On to Portland

We walked around Timber Valley for the last time this morning. The large grassy field by the entrance was beginning to fill up with tables set up for the big yard sale (which we will miss). The trip started out smoothly, but once we passed Eugene, congestion increased and the average speed dropped. By the time we got to Portland, it was very slow. We arrived at Clackamette Park, at the confluence of the Clackamette and Willamette Rivers about 3:30 p.m. and found a spot.

All was well until we tried to open our door. It totally refused to budge. We've had problems before, but this was the most severe. We started to consider our options--maybe we could go spend the night at Chris's and drive to an RV repair place in the morning? Ken refused to give up. He pounded on the door and pulled on the latch. Finally the door opened. Ken tried to adjust the latch so that it would open more smoothly, but to no avail. The pins in the door latch were too low to enter the slots in the striker plate.

Ken remembered that although the Bigfoot leveling system had reported "Autolevel success!" it had actually shown on of the off balance lights. We decided to relevel, and the door started operating smoothly, like a charm. Meanwhile we were beginning to worry because we were due to pick Chris up at the airport at 6:15 p.m.  He was returning from a business trip to Seattle. We were right to worry--the traffic on the freeway was stop and go for much of the trip. When Chris called after he landed, we told him we were still five miles out. Fortunately, the final five miles went more quickly.

Meanwhile, Shawn was at home fixing a great dinner. When we walked in the door, she had cheese and crackers out, and the day started to go much more smoothly. We really enjoyed the pasta with broccoli rabe pesto and Field Roast Vegetarian Sausages. Even more we were very happy to  be together. Annie has grown up a lot in the last year. I met Shawn on my visit here in March of 2011, so it was really nice to see her again and have a chance to get to know her better and introduce her to Ken.

We went for a walk in the neighborhood after dinner.  Here we are at the park, just after we all jumped off our swings (Ken is the camera man, of course).

This month is Pedalpalooza in Portland, and we found a group of cyclists preparing for the "Prom ride."  This guy is the plumber who fixed Chris's toilet last year (how many cities have a bicycle plumber?).

When we arrived back at the campground, it was after 10:00 p.m., so the gates were closed. Fortunately we found a good place to park across the road and walked in.

Chris passed on to us our packages we had sent to his address--our prescriptions and a cabinet door for our kitchen. The door is beautiful, but it doesn't have a knob, so we'll have to wait until we return to Kansas in September before it's really right. It does look much better than the black felt we had covering the space before!