Whirlwind Visit In Springfield

Its been a whirlwind visit to Oregon.

We arrived in Springfield, dropped our trailer, and got Dad settled at Will and Sherri's on Thursday.  Dad began to show us the things he'd like to take to Alaska. We have the underside of the RV and a utility trailer. We looked at our things and confirmed they would fit in the space with room left for Dad's things. However, as the day went on we realized Dad wanted to bring more than he originally thought he would. We are also bringing Krista's last household goods up with us. 

Michael is happy to have more tools at his disposal 

We saw dads primary doctor on Friday. We feel like we have a handle on the medical care we need to find in Alaska for Dad. We were excited to discover his A1C has gone from 10  to 7.1 over the summer. 

We stopped by Dad's bank and the Uhaul store. We had a nice catch up lunch with Rebecca, Michael's sister.

We talked with Walt, dads friend. He will drive up to Alaska with us and pull one of the trailers. I have no experience pulling a trailer.

Saturday we loaded our trailer. Dad and I got 99% through packing his things. We had dinner with Will and Sherri and their kids...Andrew and Amy. I had prayed it wouldn't rain this weekend while we were packing. We needed space to be able to sort. It was HOT - 86*. That prayer was REALLY answered. LOL 

Loading furniture from Dad and Mom G

The pool and hot tub were a welcome amenity Saturday night! 

We went to church at our home church on Sunday. Dad began attending Calvary 60 years ago when he came to town to attend Bible College. He was married here, this church sent Mom and Dad out as missionaries, my bothers and I were all married here, Michael did an internship here, we dedicated our two oldest children at this church, two of our daughters were married here, and one was the Children's Pastor for several years.  

Lousy picture but I'm not about to delete it. LOL 

Dad ushered on his  "last Sunday."  I reflected on his choice to move to Alaska. I found myself praying this is also a choice which reaps generations of blessings. May my choices have such long-term effect for good.  Many shared words of confirmation and affirmation about Dad's upcoming move. On a side note, it felt very odd to be at Calvary and not see Mom, or so many others, who have passed on. 

Nate and Heather's daughter, Nadia met us at church. She, Jim, Walt and Judy, Will and Sherri, and us went to one of Dad and Jim's favorite after-church haunts....Centennial Steakhouse. Dad is going to miss his friends. 

Dad, Will, Walt, Judy, Sherri 

Walt and Dad grew up together and then went on to Bible College together.  I grew up calling Walt "Uncle Ollie." He wanted to help all he could with Dad's move. He drove down and picked up the Uhaul trailer for us.  In the end, he hitched up our green trailer. We will met him and the trailer on Tuesday morning in Woodburn. He will drive his truck and our trailer up the Alcan. It will be precious time to catch up and remember for he and Dad. I believe the time with Walt will help Dad with the transition period. We will drive the RV and the Uhaul trailer up the Alcan.

Mike and Will decided the boat wouldn't ride on the side of the trailer. 

Monday Will helped us pack Dad's stuff. Sherri and I talked about Dad's business matters.

The boat slide into the trailer 

Things were packed all around the boat

Michael and Dad

Dad met up with Mikhail and came back to supervise. He was concerned I'd not packed all his hangers.

Jim stopped by for a visit. Mom used to babysit for Jim's children. For quite a few years Mom and Dad rented from Jim and his wife, Gloria. It's always fun to meet up with this family. 

Mom's recliner (which Dad is seen sitting on above) was the last item loaded. It went into the RV for the ride home. Both trailers are packed solidly. Michael is an amazing packer. Our military moving skills are coming in handy. 

They got it in! 

We brought dad back with us to the RV tonight. He opted to rest while we enjoyed the pool.

Tomorrow we head back to Alaska. It's been a full Labor Day. 

Alex likes having a recliner in the RV. 

We'll pull out in the morning. Tonight, we swam and relaxed with a game of Farkle.

Dad, Me, Alex, Stacia

Bringing Dad Home - Trip Outside

We are off!

Heading on an Alaskan adventure to move Dad home. I didn't get the trailer decorated but hope to before we come back. There are always a lot of moving parts to leaving home.

Preparing for a good view 

Alex checks the tires

We moved Dash to the chicken yard  - Stacia checked on him and told him goodbye. 

 Benny wanted to come with us, but not without Mommy.

We're off! #BringingDadHome

Stacia, Alex, Dad (GG)

Totally staged! This is the back seat driver look reserved for when *I* drive the beast. LOL 

The worst of the road....as we waited for the pilot car the "wolves" came out....though we decided the flagger was wrong and they were foxes....Can you spot the one? 

This unique rainbow occurred as we followed the pilot car. The colors were so low they went into trees.  We've never seen a rainbow so close to the ground. It was beautiful.

Some of the pull outs are awfully tight for a rig our size....Alex is very good at spotting Michael.....

And Michael is very good at making the space work for him. 

Day 2 we pulled off the road for Michael to sleep a couple of hours. I made lunch for everyone and Stacia and I went for a walk. We found some unique prints and realized we'd forgotten the bear spray. Maybe we should buy a can to leave in the RV.

 We took note of the Fireweed up in the mountains. There were still a very few blooming. 

Many patches were bright red. 

Some have begun the browning and dying out process. 

Day 3 was a big wildlife day.... Cariboo - Reindeer

We'll wait.....

Note the greens, the red Fireweed and the hints of fall colors. It is AMAZING to compare the colors with the photos when we come back two weeks later. They get HIGH WINDS up here...check out the trees on the left....

 And that little black dot in the photo above? Mama and two cubs... 

We saw a few more bears this day...I think the count was 14.

Who would have guessed? Quite a few healthy options. A & W are quite prolific in British Columbia and Yukon Territories. 

This evening we nearly collided with a herd of Bison. We decided it was time to stop.  It was too exciting to grab photos. LOL

We slept in a turnout on Night 3.....we opened the back of the trailer and watched the stars. 

It was a pretty spot to stop. 

Alex was faithful to check tire pressure

Day 4 we crossed back into America...and traffic. 

We threaded our way through Seattle and Portland traffic only to run into an accident on the south side of Portland. The interstate was closed and all traffic was detouring....we were over 2 hours late getting to our campground.

We had wanted to arrive early to meet Lorri, my cousin,  for dinner at the Woodburn exit. It turns out our RV park was directly behind Elmers - by the outlet mall. Lorri met us for breakfast. I didn't take a single photo. The fellowship was sweet. We do miss our cousin dates.  We were all thankful Lorri drove up to meet us. 

THIS was parked in the RV park....next to it, we looked small. LOL  Some big slot competition. 

After breakfast we drove on to Springfield.....Dad settled in to Will and Sherri's. We settled in at Premier RV park. We lived here during the months  we were in Eugene in 2017.  The kids jumped into the pool. 

It is 2500 miles from our home to Will and Sherri's. We did it in 4 days and an hour on the 5th day. I'm pretty impressed.  That's a slew of long days in an RV. We don't go as fast as a car. When we moved up in 2017 we averaged 300 mile days....took us about 10 days. We had a couple of sight-seeing days built in. This time our goal was to have as much time as possible in OR. We averaged 600 mile days.