Day 18 - 24 - Corvallis, OR

Monday - Another relaxing day. We met my mom for lunch at the senior apartment dining hall, then went to my sister's home for the afternoon. 

Tuesday - I set up the JPC-12 antenna this afternoon and verified that Winlink email worked over 40m. It worked. I checked FT8 on 40m and no activity.

Wednesday - We had a delicious to a Japanese restaurant in downtown Corvallis. It's been quite a while since I've had any good Japanese food. It seems to be a bit rare in TX. This is multiple types of sashimi served on a bed of sushi rice. Very delicious. We had dinner with my mom and a good friend of hers that she met at the gym. She will be helping out with the 100th birthday party on Friday.

This morning, I connected with Winlink RMS (Radio Mail Server) in Lubbock, TX, on 40m and sent my Winlink Wednesday email message. There were closer servers, but they were busy. Oklahoma City and Lubbock seemed to have less traffic.

Thursday - I fired up Winlink this morning and received my Winlink confirmation email. This time from a server in Las Vegas. I still think that this is kind of cool. 

Friday - This afternoon was the first of three birthday parties celebrating my mom's 100th year. This one was held at the retirement apartment building and was very well attended. My nephew and his wife made a fantastic charcuterie board for the 80+ guests.

Saturday - This afternoon was the second party with relatives and a few long-time friends. Food was Yum bowls with bulgogi beef, tofu, and teriyaki chicken as the protein. Delicious.

Sunday - A much smaller gathering of family and relatives, including a couple who couldn't make it yesterday. 

Monday - It was wonderful to see so many family members. It was almost like a reunion, except it included both sides of the family. 

A long test session this morning followed by setting up the JPC-12 antenna again on 40m. 

Day 15 - 17 Corvallis, OR

Friday - You couldn’t ask for nicer weather. Mid-70s with a light breeze. I played with the radio a bit this afternoon but propagation was poor on 40m. It was much better this morning. 

Propagation was pretty good in the evening. I connected to an RMS server in Lubbock, Boise, as well as several in Oregon. All on 40m.

Saturday - A morning test session to start the day with. We actually needed to run the furnace last night with a low temperature in the lower 50s (°F). Unfortunately, the forecast is for the upper 80s by the middle of next week. 

We met up with my family at a restaurant in town where we are getting food catered for one of the birthday parties for my mom. It was an Asian fusion plus gelato place. Kind of a weird combination, but the food was pretty tasty. I didn't get a chance to try out the gelato…

This afternoon, I continued to play around on 40m. Winlink worked fine with an RMS station about 300 miles NE of here, but only one FT8 contact. Very little activity.

Sunday - This morning, we met up with longtime friends for coffee and a beautiful walk along the Willamette River south of Corvallis. I had first met them in person back in July, 2010, when several of us bloggers met up in Bend, OR. That was quite a while back. Since then, we try to meet up sometime every time we are in the area. 

Day 14 - Corvallis, OR

Wednesday - We tool Hwy-20 from Bend, through Sisters, and Sweet Home to Corvallis. It was a beautiful drive though a little stressful. A Tundra pickup came around a corner about 1½ ft over the center line going way too fast. I swerved onto the shoulder just missing them. Other than that, no issues. 

We set up in the fairgrounds RV park, and since it’s Wednesday, I set up the JPC-12 antenna to try and participate in “Winlink Wednesday” again. I also tried this morning from Sun River but was unsuccessful. This evening, no problem. I even used the RMS station in Harlingen, TX. Propagation was decent. I tried FT8 on 40m as well but didn’t make any contacts. 

We visited with my mom for a bit and made arrangements to come over tomorrow. 

Day 13 - Sun River, OR - TT

Tuesday - Another travel day to Sun River, OR. We are staying at the Thousand Trails campground just for one night. This is the first TT park we ever stayed at after storing the 5th wheel there for a couple of months. We are now seeing (and consuming) $5+ gas. Diesel is almost $6. I don’t think the price is slowing people down but may have reduced the number of RVs on the road. Most of the RV parks have been pretty empty. 

Hwy 20 through eastern OR is pretty nice. Some hills and mostly two lane. The truck speed limit is 60mph, though many are going faster than that. But we can go just above that and are rarely tailgated. 

We are in the “C” loop this time. We usually opt for other loops as the sites were longer. We needed that for the class A. Setup was trivial. A couple of blocks under the front tires and connect power. We still have plenty of water in the onboard tank. 

Our SoC was down to 55% this morning and driving plus solar added about 20% by the time we arrived. We ran the generator during our lunch stop as I wanted to run the microwave. With the absorption fridge on electric, the compressor freezer, plus StarLink, we are drawing about 550watts. We could turn everything off and run the microwave but it’s easier to just start the generator. I’m not philosophically opposed to generators, as some other RVers are.