Kathleen & Paul Smith's RV Travelblog

Getting Road-Ready and Meeting With Old Friends...
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We left the attractive campground in Albany, OR this morning and give Knox Butte RV Park 5 stars.

Friends Donna and Skip drove up from Eugene to Silverleaf Electronics in Albany, OR (where Dale Kemper was to install the VMS 240 CL that monitors the motor home engine, transmission, travels, maintenance, and more).

Donna and Skip have friends in Albany they planned to see and asserted it was "no problem" to meet us there. Very kind of them (typical). We'd planned to drive to Eugene to see them but did not know how long it would take to install the monitor, so their kind offer made our day much more manageable.

We drove the short distance from Knox Butte RV Park to SilverLeaf Electronics where Dale came right out replaced the Road Relay 4 with the VMS 240 CL. SilverLeaf' parking lot allowed ample room to park with tow connected (and easily exit tow connected). Dale was done quickly - and no charge for the install! What a company! No sooner had Dale announced all was up and running and ran through its operation with Paul than we received a call from Donna, saying they were just a few minutes away! Talk about timing!

Donna doesn't know how NOT to have something to share - usually a delicious goodie or piece of information. Donna and Skip are high school classmates of Kathleen (a few years ago!) and we've kept in touch over the years. Whenever in Oregon we make it a point to see them. The first time we stopped by some years ago, we had Kathleen's mom, Paul's mom and 6 Smith children in tow! Our kids still remember Donna's hospitality and remember her fondly. (Her gift of homemade cookies to them had nothing to do with such remembrances!)

So as we sat in the motor home chatting, Donna produced some fresh baked biscuits, fresh cut strawberries, cream and even paper bowls, plastic spoons and paper napkins!!!

We visited with one another for an hour or two, enjoying Skip's rendering of his many experiences in the military (Navy, Marines and Coastguard....) We really hated to see them prepare to leave, but Skip did have a friend close by and we had miles to go before we stopped for the day.

Used to driving El Centro's countryside, Kathleen doesn't enjoy driving busy metropolitan areas like Portland. Nevertheless, up I-5 we went. But traffic was kind to Kathleen, it was down to a crawl - so much better for her than a city's freeway where drivers hop from one lane to another at high speed in what looks like a modern version of bumper cars :o)

We were able to catch a glimpse of Mt Hood from the cab window, but recall driving all around the base of the mountain a couple of years ago.

The directions to tonight's RV camp looked easy enough. Go north on I-5, take WA-12 (exit 88) and the Outback RV Park was only 2 1/4 miles down the road. Sound simple? Well, it wasn't. We did exit I-5 at exit 88, but saw NO signs to WA-12 west (we later saw it was a sharp left turn we could not make with our 40 footer). We took what we thought might get us to 12 west, but instead we found ourselves heading north on I-5 again. Lucky for us, a rest stop came up in several miles and a sign promised "Travel Information". Kathleen went to see the pleasant couple manning a "free cookies/coffee" station and was surprised to be told that her inquiry was the first they had heard. "What! There have been no other travelers to miss 12 west?" Apparently not, but they directed us to travel a few miles more north on I-5, get off at Maytown, cross over the interstate and head south on I-5 to exit 88, go to the light and negotiate a right turn. Sure enough! That did it and in no time we were pulled into another welcome RV park. Outback RV Park

When we went into the office to register the young man was busy repairing a bicycle tube. Ah ha! Bikers! We did a little "bike talk" and found out that the young man and his wife were racers! Very impressive folks they are, and we shared some small bits of information on the upcoming Tour de France coming up next month. Seems as though Armstrong does plan to ride... By the way, this is the FIRST place on this trip where glass, aluminum, plastic and cardboard are recycled. Some parks provide aluminum recycling and a few cardboard. This was a happy notice. We do like to recycle when possible. (A special 5+ stars for Outback RV Park!)

Our site was flat and easy to park. We've had a few challenges in disconnecting the toad from the rig, but Paul seemed to have little, if any problems today.

We expect to spend two nights here - tomorrow, if possible we'll try to see Barbara and Don in Olympia, but will also take in a few of the sights in this area. The brochure from the Park here lists a couple of places that sound interesting .... And the park itself is well maintained, friendly and we can use just a day to relax and unwind.....

Love and Peace, Kathleen and Paul

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