Meet The Jeep

Today is a big day - we say goodbye to the HHR and hello to our new Jeep! To bring you quickly up to date we legally bought the Jeep on March 27, but didn’t take possession until today for several reasons…try buying a vehicle from across the country! To make this a short story -

• the car was in Salem, Oregon and needed to be brought to our dealer in Coos Bay


• We had to get the title sent from home to us - thanks to our son Mike for getting this and having it sent to our dealer who acted as our post office


• We had to register the new vehicle in NH and roll over the license plates - thanks to our friend Bob for taking our paperwork to the town office and mailing back the new paperwork


• The dealer prepared the Jeep so we could tow it behind the RV


• Ken had to find a rack that would fit the Jeep and hold the car top carrier - took him a week but found one - but they were back ordered and they promised us they could get it for us in 3 weeks…. Close but doable


• Needed a base plate for the Jeep so we can tow the vehicle

Meanwhile we were continuing our trip during all this time and had to find a place where we could do the car exchange… With all the paperwork in hand and the car ready our salesman (Mike Johnson) agreed to meet us half way between Elma, WA and Coos Bay, Oregon - so we agreed on a truck stop off I5 in Salem, Oregon….

You probably all think we are crazy by now. We had a great car and everything fit in it nicely - now we’ll have a Jeep that still needs a rack to put the car top carrier on and we’re not sure the boat will fit….Ken assures me it will work… ok…

Down Rte 12 passing through woods and farmlands on our way to Salem, Oregon 3 hours away. We connected to I5S in Centralia, Washington and followed it all the way. We saw Mt Rainier in the distance covered in snow and clouds. It was very majestic. We’ll be visiting the National Park later in our trip. We also caught a glimpse of Mt. St. Helens which looked peaceful… at the moment! The highway winds along the Columbia River through Washington to Oregon. Around the Kalama, WA area we saw pilings initially used to tie up rafts of logs and barge boats during the timber boom. Now the pilings act as nesting places and we saw several Osprey in the nests. We didn’t realize there was a bypass around Portland and Vancouver until it was too late so we ended up going through both cities - Yuk - we crossed a huge bridge taking us over the Columbia River and into Oregon and the traffic was awful. We found our way to the truck stop and waited for Mike to arrive.

We made the switch easily and immediately headed back to Elma. The Jeep is nice, we’ll miss the HHR, and it will be fun. I just hope everything fits! Well this is one thing off Ken’s Bucket List - I didn’t know he always wanted a Jeep.

Back in Elma at 10:30 - we’re tired so off to bed.