Back on the road to Milton-Freewater…

Hines was fun, John Day was fun, but there’s not another RV park here in JD and all the spaces at the Grant County park were booked for the approaching weekend so after spending 4 days here, it was time to push on. A picture as I prepared to leave…really enjoy this RV park. Posted this picture last time but it doesn’t hurt to be repeated.

As I mentioned last time, checked all the fluids and this time also hooked up the dash heater core so I could use it on travel day. I did that because as it turned out, it was going to be chili the day of departure and I wanted to try and use a heater core stop leak product in hopes of getting that small hole in the core plugged. I know I have a hole in the heater core because before I bypassed it over a year ago, I could smell antifreeze in the cab of the RV whenever it was supplying heat. And of course, I’d have to add antifreeze to the surge tank after a trip. Bypassing it is the simplest way of dealing with a heater core leak…but you do loose heat at the dash. Anyway, in preparation for this trip, I’d reconnected it.

And the action I took on this trip as I was leaving the town and area was to leave the dash heat control on ‘cold’ until the engine temp gauge showed it had nearly reached operating temp. I didn’t want it to get too hot so I pulled over and shut off the engine, than went back and carefully removed the pressure cap. It hissed a little but not too much, and nothing boiled out. So than I added the stop leak, capped it, started the engine, and got back on the road. It didn’t take long for it to reach it’s typical operating temp and then I opened the temp valve for cab heat. And after a while, it was nice and warm. I drove like that and it stayed comfortable the entire time. I ran the adjustment to max heat to help circulate the ‘Stop Leak’ around as much as possible.

But…I never got that antifreeze smell in the cab. Dammit. That means that it somehow plugged itself over the months it was bypassed. Because the antifreeze wasn’t dripping out of the leak, the stop leak would never end up plugging the hole as that’s how it works, crap. I’m just going to cross my fingers and hope that somehow it plugged it and the lack of smell was an anomaly. Yeah, right. Not really that naive but hey, you never know. I would really like it to work so I don’t have to pull the heater core out. I’ve been reading up on it, and it’s not a fun job…you have to unbolt the entire front end cap, tilt it up out of the way so you can get the core out. Not something I’d want to do. If I do get the smell again, I’ll clamp the hose to slow it and continue to my destination, than add another bottle of ‘Stop Leak’ to see it works for me.

Anyway, I’m back on the road and heading for Milton-Freewater, Oregon, letting the ‘Stop Leak’ do it’s thing. It was cool enough that I had the heat running for around 4 hours. Here’s a few pictures of the mountainous foothills I traveled through. Had plenty of time so I stopped a few times for pictures.

Check out this, umm, lookout? Outhouse on stilts? With the river far below. That’s the John Day river. This is the Umatilla National Forest.

It’s a very pleasant drive even when it’s raining. Not sure I’d like it with snow on the ground because some of the hills are steep and windy.

Along the route there’s one older RV park that I’m planning on stopping at one day soon.

My daughter and her SO live in M-F after moving back from Minneapolis. She’d grown to hate the weather there. They both have jobs in M-F already. He’s working at a bank now which is a job he got after the casino in Pendleton shut down due to Covid-19 so he was out of a job for a while. Now working at the bank as their IT, and she’s working at making cheese at a cheese producer’s shop in downtown old town M-F. Since the shop makes food, it gets to stay open. And my son and sister both live in Walla Walla, Washington just 8 miles from M-F.

When I got to town, I’d already arranged with them for me to park my RV at their place. The pictures on Google street view I’d seen certainly looked like my RV would fit, but of course I wouldn’t know until I got there as they only showed the street from the nearest cross street.  GPS got me to the right street, a dead end, and I could see it might be a squeeze getting into the driveway, but it all went well. I stopped and disconnected the car, and then just pulled into the driveway with a bit of jockeying. After that, pulled my electrical cord into the garage, added a 50 amp to 30 amp to 20 amp adapter and I’m all set. Turned out that the garage actually has a 20 amp circuit since it’s newly refurbished. It is a rental house but it’s really in nice condition. Triple driveway even. More than enough room for my RV, my car, and their SUV. Yea! Finally, I was thinking, one of my relations with room for my RV!! First one!

Wasn’t long and I was all set up.

My first attempt at parking in their triple driveway was nose first over on the far right side. Did not take long to realize I’d be better off with the nose pointed towards the road and in the middle spot. That way the owner, who complained about not being able to get in the back yard to work on ground keeping (back yard is a mess and needs some landscaping) would shut up about where I parked. Jeese. And it was better because the afternoon sun would be at the back of the RV instead of the front so it ended up cooler and more comfortable.

Pretty nice place to park. Little irrigation ditch right next to the property with clean water in it making nice creek sounds all the time. Perfect cement driveway, room to extend my awning, and once I moved 2 feet further, my satellite dish found a nice hole in the tree branches across the street so I got a consistent signal. And here was my view out of the windows. As I mentioned, this is a dead end street.

So it turned out that there was going to be a problem where I’d parked and again I’d end up without any relations with parking for my RV. While I was here though, the 2nd week of my stay, I was at my desk when I suddenly got a huge feathery looking thing in my left eye. Took up 75% of my field of vision. A quick google search and it seemed to be a broken blood vessel and possibly a detached retina. And it happens mostly to older people. Grrr.

It happened on a Monday and I was able to get an appointment at the Walla Walla VA clinic and they also happen to have an eye doctor there. My daughter Mush has Mondays and Tuesdays off so she was able to drive me up there two of the three times I went in.

Meanwhile my extended stay is getting the house’s owner and Mush’s SO Scott all hot under the collar that I haven’t left yet. There was nothing I was doing that would harm the property in any way, it was going to be short term to begin with, and the medical issue would have been an extenuating factor so why the owner got all upset over it is beyond me. That also upset Scott because they’re only renting so he was getting all freaked out too.

Anyway, after 3-4 weeks I could see well enough to drive occasionally and I drove around trying to find a better RV park nearby, which all three turned out to be full, and this time out of desperation happened to stop at a RV park just blocks away. I’d passed the place numerous times and I’d tried calling the place previously, twice, but both times I could not make out what the fuk the owner was saying. Really sounded like he was so old he was on his last legs or was sicker than a dog. I even asked him the 2nd time if he was sick but couldn’t make out the answer clearly. But this time I just took the chance and stopped into the office. The owner is much older than me, and it turned out he sounds sick on the phone but isn’t. I did wear my mask and nitrile gloves though. And yes, they do have RV spots. Only $350 per month. With water, sewer, and 50 amp. I’d driven by them last year but the RV’s already there were so grungy, the nearby buildings boarded up and stuff, I didn’t think they’d have any Wifi. Which is true they don’t. Despite my reluctance I went ahead and reserved a spot for the day after my final eye exam because I now have a phone with a 20 GB/month data plan, last year I only had a 1 GB/month plan. Had bought a refurbished Google Pixel phone to use their system very close to 3 months previously.

At home, I feverishly searched for a better Data plan for my phone, because I really want Wifi all the time. Nothing economical is available from them. I knew from testing that I need around 70 GB/month and a 20 GB plan wouldn’t cut it. What I found though after wading through several Google search pages was an UNLIMITED data/phone/message plan for a mere $40/month! What a bargain! And they use the Verizon system of cell phone towers. So yeah, you can bet your a$$ I jumped on that. Cancelled my Mint plan (nice company), and moved to Visible. Got a $99 phone out of it (Android, Quad Core, etc.), that I traded my not-so-good Pixel that I’d just bought 3 months previous for it, and so far, they’re upholding the free unlimited data plan, no surprises. The data can be pinched during heavy traffic times on the cell tower but I’m okay with that. At least I have internet now, even if it slows to a walk. See just last year, I would not have stayed here because of the lack of Wifi. This year I would have stayed a month because of my Mint plan but not much longer. But now with an unlimited data plan, I’m all set! And I can stay here months! I have watched a number of movies so far without a glitch. I do know though that when traveling if I get in a remote area, Verizon is more likely to pinch off my data speeds than it is in an area where there’s lots of cell phone traffic. But most of the time if that happens, I’ll either just put up with it or I’ll have the RV parks Wifi to depend upon.

So I was all set, moved from my daughters place to the RV park the day after my last eye exam, now set up on a nice cement pad. I am facing west though so it’s getting real hot in the RV in the afternoons because of that giant window up front so I may turn around soon as we’re approaching 100 F days. My eye had 2 broken blood vessels but the retina is fine. The Dr. was kind enough to schedule my last checkup in such a way that I was their 1st eye prescription patient after the Covid shutdown of services at the clinic. They had planned on opening the first week of July anyway, I was just early. I went in for that last checkup, and he had the other eye person get my prescription. I now have 2 pair of new glasses. Worked out great.

But here I am all settled in at the Meadowbrook RV park. That power tower #1 is actually mine but I’m plugged into #2. Several other RV’ers in this row are backwards like I am. I have an advantage being #1 because I can use either side’s services as my neighbor is one of them that’s parked backwards.

Spaces across the street but it’s looking like they didn’t finish as they don’t have cement pads, just the power towers and the sewer pipes. And when I moved in, there were only a few cars parked over on that side. I wish there were a tree next to my site but no such luck. None of the sites do.

Strangely, as I was lead to my spot by the groundskeeper guy and I start getting set up, he makes a point of mentioning that this is all private land and that the cops don’t come in here. Huh? You’re telling me this why, I thought? Pretty sure it’s not true either.

Here’s a few random shots as I ride my bike around Milton-Freewater, Oregon. This is a trip I take often from the RV park. The journey takes me along and then across a ditch, through the parking lot of the old school, into downtown old town M-F. And the last picture of this set shows where my daughter works.

That’s the Walla Walla Cheese Company. She’s a cheese maker. And they are essential workers so no lay offs for them. Building is right in downtown old town. Which isn’t that big really. What’s interesting about this town is all the irrigation ditches crisscrossing the town, how many dead end streets there are, and how many huge old farming type and style buildings are near downtown. There’s a grain elevator very near downtown as an example. And I see newer modern houses squatted right next to a house built in the 30’s. Fixer uppers next to mini mansions. It’s a strange and interesting place. I am enjoying my stay here and will probably extend it until October or so.

So that’s all for this time. Next time we’ll do some more exploring of the area.

Thanks for reading!