July 14, 2014 – Roadhaus Ramblings

We stopped to visit the Tillamook Cheese Factory, the dairy industry’s answer to Disneyland. The parking lot was jammed and there was a line of people into the building. We were a bit disappointed at the tour since no cheese was being made during our visit. There were just a few loaves of cheese coming down the assembly line to be packaged. There were two redeeming factors, however. The first was the VW minibus replicas that they use in their advertising. They are kinda cool and Maggie had to pose for the obligatory picture in the bus. It was hard to capture just the right pose since she kept saying “Hurry up, for God’s sake!” while Larry worked to get the optimal camera setting. The second redeeming factor was the ice cream. It was good. It was so good that we passed up the cheese samples.

Maggie in the Short bus

Then it was on to Sherwood to visit Bev, whom we had not seen since Buses by the Bridge 2012. It was great to spend time with someone we admire so much and who has taught us and continues to teach us about life and traveling in a Westy. With Bev driving her scooter, and ourselves struggling to keep up on foot, we visited her favorite neighborhood pub for dinner and good conversation. Larry allowed as how Bev needed a sticker on the back of her scooter – one that reflected a shared regard for what it represents. We think the sticker should give her an edge the next time she has a race with Loren.

Bev Scooting

Imagine

The next day, July 1, promised to be a hot one, so after breakfast and coffee with Bev, we did our laundry and grocery shopping, said our goodbyes, and got on the road in the afternoon. Because Maggie was not feeling well, we headed to a hotel east of Portland. The heat was oppressive, it was Portland’s hottest day of the year at 99 degrees. Traffic inched along and we noticed the idle on the bus was getting a bit high. On the freeway, at 4:30 in the afternoon, traffic slowed to a crawl and at times stopped altogether. The idle increased, and kept increasing until it sounded as if the engine would come apart. We had to resort to shutting it down every time traffic stopped, and restarting when traffic moved. Maggie had been driving, so Larry took a turn at trying to get things working as we crept into downtown Portland on I-5 at rush hour. Supplications to the Vanagon gods notwithstanding, things went from bad to worse. Larry punched the accelerator a few times too many, hoping to reset the idle, and the accelerator cable separated. We coasted to the side of the freeway. As Maggie checked the GPS for the nearest exit, Larry rigged up a string to the throttle assembly to MacGyver us off the freeway.

After limping off the freeway, we coasted to a stop across from the Crowne Plaza hotel. As luck would have it, Larry was eligible for an employee discount which put us into a nice hotel at a very good price. After turning the hotel AC on high and consulting the Roadhaus.com VW Repair Shops database (now there’s a handy list to have!), we found a highly recommended shop, Precision Motor Car, was only a mile down the street. Lar put a note out to local friends and the WetWesties list and we soon had all kinds of support and suggestions. Did we mention that Vanagon people rock?

The next morning Lar again used the string method to get the bus down to the shop, thereby saving precious AAA tows which hopefully won’t be needed during the remainder of our travels. Our friend Bob Peak showed up at the shop when Lar got there and, since he was friends with the owner, did all he could to “grease the wheels” and get our bus back on the road. It seems the owner, Darryl, was familiar with Roadhaus and had received business from the favorable reviews on the list. We will not bore you with details – part was ordered, came next day, and Roadhaus got a new accelerator cable which may or may not turn out to be the problem. More on that as we test drive her over the next few weeks.

The silver lining in all this is that, while repairs were in progress, Bob took Lar to visit his VW stable, then took us both to breakfast at a really great neighborhood cafe. He then drove us around some Portland neighborhoods and up to Mount Tabor for a good up and down walk. After resting at the hotel in the afternoon, Bob came back and took us to a Thai restaurant for dinner. It was nice to get out of the hotel and to see a bit of Portland and catch up with our friend Bob.

Bob Peak & collection

Portland from Mt Tabor Park

Bob’s fortune Cookie

The next morning we were picked up by friends Dick and Wendy Adams and taken to lunch at a Venezuelan restaurant in their neighborhood. After catching up with them, it was time to check in on the bus repairs. The part had come in but had not been installed yet, but was promised to be done in an hour, so Dick took us back to the hotel to rest up and wait. Bob came by later to give Lar a ride to the shop to pick up the bus. We then drove the bus back over to Dick and Wendy’s for dinner. Again – Vanagon people are special. We met Bob when he came to Utah for our Buses in Ruins campout and we met the Adams on our trip to Baja last year. They were all very gracious and generous in looking out for us in our time of need.

Dick & Wendy

Lar had caught Mag’s cold by this time so we both took DayQuil before going to bed – the theory being that we wanted to get up early and didn’t want to be groggy, so we didn’t take NyQuil. The result was that neither of us slept but got up at 5:00 anyway to get on the road to Fossil. We headed east out of Portland on I-84, the Columbia River Gorge highway. It was a beautiful and cool morning with a quite scenic drive to soothe our sick souls.

Columbia River Gorge

Multnomah Falls

After stopping for gas at The Dalles, we turned south and took the winding roads to Fossil through dry grasslands and wheat fields. We made it to Fossil before noon and found our way to the fairgrounds where other bus friends were already camped. Karl, Loren, Gary & Evie, Suzy & Jerry, Lynda, Bob, John & Gail, Vanessa & Steve, and others. There may have been 16 or 17 buses in all. It was pretty warm already but thankfully Gary & Evie had set up some nice canopy shade where we gathered with camp chairs to visit and snack. We walked the few blocks to the store and to check out the small town.

on the road to Fossil

Fossil Blue Grass Festival Camp

That evening we walked to the courthouse which was the staging area for the Wheeler County Bluegrass Festival. We listened to some of the bluegrass, but came back to the bus early to get some sleep – this time with NyQuil!

Blue Grass on the grass

Bluegrass Band

We had the “All you can eat” breakfast with Gary and Evie the next morning, and got coffee from the little espresso trailer near the campground. It was hot. Or as Loren would say, “It was hot. Did we mention the heat? Well it was hot, mighty hot.” Or words to that effect. We lazed under the awnings, took a shower, and tried to nap. But it was hot. On the positive side, the nights got cool, we stayed up and enjoyed visiting, and then sleep came easily. It was pleasant to drift off to sleep with the sounds of banjoes and guitars being picked from different directions within the campground.

The next morning we were up early hoping to beat the heat as we headed out of Fossil. We said our reluctant goodbyes and set off. We stopped by the high school where Maggie wanted to seek out some fossils on the hillside. It was already too warm, and Maggie was still very weak and not feeling well, so we left the fossils intact and headed north toward Pendleton. A strange shadow crossed our path as we headed over the high desert. Could it be?