Sunday, August 21, 2011

I Survived I-5

Yes, I did...I survived I-5!!!  Not without a mishap, though, and I wasn't aware of it until I was parked at the RV park.  I was about 35 miles from my destination and I thought I heard something (but things had been flying around inside Olivia, so I thought it was more of that), looked out the drivers side mirror and saw something go flying across the freeway from the fast lane over to my right.   I saw a car pull off the side of the freeway next to the median really fast.  It didn't appear that they'd lost a tire but I just couldn't figure it out until I walked around Olivia and saw this...


It's supposed to look like this...




Now I'm wondering if some damage was done to their car and, if so, I feel horrible.  I'll never know.  What I do know is that replacing that hub cap probably won't be cheap.  Aargh.  

Despite the above, I'm really starting to like this RVing thing.  I made numerous stops along the way, not pictorial stops, unfortunately, mostly rest areas.  I didn't feel rushed and drove mostly around 60.  When I first got to Oregon the speed limit was 55 and I had no problem with that.  Traffic around Portland was awful.  405 was closed so I think that contributed to the awfulness.  We were down to two lanes when I noticed a sign for Salem, realized I was supposed to drive through there and switched lanes.  Then I noticed I'd been in the lanes for downtown Portland and I changed lanes just before it would have been too late.  Phew.  

Something I haven't seen for ages was hitchhikers.  First, I saw three young women (they were together) and then a couple men, hiking individually.  I also saw a sign saying not to pick up hitchhikers...duh...so I started looking for a prison.  In Arizona when there's a sign not to pick up hitchhikers that means that a prison is in the vicinity.  Not so where I was.  

I'm at the Riverbend Resort in Harrisburg, OR.  There's one tree in the RV park and I'm parked in front of it...


This is what's behind my spot, a grove of Poplar trees...


A short distance away, but not visible from Olivia, is the Willamette River...



Before I left home, I took out the chair in Olivia because I didn't think it was very comfortable and it took up too much space.  Besides, the driver's and passenger seats both swivel around and they recline.  The one I took out doesn't recline.  So, instead of this (chair in foreground)...



it now looks like this...


I kept the foot stool and added the crazy looking portable chair (with a back) to the foot stool and it's working out great.  I also have a great view outside my window...

  
This is check in and I get to keep an eye on all the activity going on.  


I just talked to my friend who's house/dog sitting for me and she was complaining about the heat, especially inside my house.  I remembered that I have a window thermometer I can attach outside so I went and got it and made Kathy feel somewhat better because it's 94〫 here.  However, I have an air conditioned RV so it isn't a fair comparison.  In fact, I'm feeling chilly so I need to turn it down, or go for a walk.  I think I'll go for a walk and finish this afterwards.  

I'm back from my walk and hungry so I'm going to fix dinner.  Training starts tomorrow so I'll let you know what I learned.

Loving the sunshine,

Jeana

4 comments:

  1. too bad about the 'hubcap'!..enjoy your stay...looks like a nice rv park..great to be close to the river!!

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  2. Hope the other car was OK. But like you said, you'll never know! Looking forward to learning what you learned!

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  3. Bummer about the hub cap, hope all was well with the car. Learn lots of good stuff then you can tell us all about it.

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  4. Glad you made it okay - I liked the 55 mph in Oregon. It was just my speed! Hope the class went well. Can't wait to hear about it. :)

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