Day 17- At 7:30 AM we dropped the Ohana off at Gaynors Automotive. They were extremely friendly and optimistic they could solve our problem. We left it there for the day and they provided a shuttle service back to Eli’s house.
We spent the day hanging out with Eli, him kindly driving us around so we could pick up food and supplies for our trip. We even found a Mod Pizza, a place Laura and I had discovered in Arizona in which they let you design your own pizza. We like them because they actually provide all vegan options so we don’t have to cut any corners on our diet.
During the day Gaynors called me and told me I had a seal leaking in the rear differential and that they had discovered a hole in another line for the AC. I decided I would hunt the hose down at a scrap yard, but gave them the go-ahead to fix the differential. They informed me the job would not be completed until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest. Looks like we would be spending an additional day in Vancouver. 🤷
That night we made Eli some Tuna steaks and roasted Brussel Sprouts for dinner- and it was delicious! We appreciated the well thought out and happy little home he had created for himself- and that night he and I tried to figure out how to get his grandmother’s mysterious wooden clock to work to no avail. 🤔
Day 18 – The next day we enjoyed morning coffee and chatting with Eli. When we finally decided to get out of the house, Gaynor’s called and said thee rig was ready. Eli gave us a ride over to the shop and we talked over the details with the attendants, who said they all kinda geeked out when they looked under the hood of The Ohana. 😆 Overall I highly recommend the chain- which is part of a larger corportation, GB Auto, that has shops all over the country. That was good news because the warranty for the job would be honored at any of them! 👍
Next we were headed South through Portland. It was kind of a shock when we ran through all of the spaghetti bridges and crazy traffic!
We continued on South to the town of Corvallis, where our friend Storm was going to meet us the next morning.
On the way through Corvallis, something happened that I knew I’d eventually come across; a low bridge! I caught that the sign said we where about 2 inches short for clearance. Unfortunately we were stuck on a one way road, so we edged the Ohana up to the bridge to just make sure we couldn’t sneak our way under; nope. We ended up having to turn off on a little uphill lane alongside the tracks and drop into a parking lot to find another road to make our way around to our destination.
Eventually we settled in for the night at the Planet Fitness in a small mall area. Oh- and enjoyed a little bit of the first batch of sprouts Laura had grown on our trip! 😋
On Day 19- We started off with a good workout and a shower, and a little after Storm met up with us. We went ahead and enjoyed a meal at a rotating sushi bar- and the food and conversation was delicious!
Afterwards we hung out in The Ohana and talked with Storm for a long time. He is a super positive and happy person, so the conversations with him are always a great time. Since he was our first Oregon visit- we let him put the Oregon sticker on our USA ceiling magnet. After awhile we said our goodbyes, where he passed on the America The Beautiful Park Pass our daughter Lia had bought for us and had mailed to him. (Thank You So Much Lia!!! 💖💖💖💖💖)
Once we were finished with our goodbyes, we were once again headed South. This time we were headed to my Aunt Janice’s house in Springfield, Oregon.
At my Aunt Janice’s that night we had a lovely time talking and enjoying an awesome dinner that she had prepared for us.
In case you didn’t know- I know next to nothing about my family from outside Alaska. My parents really didn’t ever talk about it, but on this night Aunt Janice told me a TON about family. It was a very eye opening experience to hear about my grandparents and other family members.
We had intended to stay the night on the street outside of Janice’s house, but the road there was tight and people were driving up and down it like maniacs. 👿 So we voted to go across the street and stay the night at a Cabela’s, then in the morning come back and spend some more time with her.
Well… at about 12:30 at night we were awoken by a security guard, telling us since the Cabela’s was attached to a mall it was private property; and we couldn’t stay there. We had been there since before 10 pm, so it would have nice if she had noticed us earlier. 😅
We decided the street would have to work. But we still managed to sleep well with the crazy traffic zipping by right next to us all night.
Geoff Murphy 6/20/2022