Kit and Carol on the Road

So, you want to know, what did we think of the View. ..  Kit loved driving it.  The engine is a lot quieter than our Dodge--and you are up high with a good view of the road.  (You also are more affected by wind)  I even drove it--around the campground and parking lots.  I liked riding back at the dinette looking at the world go by--like riding on a train.  This is the only good thing I can say about Dinettes.  Luckily this model comes with an alternate sofa and pop- in table.  The bed was surprisingly comfortable (due mostly to modifications by the owner) and roomy enough for two friendly people. Frog liked the view from the window at the back. There are two nice windows in the bed area.  Cooking space wasn't a real problem and while washing dishes with only one sink is tough it's not impossible (though a bit of a challenge for Kit).  The kicker for me was the shower.  The shower is plenty roomy.  The first night the door fell off but we learned how to fix that.  But the tiny bathroom has barely enough room to stand let alone to get dried and dressed.  I had to get dressed in the middle of the living area.  And the ceiling is so high I can't reach the fan to turn in on and off unless I stand on the toilet, stand on the shower, or call Kit who is tall.  I am spoiled by our spacious bathing facilities in Alice.  Friends who have a rig without any bathroom at all would think this commodious. My other problem was getting locked IN the rig.  I don't understand why it is so difficult to get OUT.  I think they went overboard on security.   So I am NOT in a big hurry to go out and buy a View--although it is still on our list--with major life adaptations.  

Two of our cardinal rules of RV travel have been. "Make no Assumptions.  Have No Expectations".  Of course we totally fail at both.  This time we assumed that the weather service was pretty accurate in forecasting temperatures in the 90's for the weekend in the Willamette Valley.  After all, that's pretty much the usual summer weather.  So we packed our shorts and T shirts and set off for our mini-RV adventure.  I threw in a flannel shirt but nary a bit of rain gear did we pack.  Driving down it was as hot as predicted.  In fact Saturday night at my mom's it was still 85 when we went out for our walk just before dark.  Then the Thunder storms blew in.  Sunday was windy and cool as we drove to McMinneville and then to Fern Ridge.   Monday morning, when we had planned to bike to Junction City, the thunder rumbled and showers blew through off and on.  No grand bike ride with lunch.  Oh well, we took the rig into Veneta and had lunch at Our Daily Bread, had a shorter, not so flat bike ride, and had our friends Ed and Kitty over for a visit.  Despite the ugly looking weather it was quite warm.

We are leaving in the morning on our way to Oregon again.  This is not a sane thing to do in August but we are renting a Winnebago View for 2 nights to see if we can live in a smaller rig such as this.  We are thinking about down-sizing ( and up-spending) and getting a small motor home which would be easier to drive and more fuel efficient.  Luckily we have reservations at Richardson County Park out of Eugene.  According to my brother all the state parks on the coast and probably inland too are booked.  Luckily we usually don't travel in the summer.