September 6, 2009 – McMinnville, OR

Nothing helps us sleep soundly more than the pitter patter of rain on the rig’s roof. But, once we’re up and around, that same sound keeps us virtual prisoners in the coach. I got up around eight again, and Don insisted that I fetch the phony news in the pouring rain. Actually, the rain doesn’t bother me nearly as much as it does them, ‘cause they’ve got no fur coat to keep it off your skin for awhile. And the cookies are always welcome. After I had breakfast, I went back to bed, because I knew there wasn’t going to be any outdoor action anytime soon. About ten, Don started to get worried about my bathroom needs, so he put on his coat and took me out to the field in the rain. We got drenched, but my needs were fulfilled. Don had to get a big towel and dry me off when we got back into the coach. Twenty minutes later, the sun was shining brightly.

We had an early lunch, and then got in the truck and headed down to Salem to do some sightseeing and shopping. We were about halfway there when Geri got a call from Jan, who invited us to her house for a spaghetti feed. We never turn down an offer of pasta. Jan was cooking a batch of her own sauce recipe, and we couldn’t pass that up, so Geri told her we’d head up to Hillsboro after we finished our shopping in Salem. We got into town and found the stores we were looking for (with the help of Garmie II), including a Petco to get some food for me. Very important! We stopped at the State Capitol grounds so that I could get some exercise, so I did some rolling and running and chased a few squirrels. Just as we were turning around to head back to the truck, the heavens opened and dumped a ton of rain on us, giving us a good soaking. Who knew it rained so much in Oregon!

So, we soggily headed north to Hillsboro, about an hour’s drive, which gave us time to dry out a bit before arriving at Jan’s. She was pleased to see me, and told me that she thought that I was a very good dog. Proves she’s not blind. Jan finished the dinner preparations, while Don explained to me that they were eating earlier than usual, and that I would have to wait until they finished their meal before I got dinner, so as not to disrupt my normal feeding schedule. He knows that I like things done on a regular schedule, but I thought that maybe this was one time we could make an exception. No deal. I had to lay there and watch them eat on an empty stomach. But I knew there were going to be plates, and maybe a sauce pot, after they finished. But it was not to be. I watched, unbelievingly, as Jan carried the plates to the sink to rinse them before putting them in the dishwasher! I looked at Don for an explanation, and he just shrugged, like it was out of his hands. I must have looked extremely agitated, because Don told me to go downstairs with him and out to the front porch. It was sprinkling again, so I stayed on the porch and watched Don as he went to the truck and opened the bag of my food that they had just bought. He poured a liberal amount into my water bowl, and then added some water from my jug. I raced down from the porch to be of assistance, but he didn’t need any help, and fed me a very respectable dinner on the porch. I was mollified.

As we were getting ready to leave, Jan gave Don a big envelope of old photos of their families that her mother had collected for him to scan into his computer. There’s a bunch of them! Geri programmed Garmie II to take us back to McMinnville, and we headed out. We soon found ourselves on a very scenic mountain road, looking down into the Willamette Valley, where we thought we should be. After a lot of twisting and turning, we finally wound up at our RV Park. Don checked the route when we got to the rig, a found that it was really the shortest way home, but certainly the slowest. Got to find a way to talk to Garmie about this. Geri took me out for a short walk, and we met the guy with the nice brown dog that Don and I had talked to yesterday. Back at the rig, we watched some TV, worked on the blog, and hit the pillows. See you tomorrow!