Nearing the Finish Line

With the constant degradation of the RV, we have opted to cut the trip short by one day and head back to San Francisco for a final fancy dinner and a day around the city tomorrow before flying back to the East Coast. We kept our spirits up and did our best to make do without any power the past few days in Redding and Yosemite CA. It was a test of patience and we refused the let the situation beat us.

Since we haven't been able to make any updates, I'm sure there will be more post-trip recap updates still to come. But for now I wanted to share one of my favorite stops on our trip. That was Crater Lake. We drove the East rim and made a hike down to the water, and chose to spend our time jumping off a 17-foot(ish) rock into the water instead of taking the small boat trip out to Wizard Island. The water was surprisingly warmer than we expected and quite refreshing.

Moving East

After an enjoyable night in the Dunes, we are now making eastward progress towards Sunriver. The climb in elevation has also provided us with some, very welcomed, higher temperatures. We tried to stop in Eugene but couldn't figure out a place to go. So we went a little further and stopped in Oakridge. It turned out to be a great decision.

We found a cozy brewpub called the Brewers Union Local 180 for lunch. For the second time in the trip we have found a brewtub that serves cask beer! We enjoyed a delicious lunch and sampled all their cask beers. The "Extra Knuckle" seemed to be the overall favorite.

After lunch we climbed 5000+ feet through the mountains and caught some pretty glimpses of Diamond Peak.

We are currently on I-97 about 20 minutes outside Sunriver. Hannah and Paul will be jumping out to get the wedding festivities underway. Michelle, Renee and Keith will be moving on to Crater Lake for the night. While we are all looking forward to the wedding weekend and staying in a larger condo, the RV lifestyle will certainly be missed for a few days.

Oregon Dunes

First we played in the dunes...

Then we watched another beautiful sunset...

Stuck in Pacifica CA

We could not have been more excited to get on the road yesterday. We started securing everything in the RV and sliding in the retractable sides. But one side wouldn't move. We literally placed 25+ phone calls to All Star RV "emergency assistance," home office staff and the owner himself. However, being that it was a Sunday making contact with people was proving to be problematic. We kept being told that people were out of cell phone range and/or that a mechanic was on the way. Finally, voicemail boxes were full and we had sat another full day in the same RV park. So we spent another night in Pacifica CA.

This morning a mechanic showed up bright and early. After some tinkering he found what we thought was going to be the problem. A pair of tin snips wedged into a place they shouldn't ever be and preventing the slide out from moving. Alas, removing the misplaced tool did not fix the problem.

Here's the tin snips:

After a couple hours, the original mechanic has been pulled off the job and we are told that another mechanic is en route who can "certainly figure out the problem." So why wasn't he the first person called to assist us yesterday? Great question. Should he not be able to diagnose the problem, a replacement RV should (might?) be showing up at some point this afternoon once it arrives from Las Vegas and gets cleaned.

The bummer of this whole thing is that it puts us behind schedule. We intentionally planned our trip to drive 150-200 miles a day which would allow us time to explore the area where we stopped. Because of the delays we are now going to have to make up for lost time and drive many more hours. Hopefully we can still see the Redwoods and I certainly don't want to miss out on dune buggies in Florence. Obviously the bigger issue would be making sure we arrive at Shane and Thereasa's wedding on Thursday.

Thus far everyone is remaining upbeat, positive and optimistic. But the constant set-backs and lack of customer service is mentally draining.

Hopefully the next post is from 350 miles north of Pacifica CA! Stay tuned.

Go Time!

We picked up the 40 foot RV in Clayton CA yesterday...at a place connected to a feed store! The RV is ridiculous. It really is just a small home; there is so much space inside. It's officially named See Ya by Alfa. Which means we will be calling it Alfie for the duration of the trip. Pics to come soon. We parked it in Pacifica CA right on a cliff overlooking the ocean at the San Francisco RV Park. The summer months here though mean foggy and slightly cool weather and I don't think we packed the right clothing.

Last night, we met some of Keith's college friends out for dinner and drinks in San Francisco. Today we need to stop at a Target-type store to stock up on provisions then find a spot to watch the World Cup final. Michelle arrives around 6:30PM. The plan is pick her up at the airport in Alfie then immediately head north. The next stop is Mendocino CA.

Disco Era Cross Country

Since I was talking about previous cross country trips already, I had to include a photo from one of my family's numerous trips. Growing up in a military meant moving every few years and our family always made the move into a vacation. If this photo is the trip I'm thinking it is, my parents had my uncle and his buddy (both fresh out of high school) drive our VW bug across the country with us. I'm not sure if that idea was wilder or if it was my handmade clothes. Gotta love the late '70s!

And NO, that is not the RV we want to take on our trip in 2010!