Eugene

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Last Shots of Eugene (Valley River Center) and First Shots of Florence (Heceta Water District)

Let me take you way back to last Sunday when I quit Eugene for Florence. The Valley River Center is a really great urban dry camping spot; it’s conveniently located and scenic! Below are a few pictures of where I was parked, along the Willamette River and the bike path.

After doing some internet stuff in the evening in Florence, I took off in the car to look for some ocean and did not need to go any further than the Heceta Water District where I had fun playing in the sand.

Miranda at River Valley Center, Eugene

Miranda at River Valley Center, Eugene

Miranda at River Valley Center, Eugene

Miranda at River Valley Center, Eugene

Miranda at River Valley Center, Eugene

Miranda at River Valley Center, Eugene

Miranda at River Valley Center, Eugene

Miranda at River Valley Center, Eugene

Heceta Water District

Heceta Water District

Heceta Water District

Heceta Water District

hmm...

hmm…

:)

🙂

Heceta Water District

Heceta Water District

Heceta Water District

Heceta Water District

Heceta Water District

Heceta Water District

In case that's not clear, it's about a $475 fine for parking overnight in an RV in this lot!

In case that’s not clear, it’s about a $475 fine for parking overnight in an RV in this lot!

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Hood River Stopover

Yesterday, I pulled out of Florence around noon and drove straight through to the first rest stop north of Eugene. The trip was much easier this time around. I didn’t have far to go so I took a full hour for lunch then continued on to the Camping World in Wilsonville. This is a great overnight spot in an ocean of NO OVERNIGHT RV PARKING signs. I was told that so long as you don’t block the bays or stay for ‘like a week’, they ‘don’t care’ if folks overnight. I’m going to come back to this night soon as I can get pictures posted because the rigs parked along side me were rather memorable.

My stupid GPS told me there was a McDonald’s nearby, so I walked there to look for internet, but there were none of the businesses it promised in the area. By that time, I’d walked a couple of kilometres in the direction opposite the Starbucks and it was getting dark, so I just went back home.

This rainy morning, I’m following the Columbia River along I-84. I have a spot picked out for tonight but won’t reveal it until I know if it pans out or not. I will try to tag back in later in a more relaxed fashion, but I’m parked at the RV unfriendly Walmart and don’t want to push my luck.

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A Sinuous Drive to Florence, OR

Oy. I was not ready for today’s drive at all! It was barely one hundred kilometres, but very sinuous, with several steep grades, only a handful of passing lanes, and no where to pull over and let the very long and impatient column of vehicles behind me pass. I got one honk and too many one-fingered salutes to count today.

What I saw of the scenery when I wasn’t white knuckling was breathtaking, with impossibly tall trees dripping with moss; not the kind you see in Georgia (Spanish) but rather that lush emerald stuff usually found on rock outcroppings. Can we say DAMP?!

I am staying at the Three Rivers Casino until Wednesday or Thursday. After that, it’ll be time to head back to Canada. I’m going through the Rockies, so I want to give myself plenty of snow-days to make the trek.

The casino allows for up to seven nights of parking on a slightly sloped well-marked RV lot. I joined the player’s club (free) and got ten dollars in free slot, which I turned into about forty-five minutes of fun in the penny slots.

My mother is concerned about my being on the coast, what with everything that has been going on in the Pacific, and I believe those concerns are justified. I am keeping a close watch on weather conditions and keeping the rig ready to go at a moment’s notice.

I was able to park with a fully charged battery and 1.5 to 3 amps coming all afternoon. I love having solar!

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Cold and Rainy Eugene Morning

I awoke to dampness. I haven’t been able to run the dehumidifier in forever and look forward to entering a drier climate in the next week or so.

It was a nice day yesterday, being in such a great spot (I will be sharing pictures of it!). I spent a few hours at Starbucks in the morning, went home to work on some projects, and then treated myself to lunch at Chile’s. I discovered this restaurant chain back in Regina in ’08 and have never had a bad meal the few times I’ve been able to eat at one. I made a note in my private journal from back then at that the $25, including tax and tip, that I spent on the ‘Margarita chicken with a bottomless glass of strawberry lemonade was some of the best money I’d spent recently at a restaurant.’ So, I decided to see if that meal was still available. It was and the review still held, but not the price. It was only $15 for that meal here!

I was due for a Walmart run, so I went out in the afternoon to run errands, then I came home and crashed with embroidery and movies (and cats).

I really didn’t watch my battery usage last night, running an LED light for hours, charging the laptop, and plugging in the electric blanket for several hours. I went to sleep with the battery voltage around 11.8 and woke up to it being 12.3, not bad considering that I was up almost two hours earlier than yesterday in much greyer and wetter weather!

I’ll be rolling out of Eugene sometime around noon. I flagged down a security car on the way to the Starbucks this morning and caught the same guy as the night I pulled in. I let him know that I am leaving today and made sure that it’s okay to hang out for a part of the day.

Miranda’s due for an oil change, so I’d like to have that done today but none of my leads can fit me in, so I may have to wait a bit longer. I’m getting antsy to have this done, but we’re not at the critical stage yet.

So, I’m off to the Oregon coast for a few days! I have no idea what internet access will be like there, but there is a Starbucks in Florence. At $1.50 for a coffee, it’s a reasonable temporary solution for getting online.

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24 Hours on Solar

When I got home from the Starbucks last night, I crashed. I had the furnace bring the temperature up to about 25 then turned it off. I watched a movie on the laptop while running an LED light for embroidery, made supper (baked pasta smothered in oodles of cheese, yuuuuuum), set the laptop to charge in the inverter, and curled up with an ebook. It started to get chilly around 9 and I decided to retire to bed and my electric blanket instead of wasting both power and propane. I read till almost 11, feeling very cozy and warm, and turned the blanket off being going to sleep.

I’d unplugged the laptop before going to bed and checked the battery voltage; it was hovering between 11.8 and 12.0, which is a reading I don’t like to see until two nights of boondocking, and I hadn’t run the blanket yet!

I woke up around four, plugged the blanket back in, and slept for another five hours (two sleepless nights will do that for you!) with the blanket on.

When I finally got up, it was to an overcast day with sunny patches.

My solar array was pulling in just over 3 amps and my battery voltage was sitting at 13.6, which I consider a full charge but the controller doesn’t; it won’t start pulsing until I hit a voltage of 14.0. Imagine that, waking up after a night off shore power all snug and cozy in a climate that still requires me to heat and having a fresh start to my power usage!

And, just like that, the self-renewing nature of solar charging finally made its impact. It’s now okay to ‘run down’ my batteries every day and I will get a do-over every morning, even if it’s overcast. And I use so little power during the day that even on overcast days I’m likely to have enough power for the evening. It’s still much too early to make an predictions, and I desperately need a battery monitor to take some scientific measurements, but I’m suddenly very excited about heading out to the Oregon coast tomorrow for a few days of ocean-side boondocking!