Ron, the service manager was ready for us even though Art had found an unlocked door a few minutes before opening time and had come in the back way!
We were finding our way around Albany, this being our third, no 4th, visit here. We were off to breakfast, fed and walked the dogs--there are a few nice parks for them. On leash only, but that's probably just as well!
There is also a very nice brew pub. As we perused the menu at lunch time Art finally had come to a decision, but said "You know for some reason I really felt that I could go for fish and chips, but I guess that was too much to hope for." Then for some reason he looked at the back cover of the menu and there it was!
We ate quite well over the next few days, though Art was getting just a little tired of shopping!
One day we drove to Wilsonville, just south of Portland, to investigate new GPS units, and to see about getting a US Cell phone for Gillian, one that was or could be unlocked, had all the frequencies for North America as well as Europe.
We checked out several GPS units at CampingWorld but none of the RV or Truck units had Mexico maps available. Back to the drawing board.
Phones too were not exactly what we wanted. More looking I guess.
On Thursday, the 28th it looked like we would be done that day. Just the generator service to do and a few finishing touches here and there. Art asked that before they buttoned everything up would the tech please have good look around underneath and all around checking hoses, cables, wires, connections for signs of corrosion, constriction etc.
Later he received a call from the service manager, could we come down and have a look at something:
This is the left rear wheel well. The bracket is supposed to attach the motorhome body to the chassis frame. The next one forward wasn't in much better shape, but was at least still attached. There should be a gap of about one inch between the chassis and coach frames. Here there was no gap. The (coach frame was resting on the chassis frame! In the top photo you can see the wood block the tech used to hold the frames apart while he formed a new and longer bracket.
LATER NOTE: For comparison, I found a photo of the same wheel well from our Alaska trip in 2010.
$800.00 of welding and fabricating we were done. But not tonight Josephine!
He would not be able to finish today. In order for us to sleep in it tonight they would have to put the wheels back on, let it down, and then start over tomorrow. There was a dog friendly motel not far away--right next door to our now becoming regular breakfast place, so off we went.
The dogs had their own beds at least and settled down quite well.
Though when Gillian went out to the Jeep, Trekker waited anxiously at the door!
Friday morning we drove up to Salem to check out an old weaving mill that was now a Historical Site. The weather was improving and the drive was as pleasant as a drive up the I 5 can get.
The mill site was very interesting and well preserved, though some of it had been rebuilt. Unfortunately I can't seem to find any photos. However, I did find a link to their webpage; it's worth a look. http://www.oregonlink.com/mission_mill/index.html
After the mill tour we went looking again for a phone for Gillian and found one! An unlocked quadband smart phone, by IDEOS with Google, at $89.99! Next we needed to find an AT&T office to buy the $100.00 pay as you go card which would be good for one year as long as we didn't use up the time.
We found AT&T but the machine there wouldn't accept our Canadian Visa or Mastercards! Nor could the assistant be of help! Gillian finally went to an ATM and took out the cash. Now we could phone each other without Gillian's Telus phone running up big roaming charges.
Meanwhile Art had asked were we might find a restaurant or cafe for lunch, not a fast food place. We don't do Big Macs! At the other end of the little strip mall from AT&T was a lovely little bakery and cafe where we had a quick but very delicious lunch then returned to McKay's to see what we would find there.
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