Heading to Portland 10-11-2018

We have an appointment with yes, Davey Rocket, you would think he should be a rockin’ roll star with a name like that but he is a RV service owner who will be installing our tow bar. I did extensive research on what system to install and found the ReadyBrake™ Towed Vehicle Receiver Style Supplemental Brake System was the best. The reason I chose this system is; it’s mechanical, does not need a separate system inside your tow vehicle to press on the brake, no electrical or signal wires, this system is activated by the RV pressing on the brake and the receiver sliding activating the wire that is connected through the tow vehicle and pulls the brake pedal, very smart and simple. The Tow Bar itself is a Roadmaster Falcon 2 so our arrangement was to drop off the Mini Cooper as it was where most of the work was to be done on Thursday morning, we are up early to get there by 10:00 am, we actually get there in time but his lot is completely full and not sure how we were going to get in. Davey’s business is on a busy street where lots of semi’s and commercial trucks are zooming by. This is our first time to meet Davey and we are a little skeptical from the outside of his business. We squeeze in and discuss how this is all going to work. Davey is wearing a Panama straw hat and a Hawaiian shirt, who is a cross between laid back Californian and hyper salesperson. We decided to go with a roadmaster Falcon 2 tow bar not to be confused with the Readybrake receiver, click on links below for a good explanation. So Davey says yep they will get to work on the Mini today and we can leave with the RV, he will call us when they are done. We did not receive a call, we had to call to find out it was more difficult to do than expected. Davey has a number of workmen with no less than 20 projects going on all at once with him orchestrating it all. Inside his shop he has not thrown anything away since he moved in this space, from motorcycles to Cadillac convertibles and thousands of used RV parts. I was in contact with Davey weeks earlier making sure parts were there so there would not be any delays. We expected to get it done that day or Friday at the latest. We came back and yes we had to park in the middle of the road with trucks flying by making us very nervous, Angela more than me as I did not want to show how nervous I was. We can see the work was moving slowly and it was going to be tomorrow before it got done, making our departure date to go south Friday afternoon. Our next decision is to find a place to park our RV, luckily we found one not too far away and it was on the Willamette River, Clackemette RV Park. The place is small, casual, friendly and a view of the river. There is no septic hookup but a dump site outside the park, there is a city park on both sides with fishing off the bank. The host is friendly and accommodating, it’s late in the afternoon so back to the Clackemette RV Park. Once back, I’m headed to take the garbage out and see a guy working on his 40 foot Class A and asked on a chance he might know some secret way to get our fridge to work, I engage him in a conversation and he gladly comes over to take a look, he mentions he has replaced his twice so felt confident in his ability. Off comes the vent covers, the boilers working hard but the ammonia tank is cold, after some deliberation he finds its above his pay scale but nice of him to come over, most RVers are helpful and friendly.