Meeting fellow campers . . .
The crew and I walk the loop at East Davis Lake Campground, located in central Oregon at the southern end of the Cascade Range. As we pass a campsite occupied by a young family with a new Nash trailer, the man approaches and we exchange hellos.
I explain that I’m scoping out sites, looking for the best one to occupy after everyone leaves. The man’s name is Dan.
“If you want that site across from us, the guy is going to be back to move his boat out of there. We’ll be leaving soon ourselves. We’ve been here a week already. I love this place. Come up here every year.”
Note: A reader identifies the duck as a Barrow’s Goldeneye. Click link to read about them and to hear the sound of the male.
I admire his new travel trailer.
“Up until this year we had a tent. Sometimes we’d wake up to snow. It’s been really nice this year.”
“How’s the fishing been?”
“Real slow. But that doesn’t matter,” he replies, looking around at the scenery. Again he says, “I love it here.”
Later I meet his wife Crystal.
She asks about my way of life and then, apologizing for her directness, inquires how much I spend in a year. I tell her $13,000-$14,000. “And that’s living how I want to,” I add happily, giving her a few details. I suggest she read my blog to learn more.
While the Best Little Trailer and Perfect Tow Vehicle sit in a pull-through site before we choose where we will settle, I look over at the next site.
A man is puttering around his Casita.
He looks up, smiles broadly, and rushes over.
“Are you RVSue?” he asks. “I’m Ed. I commented on your blog a few times.”
He elaborates until I remember which Ed he is.
“I remember you,” I remark. “You were in Utah at the same time we were.”
We share a hug and laugh.
He and his wife Lorraine live in Oregon and camp in the Spirit model of Casita.
The Spirit has a side dinette.
This puts the kitchen entirely on the door side and the biggest window in the middle, rather than at the back like the Liberty (the BLT).
I meet Lorraine, tall and slim like her husband. Reggie and Bridget meet their schnauzer. We all enjoy two brief visits.
Our second chat occurs shortly before Ed and Lorraine leave the campground.
They’re taking Route 97 to a campground north of here. Then they plan to return to East Davis Lake Campground to meet up with friends.
“It’s only a four-hour drive,” Ed says in his usual ebullient manner. “We’ll go up, come back, maybe you’ll still be here?”
“I don’t know. I never know what I’m going to do,” I reply, smiling with a shrug.
I notice they’ve put a solar panel on the roof of their Casita.
That’s tricky to do because of the curves of the Casita.
Ed explains how he did it, something about 3M tape and angled washers. The panel is 120 watts, can be tilted, and is sufficient for their needs as part-time campers.
“Here, let me show you what I did for the battery.”
Ed opens up the house battery compartment and pulls forward his Lifetime AGM 12-volt battery.
“I made this tray for it that slides out.”
In the course of our chats I learn the Ed and Lorraine will spend two weeks in Iceland this summer.
“Iceland!” I exclaim. “Wow! How exciting! Gee, I’m thrilled to be in Oregon.”
This gets a laugh.
Ed explains that they will stay in a house in Reykjavik.
At the same time the owners of the house will come to Oregon and stay in theirs. This arrangement came about through an organization called Homeshare. (I want to post a link, but there are several organizations with similar names and I’m not sure which is the correct one.)
“Do you mind if I write about your plans? This might be something some of my readers would be interested in. You know, not everyone can RV or even wants to RV. This is a way to travel to new places . . . . ”
It’s time for Ed and Lorraine to hit the road.
We trade goodbyes, not knowing if we will see each other again when they return in a few days.
I wish them safe travel and away they go!
Another Casita and a small Airstream pull in for an overnight.
They seem to be traveling together.
After they leave in the morning, a truck camper settles into the site beside us.
Their big retriever playing in the creek has Reggie throwing a barking fit. I put Reggie inside the BLT until he calms down. We repeat this scenario until Reggie finally understands, although I have no confidence that he’ll remember!
This morning the campground is empty except for us and the couple and the retriever with the truck camper.
The songbirds, water birds, and ducks are in abundance along the creek flowing by our campsite. A pair of mallards dips for their breakfast, butt-end up. This one suns himself alone.
I haven’t identified the strange bird call yet. Whoever it is has a lot to say!
rvsue
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