Day 87. Scappoose, OR

Pix are of precautionary steps taken to protect the EDGE (see text) and our Scappoose campsite.

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We checked out my house (vacant/for sale) on Monday, did minor interior cleanup and fixup, will go back later this week and do yardwork. A yard maintenance outfit does the mowing, etc but doesn't maintain the property like an owner would. Well......some owners anyway.

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Tonight we're dining with Columbia City neighbors/friends Jim and Paulette; they live a few doors down from my house. Great folks, always enjoy their company. They visited us in LHC last season. Our friends John and Mollie will be joining us also.

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Trish is off to visit one of her daughters in Portland today, while I finish removing 12000 miles worth of tar, grime and bugs from the front of the EDGE. Or maybe not, supposed to hit low 90s today and I can't do crud removal until the work area is out of direct sun, mid afternoon.

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Got a couple new chips in the front EDGE fiberglas but nothing drastic. When we drove from OR to AZ late last October, an early snowstorm hit east of the Cascades and the roads were graveled for hundreds of miles. The lower front of the EDGE was beat all to hell, dozens of chips. To cover the chips and avoid recurring damage, we applied a heavy coating of brush-on pickup bed liner material to the damaged areas. I also installed mud flap extensions to the stock mud flaps on the pickup, adding 5" of depth and 3" of width. These 2 precautions greatly decreased the damage and tar buildup on the EDGE front and were well worth the effort.

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Our park is a county facility bordering Scappoose International Airport. Yeah, right, 'International' - who am I kidding? There are only 6 rv hookup spaces here and only 3 have usable sewer connections. The dufus that laid out the utilities obviously never spent any time in an rv; if he had he would have known that rv sewer hoses aren't 35' long. We may have to pull out and dump mid-stay - not a big deal but still a pain in the butt.

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Back to the smartphone, it's a Motorola Droid that uses Google Android software. I'm debating what to name it. I kinda like Floyd. Trish suggested Ann, and commented that when I say I'm going outside to play with Floyd, it sounds like I'm maybe light in the loafers. Huh! She's getting pretty sassy (again), gonna have to increase the frequency of spankings (again).

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Do any of you readers want to weigh in on this? No, not the frequency of spankings - the best Droid name. Input is welcome - as are additional name suggestions.

Day 3, morning.

I'm delinquent in my crew introductions. From the pix you've already figured out I'm sure, that Trish is the shapely female that fills the position of navigator/copilot - and main squeeze of pilot/engineer. Ranger (PR manager/security chief) is that red miniature poodle in the pix, affectionately know as Furball - and main squeeze of navigator/copilot.

2010 is the first model year for the EDGE and many smart buyers avoid buying vehicles in the first model year. Obviously that description does not include us. Overall it's a great rig, state of the art in super light weight compact trailers with full electrical/plumbing amenities. It weighs in about 500 pounds less than anything comparable. But - and I realize there's always a but cuz no vehicle is perfect - there are several design flaws and weaknesses, things that looked good on the drawing board but didn't get adequate field testing. We've already rebuilt, upgraded, replaced or enhanced most of the stuff we didn't like and it's a fairly long list.

The next rebuild item is the latch that holds the door open. Due to the location of the awning support, the door can't be opened so it's flat against the side of the trailer, which is the ideal. Instead, the latch holds the door open at a 35 degree angle to the exterior sidewall, and thus is subject to being buffeted by wind, any wind. Long story short, the buffeting is causing the latch screws to pull loose from the door. Gotta anchor the darn thing by drilling right through the door and attaching a metal backing plate to the inside of the door with bolts and locknuts. That will be a challenge given the limited tools we have along. But I'm gonna 'git r done.'

"Half Broke Horses" by Jeanette Walls is my current read. It's what they call a 'true life novel' about a woman who lived in the NW corner of AZ in the early/mid 1900's. The main character lived near Seligman when they were first paving Route 66. It's a true story and includes pictures of the main characters. It's a good read in itself but more enjoyable since we just traveled through the subject territory. Add it to your reading list if you have an interest in southwest US history.