TTN BEND - SUNRIVER

August 11 – 17, 2010

Crooked River Chasm near Redmond

Still a bit down with our health problems we were on our way to the TTN Sunriver Preserve on Wednesday morning. Although we expected to see many motorhomes on the road as we passed Redmond and the Family Motor Coach Assocation Convention there weren’t nearly as many coaches as we expected to see. Jerry and Gay Lacy were waiting for us at the Preserve when we arrived so we parked the coach and joined them for a short trip back to Bend, OR, and a great hamburger luncheon at the Pilot Butte Drive-In. Pilot Butte has been a favorite of ours for some nine years now, almost an obsession. Their feature is an 18 oz. hamburger that will feed a whole family for $18.75. Looks mighty good but no, we haven’t tried one yet; usually, we just split a regular-sized burger.

The Sisters Mountains

Thursday we found a site a bit more to our liking and it turned out to be the same site we had used some six years before. Finding a site among the trees requires a lot of hunting and guessing to find an open site for the satellite dish to receive a signal. Since none of the sites at the Bend Sunriver Preserve have sewers we went on our best water-conservation mode. Not to save water but to save our holding tanks from filling up since we would be there for a week. Motorhoming does take some planning and Fran is very good at that. For more of our eating escapade, we went to Toomie’s Thai Restaurant in downtown Bend with the Lacys for a late lunch/early dinner.

On Friday we were feeling a little better so we drove up to the FMCA Convention and met the Wolfes and Speeds for a quick bite at lunch and then we were off to tour some of the supplier exhibits where we have gotten to know many of the exhibitors, kind of like “old times.” Later that day we met a gang of Revconeers at the Deschutes Brewery and Grill in Bend for a late lunch (or early dinner?). Harry and Susan Salit had found a site at Sunriver near our coach and so on Friday evening we examined his new Blue Ox aluminum tow bar which replaced his old bar before heading to Alaska next year.


Thinking it over we decided it may be wise to replace our 13-year-old bar as well, but we did not opt for an aluminum bar as the steel bar has a new design which we prefer. This got Harry to reconsider his purchase so, together with Jerry Lacy, we guys were off on Saturday morning to the FMCA Convention, again to see the Blue Ox folks. But first we all had to try the Thousand Trails family breakfast at the lodge, not great but not bad either. That night Fran, Gay and Susan miraculously whipped up a fantastic dinner which we enjoyed under the trees on a beautiful summer evening. Fran’s new Off bug gadget actually kept the mosquitoes at bay.

Gay, Harry, Jerry, Susan and Fran last night dinner

Sunday we all again gathered at the TTN Family Lodge for breakfast and a chance to meet some fellow travelers as well as check out some of the items people had for sale. Except for a jaunt up to Pilot Butte with the others for one last hamburger, Fran and I stayed close to home still trying to recover from our ills.

Monday the Fran and Susan went on a shopping trip to the Sunriver Resort where Fran did manage to find a pair of shoes that she just couldn’t live without. The “guys” managed to find things to fix and correct on their coaches. Of course, this requires some discussion so we gathered our chairs around and enjoyed our favorite beverages. Later that day we were treated to another outdoor picnic dinner by the “ladies” under the beautiful blue skies of central Oregon. Even the mosquitoes stayed out of the way for a change. But tomorrow we will be off to Portland, planning to stay overnight at the Wal-Mart store parking lot in Troutdale so it was off to an early bedtime for an

early start.

Farewell to TTN Sunriver!

That’s all for this trip, folks. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Bye!