Settled in here at Portland/Fairview RV Park and soon had a regular bike route around the area to enjoy. I like being able to bike to the nearby Veteran’s Clinic, post office, Target, Stomping Grounds coffee shop, etc.
One of the places I found:
It doesn’t open until 11 AM the day I biked past but I’ll keep it on my list of places to try for later.
And a couple days later, Jackie came by with Madeline for a visit so we walked down to the duck pond to feed the ducks. And later she drove me up there for dinner. Nice place, with huge fish tanks that Maddy really enjoyed.
Here’s the duck pond though.
They are hard to see but there are like six ducks in those pictures.
After I’d been here at the RV park for 3 weeks, my bike was stolen as I mentioned last post. That kind of caused a flurry of mental activity trying to decide whether or not to buy another bike (and this time to actually use the stronger, but cumbersome, U lock and heavy wire cable I already own), or to finally buy a car after 12 years of RVing. Now that I have a nice strong engine fully capable of pulling a car, buying a car is atop the list.
I did go to several stores looking at bike prices since it’s been 4 years since I bought one. Their prices haven’t increased much over the years so that’s good. Didn’t see anything that called to me so, got online and checked Craigslist for cars in the area. Didn’t really expect to find something that filled my wish list but almost immediately stumbled across a ’01 Saturn with only 60,000 miles. Automatic tranni, a gold color I like that sorta matches my RV, a reputation for reliability, drop down rear seat backs (important to have if you need to carry building materials on occasion but don’t want a pickup truck), and last but not least, a designed in capability for easy towing all four wheels down. And a quick search of Kelly’s Blue Book showed the owner was asking $250 less than book, so called him up. He has weird work hours and lives clear over in Beaverton 25 odd miles from me but I told him if he brought it to me, I’d pay an extra $100 for the car…as long as it checked out. Yea, that’s pretty damned generous of me until you consider that the asking for the car was less then blue book by $250, and it only had 60K miles on it. The car would not last long before someone else jumped on it. A low mileage car is always difficult to find and Saturns of 2001 would average 135,000 miles so this one has less then half average. And I really didn’t want to have to drive my giant RV over to some obscure neighborhood in Beaverton just to look at it. And if I bought it, I’d have to find some way to get it back here to Fairview too. I told the guy I’d pay him $50 if I didn’t buy it. He really liked that idea and promised he wouldn’t sell it before I had a chance to look at it. And a couple days later he drove it over. I spent a good 60 minutes going over it and doing all the tests I do when buying a used car and really liked the mechanical aspect of it. Nice and clean. Strong, smooth running engine. Everything worked well. And the best part, no oil drips anywhere. Even the undercarriage was totally clean and dry. He told me it was previously owned by a little old lady that only drove it to church, and since he’d bought his motorcycle he just wasn’t driving it. (OK, nice story, hand me the salt). But, whatever, I bought it.
It has AC, so that’s good, what it doesn’t have is Cruise Control (CC), power windows, power door locks, all things I would have paid extra for. It does have remote latches for the trunk and gas filler door though. I’ve found an aftermarket CC for under $150 online I’ll probably get and install someday but for right now, I’m enjoying having a car and the freedom it affords.
As soon as I bought it I drove over to Discount Tires and got a new set of tires for it. It rains here in the Portland area a lot so having nearly bald tires isn’t a good idea. Car came with some camo front seat covers and when I removed them, found that the front seats were both stained with something. Don’t know what, and my first attempt at using carpet cleaner on them didn’t do much. It’s like someone had a pan of dirty engine oil that had been thinned with a solvent then spilled on the seats. Even if I’d seen it before purchase, wouldn’t have stopped the sale. I figure I’ll eventually find some method of cleaning them. I did check to make sure the drivers seat didn’t have that worn spot right on the left edge that so many used cars seem to have developed and was happy it didn’t. 
It’s pretty nice overall. Paint was great. But the tire shop dropped something on the front passenger quarter panel and put a big long scratch in it. Negotiating with them now about paying for a repair, they’ve already agreed, just waiting for the check. Cost for the car was $2100, tires came to another $214. Pretty happy with it now that I’ve put a few hundred miles on it. One of the benefits of buying used is that not only is the initial expense lower, but insurance, registration, and new title don’t cost nearly as much as a new car.
And now the adventure of getting it ready to tow begins.
Well, glory be! Ya finally went and got yourself a toad. You will enjoy the options you’ll now have, but keep a bike in mind for the exercise like you used to get.
I did! I really did! But I’m still looking for a new bike. Love to bike around areas where I park the RV.
Now about the towbar…
you should be able to locate a good used Roadmaster Falcon All Terrain or a Blue Ox. But the great thing is that just across the river is Roadmaster’s headquarters if you need quick parts or help with anything. And just up the freeway is Olinger’s Camping World for parts. We got the Brakemaster auxiliary brake system, along with the Guardian tow shield and stow rack. Took the coach and car over to Vancouver and their guys tweaked Camping World Wilsonville’s so-so initial install, and helped properly balance the hitch drop and maximize safety and performance. They also last year revitalized the towbar, since it had become dirty and cantankerous; now it’s like new, and they even updated some of its parts for no extra cost. They are a great outfit over there. My mistake was leaving the bar on the back of the coach parked for several years – things sieze up; I store it inside when not on the road now.
Didn’t I mention that the RV came with a Blue Ox Avanta II tow bar? And a Blue Ox braking device like the Brake Buddy? I think I did somewhere…
None of this equipment comes cheap, but you could buy used and have Roadmaster go over it all for you. Though I like the Brakemaster brake, I’d really consider their new Invisibrake system – though spendy, it looks easier to use. Awhile back one Beaver club member had a bar for sale after selling their coach; I’ll have to see if it’s still in the Classifieds. But you could also check Good Sam’s and FMCA’s website for sale sections.
Yeah, I know that the tow items that came with the RV come to $2,000 so I’m happy to have them…I’m going to get use to towing with the free equipment I have before upgrading.
Roadmaster can probably provide the correct adapter plates for your model Saturn too, if you don’t go Blue Ox or something else.
For my model of Saturn, I found that the tow plate was cheaper from Blue Ox slightly and then since I get free shipping from Amazon with my Prime membership, I went ahead and ordered it from Amazon. I am aware that Roadmaster is just down the road from where I’m staying and I’ve been thinking of heading down there soon to see what they might have for accessories.
Addendum –
Make sure the Saturn’s front end is aligned right. Towing some cars can wear the tires screwy. Our Explorer is subject to that, which is why I had Roadmaster check things out to get the correct drop or lift at the hitch to keep things level, so there’s no pulling down or up on the car’s front end. And one important rule is to never make a hard turn from a straight stop, like at a stop sign or light. That kicks the toad’s front end sideways, obviously stressing components and tires. Make the hard turn only after getting the rig rolling forward.
Front end alignment is fine based on the wear of the front and obviously the older rear tires that use to be on the front. Nice and even. I’ll keep an eye on it too. Oh, and great advice with the rule, I’ll remember that!
And if you ever need chassis help, two words… Henderson’s Line-up. They are phenomenal re. anything chassis, coach or car.
Great! Thanks for the tip.
Don’t you love how damage magically appears when your vehicle is worked on? A GMC van I owned was famous for eating stones in the windshield. And damaged twice at car shops. Also to save $100 off the price of a factory replacement fuel pump, I replaced the lifetime warranty after market pump 5 times. (in tank) Sat waiting for AAA rollback 4 times. Last pump I installed was a Delphi then sold the van. Azone would no longer honor the lifetime warranty. Imagine that. Sold van after oil cooler line blew off.
Saturn. A friend tows one and when I heard about the towing with an auto transmission capability, I was amazed and jealous. Especially after I bought a $1400 tow dolly that doesn’t live up to expectations.
Best of luck to you and may the rest of your travels be most enjoyable. Keep up the news!
Thanks!
I’m sorry to be the one to break it to you, but you could have installed an external fuel pump from NAPA on your van and never had to worry about it (much) again. I did that on my diesel ’94 Bounder. Put it right near the engine, worked great for 12 years. But that’s what an honest shop would do after the first in tank replacement failed. Put on an external for 1/4 the money.
The Saturn was on my short list of ‘towable’ vehicles. I’m writing up a new article about towing and this link will be part of that…it gives a listing of the vehicles that are easily towed 4-down. Dingy Towing Guide
Oh, and car seat covers. I always install them. My car seats are like new on all vehicles. And with covers they’ll stay that way. But that’s a personal choice.
I’m thinking of getting a set that fit better then those camo’s so we’ll see.
Sometimes Costco has seat covers at a good price, universal fit I think, and there’s one off Marine Drive a ways east of the airport, south on 138th I think.
Good idea. I’ll have to check Costco. I am just east of them at 214th & Sandy.
Well, I stuck my foot in the ol’ pie hole again, didn’t I. I reckon it’s been just long enough since your last post that my neuron with your towbar info on it went up in smoke somewhere along the line. There’s enough ashes left for me to remember now that you did say something about it. My bad.
But look at all I gained by refreshing all my other Roadmaster neurons! 😉
There ya go…