By Jim.
On Masters Sunday, we left rainy Washington behind. We’re now in Oregon…where the sun almost came out as we crossed the border, before it started raining and doing even more diabolical things during our drive.
I’ve been tempted to Google “What’s with the sh**ty weather pattern in the Northwest?”, because wet skies have been relentless since our going-away party last Wednesday night.
This morning, we had another long drive through the Palouse country of Washington – beautiful rolling hills for miles and miles…
…punctuated by a couple of cool towns, such as Dayton, Washington.
Shortly after crossing into Oregon, we did a scenic but stressful climb up some mountains we didn’t expect, through the Umatilla Reservation. The vista at the start of the climb was wonderful!
The stress kicked in when, the higher we drove, the more the stuff on the windshield started looking like snowflakes instead of raindrops. The knuckles got a little white on the steering wheel for a while, but it all worked out. (I kept saying, “It’s April, it’s not supposed to be snowing here!”)
We arrived at the grandly named Grande Hot Springs RV park in La Grande, Oregon just as the leaders were teeing off on #10 at Augusta. As I did the set-up ritual (leveling, opening the slides, hooking up the electrical and plumbing connections), I realized that my criteria for a good RV park are not purely aesthetic. While views are nice…
…the real beauty is a site with good electrical boxes and leak-free water connections.
Oh, the things we’re learning.
While watching the Masters, we laughed as Roxy channeled her inner birddog and tried to get at the robins who were taunting her outside. No, I’m not going to try a pun about birdies on Masters Sunday.
After the toonament was over (was I the only one who got the vibe that Patrick Reed is the most unpopular Masters champion since Vijay Singh?), I gave the Iz a quick bath – we’ve been riding this rig hard and putting it away wet. Hey, it was already raining, so getting a little wetter was no big 
deal!
Our patience will be on display tomorrow morning when we try to get some follow-up service done to the steps in La Grande, before heading to Bend for a couple of days, where we’ll get to see Ralph and Kim Klinke. We already know this leg of the trip won’t last long enough – we have to head to Eugene Wednesday.