Cascade Locks KOACascade Locks 735x3457/12 - 7/13/14

Timber LakeTimberlake8/8 - 8/9/2014

LL Stub StewartStub Stewart Below9/20 - 9/21/2014

Champoeg State ParkChampoeg 10/18 - 10/19/2014

     In 2014, we decided that having a big diesel truck and trying to pull a 40' triple axle toy-hauler fifth-wheel around wasn't our cup of tea, for three reasons.  One, fifth-wheels are made to be as light as possible; ours was 17,000 pounds empty.  When loaded, two 35-gallon fuel tanks, two blackwater tanks, two greywater tanks, our freshwater tank, an added generator, and then everything else, I'm sure we were way overloaded for our truck. In an effort to keep it light, the building materials were thin and flimsy, and I'm six six and weigh 270.  It wasn't ideal.  Two, I was horrible at driving it.  I couldn't back in for anything and dreaded taking it out.  Three, the truck was stored thirty miles away, costing me $20 a day for payments and insurance. (Halley was 20 and still on our insurance)  We sold the truck and leased an all-electric Nissan Leaf, leaving us no way to tow. On Father's Day, Jackie and I decided to go to an RV show at the Portland Expo.  It was the last day of a two-week show, and they were eager to make a good deal on a coach.  So we bought an eight-year-old Mandaly and traded the BFT sight unseen.  A couple of days later, Paul Everett RV came and picked up the fifth-wheel and parked it next to our new coach at the Expo Center.  With some help, we got everything moved over to the coach and got a fifteen-minute walk-through on how everything works.  (Ten years later, we're still figuring out things.)  We took our new setup camping four times during the rest of the year.