Last Week in Oregon

This week marks the start of the 12^th straight week we have stayed in our 11 ½ foot Lance camper. 4 weeks in Ontario, a few more back in South Dakota and now here in Oregon. And still we have not felt crowded. Oh, there are differences. Besides the difference in size, we have been without TV for those weeks. We have a TV, in fact the camper has a satellite dish on it, I just not have taken the time to figure it out yet. We suspended our DirecTV account before we went to Ontario and will more than likely keep it suspended until we get back to South Dakota sometime next spring.

The other thing we have noticed is that we don’t spend nearly as much time in our camper as we did in our 5^th wheel. We spend a lot more time outside or doing other things.

Dakota has mixed feelings. She likes her little area under the table but recently we have found her up on the bed when we return from somewhere. And just the last few nights she has tried to sneak up on the bed in the middle of the night when we are sleeping. Unfortunately for her, there is just no sneaking or no room in the smaller bed. Oh, she thinks there is plenty of room for her as she wedges herself between Barb and me (usually stepping all over Daisy as she does it) but it is just not to be and she is sent back down. But all in all, the pickup camper is a success.

What does all this mean? Well, we are seriously considering putting our 5^th wheel up for sale and just going with the camper. Once the house is finished we will certainly spend more time there and use it as a home base as we continue to travel 4-6 weeks at a time throughout the year. We will more than likely wait until spring to seriously list it but if you know anyone who is looking for a 2014 40’ Cardinal with 900 watts of solar (new batteries and new tires in ’19) send them our way!

During our last week here in Oregon Barb and Somer have been busy working on the house. The previous owners have put beams and flooring across the living room/great room area creating an additional bedroom upstairs and resulting them having an 8 foot ceiling in the living room. Forrest and Somer want to open it back up to its original state to have a 20 foot ceiling in their living room. But before they do that they wanted to paint the walls and ceiling, put up a new ceiling fan and some new lighting as this would be much more difficult with the higher ceiling. So Barb and Somer were busy painting, painting and painting.

Before......

Once that was done We hung Forrest's deer and Elk mount as well as a ceiling fan and got busy tearing the floor out. It was tedious work and we only had one mishap when Barb was using a crowbar to pull a nail and it slipped off the nail and split her lip open. After that she was on the sidelines with a towel on her lip! We got all but 4 of the boards out as Forrest still needs to do a little trim work to finish off the edges where the old wall was. Once that is done the last four boards can come out.

What a difference it makes though!

After.....

I went to work with Forrest a few days, it was fun hanging with him and seeing what he does with his days.

Last Saturday marked the opening was waterfowl hunting so Forrest, Dakota and I were up at 5:00am, loaded up the decoys and Forrest’s kayak and off we went!

Klamath Lake, also known as Upper Klamath is the largest freshwater lake in Oregon measuring 25 miles long and 8 miles wide. Forrest’s secret hunting spot is about in the middle of the lake and only 10 minutes from his house. We got set up and waited for the birds watching the sun light up the mountains across the lake.

Dakota and I waiting for some birds

Dakota retrieving a duck

The birds did not disappoint us and arrived as they were supposed to. Hunting was good and Dakota did get great! Hunting big water like this is a lot different than North Dakota. Here you have pelicans, seagulls, herons, bitterns, plovers, ibis’ and sandpipers constantly flying around. You have to quickly identify each of these versus actual waterfowl. Not a big problem but when a duck sneaks in on you amongst these other birds it takes you by surprise!

So far the birds have been the same variety we see in North Dakota; mallards, widgeon, scaup and teal but I hear there are some sea ducks that make it onto the lake as well. We got a handful of ducks and treated ourselves to some duck kabobs later in the week. Tasty!

We had a nice surprise when friends Vicki and Harry sent us a message saying that they were stopping for a day on their way from Washington to Reno! Little known fact..... (Even Harry is hearing (reading) this for the first time....) Harry has actually been known to us as "Harry Baby" for the past few years ever since Barb was looking out our window in Quartzsite and she said "Here comes Harry Baby" or at least that is what I heard. I said "Harry Baby? I did not know you had a pet name for Harry". She said "No, I mean here comes Harry, baby" Amazing how the placement of a comma or how you say something can totally change the meaning!

We went to the Klamath Basin Brewery. The good and beer were good and the company was even better!

 Us with Vicki and Harry Baby

Last but not least after over 5 years on the road we got our truck detailed for the first time. Forrest turned us on to Pristine Auto Spa that does a complete detail, inside and out including underneath and the engine for $230. Barb took the truck in to see if they could do a dually. As they looked it over they said yes, they could fit us in first thing Thursday morning but it would be another $50 due to all the dog hair. We still felt like that was a good deal so we dropped it off and the guy said it should be done around 6pm. We called at 5 to ask if it was done and were asked if we could leave it overnight as they were still working on the dog hair. I can believe it! 6 years of Daisy hair and a couple more of Dakota's was ingrained into every fiber of carpet and every nook and cranny. As much as these dogs shed I am surprised they are not bald!

So clean!

No dog hair!

Our time here just flew by, hard to believe it has been a month! As much as we hate to leave, it is time. We are excited to get back to South Dakota to start the next phase of our build. We are already all hooked up and in a hour or so we hit the road and head east!

Remember, next time you see Harry and Vicki whether it be in Reno, Quartzsite or some other random location, say hi to Harry Baby for us!