, and then walked home.  Later, we went south into Eugene (maybe 4 miles) to Newman’s Seafood. We were there back in Sept. and really enjoyed it.  We’ve now been to four seafood places in the area and Newman’s is our favorite.  This one is a small place where you order from a counter and the tables are outside under a patio. There’s another one downtown that we will go find later while we are here.  We stopped at Safeway on the way back and got a package of chicken for meals for next week.  When we got back to the rig our neighbor was out. I spoke to him a bit.  He’s still waiting for a space to open in a mobile home park down the road.  I told him about our home to be and he agrees that we’re crazy to have that much land!  He and his wife are in their mid 80’s and he says he doesn’t want to look at another lawn again!  Our plans tonight are to take another walk and then maybe sit out a while.   

2017 Trip – Blog #10 – Inspections Start

                                        

Tuesday, June 13th, 2017…..   Today the inspections start at the house.  Up today was the septic system.  We drove up and met with Lisette the inspector.  She gave me a lot of very helpful information about these systems including how it works and more importantly how to maintain it.  We have a pump that comes on whenever the level gets to 2/3 full.  It pumps waste out to the drainfield (which is waaay out to the right of the acreage!).  The owner (Walter) has never had any issues but the inspection showed a few items he needs to repair. But mostly good news. The other good news is that we also heard from Aimee that Walt said he now expects to be in his new house sooner so we can hope that happens and we can get in sooner. We left there and went into town and found a trial place for Lydia to get her nails done.  I have done both manis and pedis many times and love them. So I joined her and opted for the pedicure. She will try other places in Lebanon before she chooses one but she liked this one (I did too!).  We stopped at TacoTime for a quick lunch then made another stop at Walmart for water and toothpaste and then headed home for a few hours rest before making grilled ham and cheese sandwiches for dinner.

Wednesday, June 14th, 2017…..  Nothing on the calendar today but we did get some things set for the kids wedding in Vegas next month. Plus we’re still working on an insurance rider for the new home. Still waiting for quotes. We headed out later in the morning and hit the stores and did some looking around for dress clothes for the Vegas trip (since we didn’t pack anything suited for a wedding). We also need at least one suitcase as ours are stored away. We will continue looking as we get closer. Afterward, we went to the show.  We had gone to the Eugene Cinemark a week or so ago (and saw Pirates of the Caribbean) and both of us were VERY impressed with their reserved theater seating.  Now we realize that these places are also in SoCal, but the prices have always seemed too high so we’d never been.  Seats up here are $5.25.  You see a screen at the box office window and choose your seats.  Here’s what they look like:

Really comfortable even for my long legs!  This time we saw Guardians of the Galaxy which we both liked. Afterward, we went back home and each of us fixed our own dinners: Lydia had leftover steak and potatoes and I fixed tortellini and pasta sauce. Afterward, we took another walk around the campground and then came back and watched tv for a while and then called it a night. 

2017 Trip – Blog #9 – Just Killin’ Time

      

Saturday, June 10th, 2017…..  It has been raining here the last few days - intermittent and not hard but since we have been traveling the 30 miles from Eugene to Albany/Lebanon on the Interstate every few days it is enough to go buy wiper blades for the Honda.  Today we had time to put them on. No plans today so we did a deep clean on the inside of the coach then relaxed for the rest of the day. We did leave for a quick trip down the street to Chiefs for another bbq linner.

    

Sunday, June 11th, 2017…..   Today was laundry day. Plus we had been knocking out the leftovers in the fridge so it was time to stock up on groceries again.  After getting the clothes back in the rig we headed off to Fred Meyer and bought stuff for the next week. If you haven’t seen one, Fred Meyer is a combo of a giant supermarket and a Target store. This one even had a beer and wine bar!

We unloaded all of the groceries and Lydia started dinner (yes, I did help!).  She fixed steak and potatoes and a veggie.  Very good.  After dinner I caught up on my races and Lydia watched her programs and after a walk around the campground we called it a night.      

Monday, June 12th, 2017…..   We have nothing to do again today so we set out to explore Crater Lake.  It’s about 145 miles from our campground but we have all day. We ate a lite breakfast and then stopped for coffee and tea at Starbucks and then headed out.  The drive was beautiful. We got into the park (used our Golden Access Passports so it was free!) and stopped at the visitor center to watch a 22 minute video.  

What we didn’t predict was the weather!  We first saw the snow in little bunches but as we got into the park it was all over!  

It snowed on us while we were there but didn’t stick.  BUT – when we drove the short distance up to the rim we were fogged out!  Couldn’t see 30 feet. 

That shot with the sign should be showing the lake in the background! Oh well – I guess we have something to look forward to the next time! We drove another route back and since we didn't have lunch we stopped at Elmer’s for linner and then came home to rest from the long drive.  

2017 Trip – Blog #8 – Hanging Around

             

Wednesday, June 7th, 2017…..  Happy Birthday Lydia! We called to speak with Randy this morning.  He is battling with an ulcer so we wanted to offer some advice when Lydia had hers. The rest of the day was just spent lounging around and cleaning up the rig a bit.  We decided to go to McGrath’s for seafood for Lydia’s b-day.  It was a bit pricey but we used our gift card from the Lydia’s ‘lunch ladies’ (thanks ladies!).  The meal was very good. We’ll go back again.  

Thursday, June 8th, 2017…..  We woke up this morning with several texts from Maryanne. Late last night/early this morning she took Randy to the ER after he was up all night in pain.  They ran some tests and after many hours sent him home with an appointment to a GI specialist on Monday. We will be keeping in close contact with her as he progresses.

Today was meeting day with the property owner.  He asked to meet with us to answer our questions plus give us info on the house, his future plans, and timelines.  He is a very nice gentleman, 86 years old (but you wouldn’t guess that).  He gave us a ton of info on history, amenities, neighborhood, and property maintenance. We walked the house and then drove the property (7.8 acres). We got the grand tour plus. He and his fiancé (yep!) are waiting for their new house (in Redmond) to be finished. He’s downsizing so he may leave some items for us (which is ok and something we wanted to do to help him out). He’s hoping to get some pressure on the builders to get that house done asap but he can only wait. Us too!

  

We checked in with Maryanne on the way back. Randy is doing much better this afternoon. We got home and Lydia fixed tacos for dinner and we caught up on some more shows before going to bed.

Friday, June 9th, 2017…..  This morning, after breakfast we set out on a couple of errands. We have two of our four vehicles coming due for registration at the end of this month and the beginning of July so we wanted to stop by the DMV to see if there was anything we could do.  We have no ‘official’ permanent address but since we know what it will be, we wanted to check it out. Turns out that won’t really help.  Can’t register vehicles without residency. We need proof of address to get our OR driver’s licenses but nothing can be in our name until escrow closes. I suppose we could get a po box with an address like our friends in the campground did but then we would have to go back and have it all changed again in 40 days.  I won’t be able to register those vehicles here in July if they are not current in CA so I will have to get those taken care of beforehand. Bummer, but at least when everything is done the fees are every two years so that’s cool!       

We also stopped at Xfinity/Comcast to see about internet service.  They are like any other service – they want to bundle you with internet, home phone and tv.  We don’t need a landline but it’s free for a year and then $10.-15. a month after so we may do that.  There are other companies here we can go with so we still have to find out more about them.  The homeowner is currently with Century Link but our Aimee told us she recently went with Comcast to get faster internet.  Again, more choices to make but heck, we still have time to check everything out!

2017 Trip – Blog #7 – Getting Things Done

    

Sunday, June 4th, 2017…..  Today we slept in, and then headed out to Albany and Lebanon and Foster Lake to check out campgrounds to possibly relocate to.  Knox Butte RV Resort and Blue Ox RV Park in Albany were possibilities but neither have room for us without relocating sites or having to leave altogether and then come back.  We then went to town (Albany) to Elmer’s for breakfast and then drove to Lebanon. We cruised by the house (yeah, it’s still there!) and then drove around the area.  This place is smaller than we thought but still good size for us.  Population is around 17,000.  To the north is the er/hospital (voted excellence in urgent care and staff). Continuing south, you then you go through old town.  They have divided the streets into one-ways through this section.  Leaving that area, you come to the newer developed section, where you find newer housing tracts (ours is out this way), Safeway, Walmart, Walgreens, etc.  No Home Depot or Lowes (bummer) but they have a good sized lumber store and two Ace Hardware’s. HD & Lowes are both in Albany. We drove around a bit and found other places to explore in the future! They have an Elks Lodge (I am a 13 yr Elk member) so I can transfer to this lodge in the future. We drove out to Foster Lake RV Park (office was closed) and then to Mallard Creek Golf and RV Resort.  This one is the closest but office was closed (it’s Sunday).  We’ll check it out and decide if and where we want to move.

We drove back to the rig and rested for the day.  Later, we ate leftover Chinese for dinner and after that I took a walk around the campground and then we settled in for the evening.    

Monday, June 5th, 2017…..   This morning we had nothing planned, so we stayed in bed and watched some taped shows. During this time, I went online and booked our flights/car for Jeff & Krista’s wedding in Vegas next month, so that’s done! Lydia fixed breakfast and then we took off for a few errands.  After going to the Lowes in west Eugene, we decided to just keep going west and drove the 50 mile scenic drive to Florence. Our plan was to have linner and then drive back. We saw a sign for Moe’s who claimed to have award winning clam chowder so we found it and parked.  It’s right on the Siuslaw River with a great view as the river runs into the ocean. The chowder was a 7 on a scale of 1-10 but the salmon (Lydia) and the combo plate (Terry) were both pretty good and the prices were fair.  Afterward, we walked through some of the gift shops a bit and saw things we might decorate with in the future.  They also told us about another seafood place that was a favorite of the locals. We drove up and down the coast and checked things out for our next visit. We came back to the rig and rested.

Tuesday, June 6th, 2017…..  We figure we have 40+ days left before was can get busy with things so we have to take it easy and just do bits and pieces each day. We gave the kids our mattress before we left so we want to check out the places here.  We looked up some of the stores and after breakfast we went to see what we could find. Eugene has all of the big box stores and will be 40 miles from our home. But Salem and Albany have them as well and are closer. We found one store that had a 4^th of July sale but their Memorial Day sale was way better.  I talked them into giving us that discount so we saved almost $700 bucks! We chose a memory foam Serta Beauty Rest in a split cal king with an adjustable base.  It will allow Lydia to sit up and watch TV plus elevate her feet, and that’s important, so we didn’t skimp on this one – it should be our forever bed! We stopped again at Lowes and I bought some stainless screws to replace some on the rig that were old. We went back home and Lydia fixed dinner and we settled in to wait to watch America’s Got Talent and World of Dance.  I didn’t mention it before but since we are farther north the sun sets later in the evening.  It’s still light out at 9:00pm!  It will take some getting used to!

2017 Trip – Blog #6 – The Decision…

              

Saturday, June 3rd, 2017…..  Since we arrived here over a week ago, we hit the ground running, looking at houses each and every day.  Prior to even heading north, we had spent many, many hours on the realtor sites and we were receiving new listings each day.  We knew pretty much what would work for us and what wouldn’t so we were pretty picky when we saw a listing.  Only those that fit our criteria were the ones we gave a second look at.  We drove by all of these properties and checked out the surrounding areas and neighborhoods.  We looked at places in a 75 mile radius of Eugene.  Many homes were way out there and didn’t work for us.  After all of this we narrowed it down to two homes.  Ok – suspense over – we made an offer on the Lebanon property and it was accepted! I have included the realtor link here 

 https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwi5qLvfpaLUAhUB6WMKHW3pCcwQFgg5MAM&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.trulia.com%2Fproperty%2F3269925577-58-Oak-Creek-Way-Lebanon-OR-97355&usg=AFQjCNGOns4fFfkIYB0e_Dej3Q7BvLkTSQ&sig2=99eNH6aV91hk8hExUTukOw

but if it doesn’t open for you, here is a picture. Or you can go to Trulia and load in 58 Oak Creek Way 

The house was built in 2002 and is well constructed and is 3 bedroom 2 ½ bath plus an office, 2,441 sq ft. and is on 7 acres.  The acreage was an issue but we think we may be able to sell off a parcel in the future.  But either way it is flat land and mowable. It’s in a cul de sac and has nice homes around it. We know there is work to do but we expected that on everything we have seen to date.  This is the right home for us.  We paid less than asking so that’s a bonus.  We are so happy!  Escrow started yesterday but the owner (in his 80s) is still looking for a new home with his girlfriend so he’s asked for a 45 day escrow and we agreed. If he gets a place it may be sooner which would be nice. That puts us in around the middle of July. We plan to relocate the motorhome to an rv park closer to Lebanon.  For those of you not looking at a map, Lebanon is about 30 miles north of Eugene, 7 miles west of Albany, and 12 miles south of Salem.  The town is really nice and has hospital/medical, shopping, and entertainment. Bigger cities are easy to get to if needed. So, that said, we are working on the rest of the details. Our pods can be moved to Albany so they’re ready when needed so that’s to be done. Bunch of other stuff to do as well so we’ll be busy working on all of that. Also, got to go lawnmower shopping soon!

The rest of the day was spent just goofing around.  But first we called the kids and sent them the link to the home.  They all commented that we now need a tractor! After that, we went to Camping World, Homegoods, and Jerry’s Home Improvement and bought stuff for the rig.  Then we went back to Coburg Pizza for takeout.  We really love their pizza plus we had a scratch off that got us a free dessert pizza.  We chose apple cinnamon which was the best!  Each of us caught up on some of our taped programs and then we went to bed. Personally, it took me a while to fall asleep. I know my mind was thinking about the future - both Jeff and Krista’s wedding and getting things ready for the move in.    

2017 Trip – Blog #5 – More Houses!

                

Note:  I heard some folks were trying to make comments on the posts but were having trouble, so I went in and changed the settings. I think I fixed the problem so now you should be able to make comments if you wish.

Wednesday, May 31th, 2017…..  We slept in this morning and had breakfast in. We cleaned up the coach a bit and then drove north to meet with Aimee at the Oak Creek property in Lebanon.  The house was really nice!  Just what we were looking for. We spent extra time there really looking hard as this is a contender! They had an HOA and CC&Rs back in 2002 when the tract property was developed and the 5-6 homes were built. Aimee spoke with a couple of the neighbors and found out that the regs are no longer enforced.  There is no longer an association or board members or fees.  So that’s in our favor. We talked about it all the way home so we are definitely interested.  Later, Mary called and we firmed up our appointment for tomorrow for the Leaburg home. She also gave us a new listing in Harrisburg that we will drive by tomorrow morning and let her know our interest.    

Thursday, June 1st, 2017…..   We showered and prepped for the day and then drove out to Harrisburg to have breakfast at Molly’s Diner.  We drove by the newest listing (no interest) and headed to meet with Mary and drive out to Leaburg.  Now this home is nice!  Really cared for.  No RV garage but hookups for RV parking. The owner is an older gentleman who will soon be moving in with his daughter. They had tried selling before but had the house priced too high. Mary will be giving feedback and then will be getting a list price shortly but we think it will still be too high considering all factors.

Ok, she came back with a quesstimate price so we now have two contenders! 

After the Leaburg tour we headed home and wrote down the pros and cons of both places.  

Food for thought:  Leaburg is more remote and that’s a big factor.  We drove back to Thurston, and ‘civilization’, which is 15.1 miles.  We still have to check out the local medical facilities but at least we have the area figured out.  The Lebanon property is country living but is 1.2 miles from town and about 4 miles from local medical.  The Leaburg house is larger and has larger rooms and a huge kitchen but that will need work.  It has rv parking but I do not like it.  The driveway flares out in the backyard so there is room but the whole thing is on a side slope, more than is comfortable for rv’s.  There are two hookup locations, one with 50amp, and one with 30amp, and sewer cleanouts.  The Lebanon place has smaller rooms and a nice looking kitchen but Lydia says it needs work as well. There is good flat rv parking but no hookups that I could see. But the garage/workshop has plenty of power and there is a sewer cleanout. Neither homes have an rv garage but both have room to build them. There are more things to consider:  Leaburg has 120 trees kind of in a circle around the back of the property.  Lots of privacy and nice but a lot of maintenance.  It is also a more manicured lawn and flowerbeds.  Also more maintenance. Lebanon has nice curb appeal but has been set up as a minimalistic landscape – only a few trees and flowerbeds but they will need some tlc. Both are large properties so the upkeep is mixed. There are more things to consider when looking at these two properties so we have some thinking to do.      

We left again and drove to Albany and to meet with Aimee.  Afterward, we found Los Dos Amigos and had a nice meal and drove home, still talking about everything we have seen this past week.

 

Friday, June 2nd, 2017….. Lydia had a tough night and was up with acid reflux so today she will likely sleep while I drive.  We have to go to the bank and she wants to go find a place to get her hair cut.  We found out that Bank of America is only in Eugene and Corvallis so we may have to rethink our banking depending on where we end up. We needed to go back to see Aimee in Albany so we headed to Corvallis after that.  Next stop was the AAA office in Eugene and after that I dropped her off at Supercuts while I went back to the rig to pick up some insurance papers we needed which I dropped off.  Meanwhile Lydia was done and had walked over to Walmart where I met up with her and we shopped and then went back and made dinner and settled in for the night.