We found it! We finally found the RV for us, and after lots, and lots, and LOTS of prayer, asking God to make it work out if it was the right decision or stop it from working out if it was the wrong decision, everything worked out. We found a 36 foot Class A Diesel pusher with almost everything we wanted, and we decided that the things it was missing were things we could do without.
Last Friday, as soon as I was done working, we loaded up in the pickup. At 6:30 p.m. we were on the road. At 2:00 a.m. Abe was finally too tired to keep going and I was dozing off in the passenger seat, so we pulled into a truck stop and slept in the front seats for four hours, at which point we were both tired of our backs, knees, and butts hurting so we hit the road again for the last leg of our drive. We didn't know the driving adventure that awaited. If you are ever in Oregon in the winter and your GPS tells you to go on Dead Indian Memorial Highway, ignore your GPS! 40 miles of solid black ice, hairpin turns, fog, and narrow roads due to the snow on the sides...and of course, it was pitch black with thick clouds blocking out any light from the moon. It didn't take long for us to decide that since we wanted to actually get our motorhome back to our house, we needed a different route home.
We arrived in Ashland, Oregon at about 6:30 a.m. Stopped at a gas station where we asked about a good place for breakfast, and waited in the parking lot of Wild Goose Cafe & Bar until they opened at 7:00. Oregon doesn't allow dining in anywhere in the state, so we ordered and took it out to the pickup to eat. FYI, if you're ever in Ashland, OR and want a good place to eat, be sure to stop there. I got the not so healthy biscuit, eggs, and hashbrowns that I was craving, and Abe got a veggie breakfast burrito. Mine was really good, but I was a little jealous of his. Oh, and their coffee is from a local roaster and was excellent. And the waitress was super friendly. Anyway, if you get a chance, I absolutely recommend the place.
We spent all day going through the RV, talking about it, asking questions, and Abe was able to look at the mechanical parts to make sure things were in good shape. It needed some work, but mostly cosmetic and some general maintenance. Then we started the generator. At least, we tried to start the generator. Many times we tried to start it, but it refused to run. We'd heard it running in a video the day before, but this could be a deal breaker, so Dawndee, the lady selling the RV to us, called a mechanic to come take a look. After hours, and stress, and "Maybe this isn't meant to be, after all," Dawndee remembered something about the generator not running if the diesel was too low - a great feature to make sure you don't run out of fuel in the middle of nowhere. We had planned on starting our drive home that day, especially since we were going to have to go through Portland, adding 3 1/2 hours to our drive, but now it was dark. Dawndee let us sleep in the RV that night - by this time we were ready to collapse and the bed felt like Heaven. We would try the generator in the morning after filling the fuel tank.
We filled it up and went back to Dawndee's house to finalize the sale and tried to start the generator. Then we tried again. And again. And again, and this time we heard it try to start. One more attempt, and it came to life! We gave a collective sigh of relief as we listened to it purr like a kitten. Thank you, God! Finally, we were on the road home. 14 hours, 722 miles, all but 1 hour of which was in pouring rain. We pulled into the driveway at 2:00 in the morning, crawled into bed, and set my alarm to wake me up in time to call in sick for the morning. There was no way I was going to work after another 4 hour night.
Here are Dawndee and Marcus, the people we bought the motorhome from.
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