OREGON - snow, family, and the camper

This last weekend we went to Oregon to pick up the camper we purchased a few months back. Who would have guessed the weather would be horrendous, by the end of March we figured we would be rather safe and not have bad roads. But it just happened to be the weekend all sorts of weather warnings were popping up, and not just back home in Wyoming but in Oregon as well. We already had the time off of work so we had to go, we figured we would just have to work it out as we go.

We left Wednesday, March 25th after work and made it as far as Ontario, Oregon before we decide to get a cheap hotel and crash for a few hours. Shawn being excited we were up bright and early the next morning. Given we still had at least a good nine hour drive ahead of us it was a good idea to get going. The drive to Oregon was somewhat uneventful. The wind was horrible through almost all of Idaho, plus the section of the Blue Mountains in Oregon between Le Grande and Pendleton were really icy and slick. Somewhere in this section I remember seeing a turn off for Deadman Pass. The Deadman Pass being the point were most Emigrants on the Oregon Trail recognized that the major difficulties were behind them.

We arrived in Salem, Oregon mid afternoon. We met up with Jason (brother-in-law) to see the huge construction project he has been working on. We had to wear hard hats, safety glasses, and neon orange vests while on the job site. It would have been a ideal picture moment, if I would have wanted to dig out the camera. The project Jason is working on is impressive and it would be fun to see the finished product.

Then we went to Jason & Christianna's (sister-in-law) house, we finally got to see our new camper. After seeing it in person we still feel like it was a great find. It has been well taken care of.

That evening my in-laws (Chris & Dan) arrived. They drove over from Eugene. Jason brought pizza home for dinner. We enjoyed a good dinner and each others company before turning in for the night. We stayed in the camper and all went well, but I did decide that the bed did need an egg crate foam to soften it up a bit.

Friday morning we had an appointment to go to the place we bought the camper to get a run down of how it all works. And also to make sure everything on the camper works like the salesman promised. He went through it all so fast and seemed irritated when we asked questions or brought up concerns. One of our concerns being not all of the running lights were working. By the time we left all the lights were working. Since the camper is a fifth wheel we had to add an attachment to the camper so that we are able to pull it with the truck. We had installed the attachment but there was an area that needed welded. So our next stop was this really nice guy who welded the part for us. Then we were told we would need to go to the DMV for a temporary registration. We were told wrong! We showed up at the DMV and waited in line only to be told we did not need temporary registration.

Next stop was WalMart to get the egg crate foam for our mattress and a few other necessities. After that we went back to Jason & Christianna's house. That evening we sat out by the fire pit and visited. Dan, Shawn, and Jason are die-hards they stayed up until almost 4 a.m., and because the conversation was interesting I stayed up with them, though I don't know how. The camper bed felt 10 times better with the foam added.

To say the least we slept in the next morning and once we did get up we were rather lazy for many hours after that. Shawn continued to dicker with the camper. We decided to go out to dinner that evening before Dan & Chris headed back to Eugene. After dinner we attempted to watch Iron Man, which I hadn't seen yet and still haven't. My eyes just could not stay open, and neither could Shawn's. So we gave in and went to bed.

We headed home Sunday morning. Besides being tired everything was going well, until Pendelton. We came upon the bottom of that Blue Mountain pass and there was chain law in effect and since we were towing the camper it effected us. Well we didn't have any chains and only one place in town had chains, but we would have to buy 3 sets at the approximate cost of $600. That or we could take the chance of getting pulled over and receiving a ticket of $1,500, $500 for each axle. While waiting at the truck stop we were visiting with a truck driver who said if we wait for about 2 hours the chain law should lift. After weighing out our options we decided not to spend the extra money we didn't have and wait it out. The driver was right about 2 hours later it was lifted we got on the road right away. The funny thing about it all was the roads weren't even bad, just wet. They were worse when we came over then on the way home. Plus we see way worse roads in Wyoming for months on end.

We made it as far as Mountain Home, Idaho before we decide to call it good for the night. That put us about 5 hours from home. Plus, we received numerous calls from loving family members letting us know that it was snowing bad and our roads ahead would be snowy and slick. We pulled into an RV Park after visiting WalMart to grab some dinner and a $5 movie. We got on the road at 8 the next morning and all the snow was melting off the roads by the time we were passing through. We arrived home mid-afternoon with our driveway blocked from drifting snow. However, it was nice to be home with no tickets or accidents.